YEAH. ITS HERE FINALLY. YOU WAIT NO LONGER. is anyone even gonna read this?...

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"Mmm... Mercutio?"

"Hm?"

"We've been here a long time..."

"Indeed. I had lost track."

"When do you think we'll be going home?"

He let out a soft sigh, "I'm... not sure, exactly. Perhaps we should ask Clockwork. He is the one who plans these things, is he not?"

The two rabbits, Tropa and Mercutio, came over to Clock sometime after dark. He was half asleep, but could tell they were there. He let out a huge yawn, and pulled himself into an upright position.

"Something wrong?" He asked drowsily.

"Aye. Dost thou know how long we stay here?"

"Stay?... Here, um... Yeah, yeah I do..."

"How long?" Tropa shifted her ears forward.

Clock pulled in a breath, rubbing his eyes. "I'll tell all of you tomorrow... Okay?"

The two looked at each other, Mercutio's brow furrowing and Tropa's ears lowering. "Okay..."

***

"Whitefoot!"

A brown buck turned his head at his name. "Yes? Who is it?"

"It's me, don't worry."

"Oh, Grapevine. How are you?"

The darker rabbit flicked an ear, "Just dandy, thank you. And yourself? I haven't seen you in a while."

"Oh you've seen me. Just been too busy with things to talk. What with the new neighbors and all. I think we've finally settled into it."

"Yes... Quite a strange bunch, eh? Never seen rabbits like any of them before."

"And that accent! Makes you wonder if they're even from here."

Grapevine nodded, "They'll be here for a while though... I talked to their Chief not too long ago."

Whitefoot turned an ear while nibbling on some grass, "Oh? What did he say?"

"He said he would like to visit a lot more often. He told me that they would be staying for quite a long time."

"Visit? What kind of chief is he, moving around all the time. I hope he has good protection should he need it."

Grapevine smirked, "Oh I'm sure... He's got some pretty powerful does on his side."

"Does? As protection? Feh, nonsense... The rabbit needs a good captain. Are none of the bucks strong enough, that they have to rely on the does?"

"They all seem like they come from peaceful warrens... So maybe they never had to fight in the first place."

Whitefoot nodded, scratching an itch with his back left paw, which had a large patch of white on the top. "How long did he say they were staying?"

"Until the snow melts."

Whitefoot lifted his head and looked at Grapevine. "Until the snow melts? That's not for a long while!"

"Of course, that's why he said so. Clock finds our warren different, for some reason. At least that's what he told me. He wants to know us better, and he feels he'll need some time to ease into it. I don't see why, he can just come any time and I'll show him around."

"An impulsive rabbit, that one. I would keep an eye out for him. You can never be sure."

"Oh stop that, Whitefoot. They're perfectly harmless, trust me. You're always like this around strangers."

Grapevine left his friend to think, going in the direction of the neighboring warren. A doe came up to him soon after, talking to him.

"Oakleaf... Do you notice something strange about the neighboring warren?"

"Strange?" Her soft, high voice sounded. She tilted her head slightly, "Like what?"

"There's just... something about it, I don't know... We should keep watch over them..."

"Are you sure?"

Whitefoot nodded, "Yes... Tell me if you see or hear anything unnatural, will you?"

Oakleaf hesitated for a moment, then nodded, "Alright, Whitefoot."

***

"Until the snow melts??" Fenqua shouted, seemingly making the burrow shake.

The other rabbits cringed a little, others keeping their ground and nodding in agreement. Skokey put his paw on hers to calm her.

"Doesn't that seem like a little much?" Fulu asked, partially shaken from Fenqua's outburst.

Clock shrugged, "If you think it's too long, I'm sorry. I can't open the gate yet. We have to wait a year."

"A year." Tropa repeated, the others going into a quiet jabber among themselves.

"And what will our friends and family think? We've been here long enough as it is." Zilant remarked.

"You said.. It was to... experience different lives... Haven't.. we done that?" Xylia leaned against Vessel, who nodded after her.

Fenqua hopped up to him, backing him into a wall, "You take us back right now so we can tell everyone we're okay! I don't want any trouble back home!"

Clock lowered his ears, "You're scary when you're angry..." She backed away, going back over to Skokey and the twins. Clock sat back up, smoothing his ears out and sighing. "Look, there's a good explanation as to why we're staying so long. One, we've only experienced spring and summer. How are we supposed to know how rabbits live if we only get half the story?"

The others looked among each other, some nodding, others keeping silence. "Two, the Twin Gods promised me that a year in the Valley, or any other world, would only equal up to a day in the Forest. We could spend a huge portion of our lives here and come back finding that only a week has passed!"

"A day? That's it?" Danielle asked.

Clock nodded, "We haven't even been gone one whole day. Why do you think Faytha and Fenkovan aren't full grown yet?"

The whole group of rabbits looked to the two little kittens asleep behind their parents. Clock spoke up again, "Forest time sticks to us no matter where we go. We don't have to worry about anything."

Everyone chattered to each other for a few minutes, it slowly died down afterwards. Fenqua let out a breath, "Well then... I guess that's okay..."

Vessel's ears perked, he turned his head to the entrance. Someone was there.

***

"Whitefoot." Oakleaf came up to him, whispering.

"Yes? Did you hear anything?"

"Only whispers. I came by later this evening when I heard one of the does shouting. I came over to see what was happening, turns out they were having some sort of gathering."

"What did they say?"

"I didn't hear much... I did hear a few things, though. Something about Twin Gods, going back home... A forest... and something about time sticking to them..."

