“Come on, Tobi!” he had called. “I’m fat and juicy! Don’t you want to eat me?”

Tobi scrambled after him. Toklo could easily outpace him, but after a while he let his brother catch him and leap on top of him, letting out tiny high-pitched roars to announce that he had killed his prey.

But then the memory darkened.

“Come on, Tobi,” Toklo urged his brother. “You be the goat now.”

“No, I’m tired,” Tobi replied, huddling in the grass. “I want to rest now.”

Toklo tore at the grass in anger and frustration. “You’re no fun!” he snorted, turning to Oka, who was digging up roots a couple of bearlengths away. “Tobi won’t play anymore,” he protested.

Oka padded over to him and gave him a stinging cuff around the ear. “You should know better than to tire him out,” she growled. “He’s not as strong as you.” She turned to Tobi and licked him comfortingly around the ears.

But we were having fun, Toklo thought, pulling himself out of the memory. He felt troubled and annoyed, as much with himself as with his mother. I shouldn’t have complained about Tobi all the time, he thought, a pang of regret shaking him. It wasn’t his fault that he was weak. A sudden longing to see his brother again surged over him, though he knew that wasn’t possible. Tobi’s spirit had traveled downriver long since. But now at least I’ll be able to find the place where he’s buried.

Movement from the other side of the meadow startled Toklo from his thoughts, and he took a pace forward. “Lusa?” he called softly.

A bear emerged from the undergrowth, paused, then loped toward Toklo. It wasn’t Lusa, but a brown she-bear about the same size as Toklo. She looked strong and fit, and moved confidently as she crossed the meadow and halted in front of him.

“Who are you?” she asked. Her tone was reserved, and there was suspicion in her gaze as it flicked over Toklo.

“My name’s Toklo,” the brown male replied. “When I was a cub, I—”

“That’s my territory, over there,” the she-bear interrupted, pointing with one paw toward the other side of the meadow. “Stay out of it, okay?”

Toklo bristled, drawing his lips back in the beginnings of a snarl. Don’t talk to me as if I’m a wandering cub. “If I stay away, it’ll be because I choose to,” he retorted. “You don’t scare me.”

“Well, I should,” the she-bear snorted. “I can fight as well as any bear around here.” She swung around and headed back across the meadow.