8.

Nome Alaska 1925

"Come on Eran," Aleu says in a soothing voice, "it'll be alright."

'Of course, it will,' Kyle, or Eran now, thinks to himself, 'when swine flies.'

"I…I think I should head back…" he says rather meekly and turns around to retreat when Aleu hopes forward and looks directly at his face.

"Eran," she practically whines with big eyes and drooping ears, "it's safe, trust me."

Trust, that's the clincher of the whole situation. It was because of her mistrust for him that lead them here, ironically this is supposed to help him feel more comfortable around her, but she's virtually asking him to perform a leap of faith here.

He clenches his teeth, not in a threatening way, but one of concern and consideration as he looks out towards Nome. It was nearing midnight and some of the lamps in the town's windows have gone out, but he is still tense, filled with fear and suspicion. It's a full moon and he is in the middle of a clear plain close to the sea, a giant black shape that most people probably couldn't make out from a distance, but he didn't live this long by taking chances.

A small fraction of his mind questioned whether or not that this is some kind of trick, was Aleu setting him up for an ambush? He doesn't want to believe it since it's not the way of the wolves, not to mention there is some kind of nagging in the back of his head, almost like a silent voice is whispering into his ear, telling him that there is nothing to fear, that Aleu is genuine concern for him and wants to be his friend.

He hopes the latter is the truth since he is in need of some companionship and at the moment he is in unexplored territory. He has never ventured this close to Nome after the moon has risen before and truth be told he doesn't want to be anywhere near it. Almost everyone within the town has a gun and has had at least some experience in hunting, bullets may not kill him so easily but they still hurt, it took him years to recover from just one hit.

He finally sighs before bowing his head to her, "if you're sure…"

He is surprised when he feels her press up against his flank, causing him to look up at her. She is indeed pressed up against him with her muzzle coming awfully close to his, but she buried her face into his neck, slightly shocking him a little at the show of affection. He wonders if this means…no, no, she is probably just trying to make him feel better.

She pulls back after a few moments and smiles at him, "I'm positive, we won't be going too close to the town, I promise."

Eran swallows, he's nervous about this, but even more so when Aleu had just cuddled up next to him. She didn't even seem to mind like she is used to being close to large oversize man-wolves. Man-wolves…are that the closest he will ever come to describing what he is?

Aleu bumps against him and smirks, "well come on," with that she starts walking, angling away from the town as she promised, but he still feels exposed about the whole thing.

Eran chews his inner cheek a little before hesitantly lowering himself to the ground and starts following the she-wolf. He uncurls his arms and folds them beneath his chin as he starts crawling while his back legs kick a little to erase any of his prints he left behind. It'll just be his luck some hunter will find them and want to hunt him, not caring what kind of animal he is.

Aleu pauses briefly to wait a while as she looks back. Eran is a couple of paces behind her, staying close to the ground and using his odd limbs in a way she has never seen before. The action makes a small shiver course through her, with him traveling on the floor like that it would be easy for him to surprise just about anyone and scare them half to death.

After a while, her odd friend makes it to her side, despite him being on his belly his head is almost at the same height as her shoulder. The quick comparisons always leave her in disbelief, no wonder it's so easy for most people to mistake him for a monster.

That though is still not an excuse. Especially with her, she should have never judged him so harshly and quickly, she just hopes that he knows how sincere she is and will allow them to progress on, only with her being more trustful and hopefully with him being more open with others.

"Is that where we're going?"

Eran's voice brings her back to the world and she blinks to get her bearings back again. She smiles as she nods in confirmation and rises from her seated position to ease the tension a little.

"Yes little one," she says with a grin, "that's our destination."

Eran snorts and rolls his eyes before returning them to the object before them. Marooned on the cold hard ground, nearly a mile away from the sea is an old fishing boat. There is a large hole in its hull and its railings have been chipped and busted due to the weight of the vessel pressing against the ground. The mast is still up but is now pointing in the direction of the forest at an angle instead of it standing vertically. Snow covers most of its body, but the deck has been swept clear and there's even a blanket that has been placed on the mainsail, probably left to dry in the sun and was forgotten, no doubt doomed to become a frozen sheet of ice.

