food a sniff, then said, "Are you sure I can eat this, I mean... it's yours."

    "Go on, I'm too full to eat anyway," Jenna spoke, pushing the bowl closer toward Glace.

    After a mouthful of the food, Glace exclaimed, "Much better than those things I usually found in the trash. I shouldn't get too accustomed with this." She licked her lips and carried on with the meal.

    "Now, Glace. Let's get back to the boat," Balto spoke up, with his eyes scanning the outside through the windows, "before Kaon comes back."

    "Come on, Balto. Let her stay here for a while, I'm sure Rosy's parents won't say anything about this," Jenna suggested....

    Kaon had now paced around or almost an hour now, he had never been this serious before in his whole life. No matter how rude he was to others, he always want to be polite to his mother, all he wanted is the love from his mother; and what he just did earlier in the morning just put that need on risk. Stano, one of his companions, could see that worry, he spoke, "Don't be worried, Kaon. Don't forget that she's your mother after all, she couldn't be upset at you for so long. Trust me."

    Kaon just nodded, he wasn't in mood to say anything; his friend's words didn't make him feel any better. The thing Stano just told him wasn't the thing he didn't already know. The real thing that set him on this worry is that he couldn't find a way to explain himself and the thing he had done, not only to his mother, but also to his father. Despite his somewhat racist thought, he still loved his father, for there were not enough reasons for him to hate Balto.

    Stano, seeing that his friend had received the message, slowly walked away....

Chapter 11 : The Past of Topaz

    "Come on, you, stupid legs, stop shaking!" Sotara almost yelled after he collapsed once more in his effort to stand up.

    "Don't push yourself so hard, Sotara. You know that you can hurt even more by doing that," Sorra walked over to the brown male on the ground. Sotara listened but his stubborness told him to try once again, just to find himself on the ground once more. But he didn't give up, he crawled to the wall, and try standing up now with his weight leaned on the wall. Again, his effort was in vain, the wall did support him well, but it was the ground; he just slipped and landed hard on his side, unfortunately, on the side Aliwal got his ribs. The fall drove all the air off his lungs, he didn't have enough strength left even for a yelp. He just lay there, breathing hard.

    "Sorra, what happened?" a grey Herrerasaurus spoke up from the front of the cave.

    "Platinum, he tried to stand up again and he...."

    "Haven't succeeded yet," Platinum said just before Sorra finished, and walked into the cave.

    He walked to where Sotara was lying, offering help, "Here, let me help you." He, then, slipped his head under the hurt Herrerasaurus' and gave him support. Sotara's legs were now shakier than they had been, he had never thought he could be this helpless. With his friend's help, he walked to his place in the cave and lay down.

    Seeing that Sotara didn't push himself that hard anymore, Platinum and Sorra went to their corner, and started their conversation. Platinum told her about how Nebbia reacted after hearing the news. They even talked about many pleasant things just like how any loving couple would talk.

    "For how long do I have to stay here?" the question was whispered from the other side of the cave, where Sotara was lying. It was a tone of hurt, not so physically, but mostly mental hurt. Everyone do want to enjoy his daily life properly, no one would ever expect lying helplessly for days. Sotara was exactly in that condition, not to mention the bad incident happened some time ago; he was now very desperate.

    Sorra was about to rise, when Platinum pulled her back down, and took the rise instead. He walked closer to Sotara, until he was some feet away, he sat down. "Don't worry about when, Sotara. Let's worry about how you can be cured, if you don't stop your daily activity of hurting yourself," Platinum spoke, shaking his head from side to side, in a manner of a father scolding his child.

    Sotara didn't even bother saying anything, he just let out a long sigh, and took his rest....

    Glace was having a rest after her thrill in Nome, but her tiredness hadn't gone away. When she heard a sound of someone stepping onto Balto's boat, she sniffed the air to find the scent of the stranger. And then, when she noticed that it wasn't a stranger, she sighed in relief. With a little smile on her face, she greeted the visitor, "You don't know how to walk silently..., right, Topaz?"

