“I know he is,” Kallik replied, tracing out the pattern of her friend’s constellation. “He’ll always watch over us until we find our homes.”

Now Kallik dragged her thoughts away from the night before as she sank her jaws into the flesh of the plump hare. Soon we’ll set out again, she thought. And Ujurak will be with us, every step of the way.

As sunrise followed sunrise, Kallik realized that even up on the ridge the snow was disappearing. Their snowy den among the boulders was shrinking, and the surface of the rocks felt hot to the touch. The open ground between the snow line and the edge of the forest grew wider each day.

“Soon all the snow will be gone,” Kallik said sadly as she emerged from the den one sunrise.

Yakone followed her out. “I’m feeling stronger every day, so who cares if there’s snow here or not? We’ll be leaving soon, right?”

“Yes,” Kallik replied. “Back to the Melting Sea.” But somehow the prospect didn’t excite her as much as it once had. What’s wrong with me? she wondered. “I keep remembering that goat we saw on the other side of the ridge. My jaws are watering just thinking about it. I’m hungry.”

“Then let’s hunt,” Yakone said.

Side by side the two white bears climbed to the top of the ridge, where Kallik picked up a goaty scent once again. “I can smell it, but I can’t see it,” she muttered.

Yakone was scanning the slopes on the far side. “Down there,” he said, pointing with one paw.

Kallik followed his gaze and saw a mountain goat perched on a sheer cliff face several bearlengths farther down. “Great spirits, how did it get there?”

Yakone watched the goat for a moment, then glanced around, assessing the landscape. “You go down toward the trees,” he suggested to Kallik, “and I’ll chase the goat down to you.”

“Great plan!” Kallik agreed. “But be careful!”

She headed down toward the forest, circling low to stay out of sight so she wouldn’t alert the goat. Once she was in position, she looked back to see Yakone scrambling down the rocks, and faintly heard him roaring to startle the goat. The mountain goat sprang away, racing down the slopes to where Kallik was waiting. Letting out a snarl, Kallik charged toward it. Panicking, the goat turned back toward the snow line, but Yakone was there, ready to intercept it.

Before Kallik could close in to make the kill, she heard a growl behind her. She whirled around to see the brown she-bear who had driven them out of the forest a few days before. Her two cubs were just behind her, staring round-eyed at Kallik.

“You’re trespassing and stealing prey!” the she-bear accused her.

“No, we’re not!” Kallik protested. “We’re hunting above the tree line!”