Would it be fairly safe to assume, do you think, that Clover’s litter is most probably Holly’s?
• Boxwood already had his doe, Haystack;
• Strawberry was ill, and would still be mourning the loss of Nildro-hain;
(and neither of them were particularly good fighters)
• Buckthorn is young and strong, but he was injured; and Holly outranks him, as an Owsla captain and his elder.
• also, Holly seems to be the one, of all of them, who might have some faint beginning of a friendship with Clover (takes notice of her as a strong sensible doe, tries to help her settle into a new life at the warren...).
— and all the rest of the bucks were of course away on the expedition to Efrafa.