    "I'm afraid if I walk too quietly, you will catch a heart attack when I appear. Well, I come here just to see if you want to come with me for some walk and a little chat," said the yellowish brown wolf.

    "Talk about what, Topaz? Can't it be another day? I'm exhausted now."

    "Oh! Come on, Glace. All I remember is that we talk only about serious issues since that silver hole appeared and Aleu went missing," Topaz pleaded and trotted around Glace in an attempt to tempt her for a play.

    "No, Topaz.... Stop running around me, I'm getting dizzy," she said, covering her head with her paws.

    Accidentally, Topaz stepped on one of Glace's injured back legs. "Ah! Topaz! Mind your step!" Glace yelped, then coiled up into a ball, facing to another direction. "Glace, I'm sorry, I don't mean to...," Topaz said contritely, but Glace was still in the same manner. With remorse, Topaz slowly walked away, lowering his head, and sat down in some distance away on the boat.

    As Glace noticed Topaz's expression, her anger vanished fast. Slowly, she walked to the male wolf in the other side of the boat. "Topaz...," the grey female called softly, "I'm sorry...."

    "No, Glace..., it's not your fault. It's just..., you make me think about my past..., think about the first time I ever got someone angry, and how I became...," after a long pause, Glace asked politely, "...alone?" Topaz just nodded his head.

    "Well, do you mind if I want to know a little about that?" Glace politely asked.

    "Nothing much, Glace.... Well, I used to live in a large pack of wolf. Just a yearling am I those days, but my alpha doesn't like me, for the reason I don't quite understand. One day, comes the time for my first hunt...."

    The hunting team was getting ready for their big hunt. This could be their last hunt before the blizzard struck, the aim was for a large prey to feed the whole pack for the coldest weeks of winter, and failure could not be allowed. As done for many generations, juvenile wolves that had just stepped into maturity joined the hunt. Unfortunately for little Topaz, he was the only teen wolf joining this time. As nightfall came, every single wolf in the hunting team hid in their particular places waiting for the caribou they had been eying for whole day to be chased in. Wolves hunt in group, chasing the prey into the correct path where more of the team can join the chase; everything from timing to cooperation must be perfect.

    Soon, when the only light that shone the way was that of the moon, the hunt began. The caribou ran right according to the plan, one by one, the experienced wolves jumped out to help. But for little Topaz, he was shaken, by both fear and nervousness, it was like his heart was beating out of his chest. He bursted out a mere three seconds before the time supposed, thus landing right in front of the deer. All of a sudden, the prey rushed back and ran away, leaving the hunters shocked and angry.

    "Look at what you done, kid? Now, the whole pack will starve, because of you," one of the older wolves barked.

    "Please, forgive me. Don't tell the alpha. If we hurry, maybe we can hunt for another prey," Topaz pleaded, not daring to think of what would happened if the alpha knew about this. However, luck didn't seem to be on little Topaz's side, the forest was now too dark, further hunt may result in getting lost or being gunned down by humans, so the team went back with Topaz whimpering all the way.

    The young wolf was thrown against a tree, all for the anger of his alpha. "I repeated and repeated that you must come back with food. And now, thanks to you, all we got nothing, absolutely nothing," barked Tormenta, the leader of the pack, "Do I have to say it again that I am hungry, the pack are hungry?" he continued threatening, then grabbed the smaller wolf by the neck, causing Topaz to yelp in pain. Despite his effort to struggle free, Topaz again and again found himself between the jaws of the alpha.

    "Tormenta, that's enough. This is just his first time, everyone can make a mistake," a female wolf spoke up.

    "Rhoacia, my love..., you still care about this failure of our pack?" Tormenta barked, pointing at the young wolf.

    Hearing what his alpha had just used to call him, little Topaz managed to speak, "I'm not... a failure...."

    "Of course, you are. You have always been a good-for-nothing