Always There
Prologue
Balto was asleep on the boat one night. He was having a dream similar to the one he was having until Aleu had crossed the Great Water to lead the wolf pack. However, this one was different. This time, he was in the exact place where he last saw Aleu. The ice bridge had formed again, but the caribou were returning. Then he saw the sun rise and set three times before the wolf pack returned, with Aleu leading the way. That was when Aniu said to Balto, “Go back to where you last saw your daughter. She will be waiting there…”
Balto then woke up. There was no mistaking that his mother as talking to him, but the fact that Aleu was finally coming home was quite a surprise to Balto. All he knows now is that his daughter is returning, and he was going to be there to greet her
Chapter 1
Balto walks up to Rosie’s place. He scratched at the door. He could hear Jenna answer, “Come in.”
Balto walks in through the dog door and sees Jenna near the couch. Balto was about to ask if Rosie was here, but Jenna answered, “Rosie and her family are on vacation right now. They won’t be back until a week.”
“Good, because I am about to take a little trip of my own,” Balto says, “I was hoping you would like to join me.”
“Sure, where are we going.”
“We are going to the place where Aleu left with the wolf pack, because Aleu is returning.”
“Really?”
“Yes. What do you say?”
“Are you kidding? If my daughter is coming back, then I am going to be there for her.”
“Then let’s go. It’s a long journey.”
Balto and Jenna begin their journey, but they were stopped three-fourths of the way when a blizzard blows in. Balto says to Jenna yelling over the storm, “We’ll have to stop somewhere. The storm is too strong.”
Jenna replies, “I agree, but where?”
Balto looks around and finds a nearby cave. “We can rest there.”
Soon, they walk into the cave, and prepare for a night of rest. Unbeknownst to them, there was another presence in the cave…
Chapter 2
The next morning, Jenna wakes up. She could feel Balto next to her, but she could also feel the warmth of something else. She looks down and sees a white wolf pup. Jenna gently nuzzles it, but accidentally wakes the pup. It darts deep into the cave. Jenna follows it. She didn’t want to scare the pup more than it already was.
Jenna extends her paw to the pup. “Don’t be afraid. I’m not going to hurt you.”
The pup slowly walks over to Jenna. She sniffs Jenna’s paw, and runs up to her.
Balto then wakes up and notices Jenna with the wolf pup. He lets out a small chuckle and says to Jenna, “I see you have made a friend.”
Jenna turns around startled by her mate. She was not expecting Balto to be awake this early. She smiled and said to him, “She was curled up underneath me,” She replied.
Soon the pup walks over to Balto. It sniffs his paw before it nuzzles him.
The first thing Jenna notices about the puppy is her eyes. They were as blue as the sky. That is when Jenna finally comes up with a name for the pup. “I think we should name her Skya because of her blue eyes.”
Balto looks at the pup, then back at Jenna. “I think that will be a fine name for her,” he says, “But now we need to get moving if we are to meet our daughter.”
Jenna nodded and followed Balto. The puppy followed, but when Jenna looks back, she stops.
“Come one Skya,” Jenna says.
The pup follows.
Chapter 3
Balto, Jenna, and Skya were only a few feet away from the wolf pack when they heard chattering. Once they walked around the mountainside, they saw the wolf pack. The first thing Balto noticed was that there were nearly twice more wolves than he remembered. However, the one he couldn’t find was Aleu.
Without warning, a wolf pounces on his back. He was about to stand up, but the wolf said something to Balto that he wasn’t expecting: “Long time, no see, Papa.”
Balto soon recognized the owner of that voice. “Aleu, is that you?”
The wolf allowed Balto to stand up. Once Balto was on his feet, he looked at the wolf and saw that it was of course his daughter, Aleu. Balto ran up to Aleu and nuzzled her. “It’s so good to see you again,” Balto said.
“It’s good to see you again too, Papa,” Aleu said to Balto.
Jenna walks up to Aleu. “Hey Aleu,” she says.
Aleu replies, “Hey Mom. How are my siblings?”
“They’re fine. There’s someone I would like you to meet.”
Skya walks out from behind Jenna. Aleu notices Skya and gets down to her level. “Aw,” Aleu exclaims, “She’s so cute...”
“Her name is Sky,” Jenna said, “We found her in a cave on our way to see you…”
“That reminds me,” Aleu said, “I have a family that I would like you to meet.”
“This should be interesting,” Balto whispers to Jenna.
Aleu said to Balto, “I heard that!”
Chapter 4
Aleu leads Balto and Jenna to a male wolf who was tan with white highlights. He was with three wolf puppies; one boy and two girls. Aleu says to her parents, “Mom, Papa, this Anthri, my mate.” Aleu then turns to Anthri. “Anthri, you remember my Papa, Balto, and my mom, Jenna.”
“It’s a pleasure to officially meet you, Balto, and to be acquainted with your mate.”
Jenna gave a decent smile. Skya walks out from behind Jenna. She cautiously walks over to Anthri and sniffs his paw. Anthri says to the pup, “Hey little one,” he says, “I don’t think I’ve seen you before…”
Jenna let out a small chuckle before saying, “I found her in an abandoned den. She’s just too cute to ignore.”
“And had we not found her, she would have died,” Balto adds.
“That reminds me,” Aleu says, “I almost forgot to introduce my pups.” Aleu walks over to her oldest pup. She was red with white highlights that match Anthri’s. “This is Nova,” she says before moving on to her son. He was he was tan with white highlights. “This is Blaze.” Finally, Aleu puts a paw on her youngest daughter. She was pure white and had Aleu’s eyes. “And this is Snow Storm.”
Balto says to Aleu, “I see you have a fine family.”
“I know. I have a little surprise.”
“What would that be?”
