The next week was grueling for Sandpaw, and he spent the entire time in an exhausted fughe state as he was being trained. Every morning he woke up, and was taken out by King and they ran laps around the whole farm for three hours. The first time he was only able to do a single lap, while he did three the second time, and kept increasing from there. It helped that after the third day, Marian taught him how to break the chase of the hounds who always caught his scent.

Next would be Marian, who taught him how to distract just about everyone. She did everything from dance with him in front of dozens of mice to try to steal a pie while the rest of the group did an actual mission. Their work wasn’t as physically exhausting, but it was soulcrushing for Sandpaw to have to do so many embarrassing things. “That’s the point” she said on the fourth day. “If you can be embarrassing, you can catch the attention of everyone else. Even if you are the fool, You must know that you are the fool.”

After that his body was too weary to do any more work, so Fleta had Josh teach him. The first day they went over the dangers of the farm, from traps and hounds to the more insidious dangers like plants that were harmful to them to eat. “The shadow breath aubergine are powerful, but they are one of the farmers' special crops. Because they contain pure death mana, they can’t provide a healthy evolution and just make us sick.” The second day he was taught the kinds of plants, on the third signs that they had developed after he stole a book on the secret signs of thieves. The lessons grew more and more complex, but Sandpaw listened with his long lop ears and absorbed it like a sponge.

The final part of the day was spent resting and sleeping, at least for most of his week of training. But on the fifth day he was drawn aside by Fleta. “Now, I need to ask you if you want to impress the elder, or just do well.”

“I guess I want to impress… why?”

“Well, the elder is growing older and he doesn’t come out here any more, that means I’m the head. I have to make all the plans, and while that’s an honor it’s also very stressful.” She smiled softly. “So, I was wondering if you wanted to make a plan yourself. I’ll give you resources, I’ll help you tweak it, but the result will be on you. Succeed or fail.”

“That’s a lot of pressure.” Sandpaw said looking away. after a minute he looked back and into her eyes, he could see a wave of guilt and pain go through her as he looked deep into her soul. “But, you know that don’t you?”

“Yeah, I do. I think we can do this, all you have to do is try.” She said, smiling with a soft and gentle expression, that was tinged with the depression and sadness that overwhelmed her optimism.

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Sandpaw nodded in return. “I’ll do it.” And for the next three days, until his 7 days were up, he and Fleta worked out a plan. It was a big one, a heist that would get them a big haul and help the entire tribe. And, he hoped, would help his friends as well.

The day of the big plan started ominously. The sky was cloudy, a soft and gentle gray that covered its entirety. It didn’t look like rain, at least not yet, but the sunlight wasn’t blaring down. It was hurting the mood of all the others, so Sandpaw stepped forward before them.

“Guys. I know… you don’t think it’s going to go well. This looks bad, like the gods are telling us it’s going to be terrible.” He grinned. “But let me tell you why you're wrong. We are diurnal, we work best during the period of twilight and the time when the sun is the most diffuse. This, well this is just going to make the day feel like that.” The rest of them cheered.

“Okay, let me explain the plan one more time.” He moved his mouth and picked up a stick that had a slightly burned end. He used it to sketch into a slate stone they had dragged into their Burrow. Marking what he needed to for them to understand it.

“Alright, we’re going to be breaking into three teams. Each with our own mission. The first is the most obvious, you know to do, right Marian?”

“I’m going to cause chaos.” The red furred bunny said, a glint in her eye. “I think I’m going to start by distracting the guard dogs. Let me worry about how.”

“I will!” Sandpaw said with a grin. “The rest of us are going to split into two teams, and we are going to work to get as many things as we can. The first team is me and Fleta. The two of us are going for the carrots, which are the farther out area. By sneaking through the rice patties we don’t need to worry about getting seen.”

“That’s right, we’ll be getting Sandpaw his prize and getting a few extra things there as well.”

“Then John and Dizzy are going in close. You two have the hard part. You are going to collect the heirloom vegtables from the close garden.”

“But the farmer might catch us!” John asked worriedly.

“He and his wife both could, if they were there. However, that’s why King is going to start us off by getting chased by a fox.”

“Right into the chickens. All I have to do is outrun them that far, I can do that.”

“And then the farmers will be distracted along with the dogs and all the guardians will be gone. Avoid traps and you are home free!”

“Let’s go.” Fleta said with a smile, she had a sparkle in her eyes that showed him she thought it could really work.