prepared to attack her. “You took the pack across the great waters, and that was the last I was to see of you. Nava told me as much, every day until his last.”
Aleu slowly got up, careful not to make any sudden moves. “My father offered the pack to you,” she reminded him. “And you refused. And I only took the pack because they needed me.”
The wolf glared at her all the more. “Then why are you not with them now, wolfdog? Have they a new leader?”
“No,” Aleu replied, her anger beginning to grow; she had come so far in her journey, and now she was being stopped by him. “They were killed off. A black wolf attacked with an army. I barely escaped—”
“You barely escaped.” The wolf laughed mockingly. “You should have been the first one to die!” His eyebrows met. “You should not have come back. There is nothing for you here.”
“There is more for me here than there is where the pack lies dead,” Aleu snapped back. “And you are keeping me from getting there.”
The wolf eyed her thoughtfully. “Getting where?” Before allowing Aleu a chance to respond, he continued, “Are you going back to your home? I thought you didn’t have a home, and that’s why you led my pack. You’re not seriously thinking about going back to Nome, are you? There is nothing for you there.”
“My family is there,” Aleu answered, “and they are as much of a home to me as the pack was.”
“Family…” The wolf finally took his eyes off of Aleu, and looked out to the nearby woods absently. “My family was that pack. I left my family when they needed me most. If I had been their leader, I would not have let the pack die. I would have saved them. You did not, and now I have no family left.” He lowered his head. “Why should I allow you to go back to your family, when I will never be able to do the same?”
Quite annoyed with this inconvenient banter, Aleu snorted. “Because my family needs me, and yours doesn’t need you.”
The wolf returned to glaring at her. “Do you really think I would allow you to return to your father?” he asked. He rose to his feet and walked slowly toward her. “You took something very precious away from me, and now you will pay for it!”
Aleu crouched and back up, prepared for a fight. “You don’t have to do this,” she said, trying even now to reason with him. “We can just go our separate ways, and pretend we never met.”
“That would be nice, wouldn’t it?” he asked.  “But it’s not that simple. Nothing about this is simple, and I hope to make you fully aware of that. I’ll make sure you never see your family again, and they won’t miss you one bit.”
“You’re wrong!” Aleu shouted. “They love me, and they’ve missed me ever since the day I left. And even if they never know I tried to make the journey, I will keep trying until my dying breath to see my family again!”
“Really?” The wolf began to circle her. “Then why did your father allow you to go to lead my pack? If he loved you, he would have stopped you from going.” He smiled sinisterly. “And it’s a wonder that you survived. I know what he thinks: he thinks you’re dead.” He suddenly leapt at her. “Which you are!”
Aleu was caught off-guard. She didn’t believe what Niju had just said. Papa loves me…doesn’t he? She remembered how he had simply accepted the fact that she would leave, how he had seemed to decide that, if he couldn’t win his argument, she would be just as well to leave. He had simply watched her go away. Had he really loved me?
Niju hit her, sending her rolling across the snow. She recovered quickly, only to find herself flying through the air once more. This time, when she landed, the snow underneath gave way. Thinking fast, Aleu thrust her claws into the exposed ground.
The snow fell out from under her, and continued to fall for several hundred feet. Aleu gasped, realizing how close she had come to falling off the edge of the hidden cliff herself.
She struggled to her feet, but Niju hit her again, sending her even closer to the edge. And he hit her again. And again…
Papa…didn’t…love me? Aleu wondered why he had kept her secret away from her for so long, why he had let her go when she had run away, why…
He had cried for her. During their last few minutes, he had said that he loved her. She could still feel his tears against her fur as they had embraced one final time. She had felt his love.
And his love was real.
Aleu’s strength suddenly returned, and she got up just in time to avoid a blow that would have sent her over the cliff. She threw a blow of her own at Niju, not only to defend herself, but also to give him a taste of his own medicine.
She punched Niju in the face, knocking him down. She allowed him to jump up, only to hit him when he did. She kicked Niju in the chest, sending him even closer to the edge of the cliff. Suddenly she found the tables had turned: now it was she who had the upper hand. She started pushing him, determined to kill him for lying to her.
Papa loved me! 
Aleu felt Niju bolt up, kicking her once more. She went flying, barely catching the side of the cliff once more. She climbed back up, and again met Niju in combat. She knocked him to the side, and then swung her hind legs around to kick him in the chest. He flew back, this time missing the side of the cliff, and falling over it. Aleu looked after him, watching his inert form fall through the air. Then she turned her head, not wanting to see what would happen next. She heard him hit the jagged rocks below. If she hadn’t killed him, she knew, then the rocks had.
She suddenly felt very weak. The fight had taken a lot out of her, and she wondered if Niju had caused her injury. Before she could assess herself, she felt herself begin to pass out.
She allowed the calming nothingness to envelop her. She knew that it was only temporary, and resolved once again to finish her journey.
 

