The Hlessi-My Second W.D Fanfic

[Vesper]

Hello, again, I'm dplutonium13 Fanfic Writer. You seem to have all stumbled upon my 2nd Story, 'The Hlessi.' This story is still Currently incomplete but I am working on it so one day, it will be complete. This story of mine has in fact been the hardest to Brainstorm/Research/Write/Edit/ReWrite/Edit/Final Touches and to publish for each chapter.
It has indeed gotten hard, but I am a tough writer and I can Hopefully handle the stress that comes with it, and I am very passionate about each story I write so it does indeed help. Luckily, A good friend of mine is still surprisingly sticking by my side and continues to assist in editing my story to close perfection. Thanks, Chipster-roo, I'll still owe you one. I will post each of this Chapter separate for some of my chapters are quite long, and I think they are getting Long. Suprised me too. Anywho, you may have noticed by now that I do not have an art cover for my stories, well I like to clarify that I am only an amateur artist in my words, not with an artwork so I do Humbly Apologize for that. Anywho, I like to also clarify that I did adopt my Odd Writing style into this story for I thought it would be much appropriate for this story. This story was an old idea of mine while I was writing the first drafts of my previous Fanfic. And It seems I was Able to put that Idea into Words.     And it seems that both Hannah and Hazel starting to get annoyed for I seem to be Writing too much.   All right you two, let me just give them a brief description of my story and a little authors note, then I will Publish my first chapter, happy?   Well it seems that Hannah's mood has lightened up, while I think Hazel believes that I am lying and is giving me a doubtful written face. Who Knows.   Any who, let us get on with it shall we;

*In My 2nd Story, A strange rabbit enters the world of Watership Down and is then cared for by Seer how seems to understand the Hlessi being misunderstood as the Hlessi discovers and explores the lives of the rabbits upon Watership Down,and starts to recover mentally from a recent incident, yet holds a secret. It may indeed involve his past, and who the Hlessi really is.
-One more thing, Hope you all Read, Enjoy, and review My story as I know Present you Chapter 1 of The Hlessi. Chao


The Seer's Vision

In World of Lord Frith’s Creation,

a shivering front of Thunderstorm rises towards the East Horizon as Lord Frith's shafts of light sinks towards the West Horizon.
Among the low grassy hills of the English Downs near Kingsclere, England; Watership Down stood firmly in its place as if the powers of Lord Frith could not destroy it as much as the Efrahan Rabbits tried to do so in the past.
On top of the Down,

a lonely Beech tree stood tall above a warren,

occupied by both the Rabbits of the now Zorn Sandleford Warren, to the Rabbits seeking asylum from the Efrahan Warren as they rest, talk, and Silflay with one another in both tranquility and harmony around the runs and burrows of their warren.
In the center of the warren, was the large Honeycomb, where the Survivors of Sandleford Warren and the Refugees of Cowslip's Warren were inspired to build from seeing a similar one in The Warren of Snares.

In the middle of the Honeycomb was a Seer, who had idly hopped around towards his big brother who was at the moment, the Chief Rabbit of Watership Down. As the Seer approached his big brother,

a sudden crack of lightning was heard rumbling through the warren from the stormy Summer Night skies outside.
With the sudden Thunder that has now put half of the warren into a Tharn state;

the Seer suddenly felt the sensation that something or someone mystical was trying to get his attention, yet he did not know the reason for this at the time.
The seer then started to fidget as he is once again consciously taken over by his subliminal vision, that stopped him dead in his tracks.
At first, his vision seemed blurred and was only able to perceive the figure of rabbit in a dark unknown place.

Once he started to focus much more clearly on his visions, he had perceived a single Hlessi rabbit figure lying among the rotten leaves of a dark and wet Forest Clearing next to the low Bridge as the storm prepared to bear down on the top of the Laying Hlessi.
The Hlessi rabbit appeared to be heavily injured by an Elil and at first, the Seer believed this Hlessi to be dead,

but was proven wrong when he witnessed the chest of the strange rabbit rising and falling unrhythmically.

The seer then caught a glimpse of a Dark Figured Rabbit hauntingly hopping around the fallen Hlessi.

To the Seer, the Dark Figured Rabbit seemed to solidify then fade with its ghostly leaps like the pulse of a dying creature.

His Visions was then moved towards another rabbit that was unknown to the Seer who fur had glowed a white-gold light as it frantically made its way through the forest as if in search someone it may have lost.

The Glowing Rabbit was having a difficult for it had started raining, making his search unpleasant.

Unexpectedly, the Seer's Vision then shifted towards the grassy edge of the River Test, in which the Seer saw that an altercation must have taken place here,

as evident of the traces of blood scattered among the grass as the first drops of rain began to pour down from the Rolling Thunderstorm of Summer air.

As seemed looked around the scene of his vision,

he had then been drawn to a certain location in the grass and as he focused towards it and sawed a blacked string necklace with an oddly shaped charm on it.

As the Seer was about to investigate the Charm,

a Homba suddenly appeared in the area sniffing around the grass and was attempting to follow the trail of blood, but was unable to due to the rain washing away any trace of it.

         The Homba appeared to have attacked something dangerous
but did not seem to have eaten for it looked as if whatever had fought it put up an effort of a fight, and seemed to have escaped.

After viewing this, his Visions began to fade and with a sudden limbo in his mind, he had suddenly made a loud squeal that had attracted the attention of his older brother, and started to recite the following riddle.

"A rabbit lay among the grieving leaves, as he struggles to breathe. A black rabbit hops around the injured Hlessi, waiting for the Strange Rabbit to soon stop running. If no children of El-ahrairah comes and saves this poor Hlessi, then soon his heart will join the thousand, for the Hlessi may stop running today."  
With his riddle finished, his conscious world starts to reappear as he is suddenly shaken by his brother, intentionally freeing him of his vision and his riddle.
The Rah ask the Seer if he is all right as his little brother recovers nervously from his vision. The Seer shakily acknowledges his wellbeing,

but immediately begins to proclaim that he has to go out on an expedition towards the River Test in search of the injured Hlessi rabbit for that rabbit's life depends on it.

The Rah tells him that it is too dangerous to go now for the storm has started billowing down the world above their warren.

The panicking Seer then tells his brother that he must go out there for in his vision he saw a heavily injured rabbit by the low bridge and if he did not get there in time and save the Strange Rabbit in time,

the Black Rabbit Of Inle would surely take him.
With The Rah learning the severity of the situation and how it was from his brother vision, he then allowed his brother to go,

but with the condition that the Lion-headed Rabbit would go with him for he feared for the safety of his little brother.  
The seer thanked his brother for understanding as he was quickly nuzzled by the Rah caringly as the Seer then went towards the burrow of his friend,

the lion-headed rabbit to wake him from his nap and to tell him about his vision and his urgent quest of saving the Hlessi rabbit.
At first, the Lion-headed Rabbit woke grumpily towards the little seer, wondering what all the ruckus was about.

After the Seer told him his alarming vision and why he needed him to come with him, the Lion-headed Rabbit then argued that it was nearly Fu’inle and that he was to tired for this little quest,

but after the Seer again told him the urgency of the situation with the help of his brother the Rah,
who had just entered the burrow, the Lion-headed Rabbit then agreed to go with him as his chief had ordered him to do as he was told.
HazelRah watched from the entrance of the Warren,

as the two rabbits made their way towards the River Test through the heavily raining fields of the English Downs.

As a single lightning was seen striking down randomly across the dark landscape, HazelRah said a little prayer for both his Little Brother Fiver and his Captain Of Owsla Bigwig.
“May Frith Watch Over Them On This Stormy Night, for I fear the worst is yet to come."

