moan.

“Ouch,” Aleu said with concern, “That’s not good. Well, I could help you find him. We used to hide around here in games when we were pups. Those were some pretty good hiding places, so he might be using one of them. Who knows?”

“It’s worth a shot,” Dusty answered, trudging through Kodi’s scent, “Let’s go.”

“One more question.”

“Yes?” Dusty said impatiently.

“Do you like Kodi, just like he likes you?” Aleu asked.

A wave of uncertainty hit Dusty in the face. “I don’t know,” she murmured. She considered this a moment, but then shook it off and pushed onward, not wanting to let Kodi hide out there for another minute.

“Interesting,” Aleu said thoughtfully, and hurried to catch up with Dusty.

The two gray females tracked Kodi’s scent on the snow, their forms like identical, fading blurs on the horizon.

Kodi shivered in his hideaway, the thoughts that had been ricocheting around his brain for the past few minutes finally slowing down. So he had seen Dusty with another guy. So what? He shouldn’t care. It was Dusty’s own life, and she hadn’t said she liked him. Maybe that guy was the reason for that.

Jealousy roared up inside out of nowhere, but he tried frantically to squish it down. He shouldn’t care. But he did. A lot.

Kodi stood up and squeezed himself out of the small cave, breaking away with a pop! and landing face first in the snow. He quickly picked himself up and glanced around. His shock was ebbing away.

Suddenly he felt the need to talk to someone; someone who understood what it felt like to be rejected and down on your luck. Kodi would have hardly even considered it in any other situation, but this was different. He needed to talk to his father, Balto.

Glad to be focused on something besides his predicament, Kodi turned and galloped off to another side of town, where he found the boat on the vacant beach with its inhabitant proudly perched on the railing, looking out over Nome. Kodi grinned with relief at having caught his dad alone, and trotted faster as he felt his father’s eyes watch him draw near.

When Kodi was almost to the ramp leading to the deck, Balto jumped down and landed softly next to his son. “Hey, Kodi!…Ow,” Balto said, wincing. He rubbed one leg and flashed a sheepish grin at Kodiak. “I’m getting too old for these kinds of gymnastics.”

“You’ve got to be more careful, Dad,” Kodi told him, shaking his head, “A goose isn’t going to be much help if you break a leg out here or something.”

“Oh, let me have some fun in my old age,” Balto pleaded as he stretched, “Aleu’s already making me feel old enough, what with my new grandkids coming around every once in awhile. And you should see Boris! It kills me how the pups chew on him every bit as much as you and the rest of your siblings did!”

Kodi forced a smile. At least he could forget his situation for these few minutes. “Speaking of which, where is Boris?”

Balto’s eyes sparkled with amusement. “He’s out on a ‘date’ with Stella. Can you believe it? An old gander like him getting a spring chicken like her…Puns intended.” Balto chuckled as Kodi rolled his eyes, but then he saw the worry in his son’s face. “Anyway. What’s up?”

Kodi looked down at his paws. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea. Maybe this wasn’t the right time to tell someone how he felt. Besides, he had no idea how to start.

Balto waited patiently.

Kodi slowly looked up, took a deep breath, and plunged in. “I just told Dusty I liked her, but then I saw her with this other guy, and I thought it must be her boyfriend because they were playing around and stuff, and I got jealous, and I left, but then Dusty started chasing me, and I ran out here, and I think I lost her, and I want you to tell me how to get out of this freakin’ mess!”

Balto stood, his brow furrowed, with a grin quietly sneaking onto his face. “You and Dusty, huh?”

“Only it’s not exactly me and Dusty,” Kodi said bitterly, “It’s more like him and Dusty.”

Balto looked at his son with both amusement and concern. “Hmmm,” he hummed, climbing up the ramp. Kodi followed him, and soon they were sitting facing each other on the deck. “Well, Kodiak, all I’ve got to say is if you really do care about Dusty, you need to do what’s best for her. So she hasn’t told you about this boyfriend?”

“No,” Kodi answered, “Never. About the only things she ever talks about to are the team and her family.”

“What kind of…behavior was being exhibited when you walked in on them?”

