As they drew closer, Lusa could see that the river flowed fast and deep, the water foaming around boulders that poked out of the current. The opposite bank was steep and rocky, and it looked a long way away.

‘That looks dangerous to cross,’ Kallik commented as they drew to a halt on the bank. ‘Do you think we should go upriver or downriver?’

Lusa hesitated, snuffing the air and glancing undecidedly up- and downstream. ‘Ujurak was best at this,’ she murmured. ‘He always seemed to know which way to go.’ She padded forward until she stood on the very edge of the bank, with water rushing along past her paws. ‘Remember what he used to do?’ she continued. ‘You have to look at all the possibilities and see how you feel about them.’

While Kallik looked up and down, Lusa examined the two directions carefully. Upstream the river was a narrow, raging torrent, foaming around rocks, with thornbushes crowding close to the water’s edge. Where she and Kallik were standing, the water glided along more quietly, but a little way downstream it divided around a rock. The sharp black outline stuck up out of the river like a bear’s paw, with the current pounding it and gushing around it in a tumult of white foam.

Lusa’s paws tingled. There was a sign here, if she could just work out what it was.

‘I’ve no idea,’ Kallik confessed, breaking into Lusa’s thoughts. ‘What do you think? Which way will lead us to the metal bird and Ujurak?’

Thoughtfully Lusa pointed her snout upriver. ‘That way looks narrow and shaded,’ she said. ‘And the current is too fast around the rocks. It doesn’t feel right to me. And downriver –’ she turned and pointed again – ‘look at that rock! It’s as if it’s blocking the way. We shouldn’t be going up or downriver.’

Kallik was gazing at her with doubt in her eyes. ‘Lusa,’ she said, ‘you’re not telling me we have to swim across here, are you?’

‘Yes!’ Lusa felt a sudden surge of confidence. I’m right! This is what we have to do. ‘I know it’s not perfect,’ she began, ‘but unless we cross here we might have to travel skylengths before we find a better place. And look at the way the sun is shining on the water, making a sparkling path. The spirits are telling us that’s the way we have to go.’

Kallik caught her breath. ‘Yes! I see it too! You are clever, Lusa.’

Lusa shrugged, feeling a little embarrassed. ‘I’m just trying to work out what Ujurak would have done. Let’s go!’