Chapter 193: Happenings at Silflay.

"I honestly thought you would never go for it. That's why I never asked."

-destinycopley13, Habits Of The Heart

That afternoon, at Watership Down, the situation remained largely calm. With Bigwig gone, Dandelion was looking forward to a peaceful day without any owsla business, but this was not the case, as Holly took over the training for the day. The new Chief taught several moves unlike anything Bigwig had demonstrated in the past; this was actually even worse than usual. Dandelion was additionally annoyed at Hawkbit's absence: the grey rabbit was supposed to tell him about the weird dream he had had, but he had left to go on Flyairth's mission before he could tell anything.

Blackberry was not taking part in training; instead, she merely looked on from a distance while at silflay. She was feeling incredibly bored. She had recently finished digging the escape tunnel; there were enough burrows for everyone, so no further digging would be needed for the foreseeable future. With almost everyone in good health, and the Efrafans having largely recovered from the weasel attack, there was little need for her healing skills either. As a result of all this, Blackberry felt like she had nothing to do. Bob-stones and tail-tag could only keep her occupied for so long, it could become repetitive very quickly. Looking around, she spotted Spartina at silflay, alone. She decided to hop over to her; the two had hardly interacted so far, an additional friendship might be nice.

Another pair of rabbits were at silflay further away. This one consisted of two kittens, and their meeting had been planned late the previous evening.

-"In hindsight, it's not as exciting as I may have implied last night," Blueberry said, referring to what he had remembered about his past following Brain's attack. "I just had one momentary image in my mind, with no clue regarding context."

-"You could still try describing the image," Gilia replied. "Maybe I could help with figuring out its meaning."

Blueberry was slightly afraid that Gilia might make fun of him. However, he was so baffled by what he had seen, that he was ready to take the chance.

-"It was a young human travelling in a faraway location."

-"Oh." Somehow, that was even more vague than what Gilia had expected. "Have you met this human before?"

-"If I did, I don't remember when or where."

-"I might have an idea!" Gilia became very excited. "What if you used to live in a hutch, until you escaped? That human could have been the one taking care of you, like the farmer's daughter at Nuthanger Farm did with Clover and Cornflower."

Blueberry considered this for a few moments.

-"That doesn't stir up any further memories. It doesn't necessarily mean that it's wrong, just that I don't know. Do you have other theories?"

It was Gilia's turn to think, but she came up empty.

-"No, I'm afraid not. I have never met any humans, only heard about them from other rabbits at the warren. It's usually safer to stay away from them: the farmer once fired his thunderstick at father. If it hadn't been for uncle Fiver, he would have died, and I would never have been born."

-"I understand that, but the human I saw wasn't hostile. He was just excited."

-"What was so exciting?"

-"I don't know!" By this point, Blueberry was in tears: his amnesia was taking its toll on him. "Partial knowledge is even worse than nothing at all, it only raises more questions that I am unable to answer."

Seeing Blueberry so distraught left Gilia sad; she regretted not being able to do more to help.

-"Stop worrying so much, it's affecting your cuteness," she said.

-"What!" was Blueberry's instant response.

-"Uh..." Gilia realized her attempt at flirting had backfired, so she tried to change the subject. "What I mean is, you can't expect to remember everything all at once, these things take time. It is likely to be one small detail every once in a while, until there is enough to piece together the whole story. If you remember anything else, please don't hesitate to ask for my help, I want to do everything I can."

-"I appreciate what you're doing. I'll let you know."

With that, the two rabbits hopped away in separate directions. Blueberry's mind wandered to his conversation with Hawkbit the previous evening. Like he had told the adult rabbit, he would have to leave the warren to search for clues. And as Hawkbit had pointed out, he would need a travelling companion, for his own safety. But who? Turning his head, he saw Gilia heading back underground; an idea formed into his mind.

Blackberry and Spartina had not been at silflay together very long when they smelled a third rabbit approaching; as they raised their heads, they saw that it was Flora.

-"Do you mind if I join you?" the visitor asked.

-"It's fine, more rabbits joining us is always nice," Blackberry said; Flora was another rabbit she did not know very well.

-"That's great."

Flora started to nibble the grass alongside the two others. For a few minutes, there were no other sounds other than that of chewing, until Flora spoke again:

-"Nice day, isn't it?"

-"Yes, nice enough," Blackberry said. "Decent sunshine without being too hot."

-"What's up, Flora?" Spartina asked. "Not hanging out with Clover today?"

