have been spoken to empty air for all the good they did, but he had to try. He hated seeing his mate angry, especially since both his children were being angry right back, with their partners attempting to quell their fires, Sinopa with calm words and Kirby with a strong paw.
Balto finally broke through by letting loose a howl. It was a minor trick of his, loosing a deep, soulful sound that usually made dogs stop and stare. Even those close to him were not immune. There was something ingrained about paying attention to a wolf howl. After the howl faded, he looked at the five others around him, either ignoring or not noticing the last, silent, observer. “Look, this isn’t easy. For any of us. But fighting won’t do any good. Aleu… Sinopa, right? You two need food. I have some at the boat. Jenna, get back to Rosie, but meet us tonight. Kodi, Kirby, you should be there too. We need to have a family discussion.”
“About what?” Jenna tilted her head, still a trifle angry, but more curious now.
“About being a family.”
The moon rose early that night, casting wan light over the sleeping town of Nome. Over the outskirts of it as well, where the listing bulk of Balto’s home rested. Aleu and Sinopa were on the deck with the sled puller, telling of their life in the wild, and why they chose to return.
“The pack structure nurtures wolves, but suffocates foxes. Besides, no wolves would have us. Non-breeders, even as omegas, would not be welcome. Especially with a fox.” Sinopa leaned against Aleu, stroking her fur with her muzzle. “Aleu, being hardy and adaptable, was very well-liked, but her feelings and her relationship kept getting her rejected from those packs we encountered.”
“We couldn’t keep living in the wild. Sinopa could catch mice and rats, and other small things, but not enough to feed me. Not well, anyway. I couldn’t bring down bigger game without help, and Sinopa couldn’t drag down larger prey that I had attacked. We were a mismatch. Starving and freezing in our den. I had to dig it out, just so I could fit inside.”
“And that’s why you came back here. Not enough food, no one giving you a chance. Why did you think things would be any different here? Humans aren’t tolerant at all. Especially not of a fox. When you told me how you felt, I took you out into the wild. I hoped that reconnecting with nature would lead you to understand your place in the world. And then you met her. I downplayed her as much as I could in the story. I made up things so wild that I couldn’t believe anyone thought it was real. I told them a tale about where you had gone. You lived far away, with a wolf pack who left the continent, never to return. Because you weren’t supposed to come back. Aleu, you look like a wolf. Just like me. That was causing problems. This doesn’t help things.”
“And I’m sure my love for a woman hurts things, too. What about Kodi? He and that brick wall disguised as a dog aren’t very conventional.”
“That’s not my fault. He wasn’t as outspoken as you. I never even knew.”
“You paid him enough attention as a pup. Kodi was always your favorite.”
“He needed me.”
“I needed you too!” Her eyes welling with tears, Aleu turned to Sinopa, and rested her head against the vixen’s warm, soft fur. “I needed you, daddy! And all you did was throw me away, and told everyone I’d never be back.”
“Aleu… I didn’t throw you away. What I said then was true. No one would accept another wolf. Sweet child of mine or not, you looked like a wolf to their fearful eyes. And with his woman at your side, there’s no telling what would have happened. You could both have become pelts for a desperate hunter. That’s why I told you to vanish forever into the wilderness.”
“You swept your problems away, father.” Sinopa’s smooth voice caressed across Balto’s ears, making him wince as she called him father. “Made your daughter disappear for the crime of loving a woman with all her heart, and for looking like a wolf. You bowed and buckled to the pressure of the humans, to their fear and hatred. You let their fear rule you. How noble of you.”
“I did what I had to do to protect my family. All of my family. I couldn’t just do what you wanted. I had to think of Jenna and Kodi and myself as well. This is a family, Aleu. We have to survive.”
“This is a pack again. You’re the alpha and we must obey you. No matter what, your word is law.” Aleu snorted at her father, and curled up on the ship’s deck with Sinopa. “I’ve grown to hate packs. After so many rejections, seeing so much incompetence and brutality.”
“You can’t just throw it away. The pack structure is in your blood. You’re designed to be within it.”
