Shadow walked through the forest, which was silent except for the snow crunching under his heavy paws.  He did not know how long it had been since he had left Nome, but he knew that he was very far from his family now.  Why did his father think he needed to learn to fend for himself? After all, he had proved that he was more than capable of dealing with a foe in the form of Steele, had he not? What was it that Balto believed he lacked?  So many questions rushed through Shadow's head, and he stopped in his tracks; he had to regain his composure, otherwise he was bound to get himself into some sort of trouble.

It seemed so much colder in this forest than in Nome.  "That's odd", Shadow said quietly to himself; "there's almost no wind blowing, so why's it so cold here?"  Then it hit him; some extremely bad weather must be heading his way.  He sat there for a moment, pondering where he could go for shelter, when he heard noises somewhere in the forest, slowly growing louder.  He could not tell what sort of animals were coming his way, but there were probably lots of them. Despite his size, strength, and surprising agility, Shadow knew that whatever they were, these creatures could easily outnumber and overwhelm him.  He also had the feeling that they might be predators.  A disturbing thought came to Shadow: What if he was their prey?

Shadow bolted away from the wind; he was sure that these animals were coming from that direction.  However, the thought that he was being hunted terrified him, and he lost all sense of where he was going.  Voices seemed to be coming from everywhere, but they sounded as confused as he was.  Nevertheless, Shadow continued to run; he didn't want to run across the source of the voices, whatever they were.

Shadow had been running for what seemed like ages when he heard footsteps that were not his.  And they were only a few feet in front of him, behind a row of trees. He could not see what was there, so he tried to stop himself.  He skidded those last few feet through the snow, but he didn't end up looking at a huge creature waiting to strike him down.  He was looking right into the eyes of a beautiful wolf-dog; he had nearly fallen from slipping on the snow, so he was level with her as he half-sat, half-laid on the ground. They were nearly nose-to-nose, and she let out a small gasp as he nearly slid into her.

The hybrid had a coat somewhat lighter than Shadow's.  The only spot on her face that was not red was her whole snout, which was a cream color.  She was roughly the same size as Kodi.  For some reason, she looked so familiar to Shadow. All of a sudden, Shadow had a flashback to when he was a pup.  He had been sitting on the boat with his mother, watching his father play with the rest of the pups.  Two of the pups in particular had caught his eye: His sister, Aleu, and a pup that looked nothing like either of their parents, dark red with a cream snout. "Hey, watch where you're going, pup! " the hybrid said, jerking Shadow back to the present; she was baring her teeth at him; "you'll back off if you know what's good for you," she snarled.  "Sorry," Shadow stammered; he had not expected her to be so aggressive; "it was just an accident."  The wolf-dog gave him a cold stare; "well, just make sure you don't do it again, or you'll be more sorry than you could ever imagine," she said, turning to leave.  She had gone about twenty feet before Shadow mustered up the courage to speak again after her threat; "Hey, hang on a second!" Shadow called.  The wolf-dog ignored him, continuing on her way before Shadow remembered her name; Balto and Jenna had told him the names of all his siblings.  "Kiona, wait!" he called.  She stopped where she stood, and walked quickly back to him; she had a confused expression on her face, but her hackles were twitching again; "How do you know my name?" Kiona asked.  Shadow paused for a moment, somewhat flustered under Kiona's stare, which was every bit as intimidating as his own.  "Because I'm your brother," he replied.

Kiona was not sure whether or not she should believe what she had just heard; she had spent the first few months of her life in a box with the rest of her siblings, waiting for a new life among humans.  She remembered every one of her brothers and sisters, but she could not seem to remember this dog that now stood before her.  Whoever he was, he knew her somehow; perhaps he had seen her in the streets back when she lived with humans in Nome?  It was a very bold claim to say that he was her brother, but he did know her name somehow, and she was quite sure that only the members of her family knew that.  She was not sure what to believe, but something about what he had said began to make her angry.

