Chapter 12

A mix of emotions hit Adair after she read that the bear already knew of what she had been doing and her first reaction was to immediately bury her head into the bear's fur. She did this because she was so embarrassed that she didn't even want to look at the bear's face. She stayed like that for more than a minute, though she knew that she would have to get over herself and talk with the bear, otherwise, their living situation would become very awkward.

Potentially even deadly for her if it wasn't resolved soon enough. She was not afraid that Mr. Bear would kill her, he had more than enough opportunities to do so and should he want to there was nothing she could do about it, but from the conversation she had with the tree the forest appeared to be only safe around the area where they lived.

For all Adair knew, the bear did something to keep others away from them. She was unsure if he released a special odor or had some other secrets, but she was afraid that if she pissed off the bear too much, he might leave her behind in this unknown land.

While she was internally panicking, her furry friend was lying down by the fire and had been nonchalantly relaxing there for quite a bit of time. When he noticed the little girl head out towards the entrance, he followed, afraid that she might run off again, so it sighed and got up to chase Adair.

As soon as the bear noticed that Adair had just headed outside to write something, it came to a stop and let out a sigh of relief. It patiently waited for the small child to finish and while the grammar was very poor, almost as if she was using a translation book to write the sentences, at least it was readable, which was all Adair was looking for for the time being.

Adair's message explained that she was very sorry for going against the bear's warnings of not going to the water, that she had gone off to the tree for multiple hours a day while he had been asleep and that she promised it wouldn't happen again. She also wrote that she hoped that the bear would not leave her due to disobeying it.

Once the bear read her apology, it burst out into a deep laugh that caused Adair to jump. There were two reasons why Adair jumped. The first reason was that she had not noticed that the bear had come so close to her. She had been completely wrapped up in writing not paying attention to things around her, so the close proximity to her scared her. The second reason was that she had never before heard nor expected an animal to ever make such sounds.

It was a deep laugh that sounded like someone was banging two drums together with each laugh. The bear continued to laugh for a few minutes until it finally stopped and wrote something above what Adair had written.

When Adair read it, she realized that what the bear said made a lot of sense. The bear's reply was, "If I had a choice on the matter, I would have never picked you up in the first place, but since your mother entrusted you I had to take care of you. Even when you don't behave."

Adair then asked, "When did you find out? I thought I did pretty good sneaking around."

The bear then started to laugh again. Once again it took a bit of time for it to calm down, at which point he wrote, "Ever since the first day you started digging your own tunnel. Nearly every day, you would play with those wooden blocks and once you were done, you would go try to get to the lake. After you've stopped, I realized that you would try to go around the path I created."

"So when I noticed that you were no longer playing with the wooden blocks, I was convinced that you must have been trying to do something to get to the lake. If you did not set up the behavior of wanting to go to the lake for a while, I never would have found you so quickly."

Adair felt dejected that her own behavior had betrayed her and that she was in fact not as sneaky as she thought. "Why didn't you stop me, if you knew what I was doing the whole time?"

The bear then responded with, "Why should I have stopped you? You were out of my fur for twelve weeks. Why should I complain about that? Those were the first good nights of sleep I have gotten since I picked you up."

Adair then felt confused. "Why did you stop me from going to the lake at all then? It would have saved me so much work and time if you had just let me take the path that you made."

The bear then wrote, "What good would that have done you? It was a good opportunity to teach you that you won't always be able to take the easy way out. When I sensed that you made it, I secretly followed you to make sure you would not drink any of the water."

'I knew I was right not to drink from the water! But why would he go to all the lengths to stop me from it? Is it because it's poison? Or a laxative? Or something else?' Adair thought up many reasons, yet the easiest way was to ask her protector. "Why were you worried I would drink the water? Is it poison?"

The bear shook his large head at her question and then added, "It is similar to a very addictive bottle of milk."

Adair was unsure what he meant by that. 'Could he mean alcohol? Does this planet have alcoholic rivers and lakes? But even in my past life, while it could be addictive, it never tasted good. Could the alcohol on this planet taste good?' Adair made the firm resolution to get to the bottom of it.

'I do remember that if children consume alcohol it can severely mess up how they grow up, and I have no intentions of getting myself an alcohol addiction as a kid. That would be a really bad idea and practically threw away this new life. However, I should try it out at some point when I'm more grown up!' Adair decided.

'Hang on… that means I've been bringing the tree alcohol all the time! No wonder why he wanted more and more of it. He must have an alcohol addiction! Oh NO!!! Doesn't that mean he's been teaching me drunk the whole time? If that is the case, maybe it taught me gibberish and not the actual language?'

Adair started to panic once more, but after taking a few deep breaths she managed to remain calm. 'It does appear that Mr. Bear can understand me and I can read what he writes, so it can't all have been bad. Maybe it's alcohol but without a hangover? I wish that existed back in the Galactic Empire. It would have made school so much more fun.'

Now that Adair got her answer to why she wasn't allowed next to the pond, she realized that this was a great time to get many more answers to other questions about the world she had been born into. The first question was whether the bear was actually the burly man that went through her through the portal.

At this point in their peaceful lifestyle it would have come as a giant shock if that was not the case, but there was still that one sliver of doubt left, so she just had to ask. She wrote, "I've had this question ever since you picked me up. Are you the same person that went through the portal with me? Based on your actions, I assume so, but I have never really known if that is the case."

Surprisingly the bear was able to display a very shocked expression, but it quickly went back to normal. The bear was shocked because Adair would now be considered to have survived two Storms, normal babies should have long since forgotten what had happened in the first few weeks of their life.

He chalked it up to Adair having so much potential that she was able to remember stuff that ordinary kids can not. How else would she have been able to learn the language with just that old tree as a teacher?

The bear then wrote, "Yes, I am the same person. Before the Queen (your mother) sent me to protect you, I was the head guard in the Otto Empire. I was also the only person that the Queen picked for security. The rest of the people were chosen by the King."

There was a lot to unpack what the bear just wrote, but Adair wanted to ask this next question before she forgot it. "Do you know what turned you into the bear? Was it the teleportation? Is it the forest? Something my mom gave you?"

The bear responded with, "I do not know exactly what happened to me or why you are not changing, but according to George it should have something to do with the forest. The Queen has told me stories about this side of the planet and that there are strong magical zones that even someone like herself can not resist if she enters the wrong one."

"So I'm assuming that we've been teleported into one of those zones. Since it's not affecting you but has affected me, I can only guess that it's one of the ones on the stronger side of the spectrum, but I honestly have no idea. I don't even know where we are right now due to the Otto Empire not having any jurisdiction over this side of the planet."

While the bear did not expect Adair to understand what it was talking about especially regarding the Empire's jurisdiction, he hoped that Adair would grow up quickly as it had felt lonely not being able to have a deep conversation with anyone. The tree was only ever interested in gaining more of the lake water, and did not have much to say in the first place.

Adair then asked, "Are there any more creatures like you in this forest? Are we safe?"

The bear wrote George once more, but since Adair looked confused he clarified that it was the tree's name. "We were lucky to find another person from the Otto Empire so quickly. He promised to warn us ahead of time if something or someone strong would appear in the forest. We should be safe… I hope."