Chapter 77: Fears and Worries.

"I never thought it was possible, but we need to make new rules...ABOUT MAGIC!"

-Spotty-bee, To Be Young

-"There...magic."

After what felt like forever to Hannah, Hedge had reached the darkest place on the island. The vegetation was denser than anywhere else; only a small group of fireflies provided a faint ring of light far above.

-"Vell, Hedgehzer, where's te megik?" Hannah asked.

-"For the magic, you need the magic object."

-"Where is dis mijoc ojek?"

-"You're standing on it."

Hannah looked down; there was nothing of particular interest on the ground. Nevertheless, she took a few steps back, and picked up the pebble she was standing on.

-"Zis is the mogic?"

-"Yes."

-"Bu its... pebble."

-"This pebble is magic. With it, you can accomplish anything."

-"But...what do e do?"

-"Just hold it, and recite the magic words."

-"Maygec woids, eh? Wet ar tha woids?"

Hedge fell silent for a few moments. Hannah was about to ask her again when the turtle suddenly began chanting:

"I call the great master, living in his tower

I beg for his mercy, please give me the power

I know, I'm your servant, for every hour

The force should grant my wish in the flower

And then you say...whatever your wish is."

-"Oof! Ye expec meh to remembee all 'at?"

-"It's not that hard, once you get used to it. But should you ever forget some of the words, it can be flexible, albeit with less effective spells."

-"Das some wired moogak."

-"The inner workings of magic are weird, illogical and, at times, contradictory. It should not be analyzed too much, except by certified witches and wizards."

-"Like ye?"

-"You may keep the pebble, but be careful. Should anyone else get hold of it, they shall also gain all magic powers associated with it."

-"Woo dat wuz scaree. Hoo do I protek it?"

-"Just be careful, and try to keep its existence a secret."

-"Well, tanks a loo, hegziar! Now I'll fine me two fwiends so easy."

-"Good luck, Hannah. Just one last thing."

-"What?"

-"Use a lily pad as a boat to cross the lake. If you try to swim with that pebble, you'll sink."

Hannah stared at Hedge for a few moments, as she realized how easy crossing the lake this way would be. How could she have overlooked something so obvious earlier?

-"Tank ye."

With that, she picked up the pebble, and slowly made her way towards the shore. It felt quite heavy, and carrying it was much more difficult than expected.

-"But father, why can't we go see mother?"

Hazel was lying in a corner of the Honeycomb. Snowdrop, Mallow and Gilia were jumping on top of him, sliding down his ears, and playfully nipping him.

-"She's not well," Hazel said, "you can't see her now."

-"But why? I can make her feel better!"

-"Yeah, I can too!"

-"No, she must have absolute rest..."

-"Uh, Hazel, there's something I have to talk to you about..." came the voice of Bigwig.

-"Please, Bigwig, not now. I have more important things to worry about."

-"Well, I can certainly see that. That's the problem with you, Hazel, you're not a strict enough father. If you were more strict, this wouldn't be happening. If I was their father, I would..."

-"But you're not their father, Bigwig," Hazel said sternly. "I am, so I will deal with them my way."

-"All right, all right. But as soon as you've finished dealing with them, I've got to talk to you."

With that, Bigwig walked away, leaving Hazel with the kittens, who were rapidly getting impatient.

-"Look, we're going to see her now..." Mallow said.

-"When did mother come back?" Periwinkle ran up to Hazel and stared angrily at her siblings. "Why does nobody ever tell me anything?"

-"She came back earlier this evening," Hazel said, "but please, nobody can visit her."

-"Are you serious?" Gilia said. "I know exactly what would make her feel better: us sleeping with her."

-"Please, no, don't do that!" Hazel said desperately. "No! Help!"

But the kittens weren't listening, and dashed out of the Honeycomb, towards the burrow where Hyzenthlay and Primrose were having their discussion. Fortunately, Fiver was able to step in front of the entrance at the last moment, preventing them from going inside.

