The Feast of Frith (A WaterShip Down fanfic)

Chapter 5: A Telling-off

Walnut sat on the soft floor of the Chief's burrow, and waited to be called in by Primrose-rah. He sighed, scratching absently at his long ear. "Walnut!" Came Primrose-rah's voice. The young buck hopped in through the roots that blocked the entrance. Primrose-rah was sat on some straw bedding that probably the Owsla had collected for her, and next to her was Nettle with a nasty scratch on his nose. Nettle glanced at Walnut, then crawled out of the burrow. "So, Walnut," She began "I hear you had an issue with more elil today eh?" The old doe sighed, and got comfortable in her nest. "I'm sorry Primrose-rah, I went outside to silflay, and then that stupid stoat attacked me! I'm sorry, I never meant for this to happen." Walnut tried to look as apologetic and innocent as he could, drooping his ears and lowering his head. Primrose-rah looked at him for a second then nodded slowly. "In case you don't remember, Walnut, I gave a speech earlier on, saying that we couldn't go silflay because of the homba, and then you go and do that!" She seemed really upset over the fact that one of her warren deliberately disobeyed her. "I didn't think it would matter if only one rabbit went out. Plus, it's only ni-Frith, and I didn't think elil hunted at this time of day." Walnut said in defense of himself. Primrose-rah looked at him, then smiled "I won't punish you Walnut, because I know you didn't mean for this, I say that we forget about this ok?" "Ok" Walnut agreed. He was about to leave, when he asked one last thing. "By the way, why were the burrows closed up?" "Oh, we did that because homba are known to dig into warrens, so we filled them in." Primrose-rah started nibbling her fur, giving a hint for Walnut to leave. 

Walnut had left the Chief burrow, and gone to the Hall to socialize. When he got there, all eyes turned to him. As he walked past them, they pretended to not notice him, and ignored him when he said something. Columbine, a yearling like himself, had growled when Walnut approached. Walnut had been startled, and backed into Buttercup, an old doe, and she had growled too. Walnut ran to his burrow, and had climbed in, when Orchid joined. "Why are they behaving like this?" He said in an upset manner. Orchid nuzzled him "I'm sorry Walnut, they have got a conspiracy theory that you are bad luck and that you attract elil." She said honestly. Walnut wanted to wail and cry like a kitten, but he didn't. "Well, there's only one for thing for it," He said "What?" Orchid asked. "I'm going to go and find the raiding party, and bring them back in time for the Feast!"