Moonlit Horns (Trollhunters fanfic)

Chapter 1, Jim

Kanjigar sniffed the cold night air as he stepped out of Trollmarket. A storm was on the way, that much he knew. He walked silently along his usual route in the forest doing patrol for any Gumm-Gumms that might be skulking about the woods. He, like all trolls, know that the Gumm-Gumms loved to eat humans, a trait that the more modernized trolls left behind in order to have peace with the humans of the world above.

He paused in his tracks for a moment, hearing something most unusual. He followed the sound, losing it for a bit as the wind kicked up and began to rustle the leaves on the trees. He then began to pick up a strange scent as the wind blew in his direction. It smelled of troll, but it was... different.

Kanjigar picked up his pace towards the smell and once again the sound. The sound of crying. It was definitely not an adult of any kind, but the cries sounded more of that of a whelp. Possibly a human, but what about the smell then?

Kanjigar skidded to a halt as he came to a clearing. In the middle sat a grubby troll-looking whelp, shivering in the cold wind. Trolls definitely didn't feel the cold that bad, meaning this child was something different entirely. The Trollhunter approached calmly but kept his guard up. This could have been a trap for all he knew, but to use a whelp as bait was unruly and cruel. It left a sour taste in Kanjigar's mouth.

He approached the child, who looked at him in wonder, staying put. "Hello little one, have you lost your way? Where are your caretakers?" He gingerly scooped up the small troll and rocked him a bit in one arm, the whelp giggling and purring. Kanjigar then noticed a cat collar around the baby's neck. It adorned a little name tag, probably from the cat it once belonged to. "Jim..." He spoke softly as if tasting the word. He then smiled and began walking back through the woods. He liked that name, it seemed fitting.

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Vendel looked at the Trollhunter in shock as he finished explaining why he had a whelp in his arms. "My friend, I'm surprised at you... to take a whelp from the forest and not checking if there was a trap or his parents who may have been in danger?! Have you no conscious?!" Kanjigar felt a pit in his stomach. He had failed as a Trollhunter. He was so enthralled by the adorable little troll that he had possibly left someone unprotected. Jim was giggling and reaching his tiny hands up at the ceiling, looking at the warm glow of the Heartstone. "Vendel, old friend... I know I have failed this night. I will go back and check properly, but Jim-"

"Jim..?" Vendel asked with a raised brow. He tugged his beard a bit.

"The whelp... it's his name." Kanjigar handed Jim over to Vendel who took him reluctantly, eyeing him up and down, holding him under the arms and as far away from him as much as he could. "He doesn't smell like a normal troll."

"If you could please try to figure out his origin for me, I'd like to properly raise him as my son," Kanjigar said with a smile.

Vendel glared at the trollhunter. You don't even know if this little one has a family or not, don't just think you can adopt what isn't yours." Vendel snapped at Kanjigar before turning away. Kanjigar kicked himself. His head just didn't seem to be in the game tonight.

Without a word, Kanjigar left the Heartstone and walked down the streets of Trollmarket, lost in thought. Draal saw his father and approached with a smile. "Father, what brings you back to Trollmarket, I assumed you were off on patrol." Kanjigar didn't even seem to notice his son's presence, even flinching when Draal put a hand in his father's shoulder.

Draal worried instantly, it was highly uncommon for HIS father, THE Trollhunter, to let his guard down.

"Father, what has happened to make your senses dull in such a way?"