Chapter 203: Meeting Plans.
"He needs to come if they're to have any chance of success."
-dustnik, Return to Nuthanger Farm
Early that evening, a meeting took place in the Honeycomb, just like Bigwig had planned. The Darkhaven raid at Nuthanger Farm made it urgent to come up with a new plan to protect Watership Down.
-"Since they spotted us, they are likely to keep searching in this vicinity," Dandelion said nervously. "It may be only a matter of days before they find us all."
-"Last time this happened was early last summer," Fiver recalled. "We then deliberately left tracks and scents in another direction, hoping it would steer them away."
-"Did it work?" Hyzenthlay asked.
-"I don't know," Bigwig was forced to admit. "Up until today, they largely stayed away from our warren. But the same day we created the false tracks, we made our first step in getting Campion to become a double agent; it's unclear what played a greater role."
-"We would need to talk to him, so we have a better idea what we're up against, following this recent development."
-"Oh sure, very simple," Hawkbit mumbled. "We just walk in Darkhaven, talk to him, and walk back out. What could possibly go wrong?"
Several rabbits were annoyed at Hawkbit's sarcasm, but nobody bothered to rebuke him.
-"It's true, though," Dandelion said. "Without Kehaar to work his moves, it is harder to get Campion alone so we can talk."
-"Oy!" Hannah shouted. "I could give him a message!"
-"I don't think that would be realistic, Hannah," Blackberry said.
-"Oof! I know I'm a mouse, but I can still be useful, ye know! I once infiltrated Efrafa, when Campion was imprisoned, and nobody even realized I was there."
-"I know that, Hannah, but from what I heard, Darkhaven is guarded really well, even more so than Efrafa. And you don't have Kehaar to drop you off either."
-"Oof! It's always the same thing. You never know just how well I can do something until I just do it myself, without bothering with ye all."
With that, the mouse ran out of the burrow, with Nyreem keeping her eyes on her.
-"She's not really going to try to go to Darkhaven alone, is she?" the young doe asked.
-"I hope not," Hazel said.
-"Even if she wanted to, she wouldn't be able to," Holly said. "None of us, except Spartina, actually know where Darkhaven is. We've encountered their patrols, but we have never seen the warren itself."
-"Holly's right," Bigwig said. "We no longer have the advantage we had with Efrafa. And since Kehaar left us, we can't have him search for it either. That gull's absence is a major nuisance."
-"I have an idea, a good idea I hope!" Blueberry said in excitement. "We get Campion out of Darkhaven, so he can live here with us."
"That's not very helpful, it doesn't solve the main problem of 'we have no idea where the embleer warren is'," Nelthilta said. "You might as well have remained silent. Say something meaningful, will you?"
-"Holly mentioned Spartina. She could give me directions, and then I would venture in there."
-"I've been in Darkhaven, you haven't. A small kitten like you would never survive more than a day," Spartina said. This was actually false: Blueberry had been in Darkhaven, and survived several days there, but due to his amnesia, he was unable to correct her.
-"Oh..." Blueberry appeared disappointed, but soon perked up again. "I suppose I won't be going alone, then, but a trusted ally could come and assist me."
-"I would be honoured to go with you!" Gilia said, assuming that Blueberry was talking about her.
-"Uh, it's very kind of you to volunteer, but like Spartina said, this is going to be a dangerous mission, and you're just as small as I am, I don't want you to risk your life like this. The 'trusted ally' I had in mind was Clover."
-"Me?" Clover said in shock.
-"So you don't want to risk the Chief's daughter's life, but risking the hutch doe's life is perfectly fine," Cornflower said. "Prejudiced much?"
-"No no, you got it all wrong! Clover is great and sweet and motherly and..."
-"Expendable, apparently," Nelthilta said, interrupting the kitten mid-sentence. "You and your crazy ideas..."
-"Don't you dare call him crazy!" Gilia said angrily. "And if he is crazy, then that's a good thing! Besides, I don't see YOU volunteering to go to Darkhaven instead!"
-"All right, that's enough." Hazel finally stepped in, the argument had gone too far. "Nelthilta, Cornflower, Gilia, Blueberry, all of you, go back to your burrows."
The various rabbits were clearly displeased with being asked to leave, but they nevertheless still obeyed, hopping away in different directions. It was only Nelthilta who caused further trouble.
