Author's Note:

Sorry for skipping out last week! Been awfully busy, training at work, etc... I was going to do a double-post but decided it better to continue with the normal 1/week schedule. Additionally, consider this chapter a "breather", where a group of friends spend a day at the fair and just have a nice day, and we'll pick up on the plot next week. That said, enjoy!

"The moniker of any historian or stuck rhino is: 'To go forward, you must first go back'.

"The first Tri-Burrow Reunion was considered the event which originally founded Bunnyburrow roughly one-hundred-and-twenty years ago, and in many interpretations it still is, but more recent historical data has provided an insight to the first farms established eleven years prior. Back then, the population was entirely rabbits and horses, settlers and escapees from war-torn countries across the world; they banded together on the distant outskirts of the burgeoning metropolis and free-city, Zootopia (lead by a draft horse named Philippe Wilson, by the way). For some decades, Bunnyburrow remained unmarked on any map until the population exploded when rabbits, horses, and other species fled the fallen kingdom of Forestdwell, bringing with them whatever goods and expertise they could. This surged Bunnyburrow's prominence amongst its sister boroughs of Deerbrooke and Knotash to become the breadbasket that it is today.

"Hare's Bluff, or the 'Honey Hills', was established after a schism between rabbits and hares in Bunnyburrow's early days that - even now - no one's really sure was caused by," Bo further expounded as the group walked from Lanny's truck, through the parking lot, and toward the front gates of the TBR, "Such tensions have since been smoothed over, for the most part. The Honey Hills was, and still is, bear territory - little-known fact - even if they keep to their seclusion more so than the hares which live alongside them."

"Tha's great, Mr. History-Buff," Gideon interjected, "except I asked about the Knottedwood?"

"I'm getting there. Now let's see," the brown rabbit pondered as he kept on Nick's tail and Judy's side while passing off a salute to a group of other Burrow Watch members, "Just beyond Hare's Bluff is the Knottedwood, which is shrouded in mystery, an important preface; no one could say with certainty for the longest time that is was actually inhabited, since anyone else who tried to navigate it found themselves half-starved, after being lost in its twisting roots and branches for days on end."

"I've never understood how trees can be magnetic," Travis wondered aloud, "If I didn't personally know a fox that came from there, I'd have thought it a most fanciful story. Unfortunately, Ruth Grey doesn't know the science behind it either, only that 'it's just how it works'. No offense, Gid."

"None taken," he assured, "Ma always said her duty was to Pa, not the Knottedwood. We went back there once to get medicine to help Essy's fox-flu, but never again since mine wasn't as bad. I don't remember a whole lot, too young as I was, and Essy wouldn't know much of it, either."

"The Knottedwood, or 'Bloodwood', as some rabbits will call it on account of its red bark," Judy chimed in, "was said to be inhabited by foxes ever since the first farms of Bunnyburrow. I did quite a lot of research on it back when I was younger," she then explained to an amusedly curious Bo, "It's actually where the concept of the 'Bloodwood witch' (or just 'bloodwitch') comes from, if you believe the eyewitness testimony of those who've tried to get to the forest's center."

"A specific squirrel housing developer, for example," Nick tacked on, and then continued with heavy insinuation, "I'm sure a few of their construction workers called it 'witchcraft' when their machines 'mysteriously broke down'."

"Don't forget the 'Bloodwitch of Muddy Swamp'," Lanny offhandedly mentioned.

"The what of where?" asked Gideon.

"An urban legend from the Marshlands, older than I am," Nick scoffed, "Apparently a fox was spotted throwing crates and roof tiles with their mind."

The farm-fox chuckled excitedly, "That sounds cool."

"It sounds fanciful," Travis repeated.

"It also has backing in the historical mythos," Judy added on.

"Fascinating, I'll need to read up on that," Bo decided with a growing grin, and then thought aloud, "What could cause such a perception, and in recent times, too?"