“I talked with the rest of the pack, and we decided to move to Nome, if that’s all right with you.”
Balto was silent for a minute before saying, “I can’t wait to have you back home with us…”
Chapter 5
After a few hours of traveling, Aleu and her pack had finally settled on the beach near the boat (the same boat that Balto lives on. Once they settled in, Aleu and Jenna decided to take Skya home. Aleu invited Anthri, but he decided to go next time, seeing that he wasn’t used to humans.
Once Jenna and Skya were home, Aleu decided to take a walk around town to see what all has changed. She saw a sled team just heading in. Aleu took a good look at the team to see her brother, Kodi. Aleu wanted to run out to him, but someone might mistake her for a wolf and- well… let’s just say it won’t be pretty. Besides, that wasn’t necessary since Kodi finally saw her. He knew it was Aleu, but he needed to be sure. He took a good look at Aleu and said in disbelief, “Aleu.”
Aleu then nodded and said, “Hey there big brother…”
Kodi leapt at Aleu and knocked her clean off her feet. They both fought playfully until Kodi accidentally pulled on Aleu’s ear, which made her let out a small yelp in pain. That was when they stopped.
Kodi finally said, “How is this possible? Dad told us-”
“I figured you would react this way, but I’ll explain later. How are the others?”
“Well, Dingo’s brash (as usual), but he does have his eye on someone. However, Saba and Kiona are no longer here.”
Aleu gave a surprised look. “Where are they?”
“I think it’ll be best if I show you…”
Meanwhile, Jenna had just put Skya to bed. Skya had traveled a long journey and she’s only a puppy at the time. As Skya went to sleep, she dreamed of a time in her past.
[Dream Sequence]
Skya was standing next to a wolf who was completely black. Her eyes were blue, just like Skya’s. She didn’t know what was going on, but she was standing in the middle of a trial. The black wolf pleaded, “I didn’t do it! Why would I do such a horrid act?”
Another wolf, similar to the black wolf Skya is standing next to her except with white highlights, replies, “Because you wanted complete leadership yourself.”
“But he’s my mate! Why would I want to kill him?”
[Real World]
Jenna sees Skya stirring and whimpering. She seemed very distressed about something. Jenna walks over to Skya and gently nuzzles her. Slowly, Skya wakes up. She looks at Jenna and nuzzles her. Jenna says to Skya softly, “Had a nightmare, huh? Don’t worry. It’s over now. You’re safe here with me…”
Meanwhile, Kodi and Aleu walk over to an area just near the den. The first thing Aleu sees is Saba with her pups. She lets out a smile. “So, my sisters finally started a pack,” she said out loud to herself.
“Something tells me you’re happy for them,” Kodi says to Aleu.
Aleu nodded.
“Do you want to visit them?”
“Why yes. Yes I would…”
“Then wait for my signal.” Kodi walks out of the bush and over to Saba. Saba notices Kodi and says to him, “Hey there. Nice to see you drop by.”
“That’s for sure. Where’re the others?”
“Kiona and her pups are inside the den, but Nava and Niju are out hunting. They won’t be back until later. I can get Kiona and her pups right now if you want.”
“That might be a good idea because there’s someone I who wants to see you.”
Saba nodded and went to get Kiona and the pups while Kodi signaled for Aleu to come to his position. Once Aleu was standing next to Kodi, Saba, along with Kiona and her pups, emerges from the den. You can imagine the looks on their faces when they see Aleu. “Aleu,” Saba says, “Is it really you?”
Aleu nodded.
“But the ice bridge,” Kiona says, “How is that possible.”
“It reformed just a few days ago,” Aleu answered.
Saba asks, “And what about the wolf pack?”
“They moved with me. It’s hard to lead them if they are still across the Great Water. But I am glad they were willing to follow me back here. I love being back home, where I really belong…”
Chapter 6
Aleu was returning to her pack. She felt happy that she was able to be reunited with most of her family; she had been away from everyone for so long after crossing the Great Water. “Nava and Niju with my sisters,” Aleu thought, “Who would have thought that would happen?”
She finally made her way to her family. Anthri looked up and smiled once he saw his mate walk up to him. Once Aleu got close enough, she nuzzled him. Anthri asked, "So how did it go?"
"Well, nobody got hurt," she answered before laughing. Once she stopped, she continued, "Everything went well. I had the opportunity to see a few members of my family."
"Really?"
"Yeah, you should have come."
"Well, I just wasn't sure about those humans. Besides, who would watch the pups?"
"You have a point there. I wouln't trust them with Sumac, Nuk, and Yak. They're a pretty bad influence."
"That is true... Why not Shadow?"
"Great idea! Once we can trust that nothing bad will happen, we can allow the pups to join us."
“Good. Now let’s get some sleep.”
“But it’s not even-” Aleu cut-off her sentence when she noticed that it’s nighttime. “Okay… That was awkward.” She then lies down next to Anthri. “Good night.”
[Meanwhile]
Jenna was drifting off to sleep after checking on Skya. She was a little worried about Skya having another nightmare. Jenna bolted after coming to one realization: how will Rosey’s family react once they see Skya? She still has a few days to think about it, but maybe Balto will have an idea. For now, she needs to get some rest and get ready for tomorrow.
[Outside of Jenna’s house]
A back wolf was staring into the window. She could see Skya snuggled up next to Jenna with a smile on her face. She smiled and said, “Until the time comes, my daughter, we’ll see each other again.”
She then saw a husky walk out of the house next door and bark, “Who are you? Why are you here?”
The wolf didn’t answer, but ran away. The husky then said to herself, “What’s going on here?” She then walks over to the window that the wolf looked in and saw Jenna with Skya. She asked herself, “Did I miss something?”