"Maybe you should dress up a bit," Ronin said, staring at Nod through slightly narrowed eyes.

Nod was taking off his armor and setting it in his slot at the Leafmen base. "What for?" Nod asked, feigning ignorance.

"Nod," Ronin admonished him. "You have to do it tonight. This could be your only chance. I'm not sure you understand how serious thi-"

"Not sure I understand?! Ronin, this is my life. Getting engaged is one of the biggest decisions anyone ever makes! I just want to be sure. I'm trying to be as serious as possible!" Nod fired back, releasing the leaf curtain that served as a door to his armor locker.

"That's what I'm saying! Look presentable. To show MK that you mean business. I'll head over before you get there and maybe put a bug in her ear that she should dress up as well. She'd feel dumb if you got there and she was more underdressed than you." Ronin reasoned, closing up his armor locker as well.

Nod sighed and rubbed his hand over his face. He glanced at Ronin with a bit of a puppy-dog look in his eyes.

Ronin sighed as well and scrunched up his mouth in deliberation. "Nod, I know this is nerve wracking. Maybe you don't have to propose tonight. But you have to do it soon, and you definitely have to tell her how you feel tonight," Ronin said seriously.

Nod looked away. "What if she doesn't feel the same way?" he asked nervously.

Ronin glared at Nod in a 'You've GOT to be kidding me' fashion. He smacked Nod on the back of the head lightly. "Of course she feels the same way, you git!"

Ronin then briefly massaged Nod's hair. "Now go home and get ready. Ask your mother's advice, she'll know what to do," he ordered.

Nod nodded, a bit annoyed for being patronized so firmly. "See ya," he said goodbye, and exited the Leafmen base.

This was completely nerve wracking. But he'd just have to.. suck it up. If MK didn't feel the same way.. then he guessed that this was just all for naught then. He wouldn't have to worry about MK rejecting his proposal. But if she did feel the same way.. a loveydovey smile appeared at Nod's face. He was head over heels for MK. And he adored Alisia to the moon and back. Being around her as she grew up.. would be a dream come true, honestly. Being a family with the woman he loved? It's what every man dreams about.

Nod set Zeeba down in front of his house and removed her saddle. He set it outside his door. Zeeba had a family too. Being a Leafman's ride was just her 'day job'. She'd come back again when he called her in the morning.

Nod opened his front door and strode into the house. "Mom, I'm home," he called, his brown eyes searching the room for his mother.

"Hi honey!" Violet's voice sounded somewhat distant, she was probably in her bedroom. "Come in here for a second?" she asked.

Nod followed the sound of Violet's voice into her room. She was standing in front of her dresser, cradling something in her hand.
"Mom?" Nod said quizzically.

Violet looked up and smiled. "Ah, there you are," she greeted him. "Come here, I have something for you," Violet said mystically.

Nod approached her curiously and Violet smiled encouragingly. "I talked to MK today," she began, "And when the time is ready, I want you to give this to her."

From her palm, Violet produced a ring. The band was a vine stiffened by starch, and the 'stone' was cut amber. That's what was used as diamonds in the leaf kingdom. As far as rings go, this was a beautiful one.

"Mom," Nod stared at Violet and the ring in awe. "This was yours..are you.. sure?"

"I'm sure, Nod. I know what she means to you, and what you to her," Violet assured softly.

Nod chuckled. "Is it that obvious?" he laughed.

Violet laughed with him. "When it's real, it always is!" She placed her hands on her tall son's shoulders and stood on her tip toes to kiss his cheek. "I am so very proud of you Nod," she whispered.

Nod tried to stop the tears from welling in his eyes, but he really couldn't help it. He'd always hated the fact that he cried so easy. "Thanks, Mom," he thanked her, trying to sound as manly as possible.

Violet laughed, wiping the tears away from Nod's face and then her own. "Now, I understand it that you are going to Mary Katherine's tonight?"

Nod laughed and pocketed the ring. "Yup," he affirmed.

"Well, dress nice and go get her, tiger!" Violet patted Nod's cheek with laughing words.

Nod smiled and went to his room. "Dress nice.." he thought, and looked around his room.

"How?" He'd never needed to dress up for anything in his life! Except.. there was his dad's end of life celebration. But he doubted the clothes from when he was seven would still fit. While Nod was turning in circles, staring at his room in bewilderment, he heard a knock at his doorway.

"Nod?"

Nod turned and his mom came in, clothes in her arms. She laid them down on his bed. "I thought you might want these," Violet said with a knowing smile. Then she added kind of sadly, "They were your father's."

Nod sadly smiled back at her and went to putting them on.

MK

It was nearly suppertime when I heard a knock at my door. I was on the floor playing with Alisia, and then I heard it. "Looks like they're here, Lissy!" I smiled at her, my heart alight with anticipation. I went and threw open the door, hoping to see Nod. It was Ronin. My heart fell, but only slightly. "Oh, hi Ronin!" I greeted him with a smile. "I thought you might be-"

"Nod?" Ronin cut in with a grin, "Yeah, I bet you hoped so," he teased me.

