The Longest Day (26 page)

Kallik's heart swelled with affection. “She's a great bear, Taqqiq. I'm glad you have her.”

As she spoke, Shila trotted toward them. “Glad he has who?” Her eyes flashed teasingly.

“You,” Kallik huffed.

“Of course.” Shila brushed against Taqqiq as she halted. “Are you ready for the last trial, Kallik? Taqqiq says you have a good sense of smell.”

“She'll probably win,” Taqqiq chuffed.

“If she does, she'll lead the Longest Day ceremony.” Shila met her gaze happily.

“If Taqqiq wins, he'll lead it,” Kallik pointed out.

Taqqiq shrugged. “I don't mind who wins. I'm just looking
forward to going home.” He glanced at Shila. “Perhaps next time we come to the gathering, we'll bring our cubs.” Shila nuzzled his cheek with her nose.

Along the shore, Kunik and Anarteq were climbing back across the jagged rocks.

“The fish is hidden!” Kunik called.

Anarteq jumped heavily onto the beach. “The first bear to find it wins the trial.”

Shila started trotting toward the cove.

Taqqiq lingered beside Kallik. “Are you coming?”

Kallik glanced at Yakone. He'd gotten to his paws and was shaking the water from his pelt. “I should talk to Yakone instead.”

“You can do that afterward,” Taqqiq urged. “Let's find the fish first. You can think about what you're going to say to him while you're looking.”

Kallik hesitated.

“Come on!” Shila called. The other bears were already streaming over the rocks. Manik, Salik, and Iqaluk jostled against one another, fighting to be the first into the cove.

Kallik let her brother steer her after the others. The rocks were sharp beneath her paws, and she was relieved to jump down the other side onto a patch of soft sand. Ahead, the narrow strip of shore was covered with boulders. Pines reached to the edge, their branches sticking out over the water. White pelts glowed in the shadow of the trees as bears picked their way through the undergrowth, heads down as they sniffed for the fish.

Shila broke into a run toward the top of the beach. Taqqiq followed.

Kallik clambered over the boulders instead, following the edge of the lake. The large stones rocked beneath her paws as clear blue water lapped against them. Kallik sniffed halfheartedly. Pine scent filled her nose. She could hear Illa calling to Kissimi in the trees.

“Don't stray far!”

“What if I smell the fish?” Kissimi called back.

“Tell me!” Illa answered.

“But the others might hear and find it first!”

As their barks faded away, Kallik picked her way along the shore until it widened. She stopped, a heavy stone tipping beneath her paws, and looked back.

Yakone was standing on the outcrop. His muzzle high, he seemed to be scanning the shoreline.
Is he taking part in this trial?
Kallik frowned as Yakone hurried down the rocks and began to head along the shore.

The other bears were all in the forest now. This time she could speak to him without any interruptions. Kallik walked toward him. Let Iqaluk, Salik, or Kotori find the fish. If Yakone didn't want her to go to Star Island, he had to tell her why. She could go back to the Melting Sea with Shila and Taqqiq. She could be happy eventually. Perhaps they'd let her take care of their cubs.

“Kallik.” Yakone greeted her with a grunt.

“Be careful on the rocks,” Kallik warned, not knowing what else to say. “They move when you step on them.” As she
spoke, one shifted beneath her and she stumbled.

Yakone didn't seem to notice. “Is that why you came?” he growled. “Were you worried I couldn't take care of myself?”

Rage sparked beneath Kallik's pelt. “I came to talk to you! Is that okay or are you going to walk away again?” When he didn't speak, she went on. “I hardly know who you are anymore.”

Yakone held up his paw. “I'm a lame bear! If you don't like that, leave me alone.”

“You lost two dumb toes!” Kallik exploded.

“I lost more than that,” Yakone snarled.

“It's always about you, isn't it?” Kallik accused.
“Your
paw.
Your
home.
Your
feelings! What about me?”

