Toklo picked up the rabbit and carried it back to where Lusa was still sleeping. As he approached, the little black bear grunted, stirring, and passed her paws over her face. ‘Morning already!’ she yawned, scrambling up. ‘We’d better go back to the flat-face dens and see how Ujurak is doing.’ Her eyes shone as she turned to Kallik. ‘Maybe he’ll be ready to come back with us today!’

‘Hang on,’ Toklo said. ‘Eat first.’

‘Oh, thanks. I’m starving!’ Lusa’s eyes shone as she tore a mouthful from the rabbit. Toklo could see that she had put their argument of the night before out of her mind. He guessed she had managed to forget that he was going to leave.

When they had finished eating, Toklo and Kallik followed Lusa as she bounded eagerly back down the trail towards the flat-face denning area. Toklo’s belly churned as he worried about being spotted by the flat-faces, and he was relieved when Lusa slackened her pace as they approached the dens.

‘We know that we can trust the healer,’ she murmured, ‘but –’

‘You trust the healer,’ Toklo interrupted. ‘I’m not so sure.’

‘I think Toklo’s right,’ Kallik put in. ‘He helped Ujurak because he’s in the shape of a flat-face. But how does he feel about bears?’

Lusa shrugged. ‘I suppose you could be right. In any case, it’s true that we can’t be sure about the other flat-faces. We’d better make sure they don’t see us.’

It was not long past sunrise, but already one or two of the flat-faces were walking between the dens. Toklo, Lusa and Kallik ducked into the shadows under an overhanging roof as a flat-face walked past with a large, shiny object dangling from one paw. Loud noises issued from it, and a high-pitched sound was coming from the flat-face’s mouth. As he passed another of the dens the door opened and the female who Ujurak had said had a goose spirit appeared and called out to him.

While they were talking, Toklo, Kallik and Lusa slipped quietly around the back of the dens and headed towards the one where the healer lived. Toklo crept up to the window and stretched up his paws to brace himself so that he could peer through. Lusa squeezed up beside him and Kallik joined him on his other side.

Inside the den Toklo saw that Ujurak was sitting up, propped against the flat-face pelts. The healer sat on the bed beside him, feeding him something from a bowl. Toklo could hear that they were talking to each other, though he couldn’t understand the flatface words.

‘Look, he’s better!’ Lusa yelped. ‘He’ll be able to come back to us soon.’