The Quest Begins/Cliffnotes

The Quest Begins

These notes are brief, noting major events and minor events that will be of consequence later. They are intended to be used as a reference for those looking for specific events for re-reading and the likes.

Chapter 1

• Kallik's point of view
  • Nisa tells Kallik and Taqqiq about the legend of Silaluk, while they are unable to leave their shelter due to a severe storm
  • Nisa teaches Kallik and Taqqiq how to hunt
  • Nisa successfully kills a seal as it emerges from the ice hole
  • A male polar bear steals their prey
  • Kallik, Nisa, and Taqqiq find a dead gray whale and eat it
  • The ice begins to break away

Chapter 2

• Lusa's point of view
  • Lusa receives a pear from the flat-faces
  • Yogi fights her for the pear
  • Lusa and Yogi startle King who yells at them
  • Ashia tells them to play something else
  • Yogi and Lusa try to see who can go they longest without moving
  • Lusa loses and they ask Stella to tell them the story of the Bear Tree
  • At night, Stella tells Lusa and Yogi of the cub with a star in his tail

Chapter 3

• Toklo's point of view
  • Toklo almost gets crushed by a firebeast
  • Toklo and Oka find Tobi some dandelions to eat
  • Oka finds a dead deer
  • When they finish, Toklo leads them to a grain spill and a larger bear chases them away
  • Oka tells them that they must go to the Great Salmon River

Chapter 4

• Kallik's point of view
  • Nisa catches a seal and they share it
  • The ice breaks and Taqqiq falls into the water and Kallik separates onto an island of ice
  • Nisa saves them
  • Nisa, Kallik, and Taqqiq cross a channel one by one, but orcas attack
  • An orca kills Nisa just as she pushes Kallik onto the ice

Chapter 5

• Lusa's point of view
  • Lusa races Yogi up a tree
  • King teaches Lusa how to climb trees
  • Lusa climbs to the top of the tree and sees many animals
  • Lusa asks Stella them but she says to ask King
  • Ashia and Lusa play a game pretending to be in the wild

Chapter 6

• Toklo's point of view
  • Oka tells Toklo how to catch a salmon
  • Toklo wakes up to Tobi dead
  • Oka yells at Toklo and stays the rest of the day with Tobi

Chapter 7

• Kallik's point of view
  • Kalliks sets off to find Taqqiq
  • Kallik tries to catch a seal but misses
  • Kallik finally makes it to land

Chapter 8

• Lusa's point of view
  • Lusa finds Ashia sick and tries to feed her fruit
  • Lusa show flat-faces that Ashia is sick and they take Ashia away

Chapter 9

• Toklo's point of view
  • Oka tells Toklo they must do the death ritual and bury Tobi
  • Toklo and Oka arrive at the Gret Salmon River
  • Shoteka attacks Toklo but Oka fights him off
  • Toklo tries to fish but gets swept away by the current
  • Shoteka tries to drown him
  • Oka leaves Toklo to die

Chapter 10

• Kallik's point of view
  • Kallik finds and eats some berries and catches a frog
  • Kallik follows other bears in hope they'll lead her to the Burn-Sky Gathering Place
  • Kallik finds some caribou

Chapter 11

• Lusa's point of view
  • Ashia returns and tells Stella, Lusa, Yogi, and King about giraffes, elephants, mountains, and blackpaths.

Chapter 12

• Toklo's point of view
  • Toklo lays down on a rock and watches Oka
  • A mother bear tells Toklo to go back to Oka
  • Toklo lays down by his mother and falls asleep
  • Toklo awakes to find Oka burying him
  • Oka claws at Toklo and he runs away

Chapter 13

• Kallik's point of view
  • Kallik finds a dead rabbit
  • Kallik catches a plover
  • Kallik reaches a river and crosses it
  • Belugas arrive and swim with Kallik to the other side
  • Kallik finds walruses and they case her away

Chapter 14

• Lusa's point of view
  • Oka arrives at the Bear Bowl
  • Lusa talks to Oka
  • King tells Lusa to stay away from Oka
  • Ashia explains to Lusa why she must stay away from Oka

Chapter 15

• Toklo's point of view
  • Toklo finds two squirrels, a stoat, and many other animals
  • Toklo climbs the mountain and finds the bear he stole food from
  • Toklo finds wild onions and eats them
  • Toklo digs a den and dreams of being the lonely bear

Chapter 16

• Kallik's point of view
  • Kallik meets Purnaq and they go to the Burn-Sky Gathering Place, where Kallik tries to find Taqqiq

Chapter 17

• Lusa's point of view
  • Oka claws one of the feeders, injuring him
  • Lusa promises Oka that she will go into the wild and find Toklo

Chapter 18

• Toklo's point of view
  • Toklo tries to catch some salmon, but isn't able to
  • Toklo finds a mother bear with her two cubs, Fochik and Aylen.
  • When Fochik catches a salmon, Toklo steals it and the mother bear chases him away.