[Vesper]

Chapter 2 of "The Hlessi"


The Discovery


Fu Inle,

a severe thunderstorm was viciously striking down upon the Downs of Southern England.

Yet in this torrential rainstorm, two rabbit figures could be seen hopping fast as if their life depended on it, or rather the life of another rabbit.

Their current environment was getting more dangerous with lightning being seen striking down randomly on any unforeseen high ground,

and would then be followed by the loud thundering bang that would shake and tremble both the air and the ground.

With this,

the Seer jolts in surprise, an instinctively scurries away,

only to realize that he and the Lion-headed Rabbit were out there only for the sake of trying to save the Injured Hlessi that he saw in his vision earlier that night.  

And with that,

a sudden flow of determination filled the heart of the young rabbit as he rejoined the Captain Of Owsla to the Iron Road,

in which they both climb and hop across it,
and made their way towards the small forest that stood in between them and the river test.

Upon their arrival, the Seer immediately began sniffing the ground in search of any scent of the injured rabbit,

while the Lion-headed Rabbit stood sentry closeby.

The two rabbits felt a bit more comfortable in their environment as the storm severity dissipated to the point in

where it sprinkled mist all around and inle was starting to emerge through the storm, shining its phantom light down to the wet grass and trees of the forest.

This had made the area around the two rabbits, in the Seer's particularly appear ghostly eerie and supernatural as a white fog started to form on the forest floor.

The Seer had paid no attention to the cold fog as he approached a group of leaves that seemed to be disturbed recently as if some animal had been moving improperly through them. Upon closer inspection,

the seer discovered a little trail of faint that had survived the rain as most had been washed away already.

The Seer then proceeded to follow the trail deeper and closer to the River Test in hopes of finding the injured Hlessi.

Making its way through the thick river brush, the Seer suddenly became grimace by what was lying ahead of him.

Among the rotten leaves of a forest clearing,

laid an injured Hlessi rabbit as it was struggling to breathe with its current raspy and rapid respiration with inle shining down upon it.

The Seer after a few moments started stamping his left hind leg to get the attention of his Companion.

Once the Captain of Owsla arrived, he is as shocked as the Seer when he sees the heavily wounded Hlessi.

The Lion-headed rabbit immediately springs towards the rabbit along with the Seer close behind him.

Upon arriving, the Seer immediately goes up to the laying rabbit and attempted to get the Hlessi to wake up gently,

as he used his paw to carefully nudge and shake the Hlessi. Upon surveying the rabbit, both could see that he had a small gash across the side of his lower head and neck,

in addition to four claw marks across his chest.

The Lion-headed Rabbit concluded that it was made probably by a homba,

for he had recognized the marks and believed that the homba may be close by and still tracking this wounded rabbit.

The Seer continued his attempts to get the wounded Hlessi to become conscious, but to no avail.

All of sudden, the Lion-headed Rabbit hears a twig snapping in the distances with his slender ears and upon looking closely,

he sees the glowing eyes of a homba a distance away slowly creeping its way towards them.

The Captain of Owsla alerted the Seer about the Homba and advised him that they should flee and abandon the Hlessi for their is nothing they could do for him.

Yet Fiver refuses Bigwigs advice for he claims there must be a reason for why he had envisioned this rabbit in the first place and

continued his attempts to wake the wounded Hlessi while staying by his side.

Bigwig tries to move Fiver away from the Hlessi,

but is pushed away by Fiver as he tries to assert his authority and willingness to continue on with his purpose.

With that,

Bigwig gives up his attempts and growls loudly at the Homba as he is prepared to protect his friend at all cost,

no matter the circumstance.

As the homba got closer and began to charge at the bold Bigwig, a great glowing White-gold rabbit with a fluffy sparkingly tail,

long ears and great Hind legs were seen jumping right front of the Homba and Bigwig.

With this, the Homba suddenly stops its charge and stares at the great rabbit with a stupefied look spreading across its face.

The great rabbit then turns around and looks at the now astonished Bigwig looking back at him,

as he says to him with Purity and Confidence

“You need not worry Captain Bigwig, let your Prince with a thousand enemies take care of this Predicament we have here."

“Yes my Lord.”

was all Bigwig could reply in his astounded state.

[Vesper]

Chapter 3 of "The Hlessi"


The Prince's Request For Assistance

As Inle’ radiated a phantom white light upon the world as it sank towards the West Horizon,

the current situation in a small forest clearing next to the River Test,

the situation grew tenser than ever as it seemed an Elil has found what it was looking for.  

In the center of said clearing, an injured Hlessi could be seen laying down among the rotten leaves of the forest floor with a Seer Rabbit right next to it, still making its effort in waking the Hlessi.

However, the Seer was starting to lose hope as it started to feel the worst case scenario may be more imminent than expected,

which depressed the rabbit even more.

Meanwhile, unaware to both the Wounded Hlessi and the Sadden Seer,

the Lion-headed Rabbit stood amazed

as he was now looking at his Lord who was controlling the tense situation between the Rabbits and the Homba.

The Prince,

after telling the Lion-headed rabbit he will handle this, inched closer to Homba's face, stood up directly,

looked fully into its gazing eyes and

said to it in an authoritative yet whispery voice to head east and away from the poor Hlessi for it has done enough already to it and to spare them from its hunger for warm flesh.

With that, the bewildered Homba walked away towards and jumped into the river test as it swam across and surfaced to the other side,

never to be seen by the rabbits again.

Seeing that his business with the homba was finished,

The great rabbit turned around and hopped over to the Captain of Owsla who was still shocked at the sudden arrival of his Lord,

causing Lion-headed Rabbit to be left in a tharn state.

Upon seeing this, the great rabbit smiled at the rabbit and

nuzzled the Captain's nose with his own in a quick attempt to get the Lion-headed Rabbit to regain his normal state.

After a few moments later, the Lion-headed Rabbit began to blink and was now completely aware that he was in the presence of the Prince of a thousand enemies and

immediately bowed down to him respectively.

The Prince said to the rabbit that he apologized for startling the Captain of Owsla at late Fu Inle’,

yet he claims he was in search of a dear friend of his,

and happen to come across them.

He then went on to say that he just lucky to be at the right place at the right time.

The Lion-headed Rabbit agreed with the Prince and said to him that he still cannot fully contemplate that his Lord stood up against the Homba

and won without even a single hit in order to protect them.

The Prince smiled humbly at this and said that he was able to protect his children as he was referring to them,

only because he had given a good advice to a snake that had hypnotic powers and

was able to use the gift that the snake had given him against homba here this Fu Inle’.

He added that this situation does bring up good memories in the past where he had met a similar homba in the past on a bridge and

used his hypnotic gift for the first time to save his warren from an increasing number of homba-related killings, was able to get the fox to jump in the river.

The Prince was about to tell the Lion-headed Rabbit how overjoyed the rabbits in his warren were when he had told them that he was able to send the homba and his mate away,

but was cut short as they turned their attention to injured hlessi still fighting for its life with the dispirited Seer looking down at it helplessly.

Both the Prince and the Lion-headed Rabbit joined the side of Seer in order to see the disturbing situation more clearly.

The Seer was spooked at first at the sudden arrival of his friend

but was even more spooked at the presence of The Prince of a Thousand Enemies. However,

the Prince looked the Hlessi with great sadness at he put his left glowing paw on its chest for the Prince knew this Hlessi.

