AUTHOR'S NOTE: thank you Anonymous Guest for the review! Glad you liked Bluesky and Raincloud's portrayal.

Chapter 133: You Can Do Better.

"it had been many seasons since this particular smell had graced its nostrils."

-Victoria Bells, Meles Meles

Around ni-Frith, Hazel called a meeting in the Honeycomb. Hickory, Marigold and Violet retold the story of Redstone's destruction, and the journey that followed. As Hickory had stated earlier, they did not go into details, instead summarizing the events. As they finished, most rabbits stood in shocked silence; captain Broom was the first to speak again.

-"Redstone went through so much. The great sickness destroyed it once, but it was brought back. And now, you destroyed it a second time."

-"I made mistakes at Redstone, I'll admit it." Hickory said, "but I learned from them. I won't be repeating them."

-"Mistakes, mistakes...you killed nearly everyone in the warren."

-"He didn't kill anyone," Marigold said. "It is the elil, and then the hrududil, who killed them."

-"But you were unable to help them get away when disaster struck," Broom pointed out. "You are just as guilty, as you would be if you had killed them yourself with your claws."

-"Now look here you old fool!" Following Captain Broom's remarks, Hickory became defensive. "What do you know about running a warren, and the challenges involved? Nothing! You're just an old owsla captain who is stuck in the glory days of the past."

-"Enough!" Hazel shouted. "Insults won't get us anywhere. I'm going to ask both of you to apologize to each other."

Hickory and Broom, however, were both very stubborn, and simply ignored each other, hopping away in separate directions. Marigold soon followed Hickory.

-"I can't believe it's gone," Primrose said. "I have so many memories of that place, and now, there's nothing left anymore. But I don't blame Hickory for this."

-"I don't think anyone does blame him," Thethuthinnang said, "except captain Broom."

-"When humans destroyed Sandleford," Holly said, "the humans put up a weird wooden thing nearby a few days before, and Fiver tried to warn us. It would be fair to blame me and the Threarah for our lack of action."

-"No, it wouldn't, Holly," Fiver said. "I'm honestly surprised I managed to convince so many rabbits that it was necessary to leave."

-"Regardless, there was a warning. There doesn't appear to have been anything at Redstone."

-"If there were, nobody realized it until it was too late," Bigwig said with a sigh. He thought back to his last visit to the warren; while he had identified several security issues, his bad mood that day had prevented the others from taking his concerns seriously. Even then, he hadn't seen anything that would have indicated the warren's upcoming destruction. "I know we gave them lessons on how to behave like normal rabbits when they first expressed interest in leaving Cowslip's warren, but we still could have done more."

-"There is no point in regretting the past," Vilthuril said. "What happened, happened. We can't go back in time to fix mistakes, but we can do our best not to repeat them in the future."

-"I just hope they're not feeling too bad over Captain Broom's insults," Strawberry said. "I'll go talk to them."

As Strawberry went towards the couple's burrow, Hazel went above ground. It would probably be best to wait a bit longer before mentioning his idea of promoting a second Chief, to give Hickory and Captain Broom the opportunity to calm down, and participate in the discussion.

As Strawberry entered Hickory and Marigold's burrow, he saw that they were both lying down. Marigold was trying to nurse the kitten, but it didn't seem interested.

-"Come to make us feel even worse?" Hickory asked, not looking at Strawberry.

-"Not at all," Strawberry said. "I've known you longer than anyone else here. I don't know what exactly happened at Redstone, but you both did your best."

-"Our best clearly wasn't good enough, was it? We let our entire warren get killed, and didn't save anyone except one kitten. And she's not out of danger yet!"

Marigold started to cry. Hickory was furious at Strawberry, not paying attention, and therefore did nothing to help comfort her.

-"You did all you could," Strawberry said. "You couldn't have stopped the warren's destruction. And from what I hear, you did a great job at Redstone before the tragedy."

-"I suppose you're right...thanks Strawberry."

As Marigold's sobs got louder, the two bucks focused their attention towards her.

-"What's wrong, dear?" Hickory asked.

-"If I lose her..." she said weakly, grooming the kitten, "I have nothing left."

-"We'll do everything we can to make sure she survives," Strawberry said.

-"Besides, you still have me," Hickory added.

-"I suppose..." Marigold, like Hickory earlier, did not seem entirely convinced. Nevertheless, she stopped crying, and soon fell asleep.

In Darkhaven, several owsla officers were digging in a corner of the pit. The rabbits had suggested several possible locations where Woundwort may had been buried, but could not agree on where to start. Some rabbits suggested taking the dispute to the battle pit, but this proved to be unnecessary as Shale decided to start digging in a corner, and others joined him. Despite this, progress was extremely slow, and a few minor fights broke out over some rabbits having dirt thrown in their face by other diggers. After getting hit one time too many, Shale ordered everyone out of the hole except himself and Feldspar. There was therefore a large crowd gathered around the hole, watching the two bucks dig, but unable to help.

-"Speaker, you're a doe," Feldspar eventually said. "Why don't you come use your natural talents?"

-"Because this is a big mistake," the Speaker said, as emotionless as ever.

-"Why don't you just admit you're lazy?"

-"You will soon discover the massive error you are committing."

Paying no attention to the Speaker's warnings, the two bucks kept digging, until Feldspar's claws felt something hard.

-"I think I've found him!"

Shale and Feldspar dug more slowly, careful not to hurt Woundwort if he was buried there. A few scratches later, however, they realized that they wrong. What Feldspar had touched was a glass bottle, with some sort of dried plant inside. Feldspar's eyes went wide as he saw it, and he quickly kicked some dirt back on it.

-"False alarm, nothing to see here!"

-"We'll have to dig elsewhere," Shale added, before hopping out of the hole. He immediately started to scratch the ground near a nearby tire.

-"I remember we buried Woundwort in a corner of the pit," Granite said. "This is not a corner."

But Shale, ignoring Granite, continued to dig; Feldspar and a few others soon joined him. Predictably, they did not find anything of note in this new hole.

While everyone else was busy digging, however, Granite sat under an old discarded table, with the Speaker of the Past.

-"What was that all about?" he asked. "That object they found, I mean."

-"Why do you ask me? I did not contribute to to digging out that thing."

-"You warned them to stop; this implies that you knew about it."

The Speaker stared directly at Granite.

-"Whatever happens," she said, her eyes appearing to glow, "never eat that plant."

-"Why not? Is it toxic?"

-"Just do not do it."

-"You seem to know many things that nobody else knows."

-"That may be true."

-"Have you ever thought of spreading this knowledge? For example, someone else may try to eat that plant."

-"I tried teaching. Once."

-"What happened?"

Beneath the skull on the Speaker's head, Granite thought he could see tears. The Speaker, displaying emotions? He did not know whether to rejoice or panic.

-"I'll tell you later," the doe said, hopping away.