added to Mother’s comment. “Besides, your name sounds pretty . . . and I think it suits you already.”

I nodded to show my thanks and tried my best to make them not worry about my personal feelings, but deep inside, I was afraid of this new name that I now had to answer to. Actually, I felt like blushing after hearing Brother call me “pretty.” It was embarrassing to hear that from any male, most especially your younger brother. 

Secretly after Brother and I were named, I began to wonder whether Mother ever proved herself worthy of her name – Belle – but I never had the guts to ask her that night; I was scared of what she would tell me and completely lacking the courage to do it.

By the time I felt able to gather enough courage to ask her, she wasn’t there. 

The last time we saw Mother was when we were about a year old. Master was training us to pull his sled when we both last saw her. She had a leash attached to her collar, and she was being led out the opposite direction as us. I didn’t recognize the human taking her away, but I knew it wasn’t our Master. Both Brother and I barked, trying to get her attention from our harnesses, much to Master’s dismay.

“Mother! Mother!” I barked loudly to her. “Where are you going?” 

I was silenced by her gaze, turning towards me as she listened to my voice. She only smiled, as if to say with her eyes, “Don’t worry, love. I’ll be alright.” She then turned away and bravely followed the tug of the human’s hold on her leash.

“Mother! Mother!” I only continued to bark furiously. At the moment, I didn’t care if Master got upset at me – I needed to learn where Mother was going and why she was leaving us. 

She can’t leave us . . . not yet! I have to ask her . . . one last question . . .

But the last I saw of her was her perfectly-curled tail walking down the snow-covered street. She didn’t look back – I leaned over to Brother in tears. I felt alone and lost without Mother, and Brother felt the same way; we didn’t know what we were going to do next, but we had a feeling that Mother wouldn’t want us to cry over her sudden departure. 

Mother would want us to be strong . . . to stay by Master’s side in her place . . . to make her proud of us . . .

We had to prove our worth . . . for her sake . . . and for Master’s as well . . . 

However, it was difficult for me after that moment as we traveled a short distance away from home, but Master kept our thoughts on our duty with the crack of his whip. Usually Master would never use his whip on us, his dogs, but it was a good thing that he did this time. In the back of my mind, I felt alone despite the fact that Brother was running beside me and Master was calling commands to us from behind; Mother wasn’t there for comfort anymore . . . and that made me want to break free and find out where she was being taken to. I wondered if Brother felt the same way that I did as we pulled the heavy wooden sled behind us.

“Hike! Hike! Ha, Ha – let’s go!” The cries of Master echoed in my ears as I saw the memories of Mother flash through my mind. I imagined myself running to her, moving faster and closer to where she stood in my thoughts, but it seemed that she never grew closer, no matter how fast I ran. The spring-thawed ground dirtied my legs as we made our way through the nearby forest, filled with pine and evergreen towers to cover the cloudy morning sky above us. I remained focused on the invisible goal in front of me – Mother. I felt we had to reach her, and I believed Master didn’t understand how we really felt right then, especially since he was all about our training to become as reliable and well-trained as Mother was. 

We made it home about a couple of hours later after going southeast for ten miles, stopping to rest and traveling the return path home. As soon as Master unhooked me from the sled, I was a silver comet, darting into Master’s barn where all of the dogs slept.

Please be there, Mother . . . Please still be here . . . 

Once I reached the doorway, I was panting, searching frantically from side to side within the cozy space, hoping to catch a glimpse of Mother . . . or at least a whiff of her loving scent. I was disappointed – she wasn’t there. I could only sense the faint perfume of her scent, but it was near stale on the blue dog-length pillow that she used to sleep and take care of us on. As I approached the pillow, tears of pure blue dripped down my eyes. By the time Brother came to my side, I had collapsed onto the memento of my maternal guardian, smothering my muzzle into softness of the cushion and allowing what was left of her scent to engulf me; the drops that didn’t land on the pillow were on his tongue – he licked my face, wiping away my sorrows – yet still my heart ached over Mother’s absence. It took me a while before I was able to stop my weeping and close my eyes to sleep that night, but eventually with Brother’s protective broad shoulders beside my own, I was able to rest with a slight feeling of peace.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  

Part III – Red Flick & The Bond of Two

I still missed her, always wondering if maybe I would pass by her in town one day, but I was terrified when another one of Master’s loyal sled dogs told me what really happened. 

