As the sun began to set, Qimmia finally arrived back at Aniu's den. Breathless, the dark-haired girl assured the wolf-dog pups, "It's okay… that awful man… is gone."

Balto looked up at Qimmia and asked, "What happened, Qimmia?"

Qimmia just gave a sad look at the pup before turning more serious. "That white man was one of those poachers I've heard about from stories I was told as a young girl," she answered, "He doesn't hunt animals for food or survival – he hunts them for evil pleasure, and doesn't care."

"Gee whiz!" gasped one of the female pups, "I'm glad he's gone!"

"Me too!" added one of the older male pups, "I don't wanna make HIM mad!"

"Alright, pups," Aniu said to her children, "I think you've all had enough excitement for one day. It's time to sleep."

All the pups except Balto yawned. "Aw, Mama!" the smallest pup whined, "Can't I stay up for five more minutes?"

"No," Ainu answered, "We must rest up for more hunting lessons tomorrow."

"Three more minutes?" the runty pup asked.

"No," Aniu repeated.

"Two more minutes," said Balto.

"No!" said his mother.

"One more minute!" Balto insisted.

"Balto, please!" Qimmia gently reprimanded him, "We all need a good night's sleep." She stroked the pup's back a bit, and then Balto let out a little yawn. "There now," Qimmia whispered as she set him down by his sleeping siblings, "Go to sleep."

Then, the Inupiat girl gathered some musk ox qiviut that she had made into a blanket, and set herself down on the ground as she covered herself with the blanket.

That night, Qimmia dreamed she was a little girl, about seven years old. It was a cold and windy winter's day, and Qimmia was inside a hut with her parents, Makit and Tumit. The little girl was sitting on the floor, playing with a toy dog that was made from seal fur and driftwood. Makit, the father, watched his daughter with a smile and chuckled, "Oh, Qimmia, you really do love dogs, don't you?"

"Yes, Father!" Qimmia smiled to him as she looked up, "Someday I'd like to run along with them and learn from their teachings – along with the other animals, of course!"

Makit smiled to himself, knowing that his mother, Aqpat, possessed a jade necklace that enabled her to speak to animals. Maybe after I and my mother die, Qimmia will inherit that necklace, he thought.

Just then, Tumit, the mother, walked over to her husband with a worried expression on her face. "Husband," she said, "Our food supply is running low. We don't have enough for the three of us. What should we do since there's a blizzard outside?"

Makit looked her with an understanding face and then thought for a moment. He then told his wife, "Tumit, I'm afraid we might have to go out there and see what we find to hunt."

Tumit nodded and then looked at Qimmia, who had a concerned look. "Daughter, your father and I must go out and find food. We promise that we will be back soon, and then we shall feast during this awful weather."

Qimmia gave her own small smile, and then rubbed her nose up against her mother's nose. With that, Tumit and Makit walked outside their hut and into the blizzard, leaving Qimmia alone.

After about two hours of waiting inside the hut, Qimmia began to get worried. "What happened to Mother and Father?" she asked herself, I must go out and find them!" So, she put on her parka, mittens, and mukluks, and then she trekked out into the snowy atmosphere.

Outside, the snowstorm wasn't so violent, but all was quiet in the village. Everyone was inside their own huts to avoid going out and getting lost. Qimmia trekked along and looked around, but she could not see a soul anywhere. But suddenly, a wind picked up, and the blizzard started again. "Oh no!" the young girl cried as she tried running away. The snow blew in every direction, and Qimmia ran away in a zig-zag direction. Eventually, she slipped on a patch of ice, and then fell down a hill!

When Qimmia landed, she was unhurt as she got up, but she didn't know where she was. "MOTHER!" she called out loud, "FATHER!" As she walked along, Qimmia soon felt something hard under her feet. She got to her knees, and saw two figures lying face-down in the snow. "Mother? Father?" she asked with sadness in her voice, "Are you alright? What happened?" She saw a bloody wound on her father's head, and that indicated that he had fallen and was injured in the head.

"Oh no!" Qimmia gasped before she went to examine her mother. The young girl looked at her mother's lifeless body and saw claw marks and defensive wounds all over Tumit's hands, and bloody pawprints all over her parka. "A wolverine!" Qimmia gasped, "Father fell down, and then a wolverine came to eat him! Mother tried to stop it, but that beast took her away from me!" She then buried her face into her mother's body and cried.

As Qimmia was crying, a gentle hand touched her on the shoulder. "Your mother and father risked their lives helping you," an old woman's voice said to the girl, "But you are not alone, Qimmia."

The little girl turned and saw a familiar old woman sympathetically looking down at her. It was her grandmother, Aqpat! "Grandmother!" Qimmia gasped as a tear slid down her cheek. She sadly looked up at her grandmother and asked, "Grandmother, why did this happen?"

Aqpat knelt down to her granddaughter and said, "Child, we all take things for granted at some points in our lives. Your family took their food and blessings for granted sometimes, and you seldom stopped to think about gratitude from the animals and elements of the Earth. So when your mother and father ventured out to find food, they sacrificed themselves to feed you."

Qimmia sadly nodded, and then her grandmother gently smiled at her. "How would you like to live we, and then I will teach you about the blessings the animals give us?"

