The pieces do be falling into place now! Really liked how Siobhan displayed her innate tenacity/aptitude but also knew her only way to win was to get Grandfather back here. Even this young she finds ways to surprise those more powerful than herself.
I did find this part took me out of the story for a moment to check id understood all the negatives correctly:
Claudio lunged at her, and she smacked him with the root end of the stick. It did absolutely nothing that one might not have expected a dead piece of wood to do, and Claudio paused for a moment in surprise.
Could just be tiredness impeding my comprehension but that sentence is tripping me up every time I read it so far.