Comet awoke up to the sound of rabbits coming into the burrow, talking hurriedly.
There was a young rabbit stumbling along beside an older rabbit. His ear was torn and bloody, blood dripped into his eyes.
Ruby quickly got into action, ordering the rabbit to sit down while grabbing various supplies. She got the older rabbit to press some cloth onto his ear while she cleared his face of blood.
“Is that the hare?” Asked the strange rabbit, letting go of the cloth a bit.
“Be quiet Spruce and keep pressing the cloth.” Said Ruby,.
Comet considered offering to help until he realised he would have no idea what he was doing.
After the bleeding had stopped, she ordered Spruce to remove the cloth slowly and she quickly covered the wound in some thick paste.
“I think it would be good if he stayed here for a day to avoid the wound being irritated and opened again.” She said. “How did it happen?”
“Wild rabbits attacked our group while I was taking the Learners to the upper garden. The wild rabbits had completely ruined it. They’ve never come to the garden before and even the Watchers couldn't stop them.” He explained, his eyes wide with concern. “Luckily, Pine was the only one injured.”
“I wouldn’t call that lucky.” Pine said, scrunching up his nose.
“Be grateful you’re alive.” Said Ruby coldly. “It is a shame that the upper garden was destroyed, there were important herbs there.”
“Yes, it is. Generations of gardeners cultivated that garden. The lower garden doesn’t have enough produce, especially in this heat.” Said Spruce.
“SilverSkull and the Magia will drive the wild rabbits out so we can fix it though, right?” Asked Pine.
“I hope so, I just find the wild rabbits' aggression concerning. The garden is far away from their territory.” He said and sighed. “I better go, the other Learners will be waiting for me.”
After he left, Pine looked at Comet.
“Do you think you can heal my ear?” He asked.
“What? How am I supposed to do that?”
“Well, I thought you might be able to… since you’re a hare.”
“I haven’t trained yet.” He said. Though the idea of being able to heal injuries sounded pretty exciting.
“Leave him alone, both of you are meant to be resting. Besides, I doubt hare’s have healing powers, I’ve never heard of Orion having the ability.
“Do you know what powers hare’s do have then?” Asked Comet hopefully.
“I’m sure Orion will explain it to you.” She said, more focused on mixing herbs than what he was saying.
“Have you met him?”
“Yes, only a couple of times, now be quiet and let me concentrate.” She said.
”I heard that he's super old and lives alone in that creepy cave. The Magia hardly lets any rabbit see him because they’re worried that another colony might try kidnapping him.” Explain Pine excitedly.
Comet eagerly started asking questions.
Ruby sighed. “Comet, you seem to be doing fine now. Go and find Magia Janu. He’ll be somewhere in the warren but check the treasury first.”
Pine and Ruby watched Comet with expectation. He didn't want to admit his cluelessness about navigating the warren or even locating the treasury.
"Alright," he said, approaching the exit. Peering under the cloth, he was met with complete darkness. He sighed, realising he was lost without a guide. "I'm sorry, I have no idea where I'm going... Why isn't the colony fully lit?"
“We don’t have enough Diamond stones to go around.” She said. “It doesn’t matter though, we can navigate the warren just from memory and smell.”
“I can’t do that… maybe you can take me to him?” He asked hopefully.
“Fine, I’ll take you to him… but Pine, don’t touch anything and just rest, I don’t want your wound reopening.” Said said. Pine snorted as they left the burrow.
”As we go, I want you to use all your senses to sense and memorise the route we’re going. Once you’ve done it a couple of times, you won’t even have to think about it.”
”Alright.” He said nervously.
Comet was silent as Ruby navigated through the winding tunnels of the warren. He tried his best to remember each turn and twist in the tunnel and each burrow Ruby pointed out.
When they got to the treasury, she told him to wait. He got a slight glimpse into a bright room before she disappeared. A moment later, she appeared with Magia Janu.
”Ruby says you’ve recovered so it’s time to begin your training.”
”Really?”
”There isn’t any time to lose.” He said and after a quick goodbye to Ruby they parted ways.
