AUTHOR'S NOTE: thank you Anonymous Guest for the review; I'm glad you liked the chapter. I hope to give Shale and Feldspar more character development in later chapters than in the official series.

Chapter 80: Fun and Relaxation.

"This was the moment of truth. The moment that his life could change drastically in one-way or another. [...] This could be the best day of his life... Or perhaps the worse. [sic]"

-Juuhachi, The Story of Blackavar

It was dawn. Several rabbits were present in the Honeycomb. Hazel felt exhausted, but sleep appeared impossible to achieve: he still remained worried about his mate. Most of the other rabbits in the burrow were very bored.

-"Cheerful lot, aren't they?" Cornflower said.

-"Regular activities helps keep creatures motivated and in good spirits," Silverweed replied. "We need to act."

-"There doesn't seem to be much to do. If you're not sleeping, training for the owsla, or at silflay, pretty much the only activity I've seen you all doing is playing that weird pebble game. Warren life is boring."

-"There wasn't much to do in the hutch either," Clover pointed out.

-"You're right," Cornflower said. "That was even worse. But I still expected warren life to be more exciting than this."

-"Simply relaxing is an underrated pleasure. You should try it out," Strawberry suggested.

-"But with Bigwig and his daily owsla training, I don't get many chances to do this," Hawkbit added. "He's always moving. If that's how he likes his life, fine, but not everyone has to live like him."

-"Always moving?" Clover repeated.

-"Yes..."

-"Hawkbit, that's brilliant!"

With that, Clover started shaking intensely, and jumping across the burrow.

-"Brilliant?" Hawkbit said in confusion. "What did I do? And what are YOU doing?"

-"I'm dancing!" the doe replied.

-"Dancing?"

-"Yes. In my last winter at the farm, the farmer threw a crazy party in the barn and everyone was doing this dancing thing. They seemed to be having fun."

-"You've been living here for a full set of seasons," Strawberry said, "and I never saw you dance before."

-"I forgot about it soon after it happened. But Hawkbit's talk about moving reminded me of it."

-"Actually, I was thinking more about NOT moving," Hawkbit said.

-"The lop-eared grump saying something intelligent?" Nelthilta said. "That's a rarity!"

Hawkbit looked sharply at the doe.

-"I'm not THAT grumpy! And my ears will be straightened very soon."

-"That's what YOU think!"

-"You don't have to dance if you don't want to," Clover said, "but it is pretty fun! Come on, now, everyone who's interested, dance!"

At first, most other rabbits in the burrow struggled to figure out exactly what Clover was doing, but after a while, several others joined her. Strawberry, Strawberry and Nelthilta were among the first to do so, although the latter soon ran out of breath and was forced to stop.

-"Hey Thethuthinnang," Clover eventually said, "you mind singing? Might give us something exciting to dance to!"

There was one rabbit, however, who did not appear to approve of the situation. To Silverweed, the other rabbits' dancing reminded him of Cowslip's warren, and how the rabbits there often made such weird movements as a greeting. He ran out of the burrow as fast as he could.

Bluebell watched the scene unfold with curiosity. When Thethuthinnang started singing, he realized that this was the perfect solution to his problem. He hopped over to Hazel and nudged his ears.

-"Come on, Hazel, dance!"

-"What are you talking about?" Hazel was plainly confused.

-"Dance, Hazel! It's fun!"

With that, Bluebell started to shake his body and making weird steps, just as most other rabbits in the burrow were doing. Hazel stared at him, unsure what was going on.

-"Come on, Hazel, join me!"

Hazel continued to stare at Bluebell, before finally coming to the conclusion that it did look fun, and he had nothing to lose. He made a few cautious steps forward, shaking as he went. "What am I doing?" he thought. "It will take a while to learn how to do this properly."

Fiver had given all four kittens the rides he had promised. It had been much harder than expected, and he was happy when he was able to leave them in Dandelion's care for a story. As he entered the Honeycomb, however, he saw that nearly everyone was making weird movements.

-"What's going on?"

-"Something crazy," Vilthuril replied, "but it's a good type of crazy."

-"Uh, Hazel-rah?" The Chief Rabbit immediately raised his ears as he heard that. He ran to the rabbit who had just entered the Honeycomb and had spoken; it was Hyzenthlay.

-"How is she?" he said.

-"Calm down," Hyzenthlay replied. "She's all right. She wants to see you."

Hazel kept staring at Hyzenthlay, unsure exactly how to react. He wanted to rush into his burrow to see his mate, but he didn't want to overwhelm her.

-"Look Hazel, just go and see her," Hyzenthlay continued. "You have nothing to worry about."

-"Uh, yes...thanks..."

Hazel ran past Hyzenthlay towards the burrow he shared with his mate. Just before entering, however, he became nervous again. It took him a few moments to calm down once again and peak inside the burrow.

Primrose was lying in a corner, her eyes wide open and staring at him. He slowly made his way into the burrow, without taking his eyes off her.

-"Wow, Primrose..." he said rather awkwardly, "you look beautiful."

-"Thank you."

Hazel lied down in front of her, and continued staring at her, trying to think of what to say.

-"How's your tail?"

-"It's doing a lot better than when I first arrived here."

-"I'm glad to hear that."

The two rabbits kept staring at each other in awkward silence, until suddenly, Primrose jumped on Hazel and hugged him tightly. However, she lost her balance, and soon both rabbits were lying on their side.

-"Oh, Hazel...I'm sorry."

-"Sorry? What are you sorry for?" Hazel replied, as he returned the hug.

-"Leaving the warren. Leaving you."

-"It's all right. We're together again, safe at home."

Bigwig had returned underground, finding no trace of Kehaar anywhere. Hopefully the gull would be back in the morning, but until then, he still had to talk to Hazel. There was no trace of him in the Honeycomb, so he went to the Chief's burrow. Before he could enter, however, Hyzenthlay approached him.

-"I wouldn't go in there if I were you," she said.

-"Why not? I have something important to discuss with him."

-"Don't interrupt two rabbits in love."

Bigwig sighed loudly.

-"This is madness, I tell you! Hazel hasn't been himself for a few days, and there's this weird dancing thing going on in the Honeycomb right now! I feel like doing something reckless. Like a solo raid at Nuthanger Farm."

-"That's probably a good idea. Since Primrose is to be confined to her burrow for a while, we'll have to bring her flayrah underground. Are you sure you don't want anyone else to come with you?"

-"I'll be back by ni-Frith," Bigwig replied, hopping towards the nearest exit.