Animation Source Forums

It all had a familiar ring to it. Kodi distinctly remembered his mom and dad saying something similar to it, and Kodi took it to heart in his apologies to Fang. So why was it so difficult for him to apply to himself? It made sense when it explained away negative connotations, but it seemed like such a cop-out to avoid meeting the standard his father set. Even if no one else believed it, or claimed not to, Kodi always felt like there would be that expectation. It wasn’t the same when your father was famous, or in Fang’s case, infamous.

“…Yeah…I know.” He said hesitantly. “It’s just hard to shake off that stigma. I remember saying almost the exact same thing to F-”

The front door swung open, Kirby’s leg in the way. He yelped a little when the wooden door struck him, but he quickly leapt out of the way regardless.

“Hey Gang!” said a chipper Mr. Simpson as he stomped his feet outside. Behind him was Ralph, looking most uneasy. “Ralph and I are back from the vet, he’s going to be just fine.” He stepped inside, removing his gloves and placing them on a nearby counter. “Well, come on in, Ralph!” he urged the dog. “Your paw isn’t going to get any better out there in the cold!”

Slinking low to the ground, Ralph lifted his unhurt paw into the front door. He turned his body using his paw as an axis, pulling himself inside, but keeping his right side hidden. It looked most awkward. Why was he going through all of that? As he set his other unseen paw down, there was a most curious noise. It wasn’t the typical sound of a paw padding the ground with the claws ticking slightly. It was a soft plush impression.

Kirby’s expression slowly split into a wide grin. “Ralph… is that what I think it is?”

Ralph looked sourly at his friend. “If you say anything, I swear…” He rotated himself, revealing his other paw. It was covered in a light brown mini boot, with the laces done up and everything.

Kodi coughed softly, covering up his laughter. The boot itself actually looked comfortable, but Ralph looked so distinctly unhappy about wearing it, Kodi would have thought it to be a grievous punishment.

Kirby noticed the noise. “Don’t worry, Ralph. I won’t say anything! I think it speaks for itself!”

Ralph bared his teeth angrily at Kirby, but just hung his head shortly after. He lifted his covered paw to examine it closer, although he had already stared at it numerous times. He hoped he would grow less disdainful of it upon subsequent viewings, but he didn’t. “It’s supposed to keep it dry, he said. Prevent if from further damage and inflection or something like that.”

Kodi straightened his face. The accessory itself wasn’t really that funny, but Ralph’s attitude about it made it seem so much more comical. “So… is that for your hang-”

“Not a word, Kodi!” Ralph interrupted him sharply. “I thought the bandage was bad, if Dusty sees this…” he shuddered.

Kodi smiled, and stepped aside, revealing the beautiful grey husky behind him who no doubt knew all about it.

Ralph quickly shifted his booted behind his other paw, in a completely useless endeavor to hide it. “Oh! *ahem* How’s it going, Dusty?” He asked as casually as he could. “Did you – Did you umm… sleep well?” He asked feebly.

Kodi tried to avoid her gaze. He knew she meant well, and what she was saying probably was probably true for other dogs. But he wasn’t any other dog; he was the son of Balto. It was probably easy for her to tell him that he was being heroic in doing such mundane things. Kodi was glad to do these things, especially when she mentioned helping Dusty with her injuries (he noted her use of the word “mate”, and his stomach churned). It just seemed so tame compared to his father’s accolades. Kodi couldn’t think of any other famous dogs except for his father. By association, he was the son of the most famous, most heroic dog in the world! How could someone expect Kodi to pretend that he didn’t need mind those expectations? They just didn’t understand. How could they?

“Mhm. I know…”. He reluctantly agreed. He didn’t want to offend their guest, especially when she did so much to help him and Dusty the night before. He wanted to steer the conversation out of the dangerous territory it risked entering. Thankfully, Ralph’s injury provided a marvelous distraction. Genuinely curious though he was, it made a better excuse to divert his attentions. He wouldn’t have been so fascinated if he didn’t feel under the microscope.

Ralph groaned at Dusty’s question. “Yeah, Dusty, I get it! How could Ralph’s stupid toenail be such a problem?” His gross misinterpretation of her concern was largely painted by his own concept of her perception.

