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

Also, warning, this chapter is dark.

Chapter 118: When It Seems.

"She screamed from the pain. No... No! This couldn't happen to her! Not like the rest of her family! It wasn't her time to die."

-Skitten1, Seeing Tharn

-"Well, I've cleaned it as much as I can. But you really should go to the hospital, you might have rabies."

The farmer threw a blood-stained towel into a nearby trash can, having finished cleaning up the officer's wound.

-"Maybe later," the officer replied, taking the gun back from the prisoner. "Until then, how about that phone call?"

Before the farmer had a chance to reply, a large dog, barking loudly, ran through the still open door, towards the couch, ready to attack the intruders. The officer pointed his pistol towards the animal and fired. The bullet struck right between the dog's eyes.

-"DUSTER! NO!" Lucy had seen the events unfold through the keyhole; she rather than returning to the safety of her room, she ran towards the dog's motionless body, and started to cry.

-"I hate dogs," the officer said, putting his weapon in his pocket. "Cats, on the other hand..."

-"How could you? Lucy shouted at the officer. "Shooting a defenceless animal for no reason!"

-"Meh. For additional leverage, you are now my hostage too. Get on the couch."

Still crying, Lucy had no choice but to follow the officer's instructions.

-"Now where was I?" he then asked.

-"You were asking about the phone call," the woman said, doing her best to look away from the puddle of blood.

-"Right, the phone call. How about it?"

-"I'm sorry, but..." the farmer said, "...I really can't."

-"Stubborn, aren't you? I'll keep waiting."

Following her elimination from the game of owslafa, Thethuthinnang attempted to track down Spartina. However, she was not in her burrow, nor did she appear to be at silflay. She hopped over to Bigwig, sitting at the edge of the Down, hoping he might be able to help her.

-"Bigwig, have you seen Spartina?"

-"She left the warren some time ago," he replied. "Why?"

-"She seems really depressed. She didn't want to talk about it, but I'm worried about her."

As Thethuthinnang spoke, Bigwig came to a terrifying conclusion. Killing a fox was a very dangerous mission, and Spartina went on her own. She was depressed; what if she didn't intend to come back?

-"I'll be right back!"

Bigwig ran in the direction of Bramble Cottage as fast as he could, following Spartina's scent, praying to Frith he wouldn't be too late. He soon came across the missing doe, standing on a fox's chest. It had several deep scratches all over its body; additionally, both its ears had been ripped off, and one of its hind legs appeared broken.

-"Don't do it, Spartina!" Bigwig shouted.

Spartina leaped off the fox in surprise, and turned towards Bigwig. The fox tried to get up, but was too weak to do so.

-"What are you doing here, Bigwig?" she asked. "And why shouldn't I do it? It's a nasty beast."

-"There's so much to live for. Just come with me!"

-"Wait, you thought I was trying to kill myself? Where did you get that idea? It is the fox who is going to die, not me."

She jumped back on the fox's chest and raised her front paw, ready to deal the final blow.

-"Don't kill the fox either, it's not ethical!"

-"It deserves to die. Stop interrupting me and let me fulfill my destiny."

-"But..." Bigwig tried desperately to think of another argument. "If you kill it, its entire family will come to the warren for revenge!"

Spartina remained motionless for a few moments, thinking about what Bigwig had said. Finally, with a sigh, she hopped off.

-"Promise me you'll never kill a rabbit again," she whispered in the hole on the fox's head where the ear used to be.

-"I promise..." the fox said weakly.

-"Good." Spartina hopped towards Bigwig. "Let's go back to the warren."

-"Please don't do anything like this ever again," Bigwig said sternly. "You really had me worried."

-"I'm not going to kill myself, I promise you that. But beyond that, what I do is my business and I won't let anyone control me."

-"You truly amaze me, though. How did you manage to defeat the fox like this? You don't even have a single scratch, and your feather is still perfectly in place."

Spartina remained silent: the answer to Bigwig's question was that she had learned in Darkhaven, but she was not willing to admit that.

-"It's easier than it looks," she simply said.

