Chapter 2: A New Day

When Balto opened his eyes, the sun was high in the middle of sky, and to judge by that, Balto have been sleeping throughout the whole morning. He tried to stand up, and the moment he did that, his whole body protested.

"I should've known about this." He muttered to himself, and forced himself up. He was in no rush to do anything, as nothing needs his attention, as it always was. However, he was eager to get into the town, to see if his affection on the townspeople stills stand, or it was just as disposable as a newspaper. Still, that was not the only reason that jolted him up from under his blanket; he was going to visit Jenna and Rosy. He was so tired the day before that when he decided to sneak away from the crowds, he forgot to say goodbye to Jenna, and he hoped that she was not to worry about his sudden disappearance.

As he walked out of the cabin room of his boat, Boris the snow goose took notice of him instantly and walked up to him.

"You shouldn't get up walking around so soon! You need all the rest you can get, and there's no rushing you anywhere." Said Boris.

"I'm thinking about going in to the town, that won't use up all my strength." Balto replied with a smile.

"What? Still haven't satisfy with all the cheering? You are wishing them to sing songs about 'Balto the Hero' and pass them down for generations?" Boris joked.

"Come on, Boris, I just was to go see if I'm really accepted into them, you know how great it means to me."

"Or is there a better reason? One that takes a few steps higher that just accept?" hinted Boris.

Balto blushed as he caught the meaning in Boris' word. He was startled that Boris could guess what is in his mind when he thought he had hidden it quite well, but still, this is Boris, the old, wise goose who raised him up when he was a pup and still looked over him even though he can totally take care of himself now.

"Okay, I'm going to check on Jenna, I didn't have the chance to bid her goodbye when I escape from the hospital." Balto admitted.

"Ah, so someone's finally going to make move! Doesn't sound too hard for someone who braved the wilderness like you, eh?" Said Boris, brightened by his word.

"Boris, I said I am visiting her, not dating her."

Rising an eyebrow, Boris said "Oh? Why not?"

Balto sighed and said "Seriously, do you really that a pure bred husky like Jenna would love a mutt like me?"

"Balto! I though you've made peace with your wolf side already!" exclaimed Boris, then sighed, a hint of disappointment appeared in his eyes "Balto, if what you've done both for her and the town cannot get her to like you, then I can't think of another way to do so." He paused, apparently thinking for the words to come out "I might not know her well, but I'm sure that she looks into your soul instead of your flesh as what the other did. You have a kind heart, and that is all you will need."

Startled by his old friend's word of wisdom, adding up his own desire, desire to find love, "I'll give it a try." He decided.

"Well that's better, now go on. Go to her before she comes looking for you. Go!" Boris said while gestured for him to move on.

The road from Balto's boat to Nome was a short one and, under normal circumstance, needed only a three minutes walk. As Balto entered the town, a little boy spotted him and shouted to the other humans "Balto! Balto is here again!"

And the next instant, Balto found himself being swarmed by a host of grateful people. Everyone wished to touch him, or offer him food and other things. Balto allowed them to touch him, and ate a little amount of food that they gave him. As soon as he caught the chance, he darted away from the crowd and ran into an alley. Whoa, am I had to avoid humans even now, for fear that they might stop and delay me for at least one hour every time I get here? Balto thought as he panted.

As soon as he caught up his breath, he headed towards the hospital, where Rosy was held for further observation until she is fully recovered, and Jenna would most probably with her.

The Hospital was an old and big structure, and was likely the largest building in Nome. In the past few days the hospital was filled with children suffering from diphtheria, a sickness that had dealt a near fatal blow to the children of Nome. But as Balto and the team brought back the medicine, the only doctor and the fours nurses, worked day and night bringing the sickened children back from the edge of death so most of them recovered fast and the view of the hospital was not as gloomy as it was before.

Before Balto could see, he caught Jenna scent. She was indeed in the hospital. Balto walked pass the door, which was left half open, he walked into the hospital and headed to the last bed on the right, where Rosy was sitting on with Jenna by her side.

"Hi, my four-legged hero, how are you doing?" said Rosy, giving Balto a warm hug. Balto responded happily by rubbing his head against her face, which made her giggle.

"You are here to see Jenna, aren't you?" asked Rosy, still laughing. Balto turned his head around and noticed that Jenna had been looking at him with a smile on her face, but for some reason she kept her silence when Rosy was welcoming him.

"Hi, Jenna." Balto said. And for the next few seconds they just looked at each other, looking into each other's eyes. And finally, Jenna broke the silence by saying "Balto, would you like to walk around the town with me?" She blushed a bit after finishing her sentence.

Startled by Jenna's request, Balto wasn't sure what to said, his mind filled with one thought, is this true, did she just asked me out? Finally, he got a word out of his mouth "Sure." He looked back at Rosy to gain permission, but Rosy already guessed what he and Jenna were up to, she waved her little hands and said "Wanting to be off with Jenna, oh you little charmer? Well, go on! Have your fun!"

