Morning

It was early morning, early enough for the sky to show off a strange hue of light blue, but not late enough that you could easily see your surroundings. Due to this, Saba awoke to a rather surprising visitor whom she wasn't able to see right away. It was a grey wolf and he was currently sniffing at Rusty, who was still locked away in his sleep. How he had not detected the potential threat both surprises, and worries Saba…

Saba didn't move, but she could tell that this wolf didn't mean harm. Maybe he had a message? She didn't trust wolves fully, so this may have come out hesitant, but she resisted and spoke up anyway.

"Psst, can I help you sir?" She asked in the most respectful and polite way she could think of.

The wolf didn't answer, but instead walked up to her causing her to freeze, watching his looping eyes as he neared her. Eyes that, in the low light of morning stood out like they were laser beams aimed directly for her own eyes. The wolf only stopped before her and bent down a bit, taking a sample of both hers, and Kanai's scents. After only five or so seconds, he froze, satisfied with the sample, and growled. No doubt a huge wolf like this growling in a deep tone like thunder would scare the socks off of anyone, but Saba didn't even take notice in it.

"Dog. I am of Black Eye's pack. Come with me, we have your mother and the wolf hybrid." He spoke.
"Oh… Okay… What about Rusty and Kanai?"
"Orders are for you only, now get up."
"Okay okay." Saba said.

She gently uncurled around Kanai and placed him down where he was before… But it was a futile effort. Whether it was simply time for him to wake up, or maybe it was the lack of warmth that did it, Kanai sprung up into action and began to jump around a bit even before seeing the large wolf towering over him. He froze in his tracks and stared up at the giant wolf, and Saba prepared for him to be at least a little scared, if not intimidated. Instead:

"Whoa! You're a big wolf! I want to be as big as you someday!"

Even more suprising, was the wolf's reaction to Kanai.

"You will in time young one."

Even the wolf's voice changed to one that would appeal better to the pup, instead of the somewhat sarcastic and distant voice he used with Saba.

"Your pup is… Not your pup."

He seemed to want to ask a question about Kanai, or maybe even say something along the lines of "your pup is an energetic little fella, huh?" before realizing that it couldn't have been her pup.

"Um… Yeah… About that-"
"Don't care. You can explain to Black Eye. Now, awake your tracker and let's go." He said with an annoyed voice.

Saba looked at him for a second before turning away, then she quickly reached Rusty, who was only about ten feet away. She could have sworn that he slept further towards the open trail, keeping watch for potential dangers, but for all she knew the wind pushed him closer.

"Rusty… Rusty!" She shoved her paw into his side trying to wake him.
"What, what? I'm awak-"

Rusty jumped up quickly and growled. As quickly as he was awaken, he took notice of the new smells, and marked the wolf as immediate danger. The wolf did the same, out of pure defense and instinct, but everything died down the second Rusty got a better scent from him.

"Agh, god damnit. Sorry Kijo." Rusty said.
"Kijo, eh?" Saba teased with a slight giggle.
"Something funny… Dog?" Kijo spat out the word "Dog" like it was acid.
"Nothing, nothing!" Saba quickly replied and erased her smile.
"Good, now that everyone's had their morning cup of coffee and biscuits, let's get back to the pack before Black Eye kills your parents." Kijo said.

Saba could notice Kijo's change in behavior as soon as Rusty awoken. He changed from distant, orders-driven, intimidating, to somewhat friendly, and kind. As if he and Rusty were good friends. Rusty of course, noticed this as well. The four walked on, with Rusty next to Kijo, and Kanai next to Saba.

"So Kijo. How's that wife of yours doing?"

Saba took a quick note that the two obviously knew eachother on a personal level.

"She's doing fine… And so is her other half."
"Other half?"
"She's… gotten fat I was trying to say… Didn't sound like it would in my head." Kijo chuckled slightly.
"Well? Has her paw at least healed up alright?"
"Oh, yeah yeah. Thanks to you of course."

Saba was all ears on this, curious as to what type of history Rusty and this, somewhat random, wolf had. They spent the entire way ignoring Saba and Kanai, and instead joked about their times when they used to hang out. From what Saba could summarize, Kijo was like the other wolves of Black Eye's pack, and would have teased and threatened Rusty the duration of his stay with the pack. But above all, when his mate was in trouble, Rusty was the only one to help, and for that, Kijo was eternally grateful. He had taken time to actually get to know Rusty. Learn his story… Or whatever Rusty deemed necessary to tell him anyways, and soon grew to respect the wolf-dingo.

