“Haystack?” Acorn responded to the voice that was distinctly not hers. It wasn’t even a doe’s.
“Not quite. It’s such a shame you chased your friends away. They make life so worth-” the low voice started.
“Speedwell? Stop playing,” Acorn tried, but the voice continued as if there had been no interruption.
“-but then I suppose they already know about all this. They were there.”
“Where? Who are you? Hawkbit? HAWKBIT! There’s a hlessi in the warren!” Acorn croaked, but there was no sound coming from up the run. His friend was not there.
“You were there too. But your eyes were not open,” the stranger continued, as if nothing had happened.
“What are you talking about? A blind rabbit is a dead rabbit," Acorn replied, finally acknowledging the voice directly.
“Which you soon will be. Yet you were blind to how wonderful you’ve made the lives of others.”
“What are you getting on about?" said Acorn with more than a note of confusion. He returned to the comfort of his familiar talking points, having little mind for anything else. "I’ve clearly done nothing grand in my life. You’re in the wrong burrow.”
“Nothing grand, yes. But few rabbits do. It is the small acts, made Frith-by-Frith, taken in sum, that add up to a life of greatness.”
“Greatness, huh? Heh, well, no one remembers the small acts. Can you imagine Dandelion telling a story about the time I found Haystack some clover? Very thrilling,” Acorn scoffed.
“You may think that. But you would certainly recognize their absence.”
“No one would recognize MY absence. They’re better off without me. Why do you think no other rabbit in my burrow, save a mud-brained stranger who is trying to weave a story about a rabbit who has none?”
"No one is the protagonist of every story, but everyone is the lead role in the story that matters most: their own."
"Huh, well, I'm mine own antagonist I suppose. It would have been better if my story weren't written"
"You must stop speaking like that. Your story is the greatest gift Frith has given you."
"Well I didn't ask for it! He can have it back for all I care!" Acorn shouted, before a coughing fit forced him to quiet down.
“You are unconvinced by words alone. That your life was worth living, for others and yourself. In that case, I will show you.”
“Show me? Show me what? In case you've forgotten, I’m dying and can hardly go any-”
“I will grant you your request. Your life will have never begun. You will never start running.”
"Sure, thanks El-ahrairah. I'm sure that...huh?"
A great wind WHOOSHED its way into the warren, down the run and into his burrow. But instead of a shiver, Acorn felt something else. In the merest of moments, Acorn felt the constant chill which had wracked his bones for so many Inle melt away. It was as if he had swallowed a little bit of Frith, and now his entire body felt warm and light. His muscles felt renewed with a sudden strength, his sinews snapping into place with a vigor he had not known since he was a youth. His body didn't feel like his, for his was broken and dying. This one was easy and light, as free as a whisper in the wind.
Whoever this body belonged to, Acorn happy to borrow it. "What is all this then?" he asked, remembering the stranger. Despite the sudden renewal of his senses, he found it difficult to catch the scent of the hlessi.
"You've gotten your wish. You never started running," said the stranger.
"What are you talking about? I feel like I could run to Sandleford and back again now...Yeouch!" Acorn exclaimed, rising to his paws. He had bumped his head on a root that had run its way across the top of the burrow. He hadn't remembered that being there.
"Not you. You weren't born, remember?" the voice replied.
"Like hraka I wasn't. I feel more alive than I've ever been!"
"And was that you bumped into just now? A root that had never been chewed away, because no rabbit tidied up your sick burrow."
"It is funny that Hawkbit missed that, then again he was always a little scatterbrained," Acorn mused.
"Feel the earth. You may find the mark of where you had just laid, but not the impression of the doe who had spent three Inle caring for you," the voice continued, an edge of impatience barely perceptible behind the dry officiousness.
"Well how about that, Haystack is a light sleeper," Acorn admitted, although he was more focused that he could feel his paws again than what he felt with them. "But what I'm really feeling is famished. Where is Speedwell's grass?"
"He never brought it, because you were never here to bring to."
"Bah, I've had enough of your word games...mate.
"Borealis, the Color of Inle," the stranger replied.
