The journey had become much more pleasant at night, where now everyone lay asleep on the large backs, heads and tusks of the huge mammals that advanced with a heavy but sure step. Lulled by that feeling of warmth Iorek had risked falling asleep several times, but he remained awake only to look at the sky and absently listen to Koda's rant.
The three bears were lying on the tusks of 'their' mammoth, Kenai on the left, Iorek on the right and Koda pacing back and forth as his mouth moved at supersonic speed
"OK, here's how I remember it. If the snow is white, then it's all right. Yellow or green, it's just not clean. I learned that one the hard way. Oh, that reminds me. Last year at the salmon run, my friend Bucky totally dared me, but I'd heard about this other cub who stuck his tongue to an iceberg, and then he started to float away. "
Iorek had already heard this story, and if before it annoyed him, now it made him smile. Not because of the story itself, but of what Koda did while juggling everything. Jumping from one side to the other, stopping first from him and then from Kenai and rocking so suddenly that Iorek had a mini heart attack, even speaking turned upside down
"And so to save him, they had to, like, rip off his tongue. And fo now he had to talk, like thif- "Kenai closed his jaws with his paws, looking at him amusedly. Then he looked at Iorek, who was also smiling "does he ever stop talking?"
"almost never." Koda freed himself earlier than expected, but perhaps it was also because Kenai had a fairly soft grip.
"Even if I agree with him, about this snow thing." he gave the argument only once, since they had found a common argument. Koda's eyes lit up like two headlights
"What were you like as a cub?" Iorek chuckled, a warm but at the same time rasping laugh "I was much less clever than you are." she said "my parents always told me to be careful, but I didn't listen..."
then he looked around as if he had to check that someone was spying "you know what?" Koda leaned towards him, eyes full of desire to hear a secret never heard "what?" Iorek pointed to a scar under his chin
"I got this when I was a cub." said "I slipped and I beat my jaw on the ice"
"No way! How old were you?" Kenai asked, now also interested in the conversation. Iorek rolled his claws
"slightly older than Koda, slightly younger than you." she said "I was halfway between cubhood and adolescence." Koda looked at him again
"you were like me?" Iorek chuckled at the thought "to be honest I was very much like you." he explained
"I couldn't keep quiet for a moment, and when I moved I always did damage." a second later Koda chuckled loudly and intermittently. It was clear he had imagined a little Iorek struggling with balancing on his paws and trying not to slip ... it was strange to think how much he had changed now.
But Koda's attention was distracted by the appearance of lights in the sky. Iorek knew exactly what it was and a twinge of nostalgia hit him in the chest, unexpectedly strong and intense as a broken bone ... but that was a much deeper type of pain, ergo: to be nostalgic. "Whoa, look. The night rainbow. You can see the spirits from here!"
The night rainbow? it was the first time that Iorek had heard this term, but he didn't laugh only because he was spellbound by looking at the lights.
" you know about the spirits?" Kenai asked, almost softly. He was greeted by the nod of Koda's head while the cub indicated the sky "Yeah. My grandma's up there...and my granddad. Mom says the spirits make all the magical changes of the world, like how the leaves change color, or the moon changes shapes or tadpoles change into frogs- "
All this was true, but Kenai's reaction was very different from amazed ... it seemed halfway between the wounded, the resentful and the angry."Yeah, I get. You know, for a change, maybe they could just leave things alone... " and in this bitter tone he turned his back on them.
Iorek frowned, looking at Kenai as if he wanted to peer at the back of his head to understand what was going on in his brain "why do you say that? ' he asked in a daring way, almost expecting an angry reaction.
Instead Kenai spoke very sadly, without even turning.
"My brother's a spirit. If I wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here. "
The pain of a loss is something that consumes you from within, and yet without ever really gnawing you. And Iorek understood better than anything else the sense of anger and helplessness that Kenai felt ... the same that he had felt when he saw his parents being torn to pieces by a killer whale and being unable to do anything.
Koda looked at him respectful of his pain "what happened to him?" he asked softly.
"he was killed by a ... a monster." The air was sentimental.
Very sentimental, and it was at that moment that Iorek shared his experience "my parents are spirits too." he said looking at the lights that danced in the sky, their visibility extended for miles and miles. He took a long breath "maybe now they are with your brother, and they are laughing at us for being sad." a slight smile was printed on Kenai's face "what were they called?"
