and Quicksilver dozing appeared next to the pups. “You have loyal friends who would stand by your side to the end. And you say that is not success?”

Aleu blushed. “I never thought of it that way,” she admitted.

Aniu smiled gently. “You have grown into a strong, beautiful young ‘wolf’. I’m proud of you.”

Aniu faded, and Aleu slept on, but a tiny grateful smile crept up on her face and remained there for the rest of the night.

Dawn came, and Aleu couldn’t wait a second longer. She darted down to Nome and through the streets, then skidded to a stop and glanced around before silently slipping through the doggy door into Jenna’s house. She stopped on the welcome mat, surprised.

Nearly a dozen dogs littered the carpet of the living room, sleeping fitfully and groaning by turns. She recognized all the pups from her litter, now as full-grown as she, but there were four other pups she didn’t remember ever meeting or seeing before. Jenna lay next to a soft nest of blankets and pillows on the floor, and Aleu gasped silently as she saw who was lying among the sheets: Balto.

‘So this is why Aniu wanted me to come here,’ Aleu thought with sudden certainty. She stepped back as she saw Jenna stir.

“Aleu? Is that really you?” Jenna said, rubbing sleep from her eyes. Her bleary-eyed gaze took a moment to focus on her daughter, and then she was up and hugging Aleu as hard as she could. “I can’t believe it! How did you get here? I thought I’d never see you again!”

“It’s a long story, Mom. I’ll tell you later,” Aleu said, “Why’s everyone here? What’s wrong with Papa?”

“Your father’s had a fever for three days now,” Jenna said sadly, “No one knows if he’ll be strong enough to pull through. He had a few conscious moments where he said he wanted his family with him so he knew they were safe and they would be there if he died. Yesterday around noon he called out for you, and then he fell unconscious. He’s gotten worse since then.”

Balto moaned and opened his glassy eyes for a second.

“Papa!” Aleu shouted, waking some of the others, “It’s me, Aleu! I’m here…Please don’t die.”

“Aleu,” Balto whispered, a blurred grin on his face. He fell back into a weary sleep, and Aleu swallowed back the hot ball of tears stuck in her throat.

“Aleu?” Kodi said sleepily, stretching, “Hey, long time no see!”

“Aleu?” said a female voice Aleu didn’t recognize. A brown-gray dog rose from the back of the room. “So this is the wolf-dog everyone compares me to. Nice to finally meet you in person!”

Aleu gave Kodi a confused look.

“Uh, Mom and Dad had a second litter while you were away,” he explained with a laugh, “That’s Kaila. You’ll meet the other three hopefully before noon. There’s Copper, Chase, and Dusty.”

Aleu spent the next few minutes getting reacquainted with her family and meeting her new brothers and sisters. She told the story of what had happened to get her to Nome, but she had a hard time getting her family to believe everything that she told them. After that, it was a constant vigil over Balto. His fevered expression worried all of them as he seemed to sink deeper and deeper into the sickness.

Rosy’s father walked in around 7:00 and stepped back at the sight of all these dogs in his house. He didn’t see Aleu among the big crowd of canines. “Whoa! Where did you all come from?...Watching over Balto? Well…I guess you all are family. Alright, you can stay for awhile, but don’t make any messes anywhere, okay?” He tripped over to lay a hand on Balto’s head. Balto jerked and muttered something. “Well, I’ll be. He actually doesn’t feel like a burning flame.” Rosy’s father sighed, scribbled a note to his wife explaining why all these dogs were in the house, and left for work, humming contentedly.

All the dogs stared at Balto hopefully, but he made no sign that he was healing. Aleu sighed and turned away.

“Aleu.”

She froze, and slowly pivoted around to see Balto’s tired eyes open and a small smile wrinkling his face. “My baby.”

She ran to him and almost knocked him over, and he laughed and nudged her softly. “How in the world did you get here? How long have I been out?”

“Three days, not counting today,” she told him.

He grinned gently at her, a copy of Aniu’s smile. “I wanted my whole family near so I would know they were alright. But then I thought of you and I knew you couldn’t be here. I stopped fighting the fever then. But then I heard your voice, and you’re here!...But how?”

“Aniu sent me a message through the dreams of one of my pups,” Aleu said.

“You have pups?” Balto asked, bewildered.

“Yeah,” Aleu said, looking out the window. Flint was fidgeting uncomfortably outside with the four pups tumbling beside him. She gestured with her head towards the door, and a few seconds later he was nudging the pups through, and then ducked through the doggy door himself. He took his place next to Aleu nervously.

“Everyone,” Aleu said with a smile, “Meet the rest of the family.”

Aleu, Nava, Aniu, Balto, Jenna, Kodi, and Rosy’s father

© Universal Studios

Reda, Flint, Senna, Quicksilver, Linder, Gray Spirit, Lupus, Blake, Rufus, Kaila, Copper, Chase, Dusty, Remus, Shade, Shaila, and Ruska © redwolf03