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“Stella, ella, ola…”
“No!” Nod laughed, “those aren’t the right words!”
“Are you sure?”Ronin gave the child a skeptical look.
“Yes!” Nod giggled, “it’s stella, stella, shine,”
“If you say so,” Ronin agreed, “but that’s not how it went in Sweetfern.”
“It’s right, it’s right!” Nod hopped up and down, “Miss Orla said so!”
“Well, if Miss Orla said so, then that must be right,” Ronin grinned.
“Start from the beginning!” Nod held his hands out expectantly.
Orla and Marne had started teaching Nod children’s games, and now he wanted to play them all the time. It had been centuries since Ronin had played any of them, and frankly, he was surprised children still played them at all, never mind the change in lyrics.
Ronin started the game again, this time getting the words right, much to Nod’s delight. There had been a few hours of gap between Orla watching Nod in the morning and when Marne could pick him up for his tutoring, so Ronin had taken him with him to his office. Now they were just waiting in the rookery for Marne to pick Nod up before Ronin left with a patrol for the afternoon.
Nod had plenty of ideas about how he wanted to be entertained while they waited. Apparently, there were dozens, if not hundreds, of singing games that the boy wanted Ronin to know all the words to. While he was happy Nod was so excited about them, excited enough that he actually wanted to play them with other children, not just Ronin, the songs got stuck in Ronin’s head for days.
“There’s Mrs. Marne,” Ronin broke off the sixth or seventh round of the game, pointing to where she was coming down the spiral staircase.
Nod waved happily to her, then turned back to Ronin, “when will you be home?”
“I’ll try to be home for dinner,” Ronin tugged him closer, kissing his cheek.
“Can we have honey brittle for dinner?” Nod asked.
“What was that?” Ronin tickled the boy’s sides, making him shriek with laughter, “what are we having for dinner?”
“Honey brittle!” Nod gasped between laughter.
“What’s for dinner?” Ronin continued to tickle him, planting sloppy kisses on his face, refusing to let him go despite his squirming.
“Dinner! Dinner!” Nod shrieked breathlessly.
“How about mushroom soup,” Ronin relented with a laugh.
“Then honey brittle,” Nod giggled.
“You are a honey brittle monster,” Ronin rolled his eyes and gave him a hard hug and another kiss on the cheek, “I’ll see you tonight.”
“Come home safe,” Nod returned the hug and kiss.
“I’ll do my best,” Ronin let him go and stood up, “have fun with Mrs. Marne.”
“She said I get to read a new story, and then she’ll teach me more songs,” Nod bounced excitedly.
“Oh good,” Ronin said dryly.
Nod turned back to wave twice as he left with Marne, and something very much like pride stirred in Ronin. This was not the same boy who had had to be pried away from him kicking and screaming every time he left. Not every day was a good day, but Nod was exponentially happier and exponentially braver now that he knew his home would always be with Ronin.
“Stella, stella, shine…”
Ronin turned to glare at Finn, who was already mounted and looking innocent, “shut-up.”
Finn laughed and started whistling the tune instead. Ronin groaned and mounted up. He needed to teach Nod some new games, preferably ones that didn’t involve singing.