Author's Note: This features Rose Farlong from my story 'Hammer of Tyr', but if you haven't read it, not to worry! Her background is unimportant. This is just an afternoon in the life of a girl and her bear…

A Fishing Lesson

"You are not going about that very efficiently, little Rose" Okku said, breaking the long silence. I gave him a sideways look through half-closed eyes. The bear's eyes were completely closed. Okku basked in a patch of sun while I sat in the shade of a willow with my toes dabbling in the cool water of the stream. The water was so clear that I could see straight through to its sandy bottom. The tree wasn't large and its shade was broken by tatters of light, but nonetheless the ferns and mosses had been encouraged to make a luxurious bed.

I took a slow breath, more relaxed than I had been in many, many days. My battered leather tunic lay on top of my pack, with my weapon belt and boots beside it. My pant legs were rolled up to the knee. Cicadas buzzed in the branches above me. It was a hot day and the sun was almost directly overhead. My fishing pole was propped up beside me, near to hand, should I get a bite.

But that was pretty unlikely.

"Why, are you in a rush for dinner?" I asked.

"You know I do not eat," he said.

"You're in a hurry to get back to the others?"

"No more than you are." I gave him a sharp look but his eyes were still closed. His voice had been suspiciously bland.

A pair of spirit wolves, drawn by the Bear King's presence, lurked behind a cedar next to Okku. They were careful to keep their god between us, I noted. All spirits could sense that there was something terribly wrong with me.

I could have sworn I'd seen a telthor trout spiral to the surface but it was out of my view now. Although the spirit hunger was always with me, my proximity to Okku made it lay almost quiescent within. I could pretend to myself for the space of this drowsy afternoon that the curse was gone and I was free again.

"Well, the others will be glad of a bit of fresh fish for a change," I said. Okku let out a chuff of breath.

"I do not know the customs in your homeland but here in Rashemen, the fish are too wily to snap at a bare hook." There was a lazy laugh in his voice. His eyelids opened a slit, showing me a brief flash of yellow. I'd been caught out.

"I thought I'd spare the worms and grasshoppers for now. Nothing is going to bite this time of day," I admitted.

We relapsed into silence. I set the pole aside, carefully threading my hook through the seam of my tunic sleeve so I wouldn't snag it or lose it. I hadn't thought to buy fishhooks in Mulsantir and all any of us had were the two that had been in my pocket when I'd been snatched here from the Sword Coast. For a moment, I couldn't think where I had got them and then the memory came. They had been in the kit Daeghun had given me when I'd first left home.

Strange that those two tiny bits of steel were all I had left of my home. Even the shard that had been in my chest since before I could walk had been ripped out of me. The scar that I'd borne all my life was gone as well, buried under thick ragged scar tissue. The new scar, a red ugly thing, still itched from time to time. I rubbed my chest and sighed. I'd lost my home, my friends, and the sword I'd given so much to restore. I'd lost the driving purpose behind my adult life and in return, I'd received…a curse. I guess I lacked the wisdom to see Tyr's justice in this.

I sighed. I was perilously close to indulging myself in self-pity.

There was a glaze of sweat on my upper lip. It was not unpleasant, this heat, but I took off my shirt, used it to wipe my face, and then rolled it into a pillow. My sleeveless linen undershirt clung to me. It wasn't very modest but Okku wouldn't care. There was no breath of breeze. I scooted back so I could lean against the willow's trunk.

My movements, slight as they were, startled the spirit wolves but after awhile they drifted back to Okku's side. I was almost asleep when the low rumble of the Bear King's voice roused me.

"If we are not here to fish, which of our companions are we here to avoid?" I shot a look at him but his eyes were closed again. His ears twitched as a dragonfly made two or three attempts to land on them.

"I'm here to fish," I protested. "Later. You know Safiya and Kaelyn do not enjoy tramping around in the wilderness. Besides, they both said they had chores they wanted to do in camp and really, most of us need a rest. We aren't all tireless immortal spirits, you know."

