Welp, I was gonna try and be more consistent posting but... haha Anyways this is the last chapter I've gotten written up, but I'mma try and still post a chapter a week since I really want to make time for writing. :) This one is probably my favorite chapter so far... it's kinda long, sorry, but I couldn't figure out how to shorten it at all. XD

Here ya go, more Joden!

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Joden watched Officer Ripp stalk off into the evening gloom, his expression unreadable as Weezie rubbed at her poor sore arm.

"Come on!" He said cheerily, suddenly turning. "I believe it's just about supper time." He winked and lifted his pickaxe onto his shoulder.

Weezie had to trot to keep up with his firm strides, but he either noticed her weariness or grew tired himself, as his steps shortened to a leisurely stroll.

"What's your name?" He eventually asked, throwing a glance in her direction.

"Weezie. Well, Louise, but-" she stopped herself mid-sentence.

Joden chuckled. "Weezie? I like it!"

"Thank you?"

He kept a good-natured smile on his face as they stepped across the camp grounds, Joden pointing out various ditches by name and telling her the story of how they got there with a laugh to his voice.

"Have you been here a long time then?" Weezie asked, looking up from 'Bodo's Hole'.

"Hu? Oh yes." He said with another easy laugh. "I was here before this camp was started."

"How does that-" Weezie began.

"There are several camps here all in a network." Joden interrupted to explain. "This is the third camp. When I came they were starting on the second. They just kept adding on more camps as they took more slaves from the warrens and ran out of room for them all. There are six right now, but hopefully they won't be adding a seventh! This is actually the largest camp network outside of Akolan itself."

"Have you ever been there?"

"To Akolan? No. I hope I never do. I hear it isn't a very pleasant place down there, far too close to the old hawk himself."

"So you're a slave here too?"

Joden nodded. "Ever since the old king fell. I don't remember where I lived before, but it's likely the rest of my family died in the Afterterrors. Why I was taken captive and they weren't I guess I'll never know. You're from the First Warren, right?"

Weezie nodded, trying to remember the next question she had for him.

"If, if you're a slave, why do the drivers do what you say?"

"Hm, dunno. I've been here longer than most of them, so maybe they're just scared of me." He added with a laugh.

Weezie wondered if that meant she should be afraid as well but she wasn't exactly sure what to be afraid of. He just seemed to be a genuinely nice guy who had… really stuck his neck out for her.

"Wait, the deal you made," she said, coming to a sudden stop. Joden paused his stride and turned to look at her, eyebrows raised.

"If I break the rules, you're gonna get in trouble instead of me?"

"Hm," Joden nodded.

"But- that's not, that's not fair," she finished, scowling at the ground.

"Well one thing you're going to have to learn is nothing's fair around here. They'd rather beat me up than you so it makes a good deal on their side, and if you don't break any rules," he gave a smile and a gesture with his free hand leaving the sentence unfinished.

Weezie frowned. She did not like this turn of events. Now she would have to do what they told her to- submit herself to these evil rabbits- or someone else would pay. Just like her poor mother back in the First Warren. She'd almost rather he had let her get whipped then put her in this position of accountability.

"But why?" She looked up to him as he let the pickax slip off his shoulder again.

"Why what?" It was hard to see his face from the shadow cast by the setting sun, but she could tell there was a hint of something there. Was it amusement?

"Why would you put yourself into that position when you could have just walked past?"

Joden smiled, and his whole expression seemed to soften.

"There's a lot of darkness in the world, Weezie." He said gently. "You can't always fight it with swords and battles. Sometimes it's the simplest acts of kindness that pushes back the evil."

"Yes, I know that." Weezie said, wrinkling her nose. "I want to know why you would step in for me like that. Why is this arrangement good for anybody? Not that I don't appreciate you looking out for me I just want to know why. What do you get out of this deal?"

"What do I get out of the deal?" Joden paused for a moment before answering, that was the first time he didn't have an answer immediately ready.

"I suppose I get a friend. Does that sound alright to you?" He asked with a laugh as he held out a grimy hand to shake.