“That’s exactly what this is about. It was infected, if you must know.” He said, lifting his boot again, showing it to Dusty, as though she could see through it. “I showed it to Sable yesterday. She said it was going to be fine, but she suggested that I showed our human anyways, so I did. He woke me up early this morning, and he took me to the veterigarisson’s house.”

“What’s the matter, Ralph? They aren’t pestering you about your protective boot, are they?” Mr. Simpson noticed the commotion by the door, nibbling on a piece of bread covered in fruit spread. “It was awfully nice of him to see us this morning, on Christmas Eve of all days! You were a good dog about it too, didn't make a fuss. Don’t want to risk you getting your paw hurt anymore, do we, boy? That’d be terrible to have that happen right before your holiday break!”

Ralph looked at the others as Mr. Simpson continued his breakfast, his expression a mix of helplessness and frustration. “See? It’s Christmas, and he took time he could be spending with his family to fix me up. How could I say no when he already agreed to see me?”

Kirby skirted along to his friend. “I’m proud of you, Ralph. Showed some humility, you did. And mean ole’ Dusty thought you were overreacting.”

Kodi knew, or thought he did, when Dusty was being sarcastic. He couldn’t detect any sarcasm when she asked Ralph about his boot. Granted, he was distracted by Sable’s motivational speech, but still.

“Uh, guys? I think she was just being legitimately concerned. You have to admit, a boot for a toenail is a little unorthodox.” He said in Dusty’s defense.

Ralph looked like he was going to concede, but Kirby spoke up first. “Kodi, you and Dusty are dating. Of course you’re going to defend her! We can’t take anything you say about her objectively if you can’t.”

Not at all what he was expecting, Kodi just sputtered. “You can be really hard headed sometimes, you know that?”

“Someone has to be, don’t they?” Kirby said proudly. “Are you going to eat those? Like Ralph said, it’s Christmas, and we all know it’s more blessed to give than to receive.”” He pointed with his paw to the sausages still in Kodi’s dish.

Kodi shook his head in disbelief. “My point exactly. Yes, Kirby, I am.” In a very deliberate fashion, he turned and ate his breakfast. He had built up an appetite while he slept. The raccoon from the night before, though delicious, was not much to go on. “Unbelievable…” He muttered in between bites.

Kirby’s ears were folded backwards as he was given his deserved talking-to. He could admit he was a bit out of line, but it didn’t make it any easier to listen to.

“Alright, ALRIGHT!” He exclaimed, his tail whipping in unison with his speech. “I understand. I was only kidding around, geez. No need to harp on it - Look! Even Ralph knew I was just joking, right Ralph?”

“I umm… err… sure?”

“See? You all need to lighten up. It’s Christmas Eve! No need to take things so seriously.”

Kodi finished his own meal not long after Sable finished hers. If there was one thing Kirby was good at, it was arguing. He wouldn’t back down on anything, unless it was hugely important, like when Kodi convinced him to go with him to find Balto and Duke. Even then, he was reluctant.

Ralph waited for Kirby to finish before he said his piece. “Thanks for the concern, Dusty. Sorry if I snapped a little bit. It’s a bit embarrassing for me to have this thing on.” He shook his paw as if he were shaking away the awkwardness of wearing it. Nothing doing. “I just didn’t want to hear anything else about my hangnail either, and since you’re usually the one to bring it up – No offense” he added quickly. “I thought you were just making fun of me again.”


Mr. Simpson stood up from his stool, and made his way across the kitchenette to grab a glass of water to wash down his impromptu breakfast.

“Is everyone almost done eating? I’d like to get us back home as soon as possible.” He took a large gulp. “No offense meant to you, miss” he said to Sable. “But your town is a bit on the crazy side today. I heard from Dr. Brinker when he was applying Ralphy’s boot that several hunting parties went out this morning to find whatever made the supposed huge paw prints on the edge of town, and track it down.”

Mr. Simpson rinsed out his cup, and began to dry it out with a cloth draped on the handle of an unused cupboard. “Only thing is, it snowed last night after you all came back in. So no one can find any trace of anything! Some are doubting they were really there to begin with. A wild goose chance, what a way to spend Christmas…”

He placed the glass back on the counter, and walked over to the dogs. Some might think it strange that spoke to his dogs like he would other humans, but he had a feeling that they could understand more than others gave them credit for. He took a knee next to Dusty and Kodi. He noted that they seemed to be next to each other more often than usual. “I’m just so glad it wasn’t you two they found.” He rubbed the tops of both of their heads, the soft fur pleasant to the touch. He turned to look at Sable, Sable and her curious stare. “I still don’t know what your role was, and I know you can’t tell me. But, if they were safe with you, you have my gratitude.”

