Chapter 4: Egress

If only pronouncing someone great made them so, there would be no shortage of great rabbits. Despite Fiver and Vilthuril's lofty proclamations to the entire warren no less, she remained a doe that recently escaped from a cage. Such was the weight of Fiver's words that she had six rabbits watching over her, or rather two more than four which was the highest number that rabbits could count.

Aside from her six guards, she was a rabbit who was trying to become acquainted with wild rabbit life. There was much to learn but they didn't permit her to do much because it could be dangerous. No farm raids. No patrols. Whenever there was flayrah, she always got a share.

It was one morning a month later that Hazel came up to her.

"How have things been?" Hazel asked.

"Wonderful. Every day is a new experience," she said.

"The guards aren't bothering you, are they?"

She shook her head. She nibbled the nearby grass. She was content with how life was. Despite how much time passed since Fiver's proclamation, he didn't recant so she enjoyed her special status. It was sometimes hard to communicate without a name but no one pressured her to take one.

On another day, Groundsel himself arrived on Watership Down along with his escort.

"I've come to talk to… the doe with stars on her ears," Groundsel said.

"Right this way," Hazel said.

She could hear this inside the burrow.

It wasn't just Groundsel coming to greet her, but Hazel and Hyzenthlay too as well as Bigwig. There were too many rabbits that they had to use the honeycomb for an otherwise private meeting. Not like there was any privacy to be had within the honeycomb.

"I've come to ask a favor," Groundsel said. "Would you consider spending time with Stonecrop?"

Her jaw dropped in shock. "Did you come here just to ask this?"

He nodded.

"Why?"

"When you turned him away without giving him a chance, he felt like El-ahrairah rejected him."

"Why am I hearing about this now and from you?" she said. So much time passed since she left Vleflain.

Fiver said, "Watership Down doesn't take too kindly to Stonecrop. We tried to kill him."

"I wish you didn't put it like that, Fiver," Hazel said. "I saved him."

"That doesn't change what the warren tried to do."

"What did he do?" she asked. If this warren tried to kill him, he had to have done something. It had to have been something so horrible.

"Nothing. He smelled like man. Not his fault." Bigwig paused for a moment. "Do you want to return to Vleflain?"

She shook her head. "I'm quite happy with my life here." Part of her wondered if she could've been killed by this warren that she was in. "Could that have been me?"

"Back then, maybe," Hazel said.

Fiver let out the breath he was holding. "It's a relief that you want to stay."

"Why don't you want me to go?"

"You're destined for greatness."

"I'm just a doe. Can I not leave this warren?"

"Nothing like that, I just wish that you would stay. The world is dangerous. That's why we have many watching over you."

Groundsel made another attempt to convince her. "You're putting me in a hard spot."

"How so?" Hyzenthlay asked. There was an edge to her voice as Groundsel offended her.

"I promised him that he could have any doe that he wanted. And she hasn't given him a fair shot."

She said, "I know enough to know that he's self-absorbed. He didn't even realize that I left until minutes later. In any case, I'm not interested in going."

Hyzenthlay said, "Any doe that he wanted? That's not a promise that you should make."

"But I have made it," Groundsel said. "I need him."

"Surely, there are other does that want him."

"But he doesn't want them. He desires her. And he fulfills a vital function for Vleflain. Without him, the weasels would come again."

"Maybe I should go," she said. She remembered how the weasel took out Calix.

"I won't allow it for that reason," Hyzenthlay said. "You're new to the wild. Defense of a warren should hardly be your concern."

"But they'll be at risk."

"Again, that is not your concern. You are not even part of that warren presently."

"You're going to confine me here?"

Hazel disagreed with his mate. "We're not doing that."

"We will," Hyzenthlay insisted. "At least for a few days until she comes to her senses. That's if she wants to leave for that reason alone. Am I your equal or not? The defense of another warren should not fall to a doe that is new to the wild."

"Yes, Hyzenthlay."

They nuzzled each other.

"I'll come back in a week," Groundsel said.

"Not because of that alone, you're not," Hyzenthlay said.

"How is Loosestrife?" she asked. He was the first rabbit she met in the wild.

"Doing well." Groundsel took his leave.

Life continued as normal until a single yellow-black hrududu carried multiple humans here. They were directly heading to the warren.

Hazel held an emergency meeting above ground. "As you well know the humans have invaded our home. We have two options, stay or leave."

"I don't need a vision to tell me that it is dangerous here," Fiver said.

Some rabbits were still missing – among them, one of the notable ones was Bigwig. Hazel after all had barely given rabbits any time to assemble.

"They're surrounding us," Fiver said. "Run!"

No one questioned Fiver as they broke into a sprint as best as they could on such short notice.

Humans held a device in their hand but otherwise did nothing except for one.

A single human held a rabbit in her hand.

The rabbits attacked the human to free their companion. The human screamed and everyone moved away.

"Is everyone all right?" Hazel asked.

Fiver said, "I heard my name but the human wasn't speaking to me. Did any of you hear it too?"

