AUTHOR'S NOTE: thank you Anonymous Guest for the review! This chapter features more of the WD rabbits interacting, although it gets rather silly around halfway through...
Chapter 136: The Logic.
"It does not disappoint him for he cannot miss what he does not know exists."
-incongruent, Run
Nearly all rabbits at Watership Down were at silflay. Most of them weren't really hungry, having already been at silflay just before the vote. They simply wanted to group together and discuss the current situation, and silflay was a reasonable excuse to do so. One such group consisted of Holly, Hyzenthlay and Thethuthinnang.
-"I'm rather surprised I did so well," Holly said. "It feels like I've hardly done anything important in this warren, yet hrair rabbits want me as Chief."
-"You are very qualified for the task, and they recognize this," Hyzenthlay said. "If I wasn't running..." She fell silent, thinking back at how she saw Holly die in the alternate universe. She didn't know who had won the election there, or even if the election had occurred at all. But in the current reality, she remained unsure what role, if any, the election would play in Holly's death, or survival. "I'm sorry."
-"No reason to apologize," Holly said. "You too are a very qualified rabbit, and you're..." Holly was about to tell Hyzenthlay she was pretty, but stopped mid-sentence in embarrassment. He took a bite out of a nearby dandelion to distract himself.
-"Speaking of which, you did really well too in the election, Hyzenthlay," Thethuthinnang said. "I know you would make a good Chief!"
-"Yes, I remember you told me that when I became owsla captain at Marli-rah. In fact, that's probably the only reason why I volunteered today."
-"I'm really glad you did! You're a great rabbit!"
Hyzenthlay blushed. Thethuthinnang always expressed deep admiration for her; Hyzenthlay never fully understood the source of this feeling.
Further away, Moss and Heather were sitting in the grass in front of each other; the atmosphere was tense.
-"I really think you're overreacting, dear," the doe said.
-"I really don't think I am," the buck replied. "You, and the others, voted for me against my will."
-"Just answer me this: what would be so horrible about being Chief?"
-"I am unqualified."
-"I hear Hazel-rah was just a lowly outskirter in his old warren, but they still chose him as Chief here. Meanwhile, you're a captain."
-"I was a corporal until just a few days ago."
-"You're the only reason we made away from Efrafa, to this warren, alive."
-"I still let over half the survivors die, when the weasels attacked. If it had been, say, Campion leading you instead, there would probably have been more survivors."
-"That's just pointless speculation. You're giving Campion too much credit while downplaying your own heroism."
-"Regardless, I'm still not interested." Moss sighed. "If I say I'll enslave them again if I become Chief, maybe they won't vote for me anymore."
-"You wouldn't do that, would you?"
-"I wouldn't. I just want to make them think I would, so they vote for someone else."
-"If you are that desperate to avoid the job...I'll change my vote. I'll do my best to convince the others to do so too."
-"I really appreciate this."
The two rabbits nuzzled.
Near the beech tree, another group of rabbits was debating an entirely different subject.
-"I've never seen anything like that creature before," Dandelion said.
-"He seems harmless enough," Nyreem said.
-"It's called a raccoon," Bluebell said.
-"Is that really the case, or did you make that up just now?" Nyreem asked.
-"It's not a joke. I've heard about them from old stories."
-"Wait, is that a glanbrin?" Dandelion asked.
-"No, the glanbrin is another creature entirely," Bluebell clarified.
-"I'm sorry, I never heard of these stories before, then."
-"Perhaps I could tell you a story where one appears," Bluebell suggested.
-"Go ahead," Nyreem said, and Bluebell began.
Once, so they say, there was a warren known as the Hanging Garden Warren. It was no ordinary warren; for one thing, it was located in a flying garden hanging from a cloud. A small piece of land, floating over the regular land, following the cloud's movements through the sky. Sometimes, the cloud moved over high hills and mountains, causing the bottom of the garden to brush against the ground, grinding it into a fine powder known as "The Yahoo". The Yahoo was a highly valuable substance, even more so than flayrah. The rabbits retrieved it, bringing it back to the warren. Then, they rolled around in it like chinchillas.
-"What's a chinchilla?" Dandelion asked.
-"It's a type of creature, I assume," Bluebell said. "The rabbit who first told me the story didn't know more than that."
-"But why would rabbits imitate them?" Nyreem said.
-"I don't know why the chinchillas do it, but the rabbits thought that this helped make fleas go away. Shall I continue?"
-"Go ahead."
Obtaining The Yahoo was a difficult challenge for the rabbits. It was located on the underside of the garden, and rabbits had to maintain a tight grip onto the soil to avoid falling off. Indeed, many rabbits fell to their deaths while searching for The Yahoo. Whenever this happened, everyone would tell a silent prayer for their fallen comrade, then never speak of it again.
At least, that was the case at first. One day, a buck called Not Kingcup suddenly appeared at the warren, causing great shock and concern. Many eyewitnesses had clearly seen him fall while gathering The Yahoo the previous day, and now he was back at the warren as if nothing had ever happened. Several other rabbits touched him, confirming that he was alive and not a ghost, but he did not provide any clear answers when questioned, merely repeating that he survived.
This incident upset The King greatly. The return of a former The Yahoo gatherer would pose a threat to his New Warren Order. Therefore, The King stepped into Not Kingcup's burrow that evening, intending to kill him. Neither The King nor Not Kingcup were ever seen again.