-"How would you like to sleep with Uncle Fiver tonight?" he suggested.

-"Will you play bob-stones with us?"

-"Tail tag?"

-"Tell us a story?"

-"Carry us around?"

-"Yes, I'll do that, and Uncle Dandelion will tell you a story."

-"And when can we see mother?"

-"Well...if you're good kittens tonight, you'll see her in the morning."

The kittens cheered, and tackle-hugged Fiver.

-"Will you carry us across the Honeycomb, Uncle Fiver?"

-"I will, but please, one at a time."

-"All righty. Who goes first?"

-"How about me?"

-"No, me!"

-"Meeeeeeeeeee!"

-"All right, Periwinkle. You first," Fiver decided.

-"Hey, why is it always her first?"

-"What are you talking about, I haven't had a ride like this since last Frith's Eve!"

-"All four of you will get rides, but she will be the first one," Fiver said, as Periwinkle jumped on his back, and he hopped towards the Honeycomb; the other three kittens followed him.

The kittens' shouts had the side effect of waking up Blackberry. She was still exhausted following the journey, but she had to check up on Primrose to see how she was recovering. She picked up a few leaves, in case she would need to replace those on Primrose's tail. As she hopped out of her burrow, she found another rabbit waiting for her.

-"Nice to see you're awake." Hawkbit said. "Look what happened to my ears, they won't stay straight."

-"How did that happen?"

-"It's a long story, but can't you do something about it?"

-"I'll take a closer look in the morning. Right now, I'm too tired to really do anything."

With that, she continued to make her way towards her friend's burrow.

-"Hey, where are you going?" Hawkbit asked.

-"I'm checking up on Primrose."

-"You're too tired to take a look at my ears, but you can still look at Primrose?"

-"There's one major differences between the two of you. If her wounds get infected, Primrose will die. Your floppy ears, however, won't kill you."

With that, she continued to hop towards the burrow, while Hawkbit remained silent, ashamed of his own selfishness.

Meanwhile in the Honeycomb, Fiver was giving the last kitten his ride. Seeing his chance, Bigwig hopped over to Hazel, who was still lying in a corner of the burrow, with his front paws over his eyes.

-"Well, Hazel, now that you're free, I suppose I can tell you what worries me?"

Without waiting for an answer, he continued:

-"About the new rabbits, they seem like a decent bunch, but there are a few of them that worry me. There's the one with the feather...I forget her name..."

-"Spartina," Hazel mumbled.

-"That's right, Spartina...I don't know, there's something about her, I don't know how to describe it...I feel something..."

Realizing he wasn't making any sense, he decided to change the subject.

-"There's also the small one, Nelthilta. I don't think she respects your position Hazel. And the big one, Flyairth, she used to be Chief at her old warren, she might want the rank again."

-"Bigwig, I appreciate you telling me your concerns, but I have more important things to worry about at the moment."

-"More important things? Hazel, I'm telling you your leadership is under threat, and you have more important things to worry about?"

-"Prim-"

-"Oh, never mind. I'll tell you when she's better. Kehaar was right: you ARE crazy with love. Speaking of Kehaar, where is he? I haven't seen him since we came back."

With that, he hopped above ground, hoping to find the gull there.

-"Looks like Bigwig is as angry as a bumblebee that just stung itself."

-"Angry as a what?" Hazel asked, as he removed his paws from his eyes to see who had spoken; it was Bluebell.

-"Bluebell, now is not the time for inappropriate jokes!" came Blackberry's voice from the other end of the burrow.

-"A bumblebee that stung itself," Bluebell repeated, ignoring Blackberry. "And you Hazel, you look like you just saw a flying hedgewizard."

-"A flying hedgewizard?"

-"Yes. Of course, I never saw one myself, so I don't know how one would react when faced with such an abomination."

Hazel stared at Bluebell, extremely confused by the jokes. He eventually lied back down and covered his eyes again.

-"Oh no!" Bluebell said. "My jokes have failed to cheer up poor, worried Hazel. What have I done?"