I folded my arms and cocked my head at him. "Whatever do you mean?" I asked coyly.

Ronin strode across the floor and carefully picked up Alisia. "Oh, cut it. You know!" he said, tickling Alisia.

I scrunched my face up and ran my hand along my ponytail. "Is it that obvious?" I asked, feeling a bit silly.

Ronin laughed. "To everyone but yourselves," he answered wisely.

The longer I looked at him the more I realized how … fancy… he looked. He was wearing his white General's jacket, and that was usually reserved for special occasion.

"Where's the party?" I asked curiously, noting his formal duds.

"We thought we'd make tonight special. Maybe you just dress accordingly as well," Ronin hinted.

"Special? What?" I laughed, a little confused.

"It's fine, we just haven't really had a celebration, you know? A 'welcome' party, if you will," Ronin supplemented.

"Ah, so that's it," I played along, still not buying it exactly. I backed up towards the stairs, heading up to change. There was no way that Ronin could know that I was planning on talking to Nod tonight.. could he?

"Just go and get ready, Alisia is fine with me," Ronin said, sitting down on the couch and placing Alisia on his lap.

"Alright," I said, and bounded up the stairs. No matter how old I was, I always still raced myself to the top. I burst into my room, which was a bit more cluttered than when I inherited it, but still clean. I sat on my bed, staring a little nervously around my room. What should I wear? Special.. something special. I wanted to look great, as great as I could when I told Nod how I felt. I ruffled through my closet. Should I wear something of his Mom's? Mhm, maybe not. I leafed through until I found one that just felt right. It was an elegant dress made from pale pink petals. I sighed in relief as I put it on. It looked really good.

I scrunched my mouth up in frustration. Now what to do with my hair. I went to lean in front of the pool of water I kept as a looking glass in my room. I'm sure there were mirror shards around here somewhere.. I just didn't have one.

I took my ponytail out, and my shoulder length reddish brown hair fell down. I couldn't just leave it like that.. I put my hands around it, drawing it up once again. Suddenly I got an idea. I grabbed around my vanity table for some small flowers. More clover, really. But they had flexible stems and pretty white flowers on the end. I did some finagling with them in my hair, and.. viola! Half of my hair was done up in a bun at the back of my head, and the other half was laying at my shoulders still. The underside was just curly enough to be cute. But I was still just a little nervous. I carefully treaded downstairs, and when I reached the end of stairs, I stepped out into the living room. To my surprise, Nod was already there, sitting on the couch with Ronin and Alisia.

"Oh!" I emitted in surprise. "Hi Nod, I didn't hear you come in," I said.

Nod and Ronin immediately stood when they noticed my presence, awestruck looks on their faces.

"Wow," Nod whispered. "You look..beautiful."

I blushed deep purple and stared shyly at the ground, but then I got the courage to look at him and notice what he was wearing. He had on a black vest over a white shirt, with black plants.

"Not too shabby yourself, there, Lieutenant Handsome!" I teased him.

"Actually, I'm the Official Royal Protector now," Nod answered me, taking my hand and kneeling with a smile before he stood back up.

My shoulders slacked in excited shock before wrapping my arms around Nod in a congratulatory hug. "Aw, really!? I'm so happy for you, Nod!" I exclaimed happily, but then a thought popped into my head that confused me in the slightest. "Wait a second," I turned to Ronin, "Ronin, I thought you were the Royal Protector?"

"Well, every Queen has her own protector. I was Tara's. Usually the Queen chooses for herself, when she's old enough, but before then someone is appointed. For now, call us partners," Ronin explained with a gentle smile.

I smiled at Nod. "Well, that's great, Nod." This news thrilled me. If he was Alisia's official protector.. then we would be together a lot more.

Ronin swooped Alisia around a little, smiling at her delighted shrieks. "I thought maybe we'd go to Nim's?" he suggested. "The special for tonight is pumpkin risotto."

I raised my eyebrows. I'd never heard of that dish before. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss a good hamburger or a steak. We didn't eat a lot of meat down here. It wasn't really part of their culture to kill a chipmunk or a squirrel, but sometimes it did happen and we ate it then. Such an occasion hadn't happened while I was here yet, I had just heard stories from Ronin.

"Sure," I agreed with a smile. "Sounds great." I took Alisia from Ronin and balanced her on my hip. "I'll just get the diaper bag and everything and be right out," I said. Nod and Ronin went out to wait with their birds and I rushed around, putting everything in the bag. "Tonight's the night, Lissy," I whispered to my daughter. "I have to tell Nod how I feel today." I laughed and kissed her on the nose. "I just can't handle hiding it anymore."