Soon, Black Eye's pack was mixed in with their surroundings. Saba's nose readings were off the charts, with wolves behind every tree, and scent marks on everything else. There must have been a thousand wolves in this pack alone, and who knew how many followed Black Eye in his entire territory.

"I-" Saba wanted to ask Kijo something, but he instantly cut her off.
"Do not speak words in our territory, dog. Unless you'd like those to be your last." He said harshly.

Rusty didn't even seem to care, let alone defend her, but instead shot her a "I told you so" look.

"Why did Black Eye summon the dog here anyways?" Rusty asked.

That somewhat angered Saba that Rusty would refer to her in that way, but she figured that he had to, in order for them to be safe in a pack of potentially hundreds of wolves surrounding them.

"Another dog was caught, as well as a half-blood, not unlike yourself haha."
"Yeah, yeah."
"They claim to be Saba's parents, but their words are useless. Everyone in this pack knows who Balto is. The "Human Sympathizer", the "Wolf traitor", the "tainted, unwanted remains of the genepool"…"

Rusty snapped a quick look back at Saba as Kijo said this, not exactly to feel bad about what he said, more to make sure she didn't become furious and try something she would regret. He wasn't going to defend her from words anytime soon. Saba only let out a shallow sigh instead.

"To make matters worse, he mates with a Husky bitch and produces even more insults to our bloodline…" Kijo stopped mid-sentence, and talked in a lower tone.
"I mean, um… You're okay though, Rusty. I've never really seen a Dingo, but judging by how you are, I suppose they're wolf like enough. At least you're not part… Domestic Dog." Kijo said.

"Man this Kijo guy really hates me and my family for what they are…" Saba thought.

Black Eye

Kijo led the three, five miles into the territory where Black Eye setup a den with Saba's parents there. Black Eye had since, let Balto and Jenna have more freedom, and even offered them some of their hunt for that day, to which they politely declined.

"What, you housepets too good for… "

Black Eye held his tongue and angrily turned towards his second in command.

"What's taking them so long. I don't know how much longer these two have."

"Why, what's wrong with them?" The wolf asked.

"They're in danger of being attacked." Black Eye said with a slight smile.

"Haha… Damn dogs." The wolf said.

Balto and Jenna could hear them loud and clear, not that they made any effort to conceal their conversation, most likely they wanted them to hear it. Balto carefully tried to put weight on his injured paw, and luckily, it held. The pack's healer did, albeit reluctantly, examined his paw, and made note that it was not broken, simply injured and would heal on its own in a few days. Already though, whether or not he was trying to show off to Jenna, he could stand and walk on the paw without much pain. The two somewhat guarded Siku as she was out cold, because already twice had another wolf tried to take her from them. Their reasons weren't clear, but she was the only pure wolf here and Balto was not going to lose her.

Saba and company finally showed, from the side of their den with three wolves around her. A pup, a large black wolf, and, what Balto could only perceive as being a part wolf of some type. Something was off about the wolf hybrid. He knew him…

Black Eye gave Saba a disgusting look, then nodded his head towards the den containing her parents. She was both surprised, and exited that her parents were here. Mostly the first one. Saba ran up to them, and Kanai, of course, followed close by her.

"Oh my god, mom? Dad? Why are you guys here?" Saba asked.
"Well, duuuuh. We were looking for you!" Jenna answered.
"Really? But…"
"Saba, why the hell would you run off this far! What are you thinking!?" Balto said rather angrily at her.
"I… I don't know."

Kanai sat quietly behind Saba for the most part, but his curiosity was at a high. He knew from the start that Saba was not a wolf, but seeing her dog parents – or mostly dog parents – was interesting to him. Dogs have always been the enemy, the ruthless killers, the mindless drones humans sent out to kill the wolves, yet these parents cared for their daughter like his mother would care for him.

"She… She saved my life!" Kanai finally said.

Balto and Jenna stared quietly at the wolf pup, who yelled from behind Saba.

