AUTHOR'S NOTE: thank you Anonymous Guest for the review :)

Chapter 88: The Damage.

"We don't want to hear the screaming

We must not see the tears

It's all wonderful we all now say

We must ignore those we lost

After all more are on the way."

-Patchwork Poltergeist, The Snares

Thethuthinnang had just hopped off the rock and ran towards the scrape. However, she saw that the previous rabbit had not finished yet; her tail and hind legs were still sticking out of the hole. She sat down behind her, waiting for her to get out of the hole, when suddenly she was tackled from behind. As she was pinned to the ground, she slowly turned her head to see who was lying on top of her; it was Hyzenthlay.

-"I'm sorry, I didn't expect you to be here..."

-"Don't worry about...look out!"

Hyzenthlay turned her head, just in time to see Strawberry crash into her. The other Strawberry soon followed.

-"Not again!" Bigwig shouted. This was the third time in one training session that his owsla had been reduced to a pile of fallen rabbits. "What happened this time?"

-"Thethuthinnang was just waiting for..." Hyzenthlay looked at the tail sticking out of the hole, "...Nelthilta to finish digging, and we all fell on top of her."

-"I don't know what's taking her so long," Strawberry said. "The scrape wasn't that deep when I was last there."

-"I think she may be stuck," the other Strawberry replied as he jumped off the top of the pile. "We should help her, we can't just leave her there."

-"Hmm. All right, all of you line up in front of the hole," Bigwig ordered, "and pull as hard as you can."

-"You're overlooking one detail, Bigwig," Blackberry said suddenly, as he hopped over to the hole.

-"Are you telling me how to do my job?"

-"No, I'm merely pointing out that Nelthilta is one of the smallest rabbits in the warren, and a single rabbit shouldn't have any trouble pulling her out." He stood up on his hind legs and placed his front paws on Nelthilta's abdomen, before starting to pull. A few moments later, she suddenly popped out, and both rabbits crash into Dandelion, who was standing further away. The tall rabbit sighed.

-"Ooh, that rabbit is small but heavy."

-"Yes, Nelthilta is very small," Bluebell said. "So small she just flew out of the hole."

-"You clearly never met Kehaar then. If you had met that great oaf, you would know that there is much more than size when it comes to flying."

Blackberry remained awkwardly silent, on top of Dandelion, with Nelthilta motionless on top of him.

-"She looks dead..." Bluebell said.

-"Don't joke about things like this!" Flyairth shouted angrily.

-"I'm not joking, look at her. Eyes closed, not moving, not breathing..."

-"Actually, she is still breathing," Blackberry said, "I can feel it. But while she's alive, she's certainly not very strong."

He got back up, causing Nelthilta to slide down onto the ground. She opened her eyes, but her stare was blank and emotionless. As Bigwig approached her and saw how slow her breathing was, he immediately realized something was wrong.

-"Hyzenthlay, get Blackberry!"

-"I'm here!"

-"Not you, the OTHER Blackberry! The healing expert."

-"I know who you're talking about," Hyzenthlay replied, as she ran underground.

The rabbits slowly approached Nelthilta, looking at her in shock. This was completely unexpected; none of the others had ever seen any rabbit like this before. Nelthilta was young and usually full of energy, and she did not seem injured; what could have happened to her?

Soon afterwards, Hyzenthlay came back, with Blackberry behind her. The blue-furred doe made her way to the centre of the group.

-"I need room," she said. "Can you all step back please?"

The other rabbits did as Blackberry asked, clearing some space around Nelthilta.

Blackberry spent a while examining Nelthilta, sniffing and feeling several parts of her body, and taking a close look at her, clearly taking her time to make a thorough examination. She remained silent the entire time, apart from a few brief apologies when Nelthilta moaned in pain.

-"I have a few questions," she eventually said, "but she's clearly not in a state to speak. Can anyone help?"

-"What sort of questions?" Thethuthinnang asked.

-"Was she exposed to smoke or dust recently?"

-"She was. In fact, I was too, along with everyone from my former warren. The night before we arrived here at Watership Down, we were all involved in a dreadful accident, with two burning hrududil. There was a lot of smoke, and a lot of dust."

-"I think I know the cause of all this. There's one thing I don't understand, though: you said you were all involved in this accident, so all of you have been exposed to the smoke and dust. Right?"

-"Right."

-"But, as far as I can see, the rest of you seem perfectly healthy. Why is she the only one to be affected, when all of you were exposed to the same thing?"

-"You weren't really there." Blackberry and Thethuthinnang turned to see who had spoken; it was Nelthilta. She was still lying on her side and motionless, but now she seemed aware of her surroundings. "You were all unconscious, but I wasn't. I was fully conscious the whole time. And I was closer to the fire. Much, much closer."

Blackberry and Thethuthinnang looked at each other, as they both realized the sad truth: Nelthilta had breathed in much more smoke and dust than anyone else.

-"How bad is it?" Nelthilta asked. "I want to know the truth. How bad is it?"

-"It's...hard to say yet," Blackberry said. "I'll have to think about it. But for now, you need rest. We'll have to take you to your burrow."

-"Please tell me..." Nelthilta tried to get up, but her front paws were too weak, and she fell back down.

-"You mustn't strain yourself, we'll carry you. We just need to find someone large enough..." Blackberry looked around her, to find someone who would be able to do so.

-"I'll do it," Spartina volunteered as she approached the other three, and placed her head underneath Nelthilta to scoop her up. "I'll just need to know which burrow is hers."

-"I'll show you," Thethuthinnang said, as she led Spartina underground.

-"How bad IS it?" Hyzenthlay hopped over to Blackberry after the others were gone. "I saw the look on your face when you answered. You DO know, don't you?"

-"I do," Blackberry said sadly. "It's really bad. She never should have trained in that state."

-"Is there any hope of her getting better?"

-"Maybe. But even if she does, she will probably never be part of the owsla."

-"That won't really bother her. She's always been cheeky and rebellious, she wouldn't be interested anyway. Still, I hope she does get better..."