that he had never seen before.  Her left eye was sky blue but her right eye was yellow.   She retreated a few steps, surprised by Balto’s run-in as well as his appearance. 

            “You art a stranger are you not?” she asked, watching the hybrid, uncertain.  “I have not seen any body of your built of color ever before in When.”

            Balto shook his head, mainly confused by the other’s use of words.  “I am not from here,” he said, finally finding his words.  “I’m just looking for my son.”

            The other looked at him more closely and sniffed up some of his scent.  She then spotted his paws and her yellow-blue eyes somewhat widened. 

            “You have a different heritage besides…um…” she studied his size again.  “Besides husky.” she finished.  Her language shifting back from an accented one to a normal one that he could follow.  “Pray, and tell me your name and your other heritage.”

            Balto now studied her, seeking any sign for any deceit or ill.  Seeing none he said, “My name is Balto and I have heritage of a wolf and husky in my blood and I am proud of that heritage.”  He said the last words with all the pride he could muster.  The grey dog smiled in a way he could not identify. 

            “I am Laren the Grey, daughter of Black,” she said bowing her head gracefully.  “It is rare do we meet hybrids here at When.” she said eyeing his oversized paws.  “To meet one is an honor.”

            Balto returned the bow.  “Honor has nothing to do with it.  I was born that way.” He sniffed the air. 

Laren sniffed as well then asked, “What do you seek?”

Balto sniffed once more.  “I told you: I’m searching for my son.”

The Grey walked a ways down the alley and sniffed the wall.  “What does he look like?” she asked.  “And what is the hue of his coat?”

“He is a red husky--,”

Laren scowled as she tried to imagine a husky again for she had never seen a husky.  She had been only told what they looked like by her father.

 “All except for his breast, face, and under belly, which is white.” finished Balto.  “And he looks almost like me.”

Laren scowled once more then shook her head.  “Since I can’t imagine him correctly I’ll have to do with vision.”  She walked towards the back of the alley.  “I’ll take the alleys and back roads, if you want my help, because I know them the best.”

Balto nodded thankfully.  “Where should I search?”

The Grey nodded towards the street.  “Search the streets and the places you’ve been.  He might be there.”

“What should we do if one of us finds him?”

Laren thought hard and asked, “Can you howl?”

“Of course.”

“That will be the signal.” she said and she bounded away.  Balto began to walk towards the streets when she hailed him again.

“Balto, what is your offspring’s name?”

“It’s Kodi.”

With a bound the Grey disappeared from view.

Kodi, as it was, was in When.  After going into the cave and then awakening to see he wasn’t in Nome any more, he found himself in a stable that empty save for a groom who chased him out after sneaking up on him. 

Now he just wondered the streets looking for familiar faces while also enjoying what When supplied.  Like Nome, When had dogs walking around at will.  Kodi avoided them though because he didn’t feel like socializing. 

It was noon when Kodi came across a gate in the wall.  It was open.  He looked around for the humans who usually guarded such openings.  Seeing none, he walked through the gate, out of curiosity. 

The plains met him.  Green swirling grass and the scent of flowers and the warm wind tempted him to run onto the plains.  He closed his eyes and let the wind entrance him.  Never before had he experienced such a thing before. 

Unknown to him two creatures were walking towards him.  Their hooves were silent in the thick green grass.  As they saw Kodi they nickered to each other.  Upon hearing their nickering, Kodi’s eyes snapped open and found himself looking up at two horses.  One was entirely brown save for his forehead that bore a white star and his socks that were also white.  The other horse was female and her color was a hue the husky had never seen before.  She was white and covered with brown spots or brown covered with white spots.  The two colors interlocked with each other and seemed to fade and brighten as he looked upon her. 

Seeing his surprised expressing the pied mare laughed and hailed him.  “Ho, stranger,” she said.  “Come and tell us why you look at us so.”

Kodi shook his head trying to clear his head.  “I’ve never seen any of your kind that color before.” He said. 