"Gunnar and Audunn." he replied "and your brother?"
"Sitka." the two bears exchanged a long sad look "I'm sorry, about Sitka." said Iorek.
"I'm sorry about your parents." but then Koda's voice interrupted the conversation "Thanks Sitka, Gunnar and Audunn ..." he said facing the northern lights, smiling at them "If it weren't for you, I would've never met Kenai and Iorek."
that said, the cub crouched beside Kenai and glanced at both of them "I always wanted brothers." She said.
That phrase was enough to leave a smile on Iorek's face, but a thoughtful look on Kenai's as the cub fell asleep. The two bears looked at each other, for a moment neither of them knew what to say ... they realized only after that the absence of words was only due to the fact that of things to say, in reality, there were very few "goodnight". " Iorek simply said, crouching against the mammoth's fang. "try to sleep."
" Good night." Kenai replied very thoughtfully ... and his brown eyes looking at the sky were what Iorek saw before falling asleep.
As in the most beautiful of life metaphors, the sun ended up rising over the mountains oxidized red by the foundations but sprinkled by that pinch of snow left over from the colder season. The rays advanced until they touched the ground where the mammoths still advanced with a dangling step almost as, in the absence of the northern lights, the spirits wanted to bless the path through those still warm and pleasant rays, heating the heads of the mammals after a night cold and not making them weigh the animals still asleep, or the tireless chatter of Rutt and Tuke; the two mooses were intent on playing 'i spy with my little eye' without coping with the fact that the only thing they could guess were trees, hills, firs, pines ... but still seen and seen landscapes practically everywhere throughout rural Akaska.
The only ones that seemed really placid like a river at night were our three bears, Kenai was literally stranded on the tusk of the manmut, one cheek resting against it and one leg dropped in midair downwards, a blissful expression on his face while snoring loudly. Iorek slept in a much more composed way, head resting on his left paw and body tilted inside the tusk.
Koda instead had alternated all night: he had perhaps mistaken Kenai for a pillow, and moved from everywhere, right now he was resting on the head of the brown bear who in sleep felt himself touched by a paw in the eyes, with a snort raised his head only to find Koda snoring on it. He chuckled "Koda ..." he said in a voice kneaded by sleep, licking his lips, dry from the freezing night.
"hmm ..." muttered Koda, still half awake from sleep, crouching in Kenai's fur
"Koda, wake up ..!" and slipped the cub with a slight movement of the head.
"two more months, mom ..." Koda murmured, snuggling to Kenai's chest in search of warmth "come on, someone will have to wake Iorek."
Kenai encouraged him, moving him slightly with his muzzle to encourage him to get up.
Although reluctantly, the cub sat between Kenai's paws and rubbed his eyes "okay ... okay ... I'll wake him up .." he said as if he were going to do a dangerous undertaking.
He stepped over Kenai and with a jump landed on Iorek's sleeping body forcing a oof out of the sleeping bear as he landed in his hip. Beginning to shake him insistently from one shoulder, he leaned into his ear. "Iorek! Come on, Iorek! The sun's risen!"
Iorek must have woken up when Koda landed, because as soon as he felt him onto him he had briefly raised his head and opened his eyes with extreme dislocation, then he realized who it was and he literally sighed letting his head fall back, dead weight on the arch of the tusk.
"yeah,yeah... give me another five minutes ..." he replied softly and slurred.
It was normal for that different climate to make him sleepy.
But this Koda didn't know, and he bit his ear insistently starting to pull. "rise and shine!" he kept repeating in a loop, jumping up and down on the slender side of the white bear until Iorek raised his head again, banging his dry jaws due to sleep and yawning loudly in what for Koda was more like a roar that to a yawn ... who knows if one day even his yawn would make the earth tremble like Iorek's did. "so where are we?"
that question seemed to displace Koda.
The cub began to look around confusedly, and slowly his expression turned to terror. Kenai and Iorek exchanged a conscious glance: it was almost certain that they were lost. Iorek, however, wanted to be sure and leaned towards the cub, narrowed and prickly eyes, full of suspicion and ready to scold him just by looking at him.
