#spent a week in vermont on the lake and fish which are always on my mind

[gentlemosses]

a fish! a bass, even

[thinkingagain]

“There’s so much of me that remains lost to me.” The Sir looked at the ground beneath him. “And lately, so much of me remains distant from myself.”

Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest (A Novel of the Revolution) Book Three: The Be Attitudes Chapter 10

It was a typical busy week at the Demesne.

Along with Frank and the Madam and her totem friends, Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest had been working for some days to help free black bears from areas overrun by Beasts. The bears were now often forced to forage populated Beast areas for food. Some Beasts had attempted to move the bears carefully to safer environments, but others wanted them removed immediately and killed if necessary.

The Demesne animals, with the Madam leading, had helped some kindly Beasts capture and relocate specific bears. Other bears, in more immediate danger, were moved through the Magic Animal Portal. Green Bear, working from the Demesne, had spent days identifying the location of various bears and passing the information along to the animals operating in the field.

The Aquatic Team had been trying to solve the mystery of the deaths of several hundred bluenose dolphins. The dolphins had a virus, which Beasts had named morbillivirus, which attacked dolphins every so often. Yet the deaths of so many dolphins at once didn’t seem an ordinary effect of the virus. Naomi, the young narwhale, had uncovered a host of secondary infections by fungi, bacteria and parasites.

Beast reports on the deaths had revealed similar conclusions. Had poor environmental conditions fueled by Beast agricultural runoff and other Beastly activities made dolphins unable to weather the disease? Ultimate causes remained unclear. The Aquatics had been helping dolphins move to safer water spots. They also had been using connections to inland magic fish to disable Beastly agriculture that involved pollution running off into streams and waterways. Safe spots would become few if the most deadly Beastly runoff was not shut down at its sources.

Meanwhile, other magic animal activities were underway, involving abandoned horses, mysterious bird deaths, and several local land use and wildlife struggles.

After a long day, the Sir and other Demesne animals were lounging under the protective evening shadows of the Animal Meeting Ground. Muffin had brought out the hapless Beast and was throwing it a ball. The Beast wouldn’t catch it but would track it down dutifully and walk it back. The Sir had a headache. He had spent the afternoon escorting a black bear out of a particularly labyrinth-like Beast suburb where the streets circled each other in ways meant to confuse non-residents.

In the suburb the Sir had suffered numerous encounters with neighborhood Beasts: Madams concerned for the bear, Madams terrified by him, shouting young Beasts who raced away or who threw rocks at the bear, full grown Beast males who had stood outside their front doorways with weapons they barely knew how to use but were eager to try. The Sir and Muffin had startled and tricked Beasts all day without a single direct confrontation. It had been wearing to feel all those Beast brains pressing against his own.

Koala Lampur was telling a story about how she had once led a group of koalas and pandas who had destroyed a dam. If built, the dam would have flooded a valley that was home to many animals.

The Madam and her totem friends walked up. She was wearing a long, loose dress that flowed in waves around her waist. “Madam,” the Sir said to her happily as he leaned against his sword.

The Madam ran her fingers along one of his rabbit ears. “You look tired.”

“I feel sometimes like I don’t have just one Beast brain in my head, but all the Beast brains in the world.”

“Oh do I ever know that feeling,” the Madam said.

“What do you do about it?” The Sir looked at her searchingly.

“Many things. A swim or a warm bath. A walk in the woods with my friends. Sometimes I just need to go somewhere alone. I take a long hike or find a place where I can sit in the shade. Anything that allows me to remember who I am.”

“Do you feel like you remember?”

“Sometimes. It’s not a matter of insisting that I’m this or that. It’s a matter of feeling in my body until I find myself.”

“There’s so much of me that remains lost to me.” The Sir looked at the ground beneath him. “And lately, so much of me remains distant from myself. It’s difficult, yet it seems a feeling that your kind must have often.”

“That’s true,” the Madam said. “That’s one of the reasons I never wanted to feel too much like my kind.”

Some brush crunched behind the Sir. He turned quickly. The others looked too.

Jack came up out of a thick patch of greenery. He had been gone from the Demesne for several of the now waning summer months. His fur was torn and scraped, though it didn’t look painful or dangerous. He looked like an experienced, adventurous jack rabbit who had been scratched up by throwing himself energetically into the world. “There you all are. It’s good to be back. I feel ready to take it easy now through the winter.”

The Sir came up to Jack and threw his rabbit forelimbs around him. “I’m very glad you’re here. I missed you.”

Jack startled momentarily at the Sir’s enthusiastic warmth. “I’m glad to be here. Traveling is fantastic, but the Demesne is home.”

The Sir straightened the ruffled sleeves on his gold shirt with blue stars. “I am glad you think of that way. Not every animal has been able to feel the same, although I have understood and appreciated their reasons.”

“Strange that you should bring that up,” Jack said. “You’ll never guess, so I’ll tell you. I’ve seen Scruffy.”

The Sir’s rabbit ears grew alert with surprise. “You’ve seen our wonderful friend Scruffy? There’s been no word from him at all since he left the Demesne.”

Jack nodded. “In the mountains of what Beasts call Vermont. I ran afoul up there of a random Beast trap.” He held out one leg which had a now healing gash across it. “I might have figured my own way out, but I didn’t have to. Some little rabbit came up behind me and had me out of there quicker than a Beast can insult an animal. It was Scruffy. I laughed. He growled at me, thinking maybe I was laughing at him or something. Then he saw who I was. And you won’t believe it, but he laughed too. Scruffy actually laughed!”

“Our long lost friend Scruffy!” The Sir felt astonishment move through his body. “What would we have done without him in the desperate fight to create the Demesne? How is he?”

“Well. No less stubborn. I told him he’d be welcome to visit. He said he appreciated it, but he had his home near where we were right then and didn’t intend to travel. He’s that same tough, determined little bunny we all knew. Trying to change his mind about something is impossible.”

“I have always hoped to see him again,” the Sir said wistfully. “He’s the only companion we lost in the early days.”

“Well, why don’t you?” Jack flecked with a rabbit paw at the fur on one side of his head. “He said he’d be happy to see anyone who would like to visit him there where he lives, near a lake in the high mountains. It’s not an easy place to get. But it can be done.”