After the craziness dealing with a herd of sheep, evading a hungry wolf and eagle, and luring a sheepdog to the high hills to force the flock off the Down, things eventually settled down for everyone on Watership Down and everyone can sleep at peace with no disturbances whatsoever. However, on one morning, a peaceful sleep was greatly disturbed when Bigwig's voice rang out, shouting war cries and Frith knows what else outside the warren. Then came the "1, 2, 3, March" drill afterward. Most of the inhabitants either grumbled or tried to ignore it.
"Ugh, remind me to give Thlayli a good thrashing if this goes on!" Stretching his back out and yawning, Holly really wanted to give his Owsla captain a piece of his mind.
"Well, you know how the usual morning routine goes when he's in a good mood like this." Hawkbit was the next to get up, starting an impersonation of the Owsla Captain for a joke. "'Rise and shine, lads. The morning's half over...'" he added an extra just to insult, "'I'm here to disrupt the morning peace with my big mouth!'"
"It's what he always says whenever he's in a good mood. Otherwise, I'd assume he and Lily couldn't keep their paws off each other." Bluebell couldn't stop himself from laughing at his own humor, that is until a sharp glare from the doe herself silenced him.
Emerging from the warren's front entrance, Bigwig comes in with this huge, elated grin on his furry expression. "Rise and shine, lads! The morning's half over. It's a lovely day to be in the Owsla."
Silver scratched his ears, glaring at his superior officer. "Is it? Not so lovely when you wake up everybody in the warren!" His words made the lion-headed buck aim a hard scowl in his direction.
"I'm of the opinion that Biggie's in a bit of a rut," Dandelion complained.
"And he's dragging us down with him," Hawkbit added.
Whilst Bigwig left to go find Hannah, the rest of the tired inhabitants gradually woke up. Most of them complained about Bigwig, others whined about going back to sleep. Members of the Owsla marched outside for the usual morning patrol, despite their protests. It did not take long for Kehaar to arrive, looking just as much sleepy as everyone else.
"Just this once, couldn't we eat before going on patrol?" With his eyes half closed, Pipkin hoped that, for once, they could silflay before patrol.
Sternly, Bigwig refused the suggestion. "Not happening, lad! A hungry Owsla is a sharper Owsla!"
"I highly doubt that," Lily strongly disagreed. After all, the Owsla needed their strength in case they ran into danger whilst scouring the high hills. "Hunger can make one cranky, as well as weak. At least let them eat first, darling. Owsla needs their strength, after all."
"Later, darling!" Again, Bigwig refused. This earned a collective groan from the Owsla. Ignoring them, he kept a firm watch for Hannah, impatiently waiting for her to go with Kehaar on flight patrol. "Where's that mouse?"
Kehaar opened his beak to let out a loud yawn. "Hanya go to visit sick relative last night. She say she try to be home by sunup."
Bigwig did not like accepting excuses. Wherever that mouse had gone off to, she was not taking her job seriously if she wanted to pull a stunt like this on purpose. He was beginning to wonder why in Frith's name did he ever consider giving her membership in the Owsla in the first place. "Didn't try too hard, did she? Right! We haven't got all season. We've got a schedule to keep, mouse or no mouse. Come on, lads!"
Everyone moved out on the Owsla Captain's order. No sooner had they left many rabbits began silflaying or going someplace private to pass hraka. Hazel's ears cocked up when he sensed someone's presence approaching the warren. To his relief and surprise, Hannah not only returned to the down, but Hickory accompanied her as he came bounding up the hill with an expression of elated joy.
"Hazel! Hey, look who I found on the way home." The little mouse exclaimed.
The chief rabbit welcomes his visitor with a polite nod. "Hello, Hickory. How are things at Redstone warren?
"As I was telling Hannah, everything is absolutely fabulous. Marigold and I are parents now! We have babies!" No sooner did Hickory make the announcement, everyone crowded around the proud father, expressing words of 'Congratulations' or 'We're so happy for you!' "There wouldn't be a Redstone if you haven't helped us. Now we'd like you to come and celebrate. Will you?"
Hazel nodded. "We wouldn't miss it."
Just then, the Owsla had returned from their patrol. No problems and no signs of enemies close by. Everything was good and all. Bigwig allowed everyone to go silflay now that their job has been done. He noticed the strange commotion when he saw everyone surrounding Hickory with warm smiles and excitement. Nearby was Hannah herself, busy laughing and chatting with Clover.
It was not long until Hannah finally noticed him. "Morning, Bigwig! Redstone warren's got babies! It's wonderful news, isn't it?"
