Geraden leaned forward and planted a kiss on Todd’s nose, causing him to tense and blink rapidly. “You’re doing the right thing,” the Rabbit said.  “Try not to worry about it right now, though. I won’t ask you to join up until after your marriage, and I’ll make sure Arvy doesn’t pressure you either. You should concentrate on her right now.”  Todd followed Geraden’s gaze and saw Lisa, sitting by a pillar and watching them.  She smiled and waved a paw.  Todd realized how he looked, sitting on Geraden’s lap with wet cheeks and a freshly-kissed nose, and blushed.

“Clear below!” a voice called from above them.  “Oops,” Geraden said, sliding along the floor well away from the metal hatch, taking Todd with him in his lap. The Rabbits above were standing on the makeshift platform they’d constructed off the side of the ladder.  They pulled on a long leather strap, opening the hatch, and the reason for the side-facing platform became apparent. Black, charred debris poured down through the opening, followed by a torrent of powdery ash.

“Oh my God,” Todd said.  “How much of it is gone?” He looked up through the hatch and saw dawn sky.

***

Todd was shaking as Brutus helped him up through the hole in the ceiling.  He tried not to think about the multi-story fall to hard rock underneath him.  “I gotcha.”  Brutus held Todd’s paw firmly and put an arm around his shoulders, lifting him out of the dark hole. Todd coughed and smelled burning wood. Soaked ashes, still warm, clung to the soles of his feet.  He looked around.

At first, Todd had no idea where he was.  Black hulks stood on either side, the remains of burned-out walls.  There was no ceiling. Charred remnants of old furniture surrounded him, including a broken glass display case.  He didn’t remember ever seeing anything like that in Corwin Hall.  He looked out at the street, lined with emergency vehicles, and got his bearings.  He wasn’t in the warren, but just down the street, inside one of the old Rabbit shops. This hatch was a wartime bolthole – he thought he remembered seeing it on his first visit to Corwin Hall.  With a shudder, he realized the entire block must have burned down. Todd’s heart sank as he thought of the lost historical buildings. He looked over to his right, in the direction of Corwin Hall, dreading what the damage would look like. What he saw made his heart jackknife.

The brick-and-wood building he remembered was gone, collapsed into rubble. Corwin Hall was not in the history books, but the structure that occupied its place now was, recognizable from old wartime photographs. The tall granite spur that Todd now knew to be hollow, containing the most beautiful chapel he’d ever seen, was naked and visible. The carved-stone walls of Warkyn Warren stood exposed around the outcropping, recessed from the road by a field of burned rubble, the proud carved doors singed but unburnt.

A moment later, Todd’s heart took another lurch. He’d noticed something that sent adrenaline rushing through his already-exhausted body. A profile, set out in silhouette, stood out among the onlookers lined up along the sidewalk, and Todd recognized it instantly. A Ferret, tall and narrow-shouldered.  It was wearing boots.

“Him.  Him!”  Todd pointed.  He tried to shout it, but his throat was dry and tired, and it came out as a raspy wheeze.  “What?” Brutus looked where Todd was pointing.  “Him!” Todd rasped again, then gave up on trying to communicate.  He ran toward the Ferret, shoving away an EMT who was hurrying over to the hatch. “You!”

The Ferret turned as Todd raised a clenched fist, his eyes wide.  At the last second, Todd saw something that caused him to drop his arm, the punch turning into a haphazard body-check: the Mustelid face that turned toward him had Contrition marks.

The Ferret let out an “oof,” catching Todd and taking a step back.  He didn’t fall over.  “Hey… hey!  Survivors!”  He turned and looked over his shoulders.  “We got survivors over here!” Todd blinked, shaking his head and looking up at the tall Mustelid holding him.  Too tall – that wasn’t right. It didn’t quite match the profile from his dream, after all. The shoulders weren’t as narrow as he’d thought, either. The head was too large, the muzzle too pointed.  He wasn’t a Ferret at all; he was a Pine Marten.

“Adam!”  Todd heard Geraden’s cracking voice behind him and looked. The old Rabbit was climbing out of the hatch, looking in their direction and calling before he was even all the way out.

“Gerry!” The Marten let go of Todd and ran to to Geraden, embracing him in a hug.  “Oh my God, you’re alive!”

“Everyone.  Everybody survived,” Geraden panted, recovering from his climb.  “They’re in the underwarren. I was worried that you might have arrived late last night and been lost in the fire; God am I glad to see you.” Geraden leaned forward and planted a kiss right on the Marten’s lips.  Nothing sensual, but Adam kissed him back, and Todd looked away. 

