she scanned the room and saw her mother dozing on a blanket on the floor.

"Psst! Mom!" Dusty called.

Tasha sat up quickly and looked around, she spotted Dusty and said, "Oh, it's you, come on in."

Dusty padded over to her mother and sat down.

"Why are you here?" her mother asked.

"I'm... uh... I'm going on a date, and I need some advice," Dusty said

"A date with who?" Tasha asked.

"It's Kodi, but please don't tell Dad, he'd freak out," said Dusty.

"Don't worry," Tasha said, "I won't tell him."

"Do you know much about dates?" Dusty asked.

Tasha settled back down on her blanket bed, "I know a little," she said with a thoughtful look, "Mostly just be polite, and just be yourself."

Dusty nodded, "He said he's picking me up at noon tomarrow."

Tasha nodded, "Anything else you need to know?"

Dusty looked at her mother's collection of fancy collers and bandanas that her owners bought for her. "Could I borrow one of your colloers?"

Tasha smiled, "Sure," she said getting up, "Which one do you want?"

Dusty picked up a pretty leather one with diamond studs in it, "Are these real?" she asked in awe.

Tasha laughed, "No, they're fake, but they look real don't they?"

Dusty nodded, "Thanks for letting me borrow this Tash," she said. Dusty padded out of her mother's house and back to her own.

*****************************************************

Kodi layed down on his dog bed, he had some ideas of where he would take her. First, to the park, then to the Butcher's for dinner. Later they would watch the sunset, and before it got too dark, He would take her to the crystal cave that he had found when he was younger. To get to the cave you had to swim through an underwater tunnel. There was a hole in the roof of the cave, and when the moon was at the right angel, it hit a pile of crystals that shimmered a display that looked a lot like the Northerbn Lights, all around the cave. Then later maybe they could go to the boiler room and...

Kodi shook his head to clear it, "Don't think like that!" He told himself.

Then Kodi thought of something, maybe I should clean myself off a bit.

There was no way he would get another bath, he figured his owners would brush him though. Kodi sniffed himself, "Whew!" He exclaimed, "I stink!" Kodi got up and left his house, he considered going in the ocean,but then I would smell salty,he thought. Kodi spotted a pile of freshly fallen snow, and got an idea. He hopped into it and rolled around awile. He was not aware of approaching pawsteps.

"Kodi?" someone asked.

Kodi sat up and saw his father, Balto, looking at him in bewilderment, "What are you doing in there?"

Kodi hopped out of the snow and shook himself off, "I was just cleaning myself," he said.

"Why?" Balto asked shaking off the snow that Kodi had shaken on him.

"I uh, I'm going on a date," he said.

Balto smiled, "With Dusty?" He asked.

Kodi nodded, "I figured we could go to the park, then later we could go to this one cave."

Balto cocked his head, "What cave?" he asked.

Kodi brought down his voice to a hushed whisper, "I found this cave underwater when I was younger. You have to swim a little left of your boat, then there's this tunnel that you swim through and you go to a cave. The whole cave looks like the northern lights when the moon shines through this hole in the roof."

When Kodi finnished discribing the cave, Balto nodded, "Sounds like the perfect place for a dat," he said.

From her hiding spot behind a pile of firewood, Kira smiled, "More information for Opperation Kodi," she muttered darkley as she slipped away to her barn.

Balto's ears perked, "Did you hear something?" he asked his son looking around.

Kodi listened for a moment then shook his head, "No," he replied.

Balto shrugged, "My age must be getting to me," he said.

Kodi laughed a little to lighten the mood, "You're not that old Balto!" he said giving his father a nudge, "You're what, six years old?"

Balto smiled, "Yeah you're right," he said, "I've still got a long road ahead of me huh?" Kodi seemed to have brightened up his father, and when Jenna showed up a few moments later, her and Balto touched noses and bounded off together happily.

 Kodi shook himself off again, he needed to get brushed now. Bounding back into his house, Kodi nudged open the hall closet with his nose. Rumaging around, he found his brush. Kodi picked up the brush and padded up to his boy's room. He was there, reading a book, he looked up and saw Kodi, "You need a brushing, huh boy?" John asked.