The news of Redstone's first litter was the last thing on Bigwig's mind right now. Furious green eyes bore down on the mouse, towering over her as he severely reprimanded her for her failure. "You were supposed to fly with Kehaar on patrol!"
Hannah took a step back, shocked. "I know. I'm sorry, Bigwig, but-"
"I won't accept sloppy discipline from a rabbit... so I'll be damned if I take it from a mouse!" The Owsla Captain's deep voice alerted the attention of everyone else, even his Owsla. This was not the time or place to insult a friend in front of a guest, nor did it make a good impression of their warren due to Hickory's presence.
"Thlayli, stop it!" Holly tried to intervene to no avail.
"If she's not big enough to do her job, or if she doesn't take it seriously, I don't want her in my Owsla!"
Hannah gasped, offended by the lion buck's harsh words. After everything she did for this warren, and for Bigwig, this is how he repays her? Anger filled her to the core, scowling. "You think I'm not doing my share?! You think I'm no good, just cause I'm small!"
Bigwig sneered. "If the whiskers fit!"
When he had leaned down close enough to make his statement clear, Hannah narrowed her eyes at his whiskers and decided to teach him a lesson. She tugged at his one of his whiskers so hard this earned her a cry of pain from that bully. Infuriated, Bigwig prepared to fight back when Holly placed himself between them. This allowed Hannah to storm off, fed up with an ungrateful bastard. Kehaar's attempts to stop proved futile when he came back, defeated.
Blackberry's anger was starting to show, disgusted at what Bigwig had done. "Was that really necessary!? You have about ten minutes to come up with an apology!"
Like the stubborn and impetuous buck that he is, Bigwig saw no reason to apologize in what he thought was fine. "I'm Captain of Owsla and I'll run things the way I want!"
"Oh, really?" Tired of this abuse, Holly decided that enough was enough and to show him who's the boss. "Do you really see it fit to keep the Owsla starving while on patrol? Do you think it's okay to insult someone who has done so much to help us in the past? It doesn't matter how small Hannah is, what matters is she's the bravest mouse I've ever had the honor of having in the Owsla! But it appears you have forgotten that. Until then..." the grey buck took a deep breath to announce the punishment, "you're suspended from your duties."
Bigwig froze when he heard this. It took him a second to register what he had been told and turned on his commanding officer. "WHAAAAT!?" he growled in furious surprise. "You can't do this!"
"Actually, Thlayli, I can." To show he was serious, Holly bared his teeth and snarled, claws unsheathed in case he had to discipline Bigwig in front of everybody to prove his point. The lion-headed buck did not even try to object, despite very much wanting to. Reluctantly, he stormed off to go someplace to be alone and vent his frustration.
After the confrontation was over, Hazel turned in the direction where Hannah had gone. His heart broke to have witnessed Bigwig verbally bash her in front of a crowd, remembering how that impetuous lion buck used to mistreat him and Fiver in the same manner back when their group had a near-death encounter with the crows. "Kehaar, go after Hannah. Tell her we want her to come to the celebration at Redstone."
The gull shook his head, sadly. "Ugh... she need time to calm down. Mad mouse pretty scary beast, you know." He had seen her tough exterior before in the past, and didn't want to face her wrath even if he tried to speak with her. Nonetheless, he decided to fly off and stick close to Nuthanger Farm, just in case.
"It won't be easy, Hazel," Lily reminded him. "I'm disappointed in Bigwig's attitude, and he just hurt her feelings. Give her some space until she's ready to talk." To Hickory, she felt awful that he had to witness such verbal abuse. "I'm sorry about what just happened."
"No, it's all right." Hickory insisted. "We could always postpone the celebration for another day."
"No, please! We don't want your visit to be for nothing." Even though Hazel put on a friendly smile, anyone could tell it was easily fake.
Far from the Down, Hannah was grumbling over the recent tiff she had with Bigwig, walking along the woodland grounds, swatting anything in her path in her frustration.
"Bighead Bigwig thinks he's boss of everything. Hmmph!" she griped as she swatted another acorn.
Of course, she was not the only creature traveling in her direction. Her mood was interrupted when she looked down, seeing a familiar gull-shaped shadow along the ground. She looked up to see Kehaar perching on the branch of a nearby tree.
"Hanya?" he asked as he postured himself for balance. "Hanya, you not really go away from Watership Down, do you?"
Her response was a frown, not keen on discussing the subject as she walked on, leaving Kehaar quite surprised. This was more serious than he thought.
"Ahhh… maybe she need more time, hmmm…"
After Hazel decided to leave Holly in charge back at the warren, he and several other rabbits escorted Hickory back to Redstone. To their chagrin, Bigwig had to accompany them. Because Holly practically bullied him to take a break. Especially with the entire warren giving him the silent treatment after what he did to Hannah.