"A wolf pup?" Jenna asked.
"Yeah… I found him out in the whale waters. Little guy would have frozen to death had I not come across him." Saba explained.
"Well, that sure is heroic of you, but that still doesn't explain why you ran so far from home." Balto said.

Siku's turn. Having awaken from her little "nap", she heard the whole conversation, and man was she furious.

"Balto! Shut your mouth!" Siku yelled from behind Balto and Jenna.
"What… Ohey! You're awake!" Balto said.
"Yes, and I awake to you still trying to blame Saba for running away."
"I'm not blaming her. Siku, I understand okay? I was just asking why she ran off."
"I know that, so enlighten us, Saba. Why did you run off? Oh, and try to explain it like you would a day old pup, because your father apparently doesn't have common sense." Siku explained.

Saba thought for a few seconds. She knew what she had to tell them, she just didn't know how to. Kanai, first of all.

"Kanai, could you please go and sit with Rusty for now?"
"Okay Saba."

Kanai walked out rather saddened by his forced removal from this interesting conversation. He walked out of the den and noted out the positions of everyone. Rusty was still seated next to Kijo and the two were having some type of Nostalgia trip. Kanai looked to the left and saw lots of wolves all working on their own thing. Families, taking care of children. Some of them cleaning out paths with their tails, others bringing in the pack's food for the day. It reminded him of his own pack before they were obliterated. And finally, he looked behind him and up, over his shoulder. Black Eye stood watch, looking back down right at him and him only. He cracked a small courteous smile at the wolf pup, then continued to look around at his pack members. Kanai smiled and walked over to Rusty like he was told.

Back in the den Saba had explained as best she could without getting to the forced mating part.

"But what set him off? I thought you said he loved you more than anything." Jenna asked.
"He did… Just… Not anymore."
"Oh no, did he get another dog?" Balto stupidly offered.
"No…" Saba said annoyed.

Siku sat patiently next to Jenna as she listened to Saba explain her story. Something she got, but her parents obviously were too blind to see, was her skipping on details on purpose. There was something she wanted to say, but couldn't. Perhaps she couldn't tell her parents, but would rather explain to her instead.

"Saba, how about just you and me talk. Sister to Sister."
"Wait, since when are you my-"
"Nevermind that."
"Oh, well. Okay then."

Siku shot a smug look at Balto, who shook his head with a smile and looked back at Jenna. Saba and Siku walked off to the other side of the den.

Saba found herself much more able to talk to Siku than her own parents. For reasons she couldn't even explain. The white wolf pup, who up until now was just some wolf who lived with her parents, and was mates with her brother, was now the only one in all of Alaska she felt she could trust and talk to without a problem.

Balto tried to eavesdrop, Jenna trying the same, but only when Siku yelled out, did Balto hear anything from the two.

"He called you what?! And he tried to-" Siku held her tongue, not wanting to scream in anger "If I ever get my paws on him I'll-" Siku calmed down, freezing in place with her paws in the form of strangling a person, as she looked to Balto.

She straightened herself up and cleared her throat before walking over to Balto.

"Sam tried to get Saba to breed with Steele, and when she refused he beat her and called her a worthless bitch." Siku explained without missing a beat.

Saba only sat back and lowered her head.

"No way… Sam? But…" Balto and Siku remembered their talk with Sam a few days ago. He seemed to regret everything.
"He did seem apologetic, yes. But nothing he could ever do would excuse his actions. Trust is an important thing, Balto. You of all people should know that. I'm pretty sure your two years alone you've come to face trust and distrust."
"Yeah… Though, most of the time it was blind distrust from everyone in town." Balto said rather annoyed.

"Look guys, I appreciate you coming out here… There's some business I need to attend to with Kanai."

"Okay Saba, but when you're finished, you're coming home." Jenna said.

Saba sighed loudly and left the den. She noted out where Rusty and Kanai were, and started to walk to them before she was cut off.

Black Eye jumped in front of her and growled. He had heard every word said in that den, it being somewhat of an amplifier to where he stood atop the cave face. He sat patiently overhearing everything, from her traitorous human to the wolf known as Siku considering her own Sister.

He had questions for her before she would walk any further.

Hopefully a longer chapter would make up for nearly a month of absence. Next chapter won't take as long as this one did. Sorry to those who were expecting short chapters but hey, I cut this from the 8 thousand or so words I had typed out so be happeh.