bodies of wolves. She gasped in awe and disbelief as she looked
around at them all.
Gunther and Milo stood
side by side, laughing as brothers did. Nearby, Echo and Vella nuzzled lovingly
as did Kikki and Treffen. And there before her stood her mother and father,
happily together. Beyond them, the forest was filled with hundreds more,
perhaps thousands more. And they all looked at her and smiled.
Jenna smiled back just as she felt a paw rest on her shoulder.
She turned around and came face to face with Balto.
“Hey, Jen,” he said softly.
“Balto!” she cried, nuzzling him lovingly. But as she
did, she heard him say,
“I have to go now, Jenna.”
She stepped back and met his eyes with hers.
“What…? Oh, Balto no, you’re…you’re just like them,
aren’t you?” she said, glancing back at the rest of the wolves gathered behind
her. “You’re…you’re really…”
Balto smiled reassuringly.
“My body may be dead, Jenna, but I’ll still be with you
forever…” He put a paw to her chest. “…here.”
Just then, a warm voice called out from behind,
“Come home, my son.”
Balto nodded and stepped away to follow the rest of the
wolves toward where the light from the world around them seemed to gathering on
the horizon. The rest of the wolves began to run toward it, but Balto looked
back at Jenna and smiled one last time.
“I love you, Jenna.”
Then, as he turned and began to run, Jenna’s vision faded
into darkness.
“Jenna? Jenna, please wake up.”
“Mom, please, I can’t loose you, too.”
Jenna felt someone prod her gently with his paw, and she
slowly opened her eyes. There stood Aleu.
“Oh, thank Aniu, are you alright, mom?”
Aleu nuzzled her gently and stepped back again.
“Aleu, is that really you?” Jenna asked.
“I’m here, mom,” she replied. “I couldn’t have born to
loose you like…” She hesitated. “…like we lost Dad.”
“But he saved us all,” came another voice.
Jenna looked and instantly recognized Sadera as she
padded up to her.
“You came?” Jenna asked. “Why?”
“I can’t explain it, it just kind of happened,” Sadera
replied. “At first, I thought it was for revenge on Nemec, but when we got
close that just kind of disappeared. And after the flash, when we looked up
Nemec, Steele, everyone else was gone except us and them.” She gestured to
Aleu.
Jenna got to her paws and looked around for Belle, she
spotted her off to the side with Tes.
Belle padded slowly, hesitantly up to Tes, wondering how
she could explain all that she’d said and then why she felt the way she did
now. Every angry word she’d spat at him the night before burned in her memory, as
did his voice:
“Why are you doing this to me?” she heard herself say, “Why do you insult me?”
She
felt tears coming as Tes replied.
“Insult you? Oh, Aniu, no Belle… Please…”
Belle
wanted to scream, wanted to stop what she knew was coming next, but she knew
she couldn’t.
”I
don’t love you, Tes,” she heard
herself growl. “Now turn your eyes away
from me!”
When the voices finally faded, she found herself face to
face with Tes, but before she could open her muzzle to speak he turned his back
to her.
“Why are you torturing me like this?” he said. “You asked
me not to look at you again. I won’t insult you, but neither will I hold myself
back if you’ve come to belittle me again.”
“Tes, I…I didn’t mean anything I said. Yours was an
honest love, I know that now,” Belle replied. “I just let my pride guide my
actions; something I never should have done. I didn’t want to hurt you, Tes,
please believe me.”
“Why should I?” he asked coldly.
Belle’s voice fell to a whisper.
“Because I love you, too.”
She waited for a moment, but when Tes said nothing she
turned and began to walk away. Just then, he called after her,
“Belle!”
She looked back, eyes filling with tears, and saw to her
surprise that Tes was crying, too.
“Don’t leave me,” he said softly.
Belle turned around and blinked back tears as Tes took a
step toward her.
“What…?” she asked hesitantly.
“Don’t leave me, Belle,” Tes replied. “I love you.”
Belle bounded toward him and him towards her. They met in
a flurry of snow and nuzzled each other warmly.
Jenna watched as Belle and Tes came together, smiled and
followed Aleu back to her pack, which would escort her home.
Epilogue
That day, Aleu’s Snow
River clan, the Ice
Mountain clan and the Eir clan met on
the hills outside Nome. As they watched Jenna
pad back toward her home, they vowed to honor the memories of those they lost,
and to never forget Balto’s sacrifice. They pledged that never again would
blood be shed so long as they lived.
The storytellers of each clan would soon call that day
the Day of Union.
That same day, as she lay in the small bed in Rosie’s
kitchen, Jenna closed her eyes and thought of Balto and all the life they’d had
together. And she smiled.
An angel returned,
that night through the sky
Time
it was short, he had to decide
So as
he flew back over the land
A
gift for his Lady was there in his hand
It
was the glow of a light, it was the heart of a song,
It
was the tear of a child, who had never belonged,
It
was the wish of a soul, on the pure Northern Lights
And
She smiled down at him on that cold winter night.
The End
*The songs “An Angel Came
Down” and “An Angel Returned” are the property of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
They have been adapted for the sole purpose of telling this story.
*The song “For Good” is the
property of Stephen Schwartz and has been adapted for the sole purpose of
telling this story.
*Balto, Jenna, Kaltag, Rosie,
and all other Balto characters are © to Universal Pictures.
*Krystal, Nemec, Echo, Vella,
Sadera, Belle, Tes, Dero, Kantu, Kemen, Laila, Daciana, Bertolf, Cedar, Gail,
Ler, Cloud Runner, Desai, Isha, Ana, Ranok, and Ruth are my property.
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