Page 16 of Polar Fates
Even though it looks like an island, from the vegetation it’s clear that this used to be a hill before the Drowning, not an actual beach. There is little sand where the waves meet land; most of it has probably been transported here by the sea. It certainly doesn’t look like a tropical beach I’ve seen on pictures. Not even like the cold, but beautiful Scottish beaches from before everythingchanged.
The ground is full of stocky heather bushes that we have to evade, but sometimes the snow hides their roots and branches and we almost stumble. I imagine this place might look beautiful in late summer when the heather blooms, but right now, it’s a bit desolate with no colours except for a few shrubs fighting against thesnow.
I get bored pretty quickly and let Alis do the searching. Despite sleeping for so long, I’m still tired. Maybe that’s a side effect of the bonding. I smile inside when I think of Ràn. He’s now officially mine. My big brown bear, far cuddlier than he seemed at first. Comparing the quiet, grumpy Ràn I met at the beginning with the one I made love to last night, makes them almost seem like two different people. But after what he told me about his upbringing, I can understand why he’s not as open and happy as hisbrother.
Húnn. He’s next on my to-bond list. Somehow I feel that I want to get both the brothers before I move on to Finn. Even though they are only half-brothers, they are very similar, not just on the outside. It takes a while to spot the similarities when you don’t know them, but I do. They’remine.
After about an hour of running, Alis stops. Even she needs a break from time totime.
She shows me the mental map she has started to build. The basis is the hand-drawn map Torben gave us, but she’s added landscape features that we ran past. And strangelines...
Those are scents,she explains.Scent marks other animals have left. They can help us find a specific point on the map should we needto.
I never thought of using scents thatway.
You’re not abear.
Does every bear make mental maps like that or is that an Alisthing?
Bit of both. Mine’s prettier thanothers.
I laugh. Alis is so self-confident that it’s bordering into arrogance. Hell, what am I thinking - she’s one of the most arrogant people Iknow.
She shakes her fur and looksaround.
Let’s continue. Feel free to take a nap while I dothis.
Which is exactly what I do. A nap inside my own head. My world has become verystrange.
* * *
We’re notthe only ones who didn’t find anything. Arnold tries to cheer us up with some hot chocolate, but the mood is low. The two older bears are the most pessimistic. They’ve lived on this island for decades, even before it became an island. They know every nook and cranny. If there is a portal here, they’d have found it longago.
But we can’t just give up and sit here and do nothing. We finally seem to have a lead on what’s happening to the bear shifters. We are nowhere near to finding a solution, but at least we’re further than we were before. I refuse to believe that this is where it all ends. No, that girl didn’t just turn up to lead us down the wrong path. As much as I distrust her, I do think that she was speaking the truth. What else would have been the point of her contacting us? If she only wanted to distract us, that wouldn’t make sense as there was nothing to distract us from. We had no lead at all until she arrived. And she only confirmed what Alis had said already: that the Fates are involved somehow. Or even the cause of this wholemess.
“We’ll continue tomorrow,” Torben says tiredly. He looks just as exhausted and downtrodden as the rest of us. And that’s not a good sign. Torben is always confident, always positive. I hate seeing them all likethat.
I could think of a way you could cheer them up, Alisgiggles.
No, I’m not taking off my clothes. That’s not the way to doit.
I never suggested that. How about a game? Or some storytelling? That’s what we used to do back in thedays.
I remember how we played games back in the hut when I first met the guys. Oh thenostalgia.
I don’t think I’m in the mood for games though. I’m in the mood for curling up in bed with a hot water bottle and some more of that delicious hot chocolate Arnold makes. And then not think of the whole bear situation. It’s not like it’s urgent. That’s what I’m trying to tell myself. They’re not dying, they’re dying out. No more babies. Cubs, I mean. So it’s not like a virus that is killing them quickly. No, it’s a slowprocess.
Stop it,Alis tells me sternly.Don’t start looking for excuses not to do something. Think like a polar bear. Think of the problem like prey that needs to be stalked. Sometimes it takes a long time to observe the prey and learn its behaviour, but then you pounce and kill andfeast.
Thanks, I didn’t need that image in my head. It’s bad enough having to watch her kill things when we’re out hunting. I’m tempted to become avegetarian.
I’ve been wondering about that, though. If she eats while we hunt, I feel full afterwards. Does that mean that raw meat is in my human stomach afterwards? I shudder. Not something I should be thinking about. Let’s focus on my mug. A beautiful mug with a row of bear paws on it. Oh theirony.
I sigh loudly and my men stare atme.
“Shall we go to bed?” I ask and their eyes light up. No, honestly, I wasn’t thinking about bed in that way. I was thinking of a warm duvet, a comfy mattress, maybe a warm man or two beside me... but now that I’ve seen their looks, my ovaries are starting to get excited. Bonnie, Clyde, stop it. This is a serious situation. There’s no time for sex. We need to focus, we need to... yeah, who am I pretending to talk to. I know exactly that I want them. Here,now.
Unaware of my inner struggle, Húnn takes our mugs and gives me awink.
