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

Chapter 129: Shenanigans at Silflay.

"He could hear the owls down in the woods below he could hear the breeze the sound of the water going down the mountain into the pond. He set his head down and listened to the peaceful sounds."

-Cdk1, A Cry For Help

As Fiver woke up, he opened his eyes, and sat up. Vilthuril was sitting nearby, cleaning herself.

-"Good morning, you wonderful star," he said.

-"You're an amazing rabbit, Fiver."

-"You are amazing too.

The two rabbits nuzzled.

-"Shall we go to silflay?" Vilthuril suggested.

One after the other, the two rabbits hopped out of the burrow and went above ground.

Hazel was pacing above ground. Most of the Efrafans were still asleep, preventing Silverweed from performing his inspection. He was unsure what to do until they woke up.

After a while, he spotted Fiver and Vilthuril arrive, and hop towards a patch of clover. He hated to disturb his dear brother while he was with his mate, but he needed advice, and Fiver was the only rabbit he trusted enough to ask.

-"Fiver, there's something important I need your help with," he said, joining them at the clover.

-"What is it, Hazel?"

-"I think we need a new Chief."

-"No!" Fiver stared at his brother in shock. "You're a great leader, Hazel. You must remain Chief Rabbit."

-"Don't worry, Fiver, I wasn't thinking of stepping down. It's just that, the warren has grown massively recently. It's become too much for one rabbit to handle alone, I need someone to assist me."

-"Do you really think that's necessary? You're a better Chief than you give yourself credit for."

-"Perhaps, but there's another thing. If I have to leave the warren to go on a farm raid, or for another reason, we would need someone to take over in my absence. I don't want anyone to fight over this, and with the Efrafans around, this is a distinct possibility."

-"Maybe you're right..."

-"There used to be two Chiefs at Marli-rah," Vilthuril said. "I don't see why we couldn't do the same thing here."

-"It's settled then," Hazel said. "I'll announce this to the others later today."

-"Do you have a specific candidate in mind, to become the second Chief?" Fiver asked.

-"Not yet. I'll have to think about it."

Further away, Blackberry was at silflay, when he saw Bluebell approach and felt him pressing against him.

-"Can I kiss you again?" Bluebell asked, grinning. "Or was last night the only time you will let me?"

Blackberry looked around. It was a quiet patch of grass, and while there were other rabbits around them, they were absorbed in their silflay and not paying attention.

-"Go ahead."

And they did. This kiss lasted much longer than the previous one; it seemed that neither was willing to stop. They only did so when they heard a third rabbit:

-"You two are inseparable, you know?"

Blackberry sighed. Nelthilta, still young, was smaller than nearly everyone else at the warren, and it was easier for her to hide. He should have paid closer attention: this way, he would have spotted her before the kiss, preventing her from making pointless comments about it.

-"What if we are?" he replied.

-"What would Strawberry think?" Nelthilta hopped out from behind the weeds that had concealed her. "Hanging out with another good-looking rabbit behind her back."

-"You think I'm good-looking?" Bluebell was taken aback by the unexpected compliment.

-"For the last time," Blackberry said, exasperated, "there's nothing between me and Strawberry, we're just friends!"

-"She calls everyone 'friends'," Nelthilta pointed out. "If he wasn't the enemy, she would probably be friends with that creep Woundwort too. Even then, she might try to defeat him through the power of friendship or something."

-"Perhaps friendship magic would be a good way to defeat him," Dandelion said, prompting all three nearby rabbits to shake their heads.

-"Friendship magic?" Nelthilta in particular seemed demoralized by the storyteller's comment. "For real?"

-"Well...it was actually in an old tale, El-ahrairah and the longest shadow. It might be hard for any of us to replicate this."

-"You really think that was the magic of friendship?" Nelthilta said. "You are so very clueless." She hopped away, mumbling in frustration.

-"Don't pay attention to her," Blackberry said. "She seems to take great pleasure in being annoying. And no, we're not using friendship magic, or any other type of magic for that matter, against Woundwort. That would be absurd."

-"Wats dis ah hee aboot mogij?" Hannah arrived running, proudly waving her pebble. "E got me peeeble!"

But all the rabbits had already hopped away in separate directions.

-"Wy doos nobdee car aboot meegok?"