-"Hey, I'm not a kitten, you can't boss me around like you do with your daughter!"
-"You heard the Chief, go!" Bigwig said sternly.
Unwilling to deal with an angry captain, Nelthilta finally departed.
Even after the troublemakers were gone, the mood in the honeycomb remained sombre. It was never pleasant to see rabbits arguing, especially over such a subject.
-"That was an unfortunate turn of events," Clover said.
-"I should perhaps try to talk to them, see if I can help them with their troubled feelings," Pipkin said.
-"You would be the best one for this task," Hazel said. "Go ahead."
With that, Pipkin hopped out of the burrow. Now came the time to resume the discussion, that had been interrupted by the argument; a logical course of action had yet to be determined.
-"Does anyone have any other suggestions about how to proceed?" Holly asked.
At that moment, Bluebell stepped towards the front of the group with a smirk.
-"Perhaps Hawkbit's suggestion isn't as absurd as you all might think," he said.
-"Wait what? What did I even suggest?" Hawkbit said, having forgotten his earlier remark.
-"You suggested someone walking into Darkhaven to talk to him."
Knowing Bluebell, everyone (even Hawkbit himself) was bracing for an inappropriate joke.
-"And...how do you plan to implement that?" Hazel asked, hoping to get the joke over with so they could then return to more serious suggestions.
-"As mentioned a few times already, we do have a former Darkhavener among us."
Bluebell pointed at Spartina, who gasped.
-"You're suggesting that I go back to Darkhaven?"
-"Yes...actually no," Bluebell replied. "It was a joke, but not entirely. I mean, it's worth considering, but ultimately it's up to you."
-"And what would be the benefit of sending her there?" Hyzenthlay asked.
-"She could help Campion. Or something. I didn't really think about it..."
-"Does Campion even need help?"
-"Spartina is NOT going back to Darkhaven!" Bigwig shouted, hopping over to her. "This is beyond madness. We already have one informer in there, there's no point in sending in a second one. She needs to stay here, where she can be safe."
Everyone turned to stare at Bigwig: this was highly emotional reaction on his part, and it left everyone surprised, most of all Spartina herself.
-"Uh, Bigwig, you can't stop me from going if I want to."
-"You're not seriously considering this foolish plan, are you?"
-"I...I'll think about it...and report back once I have reached a decision."
Before anyone could question her further, she hopped out of the burrow.
-"Regardless of whether we send someone into Darkhaven, whether Spartina, Clover, someone else, or nobody at all, we should probably still set false tracks away from the warren like we did last spring," Strawberry said. "It can't do any harm."
-"My owsla can get to work on that as early as tomorrow morning," Bigwig announced.
After the meeting ended, a few rabbits went above ground for a late silflay; the next step afterwards would be sleep. Flyairth, as she had done the past few days, did so in a secluded corner, away from everyone else. Usually, the others left her alone; this time, however, Vilthuril went to talk to her.
-"Are you still disappointed about losing the election?" she asked.
Flyairth looked at her friend. She appreciated that someone went to talk to her, even if she would not have done so herself.
-"I would be lying if I said I didn't miss being Chief Rabbit," she admitted. "That's not the issue tonight, though. I was just thinking about Sunflower Forest."
-"Do you plan to join the digging crew tomorrow? You did a great job at it back at Marli-rah, your presence here would be very helpful."
-"I don't know...I was so excited when I first discovered that warren, a few days ago. I was hoping that we could build a new society in the ruins of the old one, with me as its leader. But it turns out that the warren is haunted, and we're filling it up."
-"Don't get discouraged. Sunflower Forest wasn't your only hope, there must be other places where a new warren could be built."
-"What's the point of doing that if nobody is willing to go with me to live there?"
-"You should take your time, wait a while. Just because nobody's interested now, doesn't mean it will stay this way. Perhaps, in a few seasons, others will have changed their minds."
-"Assuming we survive that long..." Flyairth shuddered.
-"Are you worrying about the white blindness again?" From what Vilthuril knew of Flyairth, this was the most likely possibility.
-"I'm always worrying about that. But I was actually thinking about the war this time."
-"Yes...it is definitely something to worry about. If Woundwort wins, he will kill most of us, and kidnap the rest as slaves. The latter is probably worse."