Everyone eagerly looked forward to seeing the newborn kittens. Except for Bigwig, obviously.
"I should be back in the warren," Bigwig insisted. "There's things to do, you know."
"A bit of a holiday would do you good, Bigwig," Hazel said. "You're pushing yourself too hard."
"Woundwort and his army won't be taking holidays, I'll tell you that."
"You're also pushing everyone else too hard as well. Just try to enjoy the journey will you."
As Hazel spoke, signs of approaching storm clouds and thunder did not do much to deter Bigwig's attitude. "We've got a storm coming. Should I enjoy that too?" he questioned his chief rabbit, before joining off to the rest of the group.
After following Hannah for some time, Kehaar followed the mouse from far off, all the way back to Nuthanger Farm. He knew he had to try again to convince her to return, but there were three problems: the ferocious dogs, Bob and Duster… and the malicious felines, Tab and Puss. After he flew around a few times to check for the guard animals, he carefully landed by the barn when he knew it was safe out in the open.
Seeing an open door inside, he then carefully leaned his head inside to check. "Mmmm… no cats… no dogs… Good enough for Kehaar."
He walked right into the barn, looking around when Kehaar caught sight of his mouse friend, running along the large tire and the crate, carrying a small collection of seeds in her forearms. Of course, it looked a little too much as some fell off her pile, frustrating her a little bit as she carried her food right into a hole in the wooden wall.
Kehaar peered down to address her through the hole. "Hanya, you not really stay here, are you?"
From inside the hole, he could hear her muttering, "Ooh, that's what I'll do." She then came out to speak her piece with the gull. "You mean, go back to Watership Down for lots more insults from Bigwig? Yes! That's what I'll do!" She went back into her hole.
Kehaar, however, was not about to take "no" for an answer. "Come to Redstone, Hanya. See the new babies; is happy time. Oh, don't make it a sad time."
Hannah peered her head out as if to consider the offer. "Hmmm… okay. I'll come. But if that Bigwig looks at me wrong, I'll pull his ears off!"
Eager to take that as a "yes", the gull lowered his wing, letting her climb aboard before he walked her out of the barn and took off into the air, flying off straight to Redstone. "You have a good time, Hanya! I promise you!"
The small group reached Redstone warren with success, although the dark clouds did not pour rain, the weather changed rather abruptly when a strong wind started to pick up. Bigwig's sharp eyes scanned the area, sensing something was off.
"Where's your sentries, Hickory?" Bigwig asked.
"Oh, here or there, I imagine." Though mildly confused and irked, Hickory didn't have a solid answer or knowing why Bigwig asked that question.
"Discipline, my son. It's the key to a successful warren," Bigwig criticized, which made Hickory slightly uncomfortable from his comment. Soon, the Captain of Owsla found another glaring detail to address to the chief rabbit. "What's this, then?" he continued to ask Hickory, looking towards the dirt path that seemed to be close to the warren.
"A trail, obliviously," Hickory sternly answered, clearly not keen on being asked questions he knew the answer too.
But once again, Bigwig had to put in his criticism. "Too obvious, my lad. A fox could trot right down on it to the warren."
"It hasn't happened yet."
"You've been lucky!" And the judgment did not stop there. As soon as they were outside the warren's entrance, Bigwig just had to do an "inspection", and of course... "Look at this entrance! Big enough for a badger to wander in!"
Hazel knew that Hickory was starting to get a little ticked, and finally stepped in to put an end to his friend's rudeness. "Bigwig, I think that's enough criticism for one day, don't you? We're guests here, remember?"
"Fine! I'm just a security expert. What do I know?" Bigwig lightly complained.
"I'm sure you'll tell us, by and by," Hickory frowned, before entering the warren.
By now, Lily was growing annoyed with her mate's behavior. While she knows he had to keep a warren safe due to his job, his fight with Hannah disgusted her. He had changed to a harsh and vulgar bastard. What happened to make him behave like this? However, that would have to wait, as she did not want to bring any bad feelings to the newborns, so she hopped along with the others into the warren.
Bigwig briefly stuck around. "Tsk, tsk, dreadful. Absolutely dreadful," he tsked, before joining with the others inside Redstone.
As Hannah and Kehaar were heading for Redstone by air, they ran into the signs of the incoming storm that the Watership group noted upon their arrival at the warren, though the clouds and thunder were the least of the pair's concerns. They ran into powerful winds that made it quite difficult for the gull to navigate.
"Maybe we sit on the ground till the storm passes?" Kehaar pointed out to a grimacing Hannah.
"Oh… good idea," she noted with light sarcasm, as she knew that the answer was quite obvious.
