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.

"There's three in the tent," the younger creature grunted out softly in the increasingly advancing language of the bears. The polar bear huffed his agreement and circled a large shape around the camp to test where the snow was firmest, allowing for the quietest approach, while marveling at his brother's unknowingly accurate sense of smell, which is one of the only reasons Søren even brings his mentally vulnerable sibling along for these kinds of boarder control.

Closest to the tent of caribou pelt - which usually meant that the humans were either resourceful, in contact with the faithful local tribes, or were locals themselves far into the territories of bear communities - was harder packed snow, which only sunk a little under the weight of the gigantic bear and was likely why the humans had set their home up in such a spot. The polar animal merely had to stare at his hybrid brother for him to understand to stay, even backing up some from the fire - which was a couple of feet away from the flammable pelts for safety reasons - to avoid creating a visible shadow for the sleeping mammals within the tent. Søren took slow, careful, well-spaced steps towards the camping site, steeling his mind for the killing of invading predators so that he would have no reluctance if one of the fighters appeared underage. His own mother had passed that way; underestimating the power of younger warriors and their rare magic took lives and made the encroaching scoundrels believe they had a chance against the population of advanced white bears like they did over the North American ones. So he knew to be wary of their power, constantly sniffing the air to see if one had awakened, though all his nose picked up was cold sweat, obvious male urine, and the scent of a gun. The weapon shouldn't be an issue for such an experienced bear, though.

Teeth tore into the fur of the caribou to get a grip as a huge polar bear rose to its back legs while shredding the tent covering to reveal three humans, one an adult male with a rifle in one hand as he awoke, another a woman with a scream that carried far across the open tundra, and in between them a small child, no older than three, shivering in the cold as she lost her parents' body warmth. Søren didn't have time to stop and gawk at how such a tiny child was surviving so well without fur, and instantly grabbed the largest of the humans by the arm holding the weapon and tossed him towards the fire pit in hopes of using their own laziness and need for heat against them. The woman started to run for her life, but the magnificent beast easily snagged her leg and bit down, allowing multiple trickles of blood to run down into his mouth while he dragged her backwards towards the fire, tripping over the remaining poles of the tent in the process. The man had struggled to his feet and was pointing his stick of fire at the polar bear's long muzzle while shouting something in their strange English while the beast rose up on his hind legs for greater height and tossed the screaming human in first, knocking both of them into a dying fire. A gunshot went off, but the bullet did not hit its target, firing off into the distance for some animal to collect and die of, though it triggered the worst sobbing ever to breach the male's small ears and made the big creature pause his killing blow for the couple. He'd forgotten about the child in the midst of his mauling. She was probably trapped beneath the remains of the tent. Søren dropped down with all of his weight on his front paws, crushing the bodies of the stupid humans underneath his tremendous power with the crunch of bones, the squelch of fat, and the squish of muscles and blood ringing out in the surroundings before they were cancelled out by a victorious roar that traveled much further than anything beforehand. Maybe someone in their settlement would hear that they were done with the intruders and would be returning soon.

The crying had stopped after the ear-splitting sound, but only momentarily, where it recontinued at a lower volume. Padraig padded lightly over the snow to the rubble of the human's shelter to investigate the noise, shoving his black nose into the mass of destruction to sniff out the third creature. His brother snorted, sending a puff of smoky air rising up into the Arctic sky, framed with stars, and followed to the remains of the tent to help clear away the wreckage and reveal the (likely) dying child. His large, bloodied maw closed around one of the supports and tossed it to the side like it was a small rock obstructing his path, revealing the virtually unharmed offspring of the two people whose lives he'd just taken. Padraig gave one look to the curious child, who was gazing up at the area around the brilliant bears with an inquisitiveness only found in her kind, and turned to glare at the murderer beside himself.
Søren had orphaned the little one. If she had died like the others, as both creatures had assumed would've happened due to the fragility of their species, there wouldn't be an issue because there would be no saving her. Now, if the child was left on her own, she'd be claimed by the elements, which seemed to be the parents' idea anyway. Both bears easily saw how thin her clothing was, and how there wasn't nearly enough supplies for the three of them and knew the offspring was going to be abandoned anyway, as perplexing as the concept was.

"She's going to die if you leave her here," The grolar bear pointed out with a slight chuffing sound, instantly attracting the attention of the child, who hadn't exactly been staring in the right spot before. Now it was clear her eyesight was not operational, as her eyes were cloudy and glassy like marbles sat out on the sun too long and allowed to fade to duller colors.

