Chapter 194: Nu Beatha Nuisance.

"While I really appreciate the sentiment, I really wish you wouldn't do such risky things with no warning."

-Yessica-N, Hunting Season

-"WAKE UP, WAKE UP EVERYONE, IT WILL SOON BE TIME FOR YOUR DAILY DUTIES! GET SOME SILFLAY WHILE YOU CAN!"

Vervain placed his front paws over his ears. The shouting came from a random owsla officer making his way through the tunnels. It was even more annoying than when Woundwort yelled at him. He was considering ignoring the voice and sleeping a bit longer, until he noticed that Inqwynn was already standing, perfectly awake.

-"How?" was all he could say.

-"Come, Vervain," Inqwynn said. "We don't have much time to silflay, so I suggest you hurry up, or go hungry until evening."

Vervain was still half-asleep, but also very hungry: it had been a while since his last silflay. He therefore followed Inqwynn across the tunnels until they made it above ground. Upon reaching the destination, Inqwynn immediately started to eat. Vervain, meanwhile, took a brief look at his surroundings. The layer of grass was very thin; not very appetizing, but somehow still better than what was available in Darkhaven. It was barely past sunrise, prompting a grimace from the bearded rabbit.

-"Do they always wake you up this early?" he asked.

-"Yes, this is normal," Inqwynn said, as he kept chewing the grass.

-"How do you manage to get any work done when you're so tired?"

-"After a while in Nu Beatha, you learn to survive while tired. The lack of sleep no longer bothers you, it becomes a natural part of your life. You start to wake up before the owsla start yelling, because you already know it's coming."

-"That's no way to live!"

-"It's the only way to live here, unless you're in the council."

-"Also...why are you eating so fast? One would think you were starving."

-"Like I said, we don't have much time to silflay, and we won't be getting another opportunity until this evening. So I try to get as much nourishment as possible before I am forced to stop. I strongly advise that you do the same, you haven't had a single bite yet."

Filled with a sense of urgency, Vervain took a bite of grass. After he finished chewing, he got ready to take a second one, when suddenly...

-"SILFLAY'S OVER! TIME TO GET TO WORK! THE OWSLA WILL BE COMING MOMENTARILY TO ASSIGN TODAY'S DUTIES."

-"B...but I just started eating!"

-"In the future, try to talk less and eat more," Inqwynn said.

-"Why didn't you warn me this would happen?"

-"I did. You should have listened to me, but you didn't."

-"Why you..."

Vervain was furious at the way that Inqwynn had "insulted" him. Before he could attack, however, an owsla officer hopped over to them, forcing Vervain to restrain himself.

-"It appears we have a newbie today," the officer said. "You will be on the digging squad for today. Inker, you will go with the newbie and show him what to do."

-"Yes sir," Inqwynn instantly replied.

-"His name's Inqwynn, not Inker," Vervain pointed out. "And stop calling me 'newbie', you make it sound like an insult."

-"The newbie has a sharp tongue!" The officer shoved his face uncomfortably close to Vervain's. "I suggest that the newbie keep it under control, unless the newbie wants it removed."

-"...yes sir." When threatened, Vervain was quick to cower.

-"Now get to work, newbie."

Vervain nodded, and followed Inqwynn to the spot where they would be digging.

-"Are the owsla all such bullies?" he asked along the way, failing to catch the irony in his statement. "The way he called you 'Inker' and me 'newbie' was really rude."

-"He repeatedly called you 'newbie' because he felt you were trying to challenge him, and he wished to fully assert his authority," Inqwynn explained. "As for my misnaming, I appreciate you coming to my defence, but he wasn't actively malicious. The owsla just doesn't put in the effort in remembering the names of rabbits whom they consider lesser than themselves. Once you have lived here for a while, and they have moved on from calling you 'newbie', they won't be calling you 'Vervain' either. They will come up with something else and use that instead. Anyway, here we are..."

Vervain and Inqwynn were faced with a lone hole in the ground, smaller than the others that were part of the warren. It was a simple tunnel, very short, ending abruptly at a dirt wall. As painful as it would be for his claws, the former captain really would be forced to dig, there was no escape. All he could do now was try to get it all finished as quickly as possible; maybe he would be able to impress the owsla and earn a reward, such as extra silflay.

-"So, what are we digging today? A new storage burrow? A tunnel?"

-"I don't know," was Inqwynn's simple response.

-"How am I supposed to dig without knowing what I'm supposed to do?"

-"You just dig, they'll decide later what purpose this new hole is going to serve."

-"Wouldn't it be easier to decide first, and plan ahead? That's what we did back in Efrafa, where I used to live."

-"This isn't Efrafa anymore. And you still have one important lesson to learn here: if you want to silflay, don't question orders. Just obey."

So they started to dig. Inqwynn was relatively fast, despite being a buck; this was clearly not the first time he had been on digging duty. Vervain, meanwhile, did little more than aimlessly scratch the walls, hoping that this would be satisfactory. They had only been at work for a few minutes when he stopped to catch his breath.

