It was a ye’ old regular day for the bear-binder duo. On that fine day, Bear decided to go out looking for some more food to eat.

  And once again, Bear was surrounded by forest, upon forest, upon more forest. The scent of pine trees surrounded him as he walked on. He spotted the occasional pinecones that would drop to the ground as well as the squirrels that would climb up those trees. But Bear didn’t care about that.

  Instead Bear’s head was glued to the ground looking for any good sticks to eat and put in his mouth.

  “This bear’s got a vegetarian diet!”, Binder would often exclaim. “It’s not good for you!” But did Bear care? Not really. And thus continued on his journey to find the most perfect and edible stick.

  He went farther away than usual, passing by at least a few mountains before he struck gold in the most unexpected way…

  The air was moist. There were barely any trees around, in fact the mountainous scenery Bear was used to, is no more.

  So where was he? Bear thought that too as he held his head up looking around, wondering around until he stepped on something. Like multiple little balls went splat on his own paw. He immediately lifted his own paw to inspect the damage to see little translucent orange residues left on his paw. He gave it one little sniff before licking it.

  He stared wide-eyed at his paw, taking in the flavor and texture. It was tarte but surprisingly sweet as well. It had a flavor similar to apricots and mangoes combined. And the texture was so creamy, Bear could probably swallow five or six of these without choking!

  It was, all in all, an explosion happening in Bear’s mouth. He never knew such a thing ever existed!

  He knew right then and there that he needed to take some home for Binder to look at and eat too. So he took as many as he could with his arms and with his two legs, started running in the direction he came from. And soon after the familiar setting started to come back.

  On the other side, Binder was just beginning to learn how to hold things. Since the rock situation, Binder has been becoming better at moving around, using multiple pieces of paper to use as semi-sentient arms. But just as it was about to practice holding an apple for the first time. Bear barges into the den with a whole bunch of tiny little orange balls in his arms.

  “You scared me!!”, Binder said all of the papers it was using were scattered across the floor. The tired Bear dropped all the tiny balls on the floor, to stand on all fours once again.

  “Hey… wait a minute.” Binder started. “These are cloudberries!!! Just how far did your hunting spree take you this time???”

  Indeed, those berries that Bear was carrying were cloudberries, round little orange-yellow berries with tinier round bumps on them. They’re known for being quite rare, so Binder really did not expect this. Binder was flipping through its pages really furiously, re-checking the information it had on cloudberries since there weren’t any picking spots near their den.

  While Binder did not have eyebrows or a face for that matter, one of its imaginary eyebrows lifted giving its full attention to Bear.

  “Just how?”

  Bear shrugged it off, in the end Bear wanted to find some food and found some, so he was happy.

  “Oh well… with these we could make something but we don't have enough. And they’re starting to get bad too…”, and it was then a light bulb went off in Binder’s head. “You know what? Let’s get more berries!”

  Bear nodded to the amazing revelation Binder said. He wanted to have more berries, they tasted really good! Some could say, he started to develop taste.

  “But this time, I’m leading.”, Binder said. “I don’t want to get lost along the way there!” And Bear gave his thumbs up to that, especially since he did in fact get lost looking for the bunch that was on the floor.

  And thus, they began their journey. They walked to a nearby shore and secretly got on a boat that was about to depart. A boat full of humans to boot. It was the only way they got to their final destination, so they didn’t really have a choice.

  Bear was able to sleep through most of it, but for Binder, it was keeping watch while they were hiding in the cargo area of the ship. In Binder’s eyes, humans were not to be trusted especially after the last time they encountered humans.

  Until finally they’ve arrived at a port city. Though filled with humans, it didn’t stop them from stopping in their tracks to take in the scenery. The city had an older feel to it. The place was most likely built on some hill, giving it a very crowded feel to it. In fact the buildings sat exactly next to each other, the buildings were so narrow that they almost looked squished.

  Binder and Bear were admiring the sights that were very different from their own until a whole gang of humans were chasing them out forcing them to continue their journey.

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  The duo cruised through more forests different from their own, as well as a few more mountains and a few more cities until they arrived at their final destination.

  Bear once again saw familiar scenery, humid climate, no mountains, few trees, and a ground full of little orange balls just waiting to be picked and ate, while he was able to eat a full berry yet, at that point licking his paw was the only “cloudberry” he ate, Bear was foaming at the mouth waiting to try it, but he was patient. He trusted that Binder could make them taste better and he wanted to help make it.

  “Yes, we’re here”, Binder said. “Well, let's go gather some berries, Bear!” With the help on its arms, it was able to create a makeshift basket to put all the berries in. and so they began picking. They collected to the point where they over filled that basket.

  After gathering the berries, they decided to go to a nearby town and find a good kitchen.

  In Binder’s memories, when he was still being used as a binder to store information in, the human house it stayed always had a kitchen, and so Binder thought that every human building would also have a kitchen as well, and boy was it wrong.

