𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐎𝐫 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 | 𝐉𝐨𝐞𝐥 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 - 𝐓𝐋𝐎𝐔

𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞.

Ciri leaned on the porch railing looking out into the trees, immersing herself in the nature of the night-time.

Joel checked Ellie was settled down to sleep before heading to the back of the house and slowly approached Ciri from behind.

She didn't react to his presence, keeping her eyes straight ahead into the woodland behind the cul-de-sac of houses that they were spending the night in.

It had barely been two hours since they left Tommy's, and with the days getting shorter with the colder season, darkness had fallen on them quick.

Joel cautiously copied her posture, leaning on his hands against the railing and cleared his throat somewhat awkwardly.

He frowned when she still didn't look at him, and thought she was just purposely ignoring him to try and get him to talk first. He sighs deeply, "Look, Ciri I-"

"Shh!" Her hand shoots up as she hushes him. He stares back at her in surprise and stands up straight.

"What are yo-"

Her head snaps round and she shushes him again but there was a small grin on her face. "Come with me - but we've got to be extremely quiet." She whispers, taking him by the hand and pulling him down off the porch and into the trees.

He complied, though he was very confused as to what she was up to.

They carefully watched where they placed their feet, which was made a little easier as the light of the moon peeked through the leaves and branches above them.

After a couple minutes of creeping, Ciri gestured for him to get low and they crawled down to lay on their fronts when they came to a small ledge that overlooked a long ravine in the woods.

When Joel looked down into the ravine, he finally saw what she'd brought him to see.

There was an adult black bear sat cleaning herself as two of her cubs play-fought with each other nearby. The cubs squawked and growled as they played, pushing and pawing each other while rolling in the dirt.

The mother bear finished her grooming and crawled over to her babies and gave them a rough nudge with her nose, encouraging them to start moving along with her. She walked ahead of them and they began to nip and tease each other again as they waddled behind her.

Joel glances over at Ciri to see her watching them in absolute awe with a glint her eye as she was totally entranced by the animals.

"The bears are now in their hyperphagia stage - the time of year for them to be foraging and putting on the fat they need for hibernation." She starts to whisper as the bears reach a safe distance away for her to speak. "Those cubs must only be around 10 months old... I bet this winter will be their first real one."

Joel's gaze frequently switched between Ciri and the bears as the continued down the ravine.

"You heard them all the way from the porch?" He asks, briefly glancing back the way they came from.

She spares him a quick glance with a raised brow before observing the cubs as they start to play again while their mother begins to forage. "Yes, of course."

She holds back a laugh when the mother bear turns around to tell the young ones off.

"Though life on the road is a formidable and lonely one, I can honestly say it's moments like these that really make it worthwhile." She then utters after a pause.

Joel now couldn't take his gaze off her as she watched the bears wander out of their sights. She sighs in contentment, looking longingly after the animals.