Happy Hogswatch!

The dancing continued until a footman walked through the crowd with a small gong. The ringing note was telling the dinner guests to head toward the main hall. Catrin noticed that everyone was calling her Pommy "Sir Pommeraie," and Octavia was addressed as "Lady Octavia," or they were met with "Your Grace."

"They're so polite!" she gushed, then she tugged at her son's elbow, "What aren't you telling us, Pommy?"

Nick and Octavia urged their little party closer to the main hall when just in time the herald called out, "Lord of Health and Safety for the Kingdom of Lancre, his grace, Sir Pommeraie de la Montesquieu Worblehat-Stein, the Duke of Wægn accompanied by the court wizard, her grace, Lady Octavia Worblehat-Stein, Duchess of Wægn." Through the polite applause they were led down to a table in front of the Kings table where the royal family waited.

As Catrin and Jutta got over the shock of hearing that their son and daughter were royalty, the king of Lancre came over to their table and introduced himself to both women, shaking their hands saying, "It is my honor to meet you! Welcome to Lancre, and if you need help with anything, please let me know."

Queen Magrat nodded her head as they shook hands, "You can call my Verence, he can fix anything, he's very handy."

Catrin and Jutta were both stunned and star-struck. They just shook hands with the king and queen! "You'll see more of them this summer. They come out on hot days and go swimming," said Octavia while Nick was in conversation with someone else.

"The king swimming in your pond?" gasped Jutta.

"Aww, he doesn't swim. He sits next to the creek and lets Gula spray him," said Marlon.

Several men stopped at the table to talk to Nick and he looked like he wasn't enjoying it.

"You don't look comfortable, Pommy. Are you ok?"

Nick chuckled. She's only been a part of his life for 24 hours and she's already starting to fret. "Those fellows wanted to talk business, and I had to tell them to save it for next week. This is a holiday and I'm spending it with my mom. Mom, all this frippery and gewgaws, this isn't me. I'd rather be in my bookstore teaching someone to read, or back in the woods hunting or cutting firewood. We're only here because the king asked us personally... and we like to look at the decorations."

Finally, after the kings welcome and a chant by the local temple monks the food came out, beef chowder with horseradish broth, followed by roast pork, pork belly, pickled trotters, roast venison, roast quail, and multitudes of carrots of all colors, turnips, winter greens and brussels sprouts followed by plum and thyme custard tarts and baked apples. The meal was exquisite and Octavia tried a taste of everything to see if she could reproduce it at home. Marlon ate everything and Hollie turned her nose up at everything but the quail and carrots. The twins sat in highchairs and made a mess of themselves with the plumb custard tarts.

After dinner ended and before the long boring speeches started the Worblehat-Stein family rose and approached the King and Nick bowed deeply and said, "you majesty, our parents arrived last night and are still worn out from the journey, we beg your leave so we can retire."

King Verence stood and shook Catrin and Jutta's hand again. "Madam, thank you for attending. I insist on luncheon with you next week, I want to hear your adventures." Both women almost swooned that the king touched their hands.

"I will be by the farm on Wednesday with a little something to welcome you to Lancre," said Queen Magrat to both Catrin and Jutta.

"The queen is going to visit US?" gasped Jutta.

"She comes by quite often," said Octavia as she wiped something from Loo-Loo's face. "She teaches Nick herbology."

"Come on, mom," said Nick as he led his family out to the side entrance where Trixie and Jiffy were waiting for them. Somehow, Hollie got a candy apple and was munching it as she walked through the castle and got her hair stuck in it. Overall, it was a fun time, but when they got settled in the new sleigh Nick and Octavia realized they were in trouble.

"Why didn't you tell us you were the duke and duchess!" demanded Catrin.

"You didn't ask," said Nick, which earned him a smack from his mother sitting next to him.

"Archchancellor Ridcully must think we're crazy. We were walking through the palace with the Duke of Wægn and I told the Archchancellor that we didn't find the Duke of Wægn. What must he think!" said Jutta.

"It hasn't been proven that he does think... OW! It's not legal to hit royalty."

"Grandma hit daddy," laughed Hollie.

"And who is that little blondie?" Jutta demanded Marlon.

"We go fishing," he said. Annette was supposed to come over tomorrow so they can go ice fishing on the pond.

"That's a lot of kissing for a fishing buddy," teased Catrin, causing Marlon to blush bright crimson.

It was a beautiful ride that Hogswatch evening, the town was magic at night and everyone's jaw dropped at the beautiful Hogswatch decorations and lights. The Lancre bridge was illuminated with a thousand little lamps and looked amazing. It could be seen the entire ride up the mountain from Lancre Town to the top of Breeders Peak. From the top of the pass they could see fireworks appearing everywhere in the mountains. The little towns and villages were celebrating the first night of the year. However at the peak it was getting hard to follow the road up there, the oil lamps on the front of the sleigh illuminated the road but the wind was blowing the snow and it was hard to see the edge of the road. "Babe, we need Virga," said Nick as he brought the sleigh to a stop.

"Hang on," Octavia planted the base of her walking stick next to her thigh and held it up. The enormous eye opened and illuminated the snowy mountain road. Luckily it wasn't snowing that hard on the way down, so it was a cheerful Hogswatch evening ride home watching fireworks rise over the little mountain villages.