"Well not as nice as the forest," Eran comments, "but still interesting nonetheless."

"Thanks, I guess," Eran looks up at Aleu who is still staring at the ship, "this was where I spent most of my pup-hood."

"Oh," the giant wolf lowers his gaze, "sorry, I didn't mean to offend you in any way."

Aleu merely smiles, "It's alright Eran and it wasn't insulting at all."

"Yes, but still," Aleu is surprised to hear the level of emotion in his voice, sounding solemn yet close to becoming sorrowful, "this is where you came from, where your life began, it must hold some special meaning for you."

She stares down at her companion in light wonder. He has just spoken probably the most heartfelt sentence she has heard him say. Has something happened to his home? Is that why he is hoping she will cherish hers?

Aleu slowly nods her head before she raises her paw and lightly pats Eran's shoulder. He flinches slightly before returning to look at Aleu in her eyes.

He is a large black beast, blazing red eyes, and a strangely formed body, but it's at times like this she actually finds Eran adorable, or even to go as far as to call him cute.

"Do you know how funny you look when you get skittish like this?" she asks with a wide smile.

He blinks at her before looking away, murmuring, "you're probably the first one to ever use me and the word funny in the same sentence."

She giggles at this and shakes her head.

"Well come on," she leads the way to the boat, "there's someone I want you to meet."

She hears a small intake of breath and she turns to Eran who looks close to becoming overwhelmed with sheer terror.

"You…you want me to meet someone?" he looks himself over again before asking, "Now?"

She does her best to hide her smile as she simply bobs her head, "yes, it's not a problem is it?"

"B-b-but Aleu," he said in a concerned voice, "remember your father?"

She doesn't answer but he must have caught the look on her face as he says, "exactly, if worse comes to worse I don't want to get into a scuffle, especially with someone from your family."

She is touched that he doesn't wish to get into a fight with anyone of her kin, but still, she has a feeling, or rather an urge, to share more with him, to let him know he is a welcome addition into her life and to let him know that he can trust her.

"Eran," she speaks softly, "I swear, nothing will happen, I won't let anything happen," she swears, "I just wish for you to meet someone I know and respect, someone who I'm sure will not be quick to think badly of you, is that alright?"

She can see the clear reluctance in his eyes, but that doesn't appear to faze him as he nods in return to her. She smiles in light giddiness and nudges against his side once more, "well come on then, let's go," with that she starts bumping into him, nudging him closer and closer to the ship.

Eran paused halfway across the plank that led up to the ship and looks down beneath him.

"Eran?" Aleu asks, "What's wrong?"

Eran didn't answer, at the moment his mind was somewhere else. Below him he sees only the snow-laden floor, they were on solid ground. So why did he suddenly feel seasick?

Right before his eyes, the snow melts and quickly forms water, but it doesn't disappear into the Earth. Instead, it stays on the surface and builds, his legs start to quiver as he feels himself being rocked as he stands on the threshold between the solid ground and crashing seas. Every time he stepped on a boat, disaster always struck. It was a boat that carried him to war. It was on a boat that he escaped because of his curse. His brother was on a boat and looked where it landed him. He is a Marine, a soldier of the sea, so why is he having a seizure right now?

Suddenly he feels a great weight shove him and he stumbles forward. His front two legs caught each other in an elaborate knot and before he knew it, he trips. He feels himself becoming weightless as he falls forward before his face makes contact with hardwood. He flipped end over end before he skids to a halt halfway down the boat's deck and releases a small moan.

"Eran!" he hears Aleu calling out some distance away, "are you hurt? What happened? I didn't mean to push you so hard."

Eran the only answer was a groan as he rubs his head along the planks as he blinks his eyes. The fall wasn't that bad, but he has a splitting headache, was it from that flashback he had just a moment ago? He does his best to shrug it off though, that has been years ago, he has nothing to fear, no harm can befall him now. Right?

"Eran?" Aleu questions, on the verge of panicking again, "please say something."

"I've never been fond of the water," he finally mumbles out.

Aleu blinks in confusion but does her best to ignore it, remembering it was her who told Eran to say 'something'.

