Who Turned Off the Water?
Evening arrives and Crow, along with Cat and Knitten, have returned to Castle Reignith safe and sound before the sky could get too dark. He hands over the wagon of presents to the guards for delivery to the queen before heading toward his room with the others. Cat was feeling uneasy on the way back, insisting her senses were warning her that something must be wrong back at the castle.
There is some murmuring going on and worrying amongst several of the other castle workers, so Crow decides to find out what is going on.
He stops one of the guards to ask. Stopping the one results in stopping two, for they are the twin harlequin rabbit sisters, Marrow and Marla.
"What's all the fuss about?" he inquires.
"The water is in short supply!" Marla, with white fur covering the right side of her face and black fur covering the left, blurts out. "No more fresh water for the fish tank. No more water to grow the vegetables. No more clean laundry. And our watering bowls and bottles will go dry!"
"It is a mystery," Marrow, with black fur covering the right side of her face and white fur covering the left, says in a calm manner. "We are still trying to determine what could be causing it."
"It may be a problem with the supply pipes," Crow surmises. "I'll go check it out!"
Just then, another guard enters the room. He declares, "There is no more water. The river has run dry!"
The castle workers begin to panic, so Marrow and Marla go to help calm them down.
Cat says, "This must be what my senses were telling me. The castle and everyone in it are in danger and it's my job to save them! Along with you, of course, Crow, and you, Knitten."
Crow thinks for but a moment before it dawns on him, "Something must be blocking the river. That's why it's run dry. We should go and investigate!"
"Yay! Another road trip!" Knitten celebrates. "Let's go, go, go!"
"Not so fast," Crow says. "It's late, and we have to go prepared. And we shouldn't go alone. With the river winding through the wooded area, we could run into serious trouble."
It is agreed upon, so Crow goes to Marrow and Marla to tell them his plan and they agree to accompany him.
He says to Cat and Knitten, "We'll leave in the morning. They'll meet us by the main doors after breakfast, so for now let's go to my room and gather some supplies."
Back at his room, Crow rounds up a map of the kingdom, a directional compass, a box filled with bandages and other medical supplies in case someone gets hurt, some snacks, an extra set of clothing in case his get wet when they try to unblock the river, and a water bottle still filled with water from when he started his chores that morning. The bottle reminds him that he neglected his duties.
"I really haven't gotten much done today," he laments.
Cat says, "You mean other than stopping a thief, repairing a store, retrieving the queen's packages, and preventing them from being stolen? Not to mention giving Knitten her birthday and meeting me. I'd say you got more than enough done for one day."
"That's true. How silly of me. It's been an amazing day!"
Knitten says, "Dad, you're the best! Is there nothing you can't do?"
Crow smiles big. "Oh, there's a lot I have yet to learn. I'm gonna become good at everything that I can with enough studying and practice." He stops to think about what else he needs for the journey tomorrow. "You know what I'm missing? A knife. We might need one depending on what happens, but only for an emergency. I know well to be careful around sharp objects." He opens up a drawer and pulls out a knife in its sheath. "This was my grandpapa's. He was the caretaker here at the castle before me and he taught me everything I know about keeping this place running well and looking great. In fact, ol' Grandpapa Grimm used to tell me, 'The mind is a tool. You've got to keep your mind honed sharp because a dull tool will force you to work harder to get a job done and it may mess it up.'"
"His name was Grimm? That seems familiar somehow," Cat says.
"He's really old and you're really young, so I doubt you've ever been acquaintances. I mean, maybe, since he was the previous caretaker, but he never said anything about you or the mirror."
"I don't actually know how old I am. I could be a billion years old and never age and you'd never know it!" They both have a good laugh from that one. Cat squints her eyes at the knife and pads over to place her paw on the hilt. "Hmm, I think there might be a bit of magick on it."
"Really? I wonder what spell it could be," Crow says. "Oh! And I've got this." He grabs a mask from one of his shelves and places it over his face. It is made of leather in shades of dark brown and toasted orange, has built-in goggles, and conceals all his features, including his beak. "I designed it myself to protect against any nastiness I might encounter while exploring the tunnels and fixing things. It could come in handy."
Cat says, "Now you have a mask like the heroes in those comics. All you need is a cape."
