Though it pained her to do so, Jenna got to her feet, having spent a few minutes affectionately nuzzling Balto. The puppy, startled by the sudden movement, looked up at her. “Where ya goin’ Jenna?”

Fighting off the pangs of reluctance, Jenna answered him. “I’ve been away from home for a while; Rosy-I mean, my human-is probably wondering where I am right now.” She turned her head towards Nome. “I don’t want to worry her.”

Balto’s eyes widened, and he frowned sadly. “Does that mean you’re leaving?” he asked uncertainly.

Jenna glanced at the pup apologetically. “Just for now,” Jenna assured him, gently nuzzling the top of his head. “I’ll be back later, I promise.” Slowly, she turned to leave, but felt a tiny nipping at her back legs as she started back. Sighing in light exasperation, she turned her head to see Balto, small teeth still clamped on her left leg.

Balto released his grip. “Don’t go, Jenna,” he pleaded, looking up at her imploringly. “I like you.”

The suddenness and bluntness of the statement, along with the statement itself, caught Jenna off guard. “You…like me?”

“Yeah!” the puppy replied, mouth curling into a slight smile. “You’re pretty, an’ you’re nice, an’…” Once again, Balto’s face contorted into that (somewhat adorable, Jenna admitted to herself) puzzled expression. After a few seconds, Balto spoke up. “Dunno why, but I just like you.”

Jenna took a moment to mull over the puppy’s words. He likes me, but doesn’t know exactly why?

Jenna imperceptibly shook her head; she’d have time to think about that later. For now, she had more pressing matters to attend to.

“I like you too, Balto.” Jenna gently laughed. “And trust me, I’ll be back.” She nuzzled Balto one final time. “I’ve just got to be with my girl for a little while, okay?”

“Hey, I’ll be back,” Jenna assured the pup again. With this, she turned around, walked to the boat’s edge, and leaped off. Once she was on the ground, she walked a few steps forward, pausing only to glance at Balto, who was looking after her longingly. Jenna shook her head in an attempt to clear herself of the reluctance stirring in her breast before starting on her way.

Boris sat in a comfortable corner of the ship, watching, with some amusement, as Balto argued with Muk. The pup seemed absorbed in the conflict, which satisfied Boris. It was a marked improvement from his previous demeanor, at any rate.

The poor kid had stayed in the same place for at least five minutes, staring longingly at the town. By the way his head and ears drooped slightly, it was obvious that he’d missed Jenna.

Boris had watched, intrigued. As far as Balto knew, he had only just met Jenna, yet he seemed to have gotten so attached to her in such a short time…

Fortunately, Balto had not stayed depressed. Muk and Luk, watching Balto as well, had mustered up enough courage to cautiously approach the pup. Balto, at the sight of the two larger polar bears, flinched slightly; his near-suffocation was still fresh in his young mind.

Muk had winced at this, but raised his front paws apologetically. “Sorry, Balto, we didn’t mean ta’ hurt ya; we was just happy to see ya. Ain’t that right, Luk?” The other bear smiled and nodded enthusiastically. “See? All we was doin’ was huggin ya.”

At this, Balto had relaxed a bit, though his body was still somewhat tense. “Really?...”

Balto, somewhat reassured, had timidly ventured a question. “…what’re your names?”

Muk was only too happy to oblige the puppy’s question. “I’m Muk, and this ‘ere’s Luk!” He gestured emphatically at both himself and his sibling.

Part of Balto’s forehead had risen up as the pup rolled over the names in his mouth. “Muk…Luk…” the puppy had repeated this quietly for a few seconds, before looking up at the two bears. Unexpectedly, a smile had spread across his face and he had happily piped, “Your names’re funny!” If the polar bears’ expressions were any indication, they had NOT been expecting that.

Muk’s jaw hung open for a few seconds before he found his voice again. “N-no they’re not!” Muk’s protest only caused Balto to giggle.

Looking a bit offended, the smaller polar bear spoke up again. “I-I’m serious! We like our names!” Balto giggled even harder. His continued amusement caused Muk’s expression to transition from offended to irritated. “What about your name? ‘Balto’s kind of funny, ain’t it?”