Shadow was a bit skeptical about his sister's reaction; she was baring her teeth at him again, and he didn't want to risk angering her.  "What do you mean, you’re my brother?  I've never seen you before in my life," she said.  Shadow found himself unable to respond; although she was smaller than him, she was very intimidating.  "Answer me!!!” she yelled, leaping at his throat, her jaws wide open.  Shadow didn’t see this coming, and was barely able to jump back in time; he felt Kiona's fangs glide through the fur on his chest.  However, his hesitation caused him to trip over his long tail as he staggered backwards, and he fell onto his back.  He quickly rolled onto his stomach; he saw Kiona rushing at him again, and he didn't want to give her another chance to go for his throat.  He closed his eyes, knowing that he was still at the mercy of his sister.  He felt her jump across the middle of his back, and then felt a sharp pain as she bit down hard on the scruff of his neck; it worsened when she used her front paw to force his head down to the ground, stretching his skin, and he let out a yelp of pain.

"Answer me, now," Kiona snarled through Shadow's fur; she bit down harder on the scruff of his neck, causing him to snarl in pain.  "All right, all right!" he yelped, "our parents' names are Balto and Jenna, you  were one of six pups that was being given away, and you all always played with our father on the beach, now please let me go!" he said quickly.  Kiona gave a mean sort of chuckle; "hmm, that's almost good enough," she said, releasing Shadow's neck and turning to walk a short distance away.  She walked slowly, analyzing how large he was; considering he was about twice her size, she found it funny in a way that she had manhandled him so easily.  Perhaps his most outstanding feature was a very long tail, which was about as long as Kiona was in her entirety. 

"Well then," she said, turning to face Shadow, who was still cowering on the ground, "if you really are my brother, then you ought to be able to tell me the names of my siblings.  And while you're at it, maybe you know why we so rarely saw our mother; something tells me you may have been behind that."  Shadow didn't respond; he was apparently still shaken from Kiona's attack.  "Oh, we're not going to have to go through this again, are we?" she said in a teasing tone.  She pondered ways to make him talk again before getting an idea; she stomped down hard on Shadow's tail with her back leg, prompting another yelp.  "Well, are you going to talk?" she asked, pressing down on his tail even harder. "Fine, I’ll tell you, just stop doing that; I've already been hurt there once before!" Shadow cried; "Our siblings' names were Aleu, Kodi, Dingo, and Saba; I was never told the name of the last one.  And our mother spent a lot of time taking care of me on the old boat while our father played with everyone else, that’s why you rarely saw her."

Suddenly, Kiona's memories began to rush through her like a flood.  She did remember how she and her siblings used to play with their father during the spring.  However, her mother was never to be found during that time.  Even now, she could vaguely picture this huge dog as a pup, watching over the rest of his family, with Jenna caring for him.  And how did he know Jenna's name?  "Well," she asked, "why did I never see you?"  "I was very nervous when I was a pup," Shadow responded, "and whenever I thought one of you would look my way, I'd duck down and go see our mother."  Kiona gave a small chuckle; "So, you weren't very social, huh?"  "No, I lived most of my life out on that same boat.  I mainly went into town at night, when no one could see me," he responded.

Kiona thought that the story was believable enough, and this dog did know her siblings' names.  Maybe he was her brother?  She got off of his tail and allowed him to get up; Shadow was still trembling with fear.  "Well, I’m surprised that I didn’t ask you this earlier, but what is your name?" she asked.  "Oh, I'm Shadow," he replied.  "Well, seeing as you know my name, I guess I don't really need any introduction?” she inquired.  "No, of course not," Shadow replied; at least Kiona was finally starting to trust him.  However, the sound of footsteps nearby caused him to stand to his full height, now towering over his sister. Although he had only just met her, he would not let anything harm Kiona, even if he had to die defending her. "What is it?" Kiona asked.  "Somebody's coming," Shadow responded; "listen, Kiona, I don't care what you think of me, but you're family, and I'll do anything to make you trust me, even if it means risking my life!"  Kiona was shocked; she wouldn't have expected many to defend her like this, especially after she had intentionally caused them harm.  This truly convinced her that Shadow was indeed her brother.

A large black and gray wolf rounded the trees behind Kiona, standing just over Shadow's height.  "Kiona, did you find anything?" he asked.  Achak looked over the scene before him.  He addressed Shadow: "Who are you, and why are you bothering Kiona?" he asked, a surge of anger flowing through him at the sight of this intruder.