She then pads up next to him and pushes lightly into Eran's shoulder, trying to help him up. Her eyes widen though when she made no progress, but she instantly became embarrassed when she felt his body, or to be more specific, the muscles that even Sitka would be jealous to have. She forces those thoughts away however and renews her efforts to get Eran up, but to no avail, Eran was just simply too big, she'll probably have more luck trying to get a moose back onto his feet.

She gasps though when, without warning, Eran springs upwards while turning his head at the same time. In that instant, his chin grazes underneath hers right as he releases a mighty huff that for some reason sends chills down her body as she takes in his scent. He is so close that she could feel the heat radiating off of him, he raises his head until his eyes are looking into hers and the fur on his cheek accidentally brushes against the side of her head. His fur feels soft, almost like a newborn pup's coat.

And his eyes…for some reason she became lost in them. She had looked into his eyes multiple times; even when he wasn't looking she snuck peeks at them. The burning ambers reminded her so much like coal covered in flames, but behind them were emotions like hers. He was strong, but also sad and lonely, almost fearful, his eyes reveal his very being to her and because of that, she doesn't want to look away from them.

For his part, Eran doesn't move, she doesn't know why and to be honest she doesn't care. Just as long she could stand here, with him by her side keeping her warm and his bright eyes to give her something to study, something to marvel at.

They both jump when they hear a crash and a loud "gah!" that reminds her where they are and what it is that they are doing here.

"Who's out there!?" screams a familiar voice coming from the steering quarters of the ship, "I'm warning you! I'm armed and dangerous!"

Aleu couldn't help but roll her eyes. Her uncle? Dangerous? Armed…maybe, but not dangerous.

Eran though slowly backs away, taking with him the warm sphere the two were sharing only moments before to her disappointment. His tail hung low and he eyed the place where the voice was coming from.

"Maybe I should leave," he hesitantly suggests, not daring to make any sudden movements.

Aleu smirks before swatting him playfully with her tail, "Oh come on Eran, he's not dangerous in the least sense of words."

With that, she looks to the quarters and calls back, "Uncle Boris it's me, Aleu."

They hear what only could be a sigh of relief and his normal old and sometimes strainful voice replies, "Oh my goodness girl, you're going to give me a heart attack at this rate."

They hear a small patter as her uncle approaches and with a quick nudge, Aleu gets Eran back onto his feet and together they move forward to meet her uncle halfway.

They were close to the entrance when her uncle walked out. She smiled when she sees that the old goose looks disheveled with heavy-laden eyes which he was currently rubbing with one of his wings as he tries to wake up. Apparently, Eran's crashing onto the ship has disturbed the old bird's slumber, even if it was a bit of a delayed reaction. In his other wing, he held a mop, which must have been what he meant when he claimed he was armed.

Originally she was thinking of just quietly showing Eran around the boat, she did want Eran to meet her uncle but figured he was asleep. However, now that uncle Boris is up they could get to know each other. Her papa always respected her uncle's words of wisdom (to a point) so if Eran is able to get on Boris's good side, maybe, in turn, her uncle will tell her papa that they have no worries with Eran.

"Uncle Boris," she says softly to the waking goose, "I have someone that I think you would be interested to meet."

"Now?" he smacks his lips as he finally opens his eyes and blinks to clear his vision, "couldn't this wait until…"

He trails off when he can finally see; or rather see Eran to be exact.

Cautiously, Eran offers the goose a smile, "hello."

Aleu flinches when Boris jumps into the air with a scream, flaring his wings as he stares with wide eyes and his mouth agape in pure horror at the sight of Eran.

"Bodark!" he screams.

"Bo-what?" Eran asks before Boris falls back onto the deck and before Aleu or he could react, Boris brings up the mop he was holding and brings it down with a loud thud on Eran's head.

To say that Eran had better nights was an understatement. First, there was the flashback he had earlier now he is experiencing a piercing headache. Who knew a goose could possess that much strength in its feathers?

He blinks away the exploding red stars as he tries to regain focus. He needs to know if he is about to be attacked again so he can dodge the next strike. However, when he tries to rise his whole world turns upside down and he is forced to sit again or risk bashing his skull open. Now all he is able to do is wait for the spinning to stop and force his brain to work again as his entire body feels like it's going numb.

