Welcome to Gaia! ::

There was a cool fog on the down that morning. It chilled Dogsbane's fur, even from inside the burrow, against his dad and brother and mom. He woke to it, shaking. "Brrr..." was all he managed before getting to his feet. He stepped over to his father and nudged him with his head. "Da...Da..." he muttered, pawing his dad's ear. "Da...I'm hungee...will you get flay for me?"

He was used to his dad getting a little whippit of grass or dandilion greens when he was feeding off his Marli. But he was becoming spoiled, having eaten three meals inside the saftey of his burrow now. "Da..." he repeated.

His hind leg thumped and he went up and down erect at his words. He wiggled his fluffy tail and bounded around the burrow once, nearly crushing his brother under his hind feet. "Yeah! I lub going ousside!" he exclaimed. He'd been out three times. Once with his Marli, on a tiny tour of the down outside the burrow...and twice on his own, when he'd slunk away while they slept and darted outside for the breifest of seconds. Now he'd be allowed to go with his pa! And flay- no, silflay all on his own! He was very excited. "Can we go now?!" he asked in his chipper little voice. He was so fond of his Da. So fond of his scars and tattered body...so fond of the tag in his ear.

He didn't have one, but he wanted one. He hadn't seen another rabbit with one. His Da was a special rabbit. He wanted to be special too. And he knew his dad was very brave and strong and not-afraid of anything. He wanted to prove to his dad he was the same by going for hi silflay.

He followed eagerly after his pa. "Oh, i promise!" he said eagerly. "I'll listen with both paws and a mouth in my ear!" He had heard a visiting doe say that to his Marli once...he thought. It sounded right.

He scurried up behind his dad, almost crashing into his rump twice. "Oooh, I ain't afraid of any danger, Da! Danger's...uh...danger's like..Marli!" he didn't know anything less dangerous, but a better one would have been a dandilion puff.

He felt the blast of cold morning air rush in, the sun just beginning to rise in the east. He shuddered. "brrr...its cold, da..." he didn't like the cold, but he was still eager to go outside.

He looked at his paws, then stuffed them into his mouth and lifted his ears. He squeaked as he bit his own paw. "Ow..." he muttered. He shook himself, then listened.

"I am afraid of elil, da." he said. "Elil....elil is like a homba, or a lendri, right?" he had only heard of such beasts. "Da...how do you know which animals are elil and which ones aren't? What animals are in the thousand?"


He clambered out, almost pushing into his Da's side, snuffling the cold air.

He looked at the cropped, limp grass and made a face. The flay his father always brought was cool and green, but he watched his father for a moment, then began to nibble at the tips of the grass, not going for the bases.

"Would another rabbit eat me, da?"

He then paused and went erect. The wind rushed across the down and he trembled. "ELIL!?" He shouted, never having heard such a wind. it...it howled.

He relaxed a bit as he went back to his flay. His dad knew everything. His dad was smart and fast and brave. If he said there was nothing to fear, there wasn't.

But he was always curious about that tag. He had been told not to speak of it by his Marli, but the question popped out.

"Da...where did you get the stubby in your ear?"

He raised his head and stopped chewing, eyes wide for a second with fear, then relaxing and becoming sharp again. "I ain't afraid! I ain't even a'scared of the general!" he boasted. In his mind, he was lying- he had nightmares about the General sometimes, though he could only imagine from the tales what he looked like.

He slid a little closer to his Da. "Pleaseee?" he asked.