Jenna, Rosie, Dixie, Sylvie, Steele, Kaltag – © Universal

Sethla and other random characters– © Tromacom

The warm firelight flooded the room, bright enough to see by, but not so bright that I was blinded by its muted glow. My gentle breathing disturbed the dust caught in the corners and cracks, and the hot glow caressed my face with its soft fingers. Behind me I could hear the rhythmical snoring of my human family. Outside, the snow swirled gently, frosting everything it touched. I felt safe and warm, comforted by the fact that this was where I belonged and I need not be anywhere else. I had my family, they were all I needed and no matter what might happen, I would never leave them. I shut my eyes and just listened, the fire crackled happily and the sound of wind whistling sounded more like the gentle crooning of a mother bird to her chicks, rather than a cold shrill whistle. Sleep came easily that night, but I remember that in the moment before I became completely oblivious to the world around me, another noise cut through the air, one that sent shivers down my spine. The wolves were out that night.

“Jenna! Jenna wake up!” The loud giggling woke me and I slowly and reluctantly forced my eyes open to see a smiling pink face right up against mine, reddish hair tied up neatly in a ponytail and big green eyes sparkling with excitement. I had slept a lot longer than usual, and I had paid the price for it by waking up hungry. The loud rumble that followed was answer enough for Rosie who laughed loudly, patted me on the head and skipped into the kitchen. I could already feel my legs begin to ache at the mere thought of standing up and leaving my soft, warm bed, but the tearing grumbles of hunger forced me to my feet. I let my front legs slide along the floor until the fur on my chest was stroking the polished floorboards, and stayed in that position for a few seconds while I felt my spine click into place. I had never liked mornings but stretching had always helped to wake me up, as well a big bowl of food. I blinked a few times, yawned loudly and padded slowly into the kitchen. My claws clicked across the wood, but the sound became muffled as I crossed onto the linoleum. I saw Rosie balanced on the very tips of her feet, straining to reach a can of dog food off one of the higher shelves. She just wasn’t quite tall enough and I could see she would hurt herself if she tried to reach up any higher. I trotted over and gently tugged on the sleeve of her coat, pulling downwards to stop her falling over. Rosie looked down at me and laughed her little laugh, throwing her arms around my neck and squeezing me tightly. Her arms didn’t quite meet around my neck; she was still only a very small human pup. She let go of me very quickly, and then careered out of the doorway and into her father who was bringing in the morning paper. She beamed up at him, her cheeks pink with the cold, and they both spoke a few words to each other. My Master seemed to be telling Rosie off, but not in the angry way that he normally scolded me. I felt a small pang of jealousy, but brushed it aside quickly. It was silly to be jealous of humans. Master approached me, and I could tell from his face that he had had a hard night in his workshop. Mistress often sat by herself in front of the fire, stroking me or knitting, and would wait all night for Master if she had to. I sat and wagged my tail quickly, and his face brightened into the same beam that Rosie held. He stretched out a hand and patted me on the head, quite roughly, then walked over to the shelf and pulled down the dog food. I didn’t move, I knew the routine, and watched as he poured the food into my bowl. As soon as he pulled away, I dove forwards and rammed my muzzle into the bowl, my jaws snapping rapidly in my rush to eat breakfast. It wasn’t as if I had competition from a house-mate, but I had places to be.

It wasn’t long before I finished, the bowl was licked clean for any last scraps of food before I finally left it alone. I took a few lapfuls of water, and then headed for my dog door. In my hurry, I hit the flap with my head and winced as a bolt of pain ran through my skull. I made a mental note to not head-butt the flap so hard next time. I scrambled out into the street, cleanly lit by the morning sun and shining with the new snowfall. I hated snow, the way it stuck to your fur and melted slowly to chill you to the bone. I began my morning with a walk, something to get the heart going, and to meet friends and catch up on overnight gossip. I wasn’t really allowed out at night, being a house dog, so there were a lot of things I missed. Of course, there were a number of things I was glad I was missing, like over excited males…and the dark…and wolves. I don’t know what it was about their howls, the way they echoed through the still night perhaps, or maybe the fact that they could be watching you but you couldn’t see them. I turned a corner and ended up bumping noses with Dixie, which was quite hard as she was half the size of me. Sylvie hovered at her side.