"Koda. Do you have any idea which way to go?" he addressed him. The cub pursed his black lips in a very thin line and the same look did not abandon his brown eyes "hmmm, I think it's that way." and pointed a way, totally haphazardly.
The feeling of mistrust mixed with frustration also made its way onto Kenai's relaxed face "You think or you know?" he asked in a loud accusatory tone.
Koda turned away, pointing to another way "That way?"
well, perfect I would say. Lost in the tundra. Iorek closed his eyes to appeal to what little endurance he had left, then running a paw over his face "I can't believe it." he muttered somberly "well, I knew it. We got lost." and without waiting for anything else, he jumped down from the mammoth's fang. The mammal protested "hey, take it easy! Manners ..."
"go to hell!" was Iorek's distant response, followed by an embarrassed look from Koda. Kenai shared the sentiment perfectly, but merely articulated a "come on." and got off there. As if the two personalities had reversed... "riding mammoths was your idea!" Koda exclaimed, and he was the only one to thank the mammoths "thank you guys!" before jumping off.
Silence, the kind of silence that Koda could not stand, weighed on them like a cloud full of rain ready to unleash a violent storm in the form of a furious quarrel. Now they no longer walked in single file, but side by side and while Iorek sniffed the air Kenai walked with a pout that spoke for himself without needing him to do it.
Koda could clearly see Iorek's tense and nervous face as he searched for something that could lead them back on the straight path "nothing ... nothing ... absolutely nothing." and suddenly stopped "well, it's official. We got lost!" and exclaimed it aloud, so much that a bird on a nearby branch flew away immediately. Kenai immediately rolled his eyes "hmph." he muttered under his breath something definitely addressed against Koda, so that the cub immediately felt in a position to defend himself.
"I'm sorry if we got lost, okay?" he said, adding "Even though it's pretty much your fault ..."
Iorek himself jumped at Kenai's sudden fury. With wide eyes the brown bear exclaimed a loud "My fault?! Ugh! That's it!" and began to walk away with heavy steps.
"Kenai-" Iorek tried to make him reason, acting as what he wasn't: A peacemaker. Koda was also getting angry in turn and followed Kenai
"Just remember, if it weren't for me, you'd still be upside down right now!" he said, only giving voice to having helped him to get down from that tree, Kenai turned to them again and Iorek clearly saw the anger in his eyes increase "Yeah, well, better than being stuck, in the middle of nowhere with you and your blabbering mouth! " and at those words Iorek clearly saw the hurt in Koda's eyes, saw the cub move back as Kenai advanced and imitated him as a mockery "I'm lost. I can't find my mommy. Will you take me to the salmon run- "
"Cut it off." Iorek ordered sharply, turning around towards the scene to face Kenai. The younger bear tried to electrocute him with his gaze, but ultimately failed "what do you even want?" it was instinctively that he had taken a step forward, as if he wanted to shield Koda against Kenai's anger.
"mind your words or I'll tear your tongue out." Iorek threatened, not caring at that moment to be a reference figure and bending down so that he and Kenai were nose to nose, the fear of the first time disappeared and replaced by pure anger. "you don't scare me, who do you think you are?! "
Iorek jerked his head forward squashing his nose against Kenai's, bridge of noses curling in the process. " I'll tell you who you are, the most immature and arrogant creature i have ever met!"
The anger was so great that he stumbled to send the words out in a sensible line of conversation (or quarrel) (and if he had been human his face would have been red with fury) if there was any trace of hurt in the face of Kenai, in Iorek couldn't have cared less.
"don't bother playing boss,Iorek, it doesn't work on him!" Koda intervened, his shrill little voice brought them back to reality.
But only for a short time, because Kenai blazed against him again once more, raising voice.
"why don't you just grow up?!" he shouted, leaning towards him but being blocked again by Iorek, who held him back again at nose lenght.
"doing the same applies to you!" The other bear exclaimed again. Kenai looked him up and down "Why didn't you stay on the island where you came from?!"
"you think i wanted to leave my home? You are on thin ice right now,buddy!"
Koda frowned again "if we'll keep fighting,'ll just go on my own!" he said.
Iorek walked away from both and looked at them "you know what? Everyone goes their own way! I'm not your wet nurse! Good riddance!"
And without saying anything else he walked away with heavy steps, the group separated in the worst possible way.
With anger still quivering on their shoulders.