Dad.”

Balto nodded with a soft smile and suddenly stood up straight, catching Copper off-guard. “I better go make sure your mother knows I’m back,” he said, looking both Kaila and Copper in the eye. “And I bet you two have got plenty of catching up to do together.”

Kaila shrugged and softly said, with a hint of a smile, “You could say that…”

“Copper.” Copper jerked to attention. His father’s eyes were soft gold again, loving and sincere. “Meet me in front of your house after supper tonight, okay?”

“Sure, Dad,” Copper replied, and Balto grinned and nodded, and raced off down the street, losing himself in the crowd. Copper watched him go, positive his father just wanted to talk. Alone. Together. Father to son. Just to understand a little more about the racing thing, and then it would all be over.

“Wow.”

Kaila’s amazed tone shot through Copper’s thoughts, and he turned to study her wide-eyed expression. She had the same golden eyes as Balto, but all that was in them was solid amazement. He couldn’t help laughing a little. “What?”

“What do you mean, what’s ‘wow’?” She spun around to stare at him. It’s YOU that’s wow. I’ve never known half of what you’re like or what you can do. I mean, hating racing and hiding it all this time, fighting, KILLING SOMEBODY…”-she shuddered-“It’s kind of creepy. It’s just…wow.”

Copper laughed half-heartedly at her loss of the right words to describe the situation. “Yeah, that’s one way you could put it.” The two siblings walked through the town square and entered a narrower, quieter street as they continued talking.

“Alright, enough about me already,” Copper said with mock firmness, “What I want to know is what happened out there with you and this wolf pack, and why the heck did you go out there in the first place!”

It was Kaila’s turn to chuckle. “Oh, Copper, stop the screaming. It was pretty simple how everything happened. After that fight with Hawk, and after Mom and Dad tried to talk to me, I got really upset and rushed up on that hill where the polar ice caps are, just to think. Aniu found me there, and she convinced me to follow her after I told her I just wanted to know where I belonged. I didn’t know if I should continue living like a dog or try life on the wild side as a wolf. She promised to give me the answer, so I followed her, and she led me to the Anvil Creek pack cave. It was amazing. I met all the members, and now we’re really good friends, almost family…” As Kaila chattered on about her new ‘family’, Copper listened in astonishment. Compared to what had happened with her, his experience in the Borealis Fights seemed almost normal…She was always doing better than him, even if she didn’t try.

“…Hey, do you remember that song Mom sang to us every night before we went to sleep, when we were pups? Aniu taught it to Lakota and Sarai when they were pups, too. Remember?” She stared hopefully into his face. He made his expression purposely blank so she would have to sing it to ‘remind’ him. It seemed like forever since he had heard Kaila sing, and he felt it was time for another encore. Sure enough, Kaila sighed and raised her eyebrows. “Don’t you remember? ‘Reach for the Light’?” He remained with his oblivious expression, trying hard not to laugh. Kaila sighed again impatiently. “You know…

‘Reach for the light,

You might touch the sky,

Stand on a mountaintop, and see yourself flying,

Reach for the light,

To capture a star,

Come out of the darkness, and find out who you are.’ ”

‘Yes, reach for the light.’ The lyrics finished themselves inside Copper’s head, and he felt a kind of calm spread over him as the song ended. His adventure was over along with his recollections of the lullaby. Somehow, he knew, things would calm down, and somehow, everything would end up okay. He just knew it.

He wiggled his eyebrows up and down at his sister and a grin spread on his face. “Oh. THAT song. I was thinking of something else.”

“Oh, you,” Kaila said, knowing he was kidding, and suddenly yawned, her jaw cracking when her mouth opened wide, her eyes squinting. “Ah! I don’t know what did it, between hunting and running and swimming for dear life, and more running and escaping from a deranged moose and almost getting lost, but I’m beat.”

“YOU’RE beat?” Copper said, yawning widely himself. “I was up till past three a.m. trying to get home. I don’t know why I woke up so early.”

“Okay, so we’re both tired,” Kaila said, grinning, “Let’s go over to Mom’s house just to let her see us in the flesh and make sure we’re alright, and then we’ll head over to your house for a snooze. Sound like a plan?”

“Sounds good to me,” Copper agreed, and the two siblings set off on their mission, Kaila leading the way and Copper walking behind at a more leisurely pace. He pondered not for the last time over what had happened the past two days. He still couldn’t quite believe Hawk was gone, and he knew it would take a few weeks of not seeing Hawk around town for Copper to convince himself the husky (chow/malamute, actually…hmm) was dead. He felt more than a little guilty about it, but-he glanced ahead at Kaila’s confident stride-at least Kaila was safe.

He thought of Storm, the hardened but kind husky that had become his best friend…and was now dead. Copper felt anger and grief and bewilderment still over his friend’s death. He hoped for Storm’s sake that Taya would get the message through to Daisy. TAYA. Copper’s heart hurt for her, too. He didn’t know why-all she had ever done was put him down and insult him-but he felt an urgent, if weak, bond between them; he hoped with everything he had that he would see her again someday.

Jenna’s house was nearing now, and Kaila looked over her shoulder. “Get ready for the tears and motherly hugs coming up straight ahead,” she joked, and he smiled back and shrugged. Of course he would have to tell Jenna he’d broken both his promises to her. Oh, well. Now that both Kaila and Balto were back and he was out of the Borealis Fights, maybe everything would finally settle down. Maybe life would go back to normal.

‘Nah,’ Copper thought with a secretive grin as they mounted the steps, ‘That’s impossible.’ Life could never be the same for him again.

Copper, Kaila, Chase, Dusty, Hawk, Snow, Cookie, Torpedo, Scoop, Shep, Pepper, Becca, Rebel, Storm, Daisy, Sherry, Blitz, Taya, Lakota, Sarai, and Johnson, Bill, Matthews (the driver), Nicholas Carson, the Tolbecks, Marcus, and Randall Stevenson © redwolf03

Balto, Jenna, Steele, Aniu, Kodi, Dusty, and Ralph © Universal Studios

The Borealis Fights © redwolf03