“Well hi Jenna, we were just going to come and get you. You will never guess what’s been floating around” she said, her face splitting into a secretive smile. I nodded at Sylvie, and she nodded back. Sylvie had never been very talkative.

“No I probably won’t Dixie, but I think you are going to tell me. Am I right?” I replied, giving her a knowing wink. Dixie ruffled her fur and took a deep breath, the grin still plastered on her face. She exhaled loudly to eye a rather handsome male that happened to be walking past at that point, making him lose his footing and stumble.

“Alright, so first of all everyone is saying that Holly has spent a night in the boiler room with Reon, and also that Drift is going to be leaving town soon to go to New York or somewhere like that” Dixie said, keeping her voice low and muttering it right into my ear. She stepped back and giggled, that coy and secretive smile returning to her face.

“And…?” I questioned. I knew she wanted me to ask, she looked about to explode with the secret. Dixie was the biggest blabber-mouth I knew and couldn’t keep anything a secret for more than a day. The male from before poked his head round the corner and gave a small bark that sounded pretty pathetic, more of a yip than a bark, and scrambled off before we turned to look at him.

“Honestly, some boys are so immature these days” Dixie said, clicking her tongue and shaking her head in exasperation. She turned back to me and winked. “And… a new dog sled team is coming into town tomorrow, and as far as I heard it has some very good looking guys in it. Maybe we can find you someone Jenna, you have rejected everyone else so far” she said, her smile flickering near the end and her voice turning more serious. I rolled my eyes, that was my normal reaction to things and I had heard some of the dogs in town say that if you got the ‘Jenna roll’ then there was no hope. At least with what the boys wanted.

“I don’t know Dixie, as you said most of the boys are so immature, why would these be any different?” I sighed, beginning to walk deeper into town. Dixie had to hurry to catch up with her short little legs, and for the first time remained silent. That in itself surprised me, I wondered if me meeting a nice guy meant more to her than she was letting on.

We walked and talked for a while, passing the usual faces on the way to our favourite spot in town. The Alley. The Alley was where every dog that wasn’t a nobody went to hang out and meet new people, but newcomers didn’t come around very often. As we neared it, the male came back again, and this time there was no playfulness in his attitude. He eyed all three of us with a serious eye, and without warning he lunged at Dixie, snapping at her neck. I had always had a more aggressive side that I never really liked to show in public, but this dog’s display of temper towards my friend flared up my own anger. I barrelled into him, knocking him flat onto his back. He lay there stunned for a few moments, obviously surprised at my strength, before scrabbling to his feet and growling loudly. Unfortunately for him this attracted the attention of the dogs already in the Alley, who swarmed out like bothered wasps to form a protective barrier between us and the dog. Sylvie and I ushered Dixie through the broken fence posts and into the safety of the Alley.

It wasn’t much to look at inside, a huge pile of cardboard boxes dominated one end, and a few upturned bins lined the walls. I nudged Dixie over towards one of these bins and settled down next to it just as the dogs began streaming back. Dixie giggled as a friend of ours, Holly, strode past with her head and tail held high. The rumours were probably true. I watched silently as everyone settled into their places, the friendly chatter creating a warm atmosphere. A few asked Dixie if she was alright, and Dixie being Dixie she lapped up the attention. For one dog she rolled onto her back and gave a loud whimper to show how painful the bite was, but when I looked afterwards there wasn’t even a mark on her skin. The Alley was another great place to catch up on gossip, and that is exactly what I did. I picked up my red and white self and sidled over to a group of girls I knew quite well, but not as well as Dixie or Sylvie. They were laughing about something that had happened to them last night, but when the last one had finished their laughing one of the girls began mentioning something about the dog sled that Dixie had been talking about.

“It is arriving tomorrow and I can’t wait to see what the boys are like. As far as I heard they are all pretty good looking and there aren’t too many females either. It’s like an early Christmas!” she said. I only just managed to catch it as her voice dropped to almost a whisper. Her friends nodded their heads, and I moved on to listen to anything other than the new dog sled. But it seemed it was the hot topic, everyone was talking about it. The girls were all on about the males on the sled and the boys were talking about a few that might be replaced. It got rather boring after listening to about fifteen different ways to say ‘I heard all the boys are fit’. I swept back up to the broken entrance to the Alley and slid out back into the frosted street.