Kodi dropped the brush in his lap and barked at him. John  laughed and began brushing Kodi. Kodi's fur looked neat and tidy by the time John was done grooming him. Looking out the window, Kodi saw that the sun was nearing the horizon. John looked too and said, "Time for dinner, come on Kodi!" Kodi bounded out of the room, down the stairs and into the kitchen. Whatever Mrs. Walker was cooking, it sure smelled good. Trotting over to his food bowl, Kodi noticed that they hadn't filled it for supper yet. Mr. Walker noticed too and filled it up, patting Kodi on the head. Kodi ate his dinner quickly, and finnished just as Mrs. Walker finnished cooking supper. Then Kodi got an idea. Maybe John will give me some of his food, then I can save it up for tomorrow, for dinner with Dusty! He thought.

Kodi nudged his empty food bowl over to John, who was sitting at the table. John looked down at Kodi and Kodi gave him his best beggy puppy face. John smiled slyly and reached for a piece of meat on his plate. He was just about to grab it when Mrs. Walker stopped him.

"Oh no you don't young man!" she said, "Not before we say grace."

John sighed, "Yes Mam," he said.

While John's father said grace, John reached his hand slowly, silently, towards his plate. He grabbed two pieces of meat and set them in Kodi's bowl. Then he grabbed a dinner roll off of the table and set it in Kodi's bowl. Last, John  grabbed three pieces of a potato and set them in Kodi's bowl. Kodi dissapeared with his bowl of people food, just as John's father finnished saying grace.

Meanwhile.....

Kira bounded into her barn and spotted Steele. She trotted up to him an said, "Good News!"

Steele perked his ears, sitting up.

"Kodi and Dusty are going on a date!" Kira exclaimed happily.

Steele looked confused, "That's not good news, that's bad news!" he said.

Kira shook her head, "But we can ruin it!" Kira declared.

Steele thought for a moment, then an evil grin spred across his face, "Do you know where they're going?" he asked.

Kira nodded, "First to the park, then to the Boiler Room for dinner, then they're going to this one cave or something and-"

"What cave?" Steele said cutting her off.

Kira grabbed a twig and started drawing a crude picture of Balto's boat in the dust.

"Well, he said it was to the left of Balto's boat," she said drawing a line left, "He said you have to swim through this underwater tunnel then you get to a cave." Kira drew a circle where she thought the cave should be.

Steeele looked at the picture for a moment, "Never seen it before," he said after a while.

Kira sighed, "Dangit!" she shouted, "Now we'll have to go look for it!" Kira and Steele padded out of the barn.

"We don't have much time until the sun sets, "Do you know when thier date is?"

Kira nodded, "Noon tomorrow," she said.

Both dogs were silent as the ran towards Balto's Boat.

Slipping out of her house, Dusty saw the two dogs side by side, running towards the ocean. Good She thought Maybe now Kira will leave me and Kodi alone!

Dusty padded onto the main street, she headed towards the boiler room. Trotting inside, Dusty spotted a brown and cream colored husky. She hadn't seen this dog before.

"Umm, Hello," Dusty said uncertainly.

The dog turned around, revieling stunning blue eyes, "H- hello," she stuttered looking from side to side nervously.

"Who are you?" Dusty asked curiously.

"I'm Lusa," she replied, "I'm from Nenana."

Dusty's eyebrows raised, "Where are your owners?"

Lusa looked down at her paws, "Uhh, I don't have any."

Dusty gasped, "You mean you traveled all that way, just to come here?" she asked astonishedly.

Lusa nodded, shuffeling her paws.

"Why?" Dusty said sitting down.

"Uhh," Lusa shuffeled her paws again, "Let's just say I didn't exactly have many friends in Nenana."

Dusty cocked her head, urging Lusa to say more.

"I'm uh, I'm part wolf," she said.

Dusty tried not to react, she didn't want to look mean. Then Dusty noticed how dirty Lusa's fur looked. Dusty grabbed a bucket from the corner of the room and boundedback outside. She came back in moments later with the bucket heaped ful of snow. She set the bucket by the boiler and watched as the snow melted quickly. Dusty picked up the bucket ful of water and trotted over to Lusa.

"What's that -" Lusa's voice was cut off by her own yelp of surprise as Dusty duped the water on her.

"What was that for?" Lusa asked crossley. She shook herself off, spraying water droplets everywhere.

Dusty laughed, "I was just cleaning you off a bit."

Lusa thought for a moment, then her cross expresion turned into one of gratefulness, "Thanks," she said.

Dusty nodded and grabbed a blanket, she pulled it over Lusa