The next day, another rabbit mysteriously appeared. Unlike Not Kingcup, this was not an existing rabbit who was previously thought dead, but a new one entirely. This time, it was a doe called Pimousse. She was an exotic traveler from a foreign land, and very beautiful. All bucks in the warren, and even some of the does, were mesmerized by her, and each wished to become mates with her. However, this displeased The Queen greatly.
That evening, Pimousse moved into an empty burrow right in front of the one where Not Kingcup and The King had vanished. The Queen used magic to keep all the other rabbits away long enough to put her plan into action. She entered the burrow and tormented Pimousse with duct tape, or is it duck tape? Regardless, I have no idea what that is, beyond the fact that it's sticky and doesn't have anything to do with actual ducks. All the while, The Queen shouted insults, notably calling Pimousse a "cheap nacky rat", which apparently was very harsh.
-"Why are you doing this?" Pimousse asked in horror.
-"THIS IS REVENGE FOR THE LAST SIXTY-FIVE!"
-"But the last twenty-six never happened..."
But it was all just a dream. The end.
As Bluebell finished, Dandelion and Nyreem stared at him.
-"That's a nice story," Dandelion said, "but what does it have to do with raccoons?"
-"Oh, did I forget to mention it?" Bluebell shook his head. "In addition to the rabbits, there were several raccoons living near the Hanging Garden Warren. And some frogs, not to mention the weird..."
Before Bluebell could finish his sentence, he heard Captain Broom speak loudly.
-"I realize I may have overreacted down there," he said. "In hindsight, it's probably a good thing nobody voted for me. The second Chief should be someone younger and bolder, with new ideas and ways of thinking. I wish to respectfully withdraw my candidacy."
Many rabbits nodded in silent agreement. They appreciated the fact that Captain Broom had admitted his mistake, and that he stepped down upon realizing he would not become the second Chief.
-"I'll withdraw too," Hickory said, as he arrived above ground. "It would be pointless to keep going when there's clearly nobody interested in me."
-"This should make it easier to decide the next Chief, with two fewer candidates," Pipkin said.
-"Not really," Hazel said with a sigh. "The rabbits dropping out are the ones with the fewest votes. The most popular candidates are still tied at hrair votes each."
-"Alder appears to have a method to break the tie, but I don't understand it," Hyzenthlay said.
-"I think I understand it," Blackberry said suddenly, stepping in the middle of the crowd.
-"Could you explain it to us, then?"
-"I'll do my best, just a few moments..."
Blackberry hopped away, and soon returned carrying a few pebbles. A small crowd gathered in front of him, as he deposited four pebbles on the ground.
-"How many pebbles are there here?" he asked.
-"Four," a random rabbit said.
-"Indeed." Blackberry hopped away, returning with two more pebbles, dropping one alongside the four others. "How many are there now?"
-"Hrair."
-"And now?" He added the sixth pebble.
-"Still hrair."
-"There we go. Before I added this latest pebble, there were hrair. Despite the addition of one more, it's still hrair. Some hrair can be larger than other hrair, but it's still all hrair. The same would apply for the votes. Several candidates got hrair votes, but some still got more than others. Alder used words like 'five' and 'nine' for these various hrair. Any questions?"
The other rabbits stood in stunned silence.
-"So...what is Alder's method then?" Violet asked, breaking the silence.
-"That's what I just explained," Blackberry said.
-"Wait, that was supposed to be the explanation? Could you try making sense?"
Blackberry sighed. This was far from the first time everyone failed to understand his explanations.
-"How about we just trust Alder to count fairly and decide who wins?"
-"Elil!" Hawkbit suddenly cried, stamping.
As soon as they heard the warning, most of the rabbits dashed back underground, through the nearest tunnel. Some accidentally bolted the wrong way, and reversed course as soon as they realized their mistake.
After a few minutes, Hazel peaked above ground. He could not see any elil, it was completely silent, and there were no unusual scents either.
-"Is it safe?" Clover asked.
-"It seems so. In fact, it seems there never were any elil after all."
Most rabbits slowly hopped back above ground. Hawkbit cautiously looked around him, before bolting back underground.
-"It's still there..."
-"Where?" Bigwig asked.
-"Over there," Hawkbit said, pointing in the direction of the elil.
Bigwig looked in the direction, and soon spotted the "elil". Weirdly, it wasn't moving, and he could not smell anything other than berries. He slowly hopped closer to it, and when he got close enough to touch it, he realized that it as not alive, and never had been. It was a piece of fabric, torn from old human clothing, and tied to a stick. The fabric was originally white, but it was stained with berry juice and other substances, in an unusual pattern.
-"It's not elil," he said.
-"What is it, then?" Hawkbit asked.
-"That, I don't know."
Several curious rabbits hopped over to Bigwig, hoping to get a closer look at the object.
-"It looks pretty," Pipkin said.
-"Sorry for the false alarm..." Hawkbit said. His ears dropped to the sides of his head, as he got ready for Bigwig to sternly rebuke him over this incident.
-"No need to apologize," Bigwig said; Hawkbit raised his ears again. "This thing may not be elil, but with these bright colours, it is bound to attract some. Let's destroy it."
-"I know just the rabbits for it," Hazel said.
-"You mean us?"
Hazel turned around, and saw the four kittens staring at him with great anticipation.
-"Go ahead and destroy it. Have fun."
Squealing in excitement, the kittens pounced onto the object. Mallow started by chewing the branch, Gilia tried licking the berry juice, while the other two sisters decided to tear the fabric instead.