“Freed myself?” Kallik sounded puzzled. “I wasn’t stuck anywhere.”

Yakone turned to stare at Lusa, who faced him boldly. “I knew you would be able to walk,” she said. “I just had to find a way to prove it to you. I knew you’d do anything for Kallik if she was in danger, so she was the answer.”

For a moment both white bears gave Lusa identical glares. Yakone limped a step forward to loom over her. “So that story about Kallik pinned underneath a rock—you made that up?”

Lusa nodded. “Sorry—but it worked, didn’t it?”

Kallik’s eyes widened. “You told him I was in danger, to get him out of the den? Lusa, that was—was—”

“Clever?” Lusa suggested.

Kallik relaxed and gave a snort of amusement. “I guess it was. Thanks, Lusa.”

Yakone still looked upset. “Well, I feel like a real cloud-brain,” he muttered. “Lurching along like that . . . and all for nothing!”

“It wasn’t for nothing,” Kallik soothed him, padding to his side and pressing her snout against his shoulder. “It showed you what you can do. I’m so proud of you!”

A low growl rose in Yakone’s throat, and he tossed his head as if he was getting rid of a troublesome fly. But when he looked back at Lusa, his eyes were warm again. “I suppose you’re right,” he mumbled. “Thanks.”

As he finished speaking he staggered, and Lusa realized that despite his ability to walk, he was still weak and frail. She and Kallik moved swiftly to support him on either side.

“No, I can manage,” Yakone insisted, drawing away from them. “Let’s get back to the den.”

He took the lead, testing out his wounded paw to find out the best way of setting it down. At first Kallik padded close beside him, ready to help him if he fell.

“You have to let him trip, I think,” Lusa told her quietly. “You can’t support him all the time.”

“She’s right,” Yakone agreed. “I’ll tell you if I can’t manage, and we’ll stop for a rest.”

But Yakone kept going all the way back to the den. Lusa could see that he still had a long way to go before he was completely recovered, but he had taken the first important pawsteps.

Kallik fell back to pad alongside Lusa. “Thank you for understanding us all so well,” she murmured, brushing her snout across Lusa’s head fur. “Sometimes you’re as wise as Ujurak!”

Chapter Eleven - Kallik

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Kallik

Kallik watched Yakone as he lumbered away from her down the path that led to the stream, skirted a bramble thicket, and headed back toward her.

“That was great!” she praised him as he approached her, panting. “You’re much faster than you were yesterday.”