As Kehaar tried to fly close to the ground to land, the winds made it much more difficult to land. But his problems were nothing like Hannah's, who was struggling to keep ahold of the gull's wings.
"KEHAAR!" she cried out loud as the wind caused her to fall off, her gull friend looking back to see her seemingly falling to the ground before he too felt the winds blow him briefly off course.
The storm came and went before Kehaar recomposed himself, finding himself on the forest floor. Suddenly, he remembered his small passenger and panicked.
"Hanya? Hanya! Where you at!?" he called out as he flew around the forest tops.
Meanwhile, as he took off to look her Hannah, the mouse in question was also coming too after being blown off by the storm, finding herself on the branch of a tree. Of course, she was a little disoriented, so she did not know how high up she was until she nearly fell over the edge of the branch, before she grabbed onto a leaf. Looking down to note how high up she was, she climbed back onto the branch. Seeing the trunk connected to the branch, she figured that she'd have to get climbing.
Inside the warren, there lay Marigold in a nest of goose feathers with three adorable newborns. Two of them inherited their mother's golden yellow fur and only one inherited his father's brown fur, all snuggled up and sleeping against their mother's stomach nursing off her milk. Everyone coos with delight. Even Primrose shed tears of joy that her old warren not only has new inhabitants, but their first litter.
"Oh, aren't they the sweetest little things," Primrose awed.
"They got your ears, Marigold," Fiver commented on how the kittens' ears closely resembled as their mother's ears.
However, the celebration was abruptly cut short when Bigwig noted what the babies were sleeping on. "What's that she's lying on, Hickory?" he asked.
"Goose-down. The geese let us gather it from the edge of the pond, down by the roundabout. It's lovely and soft," Hickory answered.
"Huh, just what you lot are turning out to be: lovely and soft," Bigwig commented dryly. "The nursery should be deeper. Some night a weasel could slip in, snatch a baby, and be off before you knew it."
"Here at Redstone, we've rejected a life of fear, Bigwig," Marigold said.
"Fear is all we knew at Cowslip's warren. We won't live that way again," Hickory recalled of their dark times back in Cowslip's warren.
"So, you trust in Frith to protect you, do you?" The tone in Bigwig's voice when he questioned them was sarcastic. "Well, Frith helps those who help themselves, Hickory." Vulgar as ever, he scoffed at the notion of their naive trust in Frith to protect them and left.
This was not turning out to be the exciting holiday everyone looked forward to, no thanks to Bigwig. Most of the rabbits grumbled in sheer annoyance or frustration.
"Why is he angry at everything? What's got into him?" Hickory questioned.
Hawkbit's response was casual. "There's the right way, the wrong way, and then there's Bigwig's way."
Back in the forest, Hannah was looking for a way out. "Ooh, some fix..." Suddenly, she heard the faint cries of Kehaar calling out to her. "Kehaar! I'm here!" she called out, but it seemed that the gull could not hear her as he flew away from her position, leading her to briefly commiserate. "Oh… I'll never get down! No one will ever know what happened to me!"
"Of course, you can get down!" a female's voice replied from above her.
Hannah looked up and saw a red squirrel scurrying above on a higher branch before jumping over to her branch, performing a series of acrobatic jumps and tricks to make the mouse laugh before she approached her.
"Well?" the squirrel asked, waiting for a reaction, which she got when Hannah applauded her and her skills. "What's your name? I'm Tassel."
"Hello, Tassel. I'm called Hannah," she introduced herself. "So how do I get down?"
"Well… you got up, so you can get down. That's tree law."
"But I fell off a gull. So, getting down's not the same as getting up. I'm a mouse, not a squirrel!"
Seeing Hannah's point, Tassel thought a while on it. Soon, it came to her. "To get down from high country, you got to learn to be a squirrel."
To forget Bigwig's rude behavior, the rabbits began eating some radishes and turnips that Hickory's rabbits have ransacked from a neighboring farm close by. Disappointed but concerned, Lily decided to go check on her mate when he did not come back. It's time to confront him about his unacceptable behavior. As she made her way up the entrance, she found Bigwig standing alone on a hillock keeping a sharp watch for signs of trouble. "We need to talk!" was the first thing she said when she approached him.
"I'm standing sentry, since no one else in Redstone seems to worry about elil." Bigwig's response was not cold, but his mate can tell how serious he is.
"If there's danger lurking around, Fiver would sense it."
"He can't see every danger coming our way." Though he had grown to understanding and listen to Fiver's visions, the lion buck had to be on sentry duty, just in case. He shifts a gaze back at the warren, frowning at how ignorant and careless those Redstone rabbits have become. "This slapdash lifestyle they've settled into... If it was up to me, I'd knock Redstone in shape!"
