The Whispers In The Warren
Late past Fu'inle,
The burrows of Watership Down were surprisingly quiet as most of the rabbits
Who occupied them were sound asleep,
leaving the runs of the warren empty and barren of any awaken life. Yet, through the peaceful quietness of the warren,
a Lion-headed Rabbit could be seen quietly making his way through the runs and tunnels towards the burrow of his Chief for he had to bring him up to date on their return, and the Hlessi's arrival.
Meanwhile in the burrow of which the Captain of Owsla was making his way towards,
The Rah lay quietly asleep,
Protectively cuddling his mate and his kittens for they were everything to him.
As he lay asleep,
he had caught the quiet yet noticeable whisper of a rabbit trying to get his attention.
He flicked his right ear up in an attempt to listen more closely to the whisper that was calling out to him.
He then recognized it to be the Lion-headed Rabbits voice and upon opening his eyes, saw his Captain of Owsla sitting at the entrance of his burrow looking back at him.
The rabbit had told the Chief Rabbit that he wanted to speak to him about the Hlessi and upon saying this,
the Chief carefully made his way out of the burrow in order to not wake his family and hopped out a distance away with the Lion-headed Rabbit through the runs until they found a secluded burrow for them to speak in.
The Chief rabbit had then asked on what news he had to tell him about the Hlessi;
in which the Lion-headed Rabbit told of his trip back to the Hlessi and the Seer, the Raconteur's odd Discovery, their first contact with the Hlessi, the Seer's first encounter with the Hlessi, the oddly charmed collar and their journey back to Watership Down.
The Lion-headed rabbit then ended his update on what he knew about the Hlessi by stating that his name was Vesper,
how he had befriended the Prince, and the oddity and strangeness of his appearance, his voice, and his behavior.
This had alarmed the Chief rabbit for he had not expected this great amount of peculiarity towards the Hlessi
for he had found it unnerving and it had caused him say to the Captain of Owsla that this rabbit may be a threat or may later become a threat to the integrity of their warren.
Immediately,
the Captain of Owsla started to defend Vesper for he had personally seen how the Hlessi had interacted with them
and said that he was friendly, yet a shy rabbit who seemed to have an unexplainable atmosphere around him that seem unusual, yet innocent.
He then added that if the hlessi were a threat, he would not be able to do much due to his injuries which had made it unbearable
for him to move his lower left side of his head and neck sometimes.
He had then added that he could not be a danger towards the warren for he was the close friend of the Prince and this might have been proof that he was not a bad rabbit.
The Chief upon hearing his Captain of Owsla defence towards Vesper,
clarified that he had not meant that the Hlessi may cause physical harm towards the stability of the Warren as General Woundwort had done,
but towards the fact that maybe the facts and secrets of the Hlessi may indeed affect how the warren thinks of their world around them,
even if he did state in the past that the building of this warren involved adopting new ideas that have benefited the Warren ever since;
he was still worried of what new ideas could the Hlessi share with his rabbits and that frightened him.
The Captain of Owsla did agree that his concerns were understandable
but stated that it did not seem the Hlessi had any intentions of bringing harm towards the warren's integrity.
The Lion-headed Rabbit then said that he would keep an eye on him to make sure he wasn't getting into trouble,which had relieved the Rah.
The Chief thanked the Lion-headed Rabbit for this and then said that he would like to meet Vesper at the very moment,
in which the Lion-headed had suggested against this for the Hlessi was sleeping in Fiver's Burrow at the moment and had been feeling lightheaded on their way back and needed to rest for his injuries.
Upon learning this,
the HazelRah decided to leave the Hlessi be until morning silflay when he and his mate could go and meet Vesper and see what type of rabbit he really was.
Yet until then,
HazelRah thanked Bigwig for telling him about the Hlessi and told him to get some rest for tomorrow, they might go and raid a farm for fresh Flayrah if it seemed safe enough, in which Bigwig tiredly obeyed.
As both HazelRah and Bigwig were making their way towards their burrow,
they could have sworn that they heard a glimpse of a voice in the warrens Honeycomb but dismissed it as probably the wind blowing through the warren and continued on.
As HazelRah entered his burrow,
he noticed that Hyzenthlay was awake and currently licking her kittens clean from the dirt that had collected onto their fur.
Upon his Arrival,
Hyzenthlay looked up to see her mate looking at her with deep affection towards her.
He quickly joined and nuzzled her as he reflected
to himself on how it was his family and friends he was protecting and he thought to himself that if the Hlessi threatened their safety,
then he would do everything in his power to make sure he was not a threat no more, even if he befriended El-ahrairah.
As he ended his personal reflection to himself, he snuggled his mate and his litter kittens close and went humbly to sleep.
Little did both HazelRah and Bigwig know,
they were indeed not the only two rabbits having a conversation about the new arrival of the Hlessi in Watership Down for in the middle of the vacant Honeycomb,
two rabbits were having an intimate conversation,
and one of the rabbits was the one who was being talked the about,
the Hlessi.
Around the time the Lion-headed Rabbit entered the Burrow of his Chief earlier,
a majestically Glowing White-gold rabbit
fadingly entered the warren of Watership Down without being seen by any of the Night Patrol Sentries that stood nearby.
The Majestic Rabbit made his way through the runs of this amazing warren,
focused on his search for his friend,
who lay asleep in one these burrows as he kept searching through them.
After a while,
he came across a single burrow, in which he found the Seer and his pregnant mate snuggly resting towards one another.
Next to the sleeping Seer, was the Hlessi who had been struggling to sleep for some time now.
