that the door swung open.

Balto raised his paw, gesturing me to go inside. “After you.”

As I started to walk in, I couldn’t help but stare at his paw. Balto was a lot smaller than Steele but their paws were roughly the same size.

“Balto.” I said, somewhat amazed. 

Chuckling sheepishly, he lowered his paw. “Big paws kinda run in my family.”

“At least, uhhh... one side of my family.” He amended quickly.

I made a quick note to not mention his family in front of Balto. The issue seemed to be on uncomfortable terms with him. Obviously of course, since no dog or human didn’t want to associate with him except me. His reputation didn’t quite add up to his nature; though I wasn’t quite of what to say at the moment. Instead, I followed him into a passageway.

There wasn’t much room in the enclosed space and our sides nearly touched.

“Stay close.” Balto said smiling and taking the lead.

“Heh! No problem there.” I forced out a small laugh while eyeing a rat that scuttled nearby.

Needless to say it was the darkest and dirtiest place I’ve ever been in.

“It's so gloomy down here.” I remarked, suddenly. “Not that I'm scared or anything.” I added just as quickly. At that moment my pretense was ruined when I gasped as my face almost collided into an old cobweb.

“Gloomy?” Balto asked, looking back and using his tail to brush away the cobweb.

“You kiddin'? It's the most beautiful spot in the world!” He said, cheerfully. “Dogs travel for years just to be right here.”

Balto slipped under an old rug draped across the passage and lifted it to make way for me with his tail.

“Here?” Ducking my head, my muzzle had picked up an old rag and I shuddered in disgust as Balto politely removed it.

“I can't see why.” I said, licking my paw and rubbing it across my face in attempt to get rid of any dirt or grim.

“That's 'cause you're looking at the bowl half empty.” Balto said.

“You see this? It's the polar icecaps.” He pushed a pile of broken glass into the light filtered through the air vent.

“Balto, those are broken bottles. And they're not half empty, they're all empty.” I said, not quite understanding what he meant. There wasn’t anything special about those bottles empty or not and I had learned to stay away from the colorful ones since they usually had toxic liquids like bleach.

Ignoring my comment, he continued on glancing at the light. “The sun. . .”

“Balto…” Imagination was good and all but there was such a thing as going too far. He continued to move the glass around, the pieces clinking against each other.

“And to the North. . .” This time he moved towards me, letting the light hit the glass. Suddenly the light filtered through the glass and a cascade of color filled one side of the room.

“The Northern Lights!” I said in amazement.

Staring at the shimmering light, I continued on, “Oh! Balto, you're right. It's beautiful.”

“Yeah. . .beautiful.” He murmured, letting out a sigh. But there was such a distinct tone of longing in his voice that I looked at him again to find that he was staring at me.

I couldn't make out the details of his face in the faint light but I could tell that he was smiling at me gently when our eyes meant. For a while I was lost in a intense moment as a knot of emotions I couldn‘t even distinguished poured through me. Slowly his muzzle inched forward for mine and I started to do the same thing. Before our noses even met; the lantern that provided that lighting was suddenly turned off and I could hear footsteps.

The doctor spoke soothingly. “Goodnight, Rosy.”

Rosy… she was staying here?

“I'm so. . .cold. . .” It was her voice but she sounded so exhausted and weak.

“Well I have another blanket for you right here, you just stay warm and get some rest.” He walked away and in earnest I followed his footsteps into another room.

“Doctor, how is she?” Rosy’s father asked.

“Exhausted from coughing. And her fever's getting worse.” He replied sounding weary and I gasped as he said this. She could pull through though right?

“Looks like diphtheria.” he sighed, grimly, and reached for something, “She's the eighteenth case this week. . .and I'm out of antitoxin.”

No… Battling the urge to break down and cry, I ran out into the boiling room with my breaths coming out into heavy gasps. Rosy meant the world to me and hearing about the fact there was no medicine to cure her illness was too much to bear.

Calling out my name and apologizing, Balto followed me.

“I didn't mean to upset you. I shouldn't have taken you down there.”
Once I managed to regain some composure I tried to assure Balto that it wasn’t his fault.

“No, I'm glad you did.”

A crash suddenly interrupted me before I could say anything more. Startled I looked towards the doorway and saw Steele. He had been running and knocked some wooden planks into a metal bucket. A link of sausages, most likely stolen from the butcher, was held in his jaws.

“Steele.”

