I Chose to Bow

Our Story of Three

The next days were peaceful ones. Philza and Bunnyblade worked on the fence until they'd surrounded the entire farm and still no one came. Gradually the farm life began to return to normal; Phil hurried to catch up with the work that had been left undone so far, Bunny and Kristin kept house and helped in the fields where they could. Bunny even found a unique way of helping out when it came to herding the goats; his high little voice could often be heard shrieking commands at the somewhat bemused animals, who seemed to follow him just to see what he'd do next. Bunnyblade didn't care much why they followed him, so long as they did. He took his herding job very seriously. Sometimes.

Kristin would come out and either see Bunny waving his staff at one of the goats, trying to make it listen to him, or see him sprawled on the grass, talking to himself, or riding the biggest of the goats around the pasture. The boy convulsed his two caretakers at mealtimes, rehearsing tales of the day and imitating noises and faces the goats would make. His feet thumped against his chair and he kept his eyes on Phil and Kristin while he talked.

Every week Phil went flying again and Bunny never failed to watch him. From the moment the farmer set out across the fields towards the mountain from where he would take off to the final moment when Philza landed at last, the child stared with wide-open eyes. He never offered to go with Phil up the mountain and he never went back indoors once the flying had begun. He just stood out in the yard or sat on the porch, watching Philza glide across the sky.

The two adults noticed that this was the only time when Bunny seemed really relaxed. Every other day, especially when storms came, he watched Kristin and Philza go about their daily chores and retreated to his nest of blankets at random intervals. He did his best to please whenever he could, whether it was keeping out of the way or heading out to help Kristin do the weeding. For a while, neither could really understand what he was doing. They hoped he would tell them if anything was wrong, however, and did their best to help the rabbit child whenever he seemed sad or withdrawn. Kristin learned to keep a bowl of chopped carrots out whenever Bunny was indoors and Phil learned, after some observation, that the boy liked sitting on his shoulders. The small family played and sang, dug in the garden, finished ploughing the fields, herded goats, cooked, cleaned, churned buckets of butter, told stories and kept Philza's mechanical wings in working condition.

In between moments, Philza kept his eyes on the forest and Kristin watched the shadows as night fell. They never saw any smiles and no fire spread through the trees, but Bunnyblade's occasional nightmares kept them on their toes. That, and his apparent tendency to sleepwalk. Since Bunny went to bed earlier than his caretakers, Philza and Kristin often heard his soft little feet shuffling around his room or his low voice mutter nervously to himself. Bunnyblade's nightmares always concerned one of the three beings he'd mentioned: Smiles, Cardman and the Firebrother, but most often it was Smiles. The two adults learned quite a few somewhat random things about these three, but were never sure how seriously to take them, since what they heard usually sounded impossible for normal humans.

They learned something of the Firebrother one night after Bunny fell asleep beside the fireplace, listening to Philza and Kristin discuss the next day's chores and how soon the weather would allow Phil to go flying again. The two were about to go to bed, Philza had just started picking the sleeping rabbit child up, when suddenly Bunnyblade spoke in scared whimper. "I'll be good! Promise! I'll be good, Firebrother, just please let me alone!" He wriggled away from Philza's hands. "It's too hot!"

"Bunny?" Philza drew his hands away. "Bunnyblade, it's Phil. You're safe, alright? You're safe."

Kristin got down on her knees beside Bunny and her husband. "What's wrong, Bunnyblade? Is it a nightmare?"

Philza eyed his wife in confusion. "Have you ever heard a child cry in a good dream?"

But his wife patted his arm. "If he hears me ask about a nightmare, he might realize it's just a dream."