AUTHOR'S NOTE: thank you Anonymous Guest for the review :)
Also, I will be taking a short break following this chapter. The next chapter will probably be posted on 20 June.
Chapter 148: The Trouble With Feelings.
"They had quarrels, some fall outs, but through it all they stayed a strong [...]"
-Snowshoe Cat, ISOTOPE WARREN THE WRITTEN HISTORY
Hazel and Fiver were not the only rabbits discussing the situation with Flyairth. In another burrow, Bigwig, Silverweed and Moss were having a discussion of their own.
-"With her ideas of leaving the warren," Bigwig said, "she poses a threat to us all."
-"Is wanting to leave the warren seriously that bad?" Silverweed asked. "I thought we had freedom here, including the freedom to leave if that's what you want."
-"Do you actually support leaving the warren?"
-"Technically, Flyairth's right," Silverweed said. "Under ordinary circumstances, I wouldn't hesitate to leave. What happened today wasn't natural, and even with the rain we had, the blood will still remain for a while. I haven't been here as long as the rest of you, and I don't have any special emotional attachment to the warren. But with Woundwort still a threat, leaving is not an option. Our priority should be protecting ourselves, not searching for and building a new home."
-"Speaking of Woundwort, he would probably have had Flyairth sent to dig the hraka ditch with half rations if she had made such a suggestion back in Efrafa," Moss said. "And if that didn't stop her, he would have had Vervain execute her."
-"Well, WE won't kill her," Bigwig said with a shudder. "But we can't have her spreading dissent and threatening our stability in these troubling times."
-"I really think you're overstating the threat she poses," Silverweed said.
-"Sure, you agree with her..."
-"That's not it," Silverweed clarified. "For various reasons, most rabbits would probably want to stay. This will cost her a lot of votes in the election and make it unlikely for her to win, although we may stay deadlocked for a while. And if she wants to leave that badly, I say we let her, along with anyone else who wants to go with her. Assuming, of course, she's not the only one."
-"I hope you're right...if she does become Chief anyway, there will be absolute chaos."
Holly had been sitting outside the burrow, listening to the conversation. He could see the logic in both opposing points of view, but agreed that, at least for now, moving the warren was a bad idea. Nevertheless, Silverweed's concerns about "remaining deadlocked for a while" caught his attention. It seemed to him that there was only one possible solution to this; he would bring it up in the morning.
After his visit with Fiver, Hazel returned to his own burrow. Primrose was already asleep; the kittens, however, were not.
-"Why are you still awake?" he asked. "I thought you would be exhausted after today's events, and your adventure during the battle."
-"We're really glad you didn't punish us too harshly for that," Mallow said.
-"I deeply appreciate what you did with Fiver. That was a clever trick you used to render the weasel harmless."
-"It was fun!" Snowdrop said. "But not as fun as being tickled."
His daughter's comment made Hazel reconsider his methods.
-"As long as you don't keep misbehaving to get tickled again, we'll be fine," he said. "Now get some sleep, we'll have a lot to do tomorrow."
-"Well...I suppose I am tired after all..." Periwinkle said with a yawn. "Good night father."
-"Good night children."
-"But you were so calm earlier," Snowdrop continued; unlike her sister, she did not appear to be ready to sleep. "Even considering we saved Fiver, I thought you would be angrier than that, especially with Gilia's ridiculous decision to bring Blueberry with us...father?"
As she looked at Hazel, she saw that he had already fallen asleep.
-"Wait, what's so ridiculous about bringing Blueberry?" Gilia asked.
-"They say he's Woundwort's spy," Snowdrop pointed out.
-"We should consider him innocent until his guilt is proven. Which it won't, because he's not guilty."
-"Oh, my poor sister...so naive..."
-"I am not trying to be annoying," Mallow said, "but some of us are trying to sleep here! Can't we discuss this in the morning?"
-"Very well," Snowdrop conceded. "We'll discuss it in the morning."
-"Perfect. Now good night."
Snowdrop watched as her three siblings lied down and closed their eyes. Once they were no longer paying attention, she grinned evilly.
-"But by then it'll be too late..." she whispered.
Hawkbit was wandering around the Honeycomb. He had just returned from the Chief's burrow, where he had found him asleep, in no condition to hold a conversation. The owsla captain was also asleep, as was Hawkbit's best friend Dandelion. He remained troubled by what he had witnessed with Hickory and Marigold earlier. The two rabbits would sleep in separate burrows tonight, but that was only a temporary solution. What would happen in the morning, and beyond? Hawkbit felt a burning need to tell someone about it, preferably someone who could do something about it, but with all the high-ranking rabbits asleep, anyone would do.