"Bory, right. I've heard enough puzzles from Blackberry to last a lifetime. Now I don't know what happened to the grass Speedwell brought, but I certainly know where to get more. I'm going out to silflay, snow or no," said Acorn, hopping out of the burrow for the first time since his illness. Gaining speed as he exited in the run, he tumbled over a thicket growing over the mouth of the warren. He landed on his back with a grunt, sinking good way into the crisp snow. He had forgotten how cold winter was.
Still, he knew of a few spots on the top of the down that he knew he could dig up winter wheat. Steam billowing forth in whisps from his snout, Acorn righted himself and set off up the slope. It was a gloomy enough day, Frith hidden behind a gray moras of cloud covered the sky as far as could be seen, which was not far owing to a thick wet fog that hugged the hill like a wet leaf on a river rock. Still, Acorn knew his way up, and he had soon tramped a trail to the top.
As the down leveled off to its gentle top, Acorn hopped his way over to where the beech hanger grew. Winter wheat he knew grew not far from the base, and if he could just find where Speedwell had dug up his portion he'd be all set to silflay. He began to puruse the ground, look for where his friend had overturned the snow. It was hard enough finding the other rabbit's tracks, not to mention where he had silflayed. The snow was not new enough to have covered the other rabbit's trail already, so where was it?
"Who're you?" a voice grumbled behind Acorn, which immediately ceased his pondering.
As Acorn made an about face, he was able to see the speaker. A large grey rabbit, who would easily outweigh Acorn despite how his current leanness. Recognition suddenly dawned on Acorn. "Silver?"
"That's right. But who are you, hlessi?"
"Silver! It's me, Acorn. I'm not dead yet you know!" Acorn exclaimed, feeling a bit miffed at the other rabbit's strange sense of humor. Which he couldn't recall Silver every really having, to be honest.
"Acorn? Why would you be dead? You look as fed as a rat a silo. But I don't know you from El-ahrairah," said Silver with a sniff.
It took Acorn another moment to realize the buck was being serious. "I don't know what you're on about, Silver. We've been together since Sandleford."
"Sandleford? Haven't heard of that warren in a while. That's three Frith's away. How do you know about that?" the big buck replied, sounding more confused than suspicious.
"Because I was born there, same as you."
"But why are you here then?"
"Because I came from there, to here, with you. What do you want a chap to do, tell you our whole story, from Nuthanger to Efrafa?" said Acorn with clear exasperation.
"I don't know about no Efrafa, but if you know anything about Nuthanger you'd best shove off. Brought this place nothing but trouble," Silver sighed heavily.
Acorn didn't know what to make of his companion's apparent lunacy, but he decided to switch the subject before they both froze out in the snow. "Why aren't you at silflay? There's no other reason to be out in this ilk."
"Huh, if you can find anywhere to silflay up here, hlessi, your welcome to it. Only reason I'm out is because I heard you coming, and thought you were some rabbit else."
"Heard me coming? From where?"
"Our warren, of course. We called it the Honeycomb," Silver replied, gesturing behind him towards the Beech hanger.
Acorn had already begun to dig away a layer of snow in search of the elusive winter wheat. "Can't see why you're still up here, Silver. Efrafans gave it a gaping new view of Frith through the ceiling. I know the winter burrow is crowded, but it's better than freezing your fur off up here."
"Winter burrow? Hole? Your not one of those brained vision rabbits, are you Alder?"
"Acorn. And you've spent too long staring at the moon, mate. I think you're struck. I'll tell Bigwig to come get you when I'm done with silflay," Acorn said dismissively, sinking his head into the hole he dug to search for grass. A snarl from the other buck caused Acorn to rip it right back out.
"BIGWIG? That disgraceful shrub headed elil? If you've seen that buck, you're walking tharn," Silver said, eyeing him cooly.
"Thalayli is your first rate mate Silver! Why's it so crazy to have seen him?" Acorn started, taken aback by the buck's sudden viciousness.
"Because Thalayli stopped running. I killed him myself."
Topic: Writing event #5: New Year (Read 1001 times)