Clover, Flora, Holly, Hyzenthlay and Blackberry continued their silflay. They were soon joined by Primrose.

-"How did the mission go?" she asked. "Did anything interesting happen, apart from the fox?"

-"We met a tame rabbit in a hutch," Holly said. "She took great pride in her fur."

-"We tried inviting her to join, but she turned us down, unfortunately," Clover said.

-"I wonder what it would be like to be a tame rabbit," Primrose said.

-"Why would you want to be tamed?" Blackberry cried, sitting up in surprise.

-"I would never go back to the hutch," Clover said.

-"Still," Primrose replied, "I wonder what it would be like. Just for one day."

-"I don't think that would be a good idea," Hyzenthlay said.

However, Primrose did not listen to her friends' advice; as soon as silflay was over, she went underground towards the caverns. She would try to be a pretty and prim rabbit like Lady May. Staring at her reflection in the stream, she groomed her ears until they were silky and smooth. She then spent a long time grooming her fur and brushing it smooth until not a single strand of fur was out of place. However, looking at her reflection in the water, she was still not satisfied. She dove into the water and carefully cleaned all her fur.

After spending a while in the water, Primrose hopped out; her fur was tidy and neat. As she looked at her reflection, she saw someone approach her.

-"Vart are ye doin?"

-"Grooming myself like a tame rabbit, Hannah," she said. "Everyone will be surprised."

Forgetting her tidy new look, Primrose rushed outside to find the others. Suddenly, a gust of wind rushed over the hillside and blew all her fur out of place.

-"Oh dear!" she cried. "I can't play looking like this!"

With that, she stomped off grumpily back to the caverns for another bath in the stream.

-"Didn wook, eh?" Hannah asked.

-"I'm afraid not. But I can try again."

-"Wabbits hav ze silyest idees."

-"Says the mouse who's obsessed with magic," Primrose mumbled.

-"Oof! Eel hav ye now dat ah did greet ings wit moojeyk!"

-"In that case, why don't you magically groom my fur into perfection?"

-"Moohek neds to use fo beeg tins, no juss som bunneh's feh."

Before Primrose could reply, Hannah had already run out of the caverns.

After a few minutes, Primrose too left the caverns, more slowly this time, to avoid ruining her hard work again. Once above ground, she stood on her hind legs, proudly showcasing her neat fur to anyone who would want to take a look at her. The only rabbit who noticed her was Hyzenthlay.

-"What have you been up to?"

-"I was trying to be a tame rabbit for today. But I didn't realize that the only fun I could have was just to groom myself all day!"

-"I warned you that was not a good idea..."

-"I may have looked nice, but I missed out on all the fun! I won't be doing it again."

-"You already look nice, Primrose. Your fur is beautiful and everyone loves it."

-"Not as beautiful as you, Hyzenthlay."

-"Let's not argue as to which one of us is the prettiest. Besides, it's what a rabbit is like inside that matters, not their physical appearance. Come on, let's have fun."

-"What do you have in mind?"

-"Tail tag."

-"Oh, that's my favourite game!"

After Hazel and Fiver had finished carrying the flayrah underground, they went their separate ways. Fiver was soon approached by Pipkin once again to make the rain come; Hazel, meanwhile, returned to his burrow for a nap. Before he could fall asleep, however, he heard loud stamping right above him. He immediately rushed above ground, where he saw Fiver and Pipkin repeatedly stamping.

-"What's wrong?"

-"Nothing at all," Fiver replied.

-"Then why are you stamping?" Hazel was baffled.

-"We're rainmakers." Fiver then explained what Hannah had said about making the rain come.

-"So, Fiver," Hawkbit sneered after Fiver and Pipkin had finished explaining, "not only can you see into the future, but you can call the rain too. Heh!"

-"Surely there would be other, less noisy ways to achieve this goal?" Hazel suggested.

-"Hannah mentioned singing," Pipkin said, "but you asked me to stop."

-"Perhaps I could try it," Thethuthinnang said. "Hyzenthlay keeps saying that I'm really great at singing. She's probably overstating my talents, but it could still be worth attempting."

-"Feel free," Fiver said. "We could use some help."