“Well, well, what's wrong with this picture?” Steele said, moving aside the wooden boards.

Quickly I looked away, afraid that he might see any trace of my distress. That was the last thing I needed, for Steele to try to comfort me.

“Jenna, join me for dinner.” I gasped as he flung one end of the chain around my shoulders and used it to jerk me closer, saying, “You start at one end, I'll start at the other, when we get to the middle, well. . .heh heh. . .you tell me!” Ugh, I wished I could just throw him and the sausages into the boiler…

Balto, who didn’t seem to approve with the way Steele was treating me, had bared his teeth and snarled, “All right, Steele.” He lunged forward at the meat to sever it in two but I quickly pulled away. I had a better idea.

“No, Balto.” Faking a giggle, I brushed my tail underneath Steele’s chin while Balto looked me questioningly and I shot a suggestive glance towards the boiler. He smirked and stepped back.

“Gee, Steele, I have to admit your offer is very tempting.” I said, trying to position him against the boiler.

“It is. . .” Steele replied, chuckling.

Taking a few more steps forwards, I continued on, “But these days, I prefer my meat. . .cooked.”

Realizing that he was against the boiler by the smell of smoke, Steele yelped in pain and started to thrash about.

“Come on! Let's go!” Balto shouted.

However our escape was ruined when Steele crashed through the door and landed on top of us. I didn’t realize it but my forepaws had clasped around Balto’s leg as I checked to see if he was all right.

“What's all the noise?” I recognized the voice of the butcher’s.

“I think it's over here!” That was Rosy’s father.

“Jenna, come on!” Balto whispered urgently.

I ran ahead of him, hoping that we wouldn’t get caught after all I wasn’t suppose to be even here. However I heard Balto stumble and when I looked back the sausages were entangled around his feet. And just then Rosy’s father had shined a light at him with his lantern.

“ Looks like Balto's found his way into your meat locker.” Balto, dumbstruck, got up and let the butcher grab the sausages.

“It's a good thing Steele was here. Good boy, Steele. You've earned these.” The butcher said, giving him the meat and petting him.

“Besides, I can't do anything with them after that wild animal's touched them!” He added with disgust.

“Go on! Get out of here you thief!” Rosy’s father kicked snow at Balto.

Feeling guilty for getting him into trouble I tried to run after him but my owner grabbed my bandana to prevent this. “Come on, Jenna. Let's go home.”

Whirling around to Steele, who was wearing a smirk as he chewed nosily at the meat, all I could do was glare at him and hiss out in an icy tone, “ Why did you frame Balto for what you did?”

“Jenna, it was a accident and I can’t tell them that I was the one who stole the meat, can I?” Steele said silkily, still wearing a smirk on his face as Rosy’s father decided to take him home too.

“You shouldn’t have stolen it in the first place.” I sounded like his mother but I was so furious at him that I didn’t care what I sounded like as long I sounded angry.

“You think that half-breed never stole anything in his life to continue that pathetic existence of his?” Steele asked. “I never realized you were so fond of him…” He sounded repulsed that such a idea could be possible.

I snorted out, “Unlike you, I don’t rush into those sort of things.” Not wanting to speak to him anymore I darted ahead to my owner’s side.

The next day another race was held but this time they were choosing the fastest dogs to deliver and retrieve the anti-toxin from Nenana. From what I could gather, the weather conditions complicated any other means for the anti-toxin to be transported here. Hopefully the chosen dog team wouldn’t face any difficulties from here to Nenana and back.

As usual, I was with Dixie and Sylvie were to meet up with us later. Dixie was her normal energetic self and when Steele walked across the competitors in a regal fashion, she couldn’t quite hold back her affection for him. Beaming and praising him as if he was in the race and won and already delivered the anti-toxin in five seconds flat.

“It's not exactly a one dog show, Dixie. They're racing to see who's going to be on the dogsled team.” My anger from last night had waned and I was somewhat amused with Dixie’s fervor.

“What's with you, Jenna? Steele's a genuine hero, but do you give him a sniff?” Dixie asked, genuinely curious as to why I didn’t share her fanaticism.

“That's because Jenna is running with Balto.” Sylvie said, announcing her appearance and readiness to hear and spread gossip.

Squealing out, Dixie looked at me disbelievingly.

Casually flipping one of her ears over her shoulder, Sylvie went on, “She was seen in the boiler room the other night with Balto, and they went in together and they left together. And I heard it all from a very

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