“Yakone, don’t,” Kallik said, touching his shoulder with one paw. “We’re on her territory. We shouldn’t fight her over a goat.”

“But it’s our goat,” Yakone protested.

“What are you doing here?” the brown bear demanded, her tone still hostile. “This isn’t your place.”

“We’ve come from a long way off, and we’re going back soon,” Kallik replied politely.

The she-bear grunted as if she wasn’t sure she believed what Kallik told her. “Well, you’d do better to stick to the snow,” she told the white bears. “You show up like clouds down here among the trees. And leave my prey alone,” she added.

While she was speaking, a couple of small brown cubs bounced out of the undergrowth and started wrestling in the shade of a clump of ferns.

“Oh! Are they yours?” Kallik asked, captivated by the lively little creatures.

Instantly the she-bear moved to block her, as if she expected Kallik to attack her cubs. “Get out of here!” she snarled.

“Okay, we’ll go,” Kallik said with a sigh. She led the way out of the trees, and Yakone followed her with dragging pawsteps, casting frequent glances over his shoulder.

“We could have taken that goat,” he complained. “Why did you back down? You’re much braver than that.”

“No, we couldn’t have,” Kallik flashed back at him. “We don’t stand a chance when it’s just the two of us, and you’re injured. It would be different if we still had Toklo and Lusa with us.”

Yakone halted and glared at her. “So you don’t feel confident with just me around?”

“It’s not that at all!” Kallik protested, wondering how they had slid so suddenly into an argument.

“Then what is it?” Yakone demanded. “You can go back to your friends, if that’s what you want.”

“No, I want to be with you,” Kallik told him, taking a pace toward him. “Back where we belong.”

I don’t even care where that is, she thought. Wherever Yakone is, that’s where I belong.

Chapter Seventeen - Lusa

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Lusa

Lusa struggled out of sleep to hear pawsteps stomping around outside the den. Poking her head out through the vines, she saw Toklo pacing up and down, muttering to himself. “What’s the matter with you?” she called. “I thought every bear in the forest was charging past.”

Toklo turned toward her, and Lusa’s irritation faded as soon as she saw how ruffled and sleepless he looked. “Is something wrong?” she asked more quietly.

At first Lusa thought Toklo wasn’t going to reply; he turned his head away and worked his forepaws in the debris of the forest floor. “I remember Chogan,” he said eventually.

“You mean from when you lived here before?” Lusa said in surprise.