Chapter 2

Jezibelle strangely woke up earlier than she normally did. The sun hadn't even risen over the Mossflower trees. The pink and purple colors just beginning to show their light in the vast darkness, were pushing it all away to be reviled and start a brand new day. It was odd that the hare would be waking up at such an hour, especially since the Redwall kitchens were cold and the Friar still in bed asleep.
"Oh fiddlesticks." She tried to go back to sleep, but her eyes wouldn't shut and her body wouldn't relax. "This is an outrage?"

She suddenly had a feeling inside her. 'Come to the Great Hall'.
Careful to avoid the squeaky floorboards, Jezibelle maneuvered herself over to her door and out into the Redwall dormitories. The sounds of sleeping and snoring creatures were prominent throughout the hallways as Jez giant feet slightly padded on the wooden ground. She passed by Merf's doorway, and Jez flattened her ears to the roaring that the badger's snoring could make.
The hare made her careful way down the ancient stairs with the large letters carved into the stone that spelled out REDWALL, down into the dark emptiness of the Great Hall.

Everything there had an air of emptiness, and Jez didn't like it a bit, it was much too quiet in a place where she has her breakfast, brunch, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, and evening snack every single day. It felt out of place and unneeded. There before her on the opposite wall hung the Great Redwall Tapestry. The hare gazed up at it pure magnificence with honor and respect, for this was the story of Redwall stitched from the past to the present with skilled craft of generations added on. The edges were being extended and this generation's addition is being added on now, though Jez has no idea what they have in store for the next kin to come along to continue the good Redwall name.
Moonlight shimmered down through the high stained glass window in a multitude of colors like rose and jade with the sapphire blue between. The tables and chairs in the hall were a dancing of light in the darkness that Jez had never seen before in her life. The fear and worry of the darkness had vanished instantly with this thought and she felt peaceful. Not the peace that she got when nothing was wrong, but the peaceful when you had someone brave looking out for you.

Martin the Warrior's picture on the tapestry seemed to come alive before Jez's eyes as the wildcat and the vermin scrambled to get away from him in fear, but the kind mouse warrior didn't chase after them to finish the job, he stood there in victory over a battle so long ago. He was too kind. Jez knew he was brave and a great warrior, but to be just as kind was something unheard of. In fact, he must've been very good at everything he did. What would she give to not to make so many blunders in a single day, it was a miracle that she didn't trip over her feet as she made her way here. Maybe Martin was watching her and guiding her. She wished she could do that for some other poor creature, but she can't even help herself, how would she be of any help?

"You better not be trying to sneak a snack from the kitchen now, you hear me." Jez was surprised by that voice and spun around to see Friar Manserve standing there with his apron wrapped around his arms. He held a cheeky grin and laughed. "Oh, I'm so sorry about scaring you, I thought you had heard me banging down the stairs now."
Jez waved him off. "It's okay."
Manserve tilted his head off to the side. "Now I know there is something wrong with you. You aren't as upbeat as you always are. What's wrong?" The pudgy mouse waddled over to a chair, pulled it out, and slumped into it with his belly jiggling as he did so.
Jez pulled out a chair as well as she began her story. "I've been just a wee bit upset over blundering this and destroying that. I even set your fur on fire, and I wouldn't be surprised one bit if you were still angry at me for it too, wot, wot."

The Friar sighed and rubbed the top of his head where Jez could barely see some singed hairs. When he was done, he looked back at the hare and smiled. "I'm not mad one bit, it was an accident, everyone makes them from time to time. You've just made a few more than others, no problem. Why, I remember one time I put too much yeast in the bread I was baking for the Abbess' Jubilee Feast. Oh ho ho, it was rising and bloating and just wouldn't stop." He gave a belly laugh. "But it turned out to be some of the best bread I had ever made, paws down."
"Yes, but something well and good came out of it, wot. What good came out of burning your haircut off?" Jez asked.
"Oh, it was a horrible haircut, I was gonna have it cut off anyway. And I had heard Merf was planning on pulling the flowers out of her garden anyway, you just saved her some trouble." He smiled even bigger. "See, unexpected things do come from mistakes that you would've never thought of before."
"Then why does Merf want me to go out into Mossflower to find more seeds?" Jez was getting a bit confused.
"My guess would be to teach you a lesson in not running when you make that mistake. That's the reason I banned you from breakfast yesterday. You ran."

Jez didn't say anything, what could she say, she did run away, but they would punish her either way. "It's strange how you're feeling upset over this. I mean, the hares that come from Salamandastron are always upbeat and proud, even when they make a mistake." Jez ears poked up when she heard the name of the home of the badgers, the fire mountain. "Maybe it's because you were born here instead of there. I wonder though... If you were to go to the mountain, maybe they could help you. Oh ,what am I saying? It's much too far. Just thinking out loud, i guess, better get those ovens started, farewell." Manserve threw himself up out of the chair, pushed it in, and waddled out of the room, leaving Jez all by herself.

Salamandastron echoed in Jezibelle's head.