waltz; Balto had done once before at his and Jenna’s marriage, it was not long before other pairs joined on to the dance area. There were human pairs, canine pairs, and even a few mixtures of both. But Balto did not notice, he only saw his beautiful daughter, he knew would soon leave him and his lifestyle behind for good. This was very good in the Don’s mind but he was unhappy that she had to leave him forever, he was her father, he had never dreamed of something like this. No matter his pleas, she decided to go.

He now thus had to remember this day and his Aleu for the rest of his life, thus the purpose of his watchfulness on his daughter was nothing more than a father who would miss his child. He eventually handed over Aleu to her husband for one last time and went inside to weep a few tears of happiness and sorrow.

*******

The bride and groom eventually left and headed to docks, where from there they said their goodbyes to Balto and his family. They then departed.  The ship eventually disappeared into the waning sunlight of the horizon beyond.

Because of the change from summer to winter, it created many changes this far north, the hours of light per day were shortening, less than ten hours and that was shortening by the days, along with colder days, snowfall, and subsequently longer nights. But these things were still a few weeks away from being noticeable and most up this far north were either built to live in this climate or were just use to it.

Giovanni Orteze was not one of these people; he was from San Francisco, but with the heritage of a Sicilian. The harsh conditions of the north were foreign to him and just like all human bodies; he was not built for climates below the freezing point like the canine’s are. He was about fifty-one years old and Consigliere to Don Lorenzo so thus his confident; his Don controlled the rest of the western coast that wasn’t under Balto’s control. The man’s age was starting to show with a few streaks of white hair and grey with what was left of his thinning hair. He was slightly over weight but was hidden under his coat. He was trying his best to stay warm in the cold air.

He walked onto Balto’s derelict boat on the outskirts of Nome; he heard voices coming from the Bow of the ship and naturally started to walk towards them. After a few steps however his passage to the bow was blocked by two polar bears coming out of the wheel house, one was tall with a red nose and very muscular, the other was less than half the others size but Orteze didn’t take this as a sign of weakness, he had known many ‘associates’ that were short but tough and very ferocious. They both were wearing tuxedos, so Orteze assumed they had been at the wedding of Balto’s daughter. He of course had only arrived yesterday and had not been invited.

“I’m here to see Don Balto” he calmly said to the pair, no less than a foot away. The tall one made some noises that Orteze thought were strange, the shorter polar bear however spoke English, although it had a slight British accent “He says you’ll have to wait while Balto is convening with Uncle Boris”.  This confused Orteze since these were polar bears talking about from what he could tell was a goose, being their uncle. Not to mention the first name basis that they had with the Don. “It’s alright Luk, Muk let him in” he heard Balto say, the polar bears moved aside for Orteze to enter. Orteze walked the rest of the way up the boat and onto the bow.

He saw Balto standing next to the railing of the boat with his back to him; Balto was seemingly staring out onto the horizon. He also saw Boris standing close beside him; he was obviously here to comfort Balto for his daughter’s departure. This brought upon a thought that maybe the Don had a weakness in his defenses. This however was quickly brushed aside as the two turned around and business was now at hand. The polite handshakes were made between the three men and thus the meeting began. Orteze went right to the point, something he thought he could get away with, at least with these northern, Sicilian want-to-bees. “I would prefer that only the two of us could talk alone in a more, private place” Orteze said, a little uneasy at the distance he was from the town and his position between four men. “Muk and Luk have been at almost every meeting that I’ve had, they have never done anything that I haven’t told them too or advised them too, and that isn’t going to change now” Balto said simply “Boris here is a mixture of you Sicilians call a Consigliere, Capo Bastone and Capo Regime” Balto took a quick glance around before continuing.  “And what is wrong with this place? It’s quite safe from the Police and frankly I’ve lived on this boat most of my life and find it suits my needs. So relax and tell me your proposal” Balto already knew what was coming and he had already decided the matter, but he knew Orteze was less informed than him and wanted to show him who was in charge up here.

“Don Balto, my Don Lorenzo wishes to expand his enterprises as far north as he can, respecting those owned by you and your associates of course. Don Lorenzo is most particularly interested in the liquor coming in from Canada. It is of course much quicker for the liquor to get from Canada to the more northern enterprises than it is to get it from Mexico or even distilleries from the south.” Orteze was about to continue when Balto spoke, “Why not make distilleries up more North? It would be much closer and faster than your current system” was Balto’s observation. “That is true but unfortunately my Don’s enemies are working faster than he and he doesn’t have much time too waste.” Responded Orteze, slightly stretching the truth. “Then why come to me for running liquor from Canada? Why not a smuggler closer to the border?” asked Balto. “That was our first thought but the men we approached were either leaving the business or were under somebody else’s payroll, or were just uninterested.” This response was a lie and Balto pounced on it. “You’re lying Mr. Orteze; no booze runner of any kind turns down a Mafioso chief, as you call them, and live a happy life, if they live at all” Balto said this very coolly and calmly.

“I apologize for my disrespect, but Don Lorenzo wished for me to test you, to make sure you are as smart about this business as he hoped.” Orteze was sincere. “I can understand that but just because I’m not a Sicilian like yourself, doesn’t mean that I’m unintelligent enough o have to be insulted by you testing me. Testing people around here, like that is something that gets you nowhere but a swim in the ocean” Balto was giving a warning in a very threatening way, both parties knew it too be a false threat, but it was a good warning never to do it again. He had gotten the answer he wanted and anymore lies would be only a further insult to Balto’s intelligence. 

“Now that you’ve given me half a reason why your here, now tell what I’m too do about it” Balto left it in Orteze’s hands as how to approach him with his proposal. “Well, since at the moment, Canadian beer is cheaper; we of course need to get sources from Canada. You have the connections in Canada that we want, to share of course, and if we can’t get enough ourselves, then we may need some trucks, some discreet but reliable people, and absolute immunity from the cops and hoods in your territory. And in return you get compensation for your cooperation, which would be about a million dollars and about fifty percent of the profits” Orteze had put everything out on the table and now it was Balto’s turn to give the final verdict, as it were.

After a short moment, to look seemingly as if Balto was considering the proposal, he answered “As tempting as your offer is, I’ll have too decline your offer. You come here thinking that I’ve got connections all over, that I’ve absolute control. But the route however is too long and dangerous for my people to travel and protect. And you think that I’ve got gangs in Canada waiting for the go ahead to smuggle booze in, well that is a lie. I get my liquor from the same people as everyone else, if you can’t get them, then you might as well leave them alone. And Mexican product, though slightly more expensive, is much closer to your territory, so you should look at them for your shipment problems. Although I’m flattered that you think so highly of me, I’m afraid your bar was a little to high for me to jump” Balto was naturally humble.  The meeting concluded with both parties giving their apologies that the deal hadn’t worked out. With that Orteze left and headed for Nome.

“Have his telegraph monitored” Balto ordered Boris, who understood entirely. He wanted to make sure he hadn’t given anything away. He had not mentioned that his actual power didn’t go beyond Alaska, to make his guest think he had more power than he actually had, this of course being almost entirely untrue, he had other people who held the power of the ‘outside’ lands. The control he had out there meant he had control over a few people right here in Nome. So, though he technically held power over half of the western coast of America, he himself didn’t control it. He had also not mentioned his several other sources and means of getting alcohol to the people who continuously wanted it, no matter the cost.

Balto had however; found a hole in Otreze’s proposal, “A million dollar’s and fifty percent of the profits from a man who