Whitefoots brow furrowed and he nodded as she went on. He shook his head when she was finished, "That does it... They are not from here. They talk nonsense... Either that, or they talk of something evil... Twin Gods? Must be their name for the Devil." He turned to her, "Oakleaf, try to tell as many as you can to be careful. I'll take this up with Grapevine sometime next month, after observing them myself."

Oakleaf started to shake at his theories, suddenly she felt his paw on hers. Whitefoot nodded at her, "You've been very helpful, Oakleaf... I'm grateful."

"Yes..." She looked to the little circle of trees where the other warren was. "Glad I could help..."

***

A couple weeks passed. It was getting much colder, the leaves started to change. Skokey and Fenqua walked out between the trees, keeping track of the twins. Skokey looked at her really for the first time in a while. Her pelt, which was beautiful in the Forest, was just as decorated and pretty as it always was. A few details might have been left out, but none of the patterns they had in the forest stayed with them. Only colors, and maybe some very simplified markings.

"Papa? Mama?" Faytha came bouncing up to them, her little fluff frizzed out. "It's cold!"

Skokey nodded, "Yes, Faytha. It gets cold after a while."

Fenkovan came up next to her, "When will it be warm again?"

Skokey looked to Fenqua, "Not for a while." She said, smiling gently, "But don't worry. It'll get really cold, and then it'll just get warmer and warmer after that."

"Then it won't be cold anymore?"

"Well... For a little while at least. Then it'll be cold again."

"Awwww..." Fenkovan stuck out his little tongue in minor disgust.

Skokey laughed, "Come on, little stag, let's just forget about it now and have some fun."

Fenkovan's face brightened, "Yeah!" He hopped up on top of him and started chewing on his ear.

Skokey and Fenkovan wrestled while Faytha stayed next to Fenqua. "Mama, why won't Papa play with me like that anymore?"

Fenqua sighed, nuzzling her daughter, "It's a boy thing. They're all a little stupid, and they'll never let you have any fun with them. But don't worry, girls get their own fun." She smiled at her, making her smile as well.

"Clock? Are you there?" A brown rabbit called from a little ways away. He came up to the two bucks wrestling, a small smile spreading on his face. "Hello."

Skokey was busy tickling his son for a while before noticing. "Oh!" He turned around and bowed his head, "Hello."

"Er, do you know where your Chief is?"

"Clock? Oh, umm..." He looked around a little, "I think he's in the burrow, over there." He pointed in the direction, as if Grapevine didn't know where he was going.

Grapevine thanked him and set off. He scrambled into the burrow, trying to find that brown and gold buck. He spotted him, hopping over to him. "Hello, Chief Clock."

Clock turned his head and smiled, "Oh, hello, Grapevine! What brings you here?"

"Oh nothing, really. Just came by for a visit. See how things were doing?"

"Oh, the warren? We're doing just fine, thanks to your help. I'll tell you something, our area wasn't anything like yours!"

"You're area? Where do you come from?"

"Oh, uh..." Clock thought for a moment, panicking slightly on the inside. "Far, far to the East. I can't even imagine how far I've traveled..."

"The East? I wasn't aware there were rabbits there... It's a bit barren."

"We did find a barren spot before finding you... It's pretty much the same, maybe a little more sparse in food. That was a reason some came along with us, because they knew there was more food elsewhere."

"I can see you've found quite a few warrens. Are they really that packed together?"

"No, no, no... I told you I came from far away. But there are more than one rabbit from some warrens."

"I guess I haven't noticed..." Grapevine looked around, everyone else was outside.

"Well, I'll show you." Clock said with a smile, leading him out of the burrow. He saw Danielle, and pointed to her. "That doe, Danielle and..." He spotted Skokey, "That one, Skokey. They look the same don't they?"

"Yes, they do..."

"Well, they came from one warren." He pointed to Vessel and Mercutio, "They came from one warren too. See?"

"Yes... Is anyone else from the same warren?"

Clock tilted his head and looked around. "Not that I see..."

"What about those two?" Grapevine pointed to Xylia and Tropa. "They have very odd looking fur..."

"They were two warrens very close to each other. Something about their genetics, I think the two warrens were connected somehow, but I'm not sure."

"You say you come from the East?"

"Yeah."

Grapevine nodded, "That probably explains the accent."

"Accent?" Clock smiled, "Oh yeah, I forgot about that."

"I've never heard anything like it before. I've heard rabbits from the North though, they have strange accents too."

Clock let out a sigh of relief on the inside. They blended in even better than they thought! Clock smiled and nodded, listening to Grapevine's story of his meeting with the Northern rabbits.

"However... The Northern rabbits were white, or light gray, either one. They looked more like us than you. Why do you think?"

Clock's ears twitched slightly, "Maybe... it's just... where we come from?"

"You wouldn't know?"

"No, I wouldn't... It's strange, though, that we look so different. I wonder what Southern rabbits look like..."

Grapevine let out a little chuckle, "They probably look stranger than all of you combined."

Clock chuckled, letting a pause break their conversation for a little while. Grapevine drew in a breath, "My friend, Whitefoot... He's a very paranoid rabbit, you know. He says he doesn't trust you."

"Oh yeah? Well, I won't blame him, we're just a bunch of strangers."

"It's more than that, he thinks you're... unnatural or something."

Unnatural... How would he know... Clock nodded, "Well, like I said... We look a lot different, have funny accents, do things differently... He's probably just used to same old same old, you know?"

Grapevine nodded, "Yes. Don't worry, he should get over it soon. And then he'll be a good friend to you, I promise."

"And how would you know?"

Grapevine smiled, "Well, he did the same thing to me."

Clock looked at him, and smiled. "It's getting late. Maybe you should go back before something finds you."

The brown buck nodded, "Of course. Well, I'll see you around, then. Good night, Chief."

"Good night, Grapevine."