Reunion with Lyra:

Mia's Point of View:

Dad landed the balloon and we boarded off. He wrapped me in a brown oil-skin coat and I put on a red scarf and a woolly hat. He slung his brown leather hat and slipped his revolver into his hoister strapped to his waist.

Before we walked, he said, "Remember Mia, stay close to me at all times. Got it?"

I nodded.

We walked through the streets. The odour of oil flew up my nose like swarms of stinky gas. I pulled my scarf over my face. "It stinks here,"

"It's an oil platform, what did you expect?" Dad said.

He pulled out a cigar.

"Dad, you really shouldn't smoke,"

"What harm could one cigarette do?" he said.

"You should listen to the girl," a new voice said.

We turned and saw there was a man in a black suit approaching us. He didn't look friend. Aster turned into a mouse and hid in the folds of my scarf.

"No smoking on this port," he said.

"Ahh my mistake. Lee Scoresby, aeronaut for hire..." he offered a hand. He wouldn't take it. "Who are all these people?"

"New rivals arouse suspicion," he proceeded to walk away.

"Have you seen a bear anywhere?" I suddenly asked. The man turned to me. I felt a cold shiver up my spine.

"We heard rumours," I felt my dad's hands on my shoulders. "Of a bear in this town. Any truth to that,"

"Yes. You know I heard a rumour too. Of an aeronaut of creates bedlam where ever he goes," the unfriendly man sneered. "Any truth to that?"

"My dad is not a trouble maker!" I snapped. Nobody insults my father like that.

The man glared back at me. He approached a step closer with a sinister manner. "You should learn to pick you words more carefully," he sneered.

A gun cocked. "And you should learn to stay away from my daughter," Dad warned.

The man glared at him than back at me before stalking away.

"You really shouldn't rouse him up like that," Dad said.

"I was sticking up for you,"

"Thanks. But there are other ways of giving people payback," he held up watch.

"Tell me you didn't steal that," I begged.

"It was just a prank. He won't notice,"

"Yes he will," Hester hissed. "Now can we please just stay out of trouble?" she begged.

I peered around and I saw giant corpses of giant sea animals. The odour of blood and rotting flesh made the smell of the atmosphere all the worse. I suddenly noticed that there were Gyptians walking admits the crowd.

"I wonder what Gyptians are doing so far north Aster," I heard dad say. "Come on Mia. Time to find that bear," he pulled me along and we walked into the streets.

We found ourselves in a town made out of wooden huts and there were Magisterium guards walking everywhere. I felt a little unsettled. I didn't like it here.

"Are you sure we're not goanna cause trouble here Dad? I'd hate for us to get into trouble,"

"We'll be fine Mia," he assured.

"That's what you said last time," Hester said as she was prancing beside him.

"Shut up Hester," he hissed.

"Where are we going to find Iorek in a place like this?" I asked.

"We'll have to ask locals and not soldiers," he said.

"Why don't we split up?"

"I'm not sure that's a good idea,"

"You'd know I'd come straight to you when you called. I did that in Oxford didn't I?"

"Yes. But in a small town, it's easy to get into trouble. Especially with all these soldiers around. And I'd hate it if you ran into that man again. You're to stay with me at all times,"

I nodded. We came up to a pub. We stopped.

"Wait out here," he said to me.

"What happened to sticking together? Do you think you're goanna get into trouble,"

"Since when have I ever got into trouble?" he asked.

"When you got the information about Iorek," I reminded him.

"I won't be too long. Just keep your head down from any soldiers, okay?"

"Why don't I go and find us an accommodation? You never know how long we're goanna be here,"

"No. That's not happening. Just wait outside," he went inside.

I huffed. I went to a bench to sit down. As I sat down, I pulled out a journal and pen from my handbag. I opened it revealing maps and pictures and drawings of our travels for the past four years.