The Seer looked back and forth between the laying Hlessi and

his Lord and asked politely if he knew this rabbit for he had hypnotic episode about this rabbit and was able to find it here in the same spot he saw the Hlessi lay in his vision.

The Prince looked back at the Seer with a little guilt in his eyes for he said that he had not only indeed knew this Hlessi,

but was his deeply close friend to him.

He said that this Hlessi was a young buck who he invited him to English Downs as a guest for the Hlessi needed some help.

Unfortunately, while the Hlessi was looking around in the forest and towards the River Test for a drink of water, a Homba had ambushed the rabbit, injuring him in the process,

yet the rabbit was able to escape to this Forest Clearing where it had collapsed from the pain and the loss of blood.

The Seer attempted to press the Prince on for more information

but was told that he could not tell him more for it should be his Friend's right to tell the Seer his background

but said in an unpleasant state that he did not know if that would be possible anymore. With this,

the Prince began to felt powerless and started to nuzzle his friend depressingly as he whispered his apologies to the Hlessi a good number of times, and how he had regretted and wished that this had not happened to him.

The Lion-headed Rabbit,

also feeling helpless at the moment decided to start licking the wounds of the injured Hlessi in order to keep them from infecting.

The Seer looked back to the grieving Prince and asked him why had he received such visions of this rabbit,

even if he had nothing to do with him.

The Prince looked at him and gave him a little grin for he had then said that the only reason he had brought his good Friend

to the English Downs was for that he could ask the Seer

if he could look after this Hlessi for the strange rabbit needed the help of others to recover

after a recent incident occurred that has left him mentally scarred and that he was the best candidate for helping the Hlessi

for he was one of the rabbits in the world he could truly understand him as well as he could.

At first, Fiver was contemplating what the Prince and

then realized that his Lord had asked him for this simple request of assistance.

He had then looked back at the Prince and accepted his Proposition,

in which El-ahrairah seemed joyed at first,

thinking he had chosen the right rabbit for this, Yet had recalled that even with Fiver accepting his request,

he did not know if the Seer could even look after the Hlessi if he did not survive his Injuries, and had then depressed the Prince once more.

Fiver looked back to El-ahrairah and noticed sudden turn in his facial expression, and asked

“Will he live my lord, and can you help him?”

“If only I could redeem myself and help my friend recover,

yet it is unfortunately beyond my capabilities or tricks; nor can I tell you whether he will live or die,

but I believe there's someone amongst us,

more specifically one of Lord Friths Servants that can tell you more of the well-being and the outcome of this Hlessi than I,” Said the Prince.

And with that,

a cold-stricken chill could be felt in the air as if to signified there was indeed a presence amongst them.

And out of thin air, a Dark Figured Rabbit is seen hopping around the rabbits with a ghostly leap.

The Dark Figured Rabbit then stopped and turned to face El-ahrairah and said to him in Sinister yet Truthful voice,

“It seems that the tides have indeed turned, for now, I am the stranger here El-ahrairah for I am death among the living.”

[Vesper]

Chapter 4 of "The Hlessi"


The S’a’i’o’n End

“I suppose you are Correct indeed, Black Rabbit Of Inle.” The Prince said in response to the Dark Figured Rabbits notion.

Inle was beginning to sink towards the west as the rainy night was slowly coming to an end with Lord Frith

soon to return back to the world from the east, keeping his promise that he would return and be there when they woke from their slumber.

In a forest clearing right next to the River Test, the Dark Figured Rabbit look at the Prince and acknowledged his response.

Then he moved his sights towards both the Seer and Lion-headed Rabbit and noticed they were as expected in a tharn state once more, or at least for the Lion-headed Rabbit.

The Dark Figured Rabbit focus was then shifted towards the injured Hlessi rabbit as he had lowered his head and started sniffing the Hlessi around in order to answer the Seers unanswered question on the condition of the Hlessi.

The Dark figured rabbit after a few moments went to the Seer, getting his attention and with a menacing yet honest tone,

told the Seer that he has seen many rabbits in the past that have been close to death, dying,

or have passed on,

but this Hlessi did not seem closer to death than expected of and if cared for properly,

the Hlessi would make a full recovery soon.  

The Seer was very much relieved upon hearing this and thanked the Dark figured Rabbit for not taking this Hlessi just yet and

then turned and nuzzled the Captain of Owsla back to his original state to tell him the new development on the Hlessi condition.

Then without warning,

a rabbit with a faint glow around it hopped over to his leading friend the Prince and told him that it was time to be heading back before morning Silflay began.

And with that,

the Prince went over to the two relieved rabbits, thanking the Seer for accepting his offer upon looking after the Hlessi;

The Seer responded that if weren’t for the Captain Of Owsla for standing Sentry and cleaning the wounds of the Hlessi,

the rabbit would have surely perished, In which the Lion-headed Rabbit replied that If it weren't for Seer visions, they would not have been able to save the Hlessi life in the first place.

The Prince feeling elevated at the two rabbits courtesy towards his one-another, told the Seer that once the Hlessi was awake to please tell him that he apologizes for the incident that had led to his injuries and that he would return to speak with the Hlessi privately over some personal matter in the future.

Afterward, El-ahrairah nuzzled the two rabbits and to the laying Hlessi lightly and said to his injured rabbit that\

he would return and he would be with him and before he left he told Fiver and Bigwig that his friend here was no ordinary rabbit for they will soon see for themselves.

And with that, he then went off with his friend Rabscuttle to their heavenly warren in a world beyond the highest of clouds.

However, The Black Rabbit of Inle,

who stood a distance away saw that he was not needed anymore and hopped around Bigwig, Fiver,

and the still laying Hlessi with a ghostly leap and went away, pulsingly fading towards the rising Frith.

By now, Lord Frith has returned and once again is illuminating his warm and bright light across the English downs for once more he has indeed kept his promise.

At the time, Fiver told Bigwig that they should quickly make a burrow near a tree close by for the Hlessi’s safety.

Both Bigwig and Fiver immediately got to work and dug a burrow big enough for only two rabbits.

It took tremendous effort, but they were able to push the Hlessi very steadily towards its new resting spot.

Fiver joined the Hlessi in order to clean the wounds once more for they were dirtied from the transfer of the Hlessi,

from the rotten blood-covered leaves.

“Fiver, I was thinking it be best if you stayed with the Hlessi and care for him while I go and get some help from Watership Down,

Don’t you agree?"

Fiver, sensing that there was nothing wrong with Bigwig's Plan,

nodded in agreement as Bigwig turned and left the two rabbit in the burrow as he hopped towards his warren.

Upon seeing Bigwig departures,

Fiver looked back at the Hlessi as he was now able to see the buck more clearly with the new amount of light outside.

He saw that this rabbit had an odd grey-brown fur coat all around, yet it look unexplainably different.

The Hlessi had a slender body making it appear pretty tall, for he was taller than Fiver, but only falling a little short of his brother Size.

Fiver then felt tired and decided to take a short nap and adjusted himself next to the Hlessi,

but looked at the Hlessi once more and said to himself,

“What secrets do you hide, Hlessi.”

And with that, Fiver fell asleep.

Little did Fiver Know,

that the secrets the Hlessi had were not only magical but unexpected.

[Vesper]

Chapter 5 of "The Hlessi"


Back On The Down

As Frith rose steadily over the world, a bold rabbit is seen leaping rapidly towards his Warren across the English Downs.

The Lion-headed Rabbit felt a lot hungrier for he had decided not to silflay until he was sure the Hlessi and the Seer were taken care of properly.