-"Tired already?" Inqwynn said, while continuing to dig.

-"You have no idea," Vervain replied between deep breaths.

-"You'll have to get used to it, there's no other option. You still have a full day of work ahead of you, and it'll be like this every day, unless you get reassigned to another task."

-"Can't I take a break to rest?"

-"Not until evening silflay, I'm afraid."

-"Can't you cover for me while I take a short nap? Nobody would have to know."

Vervain was already starting to lie down when he heard Inqwynn's refusal:

-"If I do that, and there's a random owsla inspection (which happens nearly every day), we'll both be horribly punished."

-"I'm willing to take that risk."

-"I'm not. I will suffer too, unless I inform the owsla about your misbehaviour."

-"You wouldn't snitch, would you?" Vervain pleaded.

-"I would rather not, if I can avoid it. But I must also ensure my own survival; please get back to work, and everything will be fine."

This was all it took for Vervain to get back up and resume digging. The two rabbits remained largely silent, focusing exclusively on their work. It was mid-day when Inqwynn picked up a disgusting scent. Turning around, he saw liquid coming from beneath Vervain, spreading across the burrow they were digging.

-"What are you doing!?" he asked in pure horror.

-"What does it look like?" Vervain replied in annoyance.

-"Are you peeing in the burrow?"

-"Obviously. Like I said: what does it look like?"

-"What are you thinking? The owsla will be furious when they find out, and we'll both be punished, even worse than if you had taken that nap earlier."

-"What else was I supposed to do? Hold it in until evening silflay?"

-"No, you were supposed to go back above ground and do it in the designated area."

-"You specifically said that there are no breaks."

-"No SCHEDULED breaks, that's true, but bodily emergencies take precedence, for obvious reasons. Just take a look at what you did! The burrow is ruined."

-"All right, all right, I'll keep it in mind in the future!" Vervain was getting increasingly annoyed at Inqwynn's rebukes. "How do we fix it?"

-"By collapsing the burrow and starting over from scratch." Inqwynn let out a loud sigh. "There goes half a day's work..."

The two rabbits' progress in the afternoon was even slower, partly because they were more tired, but also because they had to deal with unstable soil after collapsing the urine-stained tunnel. It was sunset when an owsla officer ordered them to silflay; by then, the tunnel was slightly larger than it was that morning, but the officer still appeared unsatisfied by the slow progress.

Upon reaching the silflay field, Vervain quickly lied down.

-"It appears that you're about to repeat the same mistake you made this morning," Inqwynn said between bites. "Evening silflay is barely longer than morning, do you really want to spend the night hungry?"

-"I'm too tired to eat..." Vervain said with a moan.

-"Suit yourself."

After lying down for a few minutes, Vervain heard approaching footsteps. Opening his eyes, he saw that it was not Inqwynn (who was still busy eating), but the same owsla officer he had encountered in the morning.

-"So, how is the newbie doing on his first evening? Proud of the hard work he has accomplished for the benefit of our great society?"

Vervain closed his eyes. "Great society", did that officer even believe it himself?

-"Hey! When a decorated officer asks you a question, it is generally considered polite to answer."

-"You want an answer?" Vervain quickly got up and stared at the officer. He had had enough of being insulted by others, he would fight back. "All right, here's your answer: it was an embleer pain. I would have loved to just laze about all day and not do anything, but no, I had to dig a hole that you don't even have a use for!"

Inqwynn cringed: he knew what was about to happen, and it wouldn't be pleasant for anyone.

-"Is this how you repay us for the kindness we have shown you?" the officer said, blinking in shock. "By whining?"

-"Kindness?" Vervain completely lost control of his anger. "You haven't shown even the least bit of kindness since I arrived here!"

-"Why, we kindly provide you with the privilege of living here, of course!"

-"I don't even ask for this privilege! In fact, I would rather leave than stay in this rotten flea hole."

-"You ungrateful vermin! Silflay's over, get back to your burrow now, both of you, and learn to appreciate the privileges you are granted."

Vervain was debating whether to shout back or obey. Ultimately, this proved to be a moot point: Inqwynn decided to obey, and practically dragged Vervain along. It did not stop the former captain from shouting: as soon as he and Inqwynn reached the burrow, he vented his frustrations onto his burrow-mate.

-"I can't believe this, Inqwynn! Sending us back to our burrow as if we were misbehaving kittens, and what for?"

-"Oh believe me, they're letting you off easy," Inqwynn said. "Probably because you're new here and you don't know better. Anyone else would have had their whiskers pulled out instead. One by one, and as slowly as possible to prolong the suffering."

-"But all I did was tell the truth! They are not kind to us, and living here is not a privilege."

-"In the future, if the truth is not flattering towards this warren or the way it is run, consider keeping it to yourself. Now, if you will excuse me, since I won't be getting any more silflay for today, I will try to catch up on much-needed sleep instead."

-"And what will I do?"

-"Sleep too, I hope."

It ultimately took Vervain several hours to fall asleep, due to how hungry he was.