I Remember Keliah

(started 5/13/08)

Rating: PG for possible violence and other wolf stuff. It's not too bad in this part though, but it might further in!

Disclaimer: Characters and events from Balto and Balto: Wolf Quest are the property of Universal Studios, Inc., while most of the other events, places, and characters are the fan property of the author herself, Juuchan17. This is a total work of fiction, not based on actual events, but . . . it could happen!

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The chill of the winter air grew cold against the quarter-wolf’s fur as she stood first watch for the night. It was rather early for such a frigid wind, but she didn’t know that – she wasn’t even born in the wild after all, but now she had accepted this world as her own, for she was now the Alpha Female of the Kawa Clan, one of the many wolf packs that roamed freely in Alaska.

She shuttered as her light-brown fur slightly bristled against the chill. A part of her wished that she were back at home . . . sharing a warm blanket with her father beside her on his little old trawler just outside of Nome. Of course, there was no way that she could return there anyway – over a month ago, she chose to join a pack of wolves as their leader by helping them cross the Great Water via a bridge of broken ice. She had no knowledge of how wide the distance was between where she was now and the old territory of the Kawa. The ice bridge that had carried them across was long gone, disappearing as soon as they had stepped onto the new land where the caribou awaited them as if to make them unable to return to their homeland.

She did know one important thing, however: She was sent to help them . . . and it was her destiny to do so.

 

But why exactly – that part she never really knew. During her first weeks of life, she felt a sudden call of the wild, although she knew nothing of her wolf heritage. Neither of her brothers and sisters understood why their eldest sister was always howling whenever she was excitable, acting like the ringleader of all play activities, and always feeling a very close bond to their father. It wouldn’t be until over a year after the fateful day that her five other siblings were adopted off to new homes when she finally learned about her father’s mixed blood – he was half wolf, half husky – and about that fact that although she shared the same genetics as her siblings, she took the appearance of her father’s lupine ancestors. She found it rather strange that only she sensed that wild instincts of the wolf, since her siblings were just as wild as she, but her mother was a purebred Siberian Husky – a normal breed for a sledding dog – and somehow, the dominance of that tame pedigree influenced them more than the wolf.

 

Furious, she ran away into the wild, completely unaware of exactly where her paws were taking her, but soon, her father came after her to bring her back home where he thought she belonged. However, a raven that promised to lead him to his daughter led both of them to an ocean-edged canyon where a pack of wolves – the Kawa Clan – and their leader, Nava, were waiting for their arrival. After learning about the Clan’s situation with the coming winter, it was told that one of them – “the one who is wolf and does not know” – would guide them to where the migrating caribou herds had chosen to make their permanent home.

 

She had had many questions about all of the different things she was learning and the visions that she had briefly seen flashing through her mind, but despite her eagerness and determination to help the wolves, her father was too defensive to have her remain in a situation that they did not belong in. By the morning, his plans were changed as a rebellious group of wolves had their own ideas for the Clan. Soon, the ice bridge appeared, making her father realize that they had to cross the Great Water at that time or else face starvation for the quickly approaching winter. On the way, the Clan was separated from Nava, who could not complete the journey; she chose to defend the elder wolf, and with some help from her father, the point was understood: she, not the father, was destined to lead the Clan to the caribou, completing the exodus across the Great Water.

 

However, that life-long choice was the easiest part of her destiny.

 

The Alpha let out a soft sigh as her body slowly slid onto the grass and rocky ground below her large clawed paws. She wanted to sleep . . . but she knew she had to keep watch over her pack until the next guard arrived to take her place. I never realized that guard duty could be so . . . exhausting! She thought as she extended her claws a bit further out from her toes and scratched the ground beneath her.

Actually, everything about living like a wolf was not as easy as it seemed at first. Hunting, marking territory, following rules and guidelines . . . Learning all this information about survival hadn’t been a walk in the park, especially since she was only a quarter-wolf, not a purebred wolf like everyone else. She easily made mistakes, scared prey away during hunts and had some wolves loathe her due to her sudden rise from complete outsider to Alpha Female, but after a while, she learned from her mistakes and began to grow stronger and a little less dog-like.

