Heading back to the others, Toklo met up with Kallik, who was returning empty-pawed. She shook her head as Toklo padded up to her.

“Not a sniff of prey,” she reported. “Where have all the animals gone?”

Toklo hadn’t realized until then how empty the forest was. On their way from the SilverPath they’d seen very few signs of prey and heard hardly any birdsong from the trees. Something isn’t right here, he thought, remembering the devastated burrows. But he kept his misgivings to himself.

“At least you got something,” Kallik said, giving the rabbit an approving sniff. “Let’s get back.”

Scarlet light was pouring through the trees as Toklo and Kallik padded down into the valley to where Yakone and Lusa were waiting. A cool breeze had sprung up, rustling the leaves and stirring the bears’ fur.

Yakone was asleep when Toklo and Kallik reached the stream, though he roused quickly at the smell of prey. “Great catch!” he told Toklo, swiping his tongue around his jaws.

“You three share the rabbit,” Lusa said with a contented sigh. “I’m stuffed full of fern root.”

Toklo could have eaten much more than his share of the prey, even with Lusa giving up her portion, but at least it took the edge off his hunger. The last of the light had died away by the time they finished eating. While his friends settled down to sleep, Toklo sat beside the stream, reveling in the faint gurgle of the water and the starlight that turned the trees to silver. His belly churned with excitement, driving sleep away.

I can’t wait to explore! I’ll find the river, and the cave where I was born . . . and most of all I want to find the place where Tobi is buried.

Toklo was drifting into a doze when he heard the sound of heavy pawsteps approaching through the trees. Kallik and Lusa stirred, too, Lusa leaping to her paws in alarm.

“What’s that?” she whispered, her eyes gleaming in the dark.

Toklo stood up, bracing himself to defend his friends. Brown-bear scent flooded over him a moment before the bear himself lumbered out from behind a patch of alder bushes. As Toklo stepped forward, the strange grizzly reared up, huge and shaggy against the night sky, and let out a low growl. Still weak from hunger and the long journey, Toklo knew he was in no shape for a fight.

I’m not looking for trouble, and there’s no sense in making enemies when I’m hoping to settle down here.

“Take it easy,” he said to the other bear, trying to make his voice quiet and unthreatening. “We’re not trying to steal your territory. We’re just resting for a while before we move on.”