“Balto” Jenna said softly as she put her bag down and looked at Balto.

“Jenna what are you?” Balto stammered getting up off his blanket.

“I have not seen you since…………. You are a stray….. I was……..I thought you might be hungry” Jenna replied pushing the bag forward.

“Thanks Jenna” Balto replied taking the food out of the bag. “Would you like some?”

“No this is for you, I’ve already eaten at home, you eat it” Jenna replied smiling.

“Thanks” Balto replied wolfing down the food, allowing Jenna chance to look around the cabin.

 “So besides bringing me food, is there any other reason why you are here?” asked Balto once he had eaten.

“I was worried about you, Rosie was getting worried she did not see you after school for a couple of days, she saw the article too. I wanted to make sure…….. I saw the picture and the look on your face, I’m not here to pry, but if you would like a friend to talk to” Jenna replied looking Balto in the eyes.

 “A friend would be great” Balto replied leading her out of the cabin onto the deck.

        Seeing the pair Boris smiled before leaving the boat so they could have some privacy. For a while neither spoke as they stared out across the ocean in the distance they watched the fishing boats and occasional a seal would pop up. 

 “Cathán is my Father, strange as it seems he is. I’m an outcast stray and he’s a famous sled dog” Balto said.

  “It seems so strange how it could happen. My Father used to live in Fairbanks before he came to live here, and my Mother was born here. I grew up with both of them, I cannot imagine what you went through” Jenna replied softly.

  “I knew my Father well as pup, my earliest memory is of him looking down at me. My Mother was a wolf with pure white fur, oh they loved each other so much. He always there to protect us, me and my brother and sisters, he loved us so much.”

“Where did you live?”

“Out there” Balto said pointing with his paw to the vast forest. “We lived wild, my Mother and Father hunted for us, life was great. They played with us every day, our home was in a cave overlooking a small lake, it was the most beautiful spot in the world. We had a family of bold eagles nesting in a tree near us, my sister is white and light brown, my parents named her Eagle. Dad used to tell us stories of time as a sled dog, we used to race him just for fun, he’d run with us for hours.”

“It sounds wonderful Balto, I cannot understand how you came here.”

“One day we were playing when humans appeared, my Father’s humans, they were looking for him. He told us to run, he distracted them so we can be safe, he was captured, I saw it. He tried to get away, but they used ropes to stop him, he howled to us, he howled goodbye. A couple of days later Mother’s older daughter joined us, our half sister, she was a pure wolf. Mother had been with a wolf a couple of years before she met Cathán, she never told us why much about him.”

“What was your half sister like?”

“Beautiful, she was pure white with a thin line of black on her ears and she had such a kind heart. She helped Mother raise us after our Father was captured, we used to spend hours playing together, my sister looked up to her. Between her and Mother, things were good. A few months later we were with our Mother when a blizzard came, it blinded us, I slipped and hit my head. When I came too Boris was standing over me, he took me in and we came here. We were going to try and find my Mother, but we couldn’t, the snow had hidden our tracks, and I didn’t know the area that well.”  

  “Oh Balto I am so sorry, I cannot imagine what you must have gone through” Jenna said placing her left paw over Balto’s.

  “It was so painful, everything that happened back then hurt. I missed them so much, I always will.”

  “Of course you will, but you will soon be with your Father. He’s coming here to live, his owner has issued a statement confirming it, it is in today’s paper. You can be with him again, you and he can be together as you were before.”

“It’s not that simple Jenna, the last time he saw me I was a pup and we lived as wolves. You know how things are in town, he is one of the best sled dogs there is, he will not want to acknowledge me as his son” Balto replied facing her.

“You cannot say that! He is still your Father, no matter what anyone says, he loves you.”

“He loved me. I’m just a half breed who looks more wolf than dog, he will treat me just like the other dogs do. Besides he might not recognize me, I’ve grown a lot since then.”

 “Balto please listen to me, Cathán is your Father, he will love you regardless nothing will ever change that” Jenna said standing up.

 “Jenna you are not like me, in your case it would true, your parents are proud of you. How can face my Father when I am nothing better than wolf dirt?”

“Because he fell in love with your wolf mother, obviously he does not see wolves as dirt. He loved her and stayed to you to raise you, he gave his freedom so you could be safe, he will accept you and be glad to see you.”

“If I very lucky he might meet me once or twice in secret, that is all someone like me can expect.”

“No you can expect more!”

“Not me Jenna, he is a husky I am a wolf half breed. This isn’t the wilderness, things may have worked out there but not here” Balto replied hanging his head.

“Balto” Jenna said looking at him.

“Jenna I know you are trying to help and I am grateful for it, but there is nothing you can do to change things” Balto replied as he left his boat for the wilderness.

 “Oh Balto if you only knew how I truly feet about you. You are worth so much more then what you think. Believe in who you are inside, not what other dogs see on the outside. One day everyone will see who you are and how much you are worth, they will see you as I see you.”

    Alone in the wilderness Balto sat underneath a waterfall looking at his reflection in the water.

 “How can things between my Father and I go back to the way that they were? I’m a half breed outcast, he’s famous, our lives can never be as they were. Out there it was different we lived as wolves. I am not who he remembers. Not a dog not a wolf but both, a filthy half breed. All my reflection shows is what I am, took much like a wolf of humans to accept me, not wolf enough to be able to live wild.” 

    Fathers Shock

It was February 16th 1925 in his house in Fairbanks, Cathán looked at the front page of the Fairbanks Chronicle with utter shock. On the front page was a picture of his son Balto with the article beneath telling of how he had saved Nome. Nome, the place he would be going in less than a week’s time to begin his retirement. 

“Balto it is truly is him, after all this time. He looks so much like me yet he has Aniou’s eyes. Oh Balto what happened to you, why are you living in a town? I thought you would be living wild and free. Something must have happened to you and Aniou, but what? The sooner I go to Nome the better, I have to find out what happened.” Cathán thought as his musher walked in.

 “Reading the paper Cathán, I bet your looking at the picture of Balto” said his musher stroking his head. “Well look that that, I think he looks a bit like you boy, did you get up to something during the time you were missing?”

    At this Catháan barked a yes and his musher laughed as he removed his boots and coat, both covered in snow. Getting up slowly Cathán so he did not knock the wound on his shoulder, a wound that had meant he had begun his retirement early. The wound had occurred three weeks previously in a nasty accident that had injured other dogs on his and the opposing team. Though he was still fit his days of racing were over, a quieter life beckoned in Nome, one transporting visitors to and from the town. He was also saying goodbye to his musher who was staying in Fairbanks, instead he would be living with his musher’s eldest son, who was a vet in Nome.  

    Walking out of the house Cathán walked over to a small pond in his musher’s garden, looking down at the frozen water.

  “Balto, this is amazing, he’s a hero, well he certainly has my speed. I never thought I would see my family again, never thought I would see Aniou or my pups again after that day. It has been nearly four years since Balto was born, oh how well I remember that day, it was the best day of my life. We had such a good life back then, I was happy living wild.”

     Flashback

Cathán and Balto walked through the forest near their home, both were laughing as Cathán told Balto of his time as a pup. As they walked Balto tried to emulate his Father’s tread, his eyes sparking with admiration. Reaching a stream the pair swam through a shallow part, with Balto swimming as well as his Father. Getting out of the water the pair shock their fur, sending water flying in every direction, with some landing on a couple of nearby crows.

 “Race you to the Old Hut Dad” Balto said looking at his Father.

“You are on, ready, steady, GO!” Cathán replied setting off