"Well, that I understand, however, that's not the reason I'm here," Lily determined to get straight to the point. Blue eyes narrowed seriously. "You've been vulgar and nasty to Hannah this morning. Despite her small size, she's a very reliable comrade and member of the Owsla. And your constant disapproval almost ruining our visit when all we want is to congratulate Hickory and Marigold on becoming parents. I don't know what's made you change so drastically, not only did it get you suspended, rightfully I might add, but you coming down hard on those close to you is driving everyone crazy! Including me!"
Bigwig had no word to say in his defense at first. Taken aback now that he's the one on the receiving end of criticism. He never liked it when she stood up to him back in Cowslip's warren. Then again, he did deserve it because he was a jerk. She expected him to answer, so he did. "I'm Captain of the Owsla. I expect everything to be safe, secured and-"
"Did Hazel or Holly order you to do it? Or do you follow your own orders?" The ginger doe's voice grew slightly low.
Bigwig was struck speechless. He cringed but said nothing.
"I think you're overworking yourself and everybody else. You need to take a break once in a while, using it to spend time with your mate and children. Spending time with your friends."
"Efrafa doesn't take holidays, and same goes for Woundwort. If we do, he'll be on us like a pack of wolves!"
"I agree. However, pushing yourself further will only result in you either collapsing by exhaustion or getting sick. I should know, I've seen Henry run himself ragged whenever he wants to do something fun but has other plans. He nearly collapsed when he reached exhaustion and needed to rest for a while."
The lion buck's ears lowered, silently feeling a little bad that a small boy would do that.
Sensing what he was thinking, Lily smiled in calm assurance. "It's all right. He learned his lesson, then. My point is, you need to stop pushing everybody, including yourself. And it doesn't excuse your dismissing Hannah from the Owsla either." Now that she mentioned it, not once did Kehaar and Hannah show up to attend the party. She looked up at the sky, glad to see the dark clouds have moved on. No sign of their feathered comrade, nor the tough little mouse. "That reminds me, it's been a while since Hazel asked Kehaar to bring Hannah here, and neither of them came."
The mask of a fierce fighter began to crack as Bigwig scoured the skies, expecting to see the gull and mouse appear but never did. "I suppose she's not coming..."
"She did leave rather angry, because of you."
"I might as well go back to Watership Down, Lily. I... I'm not fit company." He gave her a quick peck on the cheek before bounding onward. "Enjoy the celebration." The look on Bigwig's expression was that of utter guilt.
Lily knew instantly what he was going to do next; go home and apologize to Hannah, make some changes to the Owsla after apologizing to Holly. She rejoined the party after making sure her mate left safely.
Tassel was really giving Hannah a difficult time learning how to think like a squirrel as she slowly climbed down. Though to be fair, for Hannah… it was understandable, given how some of the stuff Tassel was saying did not always make sense to her. After a few branches down, she nearly lost her balance before she rushed to hug the trunk of the tree.
"No, no," she calmly told the mouse. "You're too scaredy. Trust the tree."
Hannah, deciding to give it a try, tried to walk along the branch, only to fall off with a scream as Tassel looked down worriedly. Luckily, the little mouse landed on another branch and into a small pool of water, soaking her wet.
"Tree law says 'Stay one with tree, then you will not fall at all'," Tassel instructed as she climbed down to join her friend.
Hannah shook herself drip-dry as she was simply befuddled by this "squirrel thinking." "What do you mean 'Stay one with tree'? It's just a big weed!"
"No, Hannah. Trees are old. Really, really old, and very wise. Look, there!" she pointed out, showing to Hannah an inchworm climbing on a nearby branch before pointing up, "And there." Butterflies flew overhead as they found solace in the treetops, and a nest or two of baby birds being tended to by their mothers could also be seen. "There is life everywhere in trees. The tree is our home. She gives us food, shelter. She feels sun and wind and rain. She talks with her leaves. Trust her, Hannah. Love her, and she'll take care of you."
Hannah was amazed, by how much life and beauty was all around her. Such sights that she never could have known had she not been blown off that gull's back. "Oh, she's beautiful, isn't she?" she asked as she turned to Tassel, only to find her already climbing down.
"Come down now," Tassel encouraged her. The mouse nodded as she made another jump, this time landed on her paws instead of her tail end. "That's good, Hannah," she congratulated her, before noting, "We still have a long way to go, and many dangers to face."
At the mention of dangers, Hannah stiffened in fear. "Like what?"
