Edging back from Yakone, Kallik accidentally put her paw down on the other pod, which was long and had a silvery sheen. It split down one side and some green sticky stuff trickled out. Kallik sniffed the pungent smell. “What’s that?”

Lusa sniffed it as well. “I don’t know.”

“I don’t think Yakone should eat it,” Kallik said doubtfully. “It doesn’t smell like food.”

Both bears stared at the green goo for a moment; then Lusa gave an excited little bounce. “I know! It looks like chewed leaves, right? So this must be to put on the wound! Toklo, more leaves down here, please!”

While they waited for Toklo, Kallik peeled off the leaves and moss that they had used to wrap Yakone’s injured paw, and tried not to flinch at what she saw underneath. The wound was red and angry, blackening at the edges, and greenish pus was oozing out of it. The rotting smell made Kallik gag.

“It’s getting worse,” she whispered.

“But it’ll be better soon,” Lusa comforted her.

The leaves Toklo had fetched showered down into the den. Lusa used one of them to wipe away the worst of the pus from Yakone’s paw, then slathered the wound with the green sticky stuff and wrapped the paw up in fresh leaves. She gathered up the rest of the white seeds and the pod with the green stuff and placed them tidily at the side of the den. “We’ll give Yakone more when he wakes up,” she said. “He should soon. . . .”

An enormous yawn cut off the rest of what Lusa meant to say.

Kallik pressed her snout into her friend’s shoulder. “Get some sleep,” she said. “You must be exhausted after going all that way. And thank you, Lusa . . . it was a terrible risk, and I know you did it all for Yakone.”

“Thank me when he’s better,” Lusa said muzzily as she curled up on the floor of the den. Moments later she was asleep.

Kallik stayed beside Yakone, knowing that it was safe to sleep because Toklo was on watch, but wanting to fix her gaze on Yakone, assessing every breath, every slight movement, to see if he was getting better.

After a while she dozed, and woke to find sunlight seeping into the den. At once she realized that Yakone’s breathing was slower and deeper, and the noisy rasping had died away. She reached out to touch his nose and found that it was cool again. As if the touch had disturbed him he shifted, but seemed only to be making himself more comfortable before settling into sleep again.

“He’s getting better. . . .” Kallik murmured, hardly daring to believe it.