Frith had just begun to peek over Watership Down, indicating a fresh and beautiful new day, but not a single rabbit was awake. As a matter of fact, no one was eating, no one was in the Honeycomb chatting away, not even the three pranksters who loved to cause mayhem and trouble for their own pleasure. Even the three energetic kittens; Mallow, Snowdrop, and Gilia weren't up, and they loved to play in the morning.
Everyone was exhausted, especially after what happened in the cave and the decision to take in the two new weasels, Heather and Sly, who were in fact sleeping together in a newly dug burrow, which had been placed as far back in the warren as possible. Of course, it wasn't the most comfortable, but they didn't mind, just as long as they had each other.
Still, the biggest issue with two weasels living on the down was their natural habits: to kill and eat smaller animals, especially rabbits. But, to prevent this they agreed to only eat worms or insects. They would be watched very closely every day, and if they wanted to go anywhere in the warren, they needed an escort of Owsla members.
Once Fiver heard of this, he wasn't very fond of this idea, as it sounded very similar to being a prisoner in Efrafa, other than the part about being killed and living under a tyrant ruler who would stop at nothing to see the whole destruction of every warren he came across, and to enslave any rabbits that defied him.
Luckily, Hazel had explained to his little brother why it had to be this way, and to make matters easier, the weasels did agreed with the terms. At the moment, safety had to come first, even if that meant some feelings would be hurt.
Truth be told, Hazel wasn't paying too much attention while the burrow was being dug. He was drowning his own thoughts about the nightmarish vision he received from his mother. So many questions were still unanswered, but he couldn't go back and ask her, as he was still unsure how he got there in the first place. Finally, he decided to ask Fiver for some advice about it. But before he got a chance, the little seer was fast asleep in his bed, so Hazel decided to wait until morning to ask, and went off to his burrow with Primrose and their three kittens.
Usually in the early morning Bigwig would take his Owsla to train outside. However, he was short on members, as Larch had been excused for a couple of days. He was forced to stay in Blackberry's burrow so he could get help for his newly punctured leg. Larch honestly didn't mind too much, because now he got the chance to sleep in and just take it easy for a little bit; not like when he was in Efrafa, bullying and killing weaker slaves.
On bad days, Larch would usually wake up sweating and panting because of the nightmares he had, especially over the families he tore apart. Even the young kittens weren't safe from his claws. He had never told anyone about these nightmares because he didn't want to look like a weakling in front of other members in Efrafa, but since he had left there was nothing to fear. Watership Down was his new home, and he had very supportive friends. Maybe he could go and ask Fiver for some advice when he woke up. Larch knew that the little guy knew information about visions, not anything on nightmares…but it was worth a try.
Bigwig had also lost Hawkbit, Strawberry, and Dandelion because they had gotten the same luck as Larch and got out of their early training. They were currently in charge of checking in on the weasels and watching them for the day. At the moment, they had been put as guards by Hazel and were in front of the burrow. But soon after he left them, all three of them fell asleep.
The Owsla leader had now awoken in his lonely burrow, and started to make his way outside to practice by himself. He was thinking over some new moves he could try. Ever since Molly and Fiver had fought him and Hawkbit, he was very keen on learning their fighting skills, as they could easily turn a battle in their favor. His thoughts were interrupted when he had walked past Blackberry's burrow and saw out of the corner of his eye that Larch was shaking in his bed and mumbling something terrible.
Fearing the worse, Bigwig walked in the burrow to see that Blackberry was nowhere to be found. This would usually raise questions, but at the moment, he was only worried about Larch. Once he was close enough, he grabbed the trembling rabbit, trying to wake him by repeating his name over and over. Luckily, by the fifth time it had done the trick and Larch was now awake. He was panting and obviously scared of something, but he was awake.
"Hey, Larch, are you all right?" Bigwig whispered, staring down at the terrified rabbit. But, sadly, he didn't get any type of response.
"All right. Well, do you know where Blackberry is?" he asked, changing the subject.
Larch still didn't respond. All he did was lean over and glance behind the large Owsla leader, as if expecting something to be behind him, ready to attack them... But there was nothing except an empty run.
Once he knew he was safe inside the burrow, he started to calm down, thankfully before he did something crazy, like run outside randomly, or maybe attack Bigwig.
"Sorry, Bigwig, I…um…didn't mean to wake you," he apologized, trying to calm himself even more by talking to a friend.
"No it's alright. To be honest, I was already awake," Bigwig replied.
"Anyway, are you alright? I mean, you were mumbling and shaking just like Fiver when he's having a vision."
