Battle of the Bears

Chapter One

Søren's large array of black claws sunk into the thick snow with a loud crunch under his own weight as he waded through the solid water alongside his adopted brother, Padraig, who was every bit as energetic as the other bear was not as he clomped through the powder with little grace and often sent entire snow drifts up into the air like a miniature snow storm each time his gigantic, yellowing head slammed into the wave of white snowflakes. It took all of his strength for the more serious of the two not to snort and roll over laughing at the actions of his grolar bear brother as he got a mouthful of snow clear up to the eyes that rested back and away from his shorter muzzle. Søren found it extremely difficult to retain his own warrior-like composure at the sight of his counterpart's silliness, but remained standing tall and taking large, elegant steps to space himself out like he would if walking on ice, like any other polar bear would. They were on a mission, after all - a mission to investigate the smoke that curled up into the sky and danced among the stars each night and inched closer to the homes of those whom they protected. Padraig didn't take the danger of those fire-making creatures as seriously as his brother did, which was logical, considering he had less knowledge as to what damage the two-legged species could do to anyone they set their sights on. The older of the two knew all too well what those monsters were capable of, but he wasn't allowed to dwell on it as the tanner grolar bear suddenly tackled Søren to the ground and bit at his ear playfully. The smaller male likely had too much energy pent up from their endless miles of wandering through the snow towards the humans' camp, and was needing to take it out on his brother through the act of play. Considering the second night had just fallen, the polar bear found no reason not to stop and keep up moral, so Søren was happy to continue the game with a kick from his back paw to the other bear's underbelly to toss Padraig off of himself. The larger animal let out a roar that shook the very snow covering the ground - though it didn't distress his playmate in the slightest - and charged at his adopted sibling, slamming into the thick fluff of fur hard enough to send both of them rolling over backwards, coming up with the two of them facing each other laying in the condensed snow. Søren's instincts as a fighter drove him to lash out first, raising one white leg to strike his adopted brother across the chest. Padraig, of course, lifted his own two gigantic paws and stood on his back feet to push away the polar bear's invading limb and lunge out at him with the other. When the bigger creature dodged, he lost his balance and came crashing back down to all fours in the already-packed-down snow with a small flurry of loose snowflakes greeting his return to a slightly lower height than his brother. The larger bear locked his jaws weakly around Padraig's furry neck to signal a check mate in their play fight, which the other animal refused to give in to, and continued their tussle with a roll that threw the older off of his sibling and into the deep powder of the snow. A quick yelp of fear escaped from a little snow fox that was observing the two great creatures as it lept away from the cascading powder that Søren had kicked up with his fall. Almost immediately, the larger white bear had the small predator in his jaws, dead, as the animal's usual instincts told him to do. Padraig's willingness to play faded to nothing more than the shiny glint in his eyes as the sun reflected into them at the unnecessary death, and his older brother knew their game was over lest it turn into a real one, so he dropped the corpse to leave it for another unlucky creature and continued the journey towards the ever-rising smoke, unwilling grolar bear in tow. The usual silence of the Arctic was worsened by the obvious tension between the two, though the warrior's skills didn't lie with repairing unstable relationships, as often as he desperately hoped that one day they might, so there wasn't much good he could do for the situation beyond slowing his steps so the brothers could walk side by side, shoulder to shoulder, claw to claw and perhaps fix this issue. Contact between the two beefy bears consisted of fur brushing at their arms and the occasional bump of the hip as one encouraged the other to speed up so they could make it to the human campsite in less time than what their current pace would achieve. By the time they were within distance of the fireplace to observe the occupants and decide what weapons they had and how to approach, the situation between Padraig and Søren was remedied to the point that the older bear had to remind the yellow one that there was no time to play now.