The Quest Begins Read Online Free PDF

food.”
    â€œDo we show respect for it by eating it?” Lusa asked cheekily. She’d heard Stella’s “respect” lectures before, but she found it hard to believe there was any connection between noble bear spirits and the chunks of broken fruit the flat-faces tossed onto the ground for them.
    â€œYou should always treat anything from nature with respect,” Stella said, “even when you eat it. You never know when it might have the spirit of a bear inside it.”
    â€œOh, no!” Lusa cried, pretending to act horrified. “A bear spirit! I don’t want to eat any of those. I’ll never be able to eatapples again.” She flounced back to the log. Stella and Yogi laughed.
    A few stars came out as the sun went down, but most of them were hard to see in the orange glow from the flat-face lights. King ambled back to the boulders, where he slept outside. The other bears preferred the dens of white stone at the back of the Bowl, where they could be sure they wouldn’t be rained on suddenly in the middle of the night. King was the only one who didn’t like being indoors. Ashia had explained to Lusa that he didn’t like the walls’ straight edges, or the feeling of being trapped, but Lusa didn’t understand. Inside the den it was quiet and warm. Out there, you could hear the grizzly bear grunting and the white bears snoring and insects buzzing around your ears all night long.
    She rolled onto her back and looked up at the sky through the clear, hard square in the roof. One bright star hung there, always watching her, night after night. It was the only one she could always see, and it never seemed to move.
    â€œStella?” Lusa asked. “Do you know anything about that star?”
    â€œThat is the Bear Watcher,” Stella murmured sleepily. “Like us, it has found a good place and it stays there, never wandering.”
    â€œTell us more,” Yogi prompted. “Is it the spirit of a bear?”
    â€œDon’t be silly,” Stella said. “Bear spirits live in the trees. But my mother did once tell me the story of a little bear cub in the sky.”
    â€œA bear cub in the sky?” Lusa echoed.
    â€œYes.” Stella wrinkled her nose as if she was trying to remember. “She keeps the bright star in her tail, but there’s a big brown bear who wants that star for his own. So he chases the little black bear around and around the sky…but he never gets the star, because black bears are too clever, even if they are smaller than other bears.”
    â€œSo the little bear gets to keep the star,” Lusa said, pleased. She was sure she could be fast and clever, too. Certainly more clever than Yogi or the fat brown bear next door.
    Stella had fallen asleep, making drowsy buzzing noises through her nose. Yogi was licking his paws, digging his teeth in between his claws to get at the last sticky bits of fruit.
    Lusa didn’t feel tired. She scrambled to her paws again and padded outside, hoping she could see the little black bear and the big brown bear running around and around. She padded over to the Mountains and stood on the tallest boulder, craning her neck to look up at the night sky.
    The only star she could see was the motionless bright one, twinkling down at her.
    Lusa sat on her haunches and gazed up at it—the little bear watching the Bear Watcher.

CHAPTER THREE
Toklo
    Toklo crouched in the long grass . All around him the trees waved softly, and he could feel the breeze ruffling his shaggy brown coat.
    Toklo opened his mouth and breathed in the musky smell of prey. He twitched his ears at the sound of snapping pine needles and let his breathing slow down until it matched the sighing of the wind. Then, with lightning quickness, he charged, sinking his claws into rabbit flesh. The creature squirmed and flailed, trying to get away, but Toklo’s long, razor-sharp claws pierced its fur and pinned it to the ground.