"Come on Balto." Said Jenna with the most attractive smile ever, and they walked out of the hospital together. Balto was a bit of nervous walking on the road, he used to travel around the town via small alleys and sometimes even rooftop, so that he can avoid the dogs and humans, which are all pending danger to him at that time. But now those moves are no longer needed, he was all welcome to walk on the street, but all those years of hiding and escaping made him very sensitive to his surroundings, and open places held the greatest possibility of being tease, chase, or attack.

For the first few minutes they just walk together, looking around and enjoying each other's company, until Balto realized that Jenna wasn't just walking around, but heading towards some destination. "Where are we going?" He finally asked.

"We're going to the boiler room." Replied Jenna "Now you are welcome in Nome, but you still need more friends. The boiler room is the best place to start with, since almost every dog here goes there daily."

Once again, Balto felt nervous. He was just accepted by the town not more than a day and now he was acting like anyone in the town already. Wouldn't it be a little bit rash? Thought Balto. He sounded his opinion to Jenna.

Jenna gave him a smile warm enough to put out all his uneasiness, and said "Why would it? You're always a part of Nome, and it's always your right to join us in our lives, although some never wanted to admit it before, but now they do. So why wait?"

Despite Jenna's reassurances, which proved to be very convincing, Balto can't help but felt his muscle tensed, ready to make for the run in case if any dogs still cannot accept him as who he really is. Back in the days when Balto was just a stray hybrid, he might get himself killed if he walks into the boiler room, it had been one of the places that Balto had learnt to avoid going in no matter the circumference since he was a pup. However if he ever needed to catch up the news he is interested with he would sit on a ventilation window nine feet above the floor, where he could listen silently to the discussions below and get whatever he needs to know.

As the boiler room came into their sight, Balto's uneasiness grew. He was about to walk into a place where he had long marked highly dangerous, However, he knew that Jenna would not bring him here if she had no guarantee that it would go just right. Balto took a deep breath, and went into the boiler room after Jenna.

The dogs inside fell silence when they saw who is entering. Balto did a quick scan on the faces looking at him and, luckily, found none of the previous despise. Nikki, Kaltag and Star were there, telling the story about their latest journey to their audience, who were a few other dogs in the town, Balto didn't even know the name of some of them; he never had the chance before. Sylvie was there, of course, being the gossip of the town she won't miss such a great story, it would buy her lots of attention.

"Ah, Balto you're here, Welcome!" Kaltag greeted him warmly, which surprised Balto a little. As Jenna and Balto took their seat at one side of the crowd, Kaltag continued "You're here in the right time. We were telling the part when you fell of that cliff, but we do not know exactly what happened at the bottom, so it's best for you to tell this part."

Balto hesitated, he wasn't sure how to put that part with the white wolf into their minds, but the fuzzy feeling of being finally accepted made him wanting to share as much as he can. And so he laid out the full story, and he made an extra effort in explaining how the white wolf appeared out of nowhere, and how real it is that it can't be an illusion. He also tells the how he embraced his wolf side, and what it means to him and finally the part of how he led the team home with the enchanted sense of wolf.

"A wolf that appears out of nowhere?" asked Nikki after Balto finished the tale, he seems frightened. "How is this possible? I mean, if all wolves can do this, they will be the most horrible, most fearsome and most- "Demons!" Star cut Kaltag's exclamations off, and received a hit on the head.

"I don't know what it might be, but certainly wolves can't just appear in front of us. I'm still working on an explanation." Said Balto. In truth, he didn't have any idea what explanation he can think of, it just happened in the time when he don't have the mood to think. Meanwhile, Jenna has another question in her mind "Where's Steele?"

"That murderer?" Kaltag snapped "He isn't here since last night, and he's not in Nome, either. Most of us don't care about that at all, but some did go out to find him. There, that's one of them." He pointed his nose towards a dark brown and grey husky, whose name was, as Balto remembered, Leo.

"I went out this morning with two of my friends; we searched everywhere for Steele, just to make sure he's not going to cause any more trouble, but with no success. We, however, able to find his scent at the back of this room, leading all the way into the nearby woods, that's where we stopped searching." Reported Leo.

"Yeah, Looks like our snappy friend decided to live a life as treacherous as he is, eh? I'll bet he won't survive more than three days." Said a brown and cream colored husky, Rex. He was the lead dog of the second fastest dog sled team in Nome. He was still furious at Steele for snapping at one of his dog during the last race, which led to them loosing the race.

"It's not really like what you think, Rex. If he's half as wise as he seems, he would come back and beg forgiveness. Or if he can't put down his cursed pride, and he's lucky enough, he might be found out by some musher out there, any musher would recognize the golden collar around his neck." Balto pointed out.

"Maybe," said Rex slowly, "but whatever will happen, I just hope he never come back. Let's get the topic off this gloomy subject."