Linda hit the ground running.
The skyship hadn't even released all its landing steam when her feet touched the soil, but she didn't care. Her heart was too full—full of shock, full of betrayal, and full of the thick stew she was now apparently meant to become.
Her belly turned bitter at the remembrance of Gaffer's words, like someone squeezed a whole lemon into her intestines.
So that was the plan? After all the cuddling?
After all the careful carrying, the petting, pampering, and praising he wanted to cook her?!
And then another horrible thought struck her.
He has a son and they spoke of home which means he had a family. So, definitely he had a wife.
So the stew was for HER—the wife?
Maybe his dragon-woman wanted a special rabbit delicacy, and Linda—foolish, naive Linda—had hopped right into the pot when she took his hands and got into the skyship that day.
Linda didn't even realize tears were building in her beady purple eyes as she sprinted blindly through the strange new land.
Which is why she didn't see the ground open beneath her.
Linda yelped voiceless as she dropped into the large hole.
She dropped for a very long before her body landed with a thump that rattled her tailbone.
Before she even processed the pain, a voice from affront said, "And down it comes."
Her head snapped up.
For a moment, she almost said "Timon!", because who hadn't watched The Lion King? But her rabbit mouth failed her and all she ended up doing was pucker her lips.
Standing before her was a Meerkat.
And not the cute pocket-size kind. This one was huge. It was as big as a medium lion and so fluffy. And talkative.
"Ohhoho! What do we have here?" the Meerkat chirped, leaning forward like a nosy neighbor. "Isn't this a little rabbit?!"
Little? LITTLE? Linda's eye twitched.
If he called her little, then she was definitely little, because if Timon from Lion King was this size, then Pumbaa should be a mountain.
Only now did she take in her surroundings. The hole she had fallen into wasn't just a hole.
It was a home—a sprawling underground burrow-palace with tunnels everywhere, neatly carved walls, woven mats, glowing moss-lamps, and… was that a table?! A whole table?!
The meerkat was still talking and talking and talking.
"Hey, Daku! DA-KUUU! Look what fell down here! A rabbit! A whole rabbit! One of your kind!"
Linda froze.
One of… her kind? Like a rabbit too that hasn't been killed by now?
Just then something stepped from the shadows. Something large and sleek, blacker than midnight and smoother than soot.
It was a rabbit that was worthy of being called giant rabbit.
A rabbit whose fur was so black it shimmered like polished obsidian. It had a gray-white chest marking that looked hand-painted. It's whiskers were absurdly long and sharp at the tips like tiny, skimpy swords.
And those eyes. They were bluer than sky and any sea. Bluer than whatever romantic nonsense poets write about.
BA-DUM! BA-DUM!!
Linda's heart skipped for she was experiencing love at first sight.
The black rabbit, Daku, tilted his head, studying her silently. His ears were very tall and regal, and even the way he breathed looked elegant.
Linda melted like butter on a hot pan.
Compared to him, she was just a very small white rabbit. She could even pass as food to him. Linda began to panic at the thought of how small she was.
Did he think she was a baby rabbit? Did he even know she female and not male?
Nobody knew she was female because she couldn't say she was. Those reptiles had to even run a test on her to find out what her gender is.
Deep insecurity began to set in. For the first time in both lives she was insecure about herself.
But while her heart said so many thoughts, Daku didn't say a word.
He only stared at her for a long, unreadable moment his blue eyes glinting softly like winter sky behind tinted glass, before turning away and padding deeper into the massive burrow.
The meerkat, on the other hand, never knew silence.
"Ohhh-ho-ho, look at that! And it's a lady rabbit!" he chirped, tail flicking with excitement as he trotted up to Linda's side. "I knew it the moment you fell! You've got the vibe, you know? This feminine vibe! So soft! So smooth! So…. white!"
Linda would've blushed if rabbits could blush properly. Instead her ears heated up like freshly baked bread.
But what startled her more was Daku didn't react.
He just kept walking, slow and steady, as if the Meerkat had merely said the sky is blue.
This left Linda with one conclusion. He already knew she was female just by looking. Not just him, even the meerkat.
When even the dragons had been confused enough to run laboratory tests, these two figured it out within seconds or minutes.
Timon, or whatever the meerkat's name was, pranced ahead, tugging at her tiny paw lightly with his furry hand as if she had always been one of them.
"Come, come! Don't fall behind, little miss bunny!"
Linda's mind spun at the title. Little miss was much more warm than being called 'it' or 'thing' or 'beastpet'.
As they walked, the burrow revealed itself more clearly to be a home that put most human mansions to shame.
It had wide tunnels with carved archways, warm lantern-moss glowing from the ceilings, soft earth floors packed so smooth they looked polished and doorways leading into dens, nests, storage rooms, resting rooms.
This was an entire rabbit-city estate carved underground.
Linda's eyes widened as she gawked around in awe. How was this even possible to make?
After being with beastmen in the skyship, she thought the beast world was all about transforming here and there. Being in man form and doing what men do and then when in beast form they do and live like animals.
But that wasn't all about this beast world.
The animals also talked in their beast forms, they lived in homes and built societies even when not in man forms.
Her heart thudded.
If Daku looked this breathtaking as a rabbit, his human form…
A tiny squeak left her mouth at the thought.
The meerkat heard it.
"Oh, you like the place? It's nice, right? Daku built most of it! He has got real strong paws!He's very good too, quiet, but very good! And you….oh, we haven't had your exact kind in ages. A female is rare but available but a female rabbit that isn't a DUOPAW or TRIOPAW is impossible without you!"
Linda stumbled on her hind legs. Females were rare??
She blinked up at him, trying to process that. But before she could, the meerkat leaned closer, lowering his voice even though Daku clearly heard everything.
"It's you, isn't it?" he whispered.
"…."
His tone carried so much recognition like he knew her. The 'YOU' sounded so personal.
She looked up sharply.
The meerkat was staring down at her with wide, knowing eyes too. "It's her… right, Daku?"
His voice trembled with excitement and awe. "With everything we were told, it's really her. Isn't she?"
Daku still didn't speak even though he had stopped walking.
But Linda wasn't foolish, she wasn't even animal actually. She was human so she knew what that gesture of not talking but not walking either meant.
They knew her, and she was supposed to be someone. They knew her by tellings because never in her life had she seen them before or anyone that wasn't a beast fox or hound dog or reptiles.
What did they know about her that she didn't?!