“Ashley I hope your right. If it’s not surrender than it’s a trap.” Marshmallow warned.
After a while of talking and laughing with each other (including Nurse Ashley) a young pika, no older than eight appeared and said, “I am searching for the Dark Knight, I have a message for him from the Elder Rabbit.”
“Boy I am over here. What is the message?” Marshmallow waved the boy over to him.
The boy whispered in his ear and then saluted and scampered off. “Well we have the answer to this stupid war.” Marshmallow started.
“What is it, what is the answer” Lola cried out.
“The boy said………. The war is over!” Marshmallow yelled this last part. Lola began to cry tears of joy and she hugged Marshmallow and they kissed each other.
The war was finally over.
Finding Arkansas
After the war was over a new matter had arrived. This matter was Arkansas. The rabbits and pikas decided that the creatures not leaving to find Arkansas would begin to build the village. The search party leaving insisted of Lola, Pebbles, Marshmallow, Jimmy, Cheese, and Nurse Ashley and left immediately. Cheese led the way to Arkansas, heading down the mountain and into the thickly wooded forests. For what seemed for days they traveled until they arrived at a small cave and rock formation. “She should be in the cave. I will see. Arkansas!” Cheese called out to his sister and a small rabbit peered out of the cave. This rabbit was darker than night and half the size of Pebbles. On her nose was a small grey smudge. Somehow you could see family resemblance between her and Pebbles.
“Arkansas, is that you?” Pebbles seemed hesitant speaking to his long lost sister.
“Pebbles?” Arkansas hopped into the light and towards the small group as she asked.
“Arkansas, I, I, I don’t know how to say it.” With these words Pebbles embraced Arkansas. “Arkansas please come with us and live with us. Cheese is coming too. We are like three siblings now instead of two. We are building a village. Oh Arkansas we just fought a war, it was horrible, though luckily I was medic. These are my friends and the people who are my other family. This is my best friend Lola and these guys are Cheese, Jimmy, and Nurse Ashley. And this here is the Dark Knight, but you can just call him Marshmallow. Can you believe I met him! Not only that but we are friends and all of us are adventurers. And all of this is due to Lola who stuck with her plan to build a village. I’m so happy I found you!” Pebbles began to cry tears of joy after giving a speech that was worthy of Jimmy’s nonstop blabber and Arkansas proceeded to meet everyone with a kind and polite attitude.
With that the search group took Arkansas to the village. On the way there Jimmy fascinated and bored Arkansas with his stories. “Look everyone!” Cheese yelled out and pointed at the now partially built city made of mud brick and straw buildings and dirt roads.
Building the Village
For three months they built. They built houses, a meeting place, a market, a well, and a school. Every single day they would build, creating the village brick by brick, piece by piece.
I am finally building my village and what could be more perfect. I have my family, my friends, my love, and now I am creating my own village with them. Best of all we are working together and we are all still here. For sure Jimmy has a disadvantage but we still all share the work. Just imagine being able to all work and live together every day and every night. And imagine always having a safe place to be in, something that before now was always out of reach after Williams died. I finally don’t have to be constantly worried and I can just live a more relaxed life. No people or rats trying to kill me. No creatures to save or hawks to attack me. And just in case I have a whole village to help me.
“Lola, Lola come here! Come here! I have the most wonderful news!” Pebbles beckoned to Lola as they walked back to their almost finished homes for the night from a hard day of working on the town center, digging the well, quarrying small rocks for the bases of the buildings and for the well.
“Pebbles, what is it?” Lola hoped it was worth her while, her feet were sore from the work and she couldn’t wait to lie down and sleep.
“Well,” Pebbles began to blush as he talked, “Ashley and I have been talking and, we’ve decided to get well, we’ve decided to get married!” Pebbles was now completely red in the face out of shyness and excitement.
“Why Pebbles that’s so wonderful! When is the wedding going to be? Are you still gonna live with your siblings or not? Do you mind if I tell Marshmallow? I’ll let you tell Jimmy, you know he’ll tell everyone. I am so excited for you!” Lola was in high spirits for Pebbles.
