Tales Of Arcadia Ficlet Collection

♧ The Babysitters ♧ {Part 2}

"Oh we are so dead!" Notenrique groaned as he threw open a basket to see if his niece was inside. "Darn..."

"Searching for something?" A raspy voice asked. The changeling gave a startled yelp and tumbled off the basket in alarm. He heard the raspy voice give a chuckle before he felt himself get lifted off the floor by his tail.

"Oh thank Merlin, Nomura you have to help us!" Notenrique said when he realized who was holding him.

"You lost something didn't you?" Nomura asked. "Let me guess, the Trollhunter's child.

"Uh...how did you know?" Notenrique asked and gave a nervous laugh.

"I heard the others asking some trolls in the market if they had seen the human whelp. Draal is helping them look for her now as well." Nomura answered and frowned at him. "Tell me, how did you lose a child so easily?"

"I uh...we...we uh..."

"Good lord you sound like Draal when he lost Agate once." Nomura muttered and plucked her fellow changeling off the ground. "Come on, we have a baby to find before your human sister decides to the you into a portal to someplace dangerous. Or before I make Aarrgggh sir on you again as punishment."

"When did you become such a mother?"

"Since I had my own whelp."

"Makes sense..."

The two soon arrived in the market to find every single troll searching under tables and baskets while gnomes were scurrying around and chattering excitedly or anxiously.

"This is chaos..." Notenrique muttered as they spotted Blinky, Aarrgggh and Draal near the entrance of the library and walked to them.

"We still can't find her! Master Jim won't be so happy!" Blinky groaned angrily as the two changelings approached.

"Claire's wraith will be worst." Draal pointed out and his eyes widened when he saw Nomura.

"Where's Agate?" She asked and Draal looked away. "You lost our whelp?!"

"I kind of lost him before we found out about the Lake baby." Draal admitted sheepishly.

"Can't Aarrggghjust sniff them out?" Notenrique asked. "Ever since he came back to life his sense of smell got better.

"Of course! Why didn't we think of that earlier?" Blinky asked and turned to his friend. "Aarrgggh, do you mind sniffing the whelps out?"

"I can try." Aarrgggh replied. "So many smells, but I might find whelps." (Trying to write how Aarrgggh speaks is seriously difficult -_-)

"Then get sniffing old friend!"

They followed Aarrgggh to the Forge, an area normally used for training or arena battles.

"Are you sure they're in here?" Draal asked, looking around the arena and Aarrgggh grunted in reply.

"Here, I smell them in here."

They heard the soft laughter of two children and looked to where the board where all the weapons were. A small pale blue troll crawled out from behind it with a tiny human baby in it's arms.

"LAURA!" Blinky, Aarrgggh and Notenrique yelled and scrambled over to the small troll. It placed the gurgling human down on the stone floor and stood protectively over her before growling loudly at the approaching trolls.

"Agate!" Nomura scolded when she saw her son. "What were you doing with the human whelp?!"

"Probably playing." Draal suggested, picking up the small troll off Laura before handing him to his fuming wife.

"And here we thought goblins got you!" Blinky chuckled as he picked up Laura. "You had us so worried!" Laura cooed happily and reached towards Nomura, who was holding her whelp. Little Agate giggled and stretched his little arms out towards her.

"I think our son found a potential wife." Nomura joked as the children's fingers interlocked.

"Oh no, there is no way my niece is going to be dating a quarter human." Notenrique snapped and Draal glared at him.

"She was joking, but if they ever get serious about it, it's up to them."

"Still, he could get her into loads of trouble."

"Shut up."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So how'd it go?" Claire asked as she and Jim walked into the Trollmarket library to find Blinky reading a book with Aarrgggh who had Laura asleep in his arms.

"It was...quite well." Blinky responded as he shut his book. "Laura was ah...quite peaceful."

"See? I told you they'd be fine." Jim whispered and Claire elbowed him in the chest before walking over to Aarrgggh to pick up the baby. Laura gave a little whine as she was removed from Aarrgggh's warm embrace but settled down when Claire gave her her finger to suck on.

"So does this mean we get to...what do you call it? Babysit? Once more Master Jim?" Blinky asked Jim quietly as Claire collected the bag.

"We'll think on it, but maybe next time you guys can. Claire does not want to leave him alone with the baby after she caught him trying to bottle feed her coffee." Jim whispered back and nodded to the changeling, who glared at them. "You guys had no trouble did you?"

"Nope she was quite happy especially, especially with Agate." Blinky said and chuckled. "Nomura joked about setting them up when they got older."

"That kid is going to be more like a protective older brother than a protective boyfriend. But it'd be pretty funny."

"Jim, we have work tomorrow. Let's go." Claire called and wiggled her daughter's arm. "Say bye bye Laura!"

"Bye..." Aarrgggh mumbled sadly and Laura started to cry.

"Awww, she doesn't wanna leave uncle Aarrgggh." Claire cooed as her infant cried a little louder. "Arlight, we'll bring you back tomorrow to visit, sound good?" Laura stopped crying and gave and little whimper as if to say yes.

"Yes!" Blinky whispered. "And this time we'll teach her about troll lore!"

"Blinky she's not even half a year old." Jim pointed out.

"Never to young to start Master Jim! We must sharpen her young mind as soon as possible! Perhaps one day her knowledge in troll lore may help her if she ever has to set out on a mission for you."

"We'll see about that." Claire murmured and Notenrique scoffed. "I at least want her to survive high school before sending her off on a mission."

"Fear not, she will be ready. And when the time comes, she'll put it to good use!"

You might see more Agate and Laura prompts through the story. Honestly Draal's children would love and adore Jim's kids and be the best bodyguards ever for them