“I'm doing this for you!”

“Doing what?”

“I'm saving you from a life with a crippled bear in a place among bears you hardly know.”

Kallik shook with rage. “Thanks for deciding what's best for me!”

“Would you rather I didn't care?” Yakone barked.

“Is this you
caring
?” Kallik couldn't believe her ears. He'd let her spend two days breaking her heart over him. “I remember you when you really cared. When you lay down as bait for coyotes to save your friends. When you trekked for a moon to find Lusa. You were missing your toes then, remember? You haven't starved since you got caught in that trap. You can still do everything! This is just an excuse.”

Yakone's eyes glistened with pain.

Guilt stabbed Kallik's heart. She'd hurt him. “If you don't want me to come to Star Island, that's fine.” Her growl thickened. “I loved traveling with you, but our journey is over now, and I understand if you don't want to start a new life with me. It's okay to change your mind.”

Yakone stared at her. “Is that what you think?” He sounded amazed. “That I don't want to start a new life with you?”

“That's what this is about, isn't it?”

“I told you why I don't want you to come.” Yakone lifted his paw once more. “I might be able to hunt now, but not like I used to. When we get to Star Island, I'll be weaker than I was before. I won't be able to take care of you.”

“I've been taking care of myself since I was a cub,” Kallik told him. “I don't need you to take care of me. I want to take care of you. And I don't understand why you won't give me the chance. Don't you love me anymore?”

Yakone lowered his head. “Of course I love you. I could never stop loving you.”

“Then how could you try to drive me away?”

“What if you don't like Star Island? What if you miss your home on the Melting Sea? What if you get bored staying in one place? What if it's not the same without Lusa and Toklo?” The questions tumbled out, his growl growing hoarser with each one.

Love flooded Kallik's heart. It had never been about Yakone's injured paw. He was frightened she wouldn't be happy on the Endless Ice. “I only ever want to be with you,” she breathed. “You gave up everything to come with me.
Everything we have, we have made together. I won't ever miss my home, because my home is with you.”

Yakone stumbled forward and buried his muzzle in her neck fur. Kallik breathed in the scent of him, dizzy with emotion.

As he pressed harder against her, a stone rocked beneath his paw. The fresh smell of fish wafted around them. Stepping back, Kallik looked down. A fish gleamed beneath the boulder. “You've found it! You've found the fish!”

Her loud bark made several white heads pop out from the tree line.

Yakone grabbed the fish in his jaws and headed back toward the outcrop. Kallik hurried after him, pride warming her pelt. She clambered over the rocks after him as he crossed the shore and dropped the fish at Kunik's paws.

Behind them, the other bears were hurrying from the cove.

“Yakone won the trial!”

“I didn't think he was taking part,” Salik muttered.

“He must have been. He found the fish!” Shila barked.

Illa raced along the beach, scrambling to a halt beside Kallik. “Where was it?” she whispered.

“Under a rock.”

Kunik stepped forward, looking troubled. “This means we have no winner for the trials.”

Illa sniffed. “We have three winners: Taqqiq, Kallik, and Yakone.”

Malik shouldered his way to the front. “They can't all lead the ceremony.”

“They should fight to find out who the real winner is,” barked Salik.

Taqqiq turned on him. “We come here to honor the spirits in peace!”

Murmurs of agreement rippled among the others.

“Perhaps the spirits will decide who should lead the ceremony,” Anarteq rasped.

“How will they tell us?” Salik scoffed.

Anarteq looked up at the sky. “They will find a way.”

Kallik followed the old bear's gaze. Perhaps they'd send a message through Ujurak? As she stared into the vast blueness, she saw clouds bubbling on the horizon. The hot wind was bringing a change in the weather. Would there be a storm on the Longest Day?

She shivered. Then she remembered she'd never told Yakone about Hakan. She lowered her voice. “Hakan's here,” she murmured. “He attacked Lusa.”