His brother raised his head high and growled in return, "She'll die anyway."

The child whimpered like the fox had in his jaws before it died, fearful of the noise she had heard and rightfully so, since they were the predators and she was prey. Something in that little sound made its way to Søren's heart, the noise almost akin to the sound his own little brother had made when he first was found, likewise abandoned in the icy tundra without parents to care for him. The situation was too similar to be a coincidence, but the larger animal just couldn't understand why the great gods in the sky would grant such an opportunity to the warrior, though it was clear that Padraig believed he should attend to the child's health like his father had attended to the grolar bear's.

"Cold," the little girl suddenly whispered in English, and only then did the great bears realize she was shivering underneath one of the pelts he'd torn off the tent. One look from his stubborn brother, and Søren knew that was his cue to wrap it up so they could be on their way.

Heaving out a great breath of air that crystalized in space and rose up in the form of a mist into the night air, the polar bear placed one of his legs directly beside the blind human, gently nudging her with the fur of it to get her close. The mere sound of his huge appendage hitting the snow gained her attention and the touch of it gained a weak, shivering hug. Even through layers of fur, the large animal could feel the chill of the smaller creature and recognized the need to keep her warm while they travelled the journey home. There was no way those tiny little arms and tired owner could hold onto him each step of the two-day walk back to the community, and they both knew it. Padraig came to the rescue, luckily for the little, nearly-abandoned human, and shoved his shorter muzzle underneath her, between her legs so she'd balance a bit better. He slowly lifted his head, keeping her body right up against the bigger animal's limb to prevent her from taking a damaging tumble, rising until she could no longer hold on to his leg and was deposited on the great bear's back. The child immediately scooted up Søren's back to lay between his shoulder blades and his neck, burrowing into the soft, thick white fur like a parasite to its host and making herself at home close to the bear to warm up. His brother breathed a huff of air, sending freezing mist into the atmosphere through his nose and announcing - all on his own, like one would never expect the littler creature to do - that now they would begin the journey home. Padraig's padded paws sunk into the snow time and time again as he began walking back the way they had come, guided by the bright stars up above in the unreachable sky, expecting to be followed by the other animal and his new little one without issue. He judged incorrectly, as the polar bear lifted up one of the soft skins of the caribou and threw it up over his back to cover the child in the circumstance that it would begin to snow and freeze her further. The little kid was his responsibility now, and he planned to do a good job and please the Great Ones with the survival of this gift. Particularly unexcited as he was, like always, he'd complete the task - whatever it may end up being - in near perfection like everything else he strove for. The human offspring pulled the snow-white pelt around her, cuddling it like a warm blanket, and using it to ensure she wouldn't fall off of the bear if she ever fell back asleep. Step by step, Søren began the long-winded walk back to his and his brother's home, but he started by trying to catch up to the other bear without jarring the tiny form clinging to the fur on his back or throwing her off in general.

The sound of crunching snow beneath the great black claws was repetitive but comforting to a child whose world had changed dramatically within a few minutes, even moreso the constant heavy breathing of a giant predator and the redundant walking with rising and falling shoulders on either side of the little one. After the deaths she'd seen, there was no way she'd fall asleep, so the reluctant polar bear tried to start a conversation with the little pale creature.

"What is your name, small one?"

The girl's shivering form drew in a breath of frozen air and uncovered her face from the pelt of ivory fur, exposing the thin layer of skin on her face to the wind and snow that floated down on its stingy currents. Søren's attention was more focused on following that fluffy bob-tail of his brother's, not on deciphering whatever answer the wind swept out of the child's mouth and away from the beast's ears before it had a chance to really manifest itself as a sound that could be heard and understood. The great bear only knew the parasite on his back had responded by noise memory – the high pitch of her voice that he would learn to recognize. Suddenly, the same quiet child sunk her hands into his coat and grabbed hold of his fur like she was grasping onto the fuzzy exterior of a stuffed animal before using him as leverage to lift herself up. Then, in a voice obviously raised for the purpose of being heard, his ears picked up a name: "Karee!"
The mortal's exposed face quickly retreated to the safe area it had taken refuge in beforehand to avoid the facefuls of wind that the Cold Lands offered to all who crossed it, made worse by the negative temperatures that made the snowy desert what it was. Søren didn't dispute the end of the conversation because each stop in the deep snow drained energy away from his supplies and left little to devote to talking to a tired, shivering human's cub. Each step he took, the ivory ground pulled at his limbs and tried to hold him in place like quicksand, the weight of his warm pelt not helping with the sinking, along with the child riding him and the snow hitch-hiking. But this sort of terrain was natural for the area, and the great beast expected nothing else of the place as it had been just as exhausting and calorie-burning as the trek there.