"Sure, I guess." Weezie shrugged and shook his hand, still a little dissatisfied with the answer.

"It'll be fine, don't worry." Joden said, releasing her hand and hoisting his pickaxe to his shoulder again. "It seems like a lot of rules to take in all at once, but once you get the hang of them it'll all make sense."

Weezie frowned and moved to follow him.

"So where are we going now?" she asked, trotting alongside him.

"To the Dining Hall for supper."

"I thought they had already given me my full ration for the day?"

"They do that with newcomers, I'm not sure why- just seems unnecessarily cruel- but normally you'll get a meal before bed." Weezie liked the sound of that. Joden continued, pointing with his free hand. "Those huts over there are the doe's sleeping quarters, you'll be assigned to one of those and share it with five other girls."

Weezie followed her gaze along where he was pointing. It was a collection of sloppy sheds and brittle shrubs on the west edge of camp, just a few rocky steps away from the drop to the lakeside.

"Is that where the nurses sleep too?" Weezie asked, wondering if she and Delia could possibly be assigned to the same shed. Joden nodded.

"Everyone but the drivers sleep in the sheds. Do you have a friend who's a nurse?"

"Hu?" Weezie's attention snapped back to his question. "Oh, uh, yes. I met her on the trip over. We haven't known each other for long, she's just the only person I've met so far- aside from you of course."

Joden smiled. "Well, hopefully you'll be making some more friends soon."

They reached the door to the Dining Hall, the moaning of the wind from the distant craggy peaks the only sound welcoming in the nightfall. It was a little unnerving how quiet it was; Weezie found herself straining to hear the croak of a frog or the plaintive call of a cricket as she was accustomed to from nighttime at the farm. But nothing. The air felt cold and dead like the silence of a winter night.

Joden stepped up and opened the door for her. Holding it open with his foot, he leaned his pickaxe against the wall with several others. He nodded to the buck slouched against the wall sleepily chewing something and directed Weezie to a bench.

"Go on and sit down, I'll grab us some soup."

Weezie sank into her seat and looked around the room. Rabbits sat in groups holding hushed conversations with smiles on their faces and laughter stifled behind their hands. Nowhere was there a face she recognized, so she turned to watch Joden instead. It seemed like everyone knew who he was. Faces lit up as he walked past, bucks clapped him on the back, children waved from their seats and one even tackled his leg for a hug. He made a mock bow to a doe in a serving apron and everyone nearby busted up. Weezie still had many questions for the silver buck, but she didn't quite know how to put them into words. Who was he, cherished by the slaves and feared by their drivers? He said he was one of them- a slave to Morbin- but he didn't really act like it.

The cook ladled out the two bowls and Weezie watched as they held a brief conversation. Joden nodded to something he said, and they both glanced in her direction. Weezie frowned and wondered what he had said about her. The cook tapped the side of his nose and poured a little extra into the bowl as the rabbits nearby chuckled. They exchanged a few more words, then Joden came back, smiling again to the rabbits that threw him little greetings as he passed.

"Here you are," Joden said, setting the bowl down on the table in front of her as he slid into the seat opposite. "And there's a little extra in there as a welcome present from Huckie."

Weezie looked up from her soup bowl in surprise, then turned and waved a wordless thank you to the cook. He had been watching them from behind his counter and seemed genuinely delighted by Weezie's response. He wagged his ladle in her direction and winked, then went back to his work with a chuckle.

"I- I was not expecting everyone to be so nice," she said, turning back around in her seat. Joden had already begun eating his soup, but he swallowed and shrugged.

"Why shouldn't we be? We're all in this together."

"But they don't try to stop you?"

"From being nice? Oh they try, but they can't stop all of us, so usually they have to let it slide."

"So are you the one in charge of the slaves?" Weezie asked. Her stomach was rumbling loudly for the warm soup, but her curiosity was distracting her from food. Joden snorted on his bite and a buck sitting nearby laughed out loud.

"He's not in charge, but we do see him as our leader." The buck explained, standing and gathering his empty dishes. "He looks out for us, helps us keep our hopes up, and that's what we really need in a leader."

