The white bear wouldn't have known how to explain to his cub self the sudden appearance of human populations among the glaciers. He never expected humans to live in his homeland. On his beloved frozen sea, on his island on which he had always lived alone ... and had always been so well. Only him, alone. With no one to account for what to do with his life (if there was one thing that the white bear could not stand was that someone commanded him on his way of being or doing, and added to the unwanted company of the rest of the world the combo was a ninth level rampage) it had been years since this lifestyle was on him like a second skin.
Iorek. That was his name; or at least that was what his parents had called him until the killer whale accident had taken place. After it that name had seemed more of a burden to him, so he tried to say it as little as possible. (besides that, it annoyed him that others knew too much about him)but for the tribes he was the only living entity on that island lost in the midst of the glaciers of a rugged and wild land, exactly as he was with his face marked by the thousand battles he had faced and that only the eyes of a fighter can tell. For the tribes he was a kind of ghost, a spirit that haunted that frozen land for decades with his white coat and wise eyes. If they had gone beyond appearance and myth they would have discovered that their ghost was actually twenty years of human age and that most of his scars were due to accidents when he was a cub or simply struggles for predominance when other bears were still on the island and they had started to abandon it. But not Iorek.
At least until the night when the hunt for the last white bear, the last wanderer of the glaciers, the king of those frozen steppes had begun. And the life of the white bear had changed.
He had abandoned his land for several weeks. Weeks in which he had walked on the frozen sea relentlessly illuminated by the northern lights, lights that he had repeatedly watched from his home, his motherland that he had been forced to abandon. He was not the type to get too attached to what was material ... his home would have been wherever he would have been comfortable (so alone, wherever the place was. He was convinced of it and making him change his mind would have been more difficult than taking a header with a mammoth.)The sun had risen and set many times until the ice vanished and was replaced by the sticky and moist earth, so much that its silk fur ruffled given the sudden change in temperature. But it would have been worth it to think that he would be safe there, away from those madmen ... although getting used to being no longer an integral part of his surroundings and no longer having the preference of camouflage was hard to die forand he certainly wouldn't have gotten used to it immediately, being born and flying is impossible. It takes time and patience, and a hunter must be well stocked with both; his father always said "find time and patience for hunting, or work will be useless and you will only waste precious energy."and although their (completely identical) temperament had often collided in a clash of titans, perhaps that was the only thing they had ever agreed on. If you don't have time to hunt, get it or postpone it until the time comes. But be aware of the fact that you may starve in the meantime ... consequently there is not something in nature that does not appear contradictory and therefore go with the flow, do not make yourself many non-existent problems.The early days were tough: white fur completely muddied with things that Iorek didn't even dare to imagine including mud and leaves that he hadn't been able to shake off immediately and that had become difficult to shake after so long ... he had barely hunted, therefore he had to go on with berries (not as bad as he thought, but certainly not even very good ...)After these experiences, having humans at heart was not his priority and the survival of one of them certainly did not depend on him; but he wouldn't have pulled straight in case he met one, malicious or not, his only goal would have been to neutralize him so as not to have problems in the future. It was tough, but it was his primordial instinct and there was nothing he could do about it.
Time fixes everything, he kept repeating himself as he managed to catch a hare from time to time so as not to starve. At least the water was not lacking, and he was very grateful for this ... but most of all he was grateful for the solitude. The only thing that hadn't been snatched away from him abruptly and jealously as if it really belonged to someone. The desire for loneliness is subjective, and for Iorek loneliness was what defined him as a white bear, or ghost of the steppes as the natives said when they saw him ... well, now neither side would have problems with this. They on one side and Iorek on the other, without creating clashes that would have led to senseless deaths. Sooner or later men would realize that living there was impossible for them, and they would retrace their steps ... but until then Iorek should have lived in a foreign land and prayed that the spirits would not want him dead.
The stream was clearer than he remembered, and the water fresher than he could have imagined. It couldn't have been the water from the same boiling spring from which he had drunk the night before and next to which he had fallen asleep after having cleaned himself of dust and various things on his ivory-white coat, finally light and clean again like the fur of a puppy bear, soft but not fluffy in the same way. Soft but with a layer of adult roughness and scars here and there.Iorek lifted his big white head, dark brown eyes squared around alertly despite the fact that he still had a layer of sleep attached to his eyelids and that seemed to suggest that he slept a little more. But Iorek forced himself not to give in to sleep and twisted his wet nose to get used to the smell of dew and wet earth ... it was so new to him and getting used to that change of smells was perhaps the most complicated thing there was ( only surpassed by hunting)he shrugged off the tension on his shoulders by stretching and letting go of a jaw-breaking yawn, tongue put on one side of the jaw and long teeth longer than the finger of an adult man on display.It was early in the morning, therefore the sun was not yet high in the sky and was not beating on his back as insistently as the midday sun could have done. This type of sun with its gentle and not at all invasive rays was perhaps his favorite, but he would certainly have liked it if it had remained so all day.But it certainly couldn't remain so all day, and Iorek should have resigned himself to another torrid day. He sat down and took a long breath, inhaling the still fresh morning air.In all those moons he had remained in this new land he had barely seen bears. Only a few wanderers like him, but they had barely exchanged a snarl or a brief nod. The less he spoke to others, the better.
