Chapter 5: Let There Be Flayrah.

"Many small businesses are doomed from day one, not from competition or the economy, but from the ignorance of their owners . . . their destiny is already decided because they have no idea how a business should be operated."

-William Manchee, Go Broke, Die Rich: Turning Around the Troubled Small Business

It was early in the morning, shortly after sunrise. Hazel peaked out of the warren's main entrance, and went outside. The sky was cloudy; a thunderstorm was on its way. He estimated that it would not break until that evening.

Hazel heard a soft noise coming from behind him. He turned, and saw another rabbit slowly approaching him.

-"Can't sleep, Bigwig?"

-"Not really," Bigwig answered. "I know I should be happy, the war being over and all, but that will probably make my job even more difficult. You know how I've been having trouble getting the owsla to take the job seriously, but now that the war is over, they're convinced that there is no purpose in training."

-"At least Pipkin takes his job as captain of the junior owsla seriously."

-"Yeah. Thank Frith there are still rabbits like him! I'm sure he will be a fine replacement for me, when I retire in a few sets of seasons. But until then, the regular owsla is short on useful rabbits".

-"Why don't you give them a break for a few days?" Hazel suggested. "I'm sure we could all use some rest, now that the war is over."

-"Perhaps I could try that. But you seem to be having problems of your own, Hazel. You rarely go outside at this time of day, and when you do, Fiver is usually with you, but now you're alone."

-"I think there's something wrong with Primrose. She didn't get much sleep last night. When I told her that Woundwort was dead, she said something about how she was responsible for the war, but when I asked her what she meant, she didn't reply.

Bigwig remained silent, as he tried to think of a decent reply.

-"The only one responsible for the war is Woundwort himself, and he's dead now. Where did she get that crazy idea that it was her fault?"

-"I wish I knew. If I did, it would probably be easier to help her. Do you have anything to suggest? I'm rather short on good ideas at the moment."

-"How about going on a nice, quiet little raid on Nuthanger Farm? No rabbit can resist the rich, sweet, crunchy taste of fresh lettuce. If that doesn't cheer Primrose up, I don't know what will."

-"You may have something there, Bigwig. And besides, the war is over, shouldn't we celebrate? Why don't we organize a feast?"

-"Brilliant idea, Hazel! Who else do we bring for the raid?"

-"Perhaps it should be just the two of us. This way we can surprise the others when we return with the flayrah."

-"Hmmm, that makes sense. What do you say we start ni-Frith?"

-"I'll be ready, Bigwig."

With that, the two rabbits hopped away; Hazel went back to his burrow to check up on Primrose, while Bigwig decided to patrol around the Down. His mind was full of exciting thoughts about the upcoming adventure, and as a consequence he wasn't paying close attention to his surroundings, causing him to bump into another rabbit.

As he got back up, Bigwig looked at this other rabbit; his fur was mostly brown, almost black, and he had a strange overgrowth of fur on his head, not unlike Bigwig's, but smaller. He could not remember seeing this rabbit before.

-"Who are you?" Bigwig asked.

-"My name is Blackavar, sir," the stranger replied.

-"Blackavar?" Bigwig repeated, searching his memory for more information on this rabbit. "Oh yes, I remember you now," he lied. "I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going..."

Bigwig walked away, casting an awkward glance at Blackavar. "I know I've met him somewhere before, but I can't remember where," he thought.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Down, Blackberry was lying in the grass. At first glance, it might look like she was enjoying the feeling of the wind blowing through her fur, but she was actually absorbed in deep thought. When she had first arrived at Watership Down as part of Hazel's band of fugitives from Sandleford Warren, she had taken part in the digging of the warren. While several of the bucks also helped, she still ended up doing most of the work. But that was several seasons ago, and since then, hardly any new digging had had been done. The only new burrow dug afterwards had been made by Primrose while she was pregnant. Afterwards, the warren was mostly preoccupied with the war with Efrafa, and she felt like she had done very little to help the others.

She pondered the question of what she had done wrong, and what she could do to help now that the war was over. She eventually made a decision, and decided to talk to Bigwig about it.

Meanwhile, Bigwig was in the Honeycomb talking to Hazel.

-"I met a rabbit outside just now," he said. He told me his name is Blackavar, but I can't remember anything about him."

-"Oh, I think he's the rabbit whom we helped escape from Efrafa along with Primrose," Hazel explained.

-"I can't believe I forgot about him. Is there anyone else living here that I don't remember?"

-"I don't think so. If there is anyone else, I don't remember them either. But it's terrible. When we helped him escape, he seemed like a good, useful rabbit. A bit loud, sometimes, but a good runner. Despite this, I can't remember a single mission of importance he participated in."

-"Hmm. Hazel, why don't we bring him along on today's raid? That would be giving him a chance to do something useful."

-"I'm not sure about that, Bigwig," a third rabbit said. Both Hazel and Bigwig turned to see who it was; it was Fiver.

-"How long have you been spying on us?" Bigwig asked.

-"I wouldn't exactly call it spying, but I have been listening for quite a while. Don't worry, though, I won't tell anyone about your secret project. I'm just a bit worried about Blackavar."

-"What's the matter with Blackavar?" Bigwig asked, slightly annoyed.

-"As you said, Hazel, he hasn't participated in a single mission of importance since the escape from Efrafa. He's been kept sheltered here in the warren for almost a full set of seasons. And before that, he was in Efrafa, where he didn't learn much about the natural lives of rabbits. Even Clover has more experience than he does."

-"What nonsense!" Bigwig exclaimed. "Clover was born in a hutch, and her parents before her were also born in a hutch, and their parents too, probably. This lack of natural instincts runs in their blood. Blackavar, meanwhile, lived in the wilderness all his life like normal rabbits..."

Bigwig ignored the fact that Clover was lying in a corner of the Honeycomb and overheard the entire conversation. She did not take his comments very well.

-"So I'm not a normal rabbit, eh?"

Bigwig was taken aback, and did his best to control the damage.

-"That's not what I meant..."

-"You said that I lack natural instincts and I'm not a normal rabbit. I'll admit I'm not as fast or strong as some of you "normal" rabbits, but I still do my best, you know?"

-"I didn't..."

-"I'll be at silflay. Hopefully I can still digest grass properly despite not being a normal rabbit."

With that, she hopped out of the burrow.

-"Nice job Bigwig." Fiver rolled his eyes. "Anyway, the fact remains that Blackavar's lack of experience has weakened his instincts. If he wants to participate in any raids, he should at least take part in some basic owsla training before."

-"You have to contradict me in everything I say, don't you?"

-"Look, Bigwig, you won't get anywhere shouting like this." Hazel stepped in to resolve the argument. "Fiver, I understand everything you say. That is why I will take the greatest care to make sure nothing bad happens. Me and Bigwig will guide Blackavar throughout the whole experience, and be on the lookout for cats and dogs. He will be fine."

-"As you say, Hazel," Fiver said reluctantly. "But I still feel uneasy about all this, and if something happens, I don't want to be the one saying "I told you so.""