Chapter 19

• Kallik's point of view
  • Kallik tries to find Taqqiq at the Burn-Sky Gathering Place
  • Kallik leaves on the Claw Path with the other bears to a no-claw area in hope of finding Taqqiq there

Chapter 20

• Lusa's point of view
  • Lusa tells Yogi, King, Stella, and Ashia that she want to go to the wild.
  • Lusa tries to escape
  • Lusa pretends to be sick
  • The feeders take Lusa to the treatment room in a cage
  • Lusa escapes from the cage and starts traveling toward the forest

Chapter 21

• Toklo's point of view
  • Toklo follows the river to the valley
  • In the valley, Toklo hears gun shots and flat-faces screaming
  • Toklo awakes to find a flat-face point a metal stick at him
  • Toklo flees and another cub follows him
  • The cub gets shot in the leg and Toklo helps him escape
  • They stop for the night to rest, but when Toklo awakes, the cub is gone

Chapter 22

• Kallik's point of view
  • Kallik follows Purnaq on the Claw Path
  • Kallik stops for the night and when she awakes, Purnaq had already left
  • Kallik follows his scent toward a row of houses, where she hears gunfire
  • Kallik smells food and goes into a flat-face den
  • Before Kallik can take the meat, a flat-face tranqulizes her

Chapter 23

• Lusa's point of view
  • Lusa travels through the flat-face denning area
  • Lusa climbs a fence to enter a backyard where she meets a cat
  • Lusa stops at a house to check the metal cans for food
  • Lusa opens the first bin and finds potato sticks and other foods
  • When Lusa opens the second can, the lid pops off, making a loud crash that alerts the flat-face
  • The flat-face lets his dog out, which chases Lusa away.

Chapter 24

• Toklo's point of view
  • Toklo awakes to see a flat-face cub standing over him
  • The flat-face cub introduces himself
  • Toklo agrees to let Ujurak travel with him

Chapter 25

• Kallik's point of view
  • Kallik awakes in an enclosure with another bear named Nanuk
  • Nanuk tells Kallik the purpose they were at the enclosure

Chapter 26

• Lusa's point of view
  • Lusa looks at the trees to find bear spirits
  • Lusa climbs a tree, where she stay for the night
  • When Lusa awakes, she finds a buzzy tree and eats the honey from inside.
  • The bees that live in the buzzy tree sting Lusa away.
  • Lusa comes across some blackberries.
  • A brown bear comes along and snarls that Lusa is in his territory.
  • The brown bear pins Lusa down and tells her that she's his prey.

Chapter 27

• Toklo's point of view
  • Toklo and Ujurak are climbing up a mountain
  • Ujurak explains how he is following a star, as if he is drawn to it
  • The bears go to sleep
  • When Toklo wakes up, Ujurak is looking for worms
  • Ujurak asks Toklo about his mother, but he is reluctant to answer
  • Ujurak continues to ask lots of questions, annoying Toklo
  • Ujurak accidentally morphs into a bird, but quickly morphs back
  • Toklo and Ujurak attempt to catch salmon at a river, but Ujurak keeps messing up, accidentally morphing into a salmon
  • Toklo, trying to save Ujurak, tells a group of nearby bears not to eat the salmon, saying that they are poisoned
  • After Ujurak morphs back, Toklo says he cannot travel with him anymore and goes on by himself
  • Toklo cannot manage to go by himself and goes to take care of Ujurak to make sure he doesn't get hurt

Chapter 28

• Kallik's point of view
  • Nanuk wakes up Kallik, saying it is time to go
  • Nanuk tells Kallik the no-claws will put them to sleep and put them back on the ice
  • Kallik wakes up again to find she and Nanuk are on a metal bird high in the air
  • The bird passes through a cloud, and Nanuk tries to calm Kallik down
  • The bird crashes into the ice with flames and everything goes black
  • Kallik awakes to find Nanuk hurt
  • As the white she-bear dies, she tells Kallik to go to the place where the spirits dance
  • Kallik thanks her for taking care of her and sets off to the Endless Ice

Chapter 29

• Lusa's point of view
  • Lusa wrenches herself free and climbs a tree
  • The grizzly leaves and Lusa decides to travel at night
  • Trying to avoid grizzly territory, Lusa reflects on how she'll never see the Bear Bowl again
  • Lusa reaches a lake and wallows in the water
  • She stays by the three lakes for five sunrises, feasting on berries
  • Lusa reaches the dead forest at the end of the lakes
  • Eventually buds reappear on the trees and Lusa recognizes it as a living forest
  • She settles down in a hollow by some tree roots, which look oddly like Stella
  • Saying goodnight to "Stella", Lusa wonders how she will ever be able to find the lost cub if the wild is so big

Chapter 30

• Toklo's point of view
  • Toklo, with help from Ujurak as an eagle, kill and eat a mountain goat
  • They travel into the dead forest, where Ujurak accidentally turns into a hare
  • Toklo chases after him to find a small black bear had caught him
  • Ujurak transforms back into a bear, confusing the black bear
  • Toklo wants to scare her away, but Ujurak stops her
  • The black bear cub reveals herself to be Lusa, and that she has been looking for Toklo