"An owl lives in the low country," A hint of fear lingers in Tassel's voice. It seemed that among squirrels, "high country" meant the higher branches of trees, while "low country" meant the ones closer to the ground. "So, it's best you get to ground before dark, before he wakes to hunt."
Gulping a bit fearfully and remembering what Tassel said about 'loving the tree' "I love the tree…"
By the time the sun was halfway to setting, Bigwig reached the dam and the river on his way back to Watership Down. Looking down at his reflecting in the rippling water, he was about to make the crossing before he heard a familiar caw from above, looking up. "Kehaar, down here!" Bigwig called to him.
Kehaar flew down, but ended up accidentally landing on Bigwig, sending them both crashing to the ground. "BIGWIG! It's Hanya! It's bad, bad!"
"Calm down, what happened?"
"Big wind bashed Kehaar! Hanya fall into woods and Kehaar not find her! M-maybe she gone for always!" Kehaar frantically explained.
"No!" Bigwig was stunned and shocked from what he just learned. Hannah needed to found, and soon before anything worse happens to her. "Show me where it happened. We'll find her."
"Yeah, we find her, Bigwig! You and me, yes! This way!" Kehaar remarked as he led the lion buck to the location where he last saw her.
Meanwhile, both Hannah and Tassel were making much better progress climbing down the tree, jumping from branch to branch. "I do love the tree," the mouse remarked successfully. "I know how to get down now, Tassel!"
Tassel, however, seemed quite worried as she looked at the sun. "I don't think you'll get to ground before dark, Hannah. The owl will be out soon."
Despite the warning, Hannah was adamant on moving on. "Ground can't be far off now," she assumed before she looked over the branch. To her excitement, the ground was much closer than when she was all the way back when she started. "I see it! Oh! Wonderful ground!" She jumped down, grabbing onto a branch of acorns which caused one to drop down… and land on the head of a sleeping owl.
Roused from his nocturnal slumber, the owl looked up, noticing the moving branch. Hannah noticed the owl eyeing her and closed her eyes, hoping the bird did not have a good look at her as the owl flew up as if to inspect the branch. Fortunately, the owl was not able to inspect further as a pile of acorns fell on him, courtesy of Tassel.
"Go find another tree to haunt! Nobody wants you here, beaky-face!" she called out, shaking the branch to make more acorns rain down and driving the owl to find another branch to perch on before she climbed down to join with Hannah. "Well, that was a near thing."
"I could smell his mousey breath..." The lingering scent of dead mouse from the owl's last meal left Hannah frightened, but she quickly recovered from her fear. "How do I get past him to the ground?"
"The owl goes away at night to hunt. You can get down then," the red squirrel told her as they watched the owl recover from the sudden acorn shower.
"I hope he goes soon."
Elsewhere in the woods, Kehaar was leading Bigwig to the spot where he lost Hannah in the storm. "She fall somewhere near here. But hard to tell, for sure. Wind blow Kehaar all 'blblbllblblb' for ages!"
Bigwig stood high and tall, ears cocked upward and sniffed for her scent, as he looked around and noticed the woods were different. "It's a whole, huge world in here, and she's just one little mouse."
"But she Hanya the mouse. She got a BIG spirit! Remember, this is the same mouse who helped infiltrate Efrafa when you and the does were having hard times!"
Bigwig couldn't help but agree. Despite her small size, Hannah did have a mighty will of her own. How else could a mouse like her stand up to Bigwig? How else could a mouse sneak inside Efrafa and make it out alive? She had done all sorts of things that would've driven off any mouse out of fear. But Hannah, she was different from the other mice.
"Right, let's keep looking," Bigwig suggested as they continued their search in the woods.
Late that night, Lily thought the night air would help clear her head. Suddenly, she paused in the midst of her step. Ears cocked upward, eyes alert. The doe gets down on all fours, hiding in the tall grass. She had sensed danger. Whatever it is, Lily remains guarded. She peeked out and with a gasp realized what type of elil had stumbled upon the warren.
It was not fast enough but the sleek and slender body of a weasel managed to slink his way into the warren. With no sentry on guard, and being the only rabbit outside, Lily stomps her foot loud enough to sound the alarm. Unfortunately, the weasel had heard her. She was not fast enough though, but the weasel barely missed her by the skin of its teeth when she dodged the pounce.
Hazel, Silver, Primrose, Fiver, Hawkbit and Dandelion immediately rushed outside and tensed at the sight of elil. Working together, the five bucks fought back to ward it off. It ended as quickly as it came. Silver sunk his teeth in the weasel's throat and the predator died without a struggle. Catching their breath, everyone let out a collective sigh of relief.
"What happened!?" Hawkbit demanded, though a bit concerned whilst angry. "What are you doing out here!?"