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The babies were in their crib, Marlon and Hollie fast asleep in their cozy room, the presents were placed in some semblance of order under the tree and the cottage seemed small and cozy as it once did when the newly in love young wizard and her mate moved in so long ago... the year where they did so much for so many gave way to quiet warm summers on Bear Mountain where they could heal their wounds and begin a family. And now their wandering mothers are here, and they too can begin their cycles of healing.

Sipping tea before a crackling fire, the firelight glinting off the decorations; the fairies fluttering around singing softly as Nick strummed his dulcimer; the peace was overwhelming. "This is the best part of Hogswatch," said Nick, and Octavia heartily agreed.

"Do you always have fairies in your house?" asked Jutta.

"Yeah, I like them," said Nick. "They remind me that not everything is deadly serious."

"My son is a duke," said Catrin. She could not believe that she had just dined with the king. Yesterday she was spinning brake wheels on a rickety old train, today she's sipping tea with her son the duke.

"Mom, this is like honorary royalty. I was given the post for doing something for the king. When Marlon inherits the title, it will be actual royalty, so you're going to have to hang around until then. Then you can really put on some airs."

"We certainly will," said Jutta.

"Keep in mind this cottage is ours for my first, and primary duty, and that is to be the witch to the people of the valley and we love it here." He drew Octavia close, and they kissed, a sight Jutta never thought she'd ever see, her daughter kissing a loving husband. "There's never going to be a fancy big house unless Marlon wants to build one. Maybe you two want to start building it, because you're going to have to be roommates in this house."

"We're happy being roommates. We've been looking for you two for quite a while," said Jutta. "I helped Catrin for weeks, asking questions and handing out fliers, until we got up the gumption to ask the wizards."

Catrin patted Jutta's hand and said, "next time we start with the wizards."

"My daughter is an enchantress," sighed Jutta and she shook her head in amazement, "and a duchess!"

"THE Enchantress," said Nick. "There's only ever been one."

Octavia noticed that the women were holding hands, "Well, if you're staying, then we're going shopping and get you some appropriate clothes, I can't have my mother and my mother-in-law walking around the farm looking like a couple of scarecrows."

Catrin started to get up, and Jutta joined her. "Do you mind if we push the beds together? For warmth."

Nick or Octavia must have looked at them weird, because Catrin said, "We've been living on a tight budget. We could only afford a single bed. You get used to it after a while."

"Yes you do," said Nick, "we'll help." Soon the beds were pushed together and remade, the little parlor stove hissing as the coal burned with a warm orange glow and son and daughter tucked in mother and mother-in-law and Gaspode hopped up and curled up on the foot of the bed.

When the kids left, Jutta turned to Catrin in the dark and said, "Thank you, your courage and strength made this possible." Her voice was cracking with emotion.

"It was your wisdom and your drive that made it all possible," sighed Catrin. They squeezed hands under the covers again and Catrin almost squealed, "I can't believe our beautiful family!"

Jutta turned her face to Catrin and kissed her cheek in the dark. "A million to one shot!"

"It truly was... a Hogswatch day miracle."

After a warmup in the sauna and a shower, Nick and Octavia crept through the dark house. The snow was falling again, promising another foot by sunrise. In their warm bedroom the couple kissed as they crawled under the quilt and Octavia said, "now do you believe in the Hogfather?"

"Pardon? We both saw him!"

"Not that, our mothers meeting up and finding their way here. It's a Hogswatch miracle."

Nick sat up and threw the quilts off as he cried, "Octavia Worblehat-Stein! Shame on you!" and he gave Octavia's bare butt a stinging slap.

"OW! What was that for?"

"That's for giving credit for all your hard work to a fantasy, an anthropomorphic personification of a legend," Nick said as he pulled the quilts back into place.

"What do you mean?" she gasped.

"You found our moms several weeks ago, and you gave them little nudges and left a breadcrumb trail of clues to find us here. You're the most powerful magic user on the disk. You could have brought them here with a wriggle of your cute nose. But it worked beautifully your way. It was a wonderful surprise for all of us, and they were able to keep their pride," he gave his Sourceress wife a passionate kiss.

As their kiss broke Octavia smiled, her dark eyes glittering in the dark room, "they still would have found us."

"You think so? It was a million to one shot," said a confused Nick.

"The first thing dad taught me when I first said I wanted to be a wizard, was that a million to one shot pays off nine times out of ten." When Nick stopped laughing, she finally asked, "what gave me away?"

"Those damn sleigh bells, they work for the kids, but I don't need to hear them when you do a little magic."

Octavia was quiet for a while as she lay with her head on his shoulder. Finally she said, "where's my Hogswatch present?"

"Are you sure?" sighed Nick. "You ask for the same thing every year."

"I want it!"

Nick rolled over, his back to her, and Octavia pulled him close. Spooning in the darkness, Nick whispered, "Happy Hogswatch my love," and gently became a huge, black, Bang Galore tiger. His rumbling purr threatened to shake the house.

Octavia quietly squealed "Kitty!" and cuddled her warm, soft, cuddly 250 lbs. purring kitty as the snow drifted gently past their window. "Happy Hogswatch my dear."

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Thank you so much for reading this far, I have never loved writing anything more than writing this story and I only hope to have done Sir Terry Pratchett proud. If you liked this tale be sure to vote and leave a comment. If you would like to read the full fan fiction adventures of Nick and Octavia they're right here in the Enchantress series.

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* Hanover Winter Song. Words by Richard Hovey (1864-1900)