Chapter 4

Moony

Moony had grieved for a long time after Pagos had died. No other bears tried to comfort him. Life was hard for the next few sunrises because every bear he had ever knew he had lost. It pained him that his first real friend had died just half a moon after they had met. But a few sunrises after, a new white bear had arrived. Are… Are they replacing Pagos? The thought devastated him. He wanted to curl up next to his mother, Ceratura, and his sister, Crescent, and then never wake up.

But he was curious. He wanted to meet the new bear. Was he nice like Pagos? The thought was nagging at him until he couldn't stand it. He got up on his paws and padded over to where the white bears were.

"Hello? New white bear?" He called out. A really big white bear came up to him and said, "Hi, I'm Kissimi what's your name?" Moony was surprised at how nice he was and replied, "Oh um i'm Moony!"

"Nice to meet you, Moony. How did you get to the bear bowl? Or were you born here like Sunny?" Kissimi asked.

Moony was confused, "Who's Sunny?" Kissimi laughed and said, "She's a sun bear on the other side of my bear bowl." Moony peered past Kissimi and could see small black shapes on the far edge of the silver mesh. There are sun bears here?

"Your names kind of go together! Sunny and Moony!" Kissimi huffed in amusement. Moony wasn't paying attention, but remembered Kissimi's first question, "I was from a forest with my mother and my sister but the flat-faces took me here and shot me with a sleepstick. Where are you from?"

"Well i'm from star island," Kissimi began and then launched into the story of Kallik, Ujurak, Lusa, Toklo, and Yakone. When he had finished Moony's eyes were filled with amazement.

"They really traveled that far!?" Moony asked. Kissimi nodded and said, "You could escape like Lusa did and maybe travel to meet them. That's what Sunny wants to do, anyways."

"Wow, really?" Moony was astonished. He really wanted to escape from this place.

"Yes," Kissimi responded. Then Moony asked, "But will it work?" Kissimi replied, "Well if it worked for Lusa it's gotta work for you." Moony nodded and padded away. He lay down on the ground and didn't eat for the next few sunrises, even when he was starving. He didn't move even when he felt as if his stomach had been clawed out.

Finally the flat-faces came into the place. They pointed their sleepstick at him which felt like a just a small scratch when it hit him. He fell fast asleep.

Moony woke up in a strange room. He was trapped in a thing with shiny bars which he guessed was a cage. He tried to break the bars but they wouldn't move. Moony began to feel very anxious and searched frantically for a way out. Then he saw a small metal thing on the outside of the cage. Moony pawed at it and it began to move. This must be how Lusa did it! He pawed at it even more until it fell out and part of the cage swung open. Moony walked out of the cage and saw an opening on a wall, just like Kissimi had said. He padded toward it and took a big leap; he landed halfway through the opening. Moony pushed his legs up and fell out, onto some soft grass.

"I'm in the wild again!" He exclaimed to no one. Then he saw movement. There was another flat-face den next to him that looked identical to the one he was in. And just like his, there was an opening on the wall. But there was something trying to get out of it! It looked like a tiny moon bear but it's fur was slick, not shaggy like a moon bear's. And it had tiny ears. It wriggled out of the opening and plopped down onto the grass.

Moony walked cautiously toward it and saw a marking on it's chest that looked like the one of a moon bear's, except it was golden like his sister's, which was rare for a moon bear. And it wasn't shaped like a V, it was shaped like a U.

Is… is that a sun bear? Yeah, I think it is! But… why is it so tiny!? Wait, this must be Sunny! The bear Kissimi told me about!

"Sunny? Is that you?" He asked; nervous that it wasn't actually her. The bear looked up in alarm and backed away, only to hit her back on the flat-face den. Moony realized that he had frightened her.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you. Kissimi told me how to escape, just like he told you," he reassured. Sunny looked surprised. "Wait, really?" She asked.

"Yeah," Moony replied. Sunny seemed less cautious and said, "Yes, I'm Sunny. Are you going to journey and meet Toklo, Kallik, Lusa, and Yakone?" Moony nodded.

"Then let's go!" Sunny replied. Moony liked her enthusiasm and followed her. He then realized how starving he was.

"I haven't eaten in days," He told her. Sunny stopped and started sniffing the air. Then she started walking another way then they were walking. Where is she going? He followed her and they walked towards a bunch of mountains with snow on top until she stopped in front of a bush at the bottom of one of the mountains.

"Why did you stop?" He asked. Sunny pointed her muzzle at the bush and Moony realized that it was a berry bush! There were blueberries on it. Sunny sat down and began picking berries and eating them; Moony did the same. When their bellies were full they lay down and fell asleep.