12. Tunnel Vision

[Waycaster]

Elsine never did well in enclosed spaces. Living in the Redwall Abbey gatehouse for fourteen seasons made things more bearable for her, and while most badgers belong in tunnels, Elsine did not.

She turned to the Foremole, evidently more suited to subterranean activity than the Recorder was, but her arm... Elsine could not bear to think about the pain she went through, and could only hope that it would heal correctly. Celandine Flowers had never been close to her, the badger knew. As Foremole, her duties involved maintenance of the Abbey's earthworks, walls and chambers. Perhaps when they had returned, and when the Foremole recovers, she could ask her for a refurbishment of the Gatehouse. Books could be removed while tables and desks could be drastically reduced in size, creating a living environment that would be vastly more comfortable.

But first they have to get out of this blasted, wretched, Seasons-forsaken hole.

"Are you feeling better?" asked the badger. The mole stared straight at Elsine, clearly surprised that the Recorder had initiated a conversation. "The arm, I meant," she continued, rubbing the back of her head.

"Burr aye," she responded. "Oi'll be foin."

"Are you sure? It does not seem-"

"Oi will be foin. Naow stop worryin' about Oi." With that, Flowers simply turned away and sprinted forward. It did not occur to Elsine to pursue her, and so she simply shook her head and walked.

The tunnels below Mossflower were dark, deep and dingy, not helped by the slow and steady splashes of water droplets seeping from the roof. Despite the torches that Elsine carried with her, the light they bore could only reach so far. The badger did not know who to thank that it was wide enough to fit all of them, but deep down she knew that beast would probably be undeserving of such praise.

It was around two minutes later when the group arrived at a large cavern, hollowed out not by the paws of moles or any other beast, but by the ravages of water and time. "Now looks like a good time to get some rest," mused Jaskia. "Wouldn't everyone agree?"

"But Acer-" Friar Timothy panted. "He's waiting... for us-" He collapsed onto his back, wheezing.

"You'm be needin' rest, Friar," replied Foremole Celandine.

Nibs sat down on a stone. "We've been walking for hours now, Timothy. What if there would be another fight with the toads, or with whoever got Acer? We need to save our strength."

Elsine dropped down next to the Friar, stuck her torch in a cranny, and opened her bag. Scrambling a canteen of water out, the Recorder drank slowly before she handed it to the others. Nibs took small, rapid sips as Flowers followed suit, but when it reached Jaskia's paws it slipped and tumbled onto the floor, spilling its contents over the cold ground, earning the hare stares from everybeast else but Elsine. The badger simply sighed, removing another canteen from her satchel and passing it to Jaskia. "There are two more in the bag," she added, "and I think we are almost there."

The canteen finally made it back to the Recorder after Jaskia and Timothy were done with it, and she tucked it back into her bag, with the squirrel watching her intently. "I know you are worried about the mouse, Friar," said Elsine, placing a paw on his shoulder. "I understand-"

"No," interrupted Timothy. "No, you don't."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Look at yourself. You hide in your little Gatehouse, recording event after event that passes and missing out on all that has transpired. When was the last time you enjoyed chatting away at a feast? When was the last time you played with the Dibbuns? When was the last time you went up to the Belltower and gazed upon the setting sun? Have you even tried enjoying life instead of chronicling it?"

The two sat in silence for a while, as Elsine felt her face burn, when she realised that everybeast else was staring at them. Perhaps this was why she hated conversations - the sheer weight of other beasts expecting a meaningful response that just so happened to align with their thoughts.

The Friar once again broke the silence. "I'm sorry. I lost my temper - I was worried."

"It happens to the best of us," said Nibs, making his way to the squirrel. "There isn't anything wrong with that."

"You're right, Friar."

Everybeast turned to Elsine. Timothy's countenance was one of surprise while Nibs bore a worried smile, and the other two simply looked at her. In any other circumstance, Elsine would be glad to explain things to the group. But instead of the intricacies of her work chronicling the life of the Abbey, now she was expected to narrate her fascination over her duties. All because she forgot to shut her muzzle this one time.

The badger sighed. "I lied."

"Loid?" asked Flowers.

"Not to you - not to any of you. But to myself."

More silence.

"I lied to myself because I wanted to believe that being Recorder was a sort of destiny, a calling away from Jo and Mik - my siblings, I mean - and blacksmithing. When the Abbess offered me this duty, I took it. Do not get me wrong - I enjoyed it. But these fourteen seasons have worn down my mind and body both. Perhaps I was wrong back then - I should have left the Abbey when I had the chance and moved on to discovering what I actually wanted to do."