"I went to speak to Bigwig about his behavior, and we've come to an understanding that he needs to tone down his aggressiveness," Lily simply responded. "After he left, I went out to get some fresh air and spotted the weasel sneaking in and warned you."
"Now that you mentioned it..." Dandelion cautiously looked at his surroundings, "we all had the same idea to come out and stand on sentry duty. As nice as it is to welcome babies into the world, we couldn't stay inside knowing there's nobody on guard."
Turns out Bigwig's words had left an impact on everybody, especially Hazel. After having fought off the weasel, the chief rabbit of Watership Down began to see the lack of security and how the warren was run, like his Owsla Captain had earlier. "Bigwig was right about the way they've built the warren. It's too easy for elil to sneak in without warning."
"Well, he might be a damp fog at times," Dandelion sniggered, "but he knows his business."
"When you think about it, Bigwig's got a tough job to do." Primrose agreed with a smile.
"Yes," Fiver nodded. "If he didn't get on our tails all the time, we'd be as sloppy as cows. And then where would we be?" Despite their rough start last season, he held no grudge against Bigwig for being impetuous.
"That's another of Bigwig's favorite Owsla sayings," Hawkbit pointed out. "'The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.'" Suddenly a noise startled Hawkbit, fearing the worst… only to find that it was a frog what frightened him, before it swam into the water.
"Maybe we should try being a little less touchy about Bigwig's discipline, eh?" Dandelion suggested.
"Well, for a while, anyway," Hawkbit added.
"I agree. For now, thought, I say we should discuss this with Hickory and Marigold at once," Lily suggested. She could not have the warren leaving themselves at risk for another attack, and it had to be addressed to Redstone's chieftain immediately.
Back at Tassel's tree, the red squirrel and the little mouse closely watched the owl, waiting for it to take his hunting flight, but for some reason, it did not move. Almost as if it were waiting for something…
"The owl's still there," Tassel remarked. "Must be waiting for the moon to get higher. Easier for hunting."
Hannah, in the meantime, was becoming more accustomed to life in the trees. "It's nice, living in a tree, Tassel. I never felt so… safe before."
"Trees are the best place anywhere." Tassel concurred with a pleased smile.
"Down on the ground, you're always running, hiding, fighting. But up here, it's like another world…"
"Anytime you want to get away from trouble on the ground, come and see Tassel and her tree."
"Hannah! Where are you!?" a certain lion-maned rabbit's voice called out in the distance, catching the attention of Hannah and Tassel as they looked down towards the ground.
"Someone's looking for you, Hannah," Tassel figured.
"Oh, that's Bigwig. He's one of the rabbits I told you about," Hannah explained to her, before a few hoots from the nearby owl reminded them of their enemy, giving Tassel a very good reason to worry.
"Oh, the owl will find him, if he doesn't shut up."
"Hmmm… it's not like Bigwig. Usually, he's the carefullest rabbit in Watership Down." Hannah was quite surprised by the dreaded concern in Bigwig's voice, before she looked to the owl, whose head turned towards the direction of Bigwig's hollering for his friend.
Entering the dark wood, Bigwig's voice rose at the top of his lungs as he called out for her. "Hannah, answer me!"
"Elil going to hear you, Bigwig," Kehaar warned him.
He reprimanded himself for driving her away and possibly putting her in danger. How selfish he had been. "If I hadn't been such a hardhead, she wouldn't be out here! It's my fault, Kehaar!"
"Oh, you and Hanya always snarly-warly at each other all the time. She know you don't mean nothing by it."
"She might be hurt. We've got to find her!" Bigwig was determined to search for her, and he wouldn't stop unless Hannah is safe and ventured deeper into the dark forest, much to the concern of Kehaar.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey! Something going to find you first." But the gull's words fell on deaf ears as Bigwig kept hollering very loudly, looking for Hannah. Kehaar flew after him while Hannah hopped down a few branches to get closer to the ground.
"Hannah, no!" Tassel warned. "Wait till the owl's gone!"
"The owl's gonna get Bigwig if I don't do something!"
"What can you do against an owl?"
"I don't know, but if Bigwig gets killed over me, he'll never let me hear the last of it!"
Suddenly, the owl made a swoop from the branch, flying low and in Bigwig's direction. Time to catch himself a rabbit for dinner. Hannah knew what she had to do. She let out her best war cry as she jumped down. The owl briefly turned round to see the mouse landing on top of his head and behind its face, briefly weighing it down from the impact of the pounce.
"Hannah! Please answer me!" Bigwig continued to call out for her, but no answer came. In fact, she never responded to his calls at all. It could only mean one thing and he feared the worst...
Even Kehaar had come to the same sad conclusion. "Maybe she never answer again..."