“We don’t know when. We’re gonna build a third room on our house for us. That makes a livin’ room, a room for Arkansas and Cheese, and a room for Ashley and me. You can go ’head and tell Marshmallow and anyone else. I’m gonna tell Jimmy and Erinson tonight. They’re comin’ for dinner. I think Jimmy has a sweet spot for Arkansas. Don’t worry though ’bout you too much. I told Ashley to throw the bouquet towards you.” Pebbles redness was mostly pink by now and as he teased Lola he gave her a wink causing her to blush, but also to realize that no matter what he was her best friend.
“Pebbles it’s so wonderful, I’ll go tell Marshmallow right now!” Lola hugged Pebbles and then ran to her home. When she got home Marshmallow seemed to be surprised when she leaned in the door way, out of breath.
“Why are you so out of breath? You looked like you just ran a mile!” Marshmallow handed her a plate of dandelion leaves as she sat down.
“Actually I just ran one fourth of a mile. I talked to Pebbles on the way home and you would never guess what he told me!” Lola leaned forward as she spoke.
“What did he tell you?” Marshmallow asked her.
“He’s, he’s getting married! He’s marrying Ashley. They don’t know when the wedding will be though. He’s gonna tell Jimmy and Erinson tonight, they’re having them for supper. Isn’t it so exciting!” Lola jumped up and cleared the dishes. “You know what? I have to go get water from the well, I’ll stop by their place and talk to Ashley.” Lola grabbed the small, reed woven bucket and headed out the door.
The sun was low and the air was cool by time Lola reached the well. Luckily for her she was able to catch Ashley before she left. Since the well lay on the river the water rushed through, it was a little higher than usual and the weather was getting cooler, winter was almost there. “Ashley, you must be so excited! Pebbles told me about the wedding. Have you thought of where to have it?” Lola began to walk back with Ashley.
“I am so happy to know you care! I’m thinking maybe on the river, oh Lola I’m so excited! I was worried that maybe no one would care at all. I just can’t wait!” Ashley then waved goodbye and took the path that leaded to her house.
A Wedding and a Death
On the day of the wedding every single creature was excited to see the couple get married. There were already some married couples in the village but they had all been married before the war. As the pikas began to arrive from their village everyone headed over to the wedding place. Soon Pebbles and Ashley arrived and before anyone realized it they were already being married under a pika minister and slipping rings carved from stone onto another’s paw.
They kissed each other yet unfortunately the happiness was cut short due to a young rabbit that ran up to the alter and frantically yelled, “Someone come quick, come quick the Elder Rabbit, I fear he had a stroke!” Marshmallow being a close friend to the Elder Rabbit, Pebbles being a doctor, Ashley being a nurse, Jimmy out of curiosity, and Lola being a friend followed the rabbit to the Elder’s small home.
When they got there the young rabbit pointed towards the small shack and said, “He’s right in there.” As the rabbit ran off the rest of the group slowly went inside the house. It was Pebbles who saw the Elder Rabbit first and before Jimmy could even get ins
ide the shack Pebbles and Ashley were trying to save the Elder Rabbit.
After what seemed as hours of crouching and trying to save the Elder Rabbit, Pebbles faced the group with Ashley and seemed to read everyone’s mind. “I’m sorry everyone but we weren’t able to pull him through. He had a stroke and was just too old and too weak to survive. You may all go say your farewells.” At this Marshmallow crouched by the Elder Rabbit’s side, whispered something under his breath, and left. Lola led the others to the Elder Rabbit to say their farewells.
“Pebbles, Ashley, you two head home. This is your wedding day. Jimmy, Erinson, Arkansas, Cheese, and I will make funeral arrangements.” Lola told the newly-wed couple and then turned to gather the funeral party.
It was later in the day after the rise of the moon, when the whole town gathered for the funeral. Rabbits went up and said their good memories about the Elder Rabbit, yet Lola did not see Marshmallow except for a glimpse of his coat near the back of the group.
She rushed to her shack, her home, the place where she new Marshmallow would be, as soon as the funeral had ended. That was where she saw him sitting on the edge of the bed, doing something she thought she would never see him do, he was crying.
Marshmallow’s Story
“Marshmallow, tell me please what happened. I want to help you. I know how hard it is to lose some one. I know how dire the pain feels, I’ve been there before.” Lola was sitting on the edge of the bed with Marshmallow as the half moon revealed itself high overhead and peeked through the curtains of weaved grass in the glassless windows and the crickets serenaded the rushing stream by the well.
“Lola I will tell you my past as long as you understand that this is my third chance and that you will not feel any umbrage towards me.” Marshmallow began and Lola nodded her head.