He stood up. “Get yourselves ready, OK? I’m going to take care of a couple of things, and we’ll be off.” He walked to the bedroom adjacent to the living room, presumably to pack up some of his personal effects.

Kodi watched him as he walked away. Kodi couldn’t help but wonder what had happened last night. It all seemed such a blur. He wouldn’t doubt the ruffian dogs fighting amongst themselves, but something just seemed amiss. He couldn’t put his paw on it.

“So Sable…” he said to her. “How do you plan on spending your holidays?”

Ralph politely waited for Dusty and Sable to finish before he answered her question. “I should be good to go. It looks cumbersome, but it’s really not. It’s mainly to keep my paw dry from any slush and snow on the way back to Nome.” He went to the water dish and had a good couple of licks. “I can’t use my claws with them, so my grip won’t be as good as it normally is.” He admitted.

“Let’s just hope we don’t run off anymore cliffs then, right Kodi?” Kirby interjected.

Kodi brushed it off. They had covered his mistake yesterday, and he didn’t want to dwell on it further. Rather, he opted instead to join in on Sable and Dusty’s conversation. “We didn’t even think about going to the inn. At least, I didn’t. We wanted a quiet night out, and the inns and pubs around Nome can sometimes be quite boisterous at night. It’s different here, I guess.” Kodi explained. “We come to White Mountain fairly often, so the odds are good we’ll be back in not too long. If this route deviation keeps up, we’ll probably be staying the night again. Normally, the trip is short enough to make it there and back in a day, so we usually don’t.”

He glanced at Dusty, offering a look of appreciation that neither of them were seriously hurt last night.

“If everything happens for a reason… Well, I hope that everything that happened yesterday was for a good one. Besides meeting you, of course.” He appended his sentence as to not offend Sable.

A soft click emanated from the bedroom down the hallway as the lights from the room vanished. Mr. Simpson stepped out, closing the door behind him. He poked his head in the living room, entered it and exited again after only a couple of seconds. Kodi guessed it was probably to put up the pillows that Kirby had slept on the night before.

“Everyone get their breakfasts? Are we ready to go?” He asked the dogs with anticipation.

The dogs all barked at him. Kodi turned back to Sable as Mr. Simpson began to affix his jacket and hat.

“I know I said it earlier, but I want to apologize for being such an awful host last night. Hopefully next time, we’ll get another chance. And hopefully,” he made sure to emphasize this “under better circumstances too.”

Sable followed the group out to the sled and nodded. "I hope we will meet again as well, I really look forwards to it," she stated, thinking things out. "I'll try to meet up with you next time you're here, I'm normally able to see the sled teams come in. Having a new friend isn't something you just forget about of course."

Dusty nodded, giving a small tailwag. "Yeah, I agree with that," she said, giving a smile. "If I can help it, I'm not going to abandon a new friend, it isn't right."

As the two talked, a little puppy came up while his owners were handing their mail and packages to Mr. Simpson. The pup walked up to Kodi, looking up at him. "Hi, you're the lead dog, aren't yah?" he asked, looking up at him with cute, puppy dog eyes, full of admiration, the kind of admiration Kodi would find very familar.

Dusty a facepaw at that one. "Really? Can't think of ONE other dog who he looks up to like that?" she asked, unable to believe he REALLY didn't. "Like the one who raised him since he was born? That taught him how to run? That SAVED THE ENTIRE TOWN? Does any of that ring a bell?" she asked, giving him a "death glare". Seriously? He went there? Why? Was he really that egocentric?

The puppy nodded, glad to hear that he was the lead dog. "Because I really, really, really, really, really, REALLY want to be a sled dog when I get bigger!" he exclaimed, with typical puppy excitement. "My humans say they want me to be one too, it'll be so cool!...But..." he said, looking down, giving a sad look, his ears pinning back. "I can't keep up with anyone else from my litter, I'm the...runt..." he admitted sadly. "But I try really hard, I really do...I just can't keep up..." he said, giving a soft whimper.

