When she came back from a quick foraging expedition and was chewing up the herbs to put on Toklo’s wounds, Lusa said, “Don’t you want to talk to Chogan? Maybe what happened wasn’t as simple as you’ve always thought.”

Toklo shook his head. “Lusa, I know you were close to your family in the Bear Bowl, so it’s hard for you to understand that some kin-bears aren’t friends.” A trace of anger crept into his tone. “Don’t try to change my mind.”

“Oh, Toklo . . .” Lusa stopped smoothing the herb mush onto his scratches and leaned her head against his shoulder. “Please try to forgive your father. It would be worth it to have some real family again.”

A low growl rose in Toklo’s throat. “Chogan is dead to me.”

I wish I could do something for him, Lusa thought, though she knew she couldn’t go on pushing him.

Toklo ate the rabbit Lusa had caught and one of Aiyanna’s eggs, then tried to sleep, but he tossed and turned all night.

At dawn Toklo finally slipped into deeper sleep. Lusa decided to leave him in peace for a while. Creeping out of the den, she headed for her favorite patch of green shoots. The sky was overcast; Lusa relished the cool shadows of the forest and the freshness of the dew that misted her pelt as she pushed through the undergrowth.

When she had eaten enough green shoots, Lusa dug for maggots among the roots of a tree, licking up the tasty grubs until her belly was comfortably full. I’ll see if I can catch something for Toklo, she thought. He’ll be hungry when he wakes up.

Spotting a squirrel nibbling something at the foot of a tree a few bearlengths away, she stalked carefully toward it, but at the last moment a breeze sprang up, carrying her scent toward her prey.

The squirrel jerked upright, then swarmed up the tree with Lusa hard after it. But once it reached the cover of the leafy boughs it vanished; Lusa decided it must have leaped into another tree.

“Seal rot!” she hissed.

She was about to climb down and search for some other prey when she spotted movement in the undergrowth. Thin, dark shapes were slinking through the forest like ominous fish. Their scent drifted up to her.

Wolves!

Lusa dug her claws into her branch and clung on, hardly daring to breathe. She couldn’t forget the horror of almost being dragged out of a tree by coyotes. We’ve only heard wolves hunting at night before, she thought. Why are they out in daylight? Maybe it’s because the day is so dark.