"…unit had a run in with a boggan group," Ronin reported, "no casualties. They attacked one of the harvest caravans."
"First signs of spring I suppose," Queen Tara sighed, "increase the escorts with the harvesters."
"Yes your majesty," Ronin nodded, "we also have the option of waiting a few more weeks before sending out the caravans. Our supplies are still stable, and it would save us a few rounds of fighting to let the boggans settle down."
The boggans disappeared for the winter. Where they went, no one was quite sure, although there were rumors that they hibernated. They certainly popped up at the beginning of spring as grumpy as a bear waking from its winter nap. If the jinn's stores were still strong at the end of winter, it often made more sense for the jinn to just let the boggans be for a few weeks. There wasn't much they could rot with the snow still just melting off, and it spared the Leafmen a few skirmishes and casualties.
"Let's…."
"Queen Tara!" Nod sprang out of the underbrush of the queen's chamber, running up to her.
"Yes sweetie?" Tara smiled, crouching down in front of him.
"I found a shiny rock," Nod held a blue stone out to her, "it's for you. It's really pretty!"
Nod still liked coming with Ronin for his evening debriefings with the queen. Since he had started talking, it was even less efficient having him along, but he really loved seeing the queen and playing in her inner chamber. Ronin didn't bring him all the time, but it was good for him to be out and interacting with people besides Ronin and Orla.
"Thank you honey," Tara took it from him, kissing his cheek, "it's beautiful."
"I'll find you more!" Nod said enthusiastically, racing off into the underbrush again.
"Nod, where are your shoes?" Ronin called after him.
"I don't need shoes!" Nod called back.
Ronin sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"Still no luck with getting him to keep those on huh?" Tara laughed softly.
"No," Ronin shook his head, "he'll keep his snow boots on if it's snowing, and he likes his slippers with the bells, but that's about it."
"It's not too cold in here," Tara slipped the stone Nod had given her into a pocket, "he should be fine."
"That's not really the point," Ronin grumbled, then cleared his throat, "anyway, we could wait to send out the first round of harvesters and avoid some conflict."
"Send out extra escorts with them for the next few days and continue monitoring the situation," Tara said, "if there's a lot of activity, we'll pull them back for another week or two."
"Yes your majesty," Ronin nodded.
"Have you spoken with Captain Dag yet about…?"
"Queen Tara!" Nod reappeared, racing up to her again.
"Did you find more?" Tara asked, leaning down to see.
"I found a buckle," the boy held it up for her to see.
It was a carved wooden buckle, probably off of a very nice woman's overcoat.
"You're so clever," Tara nuzzled her nose against his, making him laugh, "you should hold onto it."
Nod looked between the buckle and Ronin uncertainly. Nod was a magpie of a child sometimes, and Ronin had been trying to explain to him that sometimes the things he found had owners and should be returned to them.
"Can I?" Nod asked, "do we have to look for the person it belongs to first?"
"I don't think the owner will miss that one," Ronin told him.
"Okay!" Nod put the buckle in his pocket, "I'll go find more!"
"Find your shoes," Ronin called after him as he disappeared back under the leaves, "we're leaving soon."
"I don't need shoes!" Nod repeated.
"Yes you do," Ronin rolled his eyes, "there's still snow on the ground."
"You can carry me!" the boy called back.
"Not without shoes I'm not," Ronin countered.
"Okay!"
"Does that mean he's finding his shoes, or that he's alright with walking home barefoot in the snow?" Tara grinned.
"Both probably," Ronin snorted, "yes, I talked to Captain Dag. He has two units assigned to security for the immediate perimeter of the ball room, and there will be three extra units on duty for Moonhaven proper."
"That's probably a little overkill," Tara tipped her head to the side thoughtful.
"It is," Ronin agreed, "but by the time the First Bloom Festival happens, the graduating recruits will have just been assigned to their units. This is a good first assignment for them. Plus it doesn't hurt to be prepared."
"I found another shiny rock!" Nod yelled from somewhere in the tall grass to their left, "this one is green!"
"Find your shoes," Ronin repeated, then quirked a smile at Tara, "you hide those for him, don't you?"
"Of course," Tara laughed, "we'd never get anything done if I didn't."
"I found my shoes!" Nod announced, bursting back out of the grass, "but I can't wear them. Also this is for you."
He handed Tara a green stone.
"Thank you sweetie," she accepted the rock, giving him a hug, "why can't you wear your shoes?"
"I need them to carry things in," Nod held a shoe up so she could see.
There was an assortment of rocks, small flowers, and beads inside the shoe. The beads were from an old necklace Tara never wore. She was glad to find Nod liked them.
"You have pockets for that buddy," Ronin reminded him.
