Reason to Celebrate

After returning to Castle Reignith and each answering a brief inquiry regarding the incident, Crow and Cat receive permission from the guards to go about their business while the three villains are processed for their crimes. Marla seems to be the only one who noticed Crow in his disguise mask, so his secret identity is safe.

Walking back into the great hall, they discover that there are fancy streamers and inflated balloons in the official royal colors, burgundy and gold, hung up all along the entryway and out to the inner courtyard. A lot has been happening during the time that they were away saving the day.

"Wowee!" Knitten says from her seat in Crow's pocket. "I love the way Kingy and Queeny redecorated! Maybe we could do this in your room too, Cat! Streamers and balloons sound nice."

Cat agrees, "You're right, Knitten. They really livened the place up! Maybe there's a special occasion. Do you know what's going on, Crow?"

"No, but I'm going to find out," he says and speaks to the first servant he spots.

The servant says, "Didn't you know, Crow? The queen is throwing a surprise party for the king's birthday. She lured him away on a long stroll around the castle grounds to give us time to prepare. Excuse me, but I still have more to do," and he moves off down the corridor to continue his tasks.

"Oh, that's right! I forgot," Crow says. "She told us all to keep quiet about it and handed out assignments for what needed to be prepared, but she didn't ask me to help prepare. I wondered why, but that's why it had slipped my mind; because I hadn't needed to do anything different. Anyways, if today is the day, that means that Knitten's birthday happened one day before the king's!"

"Yaaay!" Knitten cheers. "Does that mean I'm one day older than the king?"

Crow, along with Cat, giggles at her logic. "That's not how that works, Knitten, but it will seem almost like this celebration is for your birthday as well."

Cat says, "I would have had so much fun with the decorating. I can think of four or five fantastic party ideas off the top of my head I would have created for them if I could have! Oh, well. What should we do now, Crow? Where do we need to go for the festivities?"

"Let's make a detour first."

Crow leads them back to his room so he can unpack his supplies and they can get freshened up before the party. Cat licks herself and Knitten clean while Crow goes behind his dressing partition in the far corner to wash up and change into clean clothing, some fancy ones he has set aside for special occasions such as this.

He soon emerges from the corner in a bathrobe, holding up two different outfits. "Which one do you think I should wear? Knitten, what's your opinion?"

Knitten is confused. "What do they look like, daddy?"

"What do you mean?" he asks. "I'm holding them both up for you to see."

"But, daddy, I don't see. I only hear the descriptions and they didn't say. How are they different from each other?"

Cat suddenly understands what is going on. "It's okay, Knitten. I'll choose." She then tells Crow, "You should wear the orange one. I can tell you like orange, and it suits you well."

Crow is still perplexed, but he is becoming used to being mystified by both Cat and Knitten in matters that defy logic. He steps back behind the dressing partition to put on the suit Cat chose.

While Crow is busy with that, Cat explains to Knitten, "Sometimes I hear the words of our narration too. I'm sure most people can't, so it really is a special gift that we both have that ability. You did a really good job of making it not obvious, considering your added limitations that I just now realized. Your mommy can see and hear the actual sights and sounds of what is going on around us, but I understand why you wouldn't be able to, being that your eyes and ears are made of cloth, thread, and yarn."

Knitten asks, "Is it not normal to hear just words? Am I not normal, mommy?"

Cat reassures her, "You are the perfect you. And as you proved today, you are capable of achieving success where others would not have been able to."

"Thank you, mommy. I wish I could move like I did when I was on daddy's hand though."

"I almost forgot about that!" Cat says. "We'll have to work on making movement a possibility for you in a better way. I'll bet your daddy can think up something when he has the time."

Before long, Crow strides back out, preening his top feather between two claws and positioning his trusty goggles atop his head without the hat; the final touches to his guest-presentable clothing ensemble of a royal orange suit (his family's official color) and cog wheel bolo tie.

His constantly active mind having distracted itself with another topic, Crow points out, "It's curious, Cat, we've saved the castle again and you still haven't been whisked away back into the mirror. That's a good thing, don't get me wrong! I'm glad for it, but I do question why not? Maybe there's still more to it than what we've done."

Cat looks up from her grooming and says, "That is an excellent question, friend Crow, but I'm not sure how it works. I just somehow know that it does."

Crow's question goes unanswered for now, and they head out to the courtyard where people are gathering. All the castle staff will be attending, but there are visitors from the nearby villages and from far away arriving to take part in celebrating King Ploomage's birthday.

After everything is in readiness, they have just to wait for the king and queen's return from their stroll. The guards who joined them on the journey say hello to Cat as she and Crow saunter around, but the others in attendance nearby only wonder why the guards are addressing someone other than Crow. As they walk by the table where presents are being laid for the king to open, Crow notices some familiar-looking packages.