The bold rabbit was still fascinated by last night's
events for he had not only seen that the Seer was right once more about the Injured Hlessi,

but had also seen two rabbits that night that only a rare handful of creatures in the mortal world have ever seen in their mortal lives.

To him, the experience was a unworldly and purely magical memory that he would surely never forget.

As he was thinking of this, he started to approach the foot of his home warren,

Watership Down.

Meanwhile,

The Chief of this warren was up and lively as he was out of the runs and burrows for the morning silflay with his mate,

and the occasional hungry rabbit from the warren.

As the morning silflay continued,

the Chief was evidently worried for his brother,

for he had feared that something may have gone wrong, even with the Lion-headed Rabbit.

When the Chief stood up and looked down at the foot of Watership Down,

he saw a single rabbit coming up and at first, was about to start stamping his left hind leg to alert his warren of danger approaching.

Yet as the rabbit got closer,

the chief saw that it was only his Captain of Owsla,

yet the relief the Chief felt at first was replaced by fear as he started to question himself why was this rabbit alone

and where was his little brother?

The Captain of Owsla approached his Chief tirelessly and was about to tell him what had happened that night

when his Chief unexpectedly demanded to know where his little brother was for he had now indeed feared the worst.

This caused the attention of his mate  

as she decided to join the side of the Chief in order to see clearly what the conversation was all about.

The Lion-headed Rabbit quickly surprised on how fast his Chief was starting to panic for the well-being of his brother,

immediately told him that the Seer was alive and well at the moment.

The relieved Chief rabbit after finding out his brother well being then asked the Lion-headed Rabbit what had happened on their precarious mission last night.

And with that,

The Lion-headed Rabbit told his Chief and his mate how they found the Injured Hlessi lying among the rotten Blood covered Leaves

, the attempts the Seer made in trying to wake the Hlessi, the Lion-Headed Rabbit encounter with the Homba,

and the surprising arrival of both the Prince and the Dark figured Rabbit.

He then told them of the Prince request of the Seer to look after the Hlessi and how the Dark figured Rabbit stated that the Hlessi was going to live and he was not going to take the Hlessi just yet,

and how both rabbits with the Prince friend had left gracefully and hauntingly beautifully.

And finally he told how they manage to move the Hlessi into makeshift burrow they had made so that the Hlessi was out of harm's way and how the Seer had decided to stay with Hlessi in that burrow as he came here to get some rabbits to help the Hlessi heal enough for the Journey back to

Watership Down.

Upon Bigwig finishing this, HazelRah had asked the usual questions of who was the Hlessi and was he a threat to the safety of their warren?

Bigwig replied,

saying that he did now much of the Hlessi, only that the Hlessi was a Friend of El-ahrairah and that he been severely injured in a homba attack,

in addition to what El-ahrairah had told little of the Strange Rabbit, especially what he had said to the Seer before leaving.

With this information, however,

Bigwig contemplated and concluded that the Hlessi did not seem as much of a threat to warren as any Elil would.

HazelRah then started thinking over this with his mate and decided that it would be best that if they were to help this Hlessi,

then they would do it after the Morning Silflay.

And with that,

Bigwig was able to get some flayrah and rest he needed from the trek back to the warren.

A while later, once everyone was fed and well rested,

HazelRah asked both Blackberry and Dandelion to join Bigwig on his journey back to Fiver and the Hlessi in which they accepted.

As Frith rose high up as is was noon, HazelRah saw the departure of the three rabbits as they went away down towards the River Test.

His mate, Hyzenthlay join him and decided to tell HazelRah what she felt about all this.

“This seems different somehow, this whole excursion, just for the Hlessi well-being."

“Do you fear he may be dangerous?” Asked HazelRah

“I don’t believe that this rabbit may be a danger to us as Bigwig had agreed to this, but I believe we are about to discover and learn something we may not be ready to understand  just yet."

Said Hyzenthlay.

"What we may find out, however, I cannot tell. Yet I believe it may be something extraordinary in a Peculiar kind of way. But Until then, we can only wait and see for Patiency is both our friend,

And our greatest Elil.”

[Vesper]

Chapter 6 of "The Hlessi"


A Startled Hlessi

The Frith was seen slightly closer to the west as it was radiating its warm light below

into a small forest clearing next to the lower bridge that went across the River Test.

Next to the nearby tree, both the Seer and the Hlessi could be seen resting next to one another in a small provisional burrow the Seer and the Lion-headed Rabbit had made.

As the Seer was quietly sleeping in the burrow, the injured Hlessi could be seen moving its ears slowly yet alarmingly around,  

trying to contemplate his surroundings. After a few moments, the Hlessi cautiously open his eyes and started to see his situation more clearly.

The Hlessi then became aware that he seem to be in some makeshift burrow and as he puts his head up,

saw that there was indeed another rabbit sleeping next to him.

Alarmed at this, the Hlessi tried to get up and away from the burrow, but as soon as he stood up, an excruciating pain was felt across his chest,

head and neck, causing the Hlessi to crumble down.

The Hlessi started squirming loudly as he laid on the burrow ground,

causing the Seer to suddenly wake and see the current state of the panicked Hlessi.

Upon seeing the Seer awaken,

the Hlessi attempted to hop out and away from the burrow for it had been afraid that the Seer may attack or harm him in any way,

but the pain had overcome him once more,

which had now left the Hlessi in a whimpering and squirming state once more.  

The Seer, seeing that the Hlessi was in a lot of pain,

tried to comfort him by saying it was not an Elil but a friend who had wanted to help him recover.

The Hlessi, upon looking at the Seer could see that this rabbit was actually smaller looking than he had perceived when he had woken up.

The Seer then mentioned that it was the Prince who had told him to look after the Hlessi, and with this new piece of information,

the Hlessi seized its attempts in retreating from the Seer.

Seeing that the Hlessi had calmed down, the Seer nuzzled the rabbit continuously in order to ensure

that he was indeed a friend to the scared Hlessi. He then asked after a while if he could clean his wounds and

after being responded with pain stricken nod went to the Hlessi and started licking the small gash on the left side its lower head and neck in order to stop any impending infection.

The Hlessi laid on its right side facing away the burrows exit as the Seer was caring for it,

and made loud squirms and whimpers when the Seer accidently lick a sensitive part of the wound which would then cause the Hlessi legs to kick out convulsively in pain.

The Seer, seeing that the small gash had been cleaned thoroughly,

then moved his mouth to clean the Hlessi chest wounds where four claw marks could be seen lightly bleeding from the suddenly panicked movements that had happened earlier.

A while after the Hlessi had to wincingly endure the Seer's treatment,

the Seer had finished cleaning the wounds and had then asked the Hlessi if he wanted to come out an silflay with him.

The Hlessi responded with a gingerly nod,

as the idea of fresh Flayrah filled him with great enjoyment and with the help of the Seer,

hopped out of the burrow into the clearing and started to silflay with the Seer.

As Frith's light radiated down into the clearing,

the air started to grow more humid with an increase in heat making the silflay uncomfortable for the Seer, but not for the Hlessi,

for it was used to this humidity on this hot summer afternoon.

After eating a satisfactory amount of Flayrah,

the Hlessi slowly made its way to the Seer to speak with him personally.

“Thank you for all you’ve done for me,

Little English Rabbit.”

The Seer was startled by the break of silence upon hearing the strange voice of the Hlessi as he has never heard his accent before.

To him, the Hlessi sounded foreign as if the Hlessi chose his words very carefully, making him sound nervous to him.

The Seer then faced the Hlessi and said with an understanding attitude,

“You’re welcome.

You’ve seemed to have taken quite the beating last night.

