In spite of his mother's advice, Toby felt compelled to go and settle his earlier dispute with Luna before it had time to fester. He found her inside the Calvins' home, lying in her basket next to the fire despite the warm sun outdoors. "Luna?" She lifted her head and looked at him, but said nothing. Toby inwardly frowned. Luna's attitude was that of someone who felt that life was no longer worth living. He hoped that wasn't the case. "I wanted to apologize about this morning," he began. "I should have been more understanding."

She smiled weakly. "It's all right," she told him. "It wasn't your fault."

Toby breathed a sigh of relief. So far so good, he thought. But a tiny voice inside told him not to belabor the moment, so he decided to quit while he was ahead. "Well, you probably want some space right now, so I guess I'll be going."

He turned to leave, but Luna's voice stopped him. "Wait," she called. He turned and watched as she lifted herself to her feet. "You still want to go to the ice cave?" she asked.

Toby thought carefully about this. His mother's voice echoed in his mind. Still, Luna had brought it up. "Only if you want to," he answered. "But I'll understand if you want some time alone."

Inside, Luna wasn't sure if she wanted to. She was worried about running into another family, afraid that she might not be able to take it a second time. But isn't that what matehood is about? she asked herself. Depending on each other when we can't get by on our own? "I want to," she insisted.

Toby stopped as they passed by the hospital. "You know," he commented thoughtfully, "I bet it would look really nice if we went there at night with a lantern and the―" He stopped, and both of them turned their heads. "What's that sound?" he asked.

Luna tilted her head. "A dogfight?" she asked out loud. They followed the sound to an alley and a scene of utter madness. Street dogs were locked in deadly combat, biting and tearing at each other. Neither of them had seen anything like it since the revolt of Nick Carson=s dogs almost three years ago.

"What's going on here?" asked Toby.

"I don't know," answered Luna. "I've never seen the street dogs fighting before. Aunt Chase always keeps them in line."

Toby stared at the melee. "Well, it's either one heck of a drill―" Both of them winced as one dog grabbed another by the neck and heaved him against the wall.

"That's no drill," Luna concluded.

"And we don't know which side to fight for."

One of the dogs took a blow and fell back, standing beside a female. As he did so, he bumped some old, nail-loaded boards that were leaning unsteadily against the wall. The boards swayed, and started to come down.

"Look out!" Toby shouted, but it was too late. With a crashing sound like a rhino charging through a tool shed, the boards fell on the two dogs. They had enough time to let out a frightened yell before the boards and their rusty nails silenced them forever.

The dogs stopped at the crash, and only then did one group realize that there were more dogs than before. "They're bringing in reinforcements!" one of them shouted, mistaking Toby and Luna for backup on the other side. "Let's get outta here!"

The lesser group beat a hasty retreat, followed closely by Chase's troops.

"Think we should go after them?" asked Toby.

Luna shook her head. "I think Aunt Chase's troops have it under…" She stopped as her ears detected a faint whine. "What's that sound?" she asked.

Toby's ears perked up and swiveled for a moment, then he sniffed. Following his nose to an overturned wastebin, he inserted his head. "I think there's some kind of animal in―OW!" He quickly backed out, a few drops of blood adorning his snout. "I don't know what it is," he grumbled as he rubbed his muzzle with a paw, "but it's got a great set of teeth. The thing bit me!"

Luna came alongside him and peered in from a distance. Two small eyes stared back at her from a thin face, attached in turn to a hunched-up brown body. The animal ended in a tail with brown and black stripes. Its scent was so clouded with garbage that it took Luna a moment to realize… "It's a puppy!" she exclaimed.

Toby stared at it. "Either that or a baby raccoon," he noted.

Trying to ignore the stab of pain that she felt whenever she saw a pup, Luna tried to coax it out. "We won't hurt you," she promised.

"Go away!" yipped a small, high-pitched voice. "If you touch me, my parents will kill you!"

Toby and Luna exchanged a worried look, then glanced at the dead dogs in the alley. "Is your mom brown and your dad black with some patches?" asked Toby.

There was a brief silence from inside the can. "Yeah, that's them."

Luna sighed sadly. "I don't know how to tell you this, but they won't be doing any killing."

"What are you talking about?" demanded the pup. Curiosity overriding discretion, she came out of her little bunker. As soon as she spotted the bodies of the two dogs, her eyes bulged. "Mom! Dad!" She ran over and began to nudge them as tears leaked out of her eyes like a faucet just barely turned on.

"It's no use," Toby told her. "They're dead."