“OH! Pfft, really? I mean, come on! What?” Kirby uttered in quick succession as many words of protest as he could.
“Obviously, I KNEW about Balto. We all know about how Kodi just adores him. I thought you were asking about someone that wasn’t a given!” He explained himself.
Again, Ralph couldn’t tell if Kirby was being truthful or if he was covering it up. His ear wasn’t twitching, but still… Kirby sometimes couldn’t adjust his focus to something other than himself. He was a loyal friend, and you couldn’t ask for a more reliable running dog, but because he knew precisely that, he let it get to his head more often than was sometimes tolerable for everyone else.

“Besides, it’s Christmas Eve! Let’s drop hostility for a change, Dusty, and just relax. We get to go back home soon!” He said unwittingly. Ralph might have been a bit on the slower side for some things, but Kirby was either deliberately ignorant or genuinely bullheaded of some of his hypocritical or downright baffling statements. “Let’s just watch the small miracle happening in front of us – wait a second, that puppy looks like he’s about to cry! What is Kodi doing to him out there?”

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

Kodi heard the comment, and subsequently heard Kirby cry out as Ralph forcibly made him be quiet. He knew that all eyes were on him now. He could see the fragile and sensitive state of the creature in front of him. Somehow or another, Kodi had unknowingly inspired this youngster, who aspired to be a lead dog, just like he was.

In more than just that, Kodi could see more similarities with his past self and this precocious pup in front him. Both of them were the least physically adept from the get-go out of their litters. Kodi didn’t like using the term “runt” because of its negative connotations. Kodi had heard horrible stories, especially when the sled races were nearing, of the smaller, weaker puppies being cast out of homes and put up for adoption because they were supposedly “inferior” to their siblings. How could a living being so young and unproven be deemed “inferior” over something that wasn’t their fault? The injustice of it all made Kodi so very grateful for the chance he’d been given. If he could help the disadvantaged pup in front of him overcome the circumstances he’d been dealt, then... Kodi didn’t know what could come of it, but he knew he had to do something.

“Hey… don’t be discouraged.” Kodi lay in front of him, his face level with the obviously discouraged face opposite of him. “Don’t be discouraged." He repeated gently for emphasis. "I’m the lead dog now, sure, but when I was younger… I was just like you.”

He took a deep breath before continuing. He didn’t like talking about his youth, but Kodi was sure that this puppy of all creatures could relate. “For the longest time, the most I saw of my siblings were their tails in the distance. I always got so tired, and even when I gave it my all, I was always so much slower than they were. It seemed impossible. I’m sure you know what I mean.”

“But for me, I had someone to look up to; my dad. He’s the reason I became a sled dog to begin with, because I wanted to be just like him. He helped me every step of the way. He could see how badly I wanted it, and he pushed me to go the distance to get there. Do you maybe have… someone like that?”

Kodi realized what a gamble that sort of question was. If the answer wasn’t “yes”, then the puppy in front of him would probably feel more distant, isolated, and hopeless than he had before Kodi met him. Kodi tried to unscramble potential responses as he braced himself for the answer, good or bad.

The little pup gave a whine and shook his head. "No, my papa isn't a sled dog..." he said, a little downtrodden.

"Well my ex-mate was a pretty good sleddog back in the day," said Sable, giving a sigh. "Long story, but anyway, I still picked up a thing or two about sled racing and the like from him, he talked about it all the time, even though he was retired," she continued, looking at the pup. "I don't know everything, but I know a bit about running from him, I could probably teach the little fellow."

"Wow! Really?!" exclaimed the tiny puppy, wagging his tail exciteably.

"Yes, I will, though I don't know much about the other aspects of it, it'd take a real sleddog to teach you that stuff, but I can teach you what I know about running," said Sable, hoping one of the real sleddogs could fill in what she didn't.

“Really, Sable?” Kodi asked, surprised. “That sounds wonderful, we’d be glad to help!” As though he had traveled through time, the look on the faces of his teammates mirrored perfectly the expressions they adorned when Kodi had eagerly accepted a training regime for Fang.

Kirby and Ralph glanced at each other uneasily. Kodi noticed it. He noticed their reluctance. “Well?” He asked expectantly, demandingly.

In unison, the two pawed the ground nervously. Aggravated, Kodi excused himself from Sable and the little one to go speak with the rest of his team. As he approached the two, the zeal in his eyes was immediate. He wanted to teach, and it was obvious from his determined expression that he had no room to ponder why the rest of his team seemed to lack the same devotion.