Larch didn't answer him. He had started to look down towards his own paws, trying to avoid any type of eye contact. He had begun to tear up a little when he remembered the nightmare he was in, but the strangest thing was that it wasn't the about the slaves or other rabbits he had killed... It was about his own parents.
"Bigwig, can you please go and get Fiver for me?" Larch choked out, still trying to avoiding eye contact.
"Why, is your leg acting up? Because I don't think Fiver knows as much of herbs or medicine as Blackberry does," Bigwig explained, looking down at the leaf across Larch's punctured leg.
"Plus, he is asleep. Do you really want a lashing from Hazel?" Bigwig chuckled, trying to lighten the mood as much as possible. However, Larch didn't find it too amusing.
"Just get him... Please," Larch begged as he continued to stare down at his front paws.
Bigwig finally understood why he wasn't looking at him, as Larch had begun to cry and of course he could hear his voice break. He didn't want to press the matter anymore. Obviously, he only wanted to talk to Fiver.
"All right, Larch. Don't worry, I will go get him," Bigwig reassured him, leaving the sorrowing rabbit to his own thoughts.
"Where is Blackberry when you need her?" Bigwig thought as he walked quickly through the empty run, trying his best to get to Fiver as soon as possible, but also not to accidently wake anyone else. As he turned a corner, he didn't see Blackberry in time. The doe was in fact trying to run back to her burrow before she was missed, but the only thing she accomplished was being smashed up into a pile, placing her on top of Bigwig.
"Blackberry, where have you been? Also can you get off me?!" The Owsla leader demanded as he started to push into the doe's stomach, trying to get her off.
"I am sorry, Bigwig," she apologized, trying to get off. However, her paws couldn't find a hard enough surface and kept slipping, causing her to fall back down on him.
"Ow! Stop pushing so hard on my stomach. You're pinching me," Blackberry complained, as another shove came into her.
"I thought I had more time," she whispered, trying to keep to herself.
"More time for what?" The Owsla leader asked, surprising the doe.
"Nothing. It's nothing, Bigwig," she replied hastily. Now that she was finally off of him, Blackberry tried her best to get away and sprint back to the burrow before Bigwig could get a chance to ask her any more questions.
Sadly for her, he was still hungry for answers. Just before she could escape, he grasped the tip of her tail with his front teeth and forcefully pulled back, causing her topple over, and stopping any attempts of escape.
"Ow! Bigwig, what are you doing?" she asked, staring back at him with a confused and angry look.
"I want answers! More time for what?" he replied, staring sternly at her once she had gotten back up on her feet.
"And I want you to let go of my tail!" Blackberry shouted. Sadly, Bigwig wasn't going to comply with her demands. It looked like she was going to have to do this the hard way, so she began stabbing her claws into the ground, while using all of her strength to crawl away from him. But the large Owsla leader had a firm grip, and wasn't letting go for anything.
"Where have you been!?" he pressed, with a different question, his words muffled because of the fur in his mouth and the clenched teeth.
Blackberry seemed to be more determined to get away than answer a simple question, because Bigwig could feel himself being slowly pulled forward. He decided to do the same as the stubborn doe, and stabbed his own claws into the ground, preventing her from going any further.
"Tell me, and I will let go!" he shouted, trying to reason with her now.
Blackberry ignored him, continuing to try and pry herself forward. Realizing that this wasn't going to work anymore, she began to use her head, and soon started to search for any roots to bite down on with her teeth and use for anchor points. She finally found a strong enough root and grabbed a hold. Soon, the doe was starting to win the tug of war again.
Realizing that he couldn't hold her in place anymore, Bigwig decided to do something similar to the doe and began to use his heels to pull backwards instead of forwards. Of course, the silvery-blue tail was caught in the middle, being stretched beyond its normal means in two different directions, with neither party growing tired.
"No…where... Bigwig! Now let...go of... me!" she shouted, straining her words as she felt herself being stretched into two different directions. Her front wasn't moving because of the new anchor point, but the rest of her was being forced away. But, of course, her demands still fell on deaf ears, because Bigwig's grip wasn't letting up in any way.
"I said... Let go!"
Blackberry had had enough of this. She made sure she had a good grip with her teeth around the same root, and once she knew she was secured, she curled up her hind legs and gave a sharp and powerful kick right into Bigwig's chest, causing him to let out a loud grunt. However, he still didn't let go.
Bigwig saw that she was getting ready with her hind legs for another powerful kick. But before Blackberry could deliver the blow, Bigwig had pulled his final move and got on his hind legs, starting to pull upwards. After a great struggle, he forced Blackberry off the root she was holding onto, forcing her lower half into the air, which caused her hind legs to dangle and foiled any plan to kick him again.
