Great Bear Lake by Erin Hunter

shook himself, sending drops of water flying into the air in an arc around him.
    â€œAre you okay?” Lusa checked.
    Toklo coughed up another mouthful of water. “I’m fine. I’dhave figured it out on my own.” He paused a moment, then added ungraciously, “Thanks.”
    â€œYou did well,” Lusa said quietly.
    Toklo held her gaze for a heartbeat, then hesitated at the water’s edge before wading back into the river.
    â€œWhere are you going now?” Lusa asked, alarmed. “You need to rest before we head for the other bank.”
    Toklo turned to look back at her. “I told you, brown bears don’t need to swim. I’m going to catch a fish.”
    Lusa watched him until he stopped with water halfway up his legs. The current tugged at his chestnut-brown belly hair, but he stood without moving, his gaze fixed on the water. Satisfied that he was okay, Lusa let herself sink to the ground. It felt good to rest her aching legs; she loved swimming, but not when she had to push along a much bigger bear who didn’t know how to help himself.
    â€œYou did great back there!” Ujurak shook the water out of his pelt and flopped down beside her on the pebbles. “You swim really well. I changed into a salmon once, but it’s more fun swimming as a bear.”
    Lusa felt a jolt of fear deep in her belly. “You changed into a salmon ? What if a bear had eaten you?”
    â€œToklo made sure they didn’t,” Ujurak replied.
    Lusa glanced at Toklo’s hunched shape in the river, and wondered if she would trust the grizzly as much as that. He was so determined to do things on his own, she sometimes thought he didn’t want companions.
    â€œYou can trust him, you know,” Ujurak insisted, as if he hadguessed her thoughts. “He’s angry, but not with us.”
    No, he’s angry with his mother. But if he’d just listen to what Oka wanted me to tell him, he wouldn’t need to be so angry anymore.
    She stretched out beside Ujurak, licking the sore place on her shoulder where Toklo had scratched her, and letting the slanting rays of the sun warm her pelt. She watched impatiently for Toklo to come back with a salmon. But when the grizzly cub finally turned and waded out of the river, his jaws were empty.
    â€œDidn’t you catch anything?” she asked, dismayed. Her belly felt emptier than ever.
    â€œThere’s nothing to catch,” Toklo growled. “There are no fish here.”
    Ujurak’s eyes widened in alarm. He scrambled to his paws and led the way across to the other side of the pebbly spit of land. “We have to keep going,” he urged.
    â€œI’m not getting back into that river,” Toklo stated.
    â€œWhat?” Lusa stared at him in dismay. He’d proven he could swim, hadn’t he? What was wrong now? “We can’t stay here. Come on, Toklo. I’ll help you.”
    â€œNo.” For once Toklo wasn’t getting angry, but his voice held a quiet determination that Lusa sensed she couldn’t argue with. “I’m not swimming again, and that’s that.”
    Lusa exchanged a glance with Ujurak. “What are we going to do?”
    â€œWe have to stay together,” Ujurak said decidedly. “Let’s follow this bank of pebbles and see where it leads.”
    They crunched their way along the narrow spit in the middle of the river, first heading downstream, in the direction of the current. Just around a curve in the river, the pebbles sloped down until they sank beneath the surface of the water. Toklo didn’t say anything, but Ujurak turned around and headed back the way they had come. They passed the place where they had come ashore and continued upstream with Ujurak in the lead. Sunlight bouncing off the water dazzled Lusa’s eyes, so she could hardly see where she was putting her paws. Anxiety nagged at her like a bear gnawing its prey. What would they