The stallion smiled and whickered.  “You are a stranger then to When, are you not?” he said.  “I’ve never seen you in these parts before.”

“I am Kodi,” said the husky.  “A resident of Nome.”

At this the two horses looked at each other then back at Kodi.  “I beg your pardon, Kodi, but Nome doesn’t ring a bell in our minds.”

At that moment, Kodi realized they did not know of Nome.  “Never mind,” he said.  “It would take too long to explain.”  He eyed their hooves and sleek muscular bodies and knew they were a pair that he wouldn’t want as an enemy.  “I’ve told you my name.  Please tell me yours.”

The pied mare bowed her head, and Kodi caught the color of her eyes.  They were blue and hue he knew not many horse had. 

“I am June the Paint mare, and war horse to Baltheis the Dragon captain of the When militia.”  She nodded to the stallion.  “This is December but Decem for short, the First stallion of the Whenian Herd.”  Decem bowed to the husky who returned it. 

“We saw you standing with your eyes closed as if you were enjoying something.” said the stallion.  “What was it that you were enjoying?”

Kodi inhaled the grass scented air again.  “The feeling,” he said.  “The wind as it blew over me.” 

June lifted her head to the sky and let the wind blow her white mane playfully in its grasp.  She faced the husky.  “This is the first time you experienced warm wind of the plain, isn’t it?”

Kodi smiled.  “Aye, and I wish I can enjoy it more.” 

Decem whispered to June and she nickered humorously. 

“What is it?” asked Kodi, curious.

The pied mare brought her muzzle down until it was inches from the husky’s.  “Can you run fast?” she asked.

“Oh yes I can!” he cried. 

“Fast enough to match a horse?”

At this Kodi paused.  He had never raced a horse before and had never tried.  But he said, “I don’t know but I’ll give it a try!”

June whickered playfully and knocked the husky off his feet with a hard shove with her muzzle.  Kodi barked in surprise and quickly got to his feet only to see June and Decem already ahead of him. 

“Do you not know the game of tag?” The paint mare asked playfully tossing her head, taunting him.  With a bark of enthusiasm, Kodi leaped off after the two horses.

Baltheis walked out of the Main hall and sighed.  The day was faring well despite the letter he received from the king.  He eventually he would have to deal with it but now he wanted to enjoy the day. 

Meeting the hybrid was the most unusual thing that happened to him thus far.  He had seen many dogs, each a different kind, but Balto was one that he had never seen before.  He was a heavy brown hue, not the color for a husky, and his paws and eyes gave away his other heritage, one that Baltheis knew very well.  Balto had the blood of a wolf in him, which put him and an advantage and at a disadvantage.  The heritage gave Balto the physical and mental properties of a wolf.  But it also marked him and made him stand out from the rest of the dogs. 

The man sighed again as he ascended up the stairs to the walls of When and looked onto the surrounding plains.  The plains were dangerous despite the looks and feeling it gave.  Bandits roamed the plains at will, predators and unknown creatures also lived on the plains. 

Just then movement caught his eye.  Looking down he saw three shapes running amongst the plains.  Two were horses and the other was one he could not identify.  Quickly he ran from the walls.  A soldier going onto duty met him on the stairs. 

“Sir, is something amiss?” he asked.  Baltheis gave him a smile as he went by, an indication that everything was fine. 

“Carry on, soldier,” he said.  “I have my own duties to attend to.”

The sentry nodded and continued on. 

Baltheis ran across the training field and to a side gate that led to the outside.  Unknown to him, a man watched him from the shadows; a red sheathed sword glowed in his grasp.  As the Dragon captain disappeared through the gate, the man followed, his black cloak flowing in the warm grass scented wind.

Laren was known to all the dogs of When to be the best tracker.  He father said it was is heritage that made her a tracker but her late mother claimed it was hers.  After her mother’s death however, which was recently, her father gave her the credit in her memory. 

Though she was the best tracker, Laren was having some difficulty finding Balto’s son.  She was used