“Where’s Balto?” She lifted her paw and pointed south with my eyes following I noticed she was pointing to the wooden ship I saw earlier. As I turned back to thank her I noticed one of the pups just as lazily holding her head up, a tiny brown-grey dog with golden eyes nudged Jenna and faintly whispered “Mom, what’s with all the noise?” Wanting to leave before I caused her more trouble I blurted out “Thanks Jenna!—and sorry for waking you up!” and ran off towards the ship in the distance. “Oh its nothing Kaila, go back to sleep” said Jenna giving Kaila a little nudge with her muzzle. Afterwards she did so herself as well and went back to a cozy slumber.  Although confused at first, I held my wits about and reason ‘So that’s why it was Jenna’s house, not Balto’s House. Well he lives on a ship, seems better to me than a cramped up house!’ I thought.

The scent of a familiar wolf dog had filled my nostrils upon reaching the ship, Balto was there for sure. I quickly dashed up a lopsided plank onto the deck of the ship. And there he was, Balto; staring off into the ocean. My scent had perked his ears and switched his eyes from the sea onto me with a gentle-hearted tone: “Welcome back Destiny”. I feel as though tears were on the verge of my eyes as I hadn’t really have had a place to go back to. “Thank you Balto”

I looked around the ship and inquired: “So, you live on a ship huh?” he claims “It has its ups and downs, but home is still home right?” I concur with a nod and smile. ‘Well here I was sitting on the deck with Balto… but what the heck am I suppose to ask?’ Balto piqued his curiosity when he didn’t see a accompanying wolf.

“Hey Destiny, wasn’t there another wolf with you last night? Cyan I think, your mate?” he asked.

“Oh, he decided to stay back and prepare our territory”

“He sounds like a good mate” he chuckled a little. “Yes he is isn’t he?” I dreamingly assured. “Say Balto, seeing as I gave you the story of my life last night, how about yours?” “Well I don’t mind, but it’s a long story” he replied. “I have all the time in the world now brother”

He gave a small smile and redirected his gaze back onto the ocean. “Heh, well I suppose the earliest I could remember was when I was just pup…” He drifted onto his life story, his encounter with rabies within his pack, the meeting of Jenna when he ran off, to his long life on this very boat, and numerous of his amazing adventures like the Nome Serum Run. It had seemed that the world placed itself before him as he embarked on one adventure to another without hesitation. While he was continuing on with his stories, I sat eagerly listening. He had accomplished so much in life it had left me sitting there thinking and hoping that I could one day catch up with adventures of my own.

By the time Balto finished with his adventures it was late in the afternoon, he had only covered his journeys across Alaska with me asking an occasional question now and then, then he had shifted gears to telling me on how he and Jenna had started a family together with not one, but two litters of pups. Family. My head started clicking just then when he mentioned family. I worked up my lungs to interrupt him with a question: “Say Balto” “Hm?” he said turning his head directing his golden eyes onto mine “I was wondering as to when I could get to meet the little guys?” “Hah, our first litter is far from little anymore” he answered in a joking tone. “And my second litter is with Jenna at her house right now” A mental image of the little pups next to Jenna had come up, slipping into a coma because of how beautiful and cute that moment looked, my face had begun to reflect this. “Well I can see that you want to see them in person, days still young anyways and I can bore you with my stories some other time” I nodded with a smile.

Balto turned around and headed for the railing of the ship and jumped off, I followed jumping off and landing with a thud. “Ugh” I moaned. Balto turned around to check on me “You alright Des?”

“Yeah, I’m alright, just the height caught me off guard”

“Sorry about that, I guess I got so used to jumping off the ship that I forgot to mention the drop” explained Balto in a semi apologetic and humorous tone. It seemed Cyan’s silliness had reached me. “Nothing about it Balto, I was jumping without looking” I said while laughing a bit at myself. Chuckling he replied “Well I’ll be sure to mention any other jumps along the way”. We continued our way towards Nome laughing at the first goofy moment between me and my brother. I was thoroughly satisfied with thought of family life being exactly like this and more.