On another corner of the Down, Clover, Cornflower and Flora were at silflay. Most of the flowers Flora had given Clover a few days before had wilted, but Clover kept the last one between her ears. Flora glanced at Blackberry and the others further away, as Bluebell kissed Blackberry again.

-"Some of the bucks have been kissing a lot, recently," she said.

-"It's interesting, I never saw any other rabbits do this," Clover said. "Although I saw humans do it back at the farm. Usually they kiss the ones they truly love."

-"I haven't seen them do it often since you left," Cornflower said. "Does that mean they don't love each other anymore?"

-"That would be sad." Clover shook her head.

-"Can we kiss?" Flora suggested.

-"Certainly."

The two does pressed their noses together, and kissed for a long time.

-"You kiss so well, Clover," Flora said once they were finished. "And you're so pretty."

Clover blushed.

-"It's my first time..."

-"The first of many more to come, I hope," Flora said.

-"Absolutely!"

-"Can I kiss too?" Cornflower asked.

-"Kisses for everyone!" Clover squealed in excitement.

After Hazel's departure, Fiver and Vilthuril resumed their silflay, paying little attention to their surroundings. As Vilthuril paused to scratch her ear, however, she spotted Blueberry further away.

-"Fiver," she whispered in her mate's ear, "I think there's a Darkhaven spy among us."

Fiver instantly raised his ears, realizing the possible danger of the situation.

-"Who?"

-"The little black kitten behind us. I had no choice but to fight him in the battle two days ago."

Fiver glanced behind him, doing his best not to attract attention. He instantly recognized the rabbit as Blueberry.

-"You say you fought this rabbit?"

-"Yes. He attacked me; I tried to reason with him, but it was no use, so I had to defend myself."

Fiver was extremely surprised by this revelation, but as he thought about it, he realized that everything made sense. Blueberry (if that was really his name) had stayed at the warren for only one night, then vanished without a trace. No doubt Woundwort had sent him to find the warren's location prior to the attack; who would suspect a young kitten? Now, he must have been sent undercover once more, probably to report on the warren's defenses. If nobody intervened, he would probably leave again very soon, and Woundwort would then launch another assault on the warren.

-"Keep an eye on him," Fiver whispered. "I'll go warn the others."

Fiver cautiously hopped away, careful not to make any sudden noises that might alert Blueberry. Annoyingly, Bigwig was nowhere to be seen; Fiver would therefore have to warn another owsla officer, preferably one more competent than Hawkbit or Dandelion. He soon saw Strawberry, and hopped over to him.

-"Good morning Fi..." he started to say rather loudly, until Fiver shushed him.

-"Do you see that black kitten over there?" Fiver whispered in his ear.

-"Yes..."

-"He's a spy sent by Woundwort."

Strawberry gasped.

-"What's the plan?" he asked.

-"When you're ready to attack, stamp, and once he's captured, we bring him underground for questioning."

Strawberry nodded, and Fiver hopped back to Vilthuril.

-"Did he do anything while I was away?"

-"Nothing at all," the doe replied. "He just acts like any normal rabbit at silflay."

-"He certainly knows how to blend in..."

At that moment, there was loud stamping. Everyone (including Blueberry) turned towards the rabbit responsible: Strawberry.

-"Attack the black kitten, he's a spy!" he shouted, before running towards the target; all other rabbits above ground, even those not in the owsla, soon followed.

-"Wha...are you talking about me?" Blueberry said, but the other rabbits kept running towards him, and soon Strawberry was on top of him. He rolled over and kicked him off with his hind legs, but several other rabbits soon followed. He managed to push Nyreem, Dandelion and Thethuthinnang away as they approached him, but more rabbits kept arriving. It did not take long for Blueberry to become unable to fight back, and he was pinned by Flyairth, Hawkbit and Vilthuril.

-"I'm not a spy," he said.

-"Yeah, yeah, you seriously expect us to believe that?" Flyairth said, biting his ear.

-"Don't do that, Flyairth," Strawberry said. "With him pinned like this, he doesn't pose a threat anymore."

-"What is going on here?" Bigwig shouted, as he hopped above ground and saw the rabbits grouped around Blueberry.

-"We caught a spy," Thethuthinnang said.

-"Still not a spy," Blueberry said, only for Flyairth to place her paw onto his mouth, rendering him unable to speak any further.

-"A spy?" Bigwig frowned. "I should have known Woundwort was going to try something like that...good job everyone, on the capture. Now we need to interrogate him."