He was named Red Flick by Master, and I had to admit it, the name suited him quite well. The Alaskan Husky was about my size, despite he was five years my senior. His coat was red like blood, marked with flicks of white around his face, chest and legs. The leather collar that had his name attached on it with a gold plate was dark ebony around his neck. He told me that he was once in the same position as Mother was now, so it was easy for him to explain.

“You say your mother was taken away by another Master?” Flick asked me one evening after I queried him; it was the day after that fateful morning when we last saw Mother. I nodded, only confirming his thoughts. “Ah, yes. Belle must have been sold to someone else then, just like I was when I was about your age.” He spoke in such a calm tone when he said that to me, and that made me confused. 

I gasped. “Sold? What does that mean?” I was unfamiliar to the term, so I wanted to know what it meant. “It is a good thing or something bad?”

“Uh . . . Hmm . . .” The red dog took a moment to think of a easier way to explain what happened to Mother, lifting his muzzle up as he pondered with silent mutterings. Finally, he spoke up once Brother showed up and sat beside me. “Well, Masters are such strange creatures, and they have a thing for offering up their own dogs to other Masters. When one Master receives a certain amount of payment, they’ll give a dog or two in exchange for the pay. That’s the business of being sold.” He paused, allowing those terrible words to sink into my soul.  

Personally, I was stunned by the thought of another Master with Mother, especially since I had no idea where she was now. Our town had many Masters with many dogs, so it would be impossible to check all of them in order to find her. I sighed deeply, lowering my ears and head as I did so. Brother gave me a nuzzle of comfort, so it calmed me for the time being.

“Now, now – cheer up, young one,” Flick reassured me with a smile. “Being sold can be both a good thing and a bad thing . . . not to get you down, I mean.” He noticed my expression of shock when he paused, but he was able to explain his reasons. “When I was sold from my first Master, I was afraid too, but my next Master was very nice -- that’s a good thing. However, I’ve heard of sledding dogs that have been sent to places that are in such poor conditions . . . it’s like being in a living hell, one of those types of dogs told me before they were taken away.” 

“How awful,” Brother murmured; his face was also in a state of shock. “I hope I never get sold to a Master that would mistreat me . . . or my sister.”

I was slightly flattered by his kind comment to the older husky and near to the point of blushing, but I was still concerned about where Mother was taken to. “So, do you know where our mother was going?” I hoped and prayed that she was in a good place with a good Master, just like the red husky had spoken about.

Flick just shrugged. “I don’t know. I was only half-awake when another Master joined with our Master that morning. They were talking about something, but before I could understand what, I watched as the other Master clipped a lead line to Belle and tugged it, leading her out of the barn. She obeyed the command like a well-trained dog always does, only looking back at me and the other huskies with a kind smile.” The red husky took a pause, reminiscing about how she was with a small smile on his face. “Belle was always a good dog – one of Master’s favorites. I wonder why she was chosen over the rest of us to go to another Master . . . but I guess we’ll never know the answer to that.” 

“Hmm,” Brother replied. “Mother always told us to do as Master says. Why would she follow the commands of another Master just like that?”

“That’s what you have to get used to when you get sold,” Flick began to scratch himself with one of his hind legs. “When your old Master sells you to a new one, you have to learn to accept the words of the new Master once they start a-tuggin’ on that leash. It’s the rules of being sold, but most of the time, it’s hard to know when you’ll be given a new Master. It could happen at any time, so you must learn to expect the unexpected.” 

I was silent, my head collapsed towards the ground again. After a few moments to recover from Flick’s words, I began to ask him with tears in my eyes. “But that doesn’t seem right . . . Why would Mother just allow them to take her away? It’s not fair .

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