“I was born in captivity and lived at a farm in hutches with my family of rabbits. These hutches were somewhat like above ground warrens, yet unlike warrens they protected ourselves like these structures that we have built. Every once and a while people would come for us and take us to their homes or the farmer would take us to an outdoor market and sell us. It was at one of these outdoor markets where I was sold. The family that brought me home lived in a large house and made these different things. Some were large and made of stone and clay and could stand on their own. Other ones were placed onto these white as snow pieces by thin flat inch-long horse tails. These people had other rabbits too, and we all got to roam the house and the yard in an enclosed area. They called us their babies for they had no children but were in their twenties. The female would take flat bark designs of us using a flashing box. The male would put us on long pieces of vines with handles and walk us like dogs because he had no other pets and loved all of us. When I think back I really do realize that I was pampered and lived the life any rabbit could ever wish for.
“Unfortunately for me that ended much too quickly and I was soon a wild rabbit of the wood. It began when they took me in a car with some of the other rabbits to ‘take us to a proper show where we could show off our beauty and style’ as the female would say and they came head on with another car that flipped ours over and killed both my owners and all of the rabbits with me. As I sat there all alone these cars with loud colorful lights came upon me. I was too scared to think that they could have helped me and I bolted into the woods.
“Once I was far in and had traveled for many days I was found by a rabbit who I learned was a chief of a burrow and was called the Elder Rabbit. I lived with them and soon learned that I had a skill for fighting and not long after I became head of their fighting force. My name had never been known and once I had learned my skill I became known as The Dark Knight.
“This life also did not last long. Rats invaded our burrow and we fought them off. I then decided to help the creatures that had taken me in and other creatures that are the friends of the rabbit such as the hedgehog and the chipmunk. Together many of us built a huge city that we named ‘Peace City’ after the grand peace that we had all formed.
“I myself found myself a doe and settled in and had kits. I can still remember my old doe no matter how much I try to forget her. Her name was Wind-That-Blows-Through-Leaves and we all called her Wind-Leaves for short. We lived there for around awhile and nothing was disturbed until those damned rats came back and rioted and fought. It was a night with no moon and only the stars lit up the sky. They dragged me away and I could hear Wind-Leaves screaming and I could feel hot tears run down my face. Some rabbits got away, and one or two live in our village now. But many died. My kits all died and so did my doe. I had nothing left to hope for in the cave that they locked me up in but revenge against the rats and hope for the few rabbits that survived.
“That was when you and Pebbles came. When you met the Elder Rabbit the sword he gave me was one that he gave to me when I helped fight off the rats the first time. I could not bring it with me when I was taken prisoner. Lola, I hope you are not angered, but that I say is my story.” Marshmallow finished his story and Lola grasped his hand.
A Village of Hope
Lola set the newly fresh cut flowers on the table next to the beginnings of the feast. She couldn’t wait to celebrate Pebble’s and Ashley’s first anniversary. She also couldn’t wait for her own wedding in which Ashley was helping her, but for now she was celebrating Pebble’s and Ashley’s. As she set the table a small rabbit came in to her hut. “Windtin, can you go and get your sisters so they can help me prepare for the party? It has to be ready and beautiful, all of our friends are coming. That’s barely half the village!” Lola turned to the small boy rabbit.
“Yes mom, but I think that VioletMoon is out gathering food with Williams. I will go get DaisyBee, and LucyBelle.” Windtin left to go get two of his sisters.
Lola was proud of her five kits. Two were boys; Windtin and Williams. The other three were her daughters; VioletMoon, DaisyBee, and LucyBelle. Marshmallow and she had their kits after Pebbles and Ashley were married a while ago. Now her kits were helping the village.
When I began my journey I only wanted to be safe and to be with others of my own kind. Now that my journey is almost over I can see that I have much more. I have uncovered the true powers of the family and of love. I have so much more than what I came looking for and I have helped the many who have decided to join me. I have finally found a place where safety is always there, where any rabbit is always valued as a neighbor, and where family and love is bountiful. And the one true thing that has kept the journey and the village together is hope. I have finally, truly found my place.
Lola hopped over to her window made of mud as the late afternoon breeze blew down the grass. Some clouds lingered overhead and the stray leaves whirled threw the air. She would have to bring in the drying hay. A storm was coming.
The End
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