"I can't believe we've been traveling for four years and we haven't spent more than a day or two on land," I said. "Sometimes I miss being on ground,"

"Me too," Aster said. "But I would prefer the sky than the ground back in Texas,"

"Me too. It's just too sad there. You know meeting Lyra and Roger for the first time was unexpected. I can't believe I'm saying this but I miss their company,"

"I do too. Their daemons were very pleasant. They're the first friends we've ever had,"

"I agree. Everyone in Texas was so mean and awful,"

"You know I'd give anything to remain being able to change forever,"

"I do too. Have you ever thought about settling as an Arctic Hare like Hester?"

"Not really. But I do sometimes change into it to make her feel comfortable," He paused for a second. "Mia!"

I flicked my gaze to him.

"Look over there,"

I turned and saw the same men and some soldiers walking in our direction.

"Keep your head down," I said. I hung my head down pretending to read my journal. I managed to keep my line of vision up a bit to see the men staring around for anyone probably spying on them. I kept it hung down.

I noticed them stopping. They started discussing. I wished I could get a step closer to see if they were speaking about the bear we had come here to find. But I couldn't get into trouble. They walked away.

"You know I could have fluttered over there in the form of a fly to eavesdrop,"

"And then you likely would have been hit and it would have hurt me too. We can't risk getting into trouble around here,"

I hung my head back up and I saw they had disappeared.

"I can't stand the Magisterium being so arrogant. You know before we met Lyra, I wanted to meet Asriel. I heard he was such a fascinating explorer who discovered amazing things. I heard he even discovered Grumman's head,"

"That's impossible," Aster said.

Suddenly we heard a thud and we saw Dad thrown on the ground.

"Dad!" I rushed to him. "Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine!" I stood up facing a few men inside. "How dare you throw my dad out like that?"

The man just sneered and tossed me his hat.

"Well that showed them," I heard Hester say.

"I'd like to think I made my point," Dad said as I helped up him.

"And what point was that?" I asked.

He pulled out a few pocket watches and a wallet from his pockets. I sighed.

"When are you goanna stop pickpocketing people like that? You going to get into trouble if you keep doing that. And if you were going to get into a fight, could you have at least let me come in with you so a scene like that didn't have to be made?"

"Have you get hurt as well? No way,""What are you doing here?" I asked.

"No luck on Iorek,"

"Nope! Everyone is so oblivious. It's like they want to keep him here or they think of him as a monster,"

"Looks like we'll just have search ourselves," I sighed.

"There's gotta be someone in town who knows where he is,"

"If you're going to be calling out like a mad man, Aster and I are going to go out and do some real searching,"

Before he could stop me, I scurried away in a flash. I heard him calling after me but eventually he gave in.

I turned and turned around every corner, looking for the possible places one could find a bear. But I had no luck. Eventually I came to the ports where I saw the giant Gyptian boat docked. There were so many people on board. When I glanced a little closer, I noticed that they were staring around. Their faces were expressionless. I pulled down my scarf.

"Don't look very happy here do they," Aster said.

"No. Let's head back to dad," I said.

I was about to make a turn around when I heard, "Mia?"

I turned around. It took a moment for me to realise that it was Lyra coming into view. She wore an oil skin coat with a red hat, a golden scarf and winter clothing. Pan was beside her in the form of an Arctic fox.

"Lyra?" I stumbled forward. When I did, she rushed towards me. When we were close enough, she burst out: "It's so good to see you!"

"It's great to see you too!" I expressed excitedly. I had come to see Iorek only to encounter an unexpected new friend. "What are you doing here?"

"It's a bit of a long story,"

"How did you get here?"

"I traveled with the Gyptians," she said. "On their boat,"

"What are you and Gyptians doing up so far north?"

"Lyra..." an old man with a bushy dirty beard and a cat daemon came towards her. "Who is this?"

I'm Mia Scoresby. I met Lyra in Oxford a week ago, before I came here. And just so you know I respect your ways of life, so you have no need to be distrustful,"

"This is Farder Coram," she gestured to the old man behind her.