Abruptly, Balto stopped laughing. Turning his head and looking up at Muk, he frowned. “No it’s not,” he replied.

Boris had watched, up to the present moment, as the two young creatures’ verbal scuffle carried on, and he found his eyes darting back and forth between Muk and Balto as they exchanged protests. Judging by the fact that Luk’s head was fixed on his brother and his regressed friend, Boris had guessed the polar bear’s eyes were doing much the same thing.

“Is too!” When Muk didn’t reply, Balto smiled and settled in his position, confident he had won the argument. His contentment, of course, swiftly turned to suspicion when he realized what had happened.

“Hey, no fair!” the little wolfdog whined as Muk laughed, pointing at his “opponent”. “You cheated!”

In his own cozy position, Boris barely managed to keep from laughing. He didn’t know what amused him more: Balto’s reaction, or the fact that Muk had actually been quick enough to pull that little trick. He hadn’t known the fuzzball had had it in him…

All the while, Luk appeared to be getting slightly distraught as he watched his brother enjoying himself at Balto’s expense. Poking Muk to get his attention, he whimpered.

Immediately, Muk stopped laughing, his enjoyment quickly turning to annoyance. “Not fair? There wasn’t nothin’ sayin’ I couldn’t mess around a little bit!” Still, Luk whimpered.

“You’re takin’ his side? What’s wrong with ya?” To emphasize his consternation, Muk gave his sibling’s bulk a shove. Expectedly, it didn’t do much to the larger polar bear, aside from startling him. He stared at his sibling for a few seconds, blinking, before…

Muk grunted in surprise as Luk gave a push of his own, knocking him onto his back in the process. He looked up, stunned. “Wha…what did ya just…”

Startled, Muk turned his head to the side; Balto was standing a few inches from where the bear’s head lay, wagging his tail and grinning. The puppy showed no signs of his earlier annoyance.

Muk and Luk both stared at Balto, as though they couldn’t believe what he was saying. Boris raised an eyebrow. He could only guess at what was running through those two’s heads…

Apparently, Balto had the same idea. A small frown manifested on his face, and he blinked. “What are ya lookin’ at?”

More staring. Once again, Boris raised his eyebrow. What are those two…

“Pffffthahahaha!” Muk suddenly burst out laughing, clutching his stomach and rolling completely onto his back in the process.

Balto and Luk both stared at him, confusion and surprise etched on their faces. After a few long seconds, they turned their heads up to stare at one another.

Boris rolled his eyes. “More staring?” he murmured to himself. This was starting to get a little old…

Nonetheless, the goose couldn’t help but watch this latest bout of staring, and await its conclusion. Of course, he had a pretty good idea of how it was going to end…

Abruptly, Luk completely lost it. Laughing heartily in his unique, unintelligible way, he clutchedhis stomach as his brother was. Predictably, it didn’t take long for him to fall onto his back, narrowly avoiding his smaller sibling and yet another unfortunate crushing incident. Both bears remained oblivious to this fact, and they continued rolling about, clutching their sides and laughing as though they’d just witnessed the funniest thing in the world. Boris simply smirked. Yep…

In fact, the only one who wasn’t smiling, laughing, or showing any expression of mirth was Balto. Instead, he watched the spectacle of the two laughing bears with an expression of confusion, his eyes widened and his little muzzle distorted by a frown.

“Boris?” Balto finally spoke up, not taking his eyes off of the brothers. “Why are they laughing? Did I do something funny?”

Chuckling, Boris rose to his feet, waddling over to Balto and placing a friendly wing about the puppy’s back. “Is not just you, boichik,” he assured his charge. “They are just…” Boris paused, searching for the right words. “…few geese short of a flock, is all.”

Balto took his eyes off the bears to gaze up at the Russian goose. Quizzically, he tilted his head and let out a brief, confused “Huh?”

Boris groaned, mentally smacking himself; Balto was a puppy now, for whatever reason, and wasn’t likely to pick up the meanings of such phrases and wordplay. He’d better stick with simpler terms…

As a result, Boris settled on “Actually, what I meant to be saying was that they’re just plain stupid.” He rolled his eyes at the sight Muk and Luk, who were still caught in the throes of laughter.

