The Trek Begins
The next morning, Crow gets dressed and puts all the things they have gathered into his pouch, which seems like an awful lot has gone in there. Then he grabs a few of his gadgets off of the shelves and stuffs them in as well. The pouch just swallows them up and looks no fuller than it had been.
Cat has been noticing this and decides to finally find out what is going on. "Hey, how is it that your bag there holds so much stuff? Shouldn't it be bursting at the seams? I'm not sure how you even got some of that in there."
Knitten, who is residing again in her usual spot inside Crow's vest pocket, says, "I'll bet I could fit in there too."
"My pouch?" Crow responds. "Oh, well, you see, this also used to be my grandpapa's. He told me the trick with it is that the precise measurements and folds in its design simply make it able to hold far bigger items than it looks like it could."
When it comes to matters of measurement, Cat does not find much use for it. Lining up measuring sticks and protractors and compasses to draw perfect lines for coloring within is tedious and takes the fun away from expressing oneself, for when she unleashes her creativity to produce artworks, boundaries do not stand in her way. She recognizes that symmetry in design is important, but Cat prefers to eyeball her subject to get the proportions right and she does it quite well. So, Crow's answer does not satisfy her because the logic behind it bores her and it made no sense.
"I think he was playing a trick on you," she tells him.
Crow is insulted. "Grandpapa Grimm would never lie to me! He was very skillful with all the clever ways he had of making complicated fixes look easy. Repairs that didn't seem possible were his favorites because he'd figure out a solution and wind up getting praised by the king and queen."
"That's really great, but what does it have to do with why your bag holds so much?" Cat asks.
"Because he made it. Making the impossible happen; that's what he was good at. So, if this pouch holds more than it should, that's because he made it possible."
Cat decides that this is a logical answer and she apologizes for doubting Grandpapa Grimm.
They then finish getting ready, allow Cat enough time to draw both their portraits, and stop by her room in the mirror to hang them on the wall before heading to breakfast in the servants' dining room.
After a delicious meal, they head to the front gate to meet up with the guards, Marrow and Marla. They do not have long to wait before the twins arrive with four other guards carrying supplies. A plan is decided to hike up the mountain while following the river at a short distance from its bank. Wherever the river has become backed up, they will spot it. Much of the equipment the guards are bringing is to help dislodge boulders, logs, or whatever else may be clogging the waterway.
The group of explorers heads out down the road, with Marrow and Marla leading the way, and then off the road to follow the dried-up riverbed toward the mountain. Crow has been situated between the group of guards to stay protected since he is not trained in matters of marching about and searching through woods with all the dangerous things that may reside within them, and Cat is right there with him.
They march over large rocks and under fallen trees (Cat shows off by phasing through several of those) as well as around shrubberies, toadstools, and one triangle-spotted lizard that gives them the stink eye. Along the journey, the guards give Crow curious glances because they still do not see who he is talking to as he talks to Cat.
Crow says to her, "Y'know, I've been thinking about the river being stopped up and all and it just doesn't make sense. Now, if a pipe were to become clogged, it would get backed up and overflow back at the source, whether it be a faucet drain or whatnot. Not so with a river. It has no pipe walls holding it in at the sides, so it would fill up to its brim and then spill out, flooding the area or creating new paths for the water to take. A pipe would too if there was still more pressure coming at it from behind. It would eventually burst."
"So, what is it you're driving at?" Cat asks.
"Where did all the water go? It wouldn't have stopped flowing from behind just because something was blocking it at the front. The water has to go somewhere."
"It's got places to be!" Knitten jokes.
"That it does," Crow says, "and we have to find out where it's disappeared to."
Cat suggests, "Maybe it's being diverted somewhere."
"That's possible. But who would divert it and to where?" he wonders.
Marrow, who has quite excellent hearing and has been listening to every word that Crow said, leaps and somersaults in the air very rabbit-like (being that she is a rabbit) from up at the head of the group back to where Crow is standing and lands with graceful ease next to him. She asks, "What is this that you are saying? You believe that someone has committed to the robbery of the very water that the king and queen would drink? This is a very serious crime."
"It is one possibility is all I'm saying," Cat offers in the form of an answer, to which Marrow has no receiving of. That is to say, she does not hear it being said, although her ears do shift as though trying to pinpoint where it came from. Cat notices this and bats at the bell on her collar to make it jingle. She is delighted to see that Marrow's ears shift again, revealing that her extraordinary hearing is able to bridge the gap where her visual and mental perception does not.
"Cat says it is one possibility," Crow relays the message to Marrow.
"Ah, yes, your friend of whom we cannot see. Tell her thank you for the assistance she has given."
"She can hear you."
Marrow flashes a brief look of concern for Crow's well-being before announcing to the expedition party, "We must consider the possibility that someone has done this to target the king and queen; if not to empty their water bowls and dehydrate them, then to tarnish their reputation with the people as rulers who would allow this to happen! That means to be prepared in the event that we encounter anyone along the way and capture them for questioning. Understood?"
"Understood, Lieutenant Marrow!" all the guards respond in unison.
She then scales the nearest tree trunk and catapults herself back to her exact position at the head of the formation before the hike continues.
"That... was... sooo coool," Cat whispers, and both Crow and Knitten quietly agree.
[This is not the end. There is more to come! Three segments per week with a total of fifteen. Are you enjoying the story? Please let me know. Are you enjoying the story but not the wait? Please also let me know. I grew up on comic books where the story is not over at the end of the issue. These three drops have been like issue 1 through 3 of a 5-issue mini-series.
I am releasing three segments at a time to build anticipation, but let me know if you just can’t stand the wait and I will know to provide the whole story all at once. Please write me comments or I will not know what you are thinking.
Almost all the elements have been slowly revealed which will tie into the ending. There are also a few details which will tie into future books. It’s how a story comes together. There will be more danger, more mystery hinted at, more characters introduced, a battle at the climax, and the celebration afterwards. And what is Cat? Just how powerful is she? You’ll be wondering by story’s end.]
