"so you live where there is ice!"

"it must be so cold, how do you do in winter?"

"there are blackberries there? I like blackberries so much, you know? and you like them?"

They had only been traveling for a few hours, since they had left the steppe and entered the heart of the forest, and Iorek was already looking forward to stopping at the nearest tree and banging his head on it repeatedly to start a synapse between those last neurons that had resisted and had not gone out of their own free will. A hysterical reaction to the cut-and-sew machine gun that Koda was when talking would have been entirely understandable, but Iorek had gritted his teeth and kept going by answering monosyllables to impossible questions "hey, Iorek! How tall is that mountain?"

"a couple of meters."

"hey, Iorek! how much does a squirrel eat?"

"less than a deer."

On the third 'Hey, Iorek!' that he heard his brain managed to formulate a single internal reaction: PLEASE SOMEONE SHUT HIM UP,a.k.a : Hysterical Crisis mode. He stopped the instinct to roar at him like an angry t-rex just remembering that he had an innocent cub in front of him, who had no idea what to be an adult and to be ignorant about where he was and who also had to stick to him a last-minute talkative brat meant, let alone how exhausting answering hundred-million-dollar questions was. "Yes, Koda?" he asked, trying in vain to maintain the same tone by clenching his teeth in a smile that was anything but natural. "Why do you keep your mouth like this? Your teeth hurt? I have been hurting myself every now and then since ..." the rest of the chatter evaporated from his boiling mind and was replaced by a single lucid thought: spirits, give me patience.

Well, do you consider yourself an adult? it's time to start showing that you are. Koda is your challenge. And this mantra proved to be a lifeline to not freak out every time that ringing voice broke the silence. It must have been just before sunset when they were almost on the edge of the northern forest, and at that time Koda had not stopped speaking for a moment literally overwhelming the thoughts of the white bear with the typical infantile arrogance. "and therefore this friend of mine remained with his lungua frozen against an icicle, but afterwards yes and melted in his mouth so he is now well but speaks badly!" Iorek hadn't listened to a word from the fiftieth story that Koda had told him in the space of ... ten minutes, because despite his brain telling him not to get distracted by what the cub was saying, where to stay alert in order to find a any sign that this was the territory of another bear, so as to get away in time "tell me if you see some scratch somewhere on the trees" she said. Koda didn't even seem to hear it "and then Bucky told me-"

"Did you hear what I told you?" The cub's brown eyes looked at him, active and brisk "yeah, I heard you!" he said nodding "but you won't find any scratches here. My mom and I go here every year to get to the salmon run!" Iorek looked away irritably, "you've never heard: prevention is better than cure- Hey! did I tell you to stray away by chance?!" A body has about seven billion nerves, and Koda was able to annoy each of them in a way that had never been familiar to Iorek ... and usually he could react with a slap, if something annoyed him. This time he couldn't. Koda had gone too far, and not even Iorek understood what had made him intimate to return there: it was certainly something related to the fact that Koda was small in such a large world, and perhaps a tiny part of him was protective of the cub. Koda didn't crouch on the ground with that scolding, let alone lower her ears. He just looked at the adult with that usual look "but this place is so-!" he protested, however stopping. Iorek joined him in a few steps "don't make me get you by the scruff." he said "do as I tell you and be silent. it may be dangerous."

But Koda smiled very cleverly "I have a certain fame here, you know?" he said "it ain't convenient for someone to provoke me 'cause I become very fierce!" Iorek wouldn't believe it even if he saw it, but something told him that having a lot of ego was something normal at that age. "Hm." he just said ... he would have stories to make Koda's fur tremble, about truly terrifying bears. "If humans catch us, I'll defend you! I'll point my claws straight into those little eyes!" and he began to jump.

"one of the qualities of a good hunter is to remain silent, you know?" Iorek teased him, just to see if he would grab the hint and close his mouth a little "I can keep quiet!" Iorek rolled his eyes "not the way a predator." but Koda was not put off "oh well, i have time!"Iorek rolled his eyes "not the way predator should do it." but Koda was not put off "oh well, i have time!"He had no time to say anything else because Koda paw away again ... or rather, he started to paw away; but Iorek was a bear of word. So he cleverly took him from the scruff and lifted him, "oh no you don't, youngster." Koda stirred under that grip that could have killed a caribu with a bite and which, however, had proved very delicate in closing around the scruff of the little bear "put me down! I can walk alone!" but Iorek shook his head "until you do as I tell you, that's how we will travel." Tried to turn to look at him "but-"

"I don't want to hear any 'but'." the white bear replied resolutely. If he really had to teach him to obey, this was the only way. "I won't let you hurt yourself, so you have two options. Either you promise not to walk away, or I'll keep taking you from the scruff." the cub was pouting, paws crossed "not fair."

"So?

"okay, I promise not to walk away." Iorek was skeptical, but put him down as he really wondered how it had happened that he had gone from being a lone hunter, to plain speaking being the babysitter of a very talkative cub. "Good."

At least he had managed to come to an agreement.

They had stopped to rest a bit (or rather, because Koda wouldn't stop complaining saying he was tired) in the shade of the trees of the forest and although Iorek did not want to admit it, a little tiredness began to creep into his bones and he was happy to be able to stop walking and sit for a moment "may the spirits be blessed for this refuge ..." he murmured briefly before returning to keep an eye on Koda, intent on rubbing his eyes after having smelled a flower whose scent was rather pungent, seemingly "yuck! what flower is it?" Iorek rested his head on his large paws "I have no idea." he replied briefly "don't you want to sleep a little?" Koda reared up in front of his muzzle, then leaning on it with his front paws "I'm not tired! I don't wanna sleep!" Iorek sighed mentally. Try again next time, you will be luckier. "Then find something to do. Possibly something that can't cause you to bleed." Treating a broken bone or blood outlet was the last thing he wanted to do. It was truly hypocrisy; Iorek, who had been the wildest, most restless and stubborn cub on his island, who now made recommendations of this type. Had he been a relative of Koda, they would have been plausible, but he was a stranger to the cub. Why did he show such affection with a bear he didn't even know? "do you want to play fight?" asked the little bear, looking at him hopefully. Iorek's brown eyes opened with annoyance "...listen, wren, I would knock you out in less than a second. I played fighting for many more moons than you have." He said "Then teach me some secret moves!" Koda insisted "you have some, don't you?" The white bear nodded "more than one." Koda came closer "so come on!" But just as Iorek was about to answer, there was a thud and a cry not far from them. Instinctively Iorek got up, immediately wondering what could have caused that noise "Koda, don't str-" but when he turned to make yet another recommendation, there was an empty seat in the place where the cub had been. Iorek felt the blood freeze in his limbs and looked around, head turning widly from side to side "KODA ?!"