She had left that world far behind her, entering a brand new world that only continued to amaze her with every changing flicker of nature.

The moon was high above her fallen head as the cries of nocturnal birds – mainly the ravens, eagles and owls – danced in the presence of the twinkling stars and hunted for small prey that scurried around the forest ground. The noise of caws and cries from the avian hunters took a while for her to get used to, but it was rather soothing to her dark sepia ears. Sometimes she would even hear the faint cries of other lupines and dogs from nearby, howling at the lunar winter sphere above.

She sighed once more out of frustration and exhaustion. Where was the next guard? She thought with impatience. He should be here by now. Her head was on top of her marked forelegs as if she were ready to sleep. Her eyelids felt heavy, almost like weights were trying to close them for a good night’s rest . . .

No, no . . . The quarter-wolf shook her head. No, I can’t sleep now. I’ve got a duty to uphold to the Clan, to my wolf family, to myself . . .

But she couldn’t help but to close her eyes . . . some higher force wanted her to sleep.

Sleep . . . sleep . . .

- - - - - - - - - -

“Keliah! Keliah!”

It was a feminine voice she could not recognize, but it was faintly growing louder. She could hear it again – this time she felt herself being shifted against a rough surface by the pressure of small paws against her furred side.

 

“Keliah, wake up! You’ve been summoned!”

She opened her eyes, but she didn’t see the night sky across the Great Water. It was daytime here, and nothing looked familiar to her eyes at all. The land was a gentle forest by a small mountain range. A wide river slept by the rocky forms, gently babbling against tiny pebbles that lined it.

 

Oh my! Is this still Alaska? She thought to herself as she tried to absorb the vistas she saw around her. Where am I? Why is it daytime here? Oh no, don’t tell me that I’ve been captured by an enemy pack! She gasped to herself as she noted where she currently was. In this strange place, she was on the flat face of a smooth boulder near the river, lying on her belly beneath the warmth of the sunlight.

 

The other creature that had called her by this strange name of Keliah was a small, dark-colored quadruped with only a gray-white muzzle – perhaps she was a smoky-gray wolf pup? She was not sure about it at the time, especially since this world and these names were so unfamiliar to her, but that’s what the teeny canine standing below her seemed to be in her eyes.

 

Actually, she had no idea why she was even responding to this unfamiliar name in the first place . . . It was one she had never heard before, not even in her hometown of Nome. Hey, my name is not Keliah! I am Aleu, the first-born daughter of Balto and Jenna of Nome and the current Alpha of the Kawa Clan! A part of her wanted to scream out to the smaller wolf, but she could not get her jaws to open to speak.

 

This only bothered her even more, causing her to growl impatiently under her breath.

 

However, this one – Keliah – spoke in another unfamiliar female voice, but she sounded as though everything around her was normal.

 

“Yes, Palei. I’m up . . . and I’m coming down,” This ‘Keliah’ spoke from her own mouth against the quarter-wolf’s own will, rising to her feet . . . no, they were paws! Four clawed paws of white! She realized one clear thing – Keliah was a wolf, no doubt about it!

 

But was she all wolf or only part wolf like herself? She could only hope that this female, whoever she was, could show her what she wanted to know.

 

Keliah leapt into the water – probably to wash herself after resting . . . and to also take a drink with the cool liquid – and this was exactly the opportunity that the quarter-wolf wanted. Her fur was the shade of natural earth – a soft brown hue. She was marked with white around her thin, almond-shaped eyes of yellow and blue. Down her belly and from her ankles to her large paws were also white as snow’s dust. Physically, the she-wolf was slender, making her seem smaller and weaker than the average lupine, but the quarter-wolf felt a strange energy about her – she was actually quite strong and swift, despite her fragile appearance.

 

Oh, this Keliah

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