Furthermore to the west, on the coast of the Norton Sound inlet, there was a human town, or at least, one of human towns. Being directly placed on the sea and being surrounded by the hostile terrain of taigas, tundras and mountains, it was quite odd that a such town would found itself on this location. Yet there it was and its name was - Nome.

Nome wasn't an old town, with the tables surrounding its boundaries that had written on them: "Established 1901.". The year was 1918, precisely to say, late 1918. The fall was looming at the town, but the snow was already in here. For some this would have been a nightmare to survive, only that it wasn't.

This town had once it's glory once it was established. It was the most populated town of Alaska for a short period of time, even ahead of the towns like Anchorage or Juneau! The discovery of gold had attracted many non-native Americans to move just where Nome was and establish it. This was a dream come true for the gold washers seeking fame and fortune.

Yet the good things have to come to its end and once the gold rush had passed, the once most populous city of Nome had vaned and many had left Nome, seeking the fortune in other places of Alaska or north in general. By 1918, the population was still decreasing, but the downfall was slowing with each year passing, thus giving this small town a chance to remain lively.

It was a lively November day for the residents of Nome, be it Americans, Europeans or even Natives. For some this was just an another day in their everyday routines, whether with the duties that could have been done anywhere else in this world or just in there. It wasn't a lot that they could do, but it made them somewhat happy and gave them a reason why to stay at the north up here.

A man, a middle-aged rugged musher, judging by the musher hat on his head, was seen heading towards the General Store, the main source of groceries for the residents of Nome. With the bell ringing on the entrance, the long black-haired, black bearded musher had entered the store, gaining the attention of the store manager.

"Hello, Mr. Gundarsson!" The store manager courteously greeted the musher entering his store, Gundarsson being his last name. He had placed his hat down to show the respect to the store manager, who had asked him: "How is the business going? Has there been mail lately?"

"You won't believe me how much!" Gundarsson spoke in a thick Scandinavian accent, thus confirming the answer the store manager was looking for. While he was cleaning the shelves under his cash register, Gundarsson let him know: "I've never seen a heavier bag of mail in my life. I'm telling you, something must have happened great recently!"

The store manager lifted his head up with the smile on his face just so he could tell him: "I suggest you to take the look at the new weekly edition of newspapers then!" He offered him the newspapers entitled: "Nome Tri-Weekly Nugget" and once the main headline revealed itself, the smile underneath Gundarsson's facial hair stretched.

"THE GREAT WAR IN EUROPE FINALLY COMES TO THE END!" The headline was saying, indicating that the war in Europe, commonly known as World War One, was no more. It was over, the guns that were once blazing were silenced, many men lost their lives in this conflict just because of their leaders' ambitions… many innocent lives…

"Well, this does make me feel relieved. My country was not involved in the war, but I was fearing that would be the case. Britain was putting a pressure on my homeland if they kept trading with Germans." Gundarsson explained, putting the newspapers on the counter and offered the cash to him as he was going to buy these anyhow.

"If anything, we may be relieved at once. Though I do believe that our soldiers will be pretty shaken by the war and the atrocities." The store manager said this, wondering how would be the lives of the ones who had headed to war and how long it was going to take them to forget all the heinous things they had witnessed. "Switching topics, is there anything else I may offer from my store?"

"Not really, I was just here to get the newspapers. I do have a small issue with my sled team. Well… one of my sled dogs will have puppies and I need to find the replacement as soon as possible!" Gundarsson folded the newspapers and placed them in the pocket of his brown coat, while the store manager had this to think about.

"Mr. Gundarsson, I may not be an expert in this, but I've heard that the local musher, Mr. Kaasen, I think…? I heard that he's got some young dogs who might serve as a replacement for your dog." The store manager explained to him, wondering if that was going to help him up and the look on the Scandinavian's face was saying it all.

"You're right, I should consult with him about this. Thanks a lot!" Gundarsson considered this to be worthy idea and the manager happily nodded on his response, thus leading Gundarsson to leave the store and as he was heading to Kaasen's place, he was heard calling: "Marion! Clark! Come on, we might have a lead in here!"