  They stomped into each and every building expecting to find a kitchen but it was all for naught. An office building, gymnasium, clothing store, and even a convenience store doesn't even have a kitchen.

  “That’s so inconvenient!” Binder shouted, resting on top of Bear’s head. “Zero out of five stars!”

  They finally hit the jack pot when they finally barged into a bakery. The humans spotted the two, immediately fleeing to safety, while they worked their magic in the kitchen.

  “Right! Cloudberries go bad in a day so let's make this quick!”

  Bear grunted a determined grunt, you can see the steam going out his nostrils he was about to lock in and make the best berry pastry he could ever make!

  Binder set itself on the book holder that was on the counter flipping to a page that had a recipe for a desert called Multekrem. Basically a cloudberry cream added on to some waffles cookies. The basics of the basics for pastries! They’ve already got the pre-made waffles cookies in the bakery, all that's left is to make the cream!

  “First let's smush up those berries and strain the seeds!” and bear did just that, he took the berries, washed them and put them in a bowl and squeezed the ever living life out of them! Once they were smashed well, he strained them leaving a bowl with a good cloudberry juice.

  “Ok, next!”, Binder flipped a page. “Mix the sour cream, vanilla extract and cream in a mixer!!! Medium setting!! LET’S GOO!”

  Bear scrambled to find where those ingredients were, the cream was at the side of the fridge, but the sour cream? It was at the very back!! Just behind the eggs at that! He was very careful not to disturb those eggs and put both on the counter. The vanilla extract was in the pantry, and unlike the sour cream, it was at the very front! Bear sighed at relief of this. And with all three ingredients he was able to start mixing.

  “Make sure it forms some medium peaks, alright!?” Bear put the mixer on the medium settings and waited. While he did wait Bear decided to hoard as many pastries as he could. And put it into the makeshift basket that was used for storing the cloudberries.

  “Yes, horde those pastries!! This kitchen is not a place meant for eating in, it's a place made for baking in!!”, Binder shouted. “Watch the mixer Bear!!”

  At Binder’s instruction Bear’s attention was immediately on the mixer, analyzing the peaks it made. Bear carefully mixed the cream onto the bowl with the cloudberries. It was all ready now.

  “Ok, quickly put it in a container before the humans chase us out!!! LETS GO, LETS GO!”, Bear was able to find a good takeout container to put it in. And shoved it into the makeshift basket.

  Binder closed the pages up and hopped onto Bear’s head. And with that, they were on their way. Just in the nick of time too. When they went outside, a group of people wearing light blue shirts were just outside about to invade the bakery. And now they were chasing Bear and Binder.

  They went far, very far from where they started. By the time they stopped it was already dusk. And when they looked around, it was a place unfamiliar to them, no mountains but trees everywhere.

  “Just how??”, Binder said. “I didn’t want to get lost…”. It was sulking in its little corner as they walked around getting to know the surroundings. Through the trees and bushes they came across a sight that neither, never thought they’d see…

  An enormous flower field filled with various pink and purple flowers. They were swaying in the cold breeze. Petals would occasionally fall, being carried away by the breeze. A river was right next to it, the ripples followed the breeze pattern that the flowers were on. A mountain was across the river, not as tall as the mountains near the den, but was completely covered in snow.

  Darkened to twilight, the sky had green and purple vibrant streaks covering the sky, it covered the whole field, the green and purple smears on the sky were so bright and vibrant that its color reflected in the flower petals. The moon shone brilliantly, lighting the scenery up. While everything looked a light purple, the green made everything so vibrant.

  “Absolutely beautiful…”, Binder broke the silence, slowly flipping through the pages. “Since it’s so quiet here, we can start eating that Multekrem here.” Binder picked up the basket looking through the pastries and the cream. Bear began eating the pastries by just dipping the pastries in the cream.

  Binder was going through its pages. The pink and purple flowers were known as Fireweed, known to survive after forest fires or any major disturbances. The streaks in the sky are northern lights, known to happen in snowier, more older climates.

  The duo sat in silence, finishing pastry after pastry, admiring the scenery, taking in the floral scent, feeling the wind through their pages and fur. The day was long, Bear felt his eyes getting heavy after eating and laid down at the flower field for a quick nap. Binder didn’t intervene, after all that running with no stopping and all of the action that happened that day, a break was needed.

  The sun woke them up the next day. They groggily got up and wondered where they were.

  “THATS RIGHT WE GOT LOST!”, Binder shouted so loud enough it echoed through the trees. However, since Bear’s got a good night's rest, his nose was working better than it usually was. He was sniffing around the air around them until he finally got a scent of home.

  “Huh? Where are you going?”, Binder asked. Bear looked back at Binder, using his head to point the direction of the den. While reluctant, Binder decided to trust Bear and followed him all the way home.

  They arrived back at their den, back to the forest where they lived happily ever after.

  The end!