"I've got one of those too," he tells her. Crow rummages around through his closet until he finds what he is searching for. "Here it is." He drapes the yellow garment over his shoulders and slips his wings through straps to hold it in place. It hangs down to where his tail begins. "It's supposed to protect against the rain, but it doubles as a cape for when I play pretend."
"I love it! It suits you perfectly," Cat says. "You remind me of that bird-themed hero who runs around with the dark, mysterious one."
"Daddy's a superhero!" Knitten rejoices.
He pauses as she says it and then replies, "It's alright if you call me your dad, I've decided. I've gotten used to it. And yes, I've dreamt of being a superhero and saving people. That would be extraordinary."
The new friends chat for a little longer before deciding that it is time to go to sleep. Crow finds a quilt he had stashed in his closet until the winter months for Cat to lay down on and he places Knitten in a box he clears out that originally held sanding sheets for smoothing out surface blemishes. He covers her up to her chin with a clean cloth to use as a blanket.
"Good night, daddy," Knitten tells him.
"I hope you had a good birthday, Knitten."
"I did! It was so much fun. Thank you so much for crafting me into existence."
"I didn't know that I had, but I'm glad that I did. Good night." He gives her a gentle kiss on the head and makes sure she is tucked in right.
Then she says, "Good night, mommy."
Cat asks her, "Why would you call me 'mommy'?"
"Because you also helped in my creation, didn't you?" Knitten replies.
Cat blushes thinking about it. "Ah. Yes, I suppose I did. I introduced the design for you in Crow's mind and assisted in giving you a voice. You are correct."
"It's alright then if I call you mommy?" Knitten asks in a sugar-sweet voice.
It does not take long for Cat to consider her answer. "Yes, Knitten, you may."
"Yaaay!"
Crow is a bit flustered by this realization. "W-Wait then. Doesn't that make us both her... parents?"
Cat had, a moment earlier, recognized this, which is why she blushed. "Yeah, it technically does, but it makes sense."
"Oh. Ah, well, I don't know how to feel about that. It seems a bit awkward." Crow twiddles his feathers and shifts his feet around.
Cat giggles. "Silly! We're still just friends. It's not like we're in a kissy-kissy relationship. It's more of a... coincidental collaboration that culminated in her creation! I still don't know how she became self-aware though. That's a mystery."
He considers this and agrees, "You're right, it's not a biggie. It's like we're her... co-creators! Yes, that's a better term. It makes more sense and doesn't sound weird. We have a close bond like a family but we're not directly related." Then he turns down the lantern light and climbs into his own bed. "Good night, Cat," he says as he nestles under the covers.
"I really do hope it will be," Cat replies. "With the castle being low on water, do you think everyone will be alright?"
"Well, if you're talking about overnight, not a lot of water gets used then. But tomorrow, if they use it sparingly, I think they'll get by. We'll be out trying to solve the situation, so I think it will all work out okay. We'll find the problem and get it unblocked, and then no more worries."
"You're right," she says. "I shouldn't let it bother me. We'll get it fixed tomorrow. Have a good night, Crow." Cat settles into the cozy quilt Crow prepared for her, and as she lays there her mind moves on to other thoughts.
One particular thought makes itself known and rises up to overshadow all the others. The room is dark and quiet now, so there is nothing to distract from it and it wells up inside her until she feels the need to make it heard. Cat breaks the silence, "I have another worry."
"Oh. Well, what is it?" Crow asks.
"Are we still gonna be friends after the castle is saved?"
"Of course we will be," Crow reassures her. "I'm not going to drop you as my friend."
"No, I mean if I get sucked back into the mirror, am I going to lose my memories of you and Knitten and all the fun we had today? I don't actually remember the last time I was out. I just feel as though I've been doing this for a really long time."
"Well, I wouldn't want that to happen." Crow thinks for a moment. "You said you like to draw. What if you draw pictures of us and pin them on your wall? Then you'd have those to remind you."
"Ooh, that's a good idea. I think I will," she tells him. "Before we leave in the morning, I'll have you each pose while I draw you and then you'll come with me so I can pop into my room to put them up and be able to get back out."
"Sounds great," Crow says.
"A drawing of me? Yay!" Knitten says. "Then I can be both inside Cat's room and out here at the same time!"
With that settled, the three friends let the peaceful calm of the night absorb them once more and drift off to sleep to dream of what adventures they may have tomorrow.
