backtracked to her, before pressing his body against hers in an effort to warm her a little. His body heat gave her some comfort, and she gave his chin a quick lick in thanks before they started moving again.

"So, any ideas on what we should do?"

"A couple… Mack said that this place could have some hiding spots, but we'd need to find one first," he replied.

"Ugh, at this rate we not might have to worry about hiding at all. The snowfall could completely bury us."

"Maybe, but I'd rather hide somewhere out of the way than on the road. C'mon, we should keep moving."

They walked further along the mountain path, trying to find a fork that would take them off the main path. So far, the narrow pass curved and twisted its way higher and higher up the mountain, but ultimately, that was not where Balto wanted to go. He wanted to turn around and start heading home, or at least to a lower elevation where the storm would be less intense. The pass was riddled with forks and they tried every possible option to try to find a way down. Their erratic travel, combined with the storm would probably be enough to throw their pursuers off, but it also opened up a new problem. They took so many twists and turns that he now had little grip of where they were. He didn't want to stay in this mountain pass for long; the longer he stayed, the greater the chance of Tikani finding them. But no matter what, he couldn't find a path that led down and out of the mountains. Instead, they all seemed to go deeper and deeper into this maze.

For the next few turns, he took nothing but lefts, hoping to swing south, but that didn't help much. It only led to more paths and more forks. The driving snow made visibility difficult, and even when he tried to climb a small hill to get his bearings, the storm gave him no luck. Had the weather been clear, they would probably be high enough to see everything below them, maybe even Nome itself. Today, all he saw was swirling white, above and below, left and right. He tried to hide his worried mood, but Jenna noticed his anxious movements as he tried to find another path. He was constantly looking from side to side with a small frown on his muzzle. She could tell he was getting frustrated with their situation very quickly.

"Is everything alright?"

"It's fine," he replied, but his voice was far too flat for someone who was fine.

"You don't sound like it's fine," she said. "Come on, tell me."

"We're… oh I guess there's no way to sugar coat this. We're lost and I have no idea how to get us out," he said as he sat down. "C'mon, why can't I do this? I never get lost! What's wrong with me?"

"Nothing is wrong with you," she replied sharply. "We've been pushed to keep ahead so much that we haven't taken the time to stop and think. Now would be as good a time as any, so what did you do last time to keep from getting lost?"

"I scratched marks on trees, but I can't try that now. One, there aren't any trees up here, and two, we've got avoid leaving an obvious trail that Tikani could use to find us," he replied, looking around at the rocky landscape. "There's got to be something, something else. What saved me last time?"

No sooner had he finished uttering those words, a sharp howl rang out. His gut jumped up into his throat for fear that they had been found, and both of them frantically looked around to find the source of the howl. It was very close, but none of the barks from a pack followed. When Jenna did find the source she froze, but not out of fear. No, it was out of wonder at what she saw before her.

"Balto… look," she whispered, and when he gazed in the same direction she was, a wave of relief washed over him.

The heavy snow and winds suddenly eased to a light flurry, as if commanded by the newcomer so that their presence could be revealed. Standing before them, proud and strong with its pure-white fur flowing in the breeze was a snow-white wolf, but it wasn't any white wolf. It was a wolf that Balto had encountered before.

During the serum run, at his most desperate hour, it appeared to him. A white wolf with black-tipped ears and piercing amber eyes. It howled to him, showing him the power of his wolf half and giving him the courage to get up and lead the team home safely. After sharing a brief howl together, he turned back complete his mission, while the wolf vanished without a trace. The encounter had been so moving, so powerful and so eerie, that Balto only shared it with Jenna. She was amazed by the effect the experience had on him, and now she would get a chance to see it herself.

"Balto… is that-"

"Yes, it is," he replied in awe, before howling back. The wolf howled again, with them sharing a brief duet. After the last note trailed off, he cautiously approached the wolf for a closer look, while it sat and let him come. The first thing he found was that this wolf was actually a female, and her scent was like that of fresh snow: crisp and clean. Her thick fur was almost free of flaws, and her amber eyes were bright enough that Balto thought they could glow. As they stared at each other, he noticed a small smile forming on her muzzle, as though she was happy to see him. Before he could ask her anything more, she quickly darted away and climbed on top of a nearby snowbank. She paused a moment to look back at him, her smile remaining, before disappearing behind the bank.

"Wait, hold up!" he called and dashed to follow her. He wanted to ask her so many questions, chiefly about who she was, and how she was able to follow him. He clambered up the snowbank, hoping to follow her and get the answers he wanted, but he would be in for a couple of surprises.

The first was that behind the snowbank was a completely new path, hidden behind the wall of snow. He would've missed it if he hadn't tried to follow the wolf, but this path wasn't just another path. It was one that led straight down the mountain, the exact type of path he had been looking for. The break in the storm allowed him to visually follow the path down the side of the mountain, before it disappeared near its base into the surrounding forest. The other surprise was that she had completely vanished. There were no pawprints in the fresh snow, and a quick sniff failed to find any trace of her clean scent. It was as if she'd never been there in the first place. 'Wow, for a really helpful wolf, she sure is a shy one,' he thought as Jenna trotted up to be with him, looking down the new path as well.

"Where'd she go? She was here just a moment ago." she asked, her mouth hanging open in awe.

"Yeah, she did that last time too, but look at this path. It seems to go down and off the mountain. It's hidden too, so if Tikani passed by, he wouldn't see it. It's perfect."

"It's a good thing that wolf found us. The next time we see her, we're going to have to thank her for showing us this." she said as they started down the new path. The break in the weather not only eased navigation, it also made walking much less of a chore.

"Sometimes you don't find the solution yourself… sometimes the solution finds you when you're not looking for it."

Anya's words echoed in Balto's head, and only now did he start to see the truth in them. The white wolf had found him and given him the solution without him looking for her, just as she had during the serum run. There was no mistaking it now; she was doing this on purpose. She wanted to help Balto out in any way possible. 'That just leaves the question of why. Why would she care about me? What interest would a wolf like her have in a dog like me?'

----------

Tikani had been so close to his objective that he could almost taste it, but once again it eluded him. Everything started so well - they'd found Balto and Jenna's fresh trail up the mountain, and followed it with every turn his quarry had taken. A storm had started to blow in, but while he'd initially brushed it off as nothing, it only seemed to grow worse as they went farther. The wind and snow degraded all the physical signs on the ground, and even their scent trail was soon scattered. The trail became fainter and fainter as they moved on, and so did the energy of those following him. They had been moving for almost two days straight now, and the climb up the mountain in the storm didn't help them much either. At the next fork, Tikani sniffed the ground, but he couldn't find any useful clues. He could pick up a scent here and there, but the wind had blown the snow so much that he had no way of knowing which path was true.

"So, are we getting any closer?" Atka asked.

"No. I can't get a fix on where they went from here. That wolfdog could be right under my nose for all I know."

"I know you want to find them, but even if we did, I don't think we'd be in any condition to chase them down," Atka continued, indicating towards the very tired pack behind them. The bitter winds and thick snow had taken their toll on the travel-weary pack. All were panting from exertion, and a few of them were even lying down to regain what energy they could. "At this rate, they'll lead us halfway around the world while our homeland remains unprotected."

"We are not turning back!" Tikani barked. "I told you before to keep your reservations to yourself!"

"Alright then, if we aren't going home, then what will we do?" Atka asked curtly.

Tikani paced back and forth