A/N: Just felt like writing a little something for this fandom. I should really get to drawing some fan art too :p
Young Nod wasn't as clueless as his caretaker, Ronin, believed him to be. He was thirteen and had a mind of his own. But for now, he'd go along with being trained to be a Leafman, it was following in his fathers footsteps after all, maybe he'd be good at it.
Training aside for one day, Nod had been allowed to accompany Ronin to visit Queen Tara. He knew the Queen well; she had been friends with his father and was still very good friends with Ronin, though the General seemed to want to dismiss the familiarity she often displayed with him.
Ronin knelt down, it being regulation, while Nod merely stood there and waved to Tara. She smiled back at him before Ronin took the boy's shoulder and easily got him down on one knee. The boy huffed and crossed his arms, looking up at Tara in silent protest.
"Now, Ronin, there's no need to be so hard on him." Tara said as she approached them.
Ronin looked up, straightening up as well, and let go of Nod. "If he is to be a Leafman one day, he'll have to get used to regulation."
"And that day is far from this one." The Queen replied.
Nod simply stood between both adults, looking back and forth at them as they conversed for a good few minutes. Ronin was talking strategy and Tara was blissfully ignoring most of it. This was not new information to Nod, their banter was as old as the forest itself. However, he'd never noticed how often they seemed to finish each other's sentences, or even how often Tara liked to bring up stories about her and Ronin's childhood until now.
"Come on, don't you remember?" Tara asked incredulously, nudging Ronin like he'd forgotten an inside joke. When the General simply replied with a shrug, she glanced towards young Nod, bringing him back from his thoughts. She took his hand and led him to an extended leaf where she sat him down.
"Then Nod's never heard this story, have you?" She asked the boy excitedly, kneeling down to be at his height.
Nod shook his head. "Ronin doesn't tell stories."
Tara looked over at Ronin with mock disappointment, then back at Nod. "Well, when Ronin and I were your age, we'd go sky diving together."
"Sky diving?" Nod reiterated, completely intrigued by the dangerous sounding past time.
"Now don't go giving him any ideas!" Ronin protested, but that didn't stop Tara from telling the story.
"We'd take our birds and one of us would fly up high into the sky, above the trees, then fall backwards for the other one to catch."
"Like…an extreme trust game?" Nod said, impressed by the idea.
"An extremely dangerous trust game that could have gotten us killed." Ronin spoke up.
"With your flying skills? We were fine." Tara said.
"Oh, so what about that one time when we weren't fine?" Ronin replied quickly, more amused by the memory and Tara's insistence in telling the story then annoyed by it.
"So you do remember!"
Nod laughed at the look on Ronin's face; it was surprise masked by the stubborn jaw twist he was famous for. The Leafman finally knelt down next to Tara and looked at Nod with a certain glint in his eye he gets when he's having fun.
"I'm only telling you this so that you learn to know better then we did at your age. And it was all her idea."
So Nod sat through an epic retelling of the day that young Tara and Ronin had decided to sky dive in the rain. It had started out exciting and pretty successful until Ronin slipped from Tara's hold and took quite a tumble. Luckily, some trees had broken part of his fall and Tara was able to get to him before any major injuries could be made. Either way, Ronin ended up deeply battered and bruised and they spent most of that day and part of the night huddled under a mushroom for shelter.
"So…how'd you get home?" Nod asked. By the end of the story, Ronin and Tara were playfully blaming each other for getting them into that mess.
"There was a search party out for us. This was before Tara became Queen, but your father hadn't seen us all day, so naturally—"
"He thought we were in trouble." Tara finished, beaming at the memory.
"Sounds like you got in trouble a lot." Nod said jokingly, earning a look from Ronin.
The General pointed a thumb towards Tara. "Only when she was around."
"What do you mean, 'only when I was around?'" She turned to Nod. "He and your father got into just as much trouble, if not more."
Nod laughed, and to everyone's surprise, so did Ronin.
…
When both Leafman and Leafman in training emerged from the Queen's residence, Ronin spoke up as they approached their birds.
"So, I never tell you stories?"
Nod looked up for a moment, "Well, not recently. And you've never told a story like that. I didn't know you and Tara…" he was searching for the right words. "…knew each other for so long, and did so much together. I mean, sky diving! In the rain?"
Ronin smirked. "You should hear about the time your father and I went squirrel chasing." He stopped for a moment, looking reflective as ever.
Before the Leafman could answer, Nod spoke up. "I'd like that. You know, if your old man memories are still fresh and all."
Ronin gave the boy a dangerous look. It was the look he gave him when a challenge was about to be made. "I'll give you a head start for home. If you make it without me catching you first, I'll tell you the story. Shouldn't be too difficult beating an old man home, should it?"
There! Hope it was fun :) I have some heavier ideas for these characters, but I thought I'd at least write this one just in case its the only one I have time for.