Prologue
Rusty ran a furry paw across his teary eye. He rubbed his churning stomach and gave a sniffle. His father was gone-again.
It wasn't like his father had abandoned him, it was just that his father's job carried him to all sorts of places. Places that Rusty himself could not go.
Rusty's father was a merchant, crossing the seas in his ship, delivering goods to other countries such as Simosa, a small island country, and Polketa, a larger country.
Polketa was one of the most known countries in the world due to it's major exporting. Polketa was a peninsula, surrounded by water on three sides. It often traded to it's neighboring countries, but more often across the seas.
The items that were exported from Polketa were mainly minerals that came from the deep mining caves that were located across the whole country. Polketa had an underground mining network connecting every cave. Most of the males of Polketa spent more than half of their lives under the ground. While the females of the city spent their time above ground. To the citizens, it was basically two cities, one above ground, and one below.
Most of the inhabitants of Polketa were moles. Before the mines were discovered, Polketa was mainly inhabited by bears. But, when the mines were discovered, the bears called for the help of the moles who could dig better than they. The moles liked the city and decided to live there. Over time, the bears moved across sea, some to Simosa and some to Yelfida- Rusty's home country.
Yelfida was broken up into three different territories. The territory that was the closet to the sea was called the Coastal Kingdom. This was where Rusty lived. The name came from the fact that it was on the coast line, and that the capital of Yelfida was located here.
The other territories were named Mountain Valley- due to it's mountainous terrain, and Canyon Ride- due to the large canyons located there.
Today, Rusty's father would make a voyage to Simosa. Simosa was a couple of weeks away even if you sailed fast. Rusty's father would be gone awhile, leaving Rusty and his mother home alone again.
Rusty thought that he should be used to the fact that his father was gone most of the time by now. He knew that his father could only stay for a few days before leaving again, but for some reason, he was never prepared for his father to leave. This was why, when his father was home, Rusty savored every minute of his time with his father.
While his father was gone, Rusty spent most of his time playing with his friends. All three were bears like himself; Rosa, Cleo, and Fin. Rosa and Cleo were twin sisters. Fin's only siblings were three younger brothers. Rusty himself was an only child.
They were always there for each other and Rusty felt closer to them than to anyone else in the world. They had always been there for Rusty; when his father left, when he was bored, or just having a bad day. They always seemed to find a way to make him happy. Rusty kept no secrets from them, and he was sure they kept none from him.
Today was no exception, and as Rusty around him at the densely grown forest around him, he saw his three friends walking towards him. He smiled and waved. His friends hurried eagerly over.
Light shone down from the canopy of trees above, illuminating small patches of the ground underneath. The trio of bears walked through these small patches of light before finally reaching there friend.
"How's it going?" asked Rosa, seating herself next to him. She wore a pink outfit; a pink shirt, skirt, and hair bow. Cleo was dressed in the same fashion.
"How ya' doing?" asked Fin. He was dressed in a plain tunic, and shorts. He took a seat beside Cleo who was seated by her sister.
"I'm okay," said Rusty, "I'll get used to it soon." The three friends nodded each knowing that he wouldn't. They understood how hard it was to see your father sail off for weeks at a time and they knew that you couldn't get used to it.
"I just wish that I could go with him," Rusty said. Rosa responded.
"Just wait two more years and you can go with him," she said soothingly.Rusty nodded. Rusty's father said that when Rusty turned twelve he could accompany him. Rusty looked forward to this everyday.
"All we can do is wait," said Fin. The group of friends sat there watching the patches of light move and glimmer as the sun changed position and the tree tops moved. Then, they waited. Waited for the day when they were old enough to voyage out to sea.