AUTHOR'S NOTE: thank you Anonymous Guest for the review :) Yes, this subplot was inspired by TFWD.
Chapter 135: The Limitations.
"The earlier feeling of impending danger gradually subsided, but only to be replaced by another sensation not as easy to explain."
-karrenia, Both Sides Now
At Watership Down, it took a long time for all the rabbits to cast their votes, but as the afternoon progressed, fewer undecided voters remained. After Fiver cast his vote, Hazel stood in the middle of the burrow.
-"Is there anyone left who hasn't voted?" he asked.
Hazel waited for a few moments. Nobody spoke up; it really did appear that everyone had voted.
-"I'll go count everyone's votes then."
Hazel hopped over to each candidate, one by one, and counted the marks left in front of them. Everyone stared at him throughout the process, scanning his facial expressions for hints of who might have won. While he showcased a wide variety of emotions, nobody was sure how to interpret them. After having looked at everyone's marks, he sat down in the middle of the burrow.
-"So?" Bigwig asked.
-"I know who didn't win," Hazel replied. "Captain Broom didn't receive a single voice."
With his inability to vote (being a candidate), and nobody coming to vote for him, Captain Broom had fallen asleep soon after voting began. He woke up at Hazel's mention of his name.
-"Huh? Is it over?"
-"I'm afraid so," Hazel said. "Nobody voted for you."
-"I lost? This is so unfair. If this was old Redstone, I would have received hrair votes!"
-"But this isn't old Redstone, captain," Primrose said. "You need to let go of the past and move to the present."
-"Never mind, I'm going. I'll be at silflay if anyone changes their mind and votes for me."
Captain Broom's departure was met with sighs from several rabbits. After he was gone, Hazel hopped over to Hickory.
-"I'm afraid you lost too. Marigold is the only one who voted for you."
-"The only rabbit who believes in me is my mate. I'm pathetic."
-"You're not pathet..." But it was too late: Hickory and Marigold had already gone back to their burrow.
-"Why is he always so negative?" Nelthilta asked, clearly annoyed by this incident.
-"Nearly all their kittens are dead," Strawberry said, hopping towards their burrow. "I'll go see if I can help them."
With Strawberry gone too, Hazel turned to Hawkbit.
-"Four rabbits voted for you."
-"Four?" Hawkbit seemed pleasantly surprised. "That's not so bad, is it?"
-"I'm afraid it wasn't enough."
-"Never mind who lost. Who won?" Bigwig asked.
-"That's the problem: I don't know," Hazel said. "Flyairth, Hyzenthlay and Holly have hrair votes each. Moss too, despite his lack of interest in becoming Chief."
-"You mean that someone who's not even a candidate got more votes than me?" Hawkbit scowled.
-"Wait, I won?" Moss seemed horrified. "Or at least I'm tied. Oh, this is terrible."
-"You would make a great leader, Moss," Heather said.
-"Maybe I would, but I don't want to."
-"Don't worry, Moss, you're not Chief yet," Hazel said. "Right now, you're tied with three other candidates; we need to find a way to break the tie and choose only one."
-"Hazel, come take a look at this," Primrose said suddenly; her mate approached her immediately. "There are four claw marks in front of me."
-"Any idea who they are from?" Hazel asked.
-"None at all! I didn't see anyone make them, and I'm not even a candidate."
-"We made them!" Out of a corner of the burrow came Periwinkle, followed by Snowdrop, Mallow and Gilia. "You didn't notice us voting because we were very sneaky, junior owsla training paid off!"
-"But why?"
-"We think you would be a great Chief, mother. As great as father!"
Hazel and Primrose looked at each other lovingly, touched by the trust their kittens put into them.
-"I appreciate this, children," Primrose said, "but I don't want to be a leader. I'm happy just being your mother."
-"But...who should we have voted for then?" Gilia asked.
-"I think my sister would be a much better leader than me."
-"Sorry we wasted our votes, mother..." Mallow's ears drooped to the sides of his head.
-"Don't worry about it. If your father doesn't mind, I'm sure you can change your votes."
-"I don't mind, but..." Hazel replied, only to be interrupted by the kittens' squeals of excitement. With huge grins on their faces, they rushed over to Hyzenthlay and made several claw marks in front of her, more than they were allowed to.
-"No!" Hyzenthlay said, trying to push them away. "One vote per rabbit!"
-"Oops. Sorry," Snowdrop said, repressing a giggle.
-"Even if we ignore these extra votes," Gilia said, "she still has enough to win, right?"
-"No," Hazel said. "As I was about to say before you ran off, she's still tied with Holly and Flyairth with hrair votes. Unless we find a way to break the tie."
-"There is no tie." came a deep voice. Moments later, a large creature with black markings around its eyes entered the burrow. It was a raccoon, but none of the rabbits present had ever seen one before. The unfamiliar smell made some rabbits, notably Flyairth and Dandelion, extremely nervous.
The raccoon remained silent for a few moments, staring at the marks on the burrow floor.
-"Holly has seven votes, Moss has five, Flyairth nine," he announced. "I can't tell for Hyzenthlay because the kittens made a mess. Probably at least nine since she already had hrair before the four kittens changed their votes."
The raccoon's behaviour clearly indicated that he was not elil, but nobody was sure what he was doing there, not to mention the overly-large numbers.
-"...who are you?" Hawkbit said, asking the question everyone had on their minds but nobody dared mention.
-"I'm Alder, Vesper brought me here last night to save me from the flood," the raccoon said, waving at the rabbit, who was at the back of the crowd; Vesper waved back.
-"What are you?" Nelthilta asked.
At this, the burrow fell silent. Nelthilta's question was very rude; either she didn't realize this or (more likely) she didn't care who she offended.
-"Shall we silflay?" Thethuthinnang suggested, hoping to distract from the awkward situation.