Yakone's eyes widened. “Is she okay?”

“He didn't manage to hurt her. I pulled him off. But he's grieving for Chenoa. I think it was Hakan who sabotaged the brown bears' fishing trial.”

“Will Lusa be safe with him around?”

“Lusa's friend persuaded him to join the black bear camp,” Kallik explained. “They think that with the help of his own kind, Hakan can come to terms with Chenoa's death. I can't imagine him attacking her again, not with so many bears around. She'll be okay.”

“We don't know that for sure. We should go and check on
her.” Yakone headed toward the far shore. “We've helped Lusa get this far. We can't abandon her now.”

Kallik hurried after him, her heart swelling with pride. This was the brave, decisive Yakone she'd traveled beside for all those moons. She noticed with a rush of joy that he wasn't limping anymore.
You're as strong as you ever were,
she thought as she fell into step beside him.

Lusa felt a paw nudge her,
and sleepily, she opened her eyes.

Ossi was standing beside her nest. “Wake up! It's not cold-earth yet.”

Bright sunshine sliced through the branches above her. She must have slept late. The breeze from the lake had picked up, but Lusa was hot. The forest was stifling. Still drowsy, Lusa heaved herself to her paws. “Has the last trial begun?” she yawned.

“It's about to,” Ossi told her. “That's why I woke you. I hope you don't always sleep this late.”

Lusa's pelt prickled. Ossi's easy familiarity irritated her. She felt that there was something more than friendship in his tone, as though he'd decided after their talk yesterday that she was going to travel home with him after all. She stretched, feeling guilty. Perhaps she was imagining it.

“Come on.” Ossi was nudging her from her nest. “Dustu's about to announce the start of the foraging.”

Lusa shook him off. “I want to check Chula's leg. And
Tibik. He seemed sleepy yesterday.”

“Hot weather makes everyone drowsy.” Ossi was shifting impatiently from paw to paw.

“I'll catch up.” Lusa shooed him away with a jerk of her snout. She headed for the nest of wounded bears.

Chula was pacing around the edge, putting gentle weight on her sprained paw. “It's much better!” she called as she saw Lusa.

Lusa chuffed with delight. “Does it hurt?”

“Just a bit.”

“Don't walk too much,” Lusa warned.

The bushes at the edge of the clearing rustled, and Miki emerged. His pelt was wet.

“Have you been for a swim?” Lusa asked, surprised.

“I just went to cool off in the lake.” Miki sounded distant. Perhaps the hot weather was making him cranky.

“I guess it feels good to get your fur wet on a day like this,” Lusa ventured.

“Yes.” Miki nodded to her politely, then turned to Chula. “Come and soak your leg, Chula! The water's cold enough to freeze the fish.”

Lusa bristled.
Why is he being friendly with Chula and not me?

Chula glanced at her. “Do you want to come?”

Miki answered before she could. “Lusa will want to take part in the final trial.” He looked at her, his eyes betraying nothing. “Won't you?”

“Oh, yes!” Chula exclaimed. “I'd forgotten. We'll come see how you did later!”

Lusa watched Miki and Chula head away between the trees, feeling something sharp and heavy in her chest. Then she remembered Tibik. She hurried to his nest.

Sheena was leaning over her son. “He's so sleepy and hot,” the she-bear fretted.

Lusa touched the sleeping cub. He did feel hot, but the weather was suffocating. All the bears probably felt hot.

“He keeps waking up and falling asleep again.” Sheena's eyes glittered with worry.

“It's probably all that honey he ate yesterday,” Lusa guessed. “Let him sleep it off.” She sniffed Tibik's pelt. She smelled sourness there. The heat? She saw a dead bee caught in his pelt. Plucking it out with a paw, she tossed it away. “If only honey came without stings,” she murmured.

She pictured Chula and Miki at the lakeside. Chula would be limping though the shallows by now. Miki would be bouncing around her, splashing water over her fur.