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Cotton Thistle felt as if he had just settled down in the warm lining of his den when some frantic movement and chattering passed by it. His ears perked, picking up a few words in passing. "Something going on outside about…hlessi?" The buck thought as he gathered himself up, though half the Owsla officers would probably be on it already. He exited his den and on swift feet Cotton Thistle made his way to the main run, emerging on to the snow covered down.

Standing at the entrance blankly for a few seconds he waited for his grey eyes to refocus, the blinding white of the snow stinging his eyes. He wondered what these hlessi wanted, hoping it wasn't a place to stay, they were already low enough on food as it was. As his eyes readjusted he spotted where a few rabbits were gathering, and, as he made his way closer he only spotted more. He had been right, a good many Owsla members had already gathered round along with the handful of others - including Branken-rah and Cocklebur - from over top their heads he could spot some of the withered hlessi. The buck was a bit surprised to see a few of them; when hearing about hlessi on the down it was usually one or two, not what appeared to be five.

With snow clinging to his fluffy fur the ex-hlessi made his way down to the gathering of rabbits, taking in the small bits of conversation that flew on the air.

Dragon ascended from the warren, glaring with fierce grey eyes at the newcomers. He lifted a lip, teeth grinding together. He stood with his head forwards, ears flat and his body dipped down, a rather predatory pose. He knew his chief and captain could handle it, but the wheels in his head were spinning out of control, regardless of the expression on his face.

The seer had warned of this. He was a strong believer in their visions, ever since the one predicted his tail would be ripped off. He had half a mind to charge in and scare them all off, but he merely bounded closer, letting out a small growl.


















"What's happening?" A quiet voice slipped up beside Ginkgo as level headed, cheerful Dogsbane overlooked the scene. He gave his hopeful mate a few gentle licks on the ears and blinked over at the hlessi. They didn't look so dangerous, or a need for alarm. They were greatly outnumbered here. Dogsbane stretched out, surprisingly late for being a swift runner, and perked up his ears.


















There was one other who wasn't going to stand for questioning to Cocklebur-rah. At least, that was what Pitchweed called him. He had left the beech tree, which had most of its reachable bark stripped, the moment he heard Cocklebur's voice. He assumed his mate was behind him, but didn't look back to check. He came upon the group and ignored the hlessi for now. His attention was on the argument between the true chief, the officer and the old snoozydrawers who ran warrens poorly. Though he was not an owsla himself, his dark-as-night body moved in behind Cocklebur, his multicolored eyes glaring at Pepper.

Few warrens would welcome a band of hlessi in the middle of the winter. They had been asked to leave, but there had been no death threats involved as of yet. Hopefully they'd be able to stick around for a little while before the Rah sent out his owsla to drive them away. This warren might even benefit from losing some rabbits to them...

"You wouldn't know of any shelter nearby," he asked, voice weak from fatigue or possibly from very good acting, "I'm sorry Lark, but I don't know if I can go much further today, and I don't want to draw elil to this warren by sitting out in the open."

He then remembered that Lark had told them he would do the talking, and he lowered his head, hoping that he hadn't ruined anything by speaking out of turn.

Althea was rather grateful to Ginkgo fetching Bracken, watching as the smaller buck disappeared into the warren proper. It still amazed her that he had survived the last raid. The memory of his broken body wasn't a pleasant one, but she disregarded it to deal with the matters at hand.

Staying clear and trying to keep the rabbits that kept appearing calm, she turned her head when Cocklebur approached, standing tall on hind legs for a moment in the customary salute. Bracken wasn't fair behind and she nodded towards her Rah with as much respect as always, even though their relations had been a bit more personal as of late.

Gathering her bulk behind the two bucks in a show of adding her force to theirs as they approached the hlessi band, she kept her tongue still and simply watched.

Her breath caught momentarily as Pepper confronted Cocklebur; anticipating a scrap that never came. At least not yet. It wasn't her place to interfere, but it was yet another issue arising for the warren.

Twitching her ear as her eyes narrowed at this 'Lark' as he spoke of keeping this band nearby, she couldn't help but appear threatening, even if she bit her words. Keep an eye on them, no doubt. Perhaps another warren looking for food. Frith and Inle', they were certainly making a mess of this by arguing right in front of them.

She didn't like this at all, including Bracken being so close to them. Whatever they might say, hlessi tended to be sicker than most and it would be their luck if they brought with them the White Blindness.

She made a note to talk to Bracken later, in private. Now wasn't the time to add her opinions.

Diseased? Hmm... Hare brought up a good point. Disease was an insidious killer, lurking in seemingly healthy rabbits. With the current health of the warren, all it would take was one sick bunny to wipe out the elderly and the young (what few survived the harsh winter anyway). And they were still getting over the last sickness the hlessi brought with them. Although, these rabbits didn't seem ill. Then again, they never did. Right up until the point where they suddenly were sick and so was everyone else.

Bracken was quite right to send the hlessi away, she thought. There were too many mouths to feed as it was, unfortunately, and still not enough flay to go around. 'Well, that's that,' the doe thought to herself as the Rah spoke his piece. The homeless rabbits, sad as it was, would have to find shelter somewhere else.

And then one spoke. To her. Directly to her. The brown buck's words caught the gray doe by surprise, since she thought no one had been listening to her words besides Hare and Silver Flare. But no. The hlessi was listening.

His attention hadn't been focused on the Rah and his owsla chief after all, but on the warren members. Now why would a hlessi do that? Perhaps she was being paranoid. Maybe the rabbit was just grateful for any bit of kindness. But the doe's curiosity was roused. She stepped forward.

“Bracken-rah, if I may, I'll happily guide these hlessi to the woods so they may remain hidden. We don't want them to attract elil by being in the open like this.”