Without a word, he simply stared at the two, both of whom knowing exactly what he was asking.


“Listen, Kodi… It’s not that we don’t WANT to help him, or you. It’s just…” Kirby stammered the exact same words he used when describing Fang's scenario. “It’s just… don’t we already have another trainee under our belt? I’m sure you remember Fa-”

“Of course I haven’t forgotten!” Kodi interrupted, an offended look about him. “He’s back in Nome, not out here in White Mountain.” He explained. “Why does that matter?”

“We know that, Kodi.” Ralph said. “That’s the problem right there.”

Kodi tilted his head to imply confusion, but he was more frustrated than anything. “I don’t understand, what’s the problem?”

Kirby stepped in, fearing for Ralph’s eloquence distorting what the two were thinking, “We’re going to be training Fang back in Nome, as well as a dog out here? A dog whose name you don’t even know? We work full-time as mail dogs, Kodi. How are you expecting us to find time to train both in between our busy schedule?”

Kodi scoffed at the question, feeling that the solution was quite obvious. “It’s simple, we can work with Fang back in Nome, and we can train this little guy when we run mail out here. I know it’s not the best scheduling, but he needs our help.”

Ralph fidgeted in place where he sat, asking the question that both he and Kirby were thinking. “Kodi… who says we have to help him? It’s like Kirby said, we don’t even know his name. And you want to help him become a running dog? Why not let the teams around town help him out, we’re busy enough.”

Kodi opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn’t pick the words to say. “I- Well, I-”

Kirby, bolstered by what Ralph was saying to him, and seeing Kodi’s reaction wanted to make sure his piece was heard too. “We know you love to help others out, Kodi. That’s not a bad thing, not at all!” He reassured his flustered friend. “But when does it stop? Goodness knows we still don’t know what’s to become of Fang once we’ve worked with him and trained him. You already told us you had plans to put him on the mail team. OUR mail team. Our FULL mail team. Just how is that going to work?”

Kodi answered coyly “I thought you didn’t want to cross that bridge before we got there, Kirby?”

Not backing down, Kirby stood his ground. “It’s a lot closer than it was last night, Kodi. Say Fang joins up with us, somehow. Alright.” He said resignedly. “What about this puppy? What if he can’t find a team here either, are you going to volunteer him to join us too?” He asked demandingly. “As it stands, we don’t have enough room around here for Fang. I already know why you want to help him out so badly, and I can see why helping out this younger version of you holds an appeal.”

“What are you talking about? Why do we need reasons to want to help out others? Who’s to say that a racing team around here won’t pick him up?” Kodi asked quizzically to his friend.

“He’s the runt, Kodi.” Ralph said simply. “Just like you were. Don’t try to tell us that has nothing to do with your desire to help this puppy out. You and I both know that racing teams almost never take the runts of the litter.”

Kodi raised his voice. “Almost is still a chance! What is the matter with you two?” He made sure to leave Dusty out of it, as he was sure she’d see his rationale.

“The problem we’re having, Kodi, is that your personal feelings could affect us and our livelihoods! Our jobs, Kodi!” Kirby pleaded with him. “We’re already in danger of being phased out by things like Duke and his flying machine, why would you want to make it worse for us?”

“What makes you think that me helping out someone who needs it is going to affect you?” Kodi asked through gritted teeth.

“Let’s be real here. You aren’t going to oust yourself or your girlfriend off of the mail team to make room, are you? Who does that leave?” Ralph insinuated.

“This is just like it was with Duke, isn’t it? You two are so concerned about yourselves and your precious jobs that you don’t have the decency to help others that you wrongly feel are a threat!” Kodi ignored their question to him.

“And you’re so concerned with being seen as a hero to everyone else in the world that you don’t care what happens to the ones closest to you!” Kirby bellowed back.

Kodi’s nostrils flared as he took numerous deep breaths, trying to control his anger. He glared angrily at Kirby, Ralph looking slightly taken aback at the vicious blow his friend had rendered. They stared each other down for several seconds, an achingly long time seeming to pass by.

“What you do with your time is up to you, Kodi.” Kirby finished. “If you want to run yourself ragged to ease your conscience, or to play the hero, or whatever, go ahead. Just don’t expect us to sit by and watch you use OUR team as leverage.”

