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Wilderness!’
    Ujurak shifted his weight, twigs crackling under his paws. ‘I think it’s a good idea to stay,’ he said.‘Maybe if Toklo catches something we can share it with him.’
    â€˜Or Taqqiq,’ Kallik reminded him.
    â€˜I’ll get him some more water,’ Lusa said. She closed her jaws around the damp moss and backed out of the brambles. As she trotted down to the lake, the leaves of the trees around her rustled and whispered. She thought the bear spirits in them approved of her taking care of Qopuk, even though he wasn’t a black bear.
    She dipped the moss in the clear, cold water, soaking it through. The sun was sliding down towards the horizon, and the shadows were getting longer across the rippling lake. Lusa twitched her ears, listening for sounds of prey. She could hear thumping paws and branches cracking and some bear muttering nearby, which sounded like Taqqiq trying to hunt.
    A twig snapped behind her, and she turned to see Toklo emerging from the trees with a hare in his jaws.
    â€˜Good job!’ Lusa exclaimed. ‘I knew you would catch something!’
    Toklo rolled his eyes. ‘No thanks to certain noisybears,’ he mumbled around the newkill.
    â€˜We’re going to stay here tonight,’ Lusa went on, lifting the soaked moss out of the lake. ‘Qopuk knows the way to the Last Great Wilderness, and Ujurak says that’s where we’re going. Isn’t that great? He can take us there!’
    â€˜Terrific,’ Toklo said. ‘Just what we need, another bear to slow us down.’
    â€˜But he’ll be useful,’ Lusa pointed out. ‘And it’s his dream to get there – we can help him.’ She was cross that Toklo was being so selfish. Qopuk deserved to reach the end of his journey as much as they did.
    She picked up the wet moss and trotted back into the brambles with Toklo close behind her. Kallik was curled up beside Qopuk, her fur lifting and falling in rhythm with his. Her eyes were closed.
    â€˜Shhh,’ Ujurak warned, nodding at the two white bears. Lusa set the moss down next to Qopuk’s nose.
    Toklo scratched a pile of leaves together under a tree a few bearlengths from Qopuk and settled down to eat. ‘We’ll save some for them,’ he said.
    Lusa had just taken a mouthful when Taqqiq came crashing back through the trees. ‘There’snothing to eat in these woods!’ he grumbled. ‘Forests are a stupid place to hunt.’
    Lusa couldn’t help but think,
So why were you trying to steal forest territory from the black bears at the lake? Dumb fur lump
.
    â€˜Sure, Taqqiq,’ Toklo said. ‘Nothing but squirrels, birds, foxes . . . hares.’ He nudged the newkill in front of them.
    Taqqiq glared at the brown bear as if he were thinking about eating
him
. He tore off a strip of meat and glanced around as he chewed. His gaze fell on Kallik sleeping next to the old white bear.
    â€˜What is she doing?’ he snarled. ‘That’s not our mother! Is she going to act like a seal-brained cub with every big lump of fur that blinks at her?’
    â€˜Leave her be,’ Ujurak growled, sounding fiercer than Lusa had heard before. His eyes looked like little black berries, glaring at Taqqiq.
    Taqqiq twitched his ears, but said nothing. He bent his head, holding the end of his piece of meat between his front paws, and concentrated on chewing.
    Lusa finished eating and climbed up the tree. She tucked herself into a comfortable niche where twobranches met the trunk and rested her head on her aching paws. Down below she could see Toklo and Ujurak curling up to sleep. Taqqiq clawed at the ground, circling and grumbling, and finally settled down with an enormous sigh.
    Lusa wondered if Kallik was dreaming of her mother. Qopuk’s warm bulk probably reminded her of sleeping next to Nisa, curled up in the snow. She must have felt so alone after Nisa died. At least Lusa