Emotional support

The boy's eyes widened with panic and then he froze.

Fiona found herself moving unconsciously towards the boy until she was standing directly in front of him and shielding with her body.

Neither of them moved or spoke for several seconds.

Fiona stared at the boy and briefly saw herself as a child. She remembered the day when she lost her childish innocence and learned that real evil existed in the world.

There had been no one to shield her but she could do at least that much for this child.

No child should ever have to go through life alone without emotional support.

She found herself wanting to be a champion for the boy's cause, surely whatever he had done could not warrant Gritzl's outrage.

Gritzl was so hopping mad that the moment he turned his back for a second the boy managed to escape him.

"Get away from him, that boy is a menace. It was he who stabbed you in the outhouse," shouted Gritzl. He wagged his finger at the boy in a threatening manner.

"He was the creature," she replied with shock and was shaking like a leaf.

Now it was Fiona's turn to feel just as outraged as Gritzl was but on the boy's behalf.

It was unconscionable what the child had been through.

She didn't know the poor child's reasons for hiding in the outhouse but what made her mad was that no one else in this whole world seemed to care.

Everyone had ignored the child and he was treated worse than an animal.

It broke her heart that he had been abandoned at an early age and left to fend for himself which in her mind was a despicable act.

Nothing rang more true than a popular saying from her homeland that it takes a village to raise a child but at Thornwyck no one cared and it grieved her so much.

That bile rushed up her throat made her want to gag, not even beasts of burden were treated so poorly.

In her eyes it was deplorable the conditions the youth was living under.

For who knows how long, it was easier for her to forgive the child for lashing out at a stranger in that manner.

"Who ordered the boy to be taken care of?" she asked.

Thinking that maybe it was Glenda, the only good natured person she encountered so far that would probably have begged for something to be done about the boy.

"You think I would be doing this for anyone else obviously it was the master," he shrugged. "As to why he took pity on this wet rat is beyond me."

"It..it was Tiamat," she stammered.

She was so shocked to hear those words coming from Gritzl's mouth. Tiamat was so demanding of those that served under him.

Fiona did not think that he would waste time on an under malnourished pitiful looking child.

She could practically still see the boy's ribs sticking out; he probably hadn't eaten a proper meal in days.

He came over and grabbed the boy by the neck. "I'm not done with you yet, you're coming with me."

The boy started kicking and punching air until he realized that wasn't working for him.

He smartly changed tactics and started biting Gritzl's hand with his mouth while one of his hands started reaching for the sword at Gritzl's hips.

Gritzl let go of the boy's neck and quickly spun him around for a chokehold when he caught on to what the boy was after.

"Stop the unnecessary fussing especially in the presence of a lady, you're making this harder than it needs to be," he said sternly to the boy that paid him no heed.

Gritzl felt helpless even though he was an adult he was an only child and he felt out of his depth and helpless around a little kid.

He wasn't used to his commands being ignored and he knew what he would have done if it was a grown man.

Of course the boy ignored his commands but just what were the repercussions supposed to be for a rebellious child.

Gritzl was out of his depth and he felt exasperated with himself and the child.

Fiona started towards them the only thing on her mind was helping the child he was obviously terrified of adults when it should be the other way around. She had to help.

No one paid her any attention, especially not Gritzl whose intention was not to hurt the child but to get him to fall in line just like any good soldier would.

Still he knew half of his problems with the child was because he didn't understand that Gritzl wasn't a threat to him and poor Gritzl didn't know how to relate his intentions to the child.

The soldier never even considered asking Fiona for her help; this was a man to man problem as far as he was concerned.

The boy needed to learn and adapt to the ways of the world if he planned to continue living at Thornwyck.

He wished Fiona would leave and mind her own business perhaps if she wasn't there he would have given the boy a well deserved spanking for his rudeness.

It was how his own father handled him whenever he got out of line and he saw nothing wrong with it.

Fiona's eyes filled with tears at what she witnessed that she didn't even hear herself pleading with Gritzl to put the boy down.

"Please he will be my responsibility from now on, just put him down," she cried as she tugged on Gritzl's hands that strongarmed the child and had him dangling in the air.

The boy was shocked at her kindhearted words he had never had anyone come to his defense before.

Only when the boy seemed to stop struggling and the fight left him at the sound of the sincerity in Fiona's words did Gritzl release him.

He would never say it but Gritzl was quite frankly relieved at this point.

"See that the boy get's into no mischief while I relate your whims to the master," Gritzl ordered before he turned around and walked away briskly leaving the odd pair alone.

*special thanks to Casey_Robbins_4584 for the encouragement and the support*