I found you here with my friend Bigwig after I had one of my visions about you, causing me and Bigwig to go looking for you.

I tried to wake you, but you seemed to have been unconscious at the time. Bigwig stood sentry and protected us from a Homba,

but El-Ahrairah intervened and made the Homba go away.

He and Bigwig came over to us and thought you may soon die from your injuries.

He told me that you were his Friend and that he was trying to find me to ask if I could take care of you for a while until you mentally recovered

and he said I would be the only rabbit would be able to understand you in English Down for he said you were no ordinary rabbit.

Then, the Black Rabbit of Inle came to see how close you were to death and said that you were not going to stop running yet,

and said that if taken care of, you would live.

After they left, Bigwig and I dug this little small burrow for you to rest in and I went to rest with you as Bigwig left for the home warren to get help.

My name is Fiver by the way.”

Said the Seer.

“A pleasure to meet you Fiver.”

Said the Hlessi as he nuzzled the Seer appreciatively who had nuzzled back.

“Also, My name is Vesper,

and it seems that I must thank your friend too for it seems El-ahrairah respects and trusts you both well enough to be called good rabbits in my point of view. Any friend of El-ahrairah is a friend of mine."

Vesper stated Generously.

[Vesper]

Chapter 7 of "The Hlessi"



A Charmed Collar Among The Grass

As Frith began to set towards the west,

three rabbits were seen hopping towards the east as they had made their way through the

English Downs and were now making their way towards the location of both the Seer and the Hlessi.

Leading both the Raconteur and the Black-tipped Ear rabbit was the Lion-headed Rabbit,

who was the only one in the small patrol to know the location of the Forest clearing.

During their journey, the Captain of Owsla was able to fill them in on what had happened to him and

the Seer the previous night when they had set out in search of the Hlessi.

Upon completing his personal account of the previous night,

the Raconteur was the first of the two to comment on the story,

saying that it seems to him that the amusing part of it all was how El-ahrairah had to come and save the Lion-headed Rabbit from the homba, implying that the bold rabbit was not able to take on the Homba.

The Captain of Owsla growled at this and started to defend himself, stubbornly stating that he would have been able to fight off the Homba if it weren’t for the Prince intervention.

The Black-tipped Ear rabbit,

who had remained silent over the bickering of the two rabbit as they approached the forest came to the defense of the Captain of Owsla,

stating that he would have been able to take on the Homba as he had done so in the past with the General.

The Black-tipped Ear rabbit then added that if the Lion-headed Rabbit could take on the General,

then the rabbit could certainly have taken on the Homba.

The Raconteur finally agreed with the two rabbits as they arrived at the edge of the forest next to the River Test.

Upon their approach, the three rabbits had immediately sniffed the air to see if any Elil was present or had been present recently in the area.

Upon finding no smell besides the fading scent of the Homba that Bigwig had encountered,

they had then entered the forest cautiously as they began their way towards the Seer and the Hlessi.

As they hopped passed through trees,

Dandelion stumbled upon a small black string collar with a with an odd looking charm next to the River Test.

The triangular shaped charm upon closer inspection,

had the shape of an eye in the middle of it,

but only in front of the charm,

the back of the charm was smooth a flat with no such shapes, for it had a weird writing on it,

yet Dandelion had not perceived this for he had thought that they were only abstract shapes,

this and nothing more.

It appeared as if there had been a confrontation in the area,

in which Dandelion concluded that this may have been the place where the Hlessi had been attacked by the Homba.  

As he sniffed the Charmed Collar,

he believed that it may have belonged to the Hlessi and

this was confirmed when he had caught a scent of the Hlessi on it and it indeed smelled as if the Hlessi rabbit had been wearing it,

but may have come off in his attack with the Homba and was probably thrown in the grass.

Thinking it might have had some importance to the strange rabbit, he took it in his mouth and caught up to his friends

who were now approaching the forest clearing where the Captain of Owsla said they would find them.

Little did Dandelion know, the Charmed Collar was indeed a great importance to the Hlessi for it had been given to him by someone in the past he had truly loved and missed dearly,

his Human.

[Vesper]

Chapter 8 of "The Hlessi"


Arrival And Departure

As the Frith was beginning to set towards the west,

two rabbits could be seen interacting with one another in a forest clearing next to their

makeshift burrow as they wait for the Lion-headed Rabbit to come back with help.

Earlier, after the Hlessi had thanked the Seer,

the Seer felt comfortable enough to share his backstory and tell of his Sixth Sense ability,

in which the Hlessi had responded that the Seer may have been blessed with the Gift by the Prince himself in which the Seer took as a compliment.

The Seer had then asked if the Hlessi knew how to play the game of BobStones,

in which the Hlessi responded that it had played the game in the past,

but hadn’t played it recently and has forgotten mostly how the game worked.

but had never actually played it, in which the Seer told the Hlessi that he would go get the materials needed for the game.

Once back with a couple of small stones,

the Seer explained the rules and fundamentals of the game and how you had to guess how many stones were under your opponent's paw.

The Seer told the Hlessi to look the other direction,

while he had to prepare himself by hiding an unknown number of stones under his front paws.

Once ready, the Seer had then said ‘Bobstone guess’,

in which the Hlessi turned and tried to determine how many stones the Seer was hiding.

“Bobstone guess…..3”, Said the Hlessi tensely, afraid of the outcome.

The Seer, upon hearing the Hlessi guess raised his right paw first,

revealing two stones and then raising his left paw,

revealed that he was also hiding 1 more stone under his other paw,

making the Hlessi’s BobStone guess correct.

The Hlessi victory over the first round filled him with joy and excitement as he thought how even though this may be his first time playing it in a long time,

he seemed to have a thing for this game. But just as the Hlessi was about to play his turn in BobStone,

three large rabbits were seen jumping out of the bush and leaping directly towards them.

This had caused an unexpected reaction to the Hlessi in which he turned and went back to hide in the makeshift burrow he and the Seer had slept in.

Fiver had expected Vesper’s reaction to be somewhat similar to their union in the burrow earlier that day when the Hlessi had woken next to the sleeping Fiver.

Once Bigwig,

Dandelion and Blackberry had stopped in front of Fiver, they had asked if he was alright and if the Hlessi had been troublesome towards him.

Fiver Replied,

saying that he had been alright but Vesper who was the Hlessi had not troubled him,

but it seems that he had troubled it at first for he had stated how easily scared the Hlessi became when meeting strangers similar to what had happened just know.

Bigwig had not expected this from the Hlessi, for he had perceived the Young Buck to be prideful,

tough, and act like any regular young buck on the English Down would behave.  

Fiver had added that he to had assumed this,

but soon had learned that Vesper was Strangely Alert Rabbit who befriending El-ahrairah, but seem to have an odd atmosphere around,

but he could put a paw towards what it was

as he did recall his Prince saying that

'he was no ordinary rabbit'.

The four rabbits were now trying to decide how to get the rabbit to interact with them without forcing him to,

due to his injuries when Dandelion revealed what he had collected during the journey through the forest.

He dropped in front of his friends the triangular shaped charmed collar, revealing its oddity to them.

Once Fiver had sniffed it, he admittedly recognizes the Hlessi scent on it and confirmed Dandelions suspicion of the Charmed Collar belonging to the Hlessi.

Fiver then decided that in order to get the Hlessi to not be afraid of them,

he would bring Dandelion to Vespers as he would then give him the Charmed Collar, asking if it was his.

