Chapter 8: Choices And Revelations
Balto lay stunned. He was too shocked to move. "What the hell just happened" he thought over and over again. He had walked up to Jenna and just nudged her and the next thing he knew he was tackled by a blur of red and white and now lay pinned on the floor.
He tried to look towards the source but something prevented the movement of his neck. He tried to roll over only to find his front leg pinned. " Just great" he sighed. Closing his eyes he focused solely on the scent and realised what or rather who was against him. "Jenna... what is wrong with you... get off me" Balto barked and tried to shake her off only to feel her pressing closer into him. "This is not what I had in mind when I came here" he muttered to himself as the sound of chuckling came from the door of the wheel house.
Balto knew who it was and growled in irritation. "I see that I don't need to prove myself anymore" Hugo spoke, amusement clear from his tone. Balto only growled in reply before speaking "A little help would be nice". "Sorry brother, you got to make your way out of this one alone. For all I know next time she'll take you down harder" responded Hugo. "I can't believe I'm going to do this" Balto muttered to himself before growling to Hugo "If you tell anyone about this... I'm going to...". "Hold it there... When have I ever spoken to anyone about what transpires between us two... It's nice to see you trust me so little even after all these years" interrupted Hugo feigning hurt. "Stop being so melodramatic" Balto replied blandly before giving all his attention to the position he was stuck in.
"Hey..." he bodily nudged Jenna "hey... what's wrong with you?" Balto asked trying to sound more sympathetic. Jenna only mumbled out incoherently not bothering to shift her muzzle from Balto's neck. "What?" questioned Balto. Jenna finally pulled away restoring movement to Balto's neck. "Pl...please s...st...stay" she spoke between sobs. Balto finally was able to take a good look at the disturbed husky. Her facial fur was matted with tears, eyes red and puffy from crying and she seemed rather shrivelled than before. "Easy there... calm down and tell me what's wrong" Balto spoke trying to hide the concern building up inside him. Jenna looked down trying to control her emotions. Managing to regain a bit of control she spoke "She's dying" before more tears started to flood her eyes. Balto understood who she was talking about. In his last day inside town he had seen the affection between the girl called Rosie and Jenna so he understood her reference. "So why did you come here?" questioned Balto in a hushed tone. "T...to f..fi..find y..you" Jenna sobbed out.
Hugo who had been overhearing this conversation decided that this was not something he wanted to listen in on. At least not where this conversation seemed to be heading. So he quietly walked away from the wheelhouse picking up the meat lying on the deck before making his way to the bow of the boat to eat.
Meanwhile inside the wheelhouse Balto looked at Jenna wide eyed at her reply. "ME... but what... why..." Balto stammered out before growling at his failure to form a decent question. Jenna lay her head on the floor regaining control of her emotions before replying "I'm an outcast" hiding the real reason for her being there. "I warned you from the start about hanging around with me... dogs do not take kindly to interaction between our kind which don't involve violence" stated Balto. "It... it's not that" Jenna replied her ears pressed back. "Really?... cause what else could do this..." Balto replied indicating to Jenna's current condition.
Jenna gave off a barely audible chuckle before mumbling out "Mauling Steele". "You... what?". "I mauled Steele... in front of the entire dog population in town" mumbled Jenna. "And that's a bad thing?" questioned Balto. "It's Steele's way or no way" replied Jenna. "Oh... but that's beside the point... why me? why not your friends?" questioned Balto. Jenna closed her eyes as tears started to reform in her eyes. "They abandoned me when I turned on Steele... every dog in town did... I had nowhere to go... no one to talk to... and then Rosie and... and..." Jenna faltered midway as she broke into audible sobs. "This is harder than I imagined" thought Balto. "What about your owners... her parents?" questioned Balto. Jenna just kept her eyes shut as more tears started to flow "Th...they forgot a...ab...about m...me...e.." she managed to speak out.
Balto looked outside and noticed the time. He had been away from the pack longer than he had expected and knowing his mother she would have Mason and Samson searching for him. "I have to go... I can't stay here... it's not safe for me anymore" Balto spoke in a low tone. At the thought of being left alone again Jenna snuggled up closer to Balto before pressing her head into his neck again. "P...Please stay" she sobbed out. Balto had a hard decision to make, either he left the distraught husky and headed back to the safety of the den or he stayed back here with the husky and left himself open to hunters.
