‘OK.’ Kallik blinked, excitement creeping into her voice. Lusa guessed she had never expected to be able to use her ice skills on land.

Picking out a rabbit hole a little way away from the others, Kallik went on. ‘That’s a hole in the ice, OK? We’re going to creep up to it and crouch down beside it and wait. We have to be very quiet and not move around, or the seal – sorry, the rabbit – will realise we’re there.’

‘OK, let’s do it,’ Lusa whispered.

She followed Kallik as the white bear crept over to the hole and lay down beside it with her muzzle on the ground. Lusa could hardly believe that a bear as big as Kallik could move so quietly. She did her best to copy her friend, easing herself to the ground on the opposite side of the hole, pleased when she didn’t make a sound.

‘This is fun!’ she exclaimed, wriggling to get comfortable. ‘It’s almost like playing with Yogi in the Bear Bowl!’

‘Shh!’ Kallik hissed.

Lusa mouthed Sorry! and settled down to wait.

Soon Lusa felt that the moments were dragging by. I never expected it would take as long as this. I can’t believe Kallik is so patient!

She was convinced that some sort of bug was crawling around in her fur, but when she lifted a paw to scratch it Kallik gave her such a fierce look that she froze into stillness again. The wind blew cold through her pelt and a blade of grass tickled her nose so that she wanted to sneeze. She wanted to give up, but she didn’t dare suggest it while Kallik was so focused on the hole.

Lusa was staring at her paws when a tiny scrabbling noise came from inside the burrow. When the rabbit popped its head out, all she could do was stare at it. She had waited so long that she had forgotten what to do.

While she was still staring, Kallik pounced. One large white paw swiped the rabbit across the neck, then dragged it out of the hole.

‘That was brilliant!’ Lusa barked, springing to her paws. ‘Great catch!’

‘It was your idea,’ Kallik replied, but she sounded pleased.

With the rabbit dangling from her jaws she padded along the bank until she came to a shallow cave, just big enough for them to shelter from the wind and share their prey. Lusa followed and squashed in beside her, water flooding her jaws as she took in the rich, warm scent of rabbit. She forced herself not to gulp down all her share at once, aware that it might have to keep her going for a long time.

‘Wouldn’t Toklo be surprised?’ she said between mouthfuls. ‘I wish we could show him how to hunt like that.’

‘Me too,’ Kallik replied sadly.