grinned and put his muzzle to her neck. Jenna walked forward, gently pushing him against the wall.

“Anywhere else?” The words had barely left his muzzle when Jenna replied,

“Here.” Without warning, she pressed herself against him and kissed him. Balto closed his eyes and slowly slide down the wall to the floor. Jenna lay against him, their muzzles still touching. Finally, Jenna pulled back and opened her eyes just as Balto did the same. He smiled at her and she smiled back. She curled up as close as she could to him and nuzzled his neck. Balto reached up with his teeth and pulled a thick wool blanket down from its hook on the wall to rest on top of them. Jenna kissed him once more on the nose and laid her head on her paws to sleep. “Good night, Balto,” she whispered sweetly. Balto rested his muzzle on top of hers.

“Good night Jenna.” Then, like Jenna, he fell fast asleep.

Chapter Two

“Good morning Jenna.”

Jenna blinked to clear the sleep from her eyes and looked into the smiling face right beside her.

“Good morning, Balto.”

She nuzzled her friend’s neck and flicked out her tongue, kissing him on the nose. Balto stood up and added more fire to the dying fire while he asked,

“Did you sleep well?”

Jenna nodded, smiling, “I’ve never slept better.” Balto walked over and lay beside her under the blanket. The two rubbed muzzles and exchanged good morning kisses when a familiar Russian voice caught their attention.

“Good morning, you two.” Boris waddled into the galley, apparently still sleepy, but wide awake at the same time, “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“No, Boris, we just woke up,” Balto replied.

“That’s not how it looked to me,” Boris joked, putting more fish near the fire. Just then, Muk and Luk came bounding into the galley.

“There’s snow everywhere, Uncle Boris! We can’t even open the door to the out side,” Muk said. Luk nodded in agreement.

“Well,” Balto said, “it looks like we’re snowed in for the time being. And since the snow shows no signs of stopping, does anyone have any way we can pass the time?”

“Oh, I know!” Muk exclaimed, “Uncle Boris, will you tell us some Russian stories?”

“Muk, you know I’m not a good story teller!” Boris responded.

“Oh, please Uncle Boris!”

“We’ve nothing better to do, anyway,” Balto added.

“Oh,” Boris said, looking around at all the pleading faces, “Alright, alright, I’ll tell some stories.”

Balto, Jenna, Muk and Luk all moved closer to the fire as Boris began his tales. And so the day went by; with Boris telling nearly every story he could remember from Mother Russia; sad stories, joyous stories, stories that exalted bravery and courage, and stories of treachery and betrayal. It was late in the evening when Boris finished his last tale for the night.

Balto yawned, not in boredom, but in exhaustion. Muk and Luk thanked Boris for the story, said good night to Balto and Jena, and left for the captain’s quarters to sleep.

“Good night, you two,” Boris yawned, following his nephews up the stairs to bed.

“Good night, Boris,” Balto and Jenna chorused.

Jenna lay down once again under the blanket and invited Balto to join her. He did, and noticing her shivering slightly, let Jenna move closer, for warmth, or so he thought. Velvet soft fur brushed against his cheek and opened his eyes, only to find his vision completely blocked by a mass of red color. It was Jenna, who had laid her muzzle on his paws, moving her check close to his muzzle. Almost instinctively, Balto flicked out his tongue and gave Jenna a sweet kiss along her cheek and muzzle before laying his head down on his paws again and saying,

“Good night, Jenna.”

“Good night, Balto.”

The next day, Jenna again woke to Balto’s deep voice.

“Jenna,” he said, “I think you should come see this.” Boris and his ‘nephews’ had managed to clear the door of snow and the two polar bears were outside playing in the snow.

“Take that!” Muk yelled as he hit Luk in the face with a snow ball. Luk responded by heaving a whole pile of snow right on top of Muk. He laughed as Muk sprang out and brushed himself off.

“So, you wanna play rough, huh?” Muk said, rolling up nonexistent sleeves on his arms. He piled snow in front of himself and then began making snowballs. Luk did the same. Soon, the two were throwing snowball after snowball at each other, burying themselves in snow.

Balto and Jenna laughed as they watched this.

“They look so funny!” Jenna exclaimed.

“They sure do,” Boris added.