"Are you done?" he asked more calmly, staring down at the half-grounded doe.
"Yes. Just let me down, please," she sighed, realizing she had been beaten, mainly because she was now too far away to kick him again, and on that note her hind legs couldn't even touch the ground anymore.
"You promise you're not going to try to run away once I put you down?" Bigwig replied, his words still muffled by the fur in his mouth.
"Yes, I promise," Blackberry answered in defeat.
Seeing that he had her by the tip of the tail, literally, she couldn't escape, and even if she did try, he could pull the same stunt. Once he had lowered her back down to the ground and let go, she kept her promise, and didn't try to run away.
Once Blackberry was back down on the ground, she began to lick her tail and clean it from any dirt or grime. Bigwig began to feel bad, as it looked like he may have accidently hurt her in the process.
"You know, I never did like the taste of tail in my mouth," he chuckled, trying to lighten the mood for Blackberry.
"Well...usually, rabbits don't eat tails," she replied, continuing the joke.
Finally, once they had calmed down, or at least were calm enough to talk to each other, Bigwig was still wondering what was so important to keep a secret that she would be coming in this late.
"Alright, Blackberry, spill it. Why did you try and run from a simple question?" he finally asked, waiting for an answer, and watching her so she couldn't get a chance to escape.
Blackberry let out another deep sigh, realizing there was no way out of this, and Bigwig would just keep asking questions until she told him.
"I've been..." she paused, trying to avoid looking him in the eyes directly, and started thinking once again about whether there was any way she could just walk away from this… But that wasn't going to happen.
"You've been what?" he pressed on, moving his right paw in the form of a circle, gesturing her to continue.
"I've been meeting with..." she stopped once again.
"Blackberry, tell me!" he shouted, getting fed up with this nonsense.
"I've been meeting... Captain Campion, at night... Near Efrafa."
Silence filled the run. Either Bigwig was too shocked to reply, or he hadn't found it too bad. But seeing how his eyes began to widen, he must have been too shocked to say anything.
"Blackberry, do you realize the danger you have been putting yourself in by doing that?!" he shouted, scaring her with his sudden burst of anger.
"They could have easily captured you, or worse, they could have killed you, right after you revealed where our home is!" he continued.
Blackberry turned her head down towards the ground, thinking it was best to wait to speak until Bigwig's temper had calmed down.
"What were you thinking?!"
Finally, he had finished his tantrum, waiting for a response.
"I am sorry, Bigwig... But I love Campion, and I just had to see him," Blackberry answered sadly, feeling ashamed and a bit hurt. She realized that she had never been yelled at by anyone, not even her own parents.
Feeling a little guilty for what he had said, Bigwig had gotten closer to the hurt doe and placed his paw on her chin, pulling it towards him.
"I am sorry too, Blackberry. I shouldn't have yelled at you," he apologized. Luckily, it was working, because Blackberry's expression had lightened up a little. However, she soon fell back down to her saddened state.
"No, you don't need to apologize, Bigwig. I should have told you or Hazel. I guess... I wasn't thinking about the bigger picture."
"I would understand if you told Hazel about this." She offered, even if it meant she couldn't see Captain Campion again or at least until Woundwort and Efrafa was destroy.
"Tell Hazel what? I was just heading to Fiver's burrow." He told her, at first it only put a confused face on the doe until she finally realize what he was doing.
"Thank you Bigwig!" Blackberry squealed but the surprises didn't stop there because soon she gave the Owsla leader a warmful hug. Once she had let go, she began her way back to the burrow but was stopped once again by Bigwig but in a more friendly matter.
"Hey Blackberry..." He paused.
"Just promise me, you be extra careful."
She nodded, indicating that she had accepted the deal and soon darted around the corner back to her burrow as fast as possible, hoping they hadn't woke anyone else with their argument and conversation but they had gotten lucky... this time.
"The day has barely started and already things are going crazy!" Bigwig thought and sadly before he could start his training, he still had to go and get Fiver for Larch. As he progressed further to Fivers burrow, he started to think that maybe he should bring Molly to train with him, she was part of the owsla anyway and plus it wouldn't hurt to train her in some new areas.
Finally Bigwig was outside of Fiver's burrow and lucky for him, both of them were sleeping together in a bed, which was made up of soft hay.
"Can't believe I am saying this but... they are pretty adorable together." Bigwig thought, smiling at the two curled up lovers, he actually really wanted to leave both of them but priority comes first.
