Trolls and the Enchanted Forest (rewrite)

Chapter 2

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" Poppy yelled out loudly, as she ran into the royal pod. Peppy was sitting at the table, looking at some important papers, but looked up at his daughter, as he heard her shout.

He smiled, rising to his feet, as he looked at the beautiful little girl running towards him.

"Hello my little Princess," he said, lifting her off the ground in a hug.

"I met a new troll today," she informed him with the biggest smile.
"A new troll?" Peppy said, a little skeptical. "But... you already know everyone in the village."
"I thought so too," Poppy said. "But I've never seen him before. He's grey."

Peppy's smile faded, knowing exactly who his daughter was talking about.

"You mean Branch..." he said sadly.
"Branch? Is that his name?" Poppy asked, looking up at her father with a curious look. "Yes sweetie... but I don't think you should be talking to him."
"Why not?"

Poppy was confused. Her father had never told her not to talk to someone before.

"Is it because he's grey?" she asked.
"No," Peppy said. "Well... kind of. He's just..." The old king took a deep breath, looking at his daughter with caring eyes. "He's been through a lot lately, and you can be a bit... overly positive."

She smiled, thinking of it as a compliment.

"I just don't want you overwhelming the poor boy," Peppy continued.
"But why is he grey?" Poppy asked.

Peppy smiled slightly, kissing his daughter's head.

"You see... when a troll gets really, really sad... their colors fade," he explained gently.

Poppy's smile faded at her father's words, thinking about the little grey troll she had met earlier that day.

"So... Branch is sad?" she questioned softly, feeling bad for her new friend. "Why?"

Peppy knew exactly why Branch was so sad all the time, but he didn't feel like it was his place to talk about it. If Branch wanted others to know, he would tell them.

"Hey, guess what," Peppy said, smiling again, as he tried to change the subject. Lucky for him, Poppy had a very short attention span at her young age, and smiled, completely forgetting about the conversation about Branch.

"What!?" she asked excitedly, her eyes lighting up with joy. "Is it a surprise!?"
"Sort of," Peppy chuckled. "Tomorrow you me, and a few other trolls are going to a special part of the forest."
"Special?" Poppy's eyes sparkled, as she looked up at her father in amazement.

He chuckled, placing his daughter gently on the floor.

"There's a group of trolls who live deep in the forest. Trolls like you have never seen before," Peppy explained. "You see... we have magic in our hair. We are able to extend it to grab onto things. We can even use it for transportation or even defense."

Poppy nodded her head, smiling up at her father.

"We learned about that in Trolldergarden," she said joyfully.

Peppy smiled, kneeling down in front of her, as he grabbed her hands in his.

"These other trolls don't have that ability," he continued.

"But... our hair can do so many fun things," Poppy said in shock. "How do they do stuff without it?"
"Because they have a different kind of magic," Peppy explained. "They can control nature."
"Ooo..." Poppy said intrigued.

"They've invited us to a peace dinner tomorrow in their Enchanted Forest," Peppy informed. "And as a present, Creek's dad has suggested we build a dam to help with their rivers, so their village doesn't flood anymore. We will be building it while we're there."
"Cool," Poppy said amazed. "And I get to go!?"

Peppy nodded.

"And you can bring some of your friends along too."

Poppy's face lit up with the biggest smile ever.

"They'll be so excited! I'll go tell them right now!" she yelled, quickly running off.

Peppy chuckled, watching his daughter run off, as she sang with joy.