The first lights of the night illuminated the partially dark sky, and the silence was punctuated only by some breaths and by bears who snored, affecting quite a bit the anticipation of Iorek in trying to see Koda and Kenai approach and finally feel that grip in his chest loosen up and allow him to breathe.
Unfortunately it didn't happen, because there was no trace of the dark fur of the two to the point that the white bear rose to see better, rising on his hind legs hoping that his height could give him the opportunity to peer over the tops of the trees. .. but that time it wasn't enough and he lowered himself even more worried than before and voicing that concern by snorting loudly from his nostrils and turning murderous glances to the height.Hours had passed ... several hours since Kenai had disappeared into the trees at full speed and an abundant hour since Koda had followed him, and at that moment Iorek cursed himself with all his might. Maybe Koda could be in danger, maybe something had happened to Kenai ... maybe the hunter had found them and killed them both and he didn't know it.
The anxiety advanced relentlessly at that point, surrounding every part of his body without leaving room for the rationality that would have come in handy at that moment. "okay ... okay, now breathe. "that little bit of common sense called him back to order sooner than expected, breaking into his stormy brain with absurd timeliness and almost slapping him mentally" calm down. Nothing happened, I'm sure. "
and despite this, Iorek decided to believe it and do what any bear would have only dreamed of being able to make him do: obey. Iorek was known to be as free as the air, he went where he wanted and when he wanted ... but in this case returning to reality was imperative not to freak out. Then he let the air in slowly and pushed it away from his mouth with as much inexorable slowness that quickly exhausted the anger that had started to build. That mess of confused emotions was overwhelmed by a single lucid thought: to go and find Koda and Kenai to find what could potentially have become their grave.
how dramatic.
he put his heart in peace, and with a determined frown he didn't even look back to look at what was lending behind him but luckily for him no one called him to go back: Iorek considered it as a small victory at the start, but there he paid too much attention because he continued to advance on solid ground due to the high cold.But Iorek was moving forward with sure steps, almost without looking where his large paws were resting and risking to slide down. (it wouldn't have hurt him for sure, but doing the road again would have been annoying and a waste of time, mainly due to the easily irritable character of the subject in question)and getting to the top of the slope without interruption was a second victory just like finally being able to hear your thoughts.
... the salmon run hadn't been as bad as he was willing to admit, but certainly the hustle and bustle, and being huddled together one on top of the other like sardines was not for him.
Silence was the only option that made him feel really good and if not that, the company of Kenai and Koda.
He did not call their names, he only smelled the air in search of their scent, but this time his sense of smell did not catch anything except the smell of the pines and an imminent snowfall to signal that maybe something was really going wrong and a certain sixth sense made his skin crawl, Hewas trotting through the frost, and slowly the movement stopped until it came to a halt and not because he had felt his paws skidding on the now dried mud and on which an abundant quantity of ice had fallen ...
No. He stopped for what he saw before him.
Footprints.
Not bear footprints, footprints of those things that humans wore to their paws made of caribou skin ... they were hunter's footprints.
And the Nordic sensation they carried with them, the trail of salt smell that those footprints left did not leave him in doubt.But that doubt made his head whirl. The hunters of his island were there, they had followed him and most likely hunted him.
He stood there elaborating for a long time, eyes fixed on the ground ... he returned to reality only when he realized that the snow was now falling. The frost had made that slight cloud of humidity give way, as if it wanted to underline the drama of the realization of the imminent danger "Kenai?"his usually booming, powerful and confident voice faltered under the weight of possibly nefarious results for Kenai and Koda as he made his way through the forest. Quickly running until the short clearing above him was replaced by trees ... trees as tall as mountains, the snow was now falling thick and resting on the branches lightly. Yet in its lightness it had weighed down the branches of adamant heaps that would melt with a little time ... a little time.
Exactly what that potential race against time did not seem to allow the white bear, which already predicted the trend of the next few hours in a tragic way
"Koda! Kenai?"
silence.
The same still silence of every single snow he had ever witnessed pervaded his ears in an almost deafening way until a shot with his nose upward moved his attention to the tops of the trees in a hurried way, peering quickly between the tops of them: and nestled against a branch, a small brown body embraced the white bark of it.
The white bear felt himself pervaded by the relief "Koda!" he said rising on his hind legs, paws resting against the trunk "what are you doing up there?" he was ready to scold him for not coming back, about the risk he had run ... but then he noticed something. Something that hit him in the chest like an ax. Koda's little body was shaking with sobs, and the reason he hugged the trunk was to get emotional support.
"... go away." he managed to spell the cub, shaken by sobs so violent that Iorek feared he might fall.
Hell, no.
He wouldn't go away.
"Koda...come down.."those words were not an order, as he used to do with Koda in order to keep him in line. They were uttered softly, in a flat but compassionate voice in the ears of the crushed cub. Koda turned his ruffled head to reveal two shiny eyes over his shoulder. Cheeks scratched by dry but marked tears on such a young face ... and seeing pain so close to his, a lost cub exactly as he had been was devastating.
Was this how others saw him after the orca took his parents away from him?
Was that how he had appeared?
empty? small?broken inside?
Sniffling, Koda came down from the tree and did not reach the ground, because he rushed to hug Iorek's paw as if looking for a little affection and immediately resumed sobbingand from the intensity of the gasps followed by the crying, Iorek immediately understood what it was.
He had discovered something about his mother ... just what Iorek feared.
That all the bears down there feared.
Koda's mother would never return.
The cub clung to the white bear, as if he didn't want to see, didn't want to hear anything anymore. That was the only time a hug didn't blow him away. On the contrary, he allowed himself to place a paw on Koda's fragile little body and hold him tight to him "sshhh ..." he murmured, muzzle turned towards him and eyes shining in turn.
" 't was Kenai ..." the cub murmured, against Iorek's white fur "he killed her."
Kenai ...?Kenai ...Kenai.
How, and above all why?
Asking further questions would have been like turning the knife in the wound and the crying cub didn't need that. Koda needed comfort, sleep, to feel safe.
What Iorek couldn't necessarily have had :he was now an adult and in his paws there was a frightened, orphaned, alone cub.
And who better than Iorek could understand that?
he caressed Koda's back with his paw, looking distractedly at the plain below him "Let's go back to the run." he tried to suggest.
As an answer Koda hysterically clung to his paw with more force "NO! I DON'T WANNA TO GO BACK THERE!"he cried in tears, muzzle buried in the other's fur.
"hey ... hey ... sshhh .." Iorek calmed him down, lowering himself to his level so that he could look him in the eye "we're not going back. We're not going back there, okay?"
He told him in the same tone his Mother would use with him.
A soothed, dull but calming tone that partially stopped those overbearing tears in those pitch-dark eyes that were always smiling but now more than ever radiated pure, intense and inconsolable pain.
A series of mini sobs continued as Iorek looked around, then without explanation he reached down and grabbed him by the scruff. If the hunters were still around, maybe he could at least save little Koda...
or at least hide him and go find that unconscious Kenai.
The cave was small, but large enough for both of us. Koda needed warmth, so the smaller the better it was for snuggling. After yet another cry, Koda had crouched against Iorek and was now motionless with his muzzle pressed into his side, his gaze lost to the ground.
Helpless.
That's what the situation was.