“I’m as hungry and tired as any of you,” Toklo retorted. Then he swung around with an angry snort. “Fine. I’ll hunt. Does that satisfy you?”

Kallik didn’t respond, just turned her head away.

Lusa padded up to Kallik. “Are you okay watching Yakone?” she asked. “If you are, I’ll go and look for herbs now that we’ve traveled a bit, and see if there’s anything that will help him.”

Kallik hesitated for a moment, clearly still seething with fury, then let out a long sigh and nodded. “Thanks, Lusa. We’ll be fine. You be careful, though.”

“Watch out for wolves and bears,” Toklo added.

Lusa rolled her eyes. “Yes, Toklo, you’ve told me that, like, a thousand times!” Not waiting for a reply, she headed into the trees.

Once she was on her own, Lusa began to feel more peaceful. She hated it when the others quarreled. It was as though their anger might destroy the deep connections between them. Please, Arcturus, let them be friends again by the time I get back!

Without Toklo’s relentless urging to move on, Lusa began to realize how tired she was: bone-weary and longing from the depths of her heart for somewhere they could stop and be safe. Her paws felt so sore that she winced as she set them down. She was so exhausted that she couldn’t think clearly, and when she started searching for herbs, she couldn’t remember what to look for. Even when she dug up one or two plants, she wasn’t sure that they had the right scent.

Lusa let herself sink to the ground, black despair sweeping over her like a storm cloud. It’s my job to find a way to make Yakone better. I was the one who used to help Ujurak with his healing herbs. I’ve found plants so many times before. But now the vegetation that stretched around her seemed unfamiliar, and of no use. Nothing seems to help Yakone. He’s going to die, and it will be all my fault. . . .

Gradually Lusa forced herself to be calm. We’ve all suffered injuries before. Yakone’s is by far the worst, but that doesn’t mean I should give up. If herbs don’t work, what else can we do?

Then Lusa remembered the time in the Wilderness when Ujurak, in goose’s shape, got a fishhook stuck in his throat. She and the others had made him change into a flat-face, and carried him to a flat-face healer. The flat-faces had whisked him off in a clattering metal bird and taken him to a huge den full of other sick flat-faces. And there in the den they had healed him.

Could the flat-faces do the same for Yakone, even though he’s a bear? Lusa wondered. At least they might have different herbs. It’s worth a try!