“I’m going to help them. Both of them.” Kodi told him defiantly.
“Be my guest.”
“Fine.”
“FINE!”

Kodi turned sharply and walked back to Sable and the puppy, hoping they didn’t hear too much of the heated discussion. He didn’t hear a word from Dusty the entire argument, but she was sure she was on his side in the matter. At least, he hoped so. He could hear whispering behind him, his teammates no doubt talking amongst themselves as to what they had just witnessed.

He approached Sable and the puppy, and resumed his prone position to be level with the young dog.

“You have my assurances that I” he emphasized strongly the self-reference “will help you to practice your running whenever I can.” He said confidently.

“And, just for the record…” Kodi looked back to his team for a moment before he continued. “What is your name?”

Dusty looked to the other two. "Look, I understand how you feel, but hear me out," she said, looking to Ralph and Kirby. "Look at Ralph right now and look at what happened earlier. And you know how often we all get worn out or the like on these runs. Having a rotation would let one of us rest when we're worn out."

"And come to think about it, we're really one Swing Dog short, you two are the strongest physically and would be more suited as the Wheel Dogs, if we had another Swing Dog other than me, then we probably wouldn't have as much trouble rounding corners as we do now," she continued, making a fairly decent point. "That's why it's so much easier when we're actually racing with Balto on the team, we've got enough dogs to do it right. If we had Fang on the team, he could be the other Swing Dog and we'd probably be able to do a good bit better. Not to mention be faster in the long run."

---------

The little pup wagged his tail cutely. "My name is Sakak, and thank you so much!" he said, smiling widely, looking extremely excited.

Sable smiled. "Sakak, Mischief Maker," she said, smiling. "That's what your name means in Inuit," she stated, wondering if the little pup knew the meaning of his name. She then looked to Kodi. "If your name is short for Kodiak, I guess your parents were thinking about the island at the time. Or the bear."

Sakak smiled sheepishly. "Yeah...I guess I do get into trouble a bit...I like playing pranks and stuff like that, it's fun," he said, giving a little chuckle. "So I guess that's why they named me that way..."

Kirby fumbled as he listened to Dusty’s rationale. He didn’t want to admit that she had a point, and a good one at that. Half of the reason the team was late as often as it was because they were running as a minimum spec team. But, their owner seemed to take no interest in acquiring any new dogs. Or if he did, he didn’t let them know. Why wouldn’t he tell them? No, he was happy with the team he had. Kirby agreed with him. If it wasn’t broken, don’t fix it.

“Well, Dusty’s got a good point, Kirby. We are a bit understaffed, if's that the right term?” Ralph reasoned with him.

“It is right, but it’s wrong. We aren’t understaffed. We can run just fine the way we are.” Kirby said stoutly.

Ralph could see that getting new members was bothering Kirby an awful lot, but he didn’t know why. “We’re doing okay… but couldn’t we be doing better? I mean, think about it. It’s like she said, we could use another swing dog at least. Dusty isn’t as strong as me or you, she shouldn’t be so close to the sled anyways. No offense, Dusty.” He added at the end.

“I know I’m not the smartest dog in the world, but what she says makes sense. Your strength is much more suited to being a wheel dog. Think about it, you could swap out with Dusty, and join me on the back of the line-”

“NO!” Kirby barked. The couple talking with Mr. Simpson looked startlingly at him, prompted by the surprisingly loud noise, but they returned to speaking with the musher. “We don’t need anyone else!” He spoke with a sudden ferocity.

Ralph looked almost frightened at the state. He hadn’t seen Kirby so worked up in quite a while. He tried to sound hopeful and happy, and drove on into another point for the roster addition. “Well, at the very least, we could use another dog or two for relief, right? Just think about it, you and me could sit back and relax while our replacements bust thei-”

A sudden tic ignited Kirby’s demeanor again. “I already said, NO! Stop telling me to 'think about it'! Why are you even supporting this, Ralph? Do you want to be replaced, is that it?”

Ralph looked apologetically at his friend. “I- Of course not! I just want to find a way, some sort of compromise. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Kirby scoffed at him. “Yeah, I’m sure.” His voice dripped with a most deliberate sarcasm. “It doesn’t even matter. Mr. Simpson doesn’t want any new members, and unless he says so, we aren’t getting any. We’re fine the way we are, we don’t need anyone else. That's that.” He finished quietly and… was that reassuringly?