He kept pacing back and forth until he heard someone else's footsteps. He turned around, and saw a brown rabbit. He recognized him as Acacia, although the two had never interacted for more than a few moments.
-"Did I wake you?"
-"You didn't," Acacia replied. "Nicole sensed your worry, so I decided to come investigate."
Hawkbit was left confused, unsure what Acacia meant. Did Nicole have visions like Fiver?
-"I don't want to worry you..." he started to say.
-"If there's something on your mind, please say so. We would do our best to help."
Acacia's offer to help was exactly what Hawkbit had wanted; he wondered whether Nicole might read that too. Therefore, he told the entire tale of Hickory and Marigold; since Acacia had not been at the warren for that long, he started with their initial escape from Cowslip's warren, all the way to their next warren's destruction, and the slow collapse of their relationship.
-"No!" Acacia said when Hawkbit had finished. "That's so sad, the bunnies were supposed to be happy, but they could not stop the construction, my heart has joined the thousand...and after this tragedy, the happy couple should be there for each other when they need it the most, but instead his mind deserts him and he makes a big mistake. Can it be fixed?"
-"I'm not sure," Hawkbit said sadly. "I don't know if she would forgive him for what he did to her. I think he regrets it, but he hasn't tried to apologize, and as you pointed out, he's unstable."
-"They could probably use some snuggles and kisses." Acacia seemed quite pleased, but stopped. "But they're asleep right now, let's not wake them up. Although, come to think of it, you look like you could use a kiss too. Can I?"
Hawkbit was left slightly confused by the sudden change of subject.
-"The last time someone kissed me, they ended up going back to someone else, and I would rather not go through that again," he finally said. "What's the situation between you and Nicole?"
-"We're good friends," Acacia said with a smile.
-"That's it? Just friends?"
-"If you're suggesting romance, it's not going to happen, no matter how much she wants it. She reminds me of...my sister..."
-"In that case, if you're all right with it, let's go for it."
At Nuthanger Farm, Eric Beaumont and his team were hard at work gathering information that would help them rescue the hostages. Hazel C was confused by officer Dusty's decision to leave her in charge, and decided to let Beaumont do what he thought best. The facial recognition search for the officer was still ongoing, with no matches found yet.
Debbie was not paying attention to the situation unfolding around her. Instead, she kept staring at the screen of her phone. She didn't have any open apps; she was waiting for a phone call from the kidnappers.
When the phone finally rang, she did not waste a moment before answering. Her high hopes turned to utter despair when she heard a computerized voice on the other end of the line: a robocall. She hung up and shouted at the sky.
-"WHY AREN'T THEY CALLING!?"
-"There are several reasons why they may choose..." Beaumont started to say, but was cut off.
-"If they're not calling, why don't WE call THEM?"
She immediately went to her contacts app, and selected one number. After a few moments, an error message appeared on screen.
-"The landline is dead..."
-"That's probably due to yesterday's flood," Beaumont speculated.
Undeterred, Debbie tried another number in her contacts, only to experience the same result.
-"They're not answering their cell phones...what's going on in there!?"
-"The hostage takers probably took away their phones."
-"There IS one active cell phone in this house, though," Yates said, typing on a computer keyboard; text appeared on the holographic display in front of him. "It's registered to someone called Banks Anya, and..."
-"Banks Anya?" Debbie walked over to the display and read the information. "Who is that?"
-"I suspect that's one of the kidnappers. Surprisingly, they didn't use an untraceable burner..."
-"Call them."
-"We should probably make a quick search on this Anya person," Zara said, "so we have a better idea who we're dealing with before calling."
-"There's no time to lose, Anya or the other one could kill Lucy before you've finished!"
-"The hostage takers have kept them alive this long," Beaumont said, "they have no reason to suddenly kill them now."
-"Just call, PLEASE!"
Beaumont was faced with impossible situation. If he called, it might make the hostage taker less likely to cooperate. But if he didn't call, Debbie was likely to do something rash.
-"All right. Cynthia, call that number." He then turned back to Debbie. "Please be quiet during the call, let me do the talking. An emotional display could reduce our leverage."
Cynthia sat down in front of the display and pressed a few keys. The sound of a phone ringing broke the silence; an audio waveform of the call appeared on the display, to assist in decoding clues in the kidnapper's tone.