Balto followed his caretaker’s eyes, once again fixating on the pair. “…Oh,” he finally said quietly.

Boris sighed in exasperation; he’d unwittingly added to the fit of laughter that had seemingly overtaken the younger inhabitants of the small boat.

“Yes, Balto, I was saying they’re stupid,” he agreed, gently turning the pup away from the laughing bears. “Now, while they are being stupid, why don’t we go someplace else for little while?”

No sooner than Boris made this suggestion than Balto’s eyes shot wide open, a hopeful glint coming into them. He directed these eyes at Boris. “Ooh! Boris, can we go into town?”

Boris winced momentarily, pinching the bridge of his beak and sighing. “Actually, kiddo, I was thinking maybe someplace besides town.”

It wasn’t just that Boris absolutely hated going into town and making himself a target for hungry dogs (or humans, for that matter,) though that certainly played a part in his reluctance. No, much of Boris’ concern was for Balto himself; in his current state, the puppy’s appearance would raise far too many awkward questions, none of which Boris was sure he could deal with.

Of course, his ward had no intention of letting him off easy, and he soon made it abundantly clear. “Aw, c’mon, Boris,” Balto pleaded. “Please? I wanna see Jenna again!”

Shaking his head and grumbling under his breath, Boris placed what he hoped was a placating wing on his friend. “Look, Balto, she is not going to forget about you; she said she’d be back, remember?”

“But I wanna see her now!” Balto whined, exhibiting all the persistence that came with youth.

Boris fought the urge to groan, getting an uncomfortable sense of déjà vu. He had a disturbingly clear idea of how this would play out…

Instead of replying, Boris folded his wings, turned his head, and closed his eyes. Be strong, Boris; you don’t look at him, you’ll be fine.

Even with his eyes still closed, Boris winced. Did Balto have to sound so pleading and upset?

Alright, maybe I’ll look just a bit… Slowly, Boris cracked open an eye and turned his head towards the puppy’s voice.

Balto was wearing one of the most sad, hopeful expressions imaginable: eyes moist and widened, corners of his mouth turned up in an expectant smile that exposed some of his canines, ears folded flat against his head, tail tucked between his legs…

“Alright, alright, you win,” Boris admitted, turning his back to the youngster and facing the town. “We go into town. But remember, you have to be…”

His warning was cut short by Balto’s elated barking and yipping. “Yay! Thanks, Boris!” Boris barely had time to reply before Balto took off running, zipping past Boris and leaping off the boat. As soon as his paws hit the snowy ground, he whipped his head around to look at his avian caretaker.

“C’mon, Boris!” the puppy yelled, a joyous expression on his face. “I’ll race ya!” He didn’t bother waiting for the goose to reply; he turned his head so he was once again facing the town and bolted off, making a beeline for the town.

Boris watched as Balto’s body shrunk as he ran further towards Nome. He covered his eyes and brow with one of his wings, giving a series of exasperated grumbles. This was what he’d dreaded; even when he’d been raising Balto, it had always been so difficult to deny him whenever he’d asked for something. True, he had put his foot down sometimes, but that’s not to say it had been easy. More often than not, he couldn’t help but give in and oblige the puppy’s requests. He’d never begrudged Balto for asking, though; after all, who could ever really say no to a face like that?

Boris blinked, bringing himself back to the present. “I just know I’m going to be regretting this,” he groused, turning his head to observe the boat’s remaining occupants. Muk and Luk were still laughing, for whatever reason. Apparently, Balto’s cheerful exclamation of “He pushed ya!” was funnier than they’d anticipated.

Boris thought of stopping them, but thought better of it. “They’ll probably wear themselves out, laughing like that,” the goose mused, caught somewhere between annoyance and amusement. Satisfied that the two would be fine by themselves, he walked towards the boat’s ramp, deciding not to jump off as Balto had done. Once he reached the ground, he took a deep breath to steel himself. Prepared as such, he waddled as quickly as he could towards the town.

What would happen once goose and puppy reached their destination was anyone’s guess.