As Todd looked toward the sidewalk, he realized something that had completely escaped his mind in the scramble to get out of the underwarren – he was still naked.  And mixed in with the emergency responders were news cameras.  He tried to cover himself with his paws and his small tail, retreating back into the ruined shop and blushing. Next to the hatch, Brutus escaped the prodding examinations of an EMT and ran toward Geraden and the Pine Marten.

“Adam!”

“Brutus!”

The two embraced and kissed each other – a kiss much less chaste than the one the Pine Marten had shared with Geraden. Brutus actually knelt into the Marten, bending him backwards a little.  Todd blushed even more and turned the only direction left to him – further back into the shop.

As soon as he went back toward the hatch, he heard Lisa squeak, “I can’t!” He looked down the hole – Lisa was three-quarters of the way up the ladder, but her eyes were shut tight and she was trembling.  “Lisa!” He got down on his belly, immediately forgetting his nakedness, and reached his arms out.  “Come on hon, you can do it!  Just like the ladder at home.”

“It’s too tall!”

“You’ve never fallen off a ladder in your life, hon, you won’t now.”

She took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and looked up at him.  She smiled a little bit and resumed climbing.

Once she was in reach, Todd and Brutus lifted her out at the same time.  Brutus let go once her feet were on solid ground, and Todd wrapped her in a warm embrace.  They were still hugging when the EMTs put a towel around them.

***

Todd’s perception of the next day was a sleep-deprived blur.  The residents of Corwin Hall were set up inside a city bus for most of the day as doctors checked them for injuries and police conducted interviews. Todd was grateful for the set of cheap sweatpants and tee-shirt he was given during his interview, and answered their perfunctory questions with yesses and nos. He vaguely overheard Geraden arguing with someone over police entering the interior of the remaining warren, but he didn’t hear how it ended.  In the afternoon, he rested his head on Lisa’s lap, pulling his legs up onto the bus seat, and drifted off to sleep.

The colors came, but they were muted and distant, as if they knew that Todd needed rest. He saw only a few shapes, and remembered almost none of them. One that he did remember later was Arvetis as a young Wolf, dressed in the cape and short peaked cap of his UPN uniform, as depicted on the doors of Corwin Hall.  There was something wrong with his face, but Todd couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was.  He realized that the image appeared to be on a television screen, which was impossible, of course – televisions didn’t exist during the species wars. But he knew it was a dream, with its own inscrutable logic, and he let the image dissolve into black.

“You know how important it is… I’m the only member on site, except for Arvetis… Please, if you can. We’re so lucky there were no deaths.”  Todd realized, as he came back to consciousness, that he was listening to one half of a telephone conversation. He also realized that he felt the vibration of an engine and road moving under tires. The bus was running.  He sat up from Lisa’s lap and yawned.

As he did so, he felt clammy wetness in his groin and against his thighs.  He froze, his fur standing on end.  Slowly, he looked down at his lap – his light gray sweatpants were dark and wet in the crotch. Lisa blinked and looked over drowsily.  “Awake, fuzz tube? Hey, you all right?”  Then, her twitching nose picked up the scent of his accident.  “Oh!”

“Thank you, this is a huge help.”  Adam hung up his cell phone in the seat across the aisle from Todd and Lisa.  He took a deep breath. “All right, that’s provisions arranged for the next few days.  More Order people are on their way to help out with logistics and politics.”  He looked over at the couple.  “Oh, is Todd awake?”  He frowned as he caught sight of Todd’s expression.

Todd felt like he was about to cry. It didn’t help when Adam scooted closer and clearly caught the scent.  “I see.  Don’t worry, you aren’t the first.”  His voice took on a soft, conciliatory tone.  “We’re being set up in a shelter outside a nearby hospital for now, and we’ll have you back in diapers soon.”

“No, but I...” Todd choked out. What could he say, though? That he didn’t really need them? That wouldn’t hold much water, his subconscious punned at him. “It was just a stressful night,” he finally let out, weakly.

Adam nodded, his marked face showing sympathy. “It was. But it’s over now, and thank God everyone is safe.  When we stop, talk to Brutus and he’ll find some new pants for you.  Geraden and Arvetis have pretty much collapsed, so Brutus and I are running things for a little while.”