“Nothing is set in stone. Even blood.” Sinopa stared at Balto hard, her icy blue eyes burning into his with the frost they held inside. She never broke her gaze, but didn’t make any show of staring the larger canine down.
With a shudder, Balto turned his face away and looked out towards town. “Your brother and mother will be here soon.”
“Kirby too?”
“Yes. Kirby too. Why?”
“Because he’s in love with Kodi. He deserves to be here. Like Sinopa deserves to be here.”
Balto shook his head, but said nothing else. And didn’t turn his head to look back at them. He could feel Sinopa’s cold eyes boring into the back of his head. Whatever Aleu saw in them, he couldn’t.
They hadn’t long to wait before Jenna leaped up onto the deck of the boat, a sour look on her face. Kodi and Kirby leaped up right behind her, Kodi looking pouty and Kirby appearing to have on a fake smile, his attempt at peacemaking. There was no sign of the albino fox, a surprise considering his ubiquity over the past few nights.
“Thank you for coming, Jenna. You too Kodi.” Pressing his neck to Jenna and Kodi’s necks, Balto led them to where Aleu and Sinopa were.
“I’m here because I want to see my sister again. I’ve missed her. How has it been out there, sis?” Kodi pressed necks once more with his littermate.
“It was hell, bro. If I hadn’t had Sinopa with me I would have gone insane. Even if I had been let into a pack. That would have made it worse. It’s so good to be back. Even if mom doesn’t want us here.” Four pairs of eyes turned on Jenna, two burning with hate, one cold and the last begging for compassion.
“It’s not that I don’t want you here. I just… I think you’re not quite able to understand things. You’re young. You don’t know what you’re feeling. You’re just confused is all. It’s not your fault. Your father indulged you too much.” Jenna turned on Balto, staring him down. “You let our daughter go into the wild with a strange woman, inventing some impossible story about spirits and wolf packs? How could you? You should have brought her to me. I’m sure between the two of us we could have set her back to a proper path.”
“And what path would that have been, mother?” Shrugging off the restraining paws of Kodi and Sinopa, Aleu rose to her paws and started approaching Jenna and Balto.
“I’m certain we could have convinced a nice sled dog to be your mate. You could have had a litter by now, a normal little of sled dogs to raise. Fulfilling your purpose. Aleu, it would have been ok, dear.” Jenna smiled, her eyes shiny and moist. “We could have fixed you. We still can. It’s not too late. You can stop being confused.”
“Mother… I will say this only one time. After this you will be viewed as knowing and understanding this. Ok, ready? I. Do. Not. Love. Men. I do not want to be mounted and impregnated by a man. I don’t want to raise a litter of pups. This is my choice. I choose not to do all this. Because deep inside, I feel for women what you feel for men. Because I feel this way, I don’t want to do the things you’d like me to. But I’m still happy like this. I’m not confused. I’m in love.”
“But it’s not natural. It’s not normal for you to feel like this. Just like it’s not normal for Kodi to feel what he does for Kirby. I just want you to be happy.”
“Mom! I live in a warm boiler shed with a handsome hunk of muscle, fat and fur, who would do anything for me, no matter what. I eat regularly, I have happy memories of an excellent job and I thought I had family that loves me. Except for the last part, I AM happy. I don’t need a female mate and a litter of pups. I am content with Kirby. And I always will be.”
Silence fell across those assembled, no one able to say a word that could refute or further defend the positions stated. Until Balto lifted up his head and looked at his children. “You won’t be happy like this. They won’t let you be. If the humans don’t pull you apart or kill you for sport, your pelts or for what you’ve done, the other dogs will never let you do this. They will frown on your union. Never mind a fox and a dog. But two women or two men? They will talk behind your backs. Plot, scheme, strike. Under darkness they will come, to beat you into bloody, broken piles and destroy anything you may have. Wherever you live will be vandalized and broken down. Whatever you own will be taken away. Whatever safety you think you have, you don’t. They’re out there, they disapprove and you can’t just say a lot of pretty words and expect the matter to be closed.”
This objection washed over the four unconventional beings. It struck straight at their hearts like a knife. Past every defense, beyond emotivism, the icy bite of absolute reality
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