But the ones he'd called to come with him were not his children. They were not even humans to begin with, but they were dogs. Not just any dogs, two Siberian huskies. Clark was a male gray Siberian husky with ocean blue eyes, wearing a black sled collar around his neck. Marion was a tan, brown-eyed, female Siberian husky with a black sled collar around her neck too, being slightly shorter than Clark.

Marion was walking a bit slower and more careful than Clark was and while Gundarsson was not paying much attention to it, Clark was. He was not concerned by that because he knew what was happening to her. He looked behind him and just let her know: "Marion, relax! It isn't a big deal! You're going to be a mother in a month and don't let that back you down."

"I know, Clark." Marion sighed. She wanted to be a mother clearly, but the idea that they'd not find a replacement for her in time was making her feel embarrassed, thinking this'd cause the downfall of her owner's reputation. Moreover, while passing through the streets of Nome, which at these times weren't full of people, she didn't want to cause any strain to herself as she looked at her belly, being quite furless at this point.

"If there's anything, Marion, I am eager to meet our puppies. Who knows, maybe they'll be our Christmas miracle?" He said this with a smug look on his face and that expression was giving her a reason to giggle and feel relieved for now: "Oh, stop it, Clark! We will have to see about that, but yeah… I'd be also fond of if we were to have our puppies born by Christmas!"

It all depended on the will of Mother Nature to these two huskies, yet they had to listen to their owner, when Gundarsson was heard calling for them in his Scandinavian accent: "Come on, you two! I think we may be able to solve our problem!" They both gazed at their rugged and tall owner and recalled how they came to meet them and each other.

Mr. Gundarsson was a man in his middle ages, coming from Northern Europe, considerably leaving an impression on him that living in cold places was his everyday routine. Just a decade and half ago, he'd come all the way from his homeland to northern America, Alaska especially, because he was fond of one thing: Washing the gold from water.

Gundarsson was one of many fortunate gold washers to be at that time around Nome, affording enough fortune to settle himself in this hostile place. Along with the fortune and gold, he also had found his spouse, whom he married no longer after coming to Nome. It all looked like this entire gold washing would never end.

But all the good things do come to the end and so after 1900s were over, gold was scarce to be found and washed, which had led to many gold washers to leave for other places around. Gundarsson was already settled down here for good and with him having a wife in here, he had decided to search for other occupation until a new chance was to come.

No longer after he'd become a father, Gundarsson had taken an interest for the sled dogs service in this town. Becoming a musher, he'd gone on the places around the town and outside Nome to find the healthy and fresh sled dogs for his future team he was going to train. Among them were Clark and Marion, both from separate town and separate families.

From the early days, Marion and Clark became good friends to one another. Their puppy days were filled with joy and playtime, but as the time had progressed, it was evident that their playtime was meant to be a training, since both of them were healthy and capable puppies. Indeed, these two had given their best and hardest in training sessions.

There was no wonder that Marion and Clark had been quite strong that it'd eventually lead to them both having the places in the lead harnesses of their team. There were half a dozen of them in a sled team and each of them had their own backstory and personalities, but that was none of the concern here.

Marion and Clark had grown a mutual trust to each other and both of them could expect that there was no one who'd dare to take them in their relationship. It was likely that the other dogs didn't seem to find Marion to be attractive to them and the fact that Clark was not interesting to other females. All in all, a match made for one another.

For years these two had proven themselves to be a formidable team. The veteran teams were quite amazed by the outstanding performance of the two dogs hailing for two separate towns in Alaska, which was irrelevant for other dogs. No longer it had been that it was a time for them both to settle things down with one another.

"Clark, it is a beautiful night out there." Marion said this, while she and Clark had ventured not far from the town to sit on the beach and observe the full moon shining on the south and have it shimmer on the vast sea in front of them. With the sand and new layer of fresh snow underneath their paws and the waves slowly approaching them, Clark sighed blissfully.

