heading when we get there!” his irritating reply came back, and Jenna concentrated on keeping up with the persistent brown and white running machine ahead of her. She watched Lake as he ran, his sinewy legs smashing pawprints into the snow, leaving his permanent stamp, and his orange bandana flapping in the breeze. The red and white husky remembered the history of the clashing orange cloth. When Jewel’s litter had been born, the owners wanted a way to tell the puppies apart. When the pups were a few weeks old, the owners decided to put different colored bandanas on them. This was a great method in being able to tell the pups apart. Jenna’s bandana had been dark green, and she had been known as ‘the green puppy’ for awhile, which still annoyed her at times. Lake, of course, had gotten the orange bandana. The bandanas were eventually taken off when the pups were given to their owners, but Lake still wore his like a badge of honor, considering his father’s favorite color had been orange. The family who chose him didn’t really care that he still wore it; they just wanted a good watchdog and guard dog, but Lake had become bored with those occupations and had even given up trying to live with the family. He wasn’t a good watchdog, so they didn’t care about him, seeing as the family was only a grumpy older couple that were scared of anything that moved outside their small house. Lake had gotten tired of his loveless home, so he stayed wherever he could, usually slipping in late at night through the doggy door to curl up next to Jenna. Rosy and her parents never knew, and the brown and white husky had gotten into the habit of sleeping at his sister’s house often.

Thoughts of Lake whirled Jenna’s mind to thoughts of her father, Ranger. Lake was the spitting image of Ranger except for a splash of red fur underneath the tip of his tail and on his stomach, and a thin white stripe wrapping around the middle of his left front leg. Thoughts of Ranger soon obviously led to Jenna’s remembrance of fragments of her dream, and she unconsciously looked down at her red legs as the image of Ranger’s red blood all over hit her mind. The blood was scarlet, crimson, RED, and examining her red fur she suddenly thought, ‘My fur is the exact same shade and color as Dad’s…blood, in my dream.’ It was like being covered with a coat of her father’s blood. ‘His blood runs through my veins, and it’s as if my fur color is a symbol of that.’

Jenna unconsciously slowed down a bit to contemplate this, but almost immediately realized she was falling behind and took up the fast pace again, scolding herself for being so melodramatic. Brother and sister wore a path through the tundra as Lake kept running, the sun tinting the horizon in cool lemon streaks. Then Jenna saw him slowing down, and he stopped. Panting, she walked up to his side. He was damp with sweat and his body sucked in and out for air, but he was grinning at something lapping at his paws. Jenna looked down, and her brown eyes widened. “A creek!”

The water flowed through a worn embankment of snow moulded by erosion over the years, the snow purest glitter white on both banks but rich dark mud could be seen through the clear water. The icy liquid reflected the golden sunrise and seemed to wash spurts of golds, reds, and purples downstream. Jenna felt herself quietly gasp. “Lake, it’s beautiful.”

“Yeah,” Lake agreed, nodding to the sunrise and its watery twin, “A real beauty, isn’t it?”

Jenna’s eyes drank in the spectacular image of a warm orange sun fanning golden rays out into a thin, delicate, silvery mist, the snow dyed red as though the sun had had a battle with the night and had emerged with a bleeding wound. To add to all its brilliance, the dawn was mirrored in the creek that still seemed to be capturing colors and trickling them downstream.

The red and white husky turned to her brother. “How did you find this?”

“Exploring,” Lake replied simply, still gazing at the streaked horizon, “I was bored one day, I came out of town, I wandered around aimlessly, almost lost my way, I was dying of thirst, and just when I thought I’d never make it, I found this creek, like I was drawn to it or something. Weird, huh?” Jenna nodded wordlessly and peeled her eyes away from the sunrise to measure the distance between herself and the other bank. She gathered herself up and sprang high and long to land neatly on the other side. Lake whistled. “You’ve been practicing, right?”

