The warm, prickly heat of the sun, the shimmering leaves on the trees and the light dew on the grass, Ronin sighed. Seeing this day again, re-living it, in a way, brought both happiness and loneliness in his troubled soul.

It had been two years now since Mandrake's defeat. The Boggans have retreated to their original borders, occasionally causing trouble but nothing the Leafmen couldn't handle. The new Queen had settled in for the most part but she was still learning the ways of the forest. Nim took to becoming her tutor, showing her the ways of the Queens before her to give her a better understanding of her duties. Nod was almost done with his Leafman training and is soon to join their ranks. He and M.K., who left for school a few months after Mandrake's fall, still held their unusual relationship together despite their differences and seem to be happy with each other. All in all, the forest was peaceful. Back to normal. Happy. But why wasn't he?

"Ow! Hey!" A young yelled in the distance from where Ronin stood "Just because you're the new Queen, doesn't mean you get to use your powers! It isn't fair!"

"Awww, don't be such a spoil sport, Ronin!" The two figures whizzed past the general, leaving him with a sigh. The sight of the then new Queen, Tara, and a young him from the past, spending time together in the meadow, happily teasing, pushing and punching each other without a care broke his heart into a million pieces. It was mid-afternoon in the meadow. He and Tara, along with a few other friends, agreed to meet at the small clearing the same time the previous day. And so, being a man that kept his word, Ronin finished his Leafman training for the day as fast as he could and rushed to the meadow with his best friend, Ullanor, in tow.

"Don't be in such a hurry!" Ullanor chuckled. "The meadow isn't going anywhere and it's two hours early!"

Both men slowed down to a casual walk from their original sprint as a light tinge of pink spread across his cheeks. "I wasn't in a hurry." The young Ronin mumbled, looking away from his friend's knowing eyes.

"What ever you say, Ronin." He grinned jogging a bit ahead of him. "Remember what I said during Tara's coronation?"

"... I remember."

"And don't you forget it."

Ronin

A gentle voice snapped the general out of the illusion, a gentle change in the wind distorting the image of him and his beloved Tara in the grass as it ultimately dissipated. Ronin turned.

"Adina." he breathed.

The said woman smiled, a gentle, sad smile and placed her soft hand against his cheek, eventually bringing him to a tight hug. Ronin responded after a few minutes, as reality came crashing back around him. First it was Ullanor, then Tara. His best friend and then his love. Now gone.

"How did you find me?" Ronin's rough voice cracked slightly, which his friend dismissed, as they pulled apart.

She smiled at him once again, with her hand still on his cheek, rubbing soft circles against it "Nod told me." The woman said slowly, breathing in the musky scent of the Rings of Knowledge. "He's worried about you. He said you weren't yourself lately."

Ronin sighed, taking mental note to give the boy a harder time during training for telling on him. "It's nothing, I'm fine. Thank you for your concern." The general replied in a steely tone, gently taking the soothing hand away from his face and making way for the lift up and out of the tree with the woman.

Adina was silent. She always was when she got upset. Ronin tried to ignore the guilt scratching to the surface as he looked at the woman from the corner of his eye. Adina was his friend, his best friend's wife, his charge's mother and now, all he had left from his past. He couldn't get mad at her for worrying. He couldn't argue with her when she lectured him either. Why? Because she went through just as much hell as he is now. Ullanor's death tore her apart. She lost everything but Nod because of it. She knew exactly how he felt, possibly even more. So no, he couldn't get mad at her for worrying, for following him, for wanting the best for him. Ronin sighed for the nth time that day.

"Addie, I'm-"

"It's okay." She smiled up at him as they exited Nim's tree. "It's okay. You don't have to say it. I know what you're going through and I know you need the space. It's just I... get worried. You and Nod are all I have now."

With that gentle yet sad smile on her face, she rested her hand oh his cheek again. "Just know that we love you, Ronin. Nod and I will always love you so don't you ever feel alone. We've both lost something dear to us, but for them, we have to keep living. Okay?"

She stepped back and turned away heading back to the medical ward where she was needed. Ronin couldn't say anything after she left. He never could when she talked to him like that. She was right. They only had each other now. He had to pull himself together. But the regrets and grief from his, no, their loss, still weighed down on him. With a heavy heart, he called for his trusted bird and rode to the borders to begin patrol.

Ronin's character immediately struck a chord in me and i just had to make a story based on him. :D Hope you felt the feels reading it as much as I did when writing it!

Was he too OOC? I'm worried :I