 CHAPTER 7

THE SUNLIGHT ONCE again woke Balto up. He squinted as the light suddenly penetrated one of his windows, sailing gracefully through the air to painfully land on his eyelids.
Oh, don’t you dare, he felt like shouting, but he knew it wouldn’t do any good. So he opened his eyes reluctantly and walked over to a shadowed part of his ship, wanting to cram in a few more minutes of sleep. When it didn’t come to him, he resolved to wake up completely and go outside.
A shot of pain erupted in his foot. He tried not to yell, but couldn’t stop himself. “Aah!” he screamed, jumping up and down on his three remaining legs.
He raised the paw that had caused him grief and took looked at it. He grimaced when he realized that the hole was still in his foot, and from the looks of it, it was now infected.
He sighed in retort. Great job, Balto, just great. Look at what you’ve got yourself into: a trip to the vet.
Boris walked up to him from behind. “Good morning, Longsleeper,” he said, walking over to a closet to retrieve his mop and bucket.
“Good morning, Boris,” Balto murmured, trying to keep the pain out of his voice. “Why are you up so early?”
Boris found his mop. “Why are you up so late? You should have been up here over three hours ago!”
Balto raised an eyebrow. “What for?”
Boris started filling his bucket with water. “Muk and Luk. That’s what for.”
Balto merely smiled and shook his head. “I can’t remember a single that that has gone by that those two bears have refused to irritate you. Why does it irritate you, anyway?” When Boris didn’t respond, Balto continued, “Muk and Luk are just that way. They do it because they love you…not because you’re letting the water spill.” He inclined his head toward the bucket.
Boris’s reflexes allowed him to save the bucket just in time. He put it on a more level floorboard and dropped the mop inside of it. “What do you know about love?” he asked, a little irritated. “Was it love that allowed you to let Aleu go?”
Balto’s smile vanished. “Let’s not talk about it right now, okay?” he asked, hoping to stall.
“No, let’s.” Boris stared at Balto. “How can you love her if you allowed her to run away? How could you love her if you let her go to a place that you don’t even know exists? How can you love her…if you know you would never see her again?”
Balto stared at the horizon. “I love her…because of all those things. It was because I love Aleu that I let her go.”
Boris just stared at him. “Okay, let’s not talk about it right now; you’re starting to tear up.”
Balto sniffed out of condensation. “Sorry, there’s a lot of moisture in the air.”
Boris nodded in argument. “Yeah, and I’m the queen of England.”
“Cross-species and cross-dresser?” Balto asked with a raised eyebrow and a smile. “I never knew.”
Boris stared at him. “That proves it.”
“Proves what?”
“That you’ve been hanging around Muk and Luk too long,” Boris said, once again retrieving his mop. “You’re becoming one of them.”
Balto’s smile widened. “Yeah. Pity, isn’t it?”
“You can say that again.”

Balto walked down the street, reluctant to reach his destination. He had known that this day would come, but he was reluctant to embrace