This was until a different noise had unexpectedly caught him during his wanderings to a place that was as similar as possible to his homeland and far from everything. A sound of footsteps in the bushes nearby accompanied him for quite a few meters in stark contrast to his safe and rhythmic pace ... the pace in the background was fragmented and the steps were short from each other as if anything was following him could not keep up, as if he had very small legs. Iorek stopped to peer into the bushes and at the exact moment he stopped, the steps stopped in turn. Iorek twisted his mouth unconvinced of what was following him, but not for a moment intimidated. Another bear? he could face it. A human? he would have torn it apart before he could even get close. A prey? well, she would have been on hand.
He continued confidently on his paws, proud despite everything. And the paw stopped with him and advanced with him, until with a sigh Iorek lost his patience "enough, come out." and saying this he turned to the bushes, glancing towards them that admitted no reply or justifications "have they never told you that it is impolite to follow others?"
a little voice reached him "my mom always tells me that ... but I couldn't help it!" and a pair of dark eyes glittered from behind the bushes with happiness completely out of place, as if he had never had the chance to see the horrors in the world. He understood immediately that it was a cub. "then they should repeat it more often." he started to turn and continue on his way, but the little brown bear immediately sprang out of the bushes hopping next to him "I noticed you immediately because your fur is different from mine! why is it different?" he asked in a shrill tone, too high even for a diurnal animal "I don't know." Iorek replied dryly, without even looking at him. He hoped that by ignoring him, the cub would have realized that he didn't want company and go on his way. But no, he continued to spit sentences as if they were having a real conversation "and then your face is different too! You have a very arched profile, but I have a flattened nose! I have had it since I banged with the face down in the mud! " Iorek looked at him; he was hopping near his left paw and looking around ... he was not at all wary as he would have expected from such a small cub. "You smell of salt and fish! I've never eaten any fish other than salmon, how is it? I bet it's good, but it's not found here. I've never seen you around here! where are you from?" Iorek felt his brain about to melt at all those questions. What did he want? "... don't you have a place to go? any other place?"
the younger bear shook his head "no, not for now?" what did he mean? Iorek snorted "why are you alone?" he said accelerating his pace "you should go back to your mother. She must be worried." and this, he did not say it only for the sake of his brain, but also for the heart of that poor mother. She was certainly looking for her son far and wide without result. The cub watched him go " 's that ... I was separated from my mom and I don't know where to go." Those words were like a blade in the heart of the adult bear, Iorek looked at him "how were you separated?" The cub looked down "she has fallen from a glacier, I haven't seen her since ..."
A glacier. If her mother was a strong bear, it was likely that the fall would not have been severe enough to cause her permanent damage. It was not the time to ask a puppy who could not metabolize the fact that finding the mother would be difficult. "Do you have a meeting point, you and your mother?"
The cub's eyes lit up and jumped "it's just the place I'm going! The salmon run, it's the place we go every year" he had never heard of such a place, but was not surprised at this. The white bear looked at the horizon outlined by trees and mountains, the sun had been beating straight on them for half an hour. It was a tortuous path, full of hidden pitfalls ... certainly not suitable for a cub "how many moons are you old?"
"two moons!" said the youngest, rising briefly on his hind legs (even so he didn't get to Iorek's face) "and you?"
The bigger bear rolled his eyes "you're too curious for my taste." he said, because to tell him that the moons he had lived in were far too many compared to his.
He couldn't let such a small cub wander alone; there were wolves, even more ferocious predators and other bears who would not have hesitated to tear him to pieces in order to defend the territory. "..." Iorek sighed, looking at the sky for a brief moment "and are you sure your mother is there?" he asked. The cub nodded energetically, so much that his big ears slammed on his eyes several times "why do you say mother? They say 'mom'!" Iorek had to refrain from sighing, so he just took a deep breath "will your mom be there or not?"
The bear nodded "yeah, she'll be there!" then unexpectedly he placed himself in front of Iorek, tiny legs resting on Iorek's white chest "will you bring me with you?"
Iorek looked at him as if he had read his thoughts, he intended to accompany him ... but in doing so farewell to his much loved solitude. "er, what?"
"bring me, please!" insisted the cub "if you think I'm too small let me go with you!" Iorek briefly shook his head "I'm not going to the salmon run." he said, he wasn't headed there. But the cub shook his head in turn "wherever you are going you can leave me there and then leave!" Iorek twisted his face, it's official ... goodbye freedom! he thought looking at those brown eyes full of hope. Had he mistaken him for a wet nurse, by any chance? But it was as if seeing that cub so alone was ... sad, even for him who loved being alone.
"alright then." he said dryly. The cub jumped happily "thank you!" he exclaimed "you know, I know a bear who is exactly like you! his name is Buck and he is sooooo serious!"
here we go again. Again the cub began to jump beside him with infinite energy "and your name? I didn't ask you! I bet it's a tough name like Fang!" and saying this he really came up close ... a lot close. Too close, too close! red code, move the cub away!
"Iorek." he replied evasively, moving slightly away from the trouble-shooting cub.
"my name is Koda!"