His ears are filled with a ring that refuses to leave him, but at once there was an explosion of air and he is able to hear again.

"-you to do that?" he hears Aleu say, sounding mortified. For some reason her voice sounds so lovely to him, did he get hit harder than he originally thought?

"What did you expect?" asks the goose who is her "uncle" apparently, "he's huge, he has flaming red eyes and he looks exactly like a Bodark!"

His interest suddenly picks up after hearing this. Bodark…what is that? Is that him? Has he finally learned what he is?

He bites his tongue while forcing his disobedient body to obey his command and rise up; all the while he listens, hoping to learn something of use.

"Uncle Boris," Aleu sighs, "He isn't the monster that hid under the boat when I was a pup, and you just told me that just to keep me in bed."

"And it worked too," Boris answers smugly.

"It didn't-" she growls in frustration, "Uncle Boris, he isn't a monster; he's a lone wolf from the South."

"How far south?" demands Boris. Eran hears the pitter-patter of light footsteps walking around him as if he is under inspection. "I've traveled south for the past season and I've never seen anything much like him before."

"I don't know," Aleu answers honestly, "he never said."

"Never said hmm…" Boris hums. Eran feels his frontal leg being lifted as his hand is turned palm up. There is an intake of air and his hand was released, causing it to land on the wooden deck with a thud. Apparently, Boris was expecting to find a paw, not a clawed hand.

"What the-how did-whositz-wha-" finally Boris got his stuttering under control, "What is this thing?"

"Uh…he's from way down south," Aleu tries to playoff.

"Aleu!" scolds her uncle, "this is not a wolf! I-I-I don't know what this thing is. Does your father know?"

"As well as all of Nome from what I hear," answers his niece.

"Well that answers why I haven't seen anyone lately," comments Boris, "they're probably too scared to leave their homes."

"That's…well…alright…I guess that might be true," Aleu admits hesitantly.

Eran should be used to this, but he still feels terrible. Even when he isn't bothering someone he is still messing with their lives. Can't he just live in peace or does he have to totally isolate himself?

That thought was the jump start he needed as he feels his body coming back to life. He gives a slight groan as he stands. There is a high pitched yelp and when he looks up he sees only Aleu, the goose is gone, but his feathers are left littering the place.

"What happened?" Eran moans as he rubs his head.

"Um…" Aleu doesn't look him in the eye and instead focuses on the floor, "sorry but I guess my uncle is afraid of you…a little."

"A little?!" an incredulous voice demands that originated from somewhere behind the she-wolf.

Aleu rolls her eyes, "alright," she says in an exasperated voice, "he was downright terrified."

Eran lowers his eyes as well before saying, "Sorry."

Aleu suddenly presses forward, making her way towards him.

"No, Eran," she replies softly, "you shouldn't be sorry at all, its people…like my uncle," she looks over her shoulder and gives a stern look to the nervous goose who grins lightly and shrugs his shoulder, "who should be apologizing."

This still doesn't make Eran feel any better though, but still, he did say he was giving Aleu the benefit of a doubt…

"Well," he says cautiously, "if you're sure I'm not too much of a bother, what was it you wanted to show me?"

Aleu perks up at this and looks about ready to start jumping up and down with joy, but instead, she remains on the ground, save for her tail though, which he could see flapping back and forth at an incredible speed, an action that he finds, dear he say it, cute.

"Great," she says enthusiastically, but it dies a little as she turns to the jittery bird behind her, "Uncle Boris, I'm going to go show Eran around, you can go back to sleep if you want, we won't make too much noise."

"Oh, no," Boris says, still smiling, "I…I think I'm going to stay up for a little and…um…hmm…and-and-and…mop!" he suddenly declares as he bends down to pick up the cleaning instrument in question, but when the goose lifts it the top breaks off and lands with a thud on the floor. Eran's head must be tougher than he thought.

"Um…on second thought I think I'll wash Balto's blanket," Boris says as he inspects the broken mop.

"In the middle of the night during winter?" her niece questions.

