The Longest Day (33 page)

“It's been hard to leave my new home.” Lusa's thoughts flashed to her first seasons in the forest with Miki. She was so happy. And now she was with her old friends again. Memories flooded her like sunshine: finding Taqqiq; losing Ujurak and
then Chenoa; meeting Yakone; rescuing the trapped black bear spirits from the logjam in the river; riding on the back of a firesnake.

“How is Star Island?” she asked Kallik.

“It's great. The hunting has been good these past seasons. It feels wonderful to have nothing but ice beneath my paws.” She gazed fondly at Yakone. “I can't imagine living anywhere else.”

Lusa turned to Toklo. “And the forest?”

Toklo grunted. “Not bad. I chased Chogan off again, just as I'd promised, and we made his territory ours.” For a moment satisfaction sharpened his gaze, but then it drifted to Aiyanna and Oka and softened. “Now I have the home I've always wanted.”

Lusa reached up to run her cheek along his. “You deserve it.”

“Do you ever see Ujurak?” Kallik asked quietly.

Lusa's heart clenched with familiar grief. “Sometimes.” She never stopped searching for him, her heart quickening every time she saw an elk wandering alone or an owl swooping through the twilight. “I think I see him, but I'm never sure.”

“I look for him in the stars every night,” Toklo murmured.

“I dream of him,” Kallik confessed. “But I don't think I've seen him for real, not since the fire.”

Toklo shifted on the warm, rocky beach. “He is always with us.”

“We'll never forget him,” Kallik agreed.

Lusa felt the wind ruffle her fur. “We'll never forget any of it.” She gazed around at her friends. “You taught me how to be a wild bear.”

“You found me a home!” Toklo exclaimed.

“You gave me a family.” Kallik blinked at them lovingly.

Yakone lifted his muzzle. “We should hunt together, one last time.”

Lusa flinched. “It won't be the last! There will be more Longest Days. This isn't the end. And we'll always be together, in spirit.”

“Oh, Lusa.” Kallik leaned forward and touched her nose to Lusa's ear. “So much has changed, and there's still so much change to come. But you're right. Wherever our paths lead us, we'll always be together.”

Yakone padded toward the lake. “Let's see who can catch the biggest fish.”

“That's not fair!” Lusa bounded after him. “You can swim deeper than me.”

Kallik caught up to her. “Then we'll catch the fish and you can decide whose is best.”

They passed Aiyanna and Miki, who were sunning themselves while the cubs splashed one another in the shallows.

Toklo broke into a run and plunged into the lake. As Kallik and Yakone waded in after him, Lusa paused at the edge and watched. She saw the three of them reach deep blue water and dive beneath the surface. Sunshine glittered where they'd disappeared. Relishing the warmth on her pelt and the cold water washing around her paws, Lusa leaned forward expectantly, waiting for her friends to come back.