Within a few moments we found ourselves just outside of Nome, Balto tilted his head and swayed his head towards the town making a ‘let’s go gesture’. We headed into town, although I hesitated a bit at the fact that I was entering a human settlement with humans running about. I had only really been comfortable around a single human at a time since I’ve only really seen a handful in my life. Jenna’s owner last night, and… Mark… “Something wrong sis?” inquired Balto. I tensed up a bit as I tried to muster up an answer “Oh. Uh nothing” I felt him peering into my eyes trying to find out what was wrong. An idea popped into his head, judging from the slight ‘eureka’ look on his face. “I’m guessing it has to do with so many dogs and people around?” he asked. “Well eh… not so much the dogs but… the people…” I trailed into an awkward silence at the end of the sentence “It’s alright Des, I understand. We can head around town instead” suggested Balto. “Yes please, erm I mean it’s preferable” I reluctantly answered. Balto gave me a gentle nod as his understanding golden eyes focused on the new route.

When Jenna’s house was within sight I felt a warm mushy feeling inside me as I pictured the pups with their mother. I wondered how it would feel to be cuddling next to my mother… or cuddling pups. “Well here we are”. I followed Balto as he ran around to the back of the house and used a doggy door to get in the house. ‘I guess I didn’t notice this door here before’. As we came through to the other side into the kitchen it seemed Jenna’s owners were still out for the day, but as we made our way around a corner, sounds of playing and squeamish voices loudly reverberated around the house. We turned the corner to enter the living room where Jenna lay supervising over the pups playing with each other; turning her head towards us as we entered the room. “Balto!” she ran up to nuzzle him as if he had been gone forever, soon the pups caught on and started yelling ‘Dad’ and ‘Daddy’. A real family portrait was painting before my very eyes; a happy father and mother, energetic pups yipping in joy around them; real perfection.

After they had finished embracing each other, Balto went on to relieve Jenna of pup duty while Jenna made her way toward me. “Hi Destiny, how are you?”; “I’m doing well, and you? I see you’re not as tired” I replied. Jenna let out a small laugh at my remark “I’m good myself now that I got some rest” I then shifted my eyes to the four pups playing momentarily amongst themselves. Jenna was watched me as I changed my focus from her onto the pups “I think it’s about time you met your extended family Destiny” Jenna said happily. I turned back to Jenna to give her a nod as a large smile started to creep onto my face. “Alright, settle down and come meet Destiny” called out Jenna, and within moments the four pups lined up single file in front of her as if it were a tiny puppy brigade. ‘That sounds so cute’ I thought as I pictured an army of puppies.

“First off we have Dusty, the youngest of the batch” she said in a prideful tone and stance. He was a pup with white fur that had a thin layer of red sprinkled about. As I examined Dusty he stood shyly trying to avoid eye contact. “He’s a little shy” assured Jenna.

“Next we have Chase” continued Jenna in the same prideful tone. Who was an even tinier pup than Dusty and had ruby red fur with white patches. Scanning her physique, it seemed like she was going to grow up as beautiful as her mother; gazing on, I saw her left hind leg was twisted and bent unnaturally. I began to worry about her future. I’m sure that Jenna too was a little worried as she lowered her head to Chase and licked her on the cheek, responding with a giggle.

“Your turn Balto, I’m going to get these two some fresh air. Come join us after your done” Jenna picked up Chase by the scruff of her neck and laid Chase on top of her back. Afterwards Jenna began making way outside with Dusty. “Sure thing Jenna” called out Balto as they left the room.

“Next off we have Copper” Copper had the creamy colored fur with copper patches around his ears, legs and back. Copper widened his eyes as he observed me and asked “Whoa! Where’d you get those cool looking scars?”; “Over a long period of time Copper” I replied. He seemed a bit like a fighter, to be amazed by the slightest of scars, especially mine. “Alright Copper calm