“Uh…good afternoon, Saba.” He left his boat and began walking up to her. “What in the world are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be practicing for your race?”
Saba raised her front paw. “I sprained it yesterday,” she explained. “My musher told me to take it easy, and maybe it’ll heal in a week.”
Balto grimaced; he had sprained his own foot too many times to count. “Must’ve been painful,” he murmured.
Saba nodded. “My pads will never be the same.” She took a minute to look her father over. “Are you all right? You look awful.”
“I’m fine,” Balto said. “It’s just…” He looked back at his boat. “Muk and Luk broke my window. Now I’m going to have an even harder time getting to sleep.”
Saba looked up at the boat. “Perhaps you could fix it.”
“Perhaps I’ve already tried.” Balto sighed once more. “I’ve got to face it: my life is meant to be lived in peace-less solitude.”
Saba stared at him. “Solitude? Are you aware of what kind of celebrity you’ve become? Every single dog in town loves you now!” He chuckled. “And it’s affected me as well; hardly a day goes by when I’m not teased for being the daughter of a hero.”
Balto looked into her blue eyes. “All I want right now is to get a good night’s sleep and a good morning’s sleep-in.”
“Yeah,” Saba said with a snort and a smile. “Like that’s ever going to happen.” She looked back at the boat. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll help you fix that window, if…” She stopped in mid-sentence.
“If what?”
“If you make sure that Aleu’s name is not mentioned for the next week at least,” Saba finished.
Balto stared at her. “You’ve been talking with your mother, haven’t you?” When Saba just smiled and nodded, he chuckled. “All right, it’s a deal.”

By the end of the day, Saba and Balto had gathered enough wood to only cover a few inches of the window; that was all they could find.
As they were trying to put the wood up onto the window—quite unsuccessfully—Boris walked up to them. “Good afternoon, Balto and…Balto’s Daughter.”
“Saba,” Saba corrected, a little annoyed.
“Right, Maya,” Boris said. “Sorry, I can’t seem to remember your name.”
Before Saba could retort, Balto quickly spoke up. “What do you want, Boris?”
“I came to see what you two were up to.” He looked at the window, and then looked at the small pile of wood below the window. Then he turned to face Balto. “You’re going to cover the window with that?” He chuckled. “That would never work.”
“We’re going to make it work,” Balto said, trying to stick two pieces of wood together just right so that they would fit snugly in place. It didn’t work, and the wood fell back down to the ground.
Boris smiled. “Oh, yes, I can see that.”
Saba turned to him. “Uncle Boris, would you please stop pestering us so we can do this? We’re on a roll.”
A piece of wood that she had previously set into the window fell out, landing right next to the board that previously fell.
Boris stared at her, and then shrugged. “If you say so.” He smiled, and turned back to Balto. “You know, you only have to ask me, and I’m sure I could come up with something. After all, if I wasn’t your guardian, you’d be living on the streets!”
“Boris,” Balto replied, “one time—because you are my guardian—I was living on the streets.”
Boris gulped when Saba started chuckling. Then, when her chuckling became uncontrollable laughter, he speechlessly started walking away. Shouting back, he said, “Don’t say I didn’t offer.”
Saba stopped her laughing long enough to say, “He’s right, you know,” to her father.
Balto sighed. “I know, I know. But what else can we do?” He looked back at his small pile of wood. “This is all we can find.”
“Out here,” Saba said. “But we haven’t gone into town yet; we could look there. There’s got to be some amount of wood there.”
Balto turned to look at her. “Saba, that won’t…” His voice trailed off. After a few seconds of awkward silence, he smiled. “You know…that is a good idea.” With that, he started running into town, Saba close behind.