"I am not immortal," Okku said calmly. "No more so than any god." Perhaps he too was remembering the fight outside of Mulsantir's gates, where the spirit eater's curse had risen up within me and almost devoured him.

The dragonfly abandoned Okku's ears and landed for a moment on my big toe. I held still as it gazed me with its blue faceted eyes. It was definitely too nice a day to talk about curses or mortality.

"Are there telthor insects?" I asked.

"No," he said, with another of those amused breaths. "There are no spirit mosquitoes for you to feast upon. It is almost a pity." Then, slyly, he came back to his question. Okku was difficult to deflect. "Gannayev-of-Dreams is at home in the wilderness, just as you are. Surely the company of a handsome and attentive young man is preferable to that of a surly old beast."

"Gann talks too much," I said. "How could I fish with him about?" Then more seriously, I added, "Besides, I love your company. I feel calmer when I am with you. I feel more in control of the hunger."

He gave a grunt of understanding.

"So it is him you wish to avoid." I saw another flash of yellow from beneath his eyelids. Did I want to avoid Gann? Maybe.

"He confuses me," I said. "I know the gods are viewed differently here in Rashemen but I don't like it when he mocks my beliefs. And the constant flirting with me and any other presentable female he meets makes it hard to take him very seriously."

"Flirting?"

"You know. The looks, the comments, and the way he presses up against me when there's plenty of room to pass."

"Oh, you mean the mating behavior." There was something that sounded rather like a snicker in the bear's voice. "Is it the wrong season then? I thought humans mated constantly."

"We mate when we choose. That's not exactly the same thing."

"It is simpler for a bear."

"Is that so? Maybe mating is simple when you're the king. I thought only the strongest males got to mate and all the weaker ones were out of luck."

"No she-bear would choose a weak mate," Okku said confidently. "Is it so very different for humans?"

"Although I have met women who seem to be drawn to weakness, I think most of us prefer a strong man. There are many ways to measure strength though. A strong back is not everything."

"And how do you measure strength? Do you not seek a warrior like yourself?"

"Well…yes," I admitted, thinking of the men I'd found appealing. "Physical strength is attractive to me. But so is integrity, courage and honesty—moral strength, if you will."

"Of course." He was quiet for a moment and I hoped we were done with this uncomfortable subject. But no.

"So you find Gannayev lacking?"

I sighed.

"I don't know. I haven't really thought about it. I haven't had much luck with men," I said. "And Gann needs someone with a lighter heart, maybe, someone who will enjoy his teasing."

"Is mating such a serious business then?"

"For some, it is. Some people mate for life and others seek more casual pleasures."

"And you?"

I turned on my side to look at him.

"I've hardly had time to decide," I said. "My life seems to move from disaster to disaster. Every time I start to get close to someone…something bad happens."

"Then that is all the more reason to seize pleasure when you can."

I laughed.

"Now that sounds like something Gann would say."

"No. Gann is like a young bear, hiding his fears behind a show of boastful aggression. He is too afraid of rejection to take as much pleasure in his dalliances as he should."

"Gann is not a bear, Okku."

"No. But he was reared amongst the spirits in the wild and is more at home with them than with the living."

I gave him a fond look. He was wise and generous, truly a noble spirit in every sense of the word and I felt a flood of affection for him.

"I wish…" I said and then stopped. Okku's penetrating eyes were on me and I blurted out the thought that had leapt to my mind, even though it was a bit disloyal to my past. "The king I served in Neverwinter used me for his own purposes, but if you had been my king, Okku, I would have served you with a glad and willing heart."

"And I would have been proud to stand as your lord."

I closed my eyes. My memories of Neverwinter brought me more pain than pleasure and I feared I would never know what had become of my friends. Unless the curse I bore could be cured, I could never return. Better perhaps to see my former life as naught but a dream and let my true life begin on the day I awoke in Okku's barrow.

Okku padded over and lay beside me. A sharp leafy smell rose from the ferns beneath us.

"Sleep, little one," he said. "I can see you are weary. The spirit beasts will warn us if any approach." I moved closer so I could rest my head against his shoulder. His fur was still warm from the sun and his touch did much to lessen the gnawing of the spirit hunger. I could feel his breath on my hair.

