AUTHOR'S NOTE: thank you Anonymous Guest for the review :)
Chapter 85: Dignity.
"your honesty to cat was admirable and I will grant you this you are a risk taker and creative, never let that down"
-Samkin-lone-Senshi, A Chinese Elahrairah Tale
-"How much longer do I have to go through this?"
For what felt like forever, Hawkbit had been forced to let Blackberry randomly poke his ears in order to straighten them. She had told him not to move during this process, and this was getting stressful.
-"As a matter of fact, I'm almost done now," she said. "Stand up, and let me see."
Hawkbit cautiously got up, and kept staring at Blackberry, who was standing in front of him. He tried scanning her face for emotions; she seemed focused on her task, but he was unable to notice anything that could indicate how everything had turned out.
-"All right. Now up on your hind legs."
He slowly raised his front paws from the ground, and straightened his back, until suddenly he heard Blackberry's alarmed voice:
-"Stop! Back on all four!"
He immediately lied down again, and his stress turned into complete panic. Had something gone wrong? Would Blackberry have to start all over again? Or worse: would his ears fall off? He dared not look at Blackberry, as she bent over his head and inspected his ears.
-"How do you feel?" she asked after a while.
-"Did it work?"
-"I think so. How do you feel?"
-"Relieved."
-"No, I mean your ears."
-"My ears...I can't feel them at all. Although my head feels heavy."
-"Very good! What I placed on your head should keep your ears straight. Tomorrow I will remove it, and everything should be back to normal."
-"Wow, this is really great. Thank you Blackberry!"
He jumped in joy to the other end of the burrow, but Blackberry frowned as she saw this.
-"I wouldn't do that if I were you. You should avoid all sudden movements, or your ears might fall down again."
-"Avoid sudden movements?" Hawkbit abruptly stopped, thinking about what she had just said. "Does that mean I can't participate in owsla training today?"
-"I'm afraid it does, Hawkbit. I'm sorry, but it couldn't be avoided."
-"Sorry? Why are you sorry, this is even better than I expected! You're amazing Blackberry. I'll even dig you a new burrow!"
With that he hugged her, before hopping out the burrow. Blackberry was taken aback by his attitude. Ever since his arrival at Watership Down, Hawkbit had complained every single time he had been forced to dig, but now he would be willing to do it even if it wasn't necessary.
-"Actually, please don't, not with your ears in their current state," she said, but Hawkbit was already gone.
Hawkbit hopped through the various runs of the warren, enjoying his freedom. His ears were straight, he was free to do anything he wanted and, best of all, no owsla training today. The first rabbit he came across in the runs was captain Broom, who spent a long time staring at him.
-"You're new here, aren't you?" the elderly captain said.
-"New here? Captain Broom, don't you recognize me? It's me, Hawkbit!"
-"Hawkbit? Oh yes, I remember you. I didn't recognize you with that thing on your head. That reminds me of..."
Hawkbit hopped away, not interested in listening to the elderly captain's ramblings. "Poor old chap," he thought. "He really is losing his mind, not recognizing me." He continued to wander throughout the runs. The warren seemed deserted, he couldn't find any of the rabbits of Flyairth's gang, but he didn't care. After a while, he stumbled across Hazel's burrow, and looked inside.
-"Hiya Hazel!" he shouted, before he realized the awkward position in which the two rabbits were. "What are you two doing?"
-"Hawkbit, please be quiet!" Hazel said. "She's asleep, don't wake her up."
Primrose moved slightly and opened her eyes. She cast a quick glance at the visitor.
-"Hawkbit, what is..."
-"Go back to sleep. You're safe here," Hazel said suddenly as he pulled her closer to him, hoping she wouldn't finish her sentence.
-"Oh. Sorry about that, mates," Hawkbit said. "I guess I'll leave you two lovers alone. I was just excited because of my ears. As you can see, they're straight again. And I won't be participating in owsla training today. See ya later mates!"
With that, he hopped away, leaving two confused rabbits behind.
-"What was that thing?" Primrose asked.
-"Probably some clever trick of Blackberry's," Hazel replied.
As Hawkbit continued hopping through the warren, he thought about this previous encounter. Hazel really did act in an unusual way, and didn't let Primrose finish her question. Love really had a strong impact on other rabbits; one more reason for him never to take a mate. His thoughts were interrupted as he heard giggling coming from a nearby burrow. He turned, and saw Clover looking at him from behind a tree root; she was probably trying to stay hidden, but her sounds had given her away.
-"What's so funny?" he asked.
-"Oh Hawkbit...if you could just take a look at yourself!"
-"Why? What do I look like?"
-"It can't be described," Clover replied between fits of laughter. "You would have to see it for yourself."
-"No, please, just tell me!"
She did not reply, and instead hopped towards the burrow she shared with Cornflower and Flora. Hawkbit was getting nervous. Everyone was acting weirdly around him: first captain Broom, then Hazel and Primrose, and now Clover. He hopped away, but soon heard another voice:
-"Hawkbit! What is that thing on your head?"
He cautiously turned his head towards the rabbit who had spoken: it was captain Holly, normally one of the most level-headed rabbits in the warren. As he was the look of shock on the captain's face, he realized that there really was something horribly wrong going on. In a sate of panic, he ran into the Honeycomb, where he crashed into another rabbit; it was Fiver.
-"Sorry, I was in the way," Fiver said as he got back up. "I'll be more careful next time."
-"Fiver," Hawkbit said, on the verge of hysterics, "you're the only rabbit I can truly trust. If I ask you a question, can you give me an honest answer?"
-"Yes."
-"What do I look like?"
-"Did Blackberry do this?"
-"To straighten my ears...please Fiver, what do I look like?"
-"Do you remember last fall, when you pretended to be Frith's messenger to fool Vervain?"
-"How could I forget? It took me days to remove all that mud from my fur..."
-"You also had a big crown of leaves on your head. What you have on your head now looks nearly identical."
-"It's...that bad?"
-"I'm afraid it is. How long does it have to stay?"
-"Until tomorrow. But until then, everyone will probably be making fun of me..."
He slowly hopped back to his burrow, fortunately not meeting any other rabbits along the way. But he couldn't hide there all day: at some point, he would have to silflay. He would, however, delay this as long as he could.