A good amount of time had passed, and the midday sun beat down upon the town. Most of the morning snow had melted away or turned to a muddy brown slush as hundreds of pairs of boots had tramped it down. It turned right, heading to the edge of town to one of my favourite spots. Not many dogs liked to watch the sled teams, but I found it hypnotic watching them all run in unison, as a team. I almost envied them, the bond that they must have shared with one another to know exactly where to go and when. Of course I knew the musher would be shouting out commands, but that didn’t really matter to me. I knew I would never get on a dog sled, and I didn’t want to, I was happy to just watch.

I reached the sled runs just as one team was setting off. The sound of paws pounding the snow exhilarated me and I watched them run closer to me. As the passed the breeze they caused ruffled my fur and made me feel all flustered.

I’m going to do it, today, and I don’t care if anyone sees me I thought. I had always wanted to do something, something that would probably make everyone else laugh. I had always wanted to run beside a dog sled, to just run as fast as I could with no real destination and today I was going to do it. I wandered further towards the forest, careful not to get too close, and stared down an empty sled run. The flattened snow was imprinted with paw prints which glistened as the light caught them, turning the run into a path of diamond. I tensed my legs, feeling myself get ready for the run, feeling the ground beneath my paws. I took a deep breath, giving the area one last glance, and started. It took a few seconds for my paws to get used to running on ice, I didn’t run very often, but once I did it felt wonderful. I felt like I was flying, gliding over the snow like a bird over water. My surroundings passed as a blur, but either side of me was glistening, pure snow. I shut my eyes for a few seconds, feeling the joy of the run seep into me, before opening them again and lowering my head. I charged forwards for what felt like an age, but I could feel the strength leaving my legs. I slowed to a breathless stop. My head was whirring with adrenaline and I knew my legs were quivering from the exertion, but I didn’t care. I took a few last wobbly steps forward before sitting back on my haunches and finally lowering myself to the ground. I flopped over onto my side and lay there panting, feeling the cool of the snow calm my pumping heart. I heard paw steps, but didn’t look up to see who it was.

“Are you O.K?” The voice was male, one that I knew from somewhere but couldn’t remember where. I didn’t have the breath to speak, so I didn’t. “I saw you running, and I was worried you collapsed, are you O.K?” the voice persisted. This time I raised my head to see a young light brown Chinook with a darker brown patch over his right eye.

“I’m alright Kaltag, really, I just got tired that’s all” I mumbled back, suddenly embarrassed that he had seen me run. He shook his head and continued in his normal stutter that always used to make me smile.

“But that was the f-fastest, h-hardest, most horrifying, m-most – “.

“I’m fine, really, just me being clumsy” I interrupted quickly. Kaltag sometimes droned on for hours, spewing out words that meant more or less the same thing and it was better for everyone to stop him early, even if it was cute. Kaltag nodded and turned to leave, glancing back at me one more time before walking back towards the town. I lay my head back down on the snow. Kaltag was alright, very sweet, but not for me. I picked myself up, trying to preserve some dignity, shook myself down and blinked the snow out of my eyes. In the distance I could see the sled team from earlier come through the mist in the direction of the darkening town. It must be really late if the sled teams are back already I thought, worry pressing itself against my mind. As much as I didn’t want to, I glanced behind me into the woods that were slowly heading towards being pitch black within their depths. It sent shudders down my spine. I hurriedly trotted towards the blinking lights ahead to get away from the ever growing darkness. Above the rooftops were the last tendrils of light, but they were disappearing quickly. One glance behind me proved my worries. The forest was already dark and menacing, and I knew there was probably a pack of wolves just waiting to kill me. I didn’t know why I had such a fear of the forest and of wolves, I had never even seen a wolf, but the stories humans and dogs told about them terrified me. I hurried forwards to chase the last glimmers of day back to my home.

I was very dark when I neared my house, all the street lights already extinguished. The air was cold and for some reason I could feel a bad omen in the air. I reminded myself how nothing bad ever happened in Nome, but the dark alleyways and heavy silence seemed more threatening than usual. I rounded the corner to be greeted by a small group of grinning dogs. My throat tightened and I tried to edge around the watchful group, but they were spread along the entire width of the street.