"Oh Kehaar, what have I done?" As Bigwig felt the weight of his guilty actions possibly leading Hannah to her demise, a fierce battle cry from above caught his and the gull's attention. They looked up to see not only an owl swooping in their direction… but also what looked like Hannah crying out as she rode the flying mouse-eater.
They managed to duck low from the unprecedented predator, causing the owl to miss his catch in midflight. Hannah struggled to keep the course, biting and clawing at the bird's head with all her strength. The owl screeched, trying desperately to shake her off. He made one last attempt to catch Bigwig, but it missed again because it lost concentration as a result of Hannah's attack. At last, she felt like it was a good time to jump off when the owl decided enough was enough, tuck-and-rolling onto the ground and watching the owl fly off into the night. A voice urged her to turn around, grinning.
"Hannah, you're all right! Oh, thank Frith and all of Prince Rainbow's messengers!" Bigwig was so relieved and found it a miracle of a small mouse to be alive, and for saving his rear end from an owl attach.
"OH, ITS WONDERFUL, HANYA!" Kehaar flew down and picked her up, hugging her closely with much relief. "IS YOU, IS YOU, OHHHH HANYA!" Fortunately, the caws did not last long as guilt briefly returned to the gull for his part in Hannah going missing. "Kehaar… very sorry for dropping you."
The mouse nodded as if to accept Kehaar's apology before sternly turning to Bigwig. Though her tone was quite unexpected by her choice of words. "What's the matter with you, Bigwig!? Thumping around in the dark, roaring like a waterfall!?"
"I was... I was looking for you," Bigwig replied with a big of surprise over the mouse's concern.
"What happened to Owsla rules? 'Be silent at night, or you're in for a fight'? If you get eaten, how are you going to help me, eh?"
"All right, I was a bit careless, but I had to find you to... tell you how sorry I am, about this morning."
"Not here, not now. I'll tell you where you could say you're sorry," Hannah said, looking around nervously. "Now we'll go home, before something else comes out of the night for us."
In agreement, the rabbit, mouse, and gull made their way back out of the woods, before Hannah briefly turned around to address her newly-made friend from high country. "Thank you for teaching me squirrel thinking, Tassel! I'll see you again!"
As the squirrel in question watched Hannah and her friends rush out, despite having made a friend, one observation came to her head about those like Hannah and her friends. "Groundlings. They're all crazy," she remarked, mimicking a crazy circular motion with her paw.
Relaying the incident of the weasel to Hickory left the poor buck in state of speechless shock. Marigold scooped her babies closer to her stomach, almost as if fearing another elil might attack. After a much long discussion, Hickory finally relented and agreed to let some of his finest bucks stand watch. The nursery had to be relocated to a much deeper burrow underground. This incident seemed to bring an abrupt end to the celebration as Hazel's group decided to return home, especially when the sun was starting to set.
When they had arrived on Watership Down, Frith had risen, where they found Bigwig, Hannah, and Kehaar waiting for them near the entrance. And in front of a crowd of the warren's inhabitants. Holly and Clover explained what had occurred during Bigwig and Kehaar's absence and Hannah explained of her adventures in the high country, or rather a tree, where she had made a new friend in Tassel.
"You insulted me here in front of everyone! So, say you're sorry in front of everyone!" Clearly, Hannah wanted nothing more than for the hard-headed buck to admit how wrong and harsh he had been with her this morning.
Although not eager to do it on all fours, Bigwig was practically ordered to do it on Holly's command. He did not like it, but after one stern look from Lily, he knew he deserved it. "I'm sorry for saying you don't do your job. I'm sorry for shouting at you. I was unfair and wrong."
"'Sorry' accepted," Hannah smirked with a pleased expression, as she accepted his apology. "Now we're back to our old ways." She turned to leave when the lion buck stopped her.
"Not exactly, Hannah." Bigwig gradually stood up again. He looked down at her, this time acknowledging the heroic little mouse who had risked her life to save him. "You saved my life. And now I know that size isn't a measure of courage. I'm proud to be your friend."
Hannah was stunned by his sincere gratitude, a little bashful. "You're not so bad yourself, Bigwig... when you're not barking like a fox," she joked as she bounded off.
Bigwig looked affronted at the mouse's comment. "WHAT!? Hey, I do not bark like a fox!"
"No... maybe more like a foxhound."
"Oh, hahaha. HANNAH! Front and center..." He ran off after her around the down, ignoring everyone when they had burst out laughing at Hannah's teasing. It would not be long until after this, things were different between Bigwig and Hannah. A good kind of different.
"And once again, there was peace on Watership Down," Hazel chuckled.