"Shoes are better," Nod told him, "that way I don't have to wear them."
Tara did her best to smother a laugh behind her hand. At least he boy was honest.
"It's too cold for you not to wear your shoes," Ronin knelt down and sat Nod on the ground so he could put his shoes back on.
"But, all the pretty things I found…" Nod hugged his shoes to his chest.
"Put them in your pockets," Ronin instructed.
"There's too many," Nod gave Ronin a heartbroken look.
Tara smiled and reached up, coaxing a leave to curl into a bowl shape, then plucking it off the plant.
"Here you go sweetie," she handed it to the boy, "you can carry them in it."
Nod brightened immediately, setting the leaf in his lap and empting his shoes into it. He was so happy to show Tara all the things he had found that he barely noticed Ronin brushing the dirt off his feet and putting his shoes back on.
"Is there anything else your majesty?" Ronin asked, helping Nod to his feet once his shoes were on.
"No," Tara shook her head, "have a good night general, and you too Nod."
"Goodnight!" Nod hugged her with one arm, his leaf bowl tucked securely in the crook of his other one.
"Goodnight your majesty," Ronin bowed, then took Nod's hand, listening contently as the boy chattered all the way home.
Ronin finished reading through the last patrol report and dropped it in a pile to be filed. As the weather warmed and more harvesters were going out, the Leafmen were getting busier. He was going to have to go back to working a full week soon. He had been putting off transitioning from the winter schedule because he knew Nod was going to be unhappy with him going back to only having one day a week off instead of two, but he couldn't put it off much longer.
It was easier now that Nod was talking, and they could actually explain things to him, but he was still going to be upset. Even now, the boy was prone to the occasional tantrum when he couldn't have what he wanted, particularly when he couldn't understand why.
Ronin was just reaching for the next stack of papers when there was a knock at his office door.
"Come in," he called.
"Hey Ronin," Nim pushed the door open, looking slightly less jovial than usual.
"Nim," Ronin greeted, "I don't see you here often. Hopefully it's with good news this time."
Last time Nim had shown up in Ronin's office it was to tell him there had been a major collapse in one of the tunnels that ran under the Stump, leaving them vulnerable to boggan attack.
"Little of both," Nim shrugged his upper arms, tapping a scroll against his leg with one of his lower hands, "what do you want first?"
"Bad news," Ronin said without hesitation.
"I found our little man finally," Nim held the scroll out to Ronin, "this is just a summary. His parents are dead, just like we suspected."
"What's his real name?" Ronin took the scroll, unrolling it.
It wasn't that surprising that Nod's parents were dead. Children didn't just disappear among the jinn. If his parents had been alive, they would have been looking for him, and the Leafmen would have heard about it.
"Arlen. He's seven, not six like Glory thought," Nim crossed two sets of arms and continued to gesture with the third, "his parents were named Soren and Lysette. You remember the village of Bolete?"
"Yes," Ronin's brow creased, "the boggans rotted it to the ground, no survivors, but that was almost two years ago now. He can't be from there, Nim. That would mean Nod was lost for almost a year and a half."
"He's a clever little guy," Nim shook his head, "clever and lucky."
"How did he survive?" Ronin's gut twisted at the thought of Nod having been anywhere near Bolete when the boggans razed it, "the boggans didn't leave anything alive."
"His dad saved him," Nim explained, "he was a member of the town guard. When the attack happened, his mom tried to hide with him in their root cellar, but a boggan found them and killed her. His dad got there in time to save Nod though. He tried to get out of the village with him, but he got taken down outside of it by a boggan arrow. When he fell, Nod hit his head and was knocked unconscious. The boggans thought he was dead as well and left him alone."
"And he woke up all alone after the village had been destroyed," Ronin concluded.
"Actually, a little before that," Nim shook his head, "he woke up while they were still rotting the village and got frightened and ran. It's a good thing he didn't cry or scream or the boggans would have seen him."
Ronin shuttered at the thought. It might be a good thing that Nod didn't seem to remember anything. He wasn't sure if telling Nod would help him remember, and if it did, it wouldn't be very easy on the boy to have those memories back.
"Does he have any other family?" Ronin asked.
"Well, that's the good news," Nim smiled, "he has a great-great uncle who lives in Willowbrook, Lord Barnet."
"Willowbrook is so far away," Ronin sighed.
He knew he should be happy that Nod had relatives, but a part of him had been hoping if they did find Nod's family, they would be close by, and Ronin would be able to visit regularly. It would have made the transition easier on Nod. Going to live far away with someone he had never met was going to frighten him.
"You'll just have to take time off more often so you can visit," Nim grinned.
Nim made it sound easy, but Ronin knew his time with his little chickadee was coming to an end.