The injuries of the Hlessi seemed to be slowly healing as would surely heal with time as his only concern.
As the Majestic Rabbit looked down upon the Hlessi,
he gave a sad yet joyful smile and approached the Hlessi and nuzzled him to get his attention.
Upon feeling the touch of another rabbit's nose tickling in his own muzzle and nose,
Vesper looked up to see the Majestic Rabbit looking back into his ghostly pure eyes as he had then smiled to see that his friend,
the Prince had come back to him.
The Majestic Rabbit backed away from his friend, and whispery stated to Vesper in a Gingerly tone "You seemed to have a hard time sleeping my dear companion.",
in which Vesper responded sarcastically
"Well you don't seem to be helping, long ears."
The Prince then gave a Vesper a smiling nod and motioned him to join him out of the burrow.
At first, it had taken a while, but the Hlessi had carefully made his way out of the burrow without waking the Seer and followed his friend through the runs into the now empty Honeycomb.
Upon the way,
the Hlessi had asked if he had something to do with it, in which the Prince responded that
'I was involved in no such thing,'
then winked to Vesper,
signaling he did indeed have been part of the reason he could not sleep.
Once there,
Vesper asked about the possibilities of someone coming into the Honeycomb and hearing them,
in which the Prince stated that it seem less of possibility for everyone was asleep in their burrows.
They then made their way towards the center of the Honeycomb, in which they then sat in front of one another.
All sudden,
the Hlessi gave the Prince an embrace that most rabbits were unfamiliar off, but to Vesper, was all too familiar with.
The Hlessi continued his hug,
yet he apologized for it because he had missed his friend and his human would do that once and while to show his affection towards him with these gestures.
The Prince was surprised at Vesper's action with his eyes widening for no rabbit has ever hugged him the way man would,
but quickly stated that he was okay with it because normally he would not condone this type behavior adopted from man,
but for the Hlessi, he made an exception and Hugged back confusingly for he had also never hugged back too.
After their embrace, they separated and the Prince then began to apologize for the Hlessi being attacked by the Homba and he had deeply regretted that it happen.
The Hlessi responded to the now dispirited Prince in an understanding and soothing voice saying that the
he had no part in what had happened to him and it was surely not his fault or anyone's fault but his and ended his response with a quote the Prince was all too familiar with,
'For what is, is what must be.'
Yet the Prince had then said that he understood his friend's response, but still asked the Hlessi could still forgive him,
for he had still felt that he was still responsible for it.
Seeing that his close friend was still sadly upset,
he nuzzled his friend assuringly until he got his friend to become calm and then had stated that he would forgive his friend and upon hearing this,
the Prince had happily nuzzled back with a joy written smile.
At the Prince had lightened up,
he then asked how he was settling in with the rabbits he has met so far at Watership Down in which the Hlessi answered that so far to him,
the Rabbits he has met like the Seer and Lion-headed rabbit were very nice while the raconteur was funny every once while
and then told of how the Black-tipped ear rabbit had pulled off a magic trick that made him a hero even though the Hlessi knew what had really happened.
The Prince was satisfied with how the rabbits here were treating him so far
and then asked if he had told anyone about his past and who he really was, in which the Hlessi shakingly said no.
The Prince in the serious mood then stated a warning to him, that if he was not careful on who he told about his past,
then they would think he was a Hutch rabbit, or a dangerous rabbit and would surely kill him, and stated that if it were to come to that case,
then it would then be out of his powerful paws to help him, but could only intervene with reasoning or if needed, trickery.
The Hlessi responded that he had indeed known the risk of his harm upon releasing his personal information about himself
but stated that he believed that the Seer and the Lion-headed rabbit were probably the best rabbits he could possibly trust to tell, but he had added that he would,
unfortunately,
have to wait for the right time or the right scenario in order for it to become possible. However,
the Prince responded that there may also be the unfortunate possibility that if he were to tell the two rabbits,
and then they would his information with other rabbits,
]he could still be viewed as a threat and could end threatening the stability of his and other lives in Watership Down in which Vesper had agreed,
but would like to avoid that and believed the two rabbits could be trusted with his personal information and seemed like loyal rabbits to him.
The Prince then responded to his companion that he had hoped he was right about this and trusted him to make the right choices when the time came.
The Prince then stated that he would keep a close eye and ear towards his friend and wished him the best of luck in this wonderful warren for he had to leave.
He had then helped Vesper back to the entrance of Fiver's Burrow and once again turned back to his friend and
gave a smile that made Vesper's stomach fill up with butterflies.
Vesper had then said goodbye to his friend in which then unexpectedly hugged his friend close and told Vesper
'to take care now'
and his embrace by touching Vesper Nose with his own.
Vesper responded after their embrace that he thought the Prince did not condone this type of Gesture adopted by man,
in which the Prince looked back to him and said in an amused voice that 'he was the only exception to this gesture',
in which Vesper understandably nodded.
Then Vesper saw his friend,
El-ahrairah disappear through the runs of the warren as the Prince made his out of the warren and made one ghostly leap up the night sky towards Inle' and flying away the Downs of England.
Upon seeing his close friend leave,
Vesper had surprisingly felt tired and cautiously made his way inside the Burrow and made himself next comfortable next Fiver,
put his ears on the back of his head, and finally, shut his tired eyes for the satisfying sleep he craved for.
Little did both Vesper and El-ahrairah had known,
a rabbit of Watership Down had indeed been listening in on their conversation and after eavesdropping,
the young red-furred rabbit quietly made his way back to his burrow, deciding that tomorrow he would tell HazelRah would he had stumbled upon and what he had heard and learned from their conversation.