~ The Other Side of the Storm ~

Chapter 5

( a/n - hehehe )

Biggie and Guy Diamond were awoken by the sound of trumpet playing.

“Wake up!”

They looked to see Branch playing the trumpet around where there fire used to be. He wasn't playing it correctly but that didn't matter.

“You see that supercell over there?” Branch pointed at where the edge of the forest was, at a dark cloud.

“That's the storm we're focusing on.” He took out his binoculars and searched the meadow for a good place to watch the storm.

“What about breakfast?” Biggie asked, hungry as always.

Branch shoved bread in their mouths and grabbed their wrists, leading them out to the end of the field on a hill.

Guy tapped his fingers anxiously. “Is this even a safe distance?”

“Nope, but it's not coming to us so we'll be fine.” He focused his binoculars at the storm's core.

Guy and Biggie were terrified, and thought of ways to take their minds off of the storm.

Guy picked up a blade of grass and had a staring contest with it, which somehow put a random question in his mind, “When did your interest in storms start?”

“Well, when I lived with my parents, my mom would climb the Troll Tree daily to forecast the weather for the village to let King Peppy know when it would be safe to have trolls working on the tunnels to escape Bergen Town. If a storm was brewing, she'd let him know that they shouldn't work on the tunnel because of slipping hazards.” He began.

“So you got your caution from your mom?” Biggie pictured a tiny Branch setting up a caution sign.

Branch nodded. “One day, I joined her, and because some of the leaves were blooming on the tree, it was harder to see, so she climbed higher. I followed her up and we stood at the top to see what was going on. She told me it was a supercell, which was a tornado producing storm. I was terrified, but she reassured me we'd be fine, it was safe distance away from us and it wouldn't even come to Bergen Town, it was too hilly. But she was wrong. The wind suddenly started blowing in the other direction, bringing the storm right too us. It got really windy, especially because of how high up we were. It blew me over, and I was hanging off the (tree) branch. She pulled me up, but we were no match for the wind. We both fell off, but I fortunately landed on the branch below us. I looked around for my mom, but she wasn't nearby.”

“Where was she?” Guy questioned, having a feeling he knew what the answer was going to be.

“I slid down the tree and scanned every branch, unable to find her. At the bottom, I saw a group of trolls looking down at something. I pushed through the crowd to find my mother, unconscious and dull colored. My dad urged me to leave, and that's when I figured out what happened. She fell to her death. I was really sad for a long time, but I kept my colors, just excused myself from most troll activities and stayed home most of the time.”

“How many other family deaths were you involved in?” Guy joked, trying to lighten the subject, but it was clearly not a joking time.

Biggie shot Guy the look and patted Branch on the shoulder. “I'm so sorry you went through that, but how did that make you want to be involved in the weather more?”

“I wanted to know as much as weather as I could so no other troll would try to become an inexperienced weather-troll, and traumatize their kids. Then I could forecast the weather for us in a safe way.”

“Aw,” Biggie and Guy smiled at him as if he were an adorable kitten.

“And I was involved in three family deaths, including my dad's. But we're not going to go into detail with that.