Azalea skipped along the path, wearing her little backpack proudly, as Branch, Poppy, and Twig fallowed behind, Twig giggling as he watched his big sister from his father's arms.

     Branch was watching out for danger of course, making sure no predators were around. Or worse... (gulp) birds... 😱

     The point is... nothing was going to hurt his family, while he was around.

      "Seriously, Branch?" Poppy asked, noticing the scared look on her husband's face, as he looked around in alert panic. "Would you just relax?"

     "No, Poppy. The world is a dangerous place," Branch replied, still watching his surroundings carefully.

     Poppy sighed, rolling her eyes slightly at Branch's response, as she gently took Twig from him, hoping that would help her husband calm down at least a little bit. Of course though... it didn't...

—————

     As they walked past Techno Lagoon, Branch noticed a group of Fuzzlings working on getting the crashed dune-huggie out of the water. The dune-huggie he hadn't yet told his wife was destroyed...

     Poppy saw the crashed car, and stopped, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

     "Is that..." she started, Branch quickly running up behind her, gently pushing her forwards.

     "No! Nope, nope, nope! Just a... random dune-huggie," he said nervously. "Definitely not yours."
"But... it's got my cupcakes and rainbows sticker on it's bumper," Poppy objected.

     Branch froze, beginning to laugh nervously.

     "You need to relax, Pops," he chuckled innocently, beginning to walk again, leading her forwards so she wouldn't catch on to his little lie. He would have to reassemble the clean team later and get it fixed up before she noticed her car was missing.

     Just then... much to Branch's dismay... the leader of the fuzzling group, a pop troll wearing a hard hat, noticed the family walking by.

     "Queen Poppy!" he called out, waving her down enthusiastically. "We've got your dune-huggie!"

     At the sound of those words, Poppy glared at Branch, as he smiled innocently.

     "Must be talking to a different Queen Poppy," he said, still pushing her forwards. "Now let's go. Azalea's gonna be late for her first day of school! Ha. Ha. Ha."

—————

     After a short walk, the Broppy family finally reached the school, Azalea suddenly stopping dead in her tracks, feeling nervous as she looked up at the big building in front for her.

     She backed away a bit, clutching her backpack straps tightly in her tiny fist, as she gulped, her eyes wide in terror.

     Branch looked back to his daughter, seeing she was nervous. He definitely knew how she felt...

     With a sigh, he slowly walked over to his little girl, kneeling down in front of her.

     "What's wrong, sweetie?" he asked in a gentle tone, comfortingly placing his hand on her shoulder.

     "Daddy," she whimpered softly, looking up at her father with tears in her eyes. "I... I don't wanna go to school anymore..."
"You'll be fine," Branch assured, trying to help her feel better, as he rose back up to his feet. "There's lots of other kids here. You'll make so many new friends."
"But... but... but..." she stuttered, hiding behind her father, as she hugged his leg tight.

     Branch smiled down at his daughter, gently hugging his arm around her.

     "Listen, Azalea.," he told her softly, looking her in the eyes. "No one's more nervous about this than me." She blinked up at him, wiping her tears away as he spoke. "I mean... anything could happen," he continued. "You could get lost. Or you could get hurt... or a flock of birds could swoop down and take you!" Branch was actually starting to scare himself...

     "Branch!" Poppy yelled, quickly interrupting her husband's 'pep' talk.

     He looked over at Poppy, her stern voice snapping him out of his horrifying thoughts.

     "Not helping," she grumbled softly, gesturing stealthily to Azalea.

     Branch looked back at his little girl, who was even more scared now than she had been before.

     "Oh... right. Right." He took a deep breath, getting back on topic. "What I'm trying to say is... everyone gets scared... but if you let your fear control you... you'll never get to try new things, and make new friends."

     Azalea wiped her tears again, smiling up at her dad, his kind words helping her feel much more confident.

     But then... Branch leaned over, whispering in her ear; "but if you want to let fear control you... that's okay too."

     "Branch!" Poppy yelled, glaring at her husband, who chuckled innocently, slowly backing away from their daughter.

     With a deep breath, Azalea looked back at the school.

     "Ok..." she said quietly, determined to listen to her father's advice. "I'll try."

     Branch smiled at his daughter's decision to be brave, and then gave her a hug to congratulate her.

     "Now go have some fun," he said, gently nudging her towards the school.

     Azalea smiled, and then confidently walked off towards the large building, immedioutly making friends with a group of techno, pop, classical, funk, and rock trolls.

     Poppy walked over to Branch, placing her hand on his shoulder, as he watched his only daughter walk into the school, disappearing from his sight.

     "I'm proud of you Branch," she said with a smile, gently kissing Branch's cheek. She knew how hard it was for him to let their little girl out of his sight, and yet he was doing a pretty good job at being brave. "You ready to go home?"

     "Yeah..." he said softly, still looking at the school his daughter had gone into. "Um... actually..." He turned to her, giving her a slight smile. "You go ahead. Okay, Pops? I'll... uh... catch up later."

     The way he said that made Poppy a bit suspicious, but she trusted her husband completely. There's no way he would ever do anything stupid... 😏

     She kissed Branch's cheek once more, and then walked away, leaving his sight with Twig.

     Branch stayed behind, finally turning back to the school once he was sure Poppy was gone.

     "I can do this..." he whispered to himself, staring at the large building in front of him. "She's safe... she's safe... I can do this..."

     With a deep, calming breath, he turned away from the school, beginning to walk back home.

     He only took about four steps however, before he stopped, turning back to look at the school again.

     "Yeah..." he sighed. "I can't do this."

     Suddenly, he took off running towards the school...