Smoke Mountain Read Free Page B

easily see to the far side, and the surface of the water was flat and shiny, not whipped into waves. Taqqiq and Kallik were already up to their bellies, splashing and rolling in the water. She cuffed a sparkling wave at her brother and he pounced on her.
    â€˜Look out, I’m going to get you!’ he yelped.
    He knocked her backwards into the water and she wrapped her paws around him, rolling until she was on top and could pin him down.
    â€˜I win!’ she cried.
    â€˜Never!’ he spluttered, surging up out of the water and throwing her off. She landed with a splash, her mouth wide open with amusement.
    Toklo watched them playing. He wished his brother, Tobi, had been strong and that they could have played like this. Then his mother would have loved them both the same, and they would all still be together. For a moment he could see why Kallik had travelled so far and for so long, looking for her brother. If he thought Tobi was still alive, he’d have kept on searching for him too.
    Then Taqqiq noticed Toklo watching them and he abruptly stood up, shaking his fur so that droplets rained down on the water around him. He pawed at his nose and waded back to shore. Kallik floundered in the lake for a moment, waiting for him to jump on her again. Finally she sat up and noticed he was gone. Blinking as water streamed off her muzzle, she stared after her brother with a confused look.
    Lusa barrelled up to the lake and leaped in with all paws. ‘Whee!’ she yelped, disappearing in a glittering wave of water. ‘It’s amazing! It’s perfect! It’s
really cold
! Brrr! I’m getting out!’ She charged back on to the shore and shook herself vigorously. Drops of water spattered Ujurak and Toklo.
    â€˜Hey,’ Toklo growled.
    Lusa bounced around him like a jackrabbit. ‘Try it, Toklo! Your paws will feel so much better! And then so much colder! Brrrrr!’
    â€˜Are there fish in there?’ Toklo called to Kallik. ‘Or did you great lumbering beasts scare them all off?’
    â€˜Oops.’ Kallik looked worried. ‘I didn’t even think of that. Sorry!’ She lifted her front paws one at a time as if there might be a fish hiding under one of them.
    â€˜Fish,’ Taqqiq scoffed. He lay down on a patch of grass under a tree, gazing at them all with narrow eyes. ‘They’re barely a mouthful for a real bear. What we need is a fat seal.’
    â€˜Why don’t you go get one, then?’ Toklo snapped. ‘If you’re such a great hunter, surely you can find one?’
    Taqqiq bared his teeth at Toklo, but Lusa nudged in between them, trying to draw Toklo’s attention back to the lake and Kallik.
    â€˜Tell me more about seals,’ Lusa said to Kallik, who was wading back to the shore. ‘Do they taste like squirrels?’
    â€˜Not really. A seal is like a great big fish, only much better.’ Kallik padded on to the stones and letthe water stream from her fur, which was noticeably whiter. ‘They’re crunchy and chewy and delicious and I could eat nothing but seals for the rest of my life and be perfectly happy. I wish I could catch one for you! I bet you’d love the taste even more than blueberries.’
    â€˜More than blueberries!’ Lusa echoed. ‘Wow, they must be really tasty. Do you think there will be seals at the Place of Everlasting Ice?’
    â€˜Of course,’ Kallik said. ‘That’s why it’ll be the perfect home for us.’
    Trying to block out the nattering, Toklo took a long drink. He stared at the pebbles wavering below the surface, wishing he could see a flash of silver. Catching a fish right now would make Taqqiq look like a dopey squirrel for chasing away that bird. And maybe it would make everyone shut up about stupid seals.
    But all he could see were tiny darting shapes no bigger than a claw, and the swirls of sand the other bears had kicked up as they jumped around in the