His discolored brother had stopped his tracks, leaving the older bear to hurry and join him on the snow drift without off-balancing the girl on his shoulders and dropping her into the freezing powder.

For whatever reason, Padraig was scanning the colorless landscape ahead of them, his brown eyes taking in the shapeless area as if he were looking for something impossible to find. One of his darker-furred front legs was set a distance behind the other and out to the side, a stance that a long-time playmate recognized as one that held caution, a posture that let the other bear know they might have to make a run for it in the opposite direction. A quick toss of the head that sent fur shooting outward with the force of it communicated to the larger animal that his adopted sibling hadn't seen what he was looking for and that they should continue on their return to the community with heavier surveillance than previously used, which had been none.
Taking into account the possibility of alarming the blind human, the polar bear grunted softly in their language, merely questioning what he might have thought he saw.

"I heard footsteps ahead." The younger creature huffed like any other bear, moving into analysis of the noise like his foster father had taught him to do. "Smelled like humans, though I didn't see anything moving the whole time I was standing there, nor were there any visible tracks besides our own."

Søren didn't listen to the rest of his brother's evidence against the scent of mankind because he already trusted the bear's nose more than the sharpest eagle eyes even if the wielder of such senses didn't trust himself. He didn't even say anything as he sat down and let the tired three-year-old slip off of his back and roll in a somersault down to the unwelcomingly cold snow behind the huge beast. The little girl landed with a strange exhale, sounding almost like an 'oomph' from the sudden fall as she rolled off of an animal many times her size and planted her back into about half a foot of snow that collapsed around her like water that didn't fall back over her like regular liquid, but did make it difficult for her lavender-coloring hands to push herself out of the miniature crater. Padraig gave his brother a pretentious snort and laid out on the snow beside the tiny life-form, suddenly disinterested in what the other creature was going to do in response to the accusation of other threatening presences. In its place was a worry for the small one's dropping temperature. The white and brown bear put one of his large, furry paws around the child and pulled her form out of the snow hole and towards the rest of his body to share the warmth he generated, trying to be slow and gentle so the sightless girl was aware of what was happening.
The little human, who really couldn't figure out what was going on beyond she rode a talking horse and she was shivering like she'd taken a bath in icy water, latched onto the first comfortable thing that reached her, which felt like a soggy dog that had jumped in the same bath she thought of earlier, but was still warmer than the powdery ground beneath her. Her arms wrapped around whatever it was as the thing itself started moving away and pulling her out of the indentation she'd made in the snow drift and towards another furry heater, though this one was a lot warmer. The grolar bear was delighted to see the girl detach from his leg and snuggle up against his side, allowing him to rest the same limb lightly overtop her body to keep her from losing any more heat.

Søren was too absorbed in his observation of the surrounding area to pay attention to his brother and the child he'd dumped into the snow in case he had to go off and kill some idiotic teenagers who thought they could take on a bear. His first priority was always the protection of the community and their land, whether or not that cost them individual health points. His father had raised him as a warrior-

The great bear's ears picked up the sound of adjusting footsteps echoing in from the area below the drift, verifying the scent that his brother had identified. Apparently, the younger beast also caught the reverberating noise and had turned his head in that direction to visually pinpoint the location of the humans. While both creatures were focusing hard on the motionless snow, out of the corner of their eyes, they managed to notice that the sightless child turned her head in the same direction as if she was looking for whoever else was there as well. Søren licked the corner of his mouth with a pink tongue, his way of saying he was impressed, but only in a mild fashion. While he was aware the young one could see nor understand the gesture, the animal did such because he was grateful to the gods that the cub wasn't entirely helpless, especially for a human.