"Randall," Joden said with a laugh.

Randall shook his head with a smile then put his fist to his heart. "Till the green ember rises," he said in a hushed tone.

Joden smiled sadly and returned the gesture. Weezie watched as Randall turned and hurried away.

"The old king is dead, Weezie," Joden said after she turned back to face him. "But someday his heir will rise and take his place, and he will free us. Rebuild everything that was lost and bring us home."

Weezie felt a stirring in her heart.

"That's what my mother always told us," she said softly, looking down to her lap. "But it never really seemed like it could come true. Like it's too good to be true."

"That evil would fall and goodness prevail?" Joden asked, looking down into her face. "It's too good to not be true."

Weezie laughed a little and picked up her spoon. "I suppose you're right," she said.

She realized as she scooped some of the hot potato soup into her hungry mouth, that was the first time she had laughed since yesterday morning, goofing off with Layra. It felt good to be relaxed enough to laugh, but at the thought of her sister a wave of homesickness swept over her again. Joden had been very kind to her, but he wasn't Layra, he wasn't Mother. Even the soup made her feel homesick. It was good, but it wasn't anything like the soup Mother made, with carrots and onions and parsley…

"Do you have any family here, Weezie?" Joden asked gently, watching her face.

Weezie thought for a moment. It didn't seem like a good idea to just tell anyone everything about her, but it didn't seem like there could be any harm in telling this buck about the life she'd left behind.

"I-" she began. "No, it's just me. My mother and sister stayed behind. I- I just hope they're still okay."

She remembered what Percy had said about Daggler being angry and hoped he hadn't actually done anything to them. Hoped he would be too prideful to admit she had escaped.

Joden listened with the occasional comment or question as Weezie told him more than she had originally intended to share about herself. She felt a twinge of guilt dumping all of this on him, but he seemed to be truly sympathetic to her pain and it was such a relief to finally share her griefs and fears with someone. She hesitated when it came to sharing about Percy. While she had no reason to distrust him, she still felt like it would be safer if less people knew about him.

"I don't want to be like the other slaves," she said, blinking down at her lap. "I don't want to lose my mind and my spirit to them and just be- just be a slave. And I'm just so angry-" her hands clenched into fists. "It's wrong! They know it's wrong! But they do it anyway and they enjoy it. I don't want to be angry but I want to fight back."

"But what can you do?" Joden asked. It was a simple question, but it made the fire of her rebellion rise.

"It is what it is," her mother had always said, but why did it have to be that way? She looked up at Joden almost in disbelief of what he proposed.

"I- I don't know! But not this!" She gave a wide gesture to the room around her.

"This?" Joden prompted.

"Just- doing exactly what they tell me, letting them control me! I- ugh." She ended her sentence prematurely, slumping down on the bench unsure how to word the rest of her thought.

"I don't want to be a slave." She scowled at the tabletop.

"Weezie," Joden said, tilting his head to the side. "I know how you feel, but that kind of attitude is only going to get you in trouble. You can't rebel by refusing to obey. You have to play by their rules."

Weezie's respect for him took a plummet, and she looked at him like he was insane.

"How else do you rebel?" She demanded. "They took everything from me! My home, my farm, my father, my mother and sister, I don't even know if they're alive still! I'm never going to see them again! It's just going to be rocks and coal and dark holes for the rest of my life and I don't want to be that!"

"But you're still alive," Joden pointed out, wagging a finger in her direction. "And you won't be for long if you keep breaking the rules."

"I don't really see how it matters," Weezie grumbled in response. "Sure I'm alive, but what does my life matter if it belongs to someone else?"

"Because as long as you're alive you still have hope. Whether you grasp it or not it's there. True, they own your life and your body. They can strip you of everything, take you down to nothing. But there's one thing they can never touch."

Weezie looked up from the tabletop to meet his gaze, a frown fixed to her face.

"They can't control your attitude. It's up to you whether they control your spirit. As long as you stay hopeful for the day you will be free, you'll never be entirely enslaved. They can't own all of you."

