Name: Yakone

Age: A little older than Aleu and Kodi

Species: Gray wolf

Parents: Shila and unknown male

Siblings: Ikiaq

Mate: Aleu

Pups: Hotah, Galena, Qiviut, Shila, BJ

Appearance: Yakone has dark red-brown fur with a very light gray, almost white underbelly. His facial and leg markings match Balto’s. He has green eyes with yellow scleras. Being a wolf, he has a tall, muscular build, and is quite large even for a wolf, but not as big as Niju.

Personality: He is very true to his beliefs, and although he is open to new ideas, he usually sticks to his own values. He’s more on the quiet side, especially around people he doesn’t know, but is not afraid to come forward and speak up about certain things; in fact, he is quite outspoken about things that mean a lot to him. He’s serious and Aleu often thinks he’s expressionless, though he does like to have his fun. He can get aggressive easily and is quite irritable. He is a good leader, kind and helpful.

Likes: Hunting, leading, Aleu, pleasing Nava, sleeping, sunny weather, nature

Dislikes: Niju, loud mouths, slackers, humans (initially)

History: Yakone was born to two parents in Nava’s pack along with a younger sister named Ikiaq. When he was a few months old, he witnessed his parents get shot and killed by hunters. Traumatized and devastated, Yakone made a vow that day to never trust any human, and he developed a sheer hatred for humans. As he got older, he proved to be a strong and smart wolf, and Nava appointed Yakone as his second-in-command. Yakone took his job very seriously, sometimes even a little too seriously, and he loved pleasing Nava and making the old leader proud.

    When he was around two or three, the pack was forced to leave their land in search of a new food source. It was at this time when Nava stepped down from his position as leader and Aleu took his spot as the new clan leader. Originally, it was Nava who taught Yakone everything he knew, but now it was Yakone who was teaching Aleu, since she had never lived in the wild before. Teaching Aleu about the life of a wolf proved to be difficult; Aleu had no experience in the Alaskan Wilderness and oftentimes made the wrong decisions for the pack. But over time, she steadily improved and ended up becoming a strong leader that the pack needed.

    Spending all this time with Aleu helped the two of them to become friends, and eventually they both developed feelings for each other, though neither of them would admit it. Yakone enjoyed Aleu’s bright, bubbly personality, though sometimes he found her to be a bit flighty, and disdained how easily she trusted humans. Aleu tried to convince Yakone that not all humans were bad, but Yakone didn’t listen, as his only experience with humans resulted in the death of his parents.

    Eventually, the two became mates and Yakone became co-leader of the pack. They had a litter of five puppies, and when the pups were old enough, Aleu wanted to visit Nome to introduce Yakone and the pups to her family. Yakone was extremely hesitant to go into town, and Aleu had to practically pull his leg to get him to go. The wolf family soon made it to Nome and Yakone was able to meet Aleu’s family, but he remained wary and avoided going anywhere near town at all costs. When he and Aleu left Nome to return to the pack, Yakone got stuck in a huge pile of thorns and badly injured his front paw as well as his legs, and he was unable to walk for a while. He, Aleu, and their children retreated to a cave and stayed there for a few days while Yakone healed. However, one day, a human came into the cave and saw the injured wolf with his puppies. Yakone wanted to run away but was not well enough to move, and Aleu had left to find some food. Yakone was terrified, thinking that he was going to die. But much to his surprise, the human bent down and started to tend to Yakone’s wounds. He cleaned them out and bandaged them up, and then pulled some food from out of his pocket for the wolf to eat. Yakone was pleasantly surprised at this interaction and realized Aleu was right: maybe not all humans were bad after all. Once he was well enough to travel, he and his family returned to the pack, and Yakone felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulders now that he had gotten rid of the prejudices that he had held for as long as he could remember.

Relation to Balto: Balto’s son-in-law; Aleu’s mate and a member of her pack seen in WQ