The group of three kept a close eye on their surroundings for a few long minutes, waiting for any other sight or sound that might indicate where precisely the other life-forms might be hiding. Eventually, the youngest of the group grew bored with this silence and pressed her face into the soft, multi-colored fur of the bear lying beside her on the snow drift to warm up her poor red nose while grabbing ahold of the thick coat with her freezing fingers to bring heat to remove the purplish texture from them, weaving her fingers between the layers to reach the warm skin beneath that was being insulated by the pelt. Padraig shivered at the sudden cold extremities touching his skin but didn't move away from the little one, since he clearly understood that she could not produce such heat herself, at least not to keep it in such a windy country. They'd start moving again soon if the polar bear didn't find anyone's head to tear off, so it was best to get her as warm as possible now before she had to hide in the wind-protected shelter of his brother's back between his shoulder blades.

"Cold," the child repeated, breaking the silence that had worked up over the landscape with a complaint of temperature as she tried to get warmer against the grolar bear.

Søren was about to get really irritated with little Karee for shattering the quiet he'd been using to lure the humans into making noise when he heard one of them react to the young cub. "Was that a kid?"

"They say curiosity killed the cat," Padraig said softly in English as he moved his head towards the little one's face to exhale heated carbon dioxide onto her skin and warm it up a little while his brother sprinted into action, leaping off of the miniature ledge and breaking out into a sprint towards a dip in the snow where the stalkers were hiding.

The girl's head tilted ever so slightly to the side at the expression, some words of which she didn't understand. "Kitties have nine lives. And I like dogs more," she responded with a sassy undertone, as if she were acting picky about which animal he said, though she didn't appear to be a child who complained often, unless she'd been whining the whole time on his ivory brother's back and he hadn't been able to hear because of the vicious headwind they'd been walking into for the past while.

The yellowed bear chuckled deep in his chest, shaking her hands and spewing more warm air into her face and making her squint, even though her eyes weren't very useful regardless.

Meanwhile, two armed men laying in the crevasse began to scramble to stand up at the sound of multiple heavy feet charging towards them and the harsh breathing of a big animal reached their inadequate ears, thought they were already screwed as soon as one had spoken and given away their location. Frantic shots were sent off into the sky to perhaps scare the creature, but the sentient bears weren't stopped by those tricks any more, and Søren made it cleanly to the little dip in the snow and greeted the humans with long teeth and a threatening expression. His muzzle clamped down on one of the weapons and threw it and the owner off to the side so he could deal with the other by himself. Trapping the second gun beneath his powerful paw, the warrior bear slashed with his free front leg to make the human fall before grabbing his head in his jaws and shutting them quickly, shattering his skull and killing the male instantly, leaving the remaining human to punish for his trespassing.

Padraig was used to seeing the short, bloody battles that his brother constantly initiated and ended, so it didn't bother him much, but the young human's child couldn't recognize the sounds and appeared to shiver worse in fear, so he set to work being a good comforter. He blew on the blonde hair in her face and licked the red ears that hid behind it, finding them uncomfortably cold and unpleasantly tasting, though it didn't bother him so much as he heard the young one's laughter from the tickling sensation. Her happy giggles covered up the sounds of death, at the very least, so he didn't mind coating her face in a layer of slobber as long as it distracted her from the killing occurring a short distance away. Only one human was left to be dealt with when Karee suddenly lifted her hands up to intercept his mouth, setting her tiny, momentarily-warm palms on either side of his nose, making him pause for fear of knocking her over. Out his nostrils came a breath of air that blasted her in the face with exhaled moisture, though she hardly seemed to notice as her hands brushed over his muzzle and pulled his face closer to her so she could explore it with her hands. He closed his eyes so they didn't get poked and let the girl do what she pleased, expecting it not to take too long anyhow with how short their attention spans were, but she was shockingly thorough in ensuring she knew what he looked like.

"Bear," she finally said in a monotone voice, not letting go of his head just yet, so he took the luxury of nodding while she could feel that he was doing so. "Bear... Friend." The way she said it this time was like confirmation of some sort, but he didn't have time to focus on that before she pulled his head towards her and hugged him around the neck, nuzzling into his warm fur with a precious smile.
The bear rested his head on her shoulder and smiled as well, his black lips raising in a rare positive emotion in response to the actions that the little one made.

Humans dealt with, Søren returned to the rest of his party to see his brother sharing a tender moment with the little parasite, to which he rolled his eyes towards the sky but smiled inwardly, though he couldn't tell why.

"Come on, you two," the white bear spoke in English so the young one would understand as well while gesturing with his head in the direction they were previously walking so they got the message. "Time to go."

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Slow updates/Audio is coming/I'm literally making a website for this book so I'm publishing for link's sake/Thank Wild for the cover