"I'll put my money on 'too many over-the-top comic books' since that minor legend cropped up at around the time such things sprung into wider popularity," Nick dismissed, "Don't get me wrong, 'The Beast', 'Captain Warren', and the new 'Mr. Foxglove' is all well and good, but give me a classic spy story any day."

"Like the old Mr. Foxglove," Gideon pointedly recalled.

"Like the correct Mr. Foxglove," Nick said over his shoulder.

"I agree with you, Stretch, noire Mr. Foxglove is his best readin', but wha's so bad about the new stuff? Peekin' through time and dodgin' bullets ain't half so strange as what all else is out there."

"My reasoning is pretty deep; I wouldn't want to bore you with the explanation."

"Hipster."

"Fanboy."

"Anyway," Judy sighed, turning around to walk backwards, ears pointing at either fox, and then proceeding right-ways again, "Aside from Ruth and Jackie, I've not heard of any foxes coming out of Knottedwood (and them only this weekend), only that they've been spotted and photographed in the shadows of its boughs. No doubt that picture of Piberius and Clawdia Savage with their six kits is something of a unique occurrence."

"Could I have a copy of that, Bangs?" Nick asked his cousin while pulling out his phone.

"You sure it won't spoil any of its mystique?" Gideon teased, mimicking the action to send the requested monochromatic keepsake. Their mobile devices interacted as they walked, and when Nick received a file, so did Gideon, "Hey, what's this?" the stouter fox huffed, looking at the unnamed video.

"What's what?" wondered Nick, and leaned over to inspect the screen, "Not sure, I know I didn't send it."

"Let me guess," Travis broke in, playfully so, "One of you tried to double-dip on a phone number exchange?"

"Yeah, that happened on Sunday," Lanny explained, "Gid and I were exchanging numbers, and then Nick jumped in at the last second."

"Naughty," the ferret implied with a wag of his finger, and then continued normally, "I've seen it happen before. You'll need to call T-Mobull and get it squared away before you accidentally send something… private," he snickered.

"Sounds like that should've been patched a long time ago," Nick critiqued.

"And how often do you update your phone?" Judy inquired.

Gideon groaned with uncertainty.

"Finnick updates my phone," Nick quietly relayed.

The ferret and gray bunny hummed smugly to one another.

"Well," spun the taller fox, grabbing the stouter fox by the shoulders in a hug, "Gid and I are cousins, open books to one another, so…" he looked again at the unnamed video, "don't open that until we can get somewhere secluded."

"Yeah-huh," came the reply, smirking as a fist bumped under his cousin's chin to nod his head, "Open comic books, cous', tha's us."

Metallic quacking signaled the activation of a shooting gallery, whereat Gideon and Travis poised with their BB guns, plucking off minutely dented, brightly-painted waterfowl in rapid succession.

"I gotta admit, Trav, you handled the news about Nick and Essy rather well," the fox discreetly said to his kithood friend, squeezing the trigger of the toy gun to pop another duck off its track, "I think they're still a bit… y'know, since it only happened yesterday."

"I am an actor, after all, I know how to hold back," the ferret boasted matter-of-factly, matching the other shot-for-shot, "That's some mind-blowing news, though… to think that could ever happen to Esther and Nick! I guess you just never know some mammals, huh?"

"Ma and Pa are gonna flip when they find out…"

"'When', not 'if'?"

"This'll be hard to cover up, and I'd rather they hear it from one of us," Gideon stated, "They'll need to be eased into it, I think."

"Maybe… or just come out and say it, like taking off a bandage?" Travis suggested, and then sighing as he glanced over at Nick flicking rings onto empty Cub Soda bottles, "Still hard to believe…"

"Yeah… never woulda thought Essy might actually settle down with anyone. The rest of the Corner's gonna be shocked," he chuckled.

"I never thought Nick would, either!" Travis admitted, "I haven't known him very long, but he is a very hard fox to get a read on. Did he actually guess her middle name?"

"More like tripped over it," he laughed.

"My goodness, can you imagine what their kits will be like?"