“It’s that obvious?” Jenna said jokingly, turning around to face her brother. He was grinning, but as soon as she was facing him his grin faded, and he stared at her with his mouth gaping open like a fish out of water. She cocked an eyebrow and smiled wanly at her brother. “What?” She could feel the sun’s rays fanning out around her, and the water below her began to stain gold and silver and a saucy orange-red. She couldn’t see her reflection, though, and turned from side to side, inspecting herself to find the source of Lake’s astonishment. “Do I have a burr in my fur or something?”

Lake shook himself and jumped the stream to join his sister on the opposite bank. “No,” he said slowly, staring some more at Jenna, who seemed to be wearing a crown made of the sunrise, the brilliant colors accenting her bright fur and lighting up the rich color of her eyes. “Hey, you could turn out to be a real beauty someday, you know.”

Jenna looked at him questioningly. “What?” Unable to figure out Lake’s strange remark, she shook her head and dropped the subject. A content silence reigned as the two watched the creek fade and pale to a calm blue-gray. Jenna let a sudden breeze ruffle her ruddy fur, and she closed her bright eyes to simply enjoy the soft touch of the wind…

Splash! A few spatters of cold water made Jenna open her eyes to see Lake standing in the middle of the creek. She looked down at him and grinned, but narrowed her eyes and raised an eyebrow. He grinned winningly back.

“Sorry. I couldn’t resist.” Jenna rolled her eyes and shivered as the few drops of creek water ran down her back.

“How can you stand it? The water’s freezing!”

“I’m OK. The current’s a little stronger than I thought it was, though…whoaho-ho-ho-ho, waHA!” Lake was suddenly pulled downstream a couple steps, and he tripped over a rock and fell flat on his face with another splash. Jenna collapsed on the bank, holding her sides and shaking with laughter, rolling around in mirth. Lake pulled his face out of the slick mud with a sucking sound, and popped up out of the water. Jenna looked up, then folded into giggles once more at his muddy muzzle and astonished expression. Lake shook his head so some of the mud dotted the water, then joined in the laughter with his sister. “So you think that was pretty funny, huh?”

“Funny?” Jenna shrieked, finally gaining enough wind to sit up, “Why else would I be rolling around in the snow, Lake? Of course that was funny!...Let’s see you do it again! C’mon, encore!”

“Only if you join me,” Lake said with a devilish grin, and before Jenna could react he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her in.

She screamed at the first touch of the icy water, and Lake laughed at his scheme. Thinking quickly, Jenna scooped up a pawful of slimy mud from the creek bottom and in vengeance threw it at Lake’s head. It hit him right on the forehead, and he froze for a second in astonishment, but that’s all Jenna needed before she chuckled and threw another mudball at her brother. It hit him on the neck, and that time he grinned and threw some mud to hit her on the nose. She squealed, and they continued the mudfight until both huskies looked like over-sized drowned rats. Unknowingly, their motion and the current took them further downstream where the water was swifter and deeper. Neither sibling noticed until Jenna was packing an extra fat, mushy mudball that would be certain to squish all over the fur of any dog who got hit by it…

“Jen! A little help here?” Jenna looked up to see Lake floundering in the clotted water, and white foam washed over him as he drifted further and further away. Jenna dropped the mud and paddled after him, almost going underwater more than once. She spat out the dirty swill.

“Lake? Lake!”

“The current’s got me, Jenna! I can’t swim!” The brown and white husky was captured by a wave and came up coughing and sputtering. “Jen!...Get up on shore! I don’t want you caught in the current too!”

Seeing it as the only sensible thing to do, Jenna obediently fought her way to the bank and heaved herself up to run alongside the creek, her stomach churning in fear like the rapids. Lake had been pulled ahead again, and she ran as fast as she could to gaze upon a sight she would never forget.

“Lake!” Her brother was hanging with his whole body underwater, caught by his orange bandana snagging onto a branch sticking out from the opposite bank. Jenna hardly stopped to consider the thought: ‘He’s drowning.’

Jenna jumped the creek and sprinted over to the broken branch sinking into the snow and mud on the bank. It was huge, old, and gnarled, but Jenna didn’t even have to think as she leapt onto it and swayed unsteadily like a tightrope walker as she inched her way to the edge and pushed her muzzle under the filmy water and grabbed onto the scruff of Lake’s neck. Using