Once decided,

both Fiver and Dandelion hopped over to the makeshift burrow and once arriving, they had seen the Hlessi sitting,

looking up alarmingly as he saw that Fiver now had a rabbit with him that he had looked oddly familiar to him.

“Vesper, I believe it is best not to hide, for I have with me a Friend of mine here with me named Dandelion. I believe he has collected something in the forest that may belong to you.” Said Fiver.

And with that,

Dandelion revealed the Charmed Collar he had been carrying in his mouth and set it down in front of the Hlessi.

Immediately, the Hlessi had grabbed the Charmed Collar as if he was afraid he would lose it once more for the Charmed Collar meant everything to him. He had then struggled at first to put back on,
especially with his injuries which had made it more difficult and painful, but with the help of Fiver and Dandelion,

he was able to get it collared around his neck.

Vesper had then given both Fiver and Dandelion an appreciative Nuzzle

and thanked Dandelion personally as they slowly made their way out of the burrow.

Dandelion had been shocked by the young bucks personality on how friendly, yet easily scared Vesper could easily become,

but what had surprised him the most was the appearance and accent of the Hlessi. To him,

Vesper did not look like he was the same species as themselves for they were English Rabbits and

this Hlessi did not appear to be one with its salt and pepper colored fur.
This had convinced him and the two other rabbits who were watching the Hlessi closely nearby

that the Hlessi was probably from some far of land unfamiliar to the rabbits of Watership Down or any rabbit from the English Downs at that.

The second and most striking thing he,

Bigwig, and Blackberry were now aware and mystified by was the accent of the Hlessi voice,

which did not sound anything like any rabbit they ever heard, yet the only animal they knew had an odd accent in their voice similar to the Hlessi was their friend Kehaar, the Black-headed Seagull.

As they were approaching the two rabbits,

Vesper asked Fiver ‘who was your other friend that protected us both from the Homba’,

in which Fiver immediately pointed the ‘Thlayli’ Rabbit,

who had stood firm tall, revealing his true size.

At first, Vesper had hesitantly thanked Bigwig,

but as Bigwig had witnessed how this rabbit was easily frightened; he had then lowered his posture until

he was looking straight at Vesper with a smile and said

“Oh, It was nothing special. I was only doing my Owsla duty.”

and nuzzled the frightened Hlessi saying also at the same time that ‘It was not going to allow anymore Elil to hurt him.'

Afterwords,

Bigwig introduced the Hlessi with Blackberry which they had a similar greeting and ended its playful scuffle in which Blackberry had to be careful in not hurting the Hlessi even more.

Once Vesper was more comfortable with everyone,

he told the similar story El-ahrairah had told Fiver on how he had been wanting to get a drink of water when the Homba attacked him,

and how he had escaped thankfully before falling unconscious.

Then the Hlessi had stated that he knew the rabbits here wanted to know more about him,

but he had said he was not completely comfortable in telling his full story just yet in which the four rabbits had became disappointed,

yet acknowledged that they understood even with Bigwigs growing concern on the question in his mind on

‘why did the Hlessi become easily scared and what had caused the Hlessi act this way?',

in which Bigwig nor anyone else knew the answer to other than 'a recent Incident'.

After a quick silflay and game of Bobstones, in which Vesper played against Bigwig,

and finding out sadly that it may take time to master the game in order to be great at it after losing a number of rounds to the Lion-headed Rabbit;

Bigwig lead the group of rabbits with Fiver and Blackberry helping the Hlessi move for he was still much in pain in his lower head and neck,

out of the forest and through the English Downs as they made their way towards Watership Down as a

red light began to paint the sky and the ground,

signaling the setting of the Frith for it was now the time of the evening in which the Hlessi was now fully aware of.

[Vesper]

Chapter 9 of "The Hlessi"


Upon Watership Down At Fu Inle’

The Warren of Watership Down appeared as white ghostly hill across the English Downs for it was Fu Inle’ at the moment,

and Inle was shining upon the Down.

The crickets could be heard orchestrating their loud and continuous chirps with the Occasional spooky hoot of an Owl,

looking down upon the Down as it flew over it looking for any unsuspecting prey that would soon become its meals if left that way.

At the foot of the Down, a Dandy Rabbit was seen idly moving about for he was on Night Patrol for his Warren.

Earlier, the Dandy Rabbit had been told by his Chief to keep a look out for any Elil, but most importantly the five rabbits,

the Seer, the Lion-headed Rabbit, the Raconteur, the Black-tipped Ear Rabbit, and the Hlessi.

He was told to report back to him when the patrol arrived for he had wished to meet the Hlessi personally.

Doing as he was told,

the Dandy rabbit continued his Nightly Patrol upon the Inle’ lit grass of Watership Down.

Meanwhile,

a group of Hrair Rabbits was seen making their way through the English Downs and began their approach to the foot of the down.

The rabbits were moving at a slow and steady pace for there was a rabbit amongst them who could only move at this pace, the Hlessi.

Next to the said Hlessi,

was his new friend who had become his caretaker upon the Prince Request, and the Black-tipped Ear Rabbit

who had been telling a story to the Hlessi his magic trick with the Floating Piece of wood that had helped his friends,

the escaped Efrahan Does and himself escaped from the General and his Efrahan Owsla away on the River Test, in which the Hlessi had understood what the rabbit was talking about.

Leading the group was both the Lion-headed Rabbit and the Raconteur Rabbit.

The Captain of Owsla at the time,

was not bright on the idea of moving at the careful pace they were making at the moment but had reasoned with himself that it was indeed,

for the Hlessi best interest,

for he was still injured and

had started to feel light-headed halfway on their Journey. As they continued on,

the Raconteur who had been a little to the right of the Captain of Owsla, alerted his patrol with a stamp of his right Hind Leg that high above,

an Elil had caught a glimpse of them and was now flying towards them.

With this, they made their way towards a Thick Bush,

right at the foot of Down.

The flying Elil had swooped in with a screech to see if there was indeed any prey that its talons and beak could take for a meal,

yet did not see any and decided to look elsewhere among the English Downs for more potential food and flew away from Watership Down.

Afterward, the Lion-headed Rabbit had announced that it was safe to go out leading the Patrol out of the bush.

The Hlessi, who had hopped out with the Seer and the Black-tipped Ear Rabbit looked towards the leaving Owl in curiosity and understanding for it

had known what the hungry Owl had truly felt.

As they were about to continue on with their journey to Watership Down,

a rabbit was seen quickly approaching them, in which the Raconteur immediately saw.

With this, he told his Captain of Owsla of the incoming rabbit,

in which the Lion-headed responded, that it might be one of the Night patrol sentries.

The Raconteur with his Captain of Owsla went towards the rabbit,

with the Hlessi, the Seer,

and the Black-tipped Ear Rabbit Close by.

Once the two rabbits got close enough, they could immediately tell that it was their friend,

the Dandy Rabbit looking back at them.

The Dandy Rabbit was overjoyed of his friend's safe return and had indistinctively stop himself from his ritual dance for he felt the urge to do it.

He was about to ask his Captain Of Owsla about Elil attacking them until

he set his eyes on the Rabbit both the Seer and the Black-tipped Ear Rabbit were helping up towards them, the Hlessi.

The Dandy Rabbit, was about to make his way towards this strange rabbit until the Lion-headed Rabbit stopped him and told that the Hlessi rabbit was easily frightened by new strangers and

needed to rest for his injuries before anything else were to happen.

The Dandy Rabbit then told the Captain Of Owsla that the Chief Rabbit had ordered him to alert him upon the Hlessi arrival,

for he had wanted to meet the strange rabbit.

