Chapter 232: The Last Few Buns.

"And with your counsel at my right,

'Tis joy to be alive."

-Loganberry, Hazel's Devotion

That evening, there was a large crowd of rabbits at silflay; virtually everyone at Watership Down was above ground. Many of them took advantage of this to spend time with their friends or relatives.

Among the rabbits at silflay was Blackavar; unlike most of the others, however, he was on his own, with nobody beside him. This was usually the case with him, and that night was no different. Even after dying and coming back to life earlier in the season, it seemed little had changed: a few rabbits asked him about his experiences, but after a few days, it was as if nothing had happened, everyone went back to largely ignoring him.

He did not have any official duties either. The one time he went on a mission, he died there. He later volunteered to be a night guard, but his first report afterwards annoyed Bigwig so much that he was permanently banned from the job. This severely limited how he could contribute to the warren.

Even speaking was becoming a rarity for him. His loud voice seemed to get on the other rabbits' nerves, and while they always remained polite towards him, he could sometimes see the annoyance on their faces; perhaps this was why they rarely initiated conversations with him. He had heard rumours that Marigold had asked every buck in the warren to mate with her; apparently, not EVERY buck, she didn't ask him, either because his voice was just that atrocious, or because she had forgotten his existence. Hopefully the latter.

He noticed Silver, also at silflay, further away. He quickly looked away, not wishing to appear rude by staring. Silver was another rabbit who seemed to largely fade into the background, but he still had several advantages over Blackavar. He was in the owsla, and did a reasonably good job; his voice was decent, and not the least bit obnoxious.

Still, Blackavar thought as he munched on the grass, this was a good life. It may be boring and lonely at times, but it was still so much better than his former life in Efrafa. Hazel's main goal had been to help Primrose escape from Efrafa, with Blackavar merely coming along for the ride; still, this remained the best thing that ever happened to him.

Unbeknownst to Blackavar, Silver was also reflecting on his own situation, with similar conclusions. It seemed to him that he would never be as great as some others. He wasn't as strong as Bigwig, as knowledgeable as Blackberry, or as wise as Holly. He had no mental powers, unlike Silverweed. The two rabbits' similar names had led to confusion on a few occasions, although it still wasn't as bad as the two Blackberry-s or the two Strawberry-s. He didn't have a mate either; he briefly wondered whether Hyzenthlay might have had feelings for him, but upon further analysis, she merely considered him a friend, which was fine for both of them.

Still, much like Blackavar, Silver felt happy. He contributed positively to his warren, he had friends, and this remained a much better life than his time at Cowslip's warren. His greatest regret was not leaving that warren earlier. He could have followed Strawberry a full set of seasons ago, but he didn't. Even when Hickory and Marigold took a large number of rabbits away, still he stayed behind. He pushed these thoughts away: such regret was pointless. He was free now, he would make the most of it, and would do his best to protect it.

Also at silflay was Holly, alone, like these two other bucks. Like Silver, he was thinking about things that he regretted, mainly how he attempted to stop Hazel and the others from leaving Sandleford, all these seasons ago. He had failed at this task, and that was a good thing, but his mistake almost cost them all their lives. And yet, not only had everyone else forgiven him, but they regularly went him to him advice afterwards, and had recently become co-Chief. The rabbits who had been his enemies, long ago, were now his trusted friends, and this new warren was a major improvement over the old one.

He spotted Hannah, sitting in the grass further away. Her presence there was a prime example of Hazel's new ways of thinking, that helped make this warren as great as it was. A mouse living in a warren with rabbits would never have happened in Sandleford: over there, such small creatures were tolerated at best, and were sometimes bullied away by bored owsla members. Holly never liked this, but it was virtually impossible for him to control what the officers under his command did when off-duty.

While nobody was bullying Hannah (as far as Holly knew), she still seemed depressed. Hoping he could perhaps help with that, he hopped over to her.

-"What have I done to help you all, lately?" she said.

-"You have been a great help to us all."

-"Not really. Since Kehaar left, I haven't accomplished anything. I tried my best, I sought out magic, and used it, or at least that's what I thought at the time. Except that I really didn't do anything! The hedgewizard lied to me, the magic was fake. Despite my best intentions, I was really doing nothing. I should have known that this was too good to be true, but I was so desperate to help you all that I believed that turtle's absurd platitudes, until she confessed to her unethical behaviour."

-"This is nonsense! The magic may not have worked as intended, but you were still trying, and you have helped us in several non-magical ways."

-"Such as?"

-"You trapped the weasel in the caverns. I hear that, if you hadn't volunteered, Bigwig would have sacrificed himself."

-"That was just delaying the inevitable. The weasel came back later in the summer to attack again. You should know, you helped kill it."

-"By that point, we were much better equipped to deal with the threat. Hazel and the others had only just arrived when the weasel first attacked, they were tired, untrained in fighting techniques (except Bigwig) and the warren wasn't even dug yet; they would never have been able to get rid of the weasel like this. Your trick with the caverns may not have been a permanent solution, but it still bought us precious time."

Hannah remained silent, not entirely convinced.

-"Your species is a great advantage to us all," Holly continued. "You can't do some of the things we can, but you can do many things we can't. I was thinking, maybe you could join the owsla's next patrol. You did this in the past with Kehaar."

-"Without Kehaar, I would never be able to keep up with you all. You rabbits are known for your speed; mice are comparatively very slow."

-"You could ride on someone's back. Give it a try, I'm sure this will be enjoyable for you, and your presence will have a positive impact."

Also at silflay was Primrose, also alone. This was one of the rare occasions where she was not with Hazel: the Chief was in a meeting with Bigwig. She ate very slowly, content to close her eyes and feel the wind in her ears.

She soon felt some air moving in the opposite direction of the wind; opening her eyes again, she saw that Blackberry had hopped over to her. She smiled: it was good to see her friend again, it had been several days.

-"How have things been going for you?" Blackberry asked.

-"I've been doing pretty well. You?"

-"It's been fine..."

-"Just fine?" Blackberry did not seem very enthusiastic, which left Primrose a bit worried.

-"Don't worry about me. Nothing is ever perfect, but I am mostly satisfied with the way things are going. I would need to check on your injuries, though."

-"It has been so long since all this happened..." Primrose remembered the ill-fated mission to Redstone, during which she had sustained all these injuries; it had been hrair days since her return from this journey. "The pain is completely gone now; is it really necessary to check?"

-"It's not necessary, but it is still advisable. Last time I checked, everything was healing nicely, but I want to make sure that I haven't overlooked anything, any wounds that may not have fully healed."

-"If you think it's for the best, go ahead."

Blackberry carefully examined Primrose. This involved a bit of poking in several spots; this was sometimes a bit awkward for Primrose, but never painful, nor even uncomfortable. Once she was finished, Blackberry hopped over to Primrose's side.

-"Everything is fine and progressing nicely. All your wounds have fully healed, there doesn't appear to be any hidden injuries. You have a promising future ahead of you."

Primrose smiled. Blackberry was a great healer, and also a great rabbit.

-"You're probably my best friend," she said, "except Hazel of course."

Blackberry chuckled.

-"I'm really glad I have a friend like you too."