Two cats, a wolf, a bear, a mouse, a saurus and a wolfcat all looked at the baby swan rather dumbfoundedly as she added her webbed footprint to the wall.
"Shouldn't it be a wing-print?" Katrin observed.
"Katrin? You're here?!" Colin almost jumped.
"Oh, yeah. I saw you come back with that overgrown duckling and decided to see what you were up to." Katrin mentioned. "By the way, Rita's back."
"Rita's BACK?!" Colin jumped for real this time.
"The J-Knights kept a constant watch for her. She seems to have appeared out of the blue at the airport. She remembers being captured, and she remembers waking up, but can't remember a thing of the time in between."
"Rita…" Colin trailed off.
"She's also a blue badge now." Katrin added darkly. "Some guy in green and yellow made big apologies and gave her a whole bunch of stuff, just like Henry. Then he ran away."
{That one night that I disappeared… I can't remember what happened to me either… was I… also…}
Colin shook his head. "Are they still on the KOS list?"
"For now." Katrin said. "Gifts and apologies aside, kidnapping is still kidnapping. How are you doing, by the way? And what's with that big duckling?"
"She's not a duckling. She's a swanling. A cygnet. Her name's Kirin."
"Why's she so BIG?" Katrin asked.
"Her mom's big." Colin said. "Very big. She's a Storm Swan."
"Wow." Katrin said. "I've only seen one Storm Swan, and that's Shinji's Rain."
"That's her mom. I just met Shinji tonight." Colin explained. "Rain wanted me to have her hatchling."
"Hey… that's hardly fair!" Katrin fumed. "I met them first!"
Colin shrugged uneasily. "But we found her egg."
Katrin threw her hands up. "Never mind. I have my hands full training the squirrel squad as it is. Even without them, I don't think I can handle something as powerful as a Storm Swan, even if it's newly hatched."
Colin sighed. "Shiro."
"Yip." Shiro nodded, going over to Kirin. "Yip, yip."
"Kirr?"
"Yip. Yip, yip."
"Kirr."
They went on like that as Colin's other Comrades gathered around and they seemed to hold some sort of conference without him. Katrin, meanwhile, said to Colin, "You should join us."
"Join who?" Colin asked.
"The Justice Knights. We're going after monkey-boy and donkey-boy."
Colin paused. "And what if I wanted to join a different Order of Knights?"
Katrin blinked. "Such as?"
"The Wind Knights." Colin said. "Like Shinji. I mean, I have a Storm Swan, now…"
"You have a hatchling, Colin." Katrin sighed, sitting down on a branch. "She won't be able to fly for a long time yet. In the meantime, there's a lot of stuff going on. You could really use the support and the missions."
"Missions…" Colin paused. "Do they give mission points?"
"Sort of. But it's not the same as the Mission Points you get from the Gym."
Colin sighed. "Kat… I need to get stronger, fast. I need those mission points from the Gym to get to Blue Badge. If I don't hurry, Kirin might not listen to me."
"Colin, you're moving too fast." Katrin told him seriously. "You've been here only five nights, and you're already Green Badge. Most people take a week before they reach Green. Edward's still blue, and he's been here a year."
"He's a farmer, and he doesn't have Green Men looking for him or a Storm Swan that's growing up." Colin pointed out.
{And he's not itching to go back to the Forest of Legends either. But when Kirin and Sonia are ready…}
"Why don't you just join us first?" Katrin suggested. "You can switch over to Wind Knights later if you want."
"Maybe…" Colin said, lowering his head. "But Kat… don't you remember? I'm not ready for it. I still don't know what I'm here for. All I know about the Journey's End is that I'm nowhere near ready to get there. Why am I here?"
"Most people join a Dreamworld just to have fun. It's our dreams, after all." Katrin pointed out.
"I know, but…" Colin struggled. "I was brought here."
"Well, who brought you here?" Katrin asked.
"Dad." Colin answered.
"Then maybe you should ask him." Katrin said at last.
Colin froze, staring at her.
{She's right. She's so right. Why didn't I think of that…?}
He gave her a quick hug, kissed her on the cheek.
"Thanks, Katrin!"
***
"Colin?"
"Dad… I wanted to ask you something."
"What is it? Are you all right? Is it the Green Men?"
"No, Dad, it's not… at least, I think it's not."
"What do you mean?"
"Dad… why am I here?"
"Here? You mean, in Dreamworlds? Or your purpose in life? Or why you're in Nakama World?"
"Why I'm in Nakama World."
"Colin… aren't you having fun there?"
"Yes… yes, I am. Lots of fun."
"Then what's this all of a sudden?"
"I… I don't know. So much that I can't do right now, even if I wanted… I can't complete the Journey for a long time yet, I can't even go into the Forest of Legends without needing to be rescued… I just… want to know. Why am I here?"
Dad paused.
"Dad?" Colin pressed.
"Colin…" Dad said slowly. "Do you really want to know the reason why you are in that world?"
"Yes. I do."
"Here's the reason, Colin. I put you there."
Colin fell silent for a moment.
"Why did you put me here?"
Dad took a while to answer that one. "I have lots of reasons, actually, but there's just one reason you need to remember right now."
"And that is…?"
"Experience." Dad answered. "Colin, I want you to experience that world. Make friends, even rivals. Have fun, and strive. Learn, and remember. Experience it. That's why I put you there.
"The rest is up to you."