Gideon grinned all the wider, "Oh, I have ev'ry intention of bein' the best uncle in the world," he loftily decided, "Gonna fill their brood up with buckets of sugar before givin' 'em back." He and Travis laughed while setting down the BB gun as the shooting gallery concluded.

The ferret put down his own toy firearm and then pointed up at a smiling, plush ear-of-corn for the wolverine vendor to pull it down with a hook. "Quinton loves corn-on-the-cob, so he'll think this a laugh riot."

"Oh yeah, he's your hubby, right? Porcupine, I think you said," the fox said with a grin, and pointed up at a colorful, whirligig toy.

"Well remembered, Gid, and yes, anything that we do is done very carefully," he mentioned with a smirk, before offhandedly whispering, "It's a good thing he's getting his quills clipped, too, because I don't want to dig them out of the wall again after he finds out that a predo kidnapped the first fox cop and his girlfriend. He's very involved in the predo community where we live, and this whole thing with Tad Wooler will be a black spot on all of us for years."

"Yeah, for predos, sheep… pawn shop owners," Gideon listed off, and smirked to Travis's quirked brow, "Truth-be-told, Lanny handled the news better than I coulda hoped, all things considered; us country folk knew about Tad (we thought we did, at least) so I figured someone from the city might've been a bit more… y'know, thunderstruck?"

"He almost seemed… not surprised at all. How odd is that? He didn't even know Tad Wooler existed, much less his… hobby. He's cool-headed, I'll give him that."

"Lanny's pretty sly, for a lion," Gideon commended, spinning the gyroscopic whirligig on the tip of his finger as they returned to the group, "Now, don't tell him that I told you, but he's gonna look high-and-low for that first kiss of his when he gets back to the city."

"How romantic," Travis also commended, and coolly subjective though his tone was, he spared a slight squeeze of the smiling, plush ear-of-corn.

"Oh Nick, look, they have a dragon," Judy pointed out, directing the fox's attention to a palm-sized figurine of what could easily be described as a large, green, fuzzy dragon with kind, soulful eyes.

Said fox studied it with some manner of professional critique, even rubbing his chin, "The wings are kind of small, and while it certainly looks kid-friendly, I'd go more for a… castle-sieging, knight-roasting, maiden-stealing dragon. You know… the cool kind."

"Gid's right, you have the worst standards," Judy quipped, "You and Esther are perfect for each other."

"Which is why I need to find the perfect thing to get for her, and why I asked you guide me," Nick responded, "Would she like a snuggly-wuggly dragon, or maybe she'd like this dynamically-posing spider-thingy instead, or…?"

"Honestly, she'll like anything you get her," the rabbit said, and to the roll of his eyes, continued, "She'll like it because she knows you picked it out for her. That's how it works, Slick. Besides, you've been secretly courting each other for almost a year, so you should have picked up on plenty of things she likes."

Nick scoured the multitudinous other figurines with intense concentration before selecting a gold-crowned robin in flight, it's vibrant, red breast resembling a heart, "Here we go, but first I need to check something…" he said, and pulled out his phone to compare it with an image on the screen.

"Whoa, Nick!" jumped Judy, pushing the mobile device out of view, warm ears and wide eyes flicking about, especially to the many daughters of the tiger who was vending the many, tiny figurines. They did not seem to notice whatever it was Judy attempted to hide from them, and so returned to running the stand while she berated her partner on the force, "Why do you have Esther like that as your wallpaper?"

"She picked it out," Nick easily explained, even smirking some as the gray bunny withdrew in bashful awkwardness.

"Oh."

"Mmhmm."

"Carry on, then."

"Did you know that she has a tattoo on her…?"

"A crowned, winged heart with 'Hail the King Robin', yes; I helped her pick it out," Judy quickly answered and rubbed her neck, "And from the looks of it, she gets it touched up."

"Fun little cultural symbol that, maybe I should get one to match on my-"

"Nick!"