"You'm just a little stressed, that be all," said Mrs Flowers, moving closer to the badger. "Always workin' in yon Gatehouse - et be no wonder you'm be havin' trubble writin'!"

"You know my troubles?"

"Arden told Oi."

Elsine gritted her teeth. "Of course he did." The otter had always been chasing after her since the beginning of the season.

"The way I think about it," said Timothy, taking Elsine's paw, "is to slow down and savour life. Take things slowly, and don't let your duty get in the way of living life to the fullest. There is more to life than that."


"Perhaps I should start doing that," mused the badger. "Take a rest, and start to enjoy the world around me."

"So all of you are here!"

A new voice echoed through the cavern, earning a gasp from Jaskia and a groan from Elsine. It was Arden. Again. The rather scrawny otter bore a sack on his back, and his rapid huffs indicated that he had been sprinting towards them for a while.

"Sorry, I'm a bit late," he panted, lowering his pack. "Hornby thought you didn't pack enough food, so here I am!"

"Why are you here, of all beasts?" asked Nibs. "I thought Gentian would have sent somebeast more suited to the task."

"All the other otters have left with Skipper Ash, so I'm the best swimmer in the Abbey as of now. I thought there'd be an underground river or something, so I volunteered. I wasn't ready to run, to be honest, but run I did, and here I am!"

"Ho urr, what be in th' sack?" asked Celandine.

"Oh, the usual. Cheese, fruit and the like. Elsine, I got you a flan from the kitchens as well."

Timothy ruffled his brows. "Arthur let you have one?"

The otter scratched the back of his head. "Not really, no."

"You haven't changed one bit," groaned the squirrel. "It's like you're still a dibbun, always stealing from the kitchens. Wait! It's not in the sack, is it?"

Arden simply shrugged before he put a paw in. His face soured and his arm shot up, bits of the pudding clinging to his paw. Timothy groaned.

"I suppose you did not count on it being ruined across your journey?" asked Elsine.

The otter nodded slowly and silently, his whiskers drooping. "Apparently not."

"I do appreciate the gesture, Brother Arden, but you should probably be more careful."

"Thank you for the advice.." The otter winked. "I have a hypothetical question."

"Yes?"

"Once all this is finished and done, would you consider visiting Salamandastron together, as a couple? It would do you well to visit your meline kin."

There were few Elsine could claim that had taken her by surprise more than once, but Arden managed to get onto that list again and again. "Not in a million seasons." Seeing Arden's face sour, she frowned as well. "Not as a couple, anyway. Perhaps we could invite my family in Mossflower on a vacation, or maybe a few more Redwallers..."

"You never seriously entertained one of my ideas before. What caused the sudden change of mind?"

"For fourteen seasons I locked myself away in the Gatehouse, with nobeast to talk to but old tomes and dusty scrolls. I feel that I need friends, and rather quickly."

"That be a gudd attitude t'have, Elsine." The Foremole stood up. "Come t'think of et, Oi have be'd closed off, as well."

"Never too late to learn, Celandine." The badger placed a paw on her shoulder. "I am sorry about Murbol, by the way."

"Thank 'ee."

"Where's Timothy?" asked Jaskia. "He isn't here."

"I'm over here!" the squirrel's voice boomed from the other end of the tunnel. "Come quickly! Looks like there's an opening over on this side!" Within an instant, Jaskia bounded forth from her rock and rushed to join the squirrel, while Nibs and Celandine began a brisk walk.

Elsine picked herself up. "Arden?"

"Yes?"

"Could you stay here for a while?"

"Why?"

"We have no idea what could be up there, and if anything goes wrong, it would be best if you were spared the consequences. Somebeast needs to return all our bodies to the Abbey, after all."

Badger and otter silently stared at each other for a few seconds that dragged on for far too long before Arden shook his head. "That was not a good joke."

"I guessed," said Elsine as she sprinted along the tunnel, across mossy stone and tinted rocks, before skidding to a halt right before Timothy.

"There it is!" The squirrel pointed to a large opening in which light streamed through.

"That's the exit we're looking for," mused Jaskia. "All we have to do is-" She was quickly silenced by the slimy form of a toad falling down from whatever was outside into the tunnel, rolling across the stones, her unconscious form resting yards away from the group.

"I don't have a good feeling about this," said Nibs, shooting a quick glance at Celandine.

"We still have to go." Elsine shook her head. "For Acer."

She charged up the slope, carefully avoiding the toad, but stopped immediately after. She was not expecting such chaos!