Chapter 9

Soon the three bears came to a huge patch of dandelions. Koda gleefully ran through them, and seeing his brother, who still looked sad about the fact that Kia still planned on leaving soon, he tagged him with his paw.

"Hey Kenai! Betcha' can't catch me!" he challenged.

Kenai was snapped out of his sad thoughts. "Oh yeah? I bet I can! C'mon, Kia! Help me catch him!" he shouted, running along through the dandelions.

Kia hesitated for a minute, than raced into the patch of dandelions, after Koda and Kenai. The three of them ran around in the dandelions until their fur was covered in them!

A gusty wind blew by then, blowing all the dandelion dust away, and off of the grizzly bears. Kenai, Kia and Koda all laughed. Kia smiled. She was finally beginning to enjoy herself again. All of a sudden, she felt Kenai grab her paw.

"C'mon, Kia! Hurry!" he said, running toward a cliff.

Kia stared at him as if he was nuts, but still followed anyway. She watched as he stood up, on the cliff and leaned his body against the force of the wind, ruffling his fur. He looked and saw her watching, and motioned for her to join him. "Try it, Kia!"

Kia walked up further onto the cliff. She looked down and a gust of wind blew into her face, making her momentarily blind and unable to see. The white and brown bear jumped back, nervously. "I..I don't know...Are you sure it's safe?"

Kenai chuckled. "Just trust me!"

Kia gulped, looking down again. "O..k..." She slowly got up on her hind legs.

Kenai grinned. "Now lean against the wind, like me!"

Kia nodded, timidly, and leaned her body weight against the strong breeze. "Hey! This isn't so bad!" she exclaimed. "This is fun!"

The two bears laughed as the wind ruffled throughout their fur. Then, all of a sudden, the gusty wind stopped, almost as quickly as it had started! Kia and Kenai exchanged wide eyed glances, as they fell forward, off the cliff. "AHHHHHHH!" The two bears yelled. Then they splashed right into a mud puddle, head first. Kia quickly sat up, once they had landed.

"I-I'm alive?" she asked outloud in a small, surprised voice. She gasped, and felt herself for any injuries, and to her relief, she had none. She smiled at Kenai, who was covered in mud, just like her. "No injuries." she said.

She gave Kenai an odd look, as he burst out laughing. "What's so funny!" she demanded.

The larger brown bear pointed at her. So he was laughing at her, it seemed! Kia suddenly caught sight of Kenai's mohawk-like hairdo, and stiffled a giggle.

"What's so funny?" both bears asked each other. They both pointed at each other. "Your fur!"

Kia looked up at her fur, and stiffled another giggle. 'I do look funny!' she thought.

Both bears looked up, as they heard a laugh. It turned out, that Koda had seen the whole thing! Now he stood on the cliff, looking down at them as he laughed. "You guys look hilarious!" he snickered, as he started to carefully climb down the cliff.

One of his paws slipped. The cub lost his balance, and went tumbling into the mud puddle between Kenai and Kia! When he sat up, the fur on his head was all messed up, and looked a lot like two horns.

Kia snickered. "NOW, who looks rediculous?" Kia teased. She ran a paw over her head, smoothing down her fur. Kia started to get up, but Kenai grabbed her mane, pulling her back down.

"Hey! What makes you think we have to look silly, but you don't?" Kenai placed his muddy paws on her head, making her fur a mess again. She growled at him mischievously, and flung a pawful of mud in his face.

Kenai blinked, rubbing the mud away. "Was that you, Koda?" he asked the cub.

Koda shook his head. 'Nope, it was Kia!"

"Oh it was, was it..?" Kenai scooped up a big ball of mud and flung it at the white sow. She dodged just in time though, and it hit Koda! The cub glared at Kenai.

"I told you before..I didn't throw that!" he growled, throwing a bunch of mud at his brother.

Soon the three of them were involved in a major mud ball fight that lasted for over an hour! Finally, Kenai fell onto his back. "Ok, you win Koda! I surrender!"

Kia fell over too. "I surrender too..." she said outloud. She looked up, and screamed as she saw four eyes looking right at her! The animals who had been staring at her screamed too.

"Kenai!" she yelled, running behind the male grizzly.

"Please, white bear...don't eat us!" two voices yelled.

Kia's ears flicked back. "What...?"

Kenai laughed. "It's okay, Kia. It's only Rutt and Tuke."

Kia came out from behind Kenai. "Rutt and Tuke...?" She asked, looking at the two moose who had frightened her.

"Yeah! My name's Rutt, and this is Tuke!" said the smallest of the two moose. "You-you-you're not going to eat us, are you?" he asked, taking a nervous step backward.

Kia frowned, surprised. "Uh...nooo...I never planned to."

Tuke breathed a sigh of relief. "Well that's very kind of you, eh." he turned to Kenai. "Hey there, Mr. Bear. We were just, uh...wonderin'...can we maybe hang out with you bears for awhile?"

Kenai stared at them, a curious expression on his face. "Why..?"

Rutt stepped forward. "We...because...gee eh...we were hard at work, eatin', when suddenly, this hunter passed by, and aimed his spear at us...so we were thinking, maybe we'd try to hang out with you guys..."

"Yeah, it'd be fun!" Tuke chimed in. "So..."

"Please!" both moose chorused.

Kenai turned to Kia. "It's your call, Kia...can you handle a couple of arguing moose brothers?"

Kia nodded after a moment. "All right...I think I can handle that."

"Gee eh, thanks! That's mighty kind of you!" The two moose said gratefully.

Kia smiled at them. "No problem..."