“Looky here, seems we got ourselves a little lost lamb’ one of them sneered. Several rose to their feet and began to take steps towards me. I panicked; street dogs were renowned for being brutish and sadistic. Against my will, I heard a whimper escape my throat. The group began to roar with laughter, but kept coming towards me. I was trapped, they had blocked me in. A loud growl erupted from the shadows and a tan and brown form careered into the group. The street dogs turned their attention to their attacker, and using that distraction I fled.

The dog door thumped against its frame as I dived in front of the fire. I crawled, quivering, into my bed. My Mistress sat asleep in her chair, oblivious to my return. I could smell an increasingly familiar tinge on her breath, but also came from the glass bottle filled with dark red liquid. I didn’t understand how humans could drink something that smelt so foul. It didn’t help my queasy stomach. My Mistress had only recently started drinking the red stuff, after the birth of Rosie’s younger brother. He had been kept away from me for weeks and when I did finally see him he smelt sickly and didn’t look very strong. Mistress and Master were always sitting by his bed or holding him and the worried atmosphere lay heavy around me. I sighed as my thoughts drifted back to what had happened earlier. I hadn’t exactly wanted to hang around to find out the identity of my saviour, I didn’t even know if he had intended to save me. All I saw of him was his tan and brown fur and burning honey eyes. It was with that image that I slipped into a dreamless sleep.

No happy voice woke me the next morning. I had risen with the sun and left the house in the greyness of sunrise. My feet had taken me to a remote spot overlooking where the sled teams often ran. I needed to think. I settled on a flat rock, the only area not covered in snow, and closed my eyes to think.

Thudding pawsteps woke me; I didn’t even know I had fallen asleep. I pulled my eyelids apart to glance at the source of the noise. Several dogs were rushing past my resting place, their coats well groomed and their muscles rippling under their fur. They were wonderful to watch, which is exactly what I was doing. I couldn’t help myself; I just stared after their moving forms with eager and jealous eyes. It took me some time to realise I didn’t recognise any of them. It didn’t bother me much, though, as long as they didn’t disturb me. Waves of sleep began to wash against the shore of my consciousness and I could feel my eyes sink shut again.

“Is the view good from there, ‘cos it’s certainly good from here”. I groaned. Could I not get any peace out here? The voice from behind me sounded male, and I disliked him already. I stood slowly, deliberately not turning to face him. A moment of silence passed and neither one of us moved or spoke. The tension was killing me; I had to know who had spoken. My careful and cautious turn, or at least I hoped it looked that and not too eager, brought me almost nose to nose with another husky. Like the runners from earlier he was well groomed and well muscled with a confident air about him, almost cocky. His face was set with a triumphant grin, as if getting me to face him was some great achievement. I merely frowned, my contempt for him growing with every second. I examined him, checking him over. He was mostly a dark tan in colour, with a white undercoat. He had dark red markings in numerous places on his body, which strangely attracted the eye to those parts. His blue, nearly lilac eyes were framed with attractive white patches. All in all, he wasn’t that bad. But that was just his looks, and looks didn’t count for much. ‘Do you not talk girlie? What, wolf got your tongue?’ he laughed, pulling his lips back into a wide, toothy smile.

“I talk, and I don’t like people calling me ‘girlie’. Now good-day whoever-you-are” I snapped, and turned to stride off. I was quickly intercepted.

“Hey, I didn’t mean it like that!’ There was a pause. ‘I’m new here, see, and I wasn’t sure of your name. I didn’t want to guess or anything and where I come from calling people ‘girlie’ isn’t that big a deal. Unless, of course, they aren’t girls”. I had to laugh at that, but I made sure it was only in my head. I still didn’t speak, but I made no attempt to move. The male sighed. “I suppose here it’s the gentlemanly thing to introduce yourself first. Alright, because it’s you… the name is Sethla”. His name had a slight ring to it, but it was a bit to snake-like for my liking with all the hissing.

“I’m Jenna, pleasure to meet you. I must be going now as I have people to meet” I replied bluntly and turned away to walk back to town. I half hoped that Sethla would offer to join me, but he made no attempt to move.

“Friends eh? I bet they aren’t as cute as you!” he called, and I felt my face flush.