At this moment Hugo decided to walk in. "Balto, we have to go... sun's going down... your mom's going to be worried" he spoke. "I know..."replied Balto before turning his attention to Jenna" Jenna please... I can't stay here... it's not my place to be... I have to go home" Balto pleaded with the husky. This only seemed to make Jenna press into him even more. Balto looked towards Hugo, begging for help but Hugo could only shrug. "Great... I have to get back or mom's going to kill me and this husky here is going to get me killed either way" thought Balto before an answer came to his mind. "This is going to be suicide" he thought before he asked Jenna something that shocked Hugo to the core. "Jenna... why don't you... come with me?" he asked.
Almost immediately Hugo cried out "Are you crazy?... She can't come with us she'll get killed... your mom will throw a nasty fit...". "I know but a fit is better than being found and killed for sport" replied Balto. "Don't say I didn't warn you... hell you go ahead with this it's your funeral" cried out Hugo. Balto knew Hugo was only looking out for him but what could he do, for all purposes he had his hands or in this case paws tied behind his back. "Hugo, I know this is a bad idea but look at it this way... what choice do I have here? She's not going to let me move and you are refusing to provide assistance." Balto argued.
"Fine..." Hugo sighed before continuing "But this is the last time I'm ever listening to you... and before you say anything once we reach the pack you're on your own... I prefer life". "That's fine by me" replied Balto. "So shall we go?" questioned Hugo. "We can once she..." Balto indicated to the husky "decides that I'm not her sleeping blanket". "Hey... get up... we're leaving and if you don't want to be left alone follow me" spoke Balto. Jenna reluctantly uncurled herself from Balto allowing him to stand up and stretch. "Oh... that feels good" mumbled Balto as he stretched his muscles. "Lets go... oh Hugo... just cover our scents and tracks will you?" spoke Balto. "Well duh... I don't want hunters near our pack" replied Hugo.
They set off towards the den barely speaking a word. Balto lead the way Jenna following closely behind with Hugo covering the rear busy hiding their scents and tracks. As they crested the hill Balto saw two figures making their way towards him. As he looked closely he recognised them as his mother and sister. Turning to Jenna he spoke "Stay back and behave submissive... don't make a move no matter what happens". Jenna only nodded her head before shuffling back and lying down with her head pressed to the ground and tail between her legs.
"Where have you been? We've been looking for you for hours. Well at least you're safe" spoke Balto's mother as she nuzzled him. Balto nuzzled her back before pulling away to reply "Sorry mom... I got stuck in a bit of a situation". "Well I hope Hugo could get you out of it..." before her eyes fell on the figure of the red husky lying a few feet from Balto. "What's she doing here? What are you doing here? You're not welcome... get out of here before we have to kill you" she snarled. Balto cringed at his mother's words, glancing back at the now frightened husky before gathering up the courage to speak. "She's...um... how can I put this...um... the situation..." he spoke nervously. Balto's mother immediately shot him a look that made him shiver. "And you brought her here... she's a dog for goodness sake... if she's the situation you should care the least about it" she shouted angrily. Lana though stepped up beside her before reasoning "I think we can just listen to his explanation first". "Fine... but it better be good or you mister aren't going anywhere until you complete 15 seasons" she growled.
"Um... I... she..." Balto found himself unable to form a sentence. "Hurry up before I make my decision". Balto sighed before speaking up "We went to the old boat I told you about to see if we could find a meal from the man who helped me when I was injured" Balto spoke. "I thought I told you to stay away from that settlement" his mom growled. "I know... I know... but please hear me out. We only intended to eat and leave as soon as we were done... but we ran into something unexpected" he spoke gesturing to the husky. "Hugo here... left me with no choice but to get smothered by her" he continued. "Hey... we had a deal..." argued Hugo. "Well genius... you should have helped me rather than try and prove your theories" Balto argued back. "Boys focus" spoke Balto's mother. "So... by the end of it I find myself pinned to the ground by her, Hugo refusing to help and her refusing to let me leave so that's how it goes" Balto concluded. "Hmm... well Balto you are forbidden from going more than a mile's radius from the den" she spoke. "What... but I didn't want this... he forced me into it..." argued Balto trying to shift the blame onto Hugo. "Quiet... Hugo you are on permanent sentry duty for the next two weeks..." she continued "and you..." she growled at the husky who only whimpered and shivered some more "you are going to be looked after by Balto and until you decide to leave he stays on curfew" before turning away to leave. "Moooom... that's not fair why am I to take care of her..." Balto tried to argue back only to get cut off. "You... young one are who brought her here...and now since you so kindly defended her... YOU... are playing host" she said to Balto before turning her attention to the husky "and you... you so much as harm my pack in any way and you'll be our next meal" she growled out before turning and making her exit. Jenna just whimpered louder as her body shivered in fear.