"I always feel safe with you," I murmured.

"That is pleasing to hear," he said, his voice a deep rumble against my back. His face rubbed against my head and neck.

I have become much more sensitive to and aware of my dreaming since Gannayev and I had been given the hag's eye that allowed me to walk the realm of dreams. My dreams are often fearful and frustrating places but this one was a delightful exception. A man's arms were wrapped around me and he was a warm presence at my back. He nuzzled my neck. Perhaps I should have been startled or even afraid but I knew I need not be. I knew I was safe.

I turned slowly and I felt the tickle of ferns crushed beneath my bare skin. Neither one of us were clothed. I drank him in with my eyes—his strong muscular arms, broad hairy chest, and of course, his golden eyes, laughing as they so often did. He had hair down past his shoulders and a thick beard, both a rich, loamy brown, lightly streaked with gray. I knew him, of course, even in this form. I felt I would always know him.

"Once I would have been shocked and surprised to find myself sharing a dream with a shape-changed bear spirit," I said. "And even now, I find myself somewhat puzzled."

"I may not walk through the dreams of strangers like your hagspawn shaman," Okku said. "But I am not without power. I am a god of bears, after all, and much time have I spent in the land of dreams. There has been a connection between us since the moment you were placed in my tomb and roused me from my long slumber."

"You woke and you tried to kill me."

"I tried to kill the spirit eater," he said, correcting me. "I did not think it possible for anyone to master the curse as you have. Your will is strong, little one. You have earned my respect." He gazed down at me as I lay in the circle of his arms. "And my admiration."

I felt a flush rise to my cheeks, not from embarrassment alone. I used words to cover my sudden awkwardness.

"I was taught to focus my will to use the Sword of Gith," I said. "That is what helps me now. And being with you helps me, of course. When I am near you, your strength spills into me."

"Is this the need that draws me to your dream?" he asked. There was a knowing smile in his eyes. I suspected that the curse I carried was not his principal concern at the moment. Nor was it mine. Because otherwise, I think at least one of us would have clothes.

"You make a fine man, Lord Okku." It was true. He looked mighty and proud, like a barbaric conqueror from a bard's tale. His big calloused hand traced a line from my shoulder to my waist to my hip.

"And I am certain you would make a very fine bear, little one."

"That would be…interesting," I said. A little tentative, I let my hand touch his waist. His skin was warm and smooth. A low chuckle came from his barrel chest.

"It would indeed."

I stretched up to press a kiss to his lips. I could feel him smile and his beard tickled my face. He returned my kiss and then his lips moved along my cheek to my ear and down to my neck. He was breathing in my scent, I realized. My arm went around his waist.

"The sensations of life are gone to me now," he murmured. "After a century, even the memories have faded so I forget how it felt for my hide to itch or my belly to growl with hunger." He rubbed his face against my neck. He was mostly on top of me now although he had braced himself to protect me from his weight.

"But some things a male does not forget," he said. "In my dreams, I can feel desire again. In my dreams, I can forget that I am only an echo of what I once was."

"Then let us dream together," I said and I pulled him in closer. I felt a sigh of breath in my hair and then I felt his teeth in my neck. My back arched as fire ran through me, a good, clean hunger, so different from the mindlessly insatiable void of the spirit eater's curse. I opened myself to the one who could sate my hunger. I opened myself to Okku.

I awoke with my head still on the bear's shoulder and his muzzle buried in my hair. I muttered something incoherent even to me and then I sat up. I leaned back against him and ran my fingers through the ruff of fur around his neck. He snorted when I reached forward and kissed the tip of his ear.

"So, little one, I take it you are not offended with me for entering your dream unbidden."

I hugged his neck.

"No, Lord of Bears, I am not offended. Far from it."

He rose with a long stretch that surely came from habit and not physical need.

"That pleases me greatly," he said. His great head bumped against my hip. "But come, my dear one, you have had your…rest. Let me now show you the proper way to catch a fish."