Ignore him. Keep walking I thought. It was a very hard thought to follow as I desperately wanted to glance behind me. It turned out I didn’t have to as I soon heard the gentle padding of paws that slowed to allow their owner to keep pace beside me. There were no more words passed between us on our journey back to town. I kept my anger towards Sethla bubbling; I wasn’t going to let him off easily.

I regretted allowing him to walk beside me the moment I set foot in town. Everyone, and I mean everyone, was staring at me. I lowered my head but didn’t stop. I wasn’t sure where I was going to go; anywhere I went there would be people to stare at me. Thankfully, in some strange sense, I met Dixie and Sylvie.

Good, Dixie will put him off I thought. She gave me a quick glance up and down, and then saw Sethla. Her face lit up in glee, something which made me cringe.

“Jen-nn-na! Who is this handsome piece of fur?” she said breathlessly. That was her way of trying to appear sexy, but so far it hadn’t worked. I shrugged, trying to look as if we had never spoken. Sethla grinned that shiny, white toothed smile. I hated him. He walked closer to Dixie, who almost keeled over. “You-your from that new sled team aren’t you. I thought you were because I haven’t seen you around before and I know ev-“

“The name is Sethla. Thanks for asking by the way” he said curtly. Dixie snapped her jaw closed, but her eyes still glittered. I could almost hear ears straining to hear every word we said and eyes bursting out of their sockets.

“Well…Sethla. I see you have met our friend Jenna” Dixie said slowly. Sethla glanced at me and leaned closer to whisper in my ear.

“These are your friends. I expected someone like you to have pretty friends”. Silence. Apart from the horrified gasp that erupted from Dixie’s throat. I stepped back from the tan husky, my mouth agape.

“How could you say something like that? They are my friends, for your information, and they also happen to be some of the most popular dogs in Nome” I said, a hint of a growl in my voice. Sethla glared at me for a few moments, sizing me up probably. I held my ground.

“Nome’s a small place Jenna. Anyone can be popular in a place like this” he said, his voice low and serious. With his final statement he began to walk away, I didn’t care where to. The truth was I was glad to see the back of him. Dixie’s mouth was still scraping the floor. “Are…you alright Dixie?” I asked slowly. There was a long period of silence where nobody moved, or even dared to breathe in case Dixie exploded with rage, as she had been known to do. At last she opened her jaws.

“Jenna. I do hope you aren’t going to tell me that you like him” she muttered. The way she said it brought a shy smile to my face. The tension from earlier was quickly banished by a few seconds of chuckling. The small, watchful crowd that had formed peeled away and disappeared. Silence settled over the streets once again.

Soft. Warm. Fire flickering; or at least it was in my mind. I lay curled up in my basket, preparing myself for the long sleep ahead. It was quite early for me. Mistress hadn’t come to her chair and Master was still out, although I didn’t count on him coming home. A small whisper drew my ears up and my eyes to the dog door. A shy head had poked through, quickly followed first by a body and then by a second head. I stood slowly, smiling at the twins. I knew them quite well, Tango and Salsa, because we always went for walks together, often at night. Salsa was bubbly and energetic and a professional sled dog, whereas Tango was more reserved and shy. Salsa tilted her head towards the door and I quickly followed. For once I was out of the house and doing something without Dixie or Sylvie. Salsa rallied up the rest of our group and we set off.

The air was cool, tantalising and with a hint of fresh snow. I let my eyes shut momentarily, drinking in the smell and taste of the air. As they peeled apart, quite reluctantly, our group had already started without me. Everyone was being dead silent so no humans woke or tried to stop us. It was a different story once we were away from the houses. Salsa bounded from dog to dog, spurting out whatever first came to her mind and then rushing away before she got a proper reply. The low mumbling chatter soon became a loud, happy rumble that had every member of the group grinning from ear to ear, myself included. We edged nearer to the forest, but for the first time I didn’t notice. Our walk took us under the forest’s shady boughs, but even though it was incredibly dark we crept deeper. It was only when Salsa let out a little squeal of joy that we realised we were being followed.

Padded paws had trailed our excited chatter through the darkness. They had tracked us effortlessly, and we hadn’t even noticed. Our group was mostly females, with the odd guy thrown in simply because he liked who was in the group. First one of our trackers emerged, then a second. Rich, glossy pelts covered well hewn muscle. They mixed quickly into our small group, finding a girl or two to speak to and then leaving with whoever they snared with their words. No one stood a chance against these suave newcomers. I watched, a nagging feeling of loneliness and depression trying to invade my mind. The sled team, and most of the walkers, began to melt back into the darkness, and I and a few others were left as dregs. A black and white form emerged from the trees, making a beeline for my sorry self.