CHAPTER 4

THE SUN WAS coming up over the eastern horizon by the time Aleu crawled onto the beach. The ice had completely melted hours ago, and it was only by sheer strength and determination that she had managed to swim the rest of the thirty miles to shore.
The trip seemed to take longer this time than it had three years ago. Perhaps her perception was changed, since before she was leading the pack, and now she was all alone. Or perhaps the journey really did take longer.
After all, she had been in no rush. She hopped from ice block to ice block, walking whenever she could. She took several breaks, mostly to help calm her mind and let the reality of her situation sink in.
She found herself thinking quite a lot during her trip across the ice—one that took all day and most of the night. She found herself asking less questions about why she survived, and more about who the black wolf was, and why he wanted to find her home. She didn’t have any answers, and she made sure she was not being followed as she traveled, so there was no way to know.
Aleu hoped she would never find out; it might not be an answer she would like.
Unfortunately, she had taken so much time to think, that she barely noticed the ice melting as she went. In fact, it was only when she had to begin swimming between ice floats, that she realized they were getting smaller.
That had caused her to quicken her pace, but it was not enough to ensure a safe journey to the Alaskan shoreline. All too soon, the ice became too small to support her weight, and she had to swim the remaining distance of thirty miles.
And now, after hours of swimming, she had finally made it. As she crawled onto the sandy shore, half-drowned and only half-awake, she let herself simply slide onto the sand, breathing in gulps of air while trying to make her legs stop trembling. It took a long while, but eventually she was able to relax and enjoy the pleasure of the moment.
A break was something Aleu welcomed. Her limbs were sore, her muscles ached, and her skin so wrinkled it felt horrible. She lay on her side, smiling with satisfaction as the rising sun beat down on her. She felt as if she could stay here forever.
And why not? After all, my pack doesn’t need me anymore, and my family in Nome doesn’t even know that I’m on my way. I can start a completely new life; I can find a brand-new home, and nobody would have to know about it.
The thought intrigued Aleu, and she pondered it for a few minutes. I could go find a new wolf pack, or I can create a whole new one with a lone male. Or I can find a human town and become a pet… Her thoughts trailed away when she remembered that no human would want her, because she looked like a wolf.
She was a wolf. And so she was doomed to live the life of a wolf.
But I don’t even know how to be a regular wolf. I’ve only ever led wolf packs, and I doubt any other pack would let me do that. I can’t do anything else but lead.
For the first time in a long time, Aleu did not know what she wanted. She closed her eyes, hoping to increase her concentration. Come on, Aleu. What do you want? Even if it’s not to be a wolf, what do you want?
She thought only for a few seconds, before she realized what she wanted. I want to go home, and see my family.
A sense of calm overcame her, and she smiled as she realized she was making the right choice.
After another hour, she felt rested enough to get up and start on her journey again. Up ahead of her, standing thousands of feet in the air, were numerous mountains. She groaned, not looking forward to crossing all of them.
As she began walking, her stomach began to growl. At first, she grew depressed, remembering that it had been over a day and a half since she had eaten last. And there was no food to be found in the vicinity of the area; that’s why the wolf pack had to leave to begin with.
But just as she was about to accept the fact that she would have to go another day without food, a cry rang through the air. Aleu raised her head, looking to see what had caused the noise.
A raven was flying overhead, heading toward a small cave to the north. It circled in the air once, crying at Aleu when it faced her, and then continued on its flight.
Aleu, more curious than hopeful, decided to follow the raven; it obviously wanted her to follow, and she had nothing better to do at the moment.
The raven led her to the cave, and she gasped when she looked inside. A single caribou, very old and slim, was lying inside, seeming to be asleep. Upon closer examination, Aleu realized it was actually dead—and it had probably died only within the last few hours.
She turned to ask the raven how it knew the caribou was there, but the raven was gone.
More questions sped through her mind, but she decided to ignore them all so she could dig into her meal. Her stomach filled quickly, and she never felt she would enjoy a caribou so much.
As she finished eating, she turned to the exit and was met with anther, less pleasant surprise. Snow was starting to fall.
Winter came early this year, Aleu thought with a groan. She sighed. Well, I guess I’d better