A Bear Named Boo

The Black Anchor

I awoke with a jolt. The screech of the wind was gone, and in its place was a whisper as soft and loud as if the sky were trying to learn - or remember - how to speak.

It was still night. Rowan's chin rested daintily on her crossed front paws - I could see her by a faint, ghostly light. Behind her was nothing but stone.

Avani was gone. 

I stood, nearly moaning out loud at the pain in my body.

"Rowan," I hissed. She didn't move, so I nudged her clumsily.

Rowan buried her nose under a paw.

"Rowan."

She rolled over.

"Avani's gone."

She went still, then blearily looked over her shoulder at me. "What?"

Avani's paw prints were faint - the wind had nearly blown them away - but we followed them to a snow-covered slope. Our claws creaked in the snow and the wind whipped around my fur to chill my skin. 

I heaved an enormous sigh of relief when we spotted Avani at the crest of the hill.

Avani barely acknowledged us as we joined her, but I could hardly blame her.

"Wow," I breathed.

Rowan grunted a sleepy agreement.

Black night encased us; nothing separated us from the heavens. The clouds had disappeared with the storm, leaving behind nothing but a wind that stirred up dry snow from the peaks above us. Swirling crystals glittered blue-white as they drifted like a veil, catching the mysterious glow from the brilliant stars above. 

I blinked, hard, trying to clear the sleep from my eyes. My vision kept blurring, casting smudges across the midnight blue sky. It was only when Avani sucked in her breath that I realized she was seeing it too.

Curtains of air, delicate and transparent as a wish, were whispering through the sky. They gathered light as they moved, collecting hints of green and blue and red from some other world. Fickle and playful they danced, sometimes nearly blinding with brilliance, sometimes nearly too faint to see. 

"Someone is returning to the heavens," Rowan whispered knowingly.

When she saw me looking at her, she grinned crookedly. "You at least know those legends, right?"

I tried to return her smile and ended up smiling at my feet.

"There's Ursa Major," Rowan said, staring up at the sky. "The Great Mother. And there's her cub Ursa Minor, who welcomes all bears when they leave this world."

I followed her gaze. "I've never thought they looked much like bears," I said. "Ursa Minor looks more like a leaf."

Rowan burst out laughing and I think even Avani smiled. 

"Look," I explained. "That's the stem, the long part."

"That's the tail!" Rowan protested.

"Sure, if it's a racoon," I said. "Why on earth would the tail be so long?"

"You don't know?"

I merely blinked at her.

"The only part of Ursa Major that was ever stained by this world was the tip of her tail. When she tried to return to the heavens, the stain acted like an anchor. It held her back. She escaped, obviously, but her tail got stretched in the process. Ursa Minor has a long tail too, as a warning to us."

"That makes no sense," I replied. "All the First Cubs were completely stained different colours. Does that mean none of them actually got to return to the sky? To the homes all those dots are supposed to represent?"