It feels so strange to be saying good-bye to them forever.

Restless and fretful, Kallik let her mind drift back to the long path they had traveled together, out to the Endless Ice and back.

I’ll never forget all we did. . . . That time we had to go underground to rescue Toklo when he fell down the hole. And the time when we stampeded the caribou to destroy the flat-face oil rig, and all the spirits danced for us in the sky. She let out a long sigh. I can’t believe it’s over. . . .

“Are you okay?” Yakone’s whisper surprised Kallik; she thought he was asleep. “I know you’re upset about saying good-bye to Toklo and Lusa,” he went on, moving closer so that he could stretch out a paw and touch Kallik’s shoulder. “You don’t have to leave them because of me. I’m healing quickly now. Why don’t we stay with them until I can get all the way back to the Melting Sea?”

Kallik felt that her heart would overflow with love for Yakone; he was being so generous! And for a moment she was tempted to take him up on his offer. “No,” she murmured at last. “What about the wolves? You won’t mend if you have to keep fighting them off.”

“Poor Toklo!” Yakone said. “He must feel like his home has been taken over by wolves.”

“Yes,” Kallik agreed. “But Toklo will have a better chance of establishing his own territory if he doesn’t have to worry about a couple of white bears blundering around. And I know he’ll look after Lusa.”

But even as she spoke, knowing that they were doing the sensible thing, her heart ached at the thought of leaving her best friends behind.

“I know what they mean to you,” Yakone told her, pressing his snout against Kallik’s shoulder. “You’ve been together for so long. You know,” he added teasingly, “you seemed so weird to me at first, when you popped up on Star Island with a black bear and a brown bear who had no place being on the ice.” His tone became serious again. “But now I know why they’re so precious to you. And they’ve become precious to me, too. They’ve saved my life several times over.”

Kallik sighed again and huddled closer to Yakone, taking comfort in his strength. Eventually she managed to sleep, and woke when sunlight was breaking through the undergrowth at the edges of the den. The other bears were stirring around her.

Kallik rose to her paws. “I’m going to hunt one last time,” she announced. “I’ll catch some prey for you two before we leave.”

Instantly Toklo rose and stood beside her. “I’ll come with you.”

“And me!” Lusa bounced up.

“What about you, Yakone?” Toklo asked. “Are you coming?”