The Lion-headed Rabbit had immediately warned against this,

saying that it was not the best time for an interrogation and that he would go and handle the situation with the Chief Rabbit himself

so there would not be a misunderstanding.

The Dandy Rabbit with the Captain Of Owsla on his side,

slowly went up to the three rabbits, causing the Seer to immediately tell the Hlessi that this Rabbit was only a friend,

not an Elil as the Hlessi started to ease his tremble as the Dandy Rabbit approached him.

They inspected one another with the Occasional glance and Sniff and then the Dandy Rabbit spoke first.

“Hello, I’ve been told that you hurt and tired from your little incident

and your long excursion to our Warren.

First off, you're not alone with the scared prospect of meeting New rabbits in a New warren, I’ve been there. Also, my name is Strawberry. What is your name, Hlessi? ”

The Hlessi was hesitant at first but after an assuring Nudge from Fiver, he decided to respond to Strawberries question.

“ Hello, my name is Vesper. Thank you for your sympathy, I truly appreciate it.”And with that,

the Hlessi went up to Strawberry and nuzzled him out of courtesy. Strawberry was a bit surprised at the foreign voice and appearance of the rabbit

but had expected something like this from a strange rabbit who was somehow associated with El-ahrairah.

He then had led the Hrair rabbits into the run of the warren

as Fiver was now telling Vesper that this was indeed the Warren he and other rabbits had called home,

in which they called it Watership Down.

Vesper understood perfectly,

yet he did not convey what he truly felt upon being in the warren. The Hrair rabbits then split up around the runs with Dandelion, BlackBerry, and Strawberry saying goodbye to Vesper and then made their ways to the burrows to rest while Strawberry had to return to his post as Night Patrol; Bigwig, however,

went to the Burrow of HazelRah and Hyzenthlay to tell report to him about the Hlessi.

Vesper, however, followed Fiver through the empty runs and made their way towards Fiver Burrow to rest.

Vesper upon looking around at the big size of the burrow but then saw another rabbit sleeping in the Burrow.

Fiver, upon seeing this immediately told Vesper that it was only his mate,Vilthuril who he had said was currently pregnant with his kitten, in which Vesper had congratulated him.

Vesper then stated that out of respect, he would leave to him to rest with his mate and sleep in an empty burrow,

but Fiver refused by saying that he still needed care for his injuries, and after a couple of minutes,

he convinced reluctant Vesper to come and sleep next to Fiver in his burrow. Fiver entered first and nuzzled his mate gently,

and then motioning Vesper to lay next to him so he could clean his wounds. Vesper entered the burrow and

made himself comfortable before closing his eyes and falling asleep for his head

had been aching for a while now during their excursions. Looking down upon the sleeping Hlessi in his own burrow,

Fiver decided that he would now check and clean Vespers wounds once more before going to sleep himself.

He started to inspect towards the more serious gash on his lower head and neck for it was healing more slowly that the four claw marks on his chest, caused by the Homba.

He started to lick certain parts of the small gash which had seemed high risked in infecting,

which had caused Vesper to wince in the sudden pain Fiver had involuntarily caused him.

Seeing this, Fiver decided to lick his wounds more carefully, not wanting to cause more pain to his new friend and after a few minutes,

He was finished and laid next to the Sleeping Vesper and his mate,

and adjusted himself where he was cozy and warmed and wished Vesper a Good Night's rest and snuggled his mate who had snuggled back appreciatively before he put his ears behind his head and began his much-needed rest.

Unknowingly to Fiver,

Vesper heard his Fivers wish, for he could not go to sleep at the time,

and nuzzled Fiver appreciatively while also wishing Fiver and his mate a Good Night’s Rest before closing his eyes once more,

to continue his attempts towards sleeping in this cozy, little burrow with his cozy, little friend and his friend's mate.

[Vesper]

Chapter 10 of "The Hlessi"



The Whispers In The Warren

Late past Fu’inle,

The burrows of Watership Down were surprisingly quiet as most of the rabbits

Who occupied them were sound asleep,

leaving the runs of the warren empty and barren of any awaken life. Yet, through the peaceful quietness of the warren,

a Lion-headed Rabbit could be seen quietly making his way through the runs and tunnels towards the burrow of his Chief for he had to bring him up to date on their return, and the Hlessi's arrival.

Meanwhile in the burrow of which the Captain of Owsla was making his way towards,

The Rah lay quietly asleep,

Protectively cuddling his mate and his kittens for they were everything to him.

As he lay asleep,

he had caught the quiet yet noticeable whisper of a rabbit trying to get his attention.

He flicked his right ear up in an attempt to listen more closely to the whisper that was calling out to him.

He then recognized it to be the Lion-headed Rabbits voice and upon opening his eyes, saw his Captain of Owsla sitting at the entrance of his burrow looking back at him.

The rabbit had told the Chief Rabbit that he wanted to speak to him about the Hlessi and upon saying this,

the Chief carefully made his way out of the burrow in order to not wake his family and hopped out a distance away with the Lion-headed Rabbit through the runs until they found a secluded burrow for them to speak in.  

The Chief rabbit had then asked on what news he had to tell him about the Hlessi;

in which the Lion-headed Rabbit told of his trip back to the Hlessi and the Seer, the Raconteur's odd Discovery, their first contact with the Hlessi, the Seer's first encounter with the Hlessi, the oddly charmed collar and their journey back to Watership Down.

The Lion-headed rabbit then ended his update on what he knew about the Hlessi by stating that his name was Vesper,

how he had befriended the Prince, and the oddity and strangeness of his appearance, his voice, and his behavior.

This had alarmed the Chief rabbit for he had not expected this great amount of peculiarity towards the Hlessi

for he had found it unnerving and it had caused him say to the Captain of Owsla that this rabbit may be a threat or may later become a threat to the integrity of their warren.

Immediately,

the Captain of Owsla started to defend Vesper for he had personally seen how the Hlessi had interacted with them

and said that he was friendly, yet a shy rabbit who seemed to have an unexplainable atmosphere around him that seem unusual, yet innocent.

He then added that if the hlessi were a threat, he would not be able to do much due to his injuries which had made it unbearable

for him to move his lower left side of his head and neck sometimes.

He had then added that he could not be a danger towards the warren for he was the close friend of the Prince and this might have been proof that he was not a bad rabbit.

The Chief upon hearing his Captain of Owsla defence towards Vesper,

clarified that he had not meant that the Hlessi may cause physical harm towards the stability of the Warren as General Woundwort had done,

but towards the fact that maybe the facts and secrets of the Hlessi may indeed affect how the warren thinks of their world around them,

even if he did state in the past that the building of this warren involved adopting new ideas that have benefited the Warren ever since;

he was still worried of what new ideas could the Hlessi share with his rabbits and that frightened him.

The Captain of Owsla did agree that his concerns were understandable

but stated that it did not seem the Hlessi had any intentions of bringing harm towards the warren’s integrity.

The Lion-headed Rabbit then said that he would keep an eye on him to make sure he wasn’t getting into trouble,which had relieved the Rah.

The Chief thanked the Lion-headed Rabbit for this and then said that he would like to meet Vesper at the very moment,

in which the Lion-headed had suggested against this for the Hlessi was sleeping in Fiver’s Burrow at the moment and had been feeling lightheaded on their way back and needed to rest for his injuries.

Upon learning this,

the HazelRah decided to leave the Hlessi be until morning silflay when he and his mate could go and meet Vesper and see what type of rabbit he really was.