"Toby!" snapped Luna, giving him a reproachful look. She turned and walked towards the weeping puppy.

"What did I do?" wondered Toby aloud.

Luna sat next to the pup. "I'm…I'm sorry," she said quietly.

The puppy lay down. "It's my fault," she cried. "I'm the reason it happened!"

"What?" Toby gasped. "What makes you say that?"

"I'm the one who caused this," the pup sobbed. "I'm the one responsible."

"Now hold on," Luna gently rebuked. "This isn't your fault. It was an accident; I saw the whole thing."

"They were fighting," sobbed the pup. "They said they wanted me to grow up to be free instead of having to be part of some army."

Luna raised an eyebrow. So her parents were rebelling against Chase? she pondered. But this was no time to concern herself with politics. "Can you tell me your name?" she asked softly.

"Arrow," replied the pup.

"Where do you live?" asked Toby, feeling the need to take charge.

Arrow sniffled. "With the others," she replied. "In an alley a few blocks that way." She indicated the direction with her paw.

Toby nodded and looked at Luna. "I suppose we should take her back," he reasoned. "Maybe she has relatives who…" He stopped at the pleading look in Luna's eyes. It was an expression that spoke of a thousand kinds of longing and emptiness, all of which seemed to sum up in one plea. Oh no, he thought.

"They'll be back for me," Arrow whimpered.

Luna forced her face out of its desperate pleading look and turned her attention back to Arrow. "If we take you back, you'll only get caught up in the crossfire again."

Arrow stared back at her, her face a mix of pain and defiance. "Yeah, so?"

Luna clicked her tongue, hoping more than anything that she knew what she was doing. "I have an idea…" she said slowly. Then, unable to bear the tension, she asked in a rush, "How would you like to come and live with me?" she offered.

Arrow scowled. "Why would I want to do that?" she asked.

Toby's mind was racing. Could Luna really be serious about this? Her face told him yes, but taking in a puppy off the streets seemed a little extreme. And his own past experience with taking care of a pup had been, by and large, a nightmare for himself and a matter of great amusement for Luna as she had watched him try to cope with simulated parenthood. Who knew what kind of trouble this pup could get them into? "A safe warm place and three meals a day," he inserted.

Arrow rubbed a paw across her eyes and stared up at them. "So you want to adopt me?" she asked. "Well, think again. I'm not going to turn into some sissy housedog."

Despite the heartbreak brought by the words, Luna couldn't help but think, She sounds just like Toby did when we were pups. "It's not so bad," she persisted, trying not to beg. "Trust me, I've spent weeks out in the wild, and I'll take a warm house over that any day."

"Forget it!" snapped Arrow. "I'm going back to the rest of my gang!"

Luna stared after the pup as she walked away, her mouth hanging open as if to say something else. Toby trotted past her and slowed to a walk alongside of Arrow.

"I already said no," repeated Arrow without even looking up.

"I know," Toby replied. "But at least we can make sure you get back there safely."

Arrow gave him a skeptical look. "You're not gonna kidnap me or something, are you?" she asked.

He shook his head. "I wouldn't dream of it," he assured her. He turned to look back at Luna. "You coming?" he asked.

Luna shook her head and walked away in silence. Toby stood there, trying to decide whether to go after Luna or stick with Arrow. I'm sure she'd appreciate it, but try not to overdo it, he remembered his mother saying. "Okay, Mom," he muttered as he continued to walk the stray home. "I'll do it your way."

"What?" asked Arrow.

Toby snapped out of his reverie. "Huh?"

"You said something."

"Oh, it was nothing," he replied. "Just thinking out loud." Then thinking about his mother reminded him of something else. "You know," he commented, "my mom used to be a street dog."

Arrow looked up at him. "Really?" she asked.

He nodded, noting that her tears had stopped. Quick recovery, he noted. "Yeah, it happened when…" He stopped. He knew that 'stepfather' wasn't the word, so what was Pete's dad in relation to him? "When somebody close to her died," he finished. "She ran away from home and ended up on the street for a couple weeks."

"A couple weeks, huh?" Arrow snorted. "I bet she couldn't take it so she went back to the leash-life."

Toby's temper flared briefly at this insult to his mother before he remembered that Arrow probably hadn't been taught much about manners. "No," he replied. "My dad found her and talked her into going back home."

Arrow nodded. The conversation had begun to settle her down a bit, but a firecracker of suspicion suddenly went off in her head. "I'll bet he just did it so she'd go with him," she quipped.