"I don't understand!" Weezie said, pushing back from the table in frustration. "First you tell me to obey the rules and now you tell me to rebel? Do you even know what you're trying to say?"

Joden sighed and dropped his hands onto the tabletop with a thunk.

"There's a difference Weezie. You can stomp around, letting anger and hatred fill the void in your heart, but that won't help anyone- least of all you. I'm asking you to let go of that fuel and cling to something else. Cling to the hope that someday things will be better. They want to break your spirit. They want to watch you burn until there is nothing left and you belong body and soul to them. You can't use hatred to pull Morbin's empire down. That's not the way to fight him. A certain amount of hatred is necessary- if you don't hate the things they're doing then you've lost your soul; but please, Weezie, don't let your anger be what drives you."

Weezie listened to him quietly, her face turned away and a tumult of emotions boiling in her soul.

"Then what should I do?" She finally asked quietly.

"You keep smiling." Joden's face spread into a gentle smile. "You laugh and joke. Make friends, start a family. Cook the best potato soup anyone has ever eaten. Tell stories around the fire and to your children when you put them to bed. Dream of the day when you will be free. In the face of all the darkness they force you to face, you live."

Weezie felt shivers run through her body as he spoke and tears sprang to her eyes.

"But how can I be happy when I've lost everything? How do I keep living when there's nothing left to live for?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying, Weezie," Joden said, gently taking her hand. "Morbin's empire cannot possibly stand. Someday it will fall, and you and I, and everyone else, will run down the mountain and be free. That is your hope, that is what you live for. That is the hope they can never take away."

"And if they kill me?"

Joden laughed lightly through his nose. "If they kill you? That's when they've gotten so tired of your cheerful attitude you're set free early!"

"I suppose… it's not like I have anything to lose," Weezie said with a shrug, pulling her hand out of Joden's.

"But you do," Joden said seriously. "Don't lose yourself, Weezie. Stay who you are in spite of what they do to you."

Joden had given her some instructions on where to go and what to do until he met up with her in the morning after a brief conversation with a passing officer. He explained the situation to a nearby doe and asked if she'd be willing to help Weezie to the correct hut. This was something he couldn't help with, he'd explained to Weezie, as no bucks were allowed near the doe's huts. The doe had smiled and introduced herself, but Weezie was finding it hard to hold on to all the information in her exhausted mind. As she followed the brindle doe through the dark, she tried to sort all those thoughts into a cohesive thread, but over and over in her mind replayed Joden's words, "Stay who you are in spite of what they do to you," and she had to ask herself the question: who was she?

The silence of the chilly night seemed to be filling her up, and she yearned for something to fill that void, something other than this gnawing emptiness. She remembered what Percy had said, that they would meet again in the Mended Wood, and wondered if that had anything to do with Joden's hope. Perhaps, restoration was something to be hoped for. Not the childish hope of hoping to have your favorite food for lunch, but the mature, substantial hope of looking forward to something that could not help but come to be.

The icy wind cut down the mountain and through the pines, tossing Weezie's skirt around her legs trying to get through her dense fur. She hugged her arms close to herself and shivered, though she wasn't sure if it was because of the cold. She stopped walking and looked up at the sky as the wind whipped around her. Her guide paused and watched her, saying nothing; just giving her the space to think. The stars had come out, big and bright. It was much easier to see them, way up here, without the dense foliage of the Great Wood to obscure them. They looked so peaceful up there, winking down on the troubled, broken world. Weezie was tempted to feel mocked, but thought perhaps there was a lesson she could learn from the stars, like Joden had tried to explain. Up there above it all- despite it all- the stars continued to shine night after night.

They shone the night Morbin had killed the king. They shone the night her father died and her first night away from home while the wolves slaughtered her fellow rabbits. Even when the clouds covered them from sight they still shone on, serene and untouched by Morbin's foul claws. She wondered if he hated the stars, because he could never own their light. Weezie smiled softly to herself. That was what she would be. A twinkling little light shining on till morning came. Hoping- knowing- that it would.