The little girl sadly smiled, and then hugged her grandmother tightly. Aqpat returned her own hug, and then carried her granddaughter back to her hut.

In her sleep, Qimmia warmly smiled at her dream.

All through the summer, Aniu's pups grew bigger and stronger (even Balto), and they became less and less dependent on their mother and Qimmia for food; they were getting the hang of working together to hunt big game such as caribou and musk ox calves. And all through those months, Balto stayed friends with Qimmia, as she always watched over him and gave special care to him.

Soon, the air grew chilly again, and autumn was here. One particular cold autumn day, Qimmia had just finished picking some berries to eat with her supper when the four-month-old Balto and his mother came walking up to her. "Oh, hello, Mother," Qimmia greeted them with a smile, "Balto."

"Hi, Qimmia!" Balto grinned at his human godmother.

Aniu gave a smile to the girl, and then her expression turned to concern as she said, "Qimmia, I smell something in the air that tells me there might be a surprise snowstorm tonight. You should probably gather your food and find somewhere safe to stay."

Qimmia looked up at the sky, and sure enough, the gray clouds were rolling in, and she could certainly feel a rush of cold air fly past her. "Hmmm, I see what you mean," she said with an obedient tone, "Very well, Mother. I've just finished picking some berries, and that should be the last of my chores today. I shall join you and the pups real soon."

"Okay, have fun, Qimmia!" Balto laughed as he jumped up in the air a bit and then ran off with his mother.

While Aniu and Balto rejoined the other pups, Qimmia gathered her berries and placed them in a little sack made from moose hide. But as she walked along through the bushes, someone was watching her from not to far. The sound of twigs snapping started the Alaskan Native girl, making her gasp and turn her head in different directions. But Qimmia saw no one or nothing nearby. "I must be using my imagination," she said to herself wearily, "I hope Aniu and the pups are safe."

In the meantime, Balto, his siblings, and his mother were all enjoying a feast of an injured musk ox juvenile they had worked together to bring down. But as they ate, Aniu looked up with a start, and then looked around; she had caught the scent of something unusual. "Pups," she said with urgency, "Quick! Back to the den! I'll howl for Qimmia!"

All the pups raced for their den while Aniu have a howl for Qimmia.

Qimmia, who had heard Aniu's howl, ran off in alarm, but not before she caught a glimpse of a figure that looked very familiar.

The figure belonged to the Hunter, who had confronted Qimmia, Aniu, and the wolf-dog pups earlier in the spring. The man grabbed his shotgun and gave an evil look as he decided to follow the Inupiat girl to her "little wolf-dog family".

Qimmia ran as fast as she could to find her surrogate wolf-dog family, "MOTHER! PUPS!" she called out loud as she ran, "THE EVIL WHITE MAN IS HERE!"

The Hunter, who was sneakily following Qimmia, thought to himself, That's it, Eskimo! Warn your little family all you'd like. You'll never make it to them in time!

In the meantime, all the wolf-dog pups were running ahead of their mother, as fast as they could. "RUN, PUPS!" Aniu called to them, "Go faster! Don't look back!"

But as the pups were running, Balto suddenly tripped over a big rock and fell on the ground! "MAMA, HELP ME!" he screamed as he tried getting up.

But luckily, Qimmia arrived right in the nick of time to help Balto up. As she did so, however, the Hunter crept up and then pounced upon her and Balto! "Got you!" he growled as he restrained the girl.

Balto wouldn't let his companion be taken away from him; he growled at the man and then attacked him by biting him in the leg. "LET GO OF MY FRIEND!" the pup growled through his teeth as he bit the Hunter.

The Hunter gave a cry of pain, and he obviously didn't understand Balto's orders through his growls. Instead, he waved his leg around until the pup fell off and into a bush. Then, the man pulled his big hunting knife out and prepared to attack the pup.

Balto looked up in fear as the man glared at him with the knife in his right hand. But then, a familiar white wolf growled and pounced upon the Hunter with angry eyes. Aniu snapped her jaws and angrily barked at the man before she turned to Qimmia and Balto. "RUN!" she ordered, "Just get away from here as fast as you can, and don't even THINK about me! GO!"

Qimmia nodded, and then she and Balto ran away from the Hunter and back to the den.

Aniu, meanwhile, let go of the struggling man, and then she ran off to catch up with her family. As the mother wolf ran off, the Hunter grabbed his shotgun, loaded it, and then ran after her.

Qimmia and Balto, meanwhile, were only about a mile away from the den when snowflakes slowly began to fall from the sky. "Come on, Balto, we must get home before the snow gains on us!" Qimmia cried to the pup, "Hurry!"

The two of them kept running towards the den; as they did, the thundering sound of a gun shooting echoed throughout the landscape. Qimmia tried not to think of what animal had lost its life, so she shook the feeling away, and then she and Balto eventually found their den with the other pups.

"We've made it!" Qimmia breathed as she helped Balto into the den, "So far… so good."

Balto panted and caught his breath as he said to his siblings, "Yeah! There was this mean… man, and then… Mama… she saved…" He suddenly remembered something as he gasped, "Wait!" He turned to Qimmia and asked her, "Qimmia, where's Mama?"

As more snowflakes started falling, Qimmia put her hand over her mouth when she realized something wasn't right…