The gauntlet was thrown. The challenge, set. It was time to decide, once and for all…

Bo and Lanny (and everyone else) stood before a rambunctious high-striker run by a moose, spinning a large rubber mallet around the knuckles of his hooves. He would make a show of playing it himself, sending the puck up along the track to strike the bell at the very top. And at the very top was the picture of a golden "Kyuubi doll", a collector's item from a discontinued line of overseas fox-figurines of exquisite craft. It caught Judy's eye for only an instant, but that was all the motivation Bo needed to swing for it.

"Dang," the brown bunny eventually admitted, huffing as he returned the large rubber mallet after his third attempt, scratching behind an ear in bewilderment, "I just can't seem to get above 'I felt that!'."

"'Twas a mighty fine effort, li'l bunny, the strongest longest-ear I've seen as of yet," the vendor complimented to then reward a smiling, plush carrot, "For the missus."

Gideon certainly looked eager for a chance at another strength contest (especially after Travis's goading) but it was Lanny who promptly stepped up to try his paw. The moose was only more than willing to let him. "All sizes, all strengths are welcome," he'd boast, and relinquished the hammer, "Let's see what the big fella has to offer."

The lion stood in position and brought the fairground bludgeon up high behind his head, and then swung it to send the weighted puck rocketing up to… "Not bad, not bad!". The high-striker merrily chimed.

"A solid swing, good sir! Let's get you a-"

"Another shot," Lanny interjected and handed over his second ticket. The moose was only more than willing to accept. The tawny titan leaned the mallet on his leg as he spat into his palms and rubbed them together rigorously. He glowered with determination and braced the ground to bring the mallet back again, readying it with an aiming arch before striking it down with another, greater collision of rubber to the metal-and-plastic pedal.

"Almost there!" the high-striker merrily chimed.

"Impressive!" declared the moose, and reached up for one of the better prizes, "That deserves-"

"One. More," the lion nearly growled, crimson eyes locked on the bell at the very top, practically shoving the ticket onto the vendor. He breathed long and low to gather his strength, recalling days at the docks where he hoisted solid-steel crates over his head, or a fellow lion with a sprained ankle over his shoulder while tucking his dropped cargo under an arm, to get not only him to the med-bay but his task fulfilled, as well.

The mallet reached back until it nearly touched Lanny's tail, the muscle beneath his pelt and shirt heralding the oncoming storm as the rubber head careened into the high-striker's pedal. Up its track the puck did ascend, past "What a hit!" and "Was that thunder?!" to deform the bell at the very top from the sheer impact, announced with a dull, dying ring (as well as something snapping, falling away in the back). The moose vendor was particularly flabbergasted if the jaw hitting his feet was any indication, and though he was ready to read the riot act about breaking his machine…

"I wonder what this is," Judy coyly asked Nick as they stood behind the moose, she holding a long piece of hardened, malleable plastic, "Might be a belt of some kind, but it fell off the high-striker?"

"And look at what was just… lyin' around," Nick pointed out to Judy, holding up a small remote that, when he pushed a button, caused something in the base of the high-striker to softly whirr and the belt to withdraw into it, "I wonder if this is why the vendor slipped a hoof into his pocket whenever someone else took a swing?"

"That would explain that strange sound I heard under all the bells and whistles, which coincidentally never happened when he was showing off, wouldn't it?" Judy reasoned, "Bo Briar, as a member of the Burrow Watch, what might you have to say about this?"

"Oh, plenty," the brown rabbit declared with authority, holding up his Burrow Watch ID to the distraught moose before engaging in a quick exchange with his walkie-talkie. In no time flat, the moose was directed by Mr. Barley, the Burrow Watch Leader, to pack up his "flimflammery" and hit the road (after returning to the Reunion Board for all the proper paperwork, of course).

Lanny found himself with a golden Kyuubi doll that he, in all honesty, had no idea what to do with. So, instead, the lion crouched down and offered it to Judy; she accepted it, but in exchange for a kiss on the tawny cheek. His ears went warm and he rubbed his neck.

"That's for helping the Burrow Watch catch a scam-artist," she said with a smile.

