Evelyn?” He paused for me to turn back to look at him from over my shoulder, “Don't forget mom!”

“Okay.” I answered, turning away.

“Oh and Evelyn?” He was joking this time, and when I faced him he was smiling.

“Yes, Dingo?” I grinned.

“Oh nothing.” He faked looking away, I rolled my eyes and turned away once more. But before I could take another step he repeated his calling. I sighed and faced him once more.

“You going to keep doing this Dingo?” I asked.

“Nah, It's just fun to mess with ya'.” He grinned slyly.

I turned once more, I heard his intake of breath.

“Not again Dingo.”

“Aw.”

“Don't you have someone to go to?” I reminded him, I didn't need to turn around to know that he was scampering down the hill now. I hoped that he would talk to Kodi and tell him about the family meeting so I wouldn't have to.

~*~

It had taken me a little bit to find all my siblings but when I returned to the boat after getting Jenna we both entered at the same time and everyone was there. I noticed Diera sitting extremely close to Dingo while Dingo was gazing longingly at Saba who was seated next to Kodi who was just staring at his paws not sure of why he was there. Mother only smiled as she took a seat near Balto who was at the back of the room not talking to any of his children.

 'Did Dingo already explain things to him?' I wondered, Saba was looking at mother and father at the front. But I could see she was putting up a great amount of effort not to look towards Dingo.

I could also tell that Diera was getting annoyed with the fact that Dingo would return her stares. Or reply to anything that she seemed to whisper into his ear.

I assumed a position next to Saba, feeling bad about leaving Dingo alone with Diera on one side of the room.

 

“So, you've come up with a family meeting.” Balto began, “But why exactly do you need to speak with your mother and I for?” That was a dead give-away that Dingo hadn't told father anything.

Saba looked to Dingo and I, it was obvious that Kodi was clueless as to his purpose there and Diera didn't have a look that said she was going to say anything. I looked at Dingo expectingly, I felt bad to pile it all on him. But it was their problem that they needed to deal with.

“Well?” Balto looked at us all, and mother had her famous worried crease between her eyebrows.

“Dad, me, Saba and Diera have a few problems we need you to know about. And we'd like to fix them before they ruin our lives.” Dingo began, lucky that Diera actually listened to what he said and not only admired him; she had a puzzled look on her face and looked to Saba and him and then at me.

I only shrugged, hoping she would take it as a gesture meaning I didn't know anything. Her innocent eyes lingered though.

“Is there something bad?” Jenna wondered, “Are you in trouble with other dogs?”

“No mother.” Saba assured her, “Just something wrong with ourselves.”

“What kind of things?” Balto needed the specifics.

Neither Saba or Dingo seemed to talk, they were uncomfortable enough with the situation. And it was obvious that Diera was still a little confused. I felt bad for putting Dingo and the rest of them on the spot in front of mother and father. So I stepped forward, all eyes turned to me.

“They're all in love with each other.” I explained shortly.

“Oh dear.” Jenna murmured. I saw realization spark in Diera's eyes out of the corner of my eye, then embarrassment flush through her features. She shrank a little away from Dingo.

“How?” Balto seemed to disbelieve what I said.

“I'm in love with Saba.” Dingo confessed.

“And I with him.” Saba sighed, looking finally into her brother's face.

“And I love Dingo.” Diera mumbled, I now saw how left out she was in the triangle. She had no chance even if it wasalright.

“But you have a mate!” Kodi shouted in disbelief at Diera, his eyes wide.

“Jeff is more like a fling.” Diera admitted, “I'm not sure how I feel for Jeff.”

“This is complicated.” Balto agreed, turning to Jenna for some help.

“But we don't want to be this way.” Saba seemed to plead, “We know it's wrong! But we cant help it, thats why we came for you.”

“I wish I knew how to change this.” Jenna admitted sadly.

“And we cant just expose you all to everyone else, they might not be so accepting!”

“So far we've tried separation.” Saba explained.

“It's not working so well.” I spoke up, I'd observed how they both were. And even when they weren't near each other they still didn't seem like they were going to forget one another very easily.

“Are you sure your all so completely infatuated with one another?” Jenna looked at them in turn.

“I've loved Dingo since I was a pup.” Diera confessed, a misty look coming into her eyes.

