AS SOON AS THEY REACHED the village, the first sight they saw was his father, standing there to welcome them.
“My son,” he said warmly as he embraced him heartily. As Cole had expected, there was not another bear in sight.
“Father,” he said gratefully as he took a step back and tried to see what the scene and the village must look like through Tarsha’s eyes. The homes in the village were small, but well built. They were rustic, but they were quite similar to the human homes in the area. To an outside observer, it must look like a bit of an odd community, but there was nothing to indicate that the residents were anything other than average people who enjoyed a more rugged lifestyle than most.
“Twice in one cycle of the moon. This is a pleasure,” his father said with a wink, clearly pleas
