Nod screamed suddenly, making Ronin jump. He looked down at the boy who had been sitting on his foot while he folded clothes to put away, and Nod looked up at him for a moment, then held his arms up as if he wanted to be held, but as soon as Ronin picked him up, he started to squirm restlessly and cry.

"Buddy, I don't know what you need," Ronin set the boy on his feet on the bed, "are you hungry?"

Ronin tried the sign for hungry; maybe signing would work where words weren't. The boy continued to cry.

"Thirsty?" Ronin tried that sign as well.

Nod plopped down in the middle of the pile of folded clothes, sobbing and holding onto Cheep-Cheep.

"Maybe naptime," Ronin raised his eyebrows.

Nod had eaten lunch not that long ago and gotten bits of boiled cattail all over his blanket. He had thrown a fit when Ronin had taken it off to put into the clothes hamper. It had taken the offer of seed cake to calm him down, and he was back to just being in his under short and slippers, not at all interested in getting dressed.

The boy probably could use a nap if Ronin could get him to sleep. Stress had always worn Nod out, and he was certainly stressed.

Nod grabbed a handful of clothes and threw them at Ronin with a high pitched whine, frustrated that Ronin didn't know what he wanted, or maybe just frustrated in general. Ronin caught his wrist gently when he tried to throw a second round.

"No throwing," Ronin said calmly, taking the sweater from Nod's grasp.

Nod looked up at him in surprise, then started crying again.

"Chickadee, I really wish I knew how to help you," Ronin sat on the bed beside him, rubbing his back.

Nod sniffled and rubbed his arm across his eyes, looking around the room unhappily. Suddenly, he lunged across Ronin's lap with a whine, reaching for the sweater Ronin was still holding. Ronin let him have it. Nod stayed sprawled across Ronin's lap, sniffing at the sweater and rubbing his cheek against it, cooing softly.

It was actually one of his favorite sweaters. It was fox-red and had a hood with black tipped ears on it. Maybe it was a good sign that he seemed to recognize it. Nod examined it, turning it over in his hands, feet kicking in the air and slippers jingling. He came across the hood with the ears and gave a happy little fox whine.

"Do you want to wear that Nod?" Ronin rested a cautious hand on his back.

The boy continued to play with it for a moment longer, then rolled onto his back and held it up to Ronin.

"Sit up for me," Ronin took the sweater from him and sat him up.

Nod held his arms above his head expectantly, and Ronin grinned, putting the sweater on him. The boy sat cross-legged for a few minutes, examining his arms in the sleeves. He pulled his hands into the sleeves and made little puppets out of them, then reached back and fumbled to get his hood up. Ronin helped him set it straight on his head.

Nod looked around the room again, as if it looked different now that he had his hood up, then slid off the bed with a fox bark and crawled under it, taking Cheep-Cheep with him.

Ronin shook his head in amazement and went back to folding clothes.

Nod had been quiet for almost half an hour, and Ronin ducked down to check on him under the bed. He found the boy asleep, thumb in his mouth and other hand wrapped around his lotus lock. He was using his stuffed chickadee as a pillow. If he hadn't been so worried about waking him and electing another round of screaming, Ronin would have pulled him out and tucked him into bed where he would have been more comfortable.

Instead, Ronin took advantage of the nap to go to his study and write both Glory and Orla. Hopefully, Glory would be able to help Ronin figure out Nod's strange behavior and how to help him, plus she should have met with a member of the Child Advocacy Commission by now and would know more about what their thoughts were for Nod's future.

The Child Advocacy Commission was an organization commissioned by the queen and charged with the welfare of any child who didn't have a family or guardian. Orphaned children without relatives automatically became wards of the crown, as did children who had relatives incapable of taking them, and it was the commission's responsibility to place them permanently with a family. There generally wasn't any shortage of families who were willing to adopt children, so it was just a matter of finding the family that would be best for the child.

Ronin knew Nod had been assigned two advocates when he had been found, but he hadn't had any direct contact with them yet. Nod's situation and condition were completely unheard of, so the advocates had been relying heavily on Glory's recommendations for how they proceeded with him. Glory had recommended that Nod be kept with Ronin, and the advocates hadn't seen any need to dispute that.

Ronin would need to start meeting with them soon though. He wanted to make sure he had a say in when and how Nod was placed with his new family. He also wanted a say in who that family was. After what had happened with Barnet, Ronin wasn't willing to trust Nod to a stranger again.

With that in mind, Ronin picked up his quill to start a letter to Nod's advocates. He would also need to submit an official report on Nod going missing the day before. Finn would probably file one, but Ronin had been the one who had dealt with Barnet most directly, and he had headed the search parties. He also wanted to make sure that the Commission had Barnet officially declared an unfit guardian.

Ronin still couldn't believe the man hadn't thought it necessary to report that a seven year old had gone missing. Actually, he couldn't believe Barnet hadn't realized he needed to keep a close eye on a child who was obviously extremely distraught by the entire transition, and Barnet hadn't even seemed to care…

Ronin grumbled in frustration when he realized he had blotted ink all over his letter. He dropped his quill in the ink jar and crumpled the paper up, tossing it irritable across the room in the direction of his trash can.

He should have had the bastard arrested and held on charges of child neglect, but if Barnet had stayed, Ronin might have beaten him to a pulp. He would have to leave it up to the advocates to decide if they wanted to charge him with anything. It wasn't like they didn't know where he would be. Barnet appeared far too fond of his wealth to leave it any time soon.

Just as Ronin was picking up another sheet of paper, he heard shuffling in the hall.

"I'm in the study chickadee," he called.

Nod appeared in the doorway, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"Did you have a good nap buddy?"Ronin asked.

Nod blinked at him, then started scolding him with angry chirps and whistles.

"I don't know if that's a yes or a no," Ronin held his arms out to him.

Nod trotted over to him and climbed into his lap facing him, continuing to scold.

"I know you're upset kiddo," Ronin tucked Nod's hair under his hood and out of his eyes, "I'm just not sure how to make it better."

Nod huffed and folded his arms across his chest with a pout.

"We've still got a while until dinner, but how about a snack?" Ronin tried, giving the sign for food, "we have some strawberry dumplings left."

The boy continued to pout at him.

"Let's try dumplings," Ronin stood up, taking Nod with him.

Nod ate his fruit dumplings sitting sullenly on the kitchen counter. When Ronin tried to put away the box, the boy snatched it back from him and jumped down, running down the hall with it. Nod seemed to have forgotten he had a cupboard to keep his food in. The boy seemed to have forgotten an alarming number of things, and Ronin could only hope Glory would be able to make it over soon.