"Molly, Fiver." He whispered. He was trying especially hard to stay quiet because Hazel and his family were asleep close by in a different burrow yet sadly it seemed neither of them noticed and he was forced to get a little closer.
"Molly, Fiver." He repeated but the only response he got was when Molly had snuggled up closer to Fiver. Now, getting a little annoyed, he made sure his mouth was right in front of their ears before trying again.
"Molly, Fiver, wake up!" He finally hissed, luckily it did the trick, or well for Molly because she shot her eyes open but the sudden noise had startled her enough to accidently hit Fiver in the back with her paw, waking the little seer.
"What...what is it, Molly?" Fiver asked, still very drowsy.
"Sorry to wake you both but I require you." Bigwig calmly replied. Molly was now up on her feet, waiting for what he needed. She was also joined by Fiver now, both staring at him.
"What did you need, Bigwig?" She asked, surprisingly she wasn't nearly as tired as her mate, who had just shut his eyes once again.
"I need you to go outside for a few minutes." He answered, putting a confused face on the pregnant doe but she did as she was told and left the burrow, leaving Bigwig with Fiver.
"Fiver, when you get a chance Larch needs to talk to." He told him, laughing a little at how hard the seer was trying to stay awake.
"Why, is something wrong?" Fiver asked, concerned for his friend.
"Honestly, i am not sure but he wouldn't tell me, all he said was to come get you." Bigwig explained.
Now that Fiver was official awake he nodded his head, beginning to leave for Blackberry's burrow to see what Larch needed yet before he left, Fiver stopped halfway through the entrance.
"Bigwig... you will take care of Molly right? She is pregnant you know, so please, try to go easy on her." Fiver asked of him without turning just a tiny glance.
"Yes Fiver i know, you don't need to worry. I will take extra care of her." Bigwig answered, reassuring him.
"Thank you Bigwig" He replied and soon disappeared around the corner, heading to Blackberry's burrow.
After a quick look around in the burrow, Bigwig had started to leave to go meet up with Molly outside but he accidently ran into Hazel, who had just started to enter the same time he was leaving.
"Hazel, what are you doing up?" The large owsla leader asked, staring at Hazel a little confused.
"How many rabbits am i going to wake?" Bigwig thought as he waited for a response.
"I heard voices from Fiver's burrow, so i came to check up on him but i ran into him and he explained that it was only you." He answered, relieved it wasn't something else.
"Yeah, sorry about that. Larch wanted him for some reason," he chuckled, shaking his head back and forth as if something was in his fur.
"Sorry, things have been a little crazy since I woke up. Honestly, all I wanted to do was go up and practice alone, but then I decided to bring Molly with me."
"Alright, well. I am up anyways, so I might as well come with you," Hazel whispered, and Bigwig nodded in agreement.
As they were about to make their way to the surface, Hazel couldn't help but peek into Fiver's burrow, just to make sure there was nothing else in there.
Hazel had begun to smile seeing that the burrow was empty, knowing that Fiver was safe when he was asleep. But the feeling that his brother could be in danger kept nagging at him, mainly because of Heather and Sly.
"What, you didn't believe me? I told you, I was talking to them," Bigwig whispered to him, catching him in the act of peeking inside Fiver's burrow.
"No, I believed you. It just...I need to make sure he is safe at all times," Hazel answered, remember the horrible future his mother showed him.
"You know... Fiver is very lucky to have you as an older brother," Bigwig told him before continuing up to the surface, leaving Hazel to his thoughts.
"Not as lucky as you think..." he whispered under his breath, thinking again about how close he had come to losing his baby brother to the weasels down in the cave. Something had happened along the line that had made his brother's safety second priority, and it had almost gotten him killed, and even nearly captured by Woundwort in the process.
"I really should tell him or someone else about what I saw down in the cave," Hazel thought. He still hadn't told anyone about his dream, but maybe Fiver could help him understand it, and hopefully prevent it.
"Then again…what if I tell him and it causes him to run away? He could die out in the forest or get captured by Efrafa! "
So many scenarios ran through his mind that only ended badly for his brother. But, luckily, Fiver was helping Larch at the moment, so Hazel didn't have to test these theories yet.
After quite a bit of thinking, he decided not to tell Fiver about his dream. But just to be safe, he decided to wait until everyone was awake and tell the whole warren about it. However, he would leave Fiver out of it, just to be safe.
Finally, Hazel noticed Bigwig was gone, so he went up to the surface to watch what Molly and Bigwig were doing and maybe eat a little. He was feeling a little hungry.
