The deer Bernard had killed was large enough to last him multiple days. After picking the carcass clean, he buried the bones near the river and placed a mouthful of flowers on top of the grave.

"Why did you do that?" asked Orson.

"Humans bury their dead. I'm not sure why we started doing that though." It certainly beat leaving dead bodies lying around. Between the constant reminder of their loss and the stench of decay, that would drive people crazy. Bernard's stomach quivered at the thought, almost making him lose his lunch as he walked upriver.

Now that he had started to get the hang of fishing thanks to the countless hours he had spent practicing his technique, he was ready to return to the area where Uzumati had been fishing. The salmon were so plentiful up there that it would be a waste to neglect that area just because of one embarrassing day spent floundering in the water.

"That much I can guess since I've seen what scavengers do to bodies left out in the open," Orson said. "I meant the flowers. Isn't that kind of pointless?"

"Not really. That's how people pay their respects to the dead. It helps them deal with their feelings. My mom and I used to visit Dad's grave and put flowers there every once in a while to tell him that we missed him."

Bernard looked up at the sky. Could his dad see him now? He tried not to dwell on whether his dad would have tried to help him cope with his situation or if he would have feared and hated him as much as his mother did. He rubbed his muzzle on a tree trunk to scrape off the dried blood clinging to it.

"Do you think we could do something like that for my mom and my brother?"

There was no way he could say no to that, especially after he had taken the time to bury a deer. "It'll have to be a bit different since I don't know where their bodies are, but I could make them a memorial somewhere."

"Could we do it by those berry bushes over there? Besides elk, Mom thought berries were more delicious than anything."

"That does look like a nice spot," said Bernard. He began digging a hole between two of the bushes. Their berries looked almost exactly like raspberries except they were a much brighter shade of red.

"Hinrik and I used to drive Mom crazy every time we foraged for berries." Orson chuckled. "He would smear the berries all over his face and pretend he had caught the biggest moose in the forest. Half the time, he ended up with more berries in his fur than in his stomach."

The idea of a bear cub running around with juice dripping from his muzzle was enough to make Bernard laugh despite how disturbing the game was to him. If human children tried to imitate violence by running around with knives covered in strawberry jelly, their parents would lose it. "Before I started turning into a bear, I used to spend much more time around kids my age. We played a lot of games, but things never got much crazier than the snowball fights we had."

"No wonder humans are so much weaker than bears; you never practiced how to fight, hunt, or do anything important."

"You've obviously never been smacked in the back of the head with a snowball before. People tend to get pretty fierce during snowball fights."

Now that the hole was a decent size, Bernard had to do something special to honor the two bears. He bent one the larger bush's thinner branches so he could nip it off without damaging the rest of the plant. All it took was one quick snap of his jaws to break it off. He placed the branch in the hole before bringing his paw up to his mouth, plucking a few hairs, and depositing them alongside the branch. With the offerings in place, Bernard filled the hole with dirt.

"Thanks, Bernard. I hope they can see it, wherever they are."

"I'm sure they can," Bernard said as he strolled over to the river to wash his paws. It was only after he had scrubbed the last of the dirt away that he picked up a faint, sour odor that reminded him of road kill. Underneath that, he could detect the scent of another bear.

Bernard tracked the other bear's smell further upriver until he realized that the scent led into his territory. His muscles tensed. This trespasser definitely hadn't come here for the salmon run. Bernard's pelt prickled as if someone had poked his skin with dozens of cactus needles. He'd have to teach this intruder that he wouldn't tolerate anyone disrespecting his borders.

Puffing out his fur to make himself look larger and more intimidating, Bernard made sure to create as much noise as he could as he drew closer to the source of the smell. If he made himself look threatening enough, there was a chance he could scare the other bear off. He slapped the ground with each step he took, sending up sprays of dirt and plant debris.

Toward the end of the scent trail, he saw the other grizzly hunched over something and chewing on it. Bernard growled from deep within his throat, making the other bear look up from his meal and glance behind him.

"What are you doing here? This is my territory," Bernard said, baring his teeth.

"Eating. What does it look like I'm doing?" said the other bear as it turned to face him. Its mouth was covered in blood and a tiny scrap of meat was dangling from between its teeth.

Bernard was taken aback by the bear's size. Its head barely reached his shoulder. Had he really grown that much? Bernard snorted, dismissing the thought and the intruder's comment. "You're on my land." He reared back on his hind legs and roared, "Leave before I rip your pelt off!" He hoped his threat sounded more menacing than he felt. As much as he loved his new territory, Bernard's stomach churned at the thought of attacking another bear to keep it.

"Make me." The bear's teeth flashed like white arrowheads as it spoke.

"I warned you." Bernard returned to all fours and charged.

The intruder yelped before dodging and snapping his teeth in Bernard's direction. It was nothing more than a bluff; the bear's trembling legs and unwillingness to meet Bernard's gaze betrayed that. Bernard barreled toward him again and snapped his jaws together so close to the other bear that their fur shifted slightly from the force of the warning.

The smaller bear took the hint and dashed in the direction of the river, occasionally looking over his shoulder.

Bernard let his fur lie flat once more. "I sure showed him. Not bad for a former human, huh?"

"You'd better be careful where you step around here and, whatever you do, don't look at what the intruder was eating." Orson's voice quivered as he spoke.

Bernard's eyes immediately went to what the other bear's body had been blocking earlier. He started gagging before vomiting next to the body. He couldn't help it. Who could have, if they saw what had been done to the poor cub?

The body was still somewhat fresh. Bernard couldn't spot any signs of decay on it. From the looks of it, the little female hadn't been stuck in the trap for long. She looked quite healthy aside from the bite the intruder had taken from her side and the festering wound surrounded by yellow pus where the bear trap had clamped down on her leg. Tiny troughs marked the dirt where her claws had scrabbled as she had struggled to free herself.

"I tried to tell you," Orson whispered.

Bernard forced himself to keep looking at the corpse, its empty eyes, its screaming mouth. "She was so young." He scanned the area around his paws. Satisfied that there weren't any other traps nearby, he dug a grave for the cub and pushed her into it with his snout. "No wonder you hate humans so much," Bernard said as he filled the hole. "For them to be responsible for something this horrible..."

"Anyone could have wandered into that trap. Humans can be nasty sometimes, but it doesn't look like they specifically targeted this cub. She happened to wander into the wrong place at the wrong time. That's all."

"You're probably right. Humans don't usually go after baby animals." Bernard shook his head. "Tell me, who in their right mind would eat a member of their own species, especially a young one? That doesn't make any sense to me."

"We have to eat what we can find, Bernard. Nobody other than their mothers can afford to get emotionally attached to cubs. Meat is meat, even if it is gross."

Bernard returned to the river, rinsing his paws and mouth before walking back to his original fishing spot. Uzumati was tearing into a salmon when Bernard arrived.

"Hey, Uzumati!" The bear raised his head and swallowed a chunk of fish. "I found a trap in my territory today. You'd better watch your paws in case the hunters put more over there."

The older bear rolled his eyes. "That was probably a trap someone forgot to take back to their den last fall. The stupid humans upriver do that all the time, so other ones come right before the first snow of each year and search for the traps that were left behind. At least, that's what Arturo always complains about besides all of the other things that bother him. You'd think he had an ant colony living in his fur the way he grumbles about everything." He went back to his meal. "You should be okay as long as you don't jump onto one like a blind rabbit."

Bernard could have sworn Uzumati mumbled a thank you after he began fishing.