Lisa leaned up and put a kiss on Todd’s nose.  “Relax hon, it’s going to be okay.”  For some reason, the memory of his vague dream flashed in front of Todd’s consciousness, and he felt uneasy.

***

Lisa didn’t let go of Todd all the way to the temporary shelter.  Even as they walked into the large white tent, she kept one arm around his waist, as if helping him stand.  He didn’t object – in fact, he didn’t say much of anything.

The inside of the tent was open and divided into small sections with tape on the asphalt ground.  Brutus waved at them as they entered.  “We have a double here for you,” he said, pointing at a larger square taped off toward the corner of the tent.  “Sorry about the open layout – we’ll have cloth dividers soon, once more of the Order show up.

Lisa sighed.  “How long are we going to be in here?”

“We don’t know yet,” Brutus said.  “Once Geraden is feeling sentient again, we’re going to need him to work out with the police just how much investigating they need to do before we can go back to the old warren.  Assuming it’s still livable.”

Two Rabbits who were helping to set up came along shortly with a double-wide cot, putting it down in Todd and Lisa’s taped-off area.  It took up most of the square.  Todd saw Lisa’s expression become grim as she took in the bleak surroundings, and he was terrified that she would start crying. He didn’t know what he would do if she did.  In fact, she didn’t cry as they sat down next to each other on the double-wide cot, but Todd did.

They didn’t say anything; they just held each other for a long moment, Todd occasionally making a snuffling sound and wiping his cheeks.  Their silence was interrupted when Adam came into the tent holding a large white package, about the size of a small dresser but evidently light enough for the Pine Marten to carry by himself.  “Diapers are here!” he said, setting it down and tearing open the plastic wrapping.  “Courtesy of St. Mary’s across the parking lot.”  The few members of the warren who were truly incontinent, including Night the fox and Neherin the mare, looked relieved and lined up first.

“Stay here hon, I’ll be right back.” Lisa stood up, leaving Todd hugging his knees on the cot. As he watched Lisa get in line, her whiskers standing out proudly and her tail held as poised as ever behind her, he realized he hadn’t told her about his decision to join the Order yet.

He was bracing himself for the discussion as she came back holding six thick diapers and a plastic package of wet wipes stacked up in her paws.  He rubbed his face and was surprised to find that he was still crying.  She sat down next to him.

“Lisa--”

“Ssh.” She put the diapers down and put a paw on his chest.

“I need to tell you--”

“It can wait until after this.”  She pushed gently on his chest. He didn’t resist, letting her push him down onto the cot.  He sniffled through his clogged nose as she pulled his sweatpants off.  Todd had received a dry pair from Brutus after the bus stopped, but he hadn’t cleaned his fur off at all, and Lisa wrinkled her nose a little at his musky smell.  She opened the pack of wipes.  “Spread your legs.”

Todd did, closing his eyes.  One of his paws found its way to his muzzle as she began wiping down his thick fur, starting on his thighs.  He managed to avoid sucking on his thumb, but the side of his paw popped into his mouth.  He took in a sharp breath through his nose as Lisa started wiping under his tail.  He felt himself becoming erect despite himself, and he groaned a little, opening his eyes and looking around the crowded shelter.  He wasn’t the only one being diapered.

“Ssh, it’s all right,” Lisa said, leaning forward and kissing his nose.  “It’s natural.”  She smirked, continuing to clean his fur.  When she was satisfied with his smell, she picked up a diaper and unfolded it.  The cot creaked as Todd lifted his bottom without having to be told.  Lisa slid the diaper under Todd and did up the cuff and tape around his tailbase, then patted his hip for him to lie back down.

Todd felt the knot in his chest begin to loosen as Lisa pulled the front of the diaper up between his legs. He no longer dreaded telling her that he’d made up his mind; he knew that he could tell her anything.  She taped the front panel up snugly, then ran two fingers underneath the leg gathers on either side, standing up the leak guard against his thighs.  She laid down next to him on the cot, facing him, their warm breath mixing.

“There,” she said, putting an arm over his chest.  “Now what was it you needed to tell me?”

Todd took in a deep breath. “Lisa, I...” He was preparing to tell her that he was going to be marked, but at the last second, something else burst through his thoughts, like a lurking shark barely hidden under the surface.  “What if we’d had a kid?”

“What?” Lisa’s gentle smile froze on her face.

“What if we’d adopted and had a kid with us?  I couldn’t have carried you both.  I wouldn’t have been strong enough.”  He felt the tears begin to flow again.