“I've only just began feeling things for Saba, during our journey.” Dingo explained.

“Maybe it was hunger or something else. Perhaps admiration or awe?” Balto suggested.

“Saba were you in heat?” Jenna looked to her daughter.

“I don't remember mother. But I should be in that stage of life I suppose.” Saba's eyes seemed to be searching her memories. I wondered if I could tap into them. But her head snapped to look at me with narrowed eyes, as if to say 'Don't even try it.'

“That must be it Dingo.” Saba nodded in understanding, “You were with me in my time of heat and as a male your mind told you that you loved me. And now you are letting that incident overrule your mind and make you believe that you are in love with me even now.”

Dingo also seemed to understand it, nodding.

“That must be it!” He exclaimed, “Now that I think about it... you did smell weird.”

“Thanks a lot.” Saba mumbled sarcastically, rolling her eyes. I was glad to see her get her sense of humor back. They started to laugh, and soon we all joined in. Well except Kodi who was quite partial to the problem. I felt bad to have dragged him to this meeting which he took no part in.

“But wait!” Diera cut in, “I've loved Dingo before I even gotten into heat.”

“Diera, you have simply let your mind race with the ideathat you loved Dingo. You let your mind's strange fantasies overrule your mind. So all this time you've led yourself to believe that you loved him.” Saba explained, Diera's situation was a lot similar to what Dingo's had been.

“What about you Saba?” I wondered.

“Once I realized that Dingo seemed to love him, I began to wonder about the possibilities.” Saba explained. “In the end, we all tied ourselves up into thinking we were into each other. When in truth it was just caused by tiny incidents that we let our imaginations run wild with.”

“Thats makes sense.” I agreed.

“So then thats all cleared up.” Jenna smiled, I was sure her and father were glad that it didn't turn out to be one big problem.

“So can we leave then?” Kodi asked, yawning. His mouth gaping wide, I noticed Diera looking at him.

“Diera.” I warned her sternly.

“What?” She replied innocently, I held a gaze with her for a few moments longer though.

“Yes, we can leave now.” Jenna replied to Kodi.

 

It had taken a while for us to disband, Saba and Dingo were still laughing at their foolishness as they walked side by side out the door. I was glad to see that they could be together without the complicated mess of thinking they were in love with each other. Now things were mostly normal, even me and Saba's abilities seemed like distant troubles. I didn't really care anymore, she was right. There was nothing to worry about now, it was more of a birth right that I'd just have to learn to live with.

If anything, knowing when bad things were coming was a good thing! Dingo had to watch me and Saba leave together from the doorway, I was sure father still had a few comments to make just in case.

“Listen, Evelyn.” Saba stopped us short of the town edge, “I'm sorry that I dragged you into this. I made you so stressed out earlier.”

“Look, Saba. It's nothing.” I assured her, “I'm not even mad anymore.” I gave her a real smile, and she grinned back. We walked back together happily, and when we got back home my humans were happy to open the door and welcome us back in.

But me and Saba were so tired that we went straight to my closet without needing to be herded like before. Saba and I drifted asleep quite comfortably.

~*~

In my dream I was walking through an alley in Nome. I knew I was heading home, the meeting with the family fresh in my mind. I'd just left. Odd, wasn't I already home? Then I began to wonder, who's mind was I tapping into this time? I knew it wasn't a memory, because it was all happening right then.

I could even feel the cold night air begin to sting my muzzle. I had thinner fur. I hunched against the cold and looked at my paws, they were white and the fur was a lighter red. Like mothers. I knew I couldn't be in Kodi's body, he took the beach route home. And mother wouldn't take a dark alley way home, she lived along a main-road.

'Diera' the name shot into my mind immediately. It fit, she lived in a darker part of town, so she would need to take the alley routes around.

She was on her way to meet somebody, even though it was so late.Probably Jeff. It made sense, she was never around him during the day. Always off with Christy and Betty, but at night she was either at home or hooking up with her kind-of mate.

Diera veered off on a different direction towards the main street of town. Or was she heading towards the main street? I noticed that the body I was in angled a little towards another street at the south end of town.

“What are you doing here?”a voice came from ahead. It was Jeff's and he was talking to someone else.

'Whats who doing there?' It was Diera's voice inside her own head. I was glad we were thinking and wondering the same

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