Finally, natural light filtered down into the warren which they followed up to the surface. He was relieved to be above ground and his head hurt from concentrating, he wasn’t sure how much he even remembered.
Then he realised it was already afternoon, his usual feeding time. He looked up the valley, trying to get a glimpse of the farmhouse but down here, he couldn’t even see the treeline. The Old Man would know he was missing soon if he didn’t already know.
For a moment, he considered running straight back up the valley until he remembered the wild rabbits and rebels that had tried to kill him. Hopefully, the Old Man wouldn’t be too worried about him.
“Comet, Can you come over here?” Called Janu. He sat under a bush with a rabbit much larger than himself beside him.
Comet cautiously approached him. That couldn’t be Orion, he didn’t look like a hare. He held himself with an air of authority and was ticked dark grey fur with strange white markings on his face.
“Comet, this is SilverSkull. He is the leader of the North Silver Colony.” Said
“Soon to be leader of both colonies.” He said. “I can’t wait to introduce you to the north, it will give them hope.”
“Orion has to show us he really can use the power of fortune first.” Said Janu.
They headed towards a large willow tree in front of the cliff side. Comet suddenly lurched forwards, as his front paw slipped into a puddle. He growled with annoyance as he pulled it out, staring at it covered in mud.
“How do rabbits live here?” He muttered.
“It’s easy when you’re used to it and have big paws.” Said SilverSkull. “Just pay attention to where you’re going.”
Comet didn't think that was a necessary comment. He just hoped that the muggy weather would help dry his paw. He tried avoiding stepping in the muddy parts of the marsh the best could.
They finally got close enough to the willow tree to see a large cave peeking behind it. He started getting more nervous than he already was. The fears of Spruce and Pine echoed in his mind.
Part of him really couldn’t accept that he was a hare and he was scared of what one would be like. If Orion expected him to be a powerful and wise hare, he was going to be disappointed.
At least he would finally get to see what the powers of fortune were and if they were even real.
They reached the mouth of the cave and stopped, the darkness loomed over him. He could see nothing.
“We’ve got the hare, can we come in?” Asked Janu.
“Come.” He said, in an old creaky voice.
Janu and SilverSkull moved forwards, leaving Comet with no choice but to enter. He took a deep breath and slowly crept in, taking tentative steps.
“Hello?” Janu called. He seemed more annoyed than nervous.
“Keep going.” Said the voice.
He could still see only darkness.
As Comet kept going, he noticed the cave was being illuminated, with various odd artefacts sparkling and casting long shadows. The ethereal glow gave the cave a surreal ghostly feel. Comet got disoriented and bumped into something with fur.
He moved back a couple of steps. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you. I was distracted.” He stared wide eyed at the silhouette of the hare before him, he was taller than him but before he could see him fully, he slipped back into the shadows.
“You’ll be able to see more soon.” He said.
He continued to move along, touching objects, lighting them up one by one. They were even larger and brighter than the diamond stones in the warren. They reflected perfectly off the strategically placed artefacts.
Now with the brighter light, he could see they were various human objects and more importantly could see the hare better. He was bigger than him, with bigger ears, bigger eyes and brown scraggly fur unlike this shiny black and tan fur. He did have the same build as him and a similar face though, so he resembled him more than any other rabbit.
“Introduce yourself” Muttered Janu, nudging him.
“Yes, uh, my name is Comet.”
“I know.” He said. “I’ll teach you to use the powers of fortune but first, I’ll need you two to leave.” Janu and SilverSkull were visibly surprised.
“Leave? We need to see if he has power.” Said Janu.
“Don’t you trust me?”
SilverSkull shifted awkwardly.
“Of course we do.” Said Janu. “We just want to be able to see it with our own eyes.”
“You will, in a little while.”
“How long is a little while exactly? I want to introduce him to the colony.” Said SilverSkull.
“Come back tomorrow morning.” He said. Janu and SilverSkull didn’t argue anymore and left.
Comet was uneasy being left alone here though at least if he failed, there were two less witnesses.
ns 15.158.61.48da2