-"Not today," Flora admitted. "I think Cornflower was getting jealous of all the time I was spending with her old friend from the farm. Anyway, Spartina, I hear you're from Darkhaven."

-"Yes, I am." Spartina had been asked a lot of questions when she first confessed her origins; while the curiosity had largely died down since then, she was still visited by a few rabbits once in a while. "What of it?"

-"I admire your resilience. You've gone through a lot, and still you remain positive and happy. In fact, maybe that's why you have your name."

-"What does my name have to do with this?"

-"Spartina grass can grow just about anywhere. You're both very resilient."

-"I never considered that. Maybe you're right."

-"What about you, Blackberry?" Flora turned to the other doe. "Any idea why you're called Blackberry?"

-"I suppose my parents liked the name," Blackberry speculated. "Or they liked the plant. Or both. I'm honestly not sure if there even was a reason."

-"Nothing wrong with that! And also blackberries can taste great. Now, Spartina, is it just me, or do you have a thing for Bigwig?"

Spartina was left surprised by the sudden change of topic.

-"He's a nice rabbit," she admitted. "A talented captain. I trust he'll do whatever it takes to keep this warren safe from those I used to live with, and any other dangers we might encounter."

-"Oh, absolutely," Flora said in agreement. "But what about romantically?"

-"I get the feeling that he would be too preoccupied with his owsla duties to seriously consider taking a mate," Spartina said with a chuckle.

-"You won't know until you ask him! You should: what's the worst that could happen?"

-"Says the rabbit who still hasn't confessed to their crush either..."

This latest response made Flora grimace.

-"That's...you're not wrong. I really will have to get to it."

-"Why not do it now?" Blackberry suggested. "There's no point in waiting."

-"The only problem is that the crush is currently hanging out with someone else. I swear, I won't wait as long as the other Blackberry did with Bluebell." Flora appeared to be getting nervous. "Anyway, it's been nice talking with you two! I'll be seeing you."

Before either doe could reply, Flora had already left, Blackberry and Spartina were alone once again.

-"Do you think Flora will declare the true feelings?" Blackberry asked.

-"I hope so."

-"And will YOU be declaring your true feelings to Bigwig?"

-"I hope so."

Hazel also spent much of the afternoon at silflay, periodically looking in the distance to see when Fiver and the others were on their way back. When he finally saw them climbing the Down again, it was almost sunset.

-"It is good to see you all again. Did the trip go well?"

Flyairth was the first rabbit to reach the top, but she silently hopped by Hazel and went back underground. Bigwig came next; unlike the doe, he did stop to speak with the Chief, albeit very briefly.

-"It's a long story. Really a long story, involving ghosts and curses. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm tired, I want to get some sleep."

-"Yes, that's fine. Good night Bigwig."

With that, the captain followed Flyairth underground. Hawkbit was next; while Dandelion tried to attract his attention, the grey buck was also exhausted, and did not appear to notice as he too went underground. Acacia, Nicole and Moss also silently went to their burrows. Fiver was the last, and the only one who stopped for an extended conversation with his brother.

-"Bigwig said something about a ghostly curse," Hazel said. "How worried should we all be?"

-"There's absolutely nothing to worry about," Fiver replied calmly. "Unless we meet a weird doe who carries another rabbit's skull on top of her own head. If we do, then yes, we should absolutely panic."

-"That's...reassuring, I guess? But now I'm even more confused."

-"Let's go to your burrow, and I'll tell you the entire story."

The brothers did as Fiver suggested; the little buck described in great detail everything that had happened.

-"So, could we help with the digging?" Fiver asked once he was finished.

-"It all depends. Do you think Willow was telling the truth?"

-"I do believe him. He did not give me any indication that he could not be trusted."

-"In that case...we'll probably help. Obviously, we can't all go there digging at the same time, leaving this warren unprotected. But we should be able to spare a few diggers every day to work on this project, and different rabbits every day. I will have to run this by the other two Chiefs first, although I doubt they'll object."

-"I'm sure Willow will be very happy to hear that."

-"There's still one thing that worries me, though: what if not-Sagefire visits us? Hopefully it will never happen, but what if it does?"

-"If she does appear, it might already be too late. If we try killing her or driving her away, it might just motivate her further to curse us like she did at Sunflower Forest. I would suggest asking Dandelion and Bluebell what they think. There might have been similar incidents in El-ahrairah stories, from which we could learn."

-"You always provide good advice, little Fiver."

The two brothers hugged tightly.