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Chapter 83: All The Questions.

"Even his own clairvoyency never would have prepared him for the ultimate feeling of gratitute [sic] he felt towards his companions and his family, or the feeling of warmth that bubbled up inside him whenever he looked out over the World from their home."

-x Wednesday 13, Bright Eyes

Hazel slowly opened his eyes, and yawned. Against his chest, he could feel the soft warmth of his mate. After an extended separation, he was with her again. He wasn't going to let her go again. He would make the most of every moment he spent with her.

As he tried to get up, however, he felt something hold him back. A quick glance revealed that Primrose's front paws were wrapped around him; he could not move without waking her up. Considering how peacefully asleep she was, after all she had been through, he could not let that happen. He lied back down and pressed her tightly against him.

-"Hazel! I need to talk to you!"

The voice sounded painfully loud in the Chief's ears. He awkwardly turned his head, and saw Bigwig standing just outside the burrow with a shocked look on his face.

-"Hazel, is this a bad time?" Bigwig continued. "I really need some advice."

-"I can do that, but please be quiet. She's asleep."

-"All right, I'll keep it down," Bigwig whispered. "Can you come with me? I need to talk to you."

-"We'll have to do this here. I can't move."

-"Look, Hazel, there's a time for romance and there's a time for duty. Don't let the first one interfere with the second one."

-"I really don't see why you're making such a fuss about it. We can discuss things here. I really don't think Primrose's presence would change anything."

-"Fine." Bigwig sighed, annoyed at how he was going to have to whisper to Hazel from the entrance of the burrow. This was needlessly complicated. "I was thinking about the new rabbits."

-"Yes, we met them yesterday afternoon. What about them?"

-"What do you think we should do about them?"

-"Let them join the owsla."

-"Which ones?"

-"All of them, if they wish."

-"WHAT?"

-"Shh, Bigwig be quiet, please!"

Primrose slightly moved, and squeezed Hazel a bit tighter, but remained asleep.

-"Please Bigwig..." Hazel repeated.

-"All right, all right! I'll admit that some of them look very strong and could probably do well in the owsla. In fact...don't tell anyone I said this, but they would probably be better than Hawkbit and Dandelion."

-"What is the problem then?"

-"I have no issues with most of them, but there are a few that worry me. The big one, Flyairth, I think she may want to be Chief Rabbit again. There's also that young doe Nelthilta. Do you know what she called me?"

-"What was it?"

-"'Plump Rabbit'. That's the most humiliating name I've ever been called.

Hazel chuckled.

-"Well, she makes a valid point."

Bigwig felt humiliated by this comment. It was already bad enough that Nelthilta had called him "Plump Rabbit", but now Hazel of all rabbits agreed with her.

-"I'll talk to you again after training."

-"Good luck, Bigwig," Hazel replied. "Hopefully, by then, I'll be in a less awkward position."

-"Seriously Hazel, just wake her up. She'll fall back asleep."

Before Hazel could reply, Bigwig had left, still furious over the "Plump Rabbit" comments. Nevertheless, he intended to listen to Hazel's advice. The newcomers would participate in training; if the did well enough, they would then be allowed to formally join the owsla. He was determined, however, to make today's training session very difficult.

As he arrived in the Honeycomb, it was almost empty. There were only a few other rabbits there; captain Broom was sitting in the middle of the burrow telling a story about Old Redstone, but nobody was actually paying attention. In a corner, he found one of the does cleaning her ears, and approached her.

-"Hey, you're Thethuthinnang, aren't you?"

-"Yes, that's me."

-"Find the others from your old warren, and tell them to meet me outside as soon as possible. It's important."

-"Why? What's wrong?"

-"I'll explain when you're all there!"

She nodded and hopped away; Bigwig cast one last glance around the burrow, before going above ground.

There were many rabbits outside. One of the new does was at silflay a short distance from Fiver; Bigwig approached her.

-"Hey you! What's your name?"

-"Vilthuril, I..."

-"I want you in front of the beech tree as soon as possible, along with all the others. It's important.

-"I told Fiver I would play bob-stones with him..."

-"It's all right, I understand," Fiver said. "You go see Bigwig, we can play bob-stones later."

-"Are you sure?" Vilthuril asked. "I don't want to disappoint you..."

