Brother Bear Sitka's Funeral -

Kenai finally looked up. The stone eagle seemed to shimmer. For just a heartbeat, he thought he saw Sitka’s face in the rock—not stern or warrior-like, but calm. Almost smiling.

The wind did not howl that morning. It simply stopped. brother bear sitka's funeral

Denahi did not answer. He placed a hand on his younger brother’s shoulder, but Kenai shook it off like a wolf shedding water. Kenai finally looked up

Only Denahi stood beside him.

The funeral rite was simple. No body to wrap in birch bark, no pyre to light. Sitka’s spirit had already left—they all felt it, a strange warmth in the cold air, like a hand on the back of your neck that wasn’t 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. Almost smiling