Travis leaned over to Nick, "Where did you find this guy, and are there any more left?"

Nick leaned over to Travis, "Now now, let's not be greedy… there's plenty of blushing alpha-lion to go around."

They shared in the lighthearted teasing as the group continued onto the next set of attractions.

"There, see?" Bo said, pointing at one of a thousand white tents, distinguished only by its sign glistening off the sun low in an afternoon sky: Comic Books. "I knew I saw it yesterday."

"Well, I'll be darned," Judy admitted, "There really is a comic book stand."

"And why not?" Nick conceded, "After all, we've already come across caramel-roasted corn, macramé leis, go-kart racing…"

"Utility vests, barbecue-rice-bowls-on-a-stick, face paintin'…" Gideon added.

"Pet butterflies, the Roar-a-Coaster and Tilt-a-Whirl, customized belt buckles…" Lanny recalled.

"Shaved ice with rainbow syrup and, of course, 'Guess Your Weight'," Travis included.

Judy gleed, "Today was so much fun!"

Gideon held up a notebook, "I can't wait to get back and try out some new recipes."

"I'm glad to mention that I was hardly harried at all by any Lookers," Lanny added with a sigh of relief, "Got a few eager, sidelong glances but nowhere near the hassle I feared it would be."

"A good day, then?" asked Judy.

"A great day," Lanny said in laughter, having a seat just outside the comic book tent as the smaller mammals made their way inside, "I never thought I'd be grateful for spontaneous traffic alerts." The lion reclined against the reinforced steel frame with only the barest groan, arms up and paws behind his head as he crossed one leg over the other to watch the sun kiss the horizon. "Yeah, it's definitely been a great day."

"Truly, there've been quite a few blessings-in-disguise as of late, by my reckoning," Travis remarked, exchanging a smile with the foxes as they followed the rabbits beneath the canopy. He stayed outside with the larger predator, pulling out the sea-salt taffy he'd saved and offering some up to share. "Care for some?"

"Oh, thanks. You know, this reminds me of when I was a teenager, sitting next to newspaper stands to read comic books, trading sweets bought with money found on the sidewalk," Lanny reminisced, pulling from his pocket a bag of gummi-gators to pour some out in exchange for the taffy, of which Travis accepted.

"Gid was more the comic book reader," the ferret said, and then called over his shoulder, "Weren't you?"

"You know it!" the stouter fox called back, "My first ever was an issue of the 'new Mr. Foxglove'-"

"That explains a lot," jabbed Nick.

"Shush, you," Gideon snorted, and then dipped into his nostalgia, "It was old and crumpled and stuck in behind the magazines at the store, but he was a fox-as-the-good-guy and that's all I wanted as a li'l kit. I swept and mopped the kitchen for three days so Ma would buy it for me. Took me years to get all of 'em, and o' course, I fell in love with his earlier spy-capers, even if they were a bit over my head before I grew up."

Bo gasped. "Juju!" he quietly exclaimed while thumbing through a box on the floor, "It's the Winter Wolf arc of Captain Warren… these are impossible to find!"

"You've been after those for years!" Judy excitedly recalled, looking over his shoulder.

Gideon leaned in closer to Nick and his blatant disapproval of the much more vivid and action-packed issue of Mr. Foxglove his cousin was holding up, "Why're you bein' such a grouch about it, huh? I get that these might over-blow the 'Mr. & Mrs. Fox' stories a bit… but at least new Mr. Foxglove has a missus! He didn't before-"

"Before saving a 'gypsy queen' from certain doom, who then became 'Mrs. Foxglove' to aid in the more supernatural cases which just so happened to pop up," retorted Nick. He slipped the respective issue out from the appropriately labeled box that Gideon was looking through to show a scantily-clad vixen in vivacious (if rustic) dress with obvious magic sparking from her claw-tips. A suit-clad Mr. Foxglove's silhouette stood suavely in the background with a faint glow of his eyes to mimic the mystic presence, "And lest we forget, gave him powers because that's what he needed."