As Hazel was nearing the surface, he could hear shouting from above. When he got to the surface, Hazel noticed that Bigwig was actually yelling at Molly about something, and she was arguing back.
"Why do you does have to be so stubborn? Why can't you just tell me where you learned to fight?! Bigwig shouted. But Molly wasn't scared of him and stood her ground.
"I told you, I don't remember! Why do bucks have to be so stupid!?" she screamed. However, this just made the Owsla leader madder.
Hazel made his way over to the two angry rabbits and tried his best to get them to calm down before they woke the whole countryside with their yelling.
Bigwig had had enough of Molly stubbornness and Hazel's intervening, and actually raised his paw to strike Molly across the face. But luckily, Hazel stopped him just in time.
"Bigwig... Follow me!" Hazel demanded with a very angry look on his face.
Bigwig did as he was told and left Molly. Both of them whispered something under their breath, probably nothing good about each other. But it didn't matter what they said, because Hazel was too furious at what Bigwig had been about to do.
"Yes, Hazel?" Bigwig answered through gritted teeth, obviously very irritated over the whole thing, and still glancing back the angered doe.
"Bigwig. What? Was? That?!" Hazel shouted, startling the Owsla captain with the sudden outburst.
"What... Hazel... I didn't..." Bigwig tried to explain, but Hazel just interrupted him.
"You were about to strike her!" he continued, not losing eye contact for a second.
"I wasn't really going to..." Bigwig was cut off again, and he was actually getting a little frightened. He rarely saw Hazel this mad.
"You do realize that is Fiver's mate, and that makes her a part of my family?! I will not let anyone hurt my family!" Hazel growled. At the moment, it appeared that he was really threatening Bigwig.
By now Bigwig had just stopped trying to explain himself, because he knew Hazel would just keep interrupting him.
"If he knew you struck her... You remember what he almost did to Hawkbit, how mad he was! You Idiot!"
"What are you? Are you Hawkbit now?! Are you just going to hit anyone you want?!" Hazel finished, waiting for a response, not losing eye contact for anything.
"Hazel..." Bigwig paused, trying to think of the best response.
"I am sorry," he sighed, and soon broke eye contact with his leader to stare at the ground.
"It's not me you should be apologizing to," Hazel replied, but in a much softer tone.
Both of them glanced over to see that Molly had stopped glaring at Bigwig. At the moment, she was staring at the sky. Lord Frith and his rays were being blocked out by multiple dark clouds, which were in fact drifting towards them.
"Well, if you are going to do something, Bigwig, you might want to do it before it starts to rain," Hazel told him, as he watched the clouds get closer.
"All right."
The Owsla leader made his way over to Molly. It seemed that she didn't even notice him. She was too distracted by the dark and menacing looking clouds.
"I am sorry for what I said, Bigwig," Molly apologized. Turns out, she was listening to their conversation the whole time.
"No, it was my fault... I never should have done that, especially to you," Bigwig replied.
Molly turned around to face him.
"So are we good?" he asked.
By the look she gave him, it seemed she was still mad, so he decided to leave before the rain from the clouds started to fall and get him wet.
Once he had turned around to hop away, Molly kicked him lightly in the back of the tail and forced him to topple over and fall face first into the grass.
"Hey!" he shouted, flipping on his back and staring back up at her.
"Yes, we're good, Bigwig," she giggled and disappeared down inside the warren to try and find Fiver.
"What is it with does?" Bigwig asked as he got back to his feet and had started to shake the grass off his back. He was soon greeted by Hazel.
"What, you don't like her? I think she is very funny," Hazel chuckled, seeing the expression on the large captain's face change.
"Does and bucks... everyone is crazy in this warren!" Bigwig complained.
"Well, I can agree with that. But that's why we love each other, Bigwig," Hazel replied.
"What were you two fighting over anyway?"
"I thought I could..."
Bigwig was interrupted by a falling raindrop which had made contact with his nose, causing him to flinch. It seemed the clouds had finally made their way over. It had begun to rain, showering the land with free yet sometimes annoying water.
"I guess we should talk about this inside, before we get too wet out here," Hazel offered. Luckily, Bigwig nodded in agreement, and soon the two made their way back inside the nice, dry warren.
"Fiver did say that when it rains... something crazy always happens." Hazel told Bigwig as he stopped safely inside the entrance, and turned around for a second to watch the rain come down and see a flash or two of lightning in the distance.
"Don't I know it!" Bigwig chuckled as he continued down to the Honeycomb, remembering the whole thing with Larch, Blackberry, and Molly... It was going to be a long, and probably confusing day.