sorry for the wait, lack of inspiration lately ^^;

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It was a long winter. Not very harsh, but long. Food was a little scarce, it was a little too cold to do much. Snow blanketed the area, making it fun for little kittens to play hide and seek. It was a typical winter, not horribly cold, not unusually warm. Something the band of odd rabbits were used to. But the cold didn't seem to make the homesickness any better.

It was near the end of winter, the snow was just starting to melt, and the smallest of buds were starting to pop out of the tips of tree branches. Fulu and Zilant decided to take a walk, considering it was much warmer that day than usual. They decided to take advantage of it.

The black splotched doe looked around, gazing at the dripping icicles and the bent brown grasses appearing in patches all around. She smiled. It was almost time to go home again. She looked to the black and white rabbit next to her. "Well... Almost time, isn't it? Clock said we would go home when the snow melts."

Zilant nodded, smirking. "But I have to wonder, does the snow have to melt completely, or does it just have to start?"

Fulu giggled, "Who knows, he could wake us up at the crack of dawn tomorrow and we wouldn't even know why."

The two walked on for a little while. For a few minutes, the two only glanced at each other and smiled. Zilant finally spoke up, "So... you really wanna do this..."

Fulu nodded, letting her black-tipped ears flop about. "Yep."

"You know, Clock said this wasn't the only trip we would be making."

"I know that."

"So... Wouldn't we miss something? A whole adventure just..." He glanced to the side for a moment. "I mean... you know..."

"Yeah, I know what you're saying..." She thought for a minute, then turned to him with a faint smile. "Well, we'll just have to tell Clock that we won't leave until we're ready. All of us." She smiled sweetly at him.

Zilant couldn't help but smile back. "You really think he'll listen?"

"Oh don't worry..." She glanced back in the direction of the burrow, "I know a few does who could help me out."

Zilant chuckled. The thought of three does ganging up on Clock was a funny one. He looked up at two icicles with a little miniature one in between. "Maybe we should think of names while we're here."

"Names? Hmm... Okay." Fulu nodded, noticing the same group of icicles. "Let's start with boy names."

"Hmm... I can't really..."

"How about Zilant Jr.?" Fulu said loudly, and giggled.

Zilant laughed, "I... don't think so."

"We'll see about that!"

"What if it's a girl?"

"Hmm... Girl names..."

"Maybe... Jayla?" Zilant looked at her, his smile fading a little.

Fulu stopped to look down in thought. She had forgotten that name entirely, though back home it was practically written all over her mask. She shook her head, "No... No, I'm sure she wouldn't want our fawn to be named after her... And you know what they say," She looked up, giving a small sad smile, "'What Mom says, goes.'"

"You really think she wouldn't want that?"

Fulu nodded, "I don't... I mean, I'm just guessing... I would never know the real answer, now would I?"

"No..." Zilant looked down, "I'm sorry."

Fulu shot a look at him, "There's nothing to be sorry about! The past is the past, it's not like she was the worst mother ever."

"True. But what about Skokey?"

Fulu looked back for a moment and sighed, "In all honesty... I don't know what made him think like that. It wasn't her fault, that's..."

"But, if she didn't have you... He wouldn't have gotten so angry."

"Yeah well... Nobody's perfect... She did want forgiveness, he was just too immature to see it at the time."

"Did he ever see it?"

That caught her off guard. It almost insulted her to hear that question. She remembered the night her mother died, and she came to stay with her brother. She remembered waking up later that night, and hearing someone cry. She knew there were only two other deer there besides her, a stag and a doe. The doe was not the one crying.

Fulu sighed, "Of course he did... I know that for sure. I heard it..." She looked at him, "I saw it."

"You saw it?"

"Yeah... I saw his regret. I saw it that night, while I was hearing him. You know what I mean..."

Zilant nodded, "Of course I do..." He had completely forgotten about Fulu's ability. She had only demonstrated it once to him, back when they were still unofficial. She said his voice was a beautiful sight.

"You think you could do that again?" He asked.

"Do what?"

"Look at a sound. Could you do that again? I've only seen you do it once..."

Fulu looked at him, her ears tilting downwards. "I dunno, Zilant... There's not much to see here. And all these sounds are hard to pick out. We would have to wait till we got home..."

Zilant smiled, "Sure... I'll tell you right now though... I want you to do something for me if you can."

Fulu's pitch black eyes blinked at him, "Yes?"

"I realize if it's too much for you, you don't have to do it, but... I want you... To try to see our fawn's first breath..."

Fulu stared at him. He stared back. Everything around them seemed to stop for an instant, only the fog of their breath moved before them.

The doe smiled, not knowing whether to cry or laugh, "I'll... I'll try Zilant... Just for you..." They came together and nuzzled each other. "I'll try my best..."

***

"Clock?"

The brown and gold-striped rabbit lifted his head from his meal, looking at the buck infront of him. "Hello, Grapevine. I haven't seen you in a while. How was winter for you brown rabbits over there?"

"Just fine, thank you... And, your warren, how have you been fairing?"

"Better than I thought, thanks to you." Clock offered a friendly smile.

"Look, um... I came over to tell you something." Grapevine looked concerned, now. It put Clock's smile out of place.

Clock nodded firmly, "What is it?"

"My friend, Whitefoot... You know him, right?"

"Yeah, I know him. Why?"

"One of your rabbits, the silent one..."

"Vessel?"

"Yes. He told... Well, not really told, but.. He informed me that he's been seeing a lot of our rabbits spying on your warren all winter. He must have a sharp eye to catch such dark rabbits at night."

"Spying, huh? What for?"

"Whitefoot is still not trusting you. He's been sending the spies to see if they could find anything unusual about you."

"I think were unusual enough already!"

"Well, yes... He's thinks you're evil. All of you. I had to hide from him just to meet with your silent rabbit."

"Vessel."

Grapevine shook his head, "Yes, yes, of course... Sorry."

"What should we do?"

"Well, as long as he doesn't do anything rash, you should be fine until you're ready to leave. But... Do be careful, really. Whitefoot can be a loose cannon at times. It's best to keep your guard up until you leave."

Clock nodded, "Of course. Thank you for telling me, Grapevine."

"You're very welcome. It's the least I can do, really. You've been very kind neighbors, the best we've ever seen. I don't know what's gotten into Whitefoot."

Clock nodded again, looking down at his food. He nosed some over to the brown buck, "Want some?"

"Oh..." Grapevine lowered his head and nibbled on it, then ate the whole thing. "Thank you... I haven't eaten very well today, you're too kind..."

Clock smiled, "It's no problem." Grapevine nodded, smiling, and headed out the burrow. "Come any time you like, you know."

"Yes, I know. Thank you." Grapevine finally slid out the burrow and started back to his own warren. Even though Clock always gave him that invitation, he never got tired of it. Maybe he should join them...

***

"Whitefoot..."

"Oakleaf? What is it?"

"One of the neighboring rabbits discovered us. Vessel, the silent buck."

"And?"

"He told Grapevine. We've been uncovered. We can't do this anymore."

"How on earth did that rabbit see you at night?"

Oakleaf shook her head slightly, unable to answer. She looked down on the little warren, sighing. "The snow has started to melt. Maybe it's time you talked to the chief rabbit."

Whitefoot nodded, "Yes..." He hopped away, down to the chief rabbit's burrow.