"Oh, don't act all betrayed, ya' baby-kit, this came out before you were even born," Gideon argued, gently knocking the taller fox with his elbow, "Besides, that was around the time Mr. Foxglove got into the rest of the comic book universe, which already had magic and stuff, so he's jus' bein' brought up to speed, as it were." He then carefully flipped open the issue so well remembered, if in much better condition than his own, "Lookie here: we ain't got Mr. Foxglove movin' furniture with his mind like that 'bloodwitch' you all seem to know about, right? He's usin' what he's got in reach to take down a whole bunch of assassins! He's kick-flippin' coffee tables, bouncin' kitchen knives off walls to hit someone behind cover… Sure, it ain't as, y'know… realistic as it was before, but what about that ain't the best you ever seen a fox?"

Nick grumbled, and glanced over at the bunnies going through another box… and then the lion and ferret enjoying the sunset… "They weren't 'assassins'," he quietly corrected, "they were an elite task force assigned to weaken countries from within to incite revolution in the populace… evil revolution."

Gideon gawked… blinked… and then grinned. "You don't say," he teased.

"I loved Mr. Foxglove as a kit, he was amazing," Nick begrudged, "I still remember watching the old TV show with my parents, which was truer to the original comic books, by the way, despite the latter's lack of a vixen cohort. As you know, my Dad - and often enough, Mom, too - were called to fit or make a suit for high-paying clients on some other end of the city, gone for two weeks at a time, at least. I'd usually stay with friends of theirs since we didn't have any other family, and they'd come back with the newest issue of Mr. Foxglove; they had a close friend in publishing, so they were able to get a copy before it even hit the stands. On top of that… Dad would do some of these same stunts, which I'm sure was to make me smile…" Nick opened up to a page and let himself grin, however briefly, and showed his cousin the way that the super-spy walked a chair across the electrified floor of a foyer while picking off adversaries with a stun-gun, "Dad wouldn't be armed and there'd be little-to-no death-floor, of course, but you get my point, right?"

A flicker of revelation sparked in the blue eyes as he looked from the imagery to his cousin. "You were mad at Uncle John, and so got mad at Mr. Foxglove too, huh?"

Nick sighed and shrugged in confession, "Yeah… but I suppose if I'm willing to forgive one, I should also forgive the other," he then determined and tucked the comic under his arm.

"Prob'ly, not a bad idea. You buyin' that?"

"Of course I am, Bangs, it's common courtesy. Even comic book guys are small business owners and need our support," the taller fox explained at normal talking levels.

"Thanks, I appreciate that," said the capybara running the stand, if blandly, to whom Nick supplied a thumbs-up.

"Well, I s'pose I'll get this one, then, goodness knows my copy has seen better days," he chuckled and re-sleeved it to, likewise, tuck it under his arm.

As they turned, there stood Judy with both paws folded behind her back as she sweetly smiled up at them and gently twirled her dress.

"Mark my words, Carrots, I will get a conversation past you one of these days," Nick warned.

"That day's not today, though," she coyly replied, the girlish demeanor dropped to lean forward the slightest bit with hooded eyes, and then folded both paws in front of her as she once more stood upright to converse, "You're really coming along, Slick. I still remember that it was pulling teeth to find out your favorite flavor of cake."

"It took her awhile to figure out the correct one, though," Nick reported to his fellow fox, sharing a grin as they did.

"He wrote it on my computer screen at the precinct with his finger every day for a week before I realized what it was," Judy dully recounted, "I knew he would have won if I asked for help, so I made an educated guess.

"I got three birthday cupcakes that year. It was amazing."

Gideon chuckled and held his stomach. "I should tell you some of the stuff me and Essy did to each other growin' up. You think city-foxes are pranksters? Wait 'til you hear 'bout farm-foxes."

"Where's Punch?" Nick asked of Judy, even though it was obvious that he was talking with the capybara vendor about a stack of comic books.

"Oh, haggling," she offhandedly said, and then spoke a little lower, "Have either of you heard from Esther, yet? Sun's getting real low."