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

“Well, it’s good to meet you, Sakak. My name is Kodi.” Kodi said, beaming at the puppy’s joyous reaction. “Just like Sable said, named after the island. Or the bear. Rosy, my mother’s owner, never said.” Truthfully, Kodi had been given a different name by his parents when he was very young, though he couldn’t quite remember it. With no way for his parents to communicate it to any of the humans, Rosy and her family had chosen a different name for him; Kodiak, often reduced to simply “Kodi”. To reduce the confusion for young Kodi, Balto and Jenna decided to slowly adopt his human given name.

Suddenly, Kirby’s exclamation sounded. He didn’t sound happy. “Those are my teammates over there.” He said to Sakak. “The pretty one, that’s Dusty. You might see her around when we get to your training.” He avoided speaking for Ralph and Kirby. He didn’t want to make Sakak uncomfortable by telling him that several of Kodi’s team didn’t like what he was doing. It probably took an awful lot of guts for Sakak to come speak to Kodi in the first place. “I might be the lead dog, but I’m nothing without them. Teamwork is everything on a dog sled team.”

While Sakak appeared to be examining Kodi’s companions, he spoke in hushed tones to Sable. “Make sure he doesn’t get in too much trouble, alright? I know that puppies will be puppies, but I don’t want him to get in over his head, especially with those mutts around town.” He looked at the little guy with concern. “I’d hate to see him lose his way before he even starts…”

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

“We’re so glad we caught you!” The woman said to Simpson as he finished tightening the straps of the modicum of packages to the sled. “It’s been so busy this holiday season, we’ve barely had time to think!”

Mr. Simpson chuckled. “Oh, don’t I know it. We’ve had a huge number of runs in the past month, the team is exhausted.” He looked over at his flock. Dusty, Ralph, and Kirby were separate from Kodi and the mysterious female, who were joined by a much smaller dog. It had a collar. “Is that one yours?” He asked.

“Sure is!” The man exclaimed. “Name’s Sakak. A bit rascally, but he’s a good boy. We’re looking to have him on a sled team when he gets older, in fact.”

“Really?” Mr. Simpson asked, surprised. “How old is he now?”

“Ummm... About six months, I think?” The woman said, rubbing her chin.

“Oh.” Mr. Simpson said bemusedly. He seemed to be quite small for his age. Then again, Kodi was a bit on the smaller side when his family adopted him.

“I know it’s a bit late…” The man said uneasily. “But do you think you could add these to your sled? It’s not much! Just a couple of cards to our sister and her family out in Nome.” The man held out two envelopes for Simpson to examine.

“Sure thing, let me see…” He took them in one hand, and used the other to unfasten a parcel for envelopes on the sled. He started to put them in, but stopped when he noticed a discrepancy. “Oh… there aren’t any stamps on these.” He said.

The woman bit her lip, looking dismayed. “Oh! I’m sorry… We were going to buy them at the post office when we sent them off, but… I guess it’s closed on Christmas Eve. I apologize for that, it slipped our minds…” She reached for the envelopes and grasped them. Mr. Simpson didn’t let them go.

Suddenly, Kirby barked. The woman let go of the letters, startled, and looked over at the dog. There didn’t appear to be any further commotion. She could see Sakak behind them, looking to be staying out of trouble.

Simpson looked at the envelopes. “To Barbara Thomas and Family” it read. They were a good sort, and the wife made a very delectable pot roast for town potlucks.

“Tell you what” he said, looking around as though he were committing a most heinous crime. “Let me take these. I’ll explain it the post master back in Nome, and foot the bill if need be.” He told her.

“Are- are you sure?” The man asked, surprised. “It’s not that big of a deal if we have to wait, I’m sure they’ll understand.”

“Nonsense!” Mr. Simpson exclaimed. “It’s Christmas Eve, after all! How could I say no? It’s not a problem, not at all!” He stuffed the letters into the parcel, and closed it before they could say anything else.

“Oh, thank you!” The woman said gratefully. “God bless, and happy holidays!”

“Same to you, ma’am. Good luck with Sakak!” Mr. Simpson nodded at the couple. With a final snap, the sled was ready to go. Now, all it needed was the dogs to pull it. “Okay gang! Strap up!” He called out to the team.