"Are you that aeronaut Lee's daughter?" he asked.

"You saw my father?" I asked back.

"Yep. He was crying out for anyone to give him an insight as to whether they've seen a bear. Everyone was looking at him," Lyra said.

I rolled my eyes. So much for keeping a low profile.

"Mia, this is Farder Coram of the Gyptians,"

"How did you end up here Lyra?" I couldn't help but ask. "Why aren't you back in Oxford with Roger?"

"It's a long story, as well,"

"One I would gladly like to here,"

"I'll let you talk to your friend but you are to stay in sight of the ship Lyra," Farder Coram informed her with a serious expression. From the looks of things, he sounded too serious, almost as if it was important to him that she was safe.

Lyra nodded and he walked away. The two of us sat on a few stone steps, where she told me her story. During this time of entertainment, Pan and Aster were playing with one another.

"So Roger's been captured by these child-kidnappers you call Gobblers...and you were taken in by this woman who's actually their leader...you ran away...you came across the Gyptians...that woman is actually your mother and your uncle is your dad...and now you guys are here to rescue the kids,"

"That's right. And right now, we in a bit of a pickle recruiting Iorek,"

I gawked at her. "You've seen him?"

"Yep. He's quite huge. And he didn't even have armour on him, regarding he's an armoured bear,"

"What a coincidence. My dad and I had come to see him only for you to see him first,"

"You know Dad was desperate to see him. In fact he tried to negotiate a deal in exchange for his location but I refused. We need the bear to help rescue the children. And I trusted you more than him, since you never got a chance to introduce me and Roger to him,"

"Did you tell him who you were?"

"Nope. I just hoped that I'd bump into you but here you were. Mia, if you tell me how we can get him to come with us, I can tell you where to find him,"

"I can't do that Lyra. I can't betray my dad's trust like that. He doesn't like the idea of anyone recruiting Iorek,"

"Why not?"

"That I can't tell you either. For all we know, he might not want to join your cause,"

"Mia, the witch consul has told us we need the bear to fight back. Even with the witches on our side, we are still low in strength and number. He is our only bet to even the odds,"

"How about this? If you tell me where he is, I'll come back tomorrow and tell you how to get him to come with you. Please? Just let me and my dad have a talk with him first before you recruit him into your cause. It's really important to him,"

"Why?"

"Because he wants to repay him. He saved his life and he hasn't heard from him in three years. He's just worried and we've come all this way, just to see him,"

Lyra gave a simple nod. "He's behind Einasson's Bar. And asking this now, because I've just thought of it, there's something else I'd like to ask you. Do you think you could help me hire your dad to help us?"

I shook my head, giving a soft scoff. "You can't just simply hire him. He wouldn't agree. He hasn't exactly been much of a trusting person...not since..." I struggled. "4 years ago,"

Lyra looked like she was about to ask why but she stopped. Instead she said, "Don't you ever want a little more excitement? Besides you get to go further north. And with a fight ahead of us, we need all the help we can get,"

"Look it's not that we...I don't want to help. But it's just...we've been keeping a low profile from the Magisterium. When we stay around too much, we have to move on almost constantly,"

"Why?"

"I really don't know," In all honesty I didn't want to be a part of this, but a thumping in my heart was compelling me to do the right thing. "But since Roger was also there with you when you two saved me in Oxford and you both have been so kind to me, that's a debt I must repay. And I believe the Magisterium deserves payback. I've seen how arrogant they are and your friends aren't the only ones whose had a bad history with them,"

"Thank you. Where would I find you and your dad?"

"Probably the bar which he got thrown out of?"

"No wonder he was bleeding,"

"As usually he gets into trouble, and he always wants me to stay out of it. Well I'd better get back, I'm already on his bad side for dashing off. See you tomorrow,"

"See you tomorrow Mia,"

"And please send my pleasure to that friend of yours Farder Coram,"

"Of course,"

What did you guys think of this reunion? Please let me know what you all think. I would love feedback so that I can act on it please.