Troll Daddy's Arc

Chapter 9 of 13

The seventh yellow ribbon passed on Troll Daddy's left as darkness settled over the ridge. Troll Brother counted it aloud and kept walking. The trail narrowed ahead where it curved around a stand of pine trees. Troll Daddy felt the compass shift in his jacket pocket with each step. He stopped at the creek crossing and waited while Troll Mother knelt to fill their water bottles. Troll Sister set Troll Baby on a flat rock and stretched her arms. The compass pressed against Troll Daddy's ribs when he leaned forward to check the current. He pulled it out to catch the last light and saw something he had never noticed before. A name was carved into the brass casing on the back. Small letters, worn smooth by decades of handling. He turned the compass toward the fading sky and read it twice to be sure. The name matched the one on the old signpost they had passed an hour back, the weathered wood marking trails his father must have walked long before Troll Daddy was born. He looked up and saw Troll Brother watching him. His son waited for an explanation he couldn't give yet. Troll Daddy walked back alone after they made camp for the night. His family was safe in the small den they had found near the eighth ribbon, sheltered and warm. He told Troll Mother he needed to check something on the trail. The signpost stood where he remembered it, pointing toward paths that led deeper into the forest. He lit a match and studied the carved names on each board. The third one down showed the same letters as the compass, followed by a date from forty years ago. A folded paper was wedged into a crack behind the post. He pulled it free and opened it carefully. The ink had faded but the words were clear enough. The message explained who had carved the compass and why he had left it behind. Troll Daddy's father hadn't owned the compass. He had been given it by someone who died before Troll Daddy was born. A man who had asked his son to deliver it to family he would never meet. Troll Daddy walked back to the den and sat beside the fire. Troll Brother was asleep but Troll Sister was still awake, watching the flames. He told her the truth about the compass and what it meant. His father hadn't abandoned him out of cruelty or indifference. He had been trying to fulfill a promise to a dying man and had failed to come back. Troll Sister asked if that made it better or worse. Troll Daddy said he didn't know yet. But he understood now that broken promises could come from trying too hard instead of not caring enough. He put the compass in Troll Brother's pack so his son would have it when he was older. The weight that had lived in his chest for thirty years shifted again. He still didn't know if he could forgive his father. But he finally knew what he was forgiving.