Saying good-bye to Maniitok, Makya led Lusa back along the gully. “I really didn’t think you’d get him to join in,” she told Lusa, sounding impressed. “I always thought he didn’t care about anyone else.”

“Perhaps he was just waiting to be invited,” Lusa suggested.

“I’ll see you at the ravine,” Makya said as they returned to the glade where Lusa had found her.

Lusa said farewell to her and the cubs, who were even more excited now, and hurried back to the den among the vines through gathering twilight. The other bears were already there, sharing a grouse and a squirrel.

“Hey, I asked Makya and Maniitok, and they’re both going to help,” she announced.

“That’s great,” Yakone said, while Kallik pushed Lusa’s share of the prey over to her.

“What about Aiyanna?” Lusa asked Toklo. “I see you’ve still got your ears!”

The brown bear looked slightly embarrassed. “Yeah, she’ll come,” he replied, swallowing a mouthful of squirrel. He sounded more enthusiastic than before. “She said she thought it was a brilliant plan.”

Lusa hid her amusement. It seems like Aiyanna convinced him when I couldn’t.

While the other bears settled down to sleep, Lusa slipped out of the den and climbed a tree. From the topmost branches she gazed up at the dark-blue sky, tracing the pattern of Ujurak’s stars.

“I hope you think we’re doing the right thing,” she whispered. “It would be so much easier if you were with us.”

No answer came from the bright shape overhead, but Lusa still felt comforted, because she knew their friend was watching over them.

Chapter Twenty-Three - Kallik

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Kallik

Snow swept Kallik off her paws, tumbling around her in a chaos of white. She flailed her paws helplessly, unable to find anything solid to cling to. The thundering roar of the avalanche filled the whole world. Kallik was falling, falling . . .

She woke with a jolt to find herself lying next to Yakone, squashed uncomfortably in the tiny den. We won’t have to live here for much longer, she thought with relief. Once we’ve chased off the wolves, we’ll leave for Great Bear Lake, and then the Endless Ice.

Excitement fluttered inside Kallik like the beating wings of a bird. She somehow knew that this was the path she was supposed to take, instead of going back to the Melting Sea. And maybe I’ll see Taqqiq at the Longest Day gathering.