Jytte was dabbing honeyfrost on the still-festering wounds of Svern’s ears. The cubs stayed by Svern all through the night. He seemed to be in a very deep sleep and yet there were moments when he became agitated, as if seized by terrible nightmares. He finally woke up and cautiously touched his head.

“What’s that?” he growled, looking at the goo on his paw.

“Honeyfrost,” Jytte said. “I’ll put some more on now.”

“How about some fish, Da?” Stellan said. “Third and Froya got some nice fish for you. It’s down by the shore.”

“Won’t hurt, I guess.” Svern groaned and crawled up onto his knees. It was painful for the cubs to watch their father as he lumbered slowly toward the bank of the river. Stellan had laid the fish out on a flat rock and now began to strip the flesh from it. Svern watched him with interest. “You’re parsing that fish nicely, picking out all the small bones for me.” He chuckled. “Feeding me like a cub. Where’d you learn how to strip a fish?”

“Mum,” Stellan said without looking up. “She taught us everything. She also told us stories. That’s how we know about the Den of Forever Frost.”

“You shouldn’t waste any more time thinking about that place,” Svern said flatly.

Jytte and Stellan were stricken. “Da,” Jytte ventured. “We can’t just give up. If you’re not going to help us, then we’ll have to find the key on our own.”

“Absolutely not,” Svern snapped. “There are things deep in that ice maze.”

“What kind of things?” Jytte pressed.

Svern shook his head violently, as if trying to sweep something from his mind. “Nothing you need to know about,” he muttered.

Stellan was studying his paws as if they were the most interesting thing in the world. He did not speak for a long time. He’s riddling, Jytte realized. Her brother was riddling his father’s mind for information about those things. What scents was Stellan picking up? Why were his nostrils twitching as the edges of his ears quivered?

Svern’s thoughts were being parsed, picked over just as Stellan had picked over those fish bones. His father looked up at him suddenly, a new sharpness in his eyes. It frightened Stellan, and he stopped his riddling. He felt ashamed, embarrassed, as if he had seen something he was not supposed to.

“Uh … I’ll get you some fish, Da.”

“You do that,” Svern said coldly. Stellan nodded and hurried off.

Jytte sensed that Stellan had riddled his way into dangerous territory in Svern’s mind. She wanted to find out what Stellan had seen. She turned to Svern. “I think I’ll go help Stellan fish.”

Jytte scampered down to the shore, where Stellan was just bringing up a second fish. “What did you riddle, Stellan? What did you see?”

“I saw the key in the Den of Forever Frost, but I also saw frightening things—monsters, glaring ice, ice so bright it burns your eyes … and hags, haggish creatures like the ones the frost spiders told us about … and … and something else that I didn’t understand.”

“What?” Jytte asked impatiently.

“Something black … like a fang.”

“A fang? But fangs aren’t black, Stellan.”

“I know, I can’t explain it. But whatever’s inside that maze, it’s not something a parent would want a cub to think about, let alone face.”

“Catch any more fish, young’uns?” Svern called. Jytte felt a tiny glow inside her when he called them young’uns. It seemed right. And now she understood why her father didn’t want them looking for the Den of Forever Frost. He wanted to protect them. Svern must love them in his odd, grumpy way.

“These are really fat, Da, fat and tender,” Jytte replied. “Take some.”

“You cubs are going to spoil me with all this attention.” He chuckled.

“Da,” Stellan began. “I saw the ice maze you told us about with the glaring ice, and I saw—”

Svern cut him off. “How did you see all this?” he asked, startled.

“Jytte and I have gifts. Jytte is an ice gazer and I’m a riddler.”

“A riddler,” Svern repeated, his voice full of wonder. “Your great-aunt Svakyn was a riddler. What else did you see?”

“I saw monsters. I also saw the key. The key for stopping the clock. I understand why you think it’s too dangerous, but I can find the key. I know I can.”

Svern furrowed his brow. The bubbly nubbins where his ears had been seemed to collide. His entire face was knotted in worry. “I can’t let you go into the maze alone.”

“You could guide us.” Jytte reached out and grasped her father’s paw.

“Guide you?” Svern said softly. His eyes seemed fixed on some distant horizon.

“Teach us,” Jytte said. She felt as if the huge gulf between them was finally closing. They were reaching him in a new way.

“You could, Da, you could teach us!” Stellan saw this in his sister’s head. She was right. Something was mending and it was more than his wounds.

“Me, teach you?” A wondrous look filled the old bear’s eyes. “Me a, teacher!”