Brother Bear Sitka's Funeral [exclusive] -

And the wind began to blow again.

High above, a real eagle circled once against the pale sun. Then it turned and flew west, toward the mountains that had no names. brother bear sitka's funeral

鈥淵ou were supposed to be his brother,鈥� Tanana said gently. 鈥淎nd you were. Until the very last breath.鈥� And the wind began to blow again

The wind did not howl that morning. It simply stopped. 鈥淵ou were supposed to be his brother,鈥� Tanana

Denahi finally spoke. 鈥淲hen we were boys, Sitka taught me to track. He said, 鈥楾he prey always leaves a mark. You just have to learn to see what others ignore.鈥欌�� He looked up at the eagle carved in stone. 鈥淗e left a mark, Kenai. Not in the ice. In us.鈥�

The first tears came then. Not a flood, but a slow, bitter leak from the corners of his eyes. He wiped them away with the back of his hand, furious at himself for showing weakness.

The funeral rite was simple. No body to wrap in birch bark, no pyre to light. Sitka鈥檚 spirit had already left鈥攖hey all felt it, a strange warmth in the cold air, like a hand on the back of your neck that wasn鈥檛 there. Tanana took a lock of fur from a white wolf, a feather from a golden eagle, and a shard of the broken ice bridge. She tied them together with sinew and placed the bundle in a cleft of the rock.