I slung the diaper bag on my other shoulder and carried Alisia outside. The sun was just setting, it was beautiful. Nod looked like a knight on a white horse, outlit by the sunset. He'd fastened his baby seat onto his saddle, and I strapped Alisia into it. I carefully climbed onto the saddle and put my arms around Nod's waist.

"Ready?" Nod asked me with a smile.

"Yep, we're good," I answered him, and Zeeba took off into the air.

The ride to Nim's was relatively short, and Nim was thrilled to see us. He made all the drinks in the house free for an hour in honor of Alisia's presence.

We sat at a table in the balcony, and when the pumpkin risotto arrived, I eyed it carefully.

Nod noticed my odd glances and laughed. "What are you looking at?"

I shook my head with a smirk. "I was just thinking of hamburgers," I said just a tad wistfully.

Nod looked amused. "What's that?" he asked.

I took a bite into my risotto and surprisingly, it was really good. Sweet yet kind of tangy. "Well, it's meat from a cow," I explained.

Ronin looked puzzled. "What's a cow?"

I tilted my head a little bit. "Right, I guess there aren't any cows in the woods. It's an animal, kind of the size of a deer, but much fatter, and it could be brown, or white and black. They make milk and then you can harvest them and get beef," I explained.

"Mhm," Nod made a sound of understanding as he bit into his risotto. As I stared at him, I noticed that he looked kind of nervous.

Alisia made a whiny sound and reached for my risotto.

"Do you want a bite, Lissy?" I cooed at her, spooning some risotto into her mouth. Nod, Ronin and I watched carefully for her reaction.

Alisia kind of scrunched her face up to the sweet taste and stuck her tongue out, pumpkin all over it. We laughed.

"You don't like it?" I asked her after laughing.

Nod and Ronin started to talk about work a little bit and I'd ask questions here and there. We had a good dinner, but my gaze was constantly drawn to Nod. I had to tell him tonight. When should I do it? I didn't want to do it with Ronin right here, that would be super awkward.

"MK?" a voice brought me out of my thoughts. "MK, hello in there?" It was Nod.

I snapped out of it. "Oh what?" I laughed. "Sorry, I zoned out there for a second."

"Ronin said somebody was shooting off fireworks. Do you want to go see them?" Nod asked me, standing. "We can see them from the balcony."

I looked nervously at Alisia. "Alisia hates loud noises.." I said, deliberating. I wanted to go see them, but Alisia cried when something too loud happened. Like when she knocks her food bowl on the floor and it clangs. Or thunder, gosh she hates thunder.

Ronin crossed into Nod's seat, which was next to Alisia's. "I'll stay here with her," Ronin convinced me, "She'll be fine, you two go."

I smiled gratefully at Ronin. Nod offered his hand and I took it. He escorted me to the balcony, and I felt like a couple in one of those old time movies. We were some of the few people on the balcony, and the fireworks hadn't started yet.

We walked to the edge of the balcony and Nod let go of my hand as I leaned against the railing, looking up at the stars. "It's beautiful," I whispered breathlessly, marveling at the night sky. I thought that the sky would look different from down here.. but it really didn't. But then again, even when I was a stomper, I always felt small when I looked at the stars.

I glanced at Nod and found that he was looking at me with a small smile on his face. "Yeah," he agreed, "It really is."

I blushed lightly and Nod cleared his throat.

"Nod—" I started.

"MK, I—" We both started talking at the same time.

I giggled and Nod rubbed the back of his neck with his hands. "Ladies first," he said with a smile.

This was it. My heart was racing at a thousand beats per second. "Okay, promise you won't judge me?" I asked nervously.

Nod laughed. "I promise."

"Okay," I took a deep breath. "The thing is Nod, my time down here.. it's been the best experience of my life. I love everything about this kingdom. The people, the scenery, Moonhaven, Nim's.. choosing to stay here and raise Alisia was the best decision I've ever made."

Nod listened carefully, a smile on his face, but he looked a little nervous, like he was expecting a 'but'. And it was coming.

"But," I continued. "I think.. that my favorite thing about being down here.. is you. I really, really like you Nod.. and I'm tired of hiding it. I didn't want things to be weird or awkward between us—"

Nod's face lit up like the stars above us, and he took his face in my hands. His lips inched closer to mine and when they met—that's when the first firework went off.

"Mary Katherine," he whispered, his face close to mine, "I have wanted to do that since the first day I found out you were staying, and every day since then."

My mouth opened in an 'o' of surprise, and my heart soared. I placed a hand on Nod's jaw and kissed him again. He wrapped his arms around me and picked me up, twirling me on a balcony in the night time, fireworks going off above our heads.

Well guys! Sorry, this chapter was probably confusing, what with the 3rd and 1st mixed and everything, but I really love writing from Nod and Ronin's point of view—I might do that more often, maybe. I've never really written romance between two humans before.. and never quite experienced it myself, really… so I hope I did alright! Review and tell me how you liked it! I know Nod didn't propose right then, but it's coming, don't worry. 3

Much love!

Xoxo

Erin!