-"No, really, it's all right. There's something I need to ask Hazel anyway..."

-"If you're sure it's all right...I'll be there Bigwig."

-"Good," Bigwig said. "Now help me find the others, and make sure everyone is here."

Fiver hopped away from the other two rabbits. Before going underground, he cast one last glance at the beautiful doe, thinking about the future. He really would have to talk to Hazel about it. His older brother knew more about love than he did, and would probably be able to provide some useful advice.

After the incident with the owl, Hannah's journey had been uneventful, but extremely slow and tiring. The owl had woken her up before she could get enough rest, and following this incident, she did not feel safe sleeping in the wilderness again.

As she reached the bottom of the Down, however, she realized that there was another challenge ahead: carrying the pebble to the top. While she had previously travelled on mostly even ground, the hill was quite steep and the pebble could easily roll back down. She stood there, considering her options, when suddenly...

-"Hello Hannah. I've been looking for you."

-"OOOOFF!"

She jumped in shock, and darted in the undergrowth. She slowly peeked out, to see who the other creature was.

-"I'm sorry I frightened you..."

-"Don worra aboot it, Pipkin, I'm soo gleed to see ye. I ned yo 'elp."

-"Sure! What can I do?"

-"Cod ye carreh dat peebble to top?"

-"Well, that's an unusual request, but I'll do it. What's so special about this pebble?"

-"Its maygeek peebble," Hannah said proudly, forgetting the turtle's advice to keep it secret.

-"A magic pebble? I didn't know magic even existed."

-"Teh hegeziwad said it wuz a meegak peebble. Besids, didn ye use migac to flee in early spwing?"

-"I did fly for a few moments, but I doubt the magic had anything to do with it. I'll still carry your pebble though. You look tired, you can climb on my back."

-"Tankee Pipkin."

She jumped on the rabbit's back, as he grabbed the pebble with his teeth and started to climb the Down. Once back at the top, he spat it out, and the mouse jumped off of him.

-"Faest twip up thee doon evah. Tank Pipkin. Bideway, wha happen to Plackbeer? Is se 'ere?"

-"She came back last night with Primrose, and..."

-"Yusss! The mujek woiked! Tank ye Hege! Thak ye Pipkin! Ain is excitin?"

-"Um...yes," Pipkin said, rather confused as to why Hannah was so excited all of a sudden. "What hedge?"

-"Mugjic is amaizn!" Hannah shouted, before running underground, leaving a baffled Pipkin behind her.

Hannah ran throughout the tunnels; she had no clear destination in mind, she just wanted to run, proudly waving her pebble at all rabbits she crossed along the way. Everyone was were very confused by the mouse's behaviour, except Captain Broom, who did not appear to notice her as she ran past him.

Acorn, Speedwell, Tindra and Flesca were at silflay. All of them had survived the night; it really seemed likely that Toadflax was the killer, but nobody was willing to discuss the painful subject.

-"Hey, there was someone else here recently!" Flesca suddenly shouted.

-"What are you talking about?" Tindra asked.

-"These pawprints over there. They don't belong to any one of us."

-"Elil?"

-"No, rabbit."

Speedwell was the only one who understood the situation: these pawprints had most likely been left behind by Scabious during the previous day's visit. He would have to explain what had happened before the others got suspicious.

-"Yesterday afternoon," he said, "while you were all asleep, we had a visitor. He said he was from New Sandleford Warren."

-"Why didn't you tell us?" Acorn said.

-"I didn't feel it was important enough to mention it. He just showed up, said he kidnapped Toadflax and then I..."

-"He kidnapped Toadflax?"

-"Didn't you do anything to save him? They might have killed him!" Flesca said.

-"You make that sound like a bad thing," Speedwell replied.

-"We can't just turn our back on a fellow rabbit like this," Acorn said. "We must go to this New Sandleford Warren place."

-"I agree," Flesca said.

-"I don't really want to go, but peer pressure," Tindra mumbled.

-"Well, Speedwell," Acorn said, "either you follow us, or you stay here, alone."

Speedwell was saddened by this turn of events. He was hoping everyone else would be glad to see Toadflax gone, but instead they wanted to save him. Hopefully they would realize their mistake before another rabbit died...

-"I'm coming," he finally said.