"Look, Cat! Look, Knitten! Those are the packages the queen sent us to pick up from Oftinville. So, this is what they were for. They were all presents wrapped for the king's birthday!"

Cat says, "I wonder if Old King Bazlan would have desired the shrews to bring them to him even more so if he knew. He must really hate that the king and queen have fun parties here at the castle while he awaits a new body so he can steal it from them."

"That's it!" Crow realizes. "That must be it! Could it be? Perhaps the reason that you haven't been whisked off back into the mirror is that Old King Bazlan is the danger you were released to protect the castle from."

Cat takes just a second to realize along with him, "That would mean that I am free to roam around outside of the mirror until Old King Bazlan is defeated!"

"It sure puts the challenge of defeating him to save the castle into a new perspective," Crow says. "Why would we want to defeat him if it will mean that you will be stuck back in there with no memories of us other than the drawings, and no recollection of all the fun and thrilling adventures we've had?"

This recognition whisks some of the joy away from the previous revelation.

Knitten breaks the tension by saying, "At least mommy can have more fun and thrilling adventures with us until then!"

"You are right about that," Crow says. "Hopefully that moment won't happen for a very long time."

Cat agrees, "I want to continue having exciting adventures with you both for as long as possible. I truly don't know a better way to experience life than with the two of you." She floats over and gives them each a great big hug before continuing to wait for the party to begin.

At long last, the king and queen return and he is greeted by a tremendous "Happy birthday!" from all those gathered. Much fun and merriment is had and the feast is absolutely delicious, so sayeth all in attendance partaking of the food and beverages provided.

The party continues into the night, and the king and queen have individually thanked Crow for his actions, quick thinking, and bravery in defeating the villains and restoring the kingdom's water to its natural flow again. The queen does reveal to Crow that the reason she did not require him to help prepare for the party is that he is already doing a splendid job of maintaining the gardens and keeping everything at the castle looking good and operating with mechanical precision. Crow blushes a bit at the compliment and feels quite proud of himself for making the king and queen happy.

More and more people are pausing to speak with Crow than he has ever had acknowledge him at any previous castle social gathering. It is making him want to hide away, but he is doing the best he can to maintain his composure.

When asked about the needle ploy he had played against Wispnell, he jokes, "You could say that a stitch in time saved nine," due to the fact that there were a total of nine individuals in their expedition group. However, other than the guards who witnessed it firsthand, all those who know the exact number who went (not including Cat and Knitten in their addition) do not understand the joke, even when Crow tries to explain.

When questioned about the truth of what he told Wispnell about the sewing needle having magickal properties, he replies, "I simply asked her if she would believe it and she believed what she chose to. But, yes, the needle really was a gift, part of a sewing kit my grandpapa gave me."

Soon, it is announced that Crow will be receiving a special medal tonight for his role in achieving the victory. This comes as a complete surprise to Crow. The citizens gathered for King Ploomage's birthday cheer loudly. He is nervous about all the attention and tells Cat, "I'm not timid about meeting people and having a light conversation with them, especially if it's about a topic I like, but large crowds like this are such an enormity of people all at once. It's overwhelming."

Cat tries to calm him, "Don't sweat about being in the limelight, Crow. We just saved these people and they're happy about it! That's something to be proud of, right? We were all of us very brave and we've become a force to be reckoned with, with a style that's all our own. So let's stand proud and live the moment!"

Captain Letha steps up on the podium and is handed a bullhorn. She whacks at it with her bushy squirrel tail a couple of times, perhaps to clean out any lingering cobwebs, and then addresses the attendees through it, "I've been informed by my officers that this kiddo here, our castle's maintenance technician, Crow, played a large part in defeating the villains who drained our water supply. He is to receive a medal here today to honor his saving of our kingdom of Doemane through steadfast bravery in the face of danger!" She pauses while the crowd cheers with enthusiasm before continuing, "I am also told that he had help from some other unconfirmed individuals, but no one has been able to present them so that I, and their majesties, may commend them as well."

"She's about to call you up there," Cat says to Crow. "This is your moment, so savor it! I'll be up there standing right beside you while you receive your medal, I promise."

The thought of being the only one of their trio receiving an award upsets Crow. "But you and Knitten each had a larger hand in defeating Wispnell than I did. Both of you should be commended as well. It's not fair that no one takes Knitten seriously because she's a puppet, and almost no one can see you, Cat."

"Larger? That's debatable. You convinced her to not instantly turn us into cinders and to lower her defenses. But it'll be okay," she comforts him. "I'm fine with it and so is Knitten. Your medal will symbolize our collective effort in defeating her."

"Go get 'em, daddy!" Knitten says. "Go win that medal!"

Crow nods his head and swallows hard before ascending the stairs when Captain Letha calls his name to come forth and join her on the stage.