Once again she was aware of the bear spirits behind her, but now they were quieter, and Kallik sensed that they were watching over Yakone as he healed, instead of waiting to take him away. She didn’t look around, wanting to keep her eyes on Yakone, but suddenly she was glad of their presence. They felt comforting now, friendly rather than challenging.

“Thank you for leaving him with me,” she whispered.

Chapter Nine - Toklo

CHAPTER NINE

Toklo

Toklo headed through the trees to hunt, with Lusa pattering alongside him. Sunlight slanted through the branches and danced on the forest floor. The air was full of the scents of fresh growth, and though Toklo couldn’t detect any prey, there was no smell of wolves, either.

They had left Kallik in the makeshift den watching over Yakone, who was still sleeping deeply after the flat-face healing stuff. He was much quieter, his breathing stronger, and his fur didn’t feel so hot, but Toklo was still reluctant to allow himself to hope.

Relying on flat-faces is too weird!

“We shouldn’t go that way,” Lusa said after a few moments. “We’ll end up in territory that belongs to another brown bear. I think it might be Old Grizzly’s.” She shuddered. “I think I saw him the other day, just after I left you. He was huge!”

“Okay.” Toklo turned in the other direction. He had no desire to steal prey from other hungry bears in the forest.

“Do you recognize this place from when you were a cub?” Lusa asked as they padded onward.

Toklo hesitated. “I’m not sure,” he confessed at last. “One moment things seem familiar, and then the next everything is strange. I’ve been waiting so long to come back, but I . . . I don’t feel like I’ve come home.”

Lusa brushed her pelt comfortingly against his side. “I don’t suppose I would recognize the Bear Bowl,” she said. “We’ve been away for much longer than we were ever at our first homes.”

But I’m a wild bear! Toklo thought. That’s not the same as being born in a flat-face den. This is where I belong, so I should be able to remember it. He stifled the urge to say so out loud. It might sound rude, especially now that Lusa was a wild bear, too, through and through.

Toklo was beginning to be irritated by the lack of prey, and nervous that they had left Yakone and Kallik alone for a long time, when he heard a faint buzzing. He ignored it, until Lusa exclaimed, “Bees!”

Toklo sighed. “Great. Bees. They’ll really fill our bellies.”

“Not the bees, fur-brain!” Lusa gave Toklo a poke in the shoulder. “Honey!”

She stood still for a moment, listening until she pinpointed the direction of the sound, then took off through the trees at a trot. Stifling a groan, Toklo followed.