“They were just horsing around,” Kodi said, “Pushing each other, laughing, teasing each other…” He stopped talking, afraid he might burst.

Balto sighed, rubbing his temple with one paw. “You know, this is never easy stuff. And Kodi? Remember that, in the confusion of the moment, you could have misjudged something. Their gestures, their expressions…Everything is hard to judge when you’re…well, it is okay for me to say you’re in love?”

“If that’s it, love is one of the best and worst feelings you can have,” Kodi admitted quietly, “I feel…kind of confused, but in a good way. No, that’s not right. I mean…ARR! I can’t explain it.”

Balto’s smile held understanding. “I know. I still feel that way about your mother.”

“Really?” Kodi said with genuine surprise.

“Love doesn’t grow old, Kodi,” Balto said with a soft chuckle, “It’s just life often gets in the way of love, and we forget how to show love.”

“How do you come up with this stuff, Dad?” Kodi said in wonder.

“Time. Age begats wisdom, I suppose,” Balto explained.

Kodi smirked. “And yet you still find time to jump out of boats with a five foot drop to the ground. What are we going to do with you, Dad?”

Balto smiled and rolled over on his back to scratch an itch on one of his shoulder blades. “Enough about me. How do you feel about Dusty?”

Kodi could feel his face reddening to match his fur. “Oh, c’mon, Dad. I’m no good at that stuff. Dusty is…indescribable. Oh, you do a better job. How do you feel about Mom?”

Balto rolled onto his stomach and heaved himself up with a thoughtful expression on his face. “Touché. Well, let me tell you one thing: your mother is the most beautiful creature on earth, Kodiak. She’s…she’s a falling star, and I just happened to be in her path as she fell to earth. She’s a fallen angel. She’s fire and snow together, making strength. She’s a rainbow that I’ve flown through, and you kids are the pot of gold at the end. That’s how I feel about Jenna.”

Kodi sat with his mouth agape. “What do you do, rehearse these or something?” Kodi exclaimed in astonishment.

Balto laughed. “No, no. I just say what I know, and I know your mother is precious.”

Kodi gulped. “Dusty’s beautiful, too,” he murmured, “And strong. And smart. Kind of like moonlight, in a way. She’s radiant, and she changes the look and feel of everything…and she keeps slipping away…” He looked up to see his father grinning at him. “What?”

“I guess you do have some poetry in you,” Balto chuckled, “You got it from me, no doubt. So now we can both sit around here, describing our two loves-”

“Dad!” Kodi cried indignantly, not sure whether he should laugh or yell. “You-You tricked me into it! Whatever you did to make me say that, don’t do it again!”

“Why?” Balto teased, “I’m sure Dusty would love to hear more about how you think she’s-”

Kodi tackled him before he could finish, and the two wrestled each other on the deck, laughing until they couldn’t breathe.

Kodi suddenly realized how dark it was when he looked fully into his father’s face. Balto’s yellow orbs glowed amid the blackness. Kodi jumped up. “Dad, you look freaky in the dark.”

“Sorry,” Balto said, “It’s getting pretty late, isn’t it?”

“I should go,” Kodi said.

“Well…” Balto stopped. He looked at his son. “Not many of my kids come out here to visit me.” He shot Kodi a pleading look, complete with big puppy eyes.

Kodi burst out laughing. “The hero of Nome has to beg his son to stay? Wow, you’ve really stooped low, Dad.”

“What can I say? Sometimes it’s nice to be around my own species. A grumpy goose isn’t much company out here.” Balto looked around. “Wherever those two geese are, I hope they’re behaving themselves!”

Kodi hid a smirk. “Alright, I’ll stay.”

“Thank you,” Balto said sincerely.

They began to clamber down below deck, when Balto called over his shoulder, “Kodi?”

“Yeah?”

“Whatever happens between you and Dusty…just be careful,” Balto advised, “If you really love her, everything should work out.”

“I hope so,” Kodi muttered, and curled up in a corner and was out like a light.

Darkness had veiled the land much earlier than Dusty would have wanted it to, but her progress in searching for Kodi had been slow, anyhow. Dusty wanted to