Excitement filled Kallik’s belly, powerful as the surge of the river. She wasn’t sure what had roused her from sleep, but she felt as if something momentous was about to happen. She looked up and saw Silaluk, the great star-bear, blazing out from the blue-black sky.

Was it you that woke me?

She stared at the glittering ice-spots that surrounded Silaluk, wondering which one of them was her mother’s spirit. The thought that Nisa might be looking down on her filled her with happiness. ‘Thank you for bringing us safely to this wonderful place,’ she whispered. ‘I know I would never have made it without you.’

Thinking back on her journey, the struggle from the melting Frozen Sea through the land of sunbaked earth and stones, Kallik still found it hard to believe that her quest was over. She had been alone then, drifting like a piece of broken ice on the waves. Only her determination to find her brother and the unfailing light of Silaluk above her had kept her trudging on. Sadness welled up inside her as she thought about Taqqiq. She had been so delighted to find him beside Great Bear Lake, and even happier when he had agreed to join her and the others on their journey.

‘But it didn’t work out,’ she whispered out loud.

Taqqiq hadn’t been able to get along with the other bears, and with every step away from the lake his conviction had grown that it was wrong for him to be travelling with them. Finally he had decided to go back to the lake and tried to trick Kallik into returning with him.

‘He wanted to be with me,’ she murmured. But not enough to stay, she added silently.

Kallik let out a long sigh. There was nothing more she could do for Taqqiq; it was unlikely they would ever meet again. That part of her life had to be frozen deep inside her, locked in a block of ice. But at least now she knew that her brother was alive and that he could fend for himself.

‘Goodbye, Taqqiq.’ She whispered the words to the empty air. ‘May the spirits be with you.’

Exhaustion swept over her, and her eyes felt heavy. She closed them again, letting herself sink back into sleep. In her dreams she bounded tirelessly across the ice while her mother’s face shone down on her from the sky, her eyes filled with love.

When Kallik next woke, the ice-spirits had faded from the sky and a red band of mist hung over the horizon. The other bears were already awake and had padded down to the water’s edge, black shapes outlined against the milky light. Kallik rose to her paws, gave her pelt a shake, and headed over to join them.