"We deserved to have our night together after a while, Marion." Clark looked at his friend in her brown eyes, showing the romance sparkling between them. She gazed back in his blue eyes, at which she'd see the reflection of the bright moon and leaned on his chest to nuzzle him. Then she joked: "Clark… why you weren't named Champ instead? This is like our third year in a row that we'd won the season! Or for this occasion, Charm. You know, third's a charm?"

"Heh, I like "Clark" anytime." Clark joked on this topic, knowing that there were some things in life they could wish for only. Yet, he had something to add: "But you know how our name together should be? Champion! Some of my name and some of yours and the two of us make a Champion team." He looked like he was going to burst in laughter from his joke on their date. As cheesy as his pun was, Marion actually liked it.

"Champion, you say? Well, we are the champions! Though, I don't want to brag about it." Marion giggled and blushed when she said this, knowing that bragging was not her thing. The gentle breeze from the west stirred their furs, making one another feeling cold and so Marion tucked herself closer to Clark, just realizing what she was doing.

"Sorry!" Marion apologized, even though there was no point of that. These two had been in a relationship for a long while. Clark whispered to her: "No, no, that's fine. The way you just pressed yourself against me… I just thought of something…" She looked curiously in his eyes, wondering what he had in mind. It felt like it was something great, she knew that.

"Marion… we've been a couple for almost a year at this point. We've known one another when we were little and we've been training alongside each other while we were growing up… do you ask yourself now what I'm trying to say?" He wanted to give her some kind of prelude to what he had been thinking right now.

Connecting the dots with the events these two had been through together, it wasn't taking her too long to sum two with two and finally ask: "You mean… you and I… should finally settle down our relationship?" The smile on Clark's face was the answer, knowing that the words were pointless in this situation.

She pressed her head against his chest, where she could feel his heart beating and the warm smile stretched on her face, saying: "With someone like you… I'd be happy to be your mate, Clark!" The joy was rapidly growing in her heart and so did in Clark's eyes, but he decided to keep that for himself. For a moment the moonlight shone brighter…

"Here, you two! We've made it!" Gundarsson's voice broke their romantic silence as the image of their date from weeks ago faded away and was replaced with the sight of spruce doors on the porch in front of them. They were still remembering their romantic date as if it were yesterday and today was going to be something brand new, starting with Gundarsson knocking on the spruce doors.

"In a minute!" The voice, belonging to a man, who also sounded like a Scandinavian, was heard from the interior of the house. Gundarsson and his dogs were patiently waiting for the host to open the door and it took like less than a minute to be opened and there man, short haired, clean shaved, wearing a think coat, noticed his guest, or guests.

"Hei, Jakob!" The host greeted Gundarsson, thus revealing his first name. Gundarsson lowered his hat out of courtesy when he talked: "Hei, Gunnar. Do you have a minute? I need to talk something about sled dogs." Kaasen nodded with his head to tell his guest: "Do come in, and your two dogs with you too."

Gundarsson, Clark and Marion entered Kaasen's house, without Gundarsson taking off his coat, as if he was going to leave shortly after. After being offered to sit in the living room, Gundarsson did so while Kaasen took the seat in the sofa opposite him and there he asked him: "So, what can I offer to you? Something about sled service?"

Gundarsson looked at his dogs on his right and back at Kaasen to tell him: "Gunnar, I may be in a turmoil regarding my sled team. Do you see Marion, the tan dog here? I will have to put her on a few months long break because I've discovered recently that she's having puppies. I was told that you have some dogs under your ownership, is that right?"

Kaasen glanced at the room on his right and was honest: "In fact, I do own some of them. I am the musher like you, but to be honest, since you've been in charge for mail delivery lately and no one has been asking me to do the same thing, I'd not mind if I have to lend one of my dogs to replace your Mary… Mari... what was her name?"

"Marion." Gundarsson corrected him, being curious how he wasn't able to memorize Marion's name. Still, that was not a big deal when Kaasen raised from his sofa and led Gundarsson to the room: "There I keep my dogs. I will describe you each one of them and