Toby's eyes widened and he had to bite his tongue not to bark in indignation. "No," he answered after taking a moment to regain his composure. "He did it because he's a police dog, and it's his job to look after dogs like her."

Arrow rolled her eyes. "Right," she muttered. "He's probably some creepy house pet like you and that looney girl back there."

By this time, Arrow's insults were on Toby's last nerve and they were going about it with the delicate touch of a meat grinder. Toby had to take ten deep breaths before he felt calm enough to go on. If there were a school for low blows, she'd graduate in a week with top honors, he thought. She just insulted all three dogs closest to me in less than a minute! "You probably wouldn't say that if you knew what she's been through lately," he replied.

Arrow snorted. "I just lost my parents. Try to top that."

Toby was just about at the end of his rope, so he decided to tell the kid straight-out. "The vet told her she'll never get to be a parent."

Toby had hoped for at least some reaction to this, but Arrow barely even blinked as she remarked, "My mom would have loved to trade places with her."

This time there was nothing Toby could think of to say. What did Arrow mean? Had her parents not wanted her around? What kind of dog could bring a puppy into the world and not love her? Steele, he thought immediately. Finally, he sighed. "I'm sorry to hear that," he told her. As they passed by Luna's house, he commented, "If you happen to change your mind about us, Luna lives right here."

"Thanks. I'll be sure to forget that." And so saying, Arrow slipped under a building on the opposite side of the street and disappeared, ending the discussion point-blank.

Toby shook his head. She doesn't even talk like a kid, he thought. In a twisted kind of way, he was almost glad he and Luna hadn't been able to convince Arrow. Otherwise, they might have gotten stuck with more pup than they could handle.

Arrow crept under the house, out the far side and through five or six alleys before she reached the headquarters of the rebel gang. Her older brother Sammy was waiting for her. "We thought you wouldn't be back, kid," he remarked by way of greeting.

"Those mutts held me up," she replied sullenly. "Mom and Dad are dead." She started to slink to the crate she and her siblings had used for shelter, but he stopped her.

"Groven wants all latecomers to check in with him," he warned.

She snorted with disgust. "Isn't the whole point of this an escape from being bossed around?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Hey, you want to make him mad, it'll just be that much sooner that you're back with Mom and Dad," he pointed out.

Arrow frowned and skulked to the uppermost part of the rebel gang's 'headquarters,' where Groven sat on top of a box like some kind of statue on a pedestal. No one really knew Groven's history. He was a drifter who'd come into town some time ago and mostly kept to himself. Then one day he exploded at Chase, whom the street dogs of Nome regarded as somewhat of an army general. In that one outburst he had managed to acquire enough followers to start a rebel pack, which he ruled through shady dealings and iron-clawed discipline. He was the one thing Arrow openly feared, and he was the dog who now greeted her with an impatient glare. "What is it?" he asked in a voice like a millstone.

She gulped. "Arrow reporting, sir," she said, trying not to sound as petrified as she felt. She had seen what the boss did to other dogs who displeased him, and knew that there was no one who would help her if he decided to remove her from his misery.

"I assume this is important," he growled, "seeing as you're late."

Arrow tried and failed to keep her tail out from between her legs. "The raid went badly," she informed him. "We made no kills, but two of our own were killed. We were forced to retreat when two housedogs interfered."

He growled deep in his throat at this. "Housedogs?" he repeated. "The others made no mention of that. You are sure this is true?" Arrow nodded, and the black-and-white dog turned to one of the dogs at his side. "Question the leader again to see if this is true. If it is, deal with him."

The dog nodded. "How severely?" he asked with a sadistic glint in his eye.

The boss considered. "Leave him able to walk, but make sure he can't do so comfortably for a while." After a pause, he added, "And be creative in his daily discipline."

The lieutenant saluted and trotted off on his heinous assignment, and Arrow breathed a silent sigh of relief that she had not been assigned punishment as well for being late.

"Now," Groven added as if he had read her mind, "why did you come back late?"

Arrow tried not to shake. "I was delayed, sir. By the housedogs."

He snorted. "Then how did you get back at all?"

"They didn't want to hurt me, sir," she explained. "They just delayed me is all."

Groven snorted. "Typical housedog weakness," he muttered. He growled deep in his throat, seeming to consider whether or not to question her further. Apparently, he decided it wasn't worth his time, for he turned his head away and commanded, "That will be all for now. You are dismissed."

"Yes, sir." And Arrow wasted no time in removing herself from his presence.