                “Hey.” His introduction was short. I suddenly felt tired, unwilling to speak.

                “Hi”.

                “So, uh…are you Jenna?” The question surprised me. Why would he want to know who I was?

                “Yeah, and you are?”

                “Steele. Sorry to seem so rude but it’s just that Sethla told me about you”. There was my answer. That sneaky, no good…idiot had been spreading rumours about me. I could already feel my face burn red in anger.

                “Well you can tell Sethla that he is a dirty, lying, cheating little idiot and I never want to see him again” I snapped. Steele seemed shocked at first, but his face twisted into what appeared to be a sneer as he tried to hide his smile. I was about to demand what was so funny when I heard a cool, easy voice drift from behind me.

                “Are you going to tell me yourself? If you never want to see me again then that could be a bit of a problem because I certainly want to see you again”. I whipped around as if stung, my face a mix of surprise and anger. I paused with a growl in my throat, unsure as to which emotion to express. I settled for contempt. Sethla had sat himself down a few yards away from me, watching my every move with calm and welcoming eyes. I lowered my own, determined not to feel the same way. Steele moved to stand beside me, glowering with a well hidden anger towards the tri-coloured husky.

                “Well it seems I’m no longer needed. Goodnight Sethla” Steele said, practically spitting Sethla’s name. Sethla’s expression never changed and he didn’t flinch from the vocal attack. Narrowing his eyes, Steele turned and trudged back towards Nome. Both of us watched him go, but Sethla’s attention quickly returned to me.

                “Can we go somewhere private, I want to talk to you…please” he said, his eyes only showing the urgency that he tried to hide from his voice. I nodded, slowly, and trudged after his well groomed form as he led the way deeper into the darkness. I tried not to raise my eyes to look at what was in front of me, but with every branch that passed low enough to hit me on the head I just couldn’t help myself.

He stopped suddenly, turning to face me with a lopsided smile on his face. I wanted to smile back, I wanted to laugh and how dopey he looked, but I kept my resolve.

                “Well”. The short word seemed to cut into him. He flinched slightly, something I had never seen him do before. He looked me deeply in the eyes before speaking.

                “I wanted to apologise. Before you tell me how stupid I was and how I shouldn’t have said it in the first place just hear me out. I sometimes say things that other people find offensive and I only do it when I am new somewhere, which is a lot of the time. I just don’t know how else to meet people and make jokes and fit in. I am truly sorry for any offence I may have caused you and your friends and I wanted to say I didn’t mean it. I am going to apologise to your friends tomorrow when I see them.

                I just want you to know Jenna, that when I saw you asleep the other day I couldn’t help but think how pretty you looked with the sun shining on you. I…I didn’t know how else to say hi, and I feel really bad because I not only didn’t make you laugh, but I offended you as well. I have said it…twice now, but I am going to say it again. I’m sorry. Can you forgive me?” His apology didn’t come as a surprise, I had hoped he was going to apologise, but I hadn’t been expecting a speech. I suddenly felt bad; wishing now I’d laughed at his introductory joke rather than bottle it up.

                “I forgive you. I’m sorry too, I didn’t really give you much of a chance” I said, suddenly finding the ground a lot more interesting. I felt something cold and wet on the top of my head, and when I raised my gaze I realised Sethla had licked me. I blushed profusely. He even seemed a bit surprised at what he had done. Our surprise turned to a gentle laugh, and that in turn became a friendly chuckle. We stood to leave, not going back the way we had come but a different, longer route. It took us through a clearing where the moon suddenly decided to show itself. Sethla paused, stopping me with an extended paw. I turned to look into his indigo eyes, a rush of emotion I didn’t even know existed coming into my heart. It began to beat faster.

                “Jenna”, his voice was so soft, so caring. “Jenna, I think…I think I love you”. I blinked, slowly nodded my acceptance, but still no believing what I had heard. I took a couple of steps closer to him, moving my muzzle to whisper in his ear.

                “I think I love you too”.