"Of course," Boris says and lightly brushes off the question, "it'll be like doing laundry in the old country."

Aleu rolls her eyes again, probably deciding not to tell her uncle that the blanket in question was frozen to the mast.

She then turns towards the Captain's quarters, "well come on Eran, there's a bunch of stuff here that I'm sure will strike your fancy."

Eran started to follow but stops as he just thought of something.

"Actually Aleu, I'll catch up," the she-wolf turns to stare at him, "I want to ask your uncle something."

Boris gawks at the giant beast and starts shaking again.

Noting his shivering, Eran quickly says, "or if you're not up to it, we could always talk about it another time."

Boris gulps a couple of times, his eyes still wide before saying, "Err…n-n-no, it's f-fine."

Eran glances back at Aleu who is still watching, but slowly she nods, "alright…I'll be waiting," she then turns and walks away, leaving Eran with the nervous goose.

Eran finally sighs as he looks to the quivering goose, "I'm serious, I'm not going to hurt you, but I need to ask you something important."

"I-I-Important?" he asks.

"Yes," Eran is about to go on but is cut off.

"The answer is no!" Boris shouts, "Geese aren't healthy to eat, especially me, I've started to mold, my bones are brittle and I have some kind of fungus growing on my-"

"Boris!" Eran cuts off, "the question isn't about you," he breathes heavily, "It's about me."

"Oh," Boris says quietly before chuckling, "he-he, uh…right…well for what's it worth uh…I really don't have fungus, but I do mold from time to time so don't you even think about-"

"No Boris," Eran growls, "my question is about what happened earlier-"

"I said I was sorry," Boris interrupts, "and don't worry about asking for the price, the mop was old, I need to get a new one anyway-"

"Boris!" Eran shouts, silencing the goose as he stares at Eran, "when you hit me you called me something, what was it?"

"Oh," Boris says and laughs nervously, "You're not too offended I hope, I am very sorry about that-"

"I know you are," Eran says impatiently, "but I need to know, what does that mean? What did you call me and what is it exactly?"

Boris looks genuinely surprised before coughing and saying, "Uh, I called you a Bodark."

"And what is that?" Eran asks breathlessly, excited or nervous he couldn't really tell, "What is a Bodark?"

Boris regards Eran's excited nature curiously before saying, "I don't know."

Almost instantly, Eran feels himself deflate, "You don't know?"

Boris shrugs, "I'm sorry but I really don't."

"Oh," Eran says as he looks down, he can even feel his tail lowering, this prompts Boris to clear his throat, regaining Eran's attention.

"I don't know what they are," Boris says again, "but when I was a Chick, my mother would tell me to stay in the nest, otherwise the Bodarks would get me, so…I think a Bodark is basically a monster."

"Monster," Eran whispers to himself, this isn't exactly making him feel better and Boris could see it.

"But I'm sure it's nothing," the goose rushes on, "I mean, it must be parental manipulation to keep their young from wandering away from home, yes?"

So he's a make believe creature? No, Eran refuses to believe that, there has to be something, there's got to be something more to the story than that.

"Eran," Aleu's voice calls, "are you alright?"

"Yeah," Eran says back, a little crestfallen, "I'm coming."

He looks to Boris and bows his head, "thank you for your time, Boris," with that, he sadly walks after Aleu.

The goose watches as the odd creature sulks away, feeling bad for him. He had never seen a beast like him before, but he was really interested in Bodarks, almost as if he was hoping to find something. Was it possible that he thought he was a Bodark? But that's impossible, they aren't real; his mother told him that when she realized her stories terrified him so much he didn't want to leave the nest to learn how to fly.

The goose chuckles a little at the memory before thinking once more. Every tale, no matter how far fetched, has a small piece of truth within them. Is it possible…could Eran…

Boris shakes his head, he is still half asleep, and maybe this was all just a bad dream. But still, as he moves away to get the blankets and prepare to wash them, he makes a mental note to tell this all to Balto. If anyone is smart enough, or should he say curious enough to find the answers, then it's his boy-chick.

He suddenly stops and groans when he catches sight of the blanket he was going to clean. It was frozen to the mast like a flag frozen in time.

Balto will not be happy about this.