"So, what if I did? What difference does it make?" she said. She still didn't have a name. "I could make out some of the chatter."

"What do we do now, Hazel?" another rabbit asked.

"Has anyone seen Feverfew?" a doe asked.

It was clear that no one did after a few moments.

"I need to go back."

"Me too," another doe said.

"It's too risky," Hazel said. "You have kittens with you that are here. They need their mother."

"I don't have any here. Any objections?"

"A moment, please."

They were a good deal away from the tree, but they were out in the open. The humans didn't pursue them.

"I want to stay nearby and observe them," Fiver said.

"We just got away from them," Vilthuril said. "And one of them grabbed us. You could lead them right to us."

"I know… but they said my name."

"Out of the question," Hazel said. "I don't want to lose you."

"What about Bigwig and the others?" another rabbit said.

"The farm isn't far from here. We could meet up with him. If only Kehaar were here."

They were a group of rabbits out in the open that recently abandoned their warren. The group took some time to debate what to do next. In the end, two headed back to the warren while Hazel led the rest to rendezvous with Bigwig then set out for Vleflain.

The group of recently displaced rabbits moved as best as they could while attracting elil that the adults tried to fend off. Such was life in the wild that a hawk could snatch another away with impunity. There wasn't much they could do when the hawk snatched a young one away.

"Bigwig!" Hazel called out.

He had carrots in his mouth just like the other two rabbits with him. "What's the big idea here?"

"Man took our warren. We're moving to Vleflain."

What little flayrah they had went to the young and the special rabbit to help keep them calm in this frightful time. A break out in the open wasn't the wisest choice but rabbits didn't want to waste flayrah.

"Have any of you seen anything?" Hazel asked.

Threar said, "I see us back there in the future. I could see us returning but not that we left."

"It's not that far. I can make the journey back to the down," Fiver said.

"And you're not going to." Vilthuril tackled him. "I won't let you."

"You?" Hazel turned towards her, the doe with stars on her ears. "Are the men a threat?"

She shook her head. "I don't know."

It was as if he was fishing for an answer, for permission. And Hazel was the leader of them all.

"And you didn't think to ask me?" Hyzenthlay said.

"If you had, wouldn't you have ordered us back there yourself?" Hazel said.

The journey to Vleflain was far from easy with such a large band. Nearby stoats or weasels managed to inflict a few wounds on the rabbits before being driven off.

The copse of trees meant Vleflain was in sight. Groundsel came to greet them along with Avens, his captain of Owlsa. "What's the meaning of this?"

"Man took our warren. I thought this was the best place to go," Hazel said.

"There are far too many of you," Captain Avens said.

"We can dig more burrows, expand the warren."

"Hazel, are you sure this place is safe?" a rabbit said. "We can smell man here."

"It's completely safe. It's either this or taking chances back at our warren with actual man or we find some new place where elil can pick us off if we choose without care."

Groundsel said, "I will allow you all in on two conditions. One: Stonecrop will be allowed to go about the warren unrestricted." He pointed to the special doe. "Two: If he wishes to spend time with her, she will."

"She will have hrair watching her at all times. Those terms are otherwise agreeable. We won't be staying long hopefully," Hazel said.

"The most I will allow is four."

Fiver said, "No, two more than four."

"I didn't even spend much time in the warren when I was here the last time," she said. "I don't want to spend time with him still."

Hyzenthlay said, "You would've come here a month ago if I let you. Just keep him company for a bit."

"Yes, Hyzenthlay."

As the rabbits entered the warren, Stonecrop took notice. "You're here again!"

"You said you moved on," a doe said.

He didn't acknowledge the doe.

She sighed. "What do you want?" The only reason he wanted her was because of her resemblance to El-ahrairah.

"I want to know you. To spend time together with you."

"What a joy. We're spending time together right now. You seemingly made another doe angry."

"But I would never leave you for another. Don't worry about her, she can find another buck."

"Even if there are other rabbits like me?" she asked.

"There are no rabbits like you. Your ears and tail light up the room."

Stonecrop didn't answer the question directly. If there were other rabbits like her in the wild, he might pick a different one. There could be – based on her memories of that room. She shivered from the memory.

"It's all your fault for coming back here," the doe said. "If only you said away for a few months more. Our kittens would've formed an inseparable bond."

"Why are you still here?" Stonecrop scowled.

"This is a warren. I am here because I want to be."

"Let's go." Stonecrop expected her to follow. She did not.

He certainly made a fuss over this by complaining to Groundsel then Groundsel complained to Hazel which passed it to Hyzenthlay.

Hyzenthlay said, "Go with him to his burrow. All of you too."

They obeyed their chief rabbit by following her to Stonecrop's burrow which was more suited to four rabbits and not all of them. When that became apparent, the does made the burrow larger. The bucks had to stay out of the way while the does worked.

It was different from Watership Down where the rabbits assigned to watching her left her alone when she was inside Fiver's burrow.

All of them were beside her, so she needn't shoulder this burden alone.