The next day felt unbearably long to Ronin. Nod had cried from the moment Ronin got up until he left, and he had tried to pull his armor out of Ronin's hands while he was getting ready. Ronin had had to stop what he was doing when Nod had tried to grab his sword and force the boy to sit on the couch until he stopped flailing.

Nod could not touch Ronin's weapons. That was the one rule Ronin couldn't afford to hold off on enforcing. The sign for 'no touching' had been one of the first ones Ronin had taught Nod, and after a few repetitions, they hadn't had any trouble with Nod trying to pick up or play with Ronin's weapons.

Ronin had tried the sign with Nod, but he wasn't sure he had understood. Once Ronin had let him off the couch, he had followed him back to the weapons cabinet, whining and grumbling, but he hadn't tried to grab Ronin's weapons or armor again.

Ronin had still had to pry him off his leg to leave, and left him sitting on the floor screaming and looking for things to throw. Ronin hated that Nod was so unhappy, and he hated that there was nothing he could really do to fix it.

Even when Ronin was home, Nod was cranky and uncooperative. Ronin had come home for lunch, and the boy had refused to come out from under his blanket, instead sitting on Ronin's foot under the table while they ate. Ronin leaving afterwards had been a repeat of the morning, minus Nod grabbing for Ronin's weapons thankfully.

And now the afternoon seemed like it would never end. Ronin had been scheduled to go out on patrol, but Finn had asked to switch with him, saying he needed to get out for a while and do something besides paperwork. Suspicious though Ronin was of his motives, it was hard to say no to Finn after he had covered so often for Ronin in the last few weeks.

It left Ronin with the paperwork though. When Ronin had first been promoted to second-in-command of the Leafmen, he had had no idea how much paperwork the general did. General Niraj had been happy to give him ample experience in doing it though. It was a necessary evil that allowed them to keep records, track problems, and track people, but the people who enjoyed doing it were few and far between.

After two hours of sitting at his desk and getting almost nothing done, Ronin gave up. He could do paperwork at home as easily as he could do it in his office. He dumped it all into a satchel, let the hall guard know where he could be reached if he was needed, and went home.

He was only home a few hours early, but dinner that night was much easier. By the time they ate, Nod had calmed down and actually sat on Ronin's lap at the table. He was still eating with his fingers, but at least he wasn't under the table. Bath time was wet, and Nod refused to wear the pajamas Ronin had picked out for him, instead tearing apart his drawers until he found his blue stripped sweater with the tasseled hood. He didn't want Ronin's help putting it on, and he didn't want to wear his slippers, not even the ones with bells, but at least he finally submitted to putting on his green pajama pants (not the brown ones, only the green ones).

Ronin worked in his study for a while after bath time, and Nod curled up with a blanket under his desk, occasionally immerging to get more toys and bring them back. By the time the boy finally fell asleep, there was almost no room for Ronin's feet under his desk.

Still, it was a better night then the night before, if only a little.

The next morning was not better. Nod woke up when Ronin pulled his arm out from under his head to get out of bed and tumbled off the mattress, scrambling for the front door. Ronin followed and found Nod had planted himself in front of it. The boy glared up at him as he approached, growling menacingly.

Ronin thought about giving up right then, sending a message to Finn that he wasn't coming in, and going back to bed and seeing if Nod crawled back under the blankets with him.

That wasn't exactly something the general could do though.

"I'm going to go make breakfast," Ronin told the boy, making the sign for 'hungry'.

Nod glared up at him, showing no sign of moving, so Ronin left him there and went to the kitchen. Ronin made acorn mash for himself, but didn't relish the idea of cleaning it off of his front door if Nod decided he would rather play with it than eat it, so he toasted up a few slices of bread and brought them out for Nod to snack on.

The boy had slid down to sit with his back to the door and was dozing off, but he jerked awake at Ronin's approach, scrambling to his feet and growling again. He barked when Ronin got too close to the door.

"Toast," Ronin held out a slice.

Nod looked between Ronin and the toast suspiciously, then snatched it from him, sitting down to eat. He glanced up at Ronin every now and then to make sure he hadn't gotten too close to the front door.

Ronin watched him for a moment, contemplating the best way to grab him without getting bitten when Orla came and needed to be let in.

"This is going to be fun," Ronin grumbled and went to go get dressed.

It wasn't fun. At all. Ronin had had to hold Nod screaming and kicking under his arm like a piece of luggage to open the door for Orla, and as soon as he had put the boy back on his feet, he had darted back between them and the door and tried to push Ronin away from it.

Apparently, Nod had had it with Ronin leaving when he wanted him to stay.

Getting out the door had been a challenge, and in the end, Orla had taken Nod down to Ronin's bedroom and shut both of them in so Ronin could leave. He had left to the sound of Nod screaming and pounding on the bedroom door.

He was almost late by the time he got to his office to grab the reports he needed for the morning meeting.

"Ronin, go home."

"Excuse me?" Ronin looked up to find Finn standing in his office door and was slightly baffled.

His first thought was that something had happened to Nod, but he had only just left him, and there was no reason Finn would have heard about it before Ronin did.

"Go home," Finn said, folding his arms over his chest, "if it were any of our captains and something like this had happened to one of their children, you would not even consider letting them back on duty this soon. They would be too distracted, and it would be too dangerous for them and their unit."

Ronin wasn't sure whether to protest that he wasn't distracted or that Nod wasn't his child.

"Finn, I can't just…" Ronin started.

"Go home," Finn repeated again, "don't make me get the queen in on it."

Technically, Finn could override him on the battlefield if he felt it was necessary, although he never had, but off the battlefield only the queen could remove a general from duty. If Finn was willing to bring Tara into it, then he must have really felt there was a problem.

Ronin rubbed the bridge of his nose. He wanted to be home with Nod, but he was also general. He couldn't just take time off whenever he wanted.

"You know Nod is going to do better with you home for a while," Finn pressed, "and you could use a break too."

Ronin hesitated a moment longer, then shook his head and pushed back from his desk, "alright. If there are any emergencies let me know."

"Will do," Finn nodded, "see you in a week."

"A week?" Ronin stopped on his way out the door.

"Don't even start," Finn grumbled, "I'm already going to be late."

Ronin snorted softly, "thanks Finn."

Ronin waved and headed home. He wasn't sure Nod would be happy to see him, but he would be less unhappy with him home than he was with him gone.