A Sad Truth

Balto walked home from his sad farewell to his daughter. He had a few tears in his eyes. He knew Aleu was were she belong, he knew she could never be happy in Nome, but that didn’t make it easier to take. He wondered if he’d ever see his daughter again, if she’d be alright wherever her life took her. He thought back to the last sight of her, her howling with the wolf pack as the floated off on an iceberg to their new home, wherever that was. He’d been walking awhile, his paws hurt but he didn’t feel it, he felt detached from the pain as he thought over what happened. He walked past his boat, part of him want to stop and rest but he had to tell Jenna, he wasn’t looking forward to that. "How do you tell your mate your daughter is never coming home?" he asked himself.

Boris’s head poked up from the deck of the boat, he saw Balto and a smile went across the goose’s beak. He got off the deck a waddled over to Balto. "Balto, welcome back, glad seeing that you are still in one piece." he said with his Russian accent. He looked for Aleu. "Balto, where is Aleu?"

Balto looked over his shoulder. "Its hard to explain, I’ll tell you later." he said before looking back to his path.

Muk and Luk ran up, before ether of the two could say anything, they saw how sad their friend was. Luk said something that, as per usual no one but Muk understood. "How should I know what’s wrong with him?" asked Muk.

"Something has happened to Aleu, I don’t know what but Balto needs to be alone with Jenna right now, let us wait on the boat for him." said Boris, turning back to the boat, the polar bears following close behind.

Balto held his head and tail low as he walked towards town. He was happy his daughter had found her place, who she was but it was never easy to watch his pups go, let alone forever. He still saw his other pups, Kodi, Saba, Dingo, and the others were still very close but Aleu was gone far away and he’d probably never see her again. He walked past the totem pole, he remembered Boris was right, the totem pole was connected to his dreams, the dreams were something that would come, and now had. He continued on. "I should of listened to Boris, maybe she’d still be here." he said to himself. He knew that wasn’t true, if she hadn’t gone the pack would of all died. He entered town and walked, hopping none of his children would see him, he didn’t want to tell them what had happened without Jenna.

He went through the fence into Rosy’s backyard. He noticed the shed door was ajar. He pushed it open, the furious was on and the room was warm. Jenna laid asleep in the same bed their pups had been born in. He smiled a little remembering how good it had felt to see those pups for the first time. He looked at his sleeping mate, wondering if her should wake her or let her sleep. He decided to wake her. He nudged her shoulder. "Jenna, wake up."

Jenna’s eyes shot open and she smiled as she got up with a yawn. She nuzzled Balto, happy to see him alright. "I’m so glad you’re alright." she said. She pulled back and looked him in the eyes. "Did you find Aleu?" she asked.

Balto nodded. "Yes I did." he said.

"Thank goodness. Where is she?"

Balto sighed and put his head down, his ears pinned back. "She isn’t coming back."

"What?" Jenna didn’t understand. "You said you found her, is she…alive?" she asked worried.

"Yes she is alive and well."

"Then why isn’t she coming back? What happened to her?" Tears started to form in Jenna’s eyes.

"When I found her, we met this wolf pack. The caribou herds they hunted had left across the ocean using an ice bridge that formed. Their leader was too weak to make the journey after them so he needed a replacement. He had a vision telling him it would be ‘the one who is a wolf without knowing it’. We thought it was me at first but it wasn’t…it was Aleu, she led the pack across the ice bridge."

Jenna looked down at her paws. She couldn’t believe it, she didn’t want to. Her daughter was gone far away, she’d never see her again. A few tears fell, landing on her paws. "Please tell me you’re joking. Please!"

Balto nuzzled his mate, trying to comfort her. "I’m sorry Jenna but she’s where she belongs now."

"She belongs here, with her family." Jenna was upset and so confused.

"No, she didn’t belong here. I hate to admit it but humans didn’t want her, one even tried to shoot her. She’s the leader of a pack, a pack that would of all starved to death without her. They need her more than we do."

Jenna looked up into Balto’s eyes, she could tell he was right. She pulled herself together and made the tears stop. "You’re right…should we go tell the others?"

"Yes, let’s go." said Balto, nuzzling his mate one more time before turning to the door. Jenna followed him as they left to tell their remaining pups of what had happened to Aleu.