Kenai had not shown up that evening after he had disappeared into the mountains near the waterfall and there had been no visible trace of him except some imprint. Iorek didn't care much as he found a pleasant company (surprisingly) in the other bears even after the game ended and everyone went about their own business (splashing around in the water, eating the rest of some leftover salmon and making jokes to each other), Iorek let Koda snuggle between his paws as he conversed with a bear, curious about where they came from.
The cub meanwhile dozed peacefully between them. Now that the adrenaline had left his body he was beginning to feel tired; he had had a lot of energy so far, but perhaps the fact that he had finally arrived had given him relief. The female bear, who had known Koda since he was born and who was a close friend of the cub's mother, smiled in the direction of the tiny sleeping body.
"He's a real sweetheart" A couple of days ago he would have replied 'he? He's a pain in the neck, that's what he is. '
But lately there was no trace of the angry cold predator that had been. When he was with Koda he felt more like a teddy bear, as if a look from that chatty cub was enough to send him in jujube broth in less than an instant ... had he softened? no, not really. You can be tough even without being constantly angry with the world. It's those few good people who change you for the better. "He is."
"You're lucky, Koda immediately ties in with everyone but few are the ones he's fond of." she said, both looked down at the sleeping cub "this trip must have exhausted him, and the absence of his mother... poor little one." Iorek sighed softly, looking at her again.
If Koda's mother hadn't shown up, maybe something had happened on the way
... something bad ...
the hopes that she would really come back to her cub were becoming increasingly minimal, and knowing it broke his heart . "Has any of you seen her?"
With a pained look the other shook her head, rubbing her nose.
"no, none of us." she said in a low tone "some suspect that she's-" but she stopped watching Koda sleep, so she mimicked what he meant ...
it was the same thing Iorek thought. Maybe a hunter had killed her mistaking her for Kenai ...
maybe she had fallen into a river ...
maybe a tree had fallen on her.
But he refused to believe she was lost: a bear never gets lost, A bear finds another way at all costs.
Unless an obstacle too large for its strength arrives ...maybe that was what had happened.
Something had got in the way between a mother and her cub, and that something must have been as immense as the love of a parent who lose their baby, as destructive as the anger of a father, as powerful as the instinct of protection of a mother ...
but what had that been?
Koda spoke of his mother as a strong, independent and courageous bear. So the hypothesis that she dumped him was absolutely unjustifiably foolish and stupid in every way.
"I don't feel like giving opinions."
The female bear was taken aback by this abrupt response, but she attacked the button again quickly "but if Koda hadn't found you two, maybe he would still be alone." he said as if trying to move a boulder a little.
Iorek snorted off an annoying fly "better if he found us then." he replied "a cub alone is never safe." she had no complaints about this (now that he thought about her ways reminded him a lot of an old aunt he vaguely remembered, a sister of his mother perhaps ...) "oh, this is a little but sure." She completely agreed with this observation "some cubs unfortunately live it on their own skin ..."
and Iorek had been one of those cubs.
The white bear snorted the ghost of a tear away by sniffing up and nodded switfly. "Yes,indeed."
that conversation had ended there for him "with permission, Amaruq. Now I would prefer Koda to sleep soundly." The female bear watched him get up and gently take Koda from the scruff of the neck as he usually did, and instinctively she approached trying to snatch her best friend's son up herself.
"I can take him for the night if you want-" but the answer was a sudden and guttural growl. The white bear had retracted his muzzle from Amaruq's reach, white fangs prominently bared towards her and shining in the fading light of the sunset ... was that the rush of protection what he saw in those dark eyes? Those eyes became less and less wild until he cleared his throat.
"I prefer Koda to stay with me." he said trying to keep his tone unchanged. She slowly looked at them both, the sleeping cub and the perfectly awake adult.
"I'm sorry, i didn't realize you are very fond of him." She observed with a whisper, looking Iorek in the eyes as if to scrutinize his emotions ... but he proved to be highly inscrutable, like all white bears.
In fact, he gave her one last look before leaving for a more secluded place. Her best friend's son had stumbled in good paws after all ... at least as far as Iorek was concerned. But that Kenai? where had he gone?
Iorek must also have fallen asleep, or at least dozed off. Because when he woke up the sun had drastically disappeared from the sky, replaced by the early night with some stars here and there, and his sleepy eyes recognized some, but ignored the others: he recognized the ursa major and her cub, the hunter's spear, the horns of caribou ... but the others were only disconnected dots in the infinite vault. Some bears still talked, others had dozed off not far from there and snored loudly.
Tug was intent on napping on a boulder, one paw underneath him and the other whose large claws grazed the ground in rock, without ever touching it completely: in his size, Tug was certainly a gentle giant in all respects . As always, Koda had shifted his sleep to the white bear's back, but that was good ... at least Iorek had a clear view to check if Kenai was returning.
And he certainly wasn't returning, instinctively Iorek let out a grunt that wasn't happy but also slightly worried and looked around "where is he?" he said to himself, nibbling insistently on his lower lip.
"Where's who?" It was a sleepy but curious little voice to answer him.
Iorek turned his head so quickly that he risked an instant stiff neck: Koda rubbed his eyes with his paw and yawned, waiting for an answer from the other.
" sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up, "said Iorek immediately.
"But I was already awake!" Koda jumped on his back paddling up to climb on his head "you fell for it, huh?" The bear rolled his eyes playfully.
"Sure." She said. Koda followed his gaze to the path that led to a hill overlooking the valley.
"and Kenai?" Iorek lowered his head to allow the cub to get off "he hasn't come back yet."
Koda crouched between Iorek's paws again and looked at the point where the other was looking, the only difference between their looks was one: Iorek was nervous, Koda was curious. "I'm going to look for him!" he offered immediately.
"No," said Iorek immediately, shaking his head.
"But-"
"I said no, don't insist."
Iorek heard Koda snort,but ignored him as he would have done with a fly.
"and don't you snort at me." He didn't even turn around while saying that, wich resulted in a surprised face on behalf of the young cub. "Ioreeek!" Koda whined, laying his Brown paws onto Iorek's laying ones. "please! I'll be back soon! You know i can take care of myself!" The white bear hesitated...of course he knew that : if there was a cub who could take care of himself that was Koda.
However, the older one proceeded in a stare-down contest with the stubborn,chatty cub whose dark mocha eyes fixed on his with absolute seriousness as if he wasn't willing to give up so easily this time. Iorek took a deep breath (althought it resounded more into a groan that a sigh).
"if you promise not to go too far and not stray around." Koda nodded energetically.
"i promise! Pinky Swear!" And held out his smaller claw out to Iorek for him to wrap his own around it, wich the white bear did in a reclutant manner.
"hm. Fine. Off you go, then." He muttered in a way that would have been careless had It not been underlined by that brotherly love he now felt for the little bear but that he would deny until his death : Koda happily jumped on the spot wich an energy he could only dream of at that point of the day.
Without uttering a Word, that energetic furball set off and disappeared in a matter of seconds from his keen eye sight.