"Uhh…" Gideon groaned, rubbing his chin, "Well, I was gonna have it be a surprise, but if you're worryin', then it's prob'ly better I come out with it," he began, and then smiled wide as he, too, spoke a little lower, "Essy told me that the Caribouan Cruise (with all the pred families of the Corner?) is comin' back t'night, and that she should be in not too long after sunset. Had somethin' real big to share, with all of us."

"And you didn't say this sooner?" Nick rebuked.

"What with your li'l shadow over there?" Gideon shot back, glancing at the still haggling Bo, "I weren't sure how sensitive this was, now did I, and it was better to pass it by you two before blurtin' it out to the whole group, right?"

"Good points," Judy concurred, "If she has anything from Felix Lapis, it could be proprietary. Did she mention anything else?"

Gideon pulled out his phone and brought up the text message she sent to show them both. "As you prob'ly figured, Stretch, she and I got us some codewords, jus' like you and Finnick. Well, this one here, 'Mom and Dad'? You know tha's not what we call 'em, what it means is 'Watch out, Ma and Pa are coming' or 'listening' or something like that. It's a warning, but I can't think for the life of me what it could be for."

"She must have overheard something while doing business with the good Felix," Nick considered, "but needed the discretion of a casual communiqué with family."

"The Knotash bunnies are leaving…" Judy began.

"And the cruise is returning…"

"Both a day early," the bunny girl pointed out.

"What could cause Saint Felix to allow such heretical schedule changes?"

"Unless he didn't do it. I did hear some rumors around the fair about the cruise coming back early, now that I think about it, but if it were something tremendous the grapevine would be much hotter than it's been all day…" Judy admitted, glancing over her shoulder, "Did Travis know?"

"If he did or didn't, it might not be as important enough issue for him to interrupt a day of fun in which nothing bad happened; something I can safely say we all needed," Nick pondered, "That said, if this were Magnus's doing, there would need to be some benefit to those uptight bunnies returning sooner rather than later… like getting the Gravedigger's gun case back to the city."

"We don't have enough information," she plainly stated, "I'll ask Bo if he's heard anything from the Watch-"

"Alright, guys, you're up!" chimed Bo, toting a rather hefty-looking, double-bagged stack of comic books in one paw, the other throwing a thumb over his shoulder. He looked the three of them up and down as they turned around in a… very casual manner. His brow furrowed as the two foxes walked past him, and so he wondered at Judy as she beckoned him closer with a curling finger.

The gray rabbit spoke low, very low; a "bunny whisper" that even the keenest of ears of other mammals had a hard time listening in on. "Have you heard anything from the Watch about the Knotash bunnies or the cruise coming in early?" asked Judy.

Brown ears sprung atop an inclined head and shifted in tandem with his eyes. "Nothing out of the ordinary," he discreetly reported, "The raven sightings have decreased to normal levels, though. Is the cruise coming back early?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm, I knew it'd be short-lived that the level of Knotash complaints went down to normal levels, too."

"Wait… haven't they left yet? It's almost sundown!"

"…You're right, they're not going to get back to the city before nightfall at this rate," he worried, unhooking his radio to enter a series of exchanges. Judy looked hopeful but also concerned before he clicked it off, speaking in his normal voice, "It's an all-paws on deck, Judy; they need every Watch member in The Brambles, pronto."

"What's wrong?" asked Travis, leaning into the shop as the foxes returned from finalizing their purchases.

"Things are drastically behind schedule with getting Knotash moved out. It took a whole day to get everything setup with optimal efficiency, as it is they've been trying to put everything back how they found it in a matter of hours," Bo explained as they exited, looking up at a standing Lanny, "That includes clean-up and balancing books since they've effectively been running everything for the past few days. Knotash was expecting the temp agencies they hired to have all of tonight and tomorrow morning to take care of the Corner while they left, but…"

"Ooh… I guess the cruise really is coming in tonight," the ferret meekly admitted, and then muttered under his breath, "I thought my brother was just being his usual, smart-alecky self…"

"Word came down from the House of Blessings to allow travel in the dark," Bo continued, "they need to be in Knotash by midnight, though, so the timeline's tighter than a drum right now."