Yet until then,

HazelRah thanked Bigwig for telling him about the Hlessi and told him to get some rest for tomorrow, they might go and raid a farm for fresh Flayrah if it seemed safe enough, in which Bigwig tiredly obeyed.

As both HazelRah and Bigwig were making their way towards their burrow,

they could have sworn that they heard a glimpse of a voice in the warrens Honeycomb but dismissed it as probably the wind blowing through the warren and continued on.

As HazelRah entered his burrow,

he noticed that Hyzenthlay was awake and currently licking her kittens clean from the dirt that had collected onto their fur.

Upon his Arrival,

Hyzenthlay looked up to see her mate looking at her with deep affection towards her.  

He quickly joined and nuzzled her as he reflected

to himself on how it was his family and friends he was protecting and he thought to himself that if the Hlessi threatened their safety,

then he would do everything in his power to make sure he was not a threat no more, even if he befriended El-ahrairah.

As he ended his personal reflection to himself, he snuggled his mate and his litter kittens close and went humbly to sleep.

Little did both HazelRah and Bigwig know,

they were indeed not the only two rabbits having a conversation about the new arrival of the Hlessi in Watership Down for in the middle of the vacant Honeycomb,

two rabbits were having an intimate conversation,

and one of the rabbits was the one who was being talked the about,

the Hlessi.

Around the time the Lion-headed Rabbit entered the Burrow of his Chief earlier,

a majestically Glowing White-gold rabbit

fadingly entered the warren of Watership Down without being seen by any of the Night Patrol Sentries that stood nearby.

The Majestic Rabbit made his way through the runs of this amazing warren,

focused on his search for his friend,

who lay asleep in one these burrows as he kept searching through them.

After a while,

he came across a single burrow, in which he found the Seer and his pregnant mate snuggly resting towards one another.

Next to the sleeping Seer, was the Hlessi who had been struggling to sleep for some time now.

The injuries of the Hlessi seemed to be slowly healing as would surely heal with time as his only concern.

As the Majestic Rabbit looked down upon the Hlessi,

he gave a sad yet joyful smile and approached the Hlessi and nuzzled him to get his attention.

Upon feeling the touch of another rabbit's nose tickling in his own muzzle and nose,

Vesper looked up to see the Majestic Rabbit looking back into his ghostly pure eyes as he had then smiled to see that his friend,

the Prince had come back to him.

The Majestic Rabbit backed away from his friend, and whispery stated to Vesper in a Gingerly tone “You seemed to have a hard time sleeping my dear companion.”,

in which Vesper responded sarcastically

“Well, you don’t seem to be helping, long ears.”

The Prince then gave a Vesper a smiling nod and motioned him to join him out of the burrow.

At first, it had taken a while, but the Hlessi had carefully made his way out of the burrow without waking the Seer and followed his friend through the runs into the now empty Honeycomb.

Upon the way,

the Hlessi had asked if he had something to do with it, in which the Prince responded that

'I was involved in no such thing,'

then winked to Vesper,

signaling he did indeed have been part of the reason he could not sleep.

Once there,

Vesper asked about the possibilities of someone coming into the Honeycomb and hearing them,

in which the Prince stated that it seem less of possibility for everyone was asleep in their burrows.

They then made their way towards the center of the Honeycomb, in which they then sat in front of one another.

All sudden,

the Hlessi gave the Prince an embrace that most rabbits were unfamiliar off, but to Vesper, was all too familiar with.

The Hlessi continued his hug,

yet he apologized for it because he had missed his friend and his human would do that once and while to show his affection towards him with these gestures.

The Prince was surprised at Vesper’s action with his eyes widening for no rabbit has ever hugged him the way man would,

but quickly stated that he was okay with it because normally he would not condone this type behavior adopted from man,

but for the Hlessi, he made an exception and Hugged back confusingly for he had also never hugged back too.

After their embrace, they separated and the Prince then began to apologize for the Hlessi being attacked by the Homba and he had deeply regretted that it happen.

The Hlessi responded to the now dispirited Prince in an understanding and soothing voice saying that

he had no part in what had happened to him and it was surely not his fault or anyone's fault but his and ended his response with a quote the Prince was all too familiar with,

‘For what is, is what must be.’

Yet the Prince had then said that he understood his friend's response, but still asked the Hlessi could still forgive him,

for he had still felt that he was still responsible for it.

Seeing that his close friend was still sadly upset,

he nuzzled his friend assuringly until he got his friend to become calm and then had stated that he would forgive his friend and upon hearing this,
the Prince had happily nuzzled back with a joy written smile.

At the Prince had lightened up,

he then asked how he was settling in with the rabbits he has met so far at Watership Down in which the Hlessi answered that so far to him,

the Rabbits he has met like the Seer and Lion-headed rabbit were very nice while the raconteur was funny every once while

and then told of how the Black-tipped ear rabbit had pulled off a magic trick that made him a hero even though the Hlessi knew what had really happened.

The Prince was satisfied with how the rabbits here were treating him so far

and then asked if he had told anyone about his past and who he really was, in which the Hlessi shakingly said no.

The Prince in the serious mood then stated a warning to him, that if he was not careful on who he told about his past,

then they would think he was a Hutch rabbit, or a dangerous rabbit and would surely kill him, and stated that if it were to come to that case,

then it would then be out of his powerful paws to help him, but could only intervene with reasoning or if needed, trickery.

The Hlessi responded that he had indeed known the risk of his harm upon releasing his personal information about himself

but stated that he believed that the Seer and the Lion-headed rabbit were probably the best rabbits he could possibly trust to tell, but he had added that he would,

unfortunately,

have to wait for the right time or the right scenario in order for it to become possible. However,

the Prince responded that there may also be the unfortunate possibility that if he were to tell the two rabbits,

and then they would his information with other rabbits,

]he could still be viewed as a threat and could end threatening the stability of his and other lives in Watership Down in which Vesper had agreed,

but would like to avoid that and believed the two rabbits could be trusted with his personal information and seemed like loyal rabbits to him.

The Prince then responded to his companion that he had hoped he was right about this and trusted him to make the right choices when the time came.

The Prince then stated that he would keep a close eye and ear towards his friend and wished him the best of luck in this wonderful warren for he had to leave.

He had then helped Vesper back to the entrance of Fiver's Burrow and once again turned back to his friend and

gave a smile that made Vesper's stomach fill up with butterflies.

Vesper had then said goodbye to his friend in which then unexpectedly hugged his friend close and told Vesper

'to take care now'

and his embrace by touching Vesper Nose with his own.

Vesper responded after their embrace that he thought the Prince did not condone this type of Gesture adopted by man,

in which the Prince looked back to him and said in an amused voice that 'he was the only exception to this gesture',

in which Vesper understandably nodded.

Then Vesper saw his friend,

El-ahrairah disappear through the runs of the warren as the Prince made his out of the warren and made one ghostly leap up the night sky towards Inle' and flying away the Downs of England.

Upon seeing his close friend leave,

Vesper had surprisingly felt tired and cautiously made his way inside the Burrow and made himself next comfortable next Fiver,

put his ears on the back of his head, and finally, shut his tired eyes for the satisfying sleep he craved for.

Little did both Vesper and El-ahrairah had known,

a rabbit of Watership Down had indeed been listening in on their conversation and after eavesdropping,

the young red-furred rabbit quietly made his way back to his burrow, deciding that tomorrow he would tell HazelRah would he had stumbled upon and what he had heard and learned from their conversation.

[Vesper]

Hello,   If you were Wondering, Chapter 11 is currently being worked on and will hopefully publish soon along with other upcoming Chapters. Thanks and I'll See you soon, Chao.