AUTHOR'S NOTE: thank you Anonymous Guest :) Yes, Lady May will appear again later on.

Chapter 117: And Then They Gave Up.

"Josh's eyes lit up at his father's first words, but then reflected angst again."

-wtw, Blackberry's Christmas

-"You've been really quiet recently, Spartina. Are you all right?"

The game of owslafa kept getting worse for the outskirters. Clover, having left to go on patrol, was eliminated by the owslafa. In the next day phase, the silence of one player attracted Vilthuril's attention.

Spartina had been lying in a corner, her head between her front paws, thinking about Darkhaven. She remembered her past, but she wished she could forget it all. It was not a happy past, and the brutality of some Darkhaven warriors, including herself, was appalling. She was indirectly responsible for the death of several rabbits, and she had even brutally killed a few others in cold blood. She had been taught all her life that this was the only way to live, but the last few days had proven this wrong. Peace was so much better than war.

Should she return to Darkhaven? That was out of the question. She should stay at Watership Down, but what if the truth came out later on? They would think she was a spy, and probably kill her or banish her. Her thoughts were interrupted by Vilthuril's remark.

-"What?"

-"You've been rather quiet recently. Are you feeling all right, or are you just an owslafa trying to conceal her role?"

-"Uh..." Spartina remained silent for a few moments, trying to figure out what the doe was talking about. "I'm sorry, I haven't really been paying much attention. If that's all right with you, I think I'll go."

-"I have no objections," Flyairth said. "Although, that's yet another outskirter out of the game. The owslafa is rapidly gaining the advantage."

Spartina slowly hopped towards the exit, when she felt someone touch her. She turned around; it was Thethuthinnang.

-"Do you want to talk about what's wrong?"

-"I'll be all right. I just need time."

-"As you wish. But if you ever feel the need to talk to someone, I will be available."

-"Thanks."

After a brief trip to the warren's flayrah supply where she picked up a leaf of lettuce, Spartina went above ground and lied down. In Darkhaven, she never had flayrah: it was reserved for the leader. She had to eat sour grass that tasted horribly due to the toxic substances the humans processed in their machines. She wondered how she managed to build up such great physical strength with food like that.

She took one bite of lettuce, and kept into her mouth without swallowing it. There really was no hope for her to lead a good life. Now matter how hard she would try to break free from the past, it would still end up causing her to fall apart.

After the departure of the patrol, Bigwig went to his burrow for a quick nap. While Silverweed had managed to restore his mind, he still had a slight headache. He had been asleep for a while, when suddenly...

-"Bigwig, I need to talk to you."

Bigwig sighed, recalling a day the previous summer when Pipkin did his best to be as annoying as possible. Hopefully this would not be the case again.

-"What is it, Pipkin?"

-"I overheard you talking earlier...you want to kill a fox?"

-"Yes."

-"I think..."

-"Sorry lad, but no, you can't come along. Perhaps another time, but you are too small to hold your own against such a ferocious creature."

-"Actually, Bigwig, I don't want to come along. In fact, I was hoping to convince you to call it off."

-"Call it off? But why?"

-"We're not like Woundwort. Killing is not the answer."

-"But I'm talking about killing elil! We killed a weasel last summer, why is this any different?"

-"The weasel attacked us first, we were merely protecting ourselves. This fox, meanwhile, is just minding its own business, until we show up and attack for no reason. That makes us the aggressors."

This conversation was very frustrating for Bigwig: he really wanted to do something reckless like killing a fox, but Pipkin made a lot of valid points.

-"Look, I'll think it over, and when they get back, I'll let you know of my decision, all right?"

-"Thank you Bigwig."

As Pipkin hopped out of the burrow, Bigwig lied back down. Despite his best efforts, he was unable to fall back asleep. Fortunately, his headache appeared to have passed; he went back above ground.

Holly, Hyzenthlay, Blackberry, Clover and Flora finally returned to Watership Down. As they reached the top, they dropped off their flayrah near the warren's main entrance, then settled down to graze in the warm sunshine. Blackberry nibbled some tasty dandelion leaves, and Clover selected some juicy clover, while the others simply lied down in the grass. After a few minutes, Bigwig hopped over to them.

-"Oh, Bigwig, I was just going to search for you," Holly said. "We found the fox."

-"I'm afraid I sent you away for nothing," Bigwig said, shaking his head. "I've changed my mind. We're not killing the fox after all."

-"Definitely the safer option," Hyzenthlay said. "It's in the area near Bramble Cottage, a long distance from here. Traveling so far again doesn't sound appealing."

-"What's this talk about killing a fox near Bramble Cottage?" Spartina had overheard the conversation, and hopped over to the others.

-"We were discussing how we shouldn't kill it, actually," Clover said.

-"Why not? Those creatures are pure evil."

-"Well, you see..." Bigwig started to say, but Spartina cut her off:

-"Never mind, I'll go kill it myself. See you later."

-"Wait, Spartina, don't..."

But it was too late, Spartina was already near the bottom of the hill. Bigwig shook his head, mumbling something about stubborn does, as he went back underground.

Spartina ran in the direction of the cottage. It seemed she had found a new purpose in life: rather than fighting and killing other rabbits, she should kill elil. This would allow her to channel her violent instincts into something useful, without hurting her friends. After a while, she spotted the fox; it was still angry following Flora's attack. Spartina stared at the fox, waiting for the perfect moment to attack.

Hawkbit was calmly at silflay, when a looming shadow appeared nearby. He turned his head, and saw Hazel, who was visibly angry.

-"What did you tell Dandelion?"

-"I tell him many things," Hawkbit said, returning to his grass.

-"Why did you tell him to rip out the grass?"

-"Flyairth said it needed to be done."

-"Where did she get that idea? And why didn't you do it yourself?"

-"He also told me and Pipkin to clear the flayrah supply burrow," Fiver said.

-"Look, I was lazy! Flyairth wanted me to go away, so she gave me these tasks, and I offloaded them onto other rabbits."

Hazel sighed. Under ordinary circumstances, he would have rebuked Hawkbit for evading important duties, but he was more concerned about Flyairth, who gave false orders.

-"Don't do this again," he simply said.

-"I won't."

-"Sorry you wasted your time clearing the flayrah burrow," Hazel told Fiver, after the two brothers had hopped away. "We didn't bring enough flayrah back for that to be necessary."

-"Don't worry about it, Hazel," Fiver replied. "There was no way you could have known."

-"Still, I'll have to talk to Flyairth about this."

-"I don't think it would be a good idea to interrupt her game of owslafa. We'll probably have to wait until she's finished."

As the two rabbits made their way towards the warren's main entrance, they realized that it was blocked by a pile of flayrah.

-"Where did all this come from?" Hazel asked in shock.

-"We found it in a garden on the way back from our fox expedition," Clover said, "so we brought it back."

-"That was very kind of you."

The two brothers entered the warren through another tunnel, and started carrying the flayrah to the storage burrow.

-"Looks like your work with the flayrah burrow wasn't a waste after all," Hazel said. "Good job Fiver!"

Meanwhile, Hawkbit had lied down in the grass, pleased at this turn of events. Had Bigwig found out instead of Hazel, he probably would have been punished more harshly.

-"So, I hear you tricked me."

With a sigh, Hawkbit turned his head and saw Dandelion staring at him mischievously.

-"What about it?"

-"To make up for it, you will have to do something for me."

-"What would that be?"

-"I want carrots."

-"You'll find some underground."

-"I want you to go get some for me."

With a sigh, Hawkbit hopped away, towards one of the warren's side entrances.