As his mother left Balto sighed with relief. "That went better than expected" he thought before a growl broke him out of his thought. As he turned he was knocked over by the form of Hugo. Hugo after pinning Balto down continued to growl at him before speaking up "I'm going to pay you back for this" before getting off him and heading off to patrol.
Balto slowly stood up. Turning to Lana he spoke "Thanks sis, that really helped" only to be pounced on again by Lana herself and pinned down for the third time. Balto groaned "Is today 'Pin down Balto day'?" he mumbled sarcastically receiving a chuckle from Lana and surprisingly out of Jenna as well who had finally uncurled. "Well we can make it that way" spoke Lana as she held Balto down. "Although I didn't help you for you... I helped so I can watch Samson and Mason humiliate you when they return" she continued before leaning close to Balto's ear and whispering "plus there's something more going on between her and you... don't even bother denying it I can see it in her eyes". "I don't know what you are trying to imply but get off me so I can handle the baggage" Balto growled back annoyed. Lana caught Jenna's ears droop if only for a second when she was called 'baggage' by Balto. Shaking her head Lana leaned down nuzzled Balto a goodbye before heading off to where their mother had gone.
"Nice family..." Jenna finally decided to speak up as she approached Balto who continued to lie on the ground not wanting another takedown by anyone else. "That they are... now do you mind telling me what all those tears were for back there while here you're all smiles and giggles?" inquired Balto. "Just amused by what she said... but I don't get it, you're related to her and Hugo but how come you look completely different?" asked Jenna. "So you noticed... very few dogs do... to most I'm just a plain wolf..." spoke Balto before letting out a sigh and continuing "It's just that... well Hugo's not really my brother... it's just a term of endearment... Lana and mom on the other hand... well how should I put this... I was adopted into this pack when I was a month old. While my family here is pure blood arctic wolves... I share the bloodlines of arctic and timber wolves... the only thing I know is that my mom was an arctic wolf". Balto lowered his head to the ground before continuing "The only thing I remember of my mother is that she put me in a small den before promising to return with food and never seeing her after that". Jenna felt sorry for Balto. She could see that she had encroached on a topic he didn't seem to like speaking of. Before she could realise what she was doing she had leaned down and gently started to muzzle Balto. As she realised what she was doing she jerked back and watched as Balto slowly turned his head wide eyed looking at her. "What did I just do?" Jenna panicked mentally. "Um... I'm going to pretend that didn't just happen" stuttered out Balto before quickly standing up, shaking himself of the snow collected in his fur before leading Jenna towards the den.
Unknown to them two wolves watched the proceeding of the events that just unfurled. "I believe you were right Lana there is something definitely going on here" spoke the elder wolf. "I saw it when we saved him last time, she's attracted to him mom, more than we can imagine" replied Lana. "It is but part of his destiny that he is yet to accept" spoke a mysterious third voice from behind them. Both wolves turned around ready to attack only to be shocked beyond measure. "Aniu?" questioned Lana. "Yes young one... I am Aniu..." replied the mysterious white she-wolf. "Why have you decided to visit us great Aniu?" asked Lana's mother. "There is nothing wrong with a mother watching her child's progress to what he's destined to become and giving the occasional push to help" replied Aniu. Watching the confused expressions adorn the faces of the two wolves Aniu continued "I have been watching over Balto ever since the day I was forced to leave him... It was the toughest decision of my life... but a young life for one that will be reborn to walk again is a small price... you have taken good care of him Mara... for that I thank you... but please speak not of my words to him... when the time comes I shall reveal myself to him and help him achieve his destiny". "As you wish great Aniu" spoke Mara(Balto's and Lana's mother). Turning to Lana, Mara spoke "You need to control yourself on this news you can't tell anyone". "Yes mom" she replied before turning to face Aniu only to find her gone, not a trace left to show for her presence. Lana turned to her mother "Does this mean that my brother is the direct descendent of Aniu?"
