to starting over.

“I’ll just find someone new, can’t be too hard can it?” Tycha thought. “I mean I’m going to miss Tim and all, and Junior going to grow up without me, but… this is the way things have to be now.”

Tycha kept climbing the hill.

Balto was now sitting with the rest of the dogs, anxiously awaiting the coming trial, and more importantly, Drake’s decision.

Drake walked into the old mill, and as he climbed up onto the raised portion of the room, everyone fell silent.

Drake turned to the dogs, who were all standing below. “Will the accused please present herself.” He said.

Jenna walked slowly into the view of the dogs in the old mill, and the crowd began to whisper to themselves again.

Drake turned to Jenna, who had sat down behind him, and said. “Jenna, you are now informed that you are suspected to have committed a crime of the following offenses: one, kidnapping; in that you took my son Jason and held him against his will for an amount of time; two, attempted murder, in that you caused certain harm to Jason that was intended to have, but did not, result in his death. These are the charges against you, how do you plea?”

Jenna sighed. “Guilty.”

The dogs began talking again, and Drake had to quiet them, then he turned back to Jenna. “You are informed that I will accept your guilty plea. This, therefore, will not be a trial, but rather a finding of fact. You do not dispute the charges against you and willfully admit to having committed them?”

Jenna nodded and said softly. “Yes.”

Drake nodded. “Very well then, I will call only two witnesses to the crime then, not to decide whether you are guilty or not, but rather to establish a case against you. You personally will have no chance to defend your actions or lack there of, do you understand and knowingly forfeit that right?”

Jenna nodded. “Yes I do.”

Drake turned back to the dogs. “With that, I’m going to ask Gemeni to please come up here.”

Gemeni stood and walked to the platform.

“Gemeni, you understand that you are here to establish a case against Jenna, who has pled guilty to the charges against her, and that everything you say must be the truth, and nothing but that?”

“Yes I do.” Gemeni said.

“Please relate for me the events of two days past, when the crime in question occurred.”

Gemeni sighed. “My son, Jason, always goes for a run in the morning, it’s something he’s done since… well since he was old enough for me to trust him to… anyway, something told me that day to go check on him… call it a mother’s intuition if you will, but… I’ve told him many times not to run through the outskirts, as it is dangerous. Something told me that morning that he was going to do so… as I said before, I really can’t tell you what… I just felt something was wrong.”

“…and what did you find when you reached the outskirts?” Drake asked.

“Well, I saw Jenna there, talking to Jason. I figured she was telling him the same thing I was going to, that she’d seen him run in or something, but… as I watched, Jenna hit him. It… it completely blew me away. Usually I would have jumped in to defend him, I’m… I’m usually fairly aggressive, but this was Jenna. After she hit him, she drug him into one of the sheds nearby. I didn’t understand why… well, then I came to get you.”

“What happened when we got to the shed?” Drake asked.

“Jason ran to me, and I removed him from the situation.” Gemeni said.

“Tell me,” Drake asked. “What was his condition?”

Gemeni sighed. “Well, he was understandably upset, I mean, this is Jenna. She and Balto have been close friends of our family, almost like family themselves. He was hurt, about three bite marks on his neck… and I suppose that if they had went deeper… they would’ve killed him.”

“…and the Jenna you refer to is the same one standing before us today?” Drake asked.

Gemeni nodded. “Yes.”

“Thank you Gemeni.” Drake said. “Do you have anything else to say?”

Gemeni sighed again. “Just that… I don’t understand this… Jenna… she just doesn’t seem capable of this, not the Jenna I knew.”

“Gemeni, you can step down now.” Drake said.

Gemeni did so, and returned to her place in the crowd.

Drake looked at Balto.

“There was only one other witness there that day, and I ask Balto to please come up here.”

Balto sighed and stood up. He’d expected this.

Balto walked to the platform and sat beside Drake.