"Or else…what, exactly, do they turn into pumpkins?" Nick asked.

"Not if they have anything to say about it," the brown rabbit responded, "This also supersedes needing to keep an eye on you, Gloves, so consider yourself off the hook," he smirked.

"Blest be," the taller fox smirked back.

"No rest for the weary," Judy said, "I'll need to let my parents know I'm helping Knotash get back home."

"Oh, Juju, you don't need to-"

"You bet your cottontail I do," she declared, giving a determined flex of her arm and grin to match, "Like I'm just going to pass by mammals in need."

Bo grinned and flexed right back, "That's the spirit! Now we just need to get a whole fluffle of Burrow Watch bunnies from the TBR to Preds' Corner in a timely manner. Unfortunately, a lot of our caravan is already in use."

"I learned a fun fact this weekend," Lanny said, likewise grinning and flexing, "the bed of my truck can comfortably fit fifty adult bunnies, even more, if we squeeze them in."

"And we know this… how?" asked Travis, "I'm not flexing, by the way."

"I had to get roughly fifty Knotash bunnies to the clinic after a bout of food poisoning on Saturday," the lion explained, "They're all okay, though, turns out it was just some expired sauce."

Gideon (but not Nick) also grinned and flexed.

"I'll let Mr. Barley know," said Bo, his walkie-talkie buzzing to life as the group set out to return to the parking lot, "'All-in-all, though, I'd still say this was a good day."

Author's Note:

While only implied here, a "stuck rhino" refers to when their horn accidentally lodges into something but can refer to other such large prey mammals with lengths of bone jutting from their skulls, such as elephants, stags, elk, buffalo, etc.

"Philippe Wilson" is some fun, literary filigree based on the horse from Beauty & The Beast (1991), combining his name in the film and his two screenplay names of "Wilbert" and "Orson".

"A specific squirrel housing developer, for example," references an anecdote of Nick's from back in chapter 16 of Trustworthy, in which the Knottedwood (and its magnetic trees) prevented construction equipment from entering, and thus prevented some high-class, low-cost condos from going up. Nick suspects that they were actually sabotaged by the foxes living there, as opposed to any "witchcraft". He does not deny the existence of trees that hinder with electronics, only the extent to which it was claimed.

"Winter Wolf" is a combination of the two Marvel characters "Winter Soldier" (or James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes) and "White Wolf". In the Black Panther movie, Bucky makes a comeback and is called "White Wolf" by King T'challa, a reference to the same-named comic book character, who for the MCU movies have been combined with Bucky Barnes. Additionally, "Captain Warren" is, for the sake of this story, the Zootopian "Captain America" and was mentioned back in Trustworthy, 19. He still has the red, white, and blue color scheme and general uniform design, but instead of a star on his shield, he has a four-leaf clover. Also from that chapter, "Mr. & Mrs. Fox" is somewhere between urban legend and folklore in the fox culture. Their stories were adapted into modern media and eventually became the "Mr. Foxglove" comic book series.

"He didn't even know Tad Wooler existed, much less his… hobby" Travis is talking about how Tad Wooler, a voyeur and predo (prey that really like predators), had a hoof in kidnapping Esther, Judy, and Nick the day before, and back in chapters 19 and 20 of Brave.

"A large, green dragon with kind, soulful eyes" refers to Elliot from Pete's Dragon (2016).

"…to the many daughters of the tiger who was vending the many, tiny figurines" is a loose, ironic reference to Rajah from Aladdin, specifically to when the Sultan says "Allah forbid you should have any daughters!", as well as the Sultan's figurines.

The "golden 'Kyuubi doll'" is a pun on the Kewpie doll, and a "Kyuubi" is a Japanese fox spirit.

"Sun's getting real low" is a slight nod to Black Widow's mantra to calm down the Hulk in the Avengers.

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