Balto laughed again and turned to Jenna. “I should probably take you home, Jenna. Your folks must be worried.”

Jenna nodded. The sun was already high in the sky.

“Thanks for the fish, Boris,” she said.

“You’re very velcome, Jenna,” he replied.

“I’ll be back soon,” Balto called as he and Jenna set off for the town. As they trotted down the hills towards town, Jenna turned to Balto and said,

“Thanks, Balto. I really had a great time.”

“I’m glad you did,” he replied.

Soon, the two reached Jenna’s home. Jenna sat down and Balto followed suite.

“Thanks for walking me home again.”

“Sure thing,” Balto replied.

Jenna nuzzled his neck and he nuzzled hers. They looked at each other again and kissed.. After a moment, Jenna sat back and stood up. Just then, the sound of approaching paws made them both turn. Doc, the wise old St. Bernard, smiled as he neared the two.

“Jenna,” he said, “If you’re ready, the meeting’s about to begin.”

“Thanks, Doc, I’m coming.” She turned and saw Balto walking away. “Aren’t you coming, Balto?”

“You better just go; I’m not so good with social events.”

“Oh come on, Balto,” she said, turning him around, “What’s the worst that could happen?”

“I’d rather not talk about it.”

“It would be nice if you did come,” Doc added, “No one can disrespect you now, you saved the children of Nome.” Balto opened his muzzle to argue, but seeing the pleading look on Jenna’s face his changed his mind.

“Alright, I’ll go.” He turned and followed Jenna and Doc into the boiler room. Most of the dogs sat chatting around the warm boiler except Sylvie and Dixie, who took notice as the three walked in. Sylvie whispered something to Dixie and they both laughed quietly. Jenna pretended not to notice. Just then, a tan husky lying next to Kaltag noticed Jenna. He and Kaltag looked almost identical except for the black ring around Kaltag’s eye.

“Whoa. Hey, beautiful,” the other husky said as he moved over, “This seat’s not taken yet. OW!” Kaltag had thumped him on the head with his paw.

“Lay off, Romeo, she’s already got a mate.” Kaltag turned to Jenna. “Sorry, Jenna. You’ll have to excuse my brother, Juneau, he’s new in town and-”

“Hey,” Juneau interrupted, spotting Balto in the crowd, “Who let the wolf in?” Kaltag sighed and finished his sentence.

“…kind of stupid.” Juneau paid no attention and continued talking.

“I knew this town was weird, but now we’re letting wolves into the meetings?” Kaltag thumped him on the head again and growled,

“Not…another…word.” Juneau nodded as Balto and Jenna lay down nearby. Doc cleared his throat and the room fell silent.

“Once again, thank you all for coming on such short notice,” he said, “I’ll make this as short as possible.”

A while later, as the sun was just setting, Doc cleared his throat again.

“Now that we have settled the theft ordeal, there is only one more piece of business to attend to.” He paused and motioned to Juneau. “Would you come up here please?” Juneau stepped up next to Doc, who began speaking again. “This is Juneau, he recently moved here from Anchorage, if I remember correctly?” Juneau nodded. “I would like you to make him feel welcome, as you should with any canine in our community.” Doc looked hard at Sylvie and Dixie, who cast their eyes to the floor. Doc turned back to the crowd. “That said, and unless anyone has more to say, this meeting is adjourned. Thank you.” The crowd got to their feet and began to file out of the boiler room, heading for their homes. Soon only Balto, Jenna, Kaltag, and Juneau remained. Juneau leaned towards Jenna and said,

“Uh, Miss Jenna, I’m sorry about earlier, my brother-OW!” He brought a paw to his head and glared at Kaltag before turning back to Jenna. “What I meant to say was I didn’t mean to embarrass you earlier.”

“That’s fine, Juneau,” Jenna replied, “Half the dogs in this town had their eyes on me.”

“Had their eyes on you? What changed their mind?”

“I found Balto,” Jenna said.

“So, uh, how did you guys become a pair?” Juneau replied. Seeing Kaltag raise his paw again, he added hastily, “Th-That is if you don’t mind me asking.” Jenna sighed and replied,

“It would be a long story…”

“Tell us,” said Juneau, “We’ve got time.” Jenna sighed.

“I guess it all started when some of the children, including my Rosie, caught