“Balto, you understand that Jenna is being charged with a crime, and that everything you say must be the truth and nothing else, no matter what your relationship with the accused might be?”

Balto nodded. “Yes.”

Drake nodded. “Balto, you are my friend, and I don’t wish to cause you any more grief than you are already going through, so I’m going to simply ask you to verify Gemeni’s account. Was Gemeni’s testimony accurate to the events that transpired that day?”

Balto sighed. “Yes it was.”

“Thank you.” Drake said. “Balto, do you have anything else you wish to say?”

“Yes I do.” Balto answered.

“Please continue.” Drake said.

Balto stood and walked in front of Drake, addressing those gathered below him.

“This is not typical of Jenna, and… I ask you to find it in your hearts to forgive her. I ask this because Jenna was going through some tough times, and while this does not mitigate the offences… no one was died, no one was even hurt much, no lasting trauma was caused. Jenna would never repeat this offence, this I can say with certainty. At the time, Jenna believed Drake to be responsible for the death of our son, Everest, who was banished not long ago, along with his sister Saba. While I did not hold Drake entirely accountable for this, Jenna did. It was out of grief, the grief of a mother for her son, that she acted.”

Balto stopped and sighed. “However, I have since learned that this is not true. Everest is alive, and though I will not disclose his location to protect he and his family, I can assure you that Jenna will no longer associate Everest’s supposed death with Drake or his family. The cause of this unfortunate series of events was grounded in a belief that was false.”

Balto turned to Drake.

“...Because of this, I ask you Drake, to please, please have mercy on her.”

Balto fell silent for a moment.

“That’s all I have.” He said quietly.

Drake nodded. “Balto, please step down.”

Balto did, and returned to his place in the crowd.

Drake waited a moment before he spoke. “I have deliberated on this subject for the past two days. This is an especially difficult situation for me, because of my association with both the accused and the victim.”

He sighed.

“However laws have been broken, and for that there must be punishment. Therefore, I impose the following sentence.”

Drake turned to Jenna.

“Jenna, you have been found, by your own admission and plea, guilty of the charges of kidnapping and attempted murder. These offences are so serious that I feel I cannot make an allowance for you simply because you were my friend, or your civic record. I therefore sentence you to indefinite banishment, from Nome and all of its members and affiliations.”

“NO!” Balto screamed in his mind.

Drake sighed. “In light of your civic record, I grant you a forty-eight hour amnesty of sentence, at the end of which, you will report here for the carrying out of the afore mentioned punishment. You are to understand however, that failure to report at the end of that forty-eight hours will result in you being held in contempt of my orders, the punishment of which is inarguably death.”

Drake stopped, the full effect of his words hitting him just then.

“…with that, you may leave. This meeting is adjourned. Please be safe returning to your homes.”

Jenna broke into a run then, sprinting to Balto’s side, and almost running him over.

She buried her head in Balto’s neck as the tears she’d kept inside throughout the proceeding finally sprung forth.

“I’m sorry Balto.” She said. “I’m so sorry.”

“Shh.” Balto said. “It’s okay Jen, It’s okay. Everything will be fine.”

“How can I say that?” Balto thought. “Life without Jenna? How can anything ever be alright ever again.”

Balto didn’t know.

Drake walked out the back door to the old mill.

He felt really bad about Balto… but…

“… the law is the law right?” He thought. “I mean, I shouldn’t have made an exception to it should I?”

He sighed.

“It’s never easy to do what’s right… but… it’s even harder this time.”

Drake was in such a daze that Tim almost ran into him as he rounded the corner at a dead run.

Drake stepped back and Tim slid to a stop.

“What is it Tim?” Drake asked. “Geez, you almost ran into me.”

“Trina’s awake!” Tim said.

“What?” Drake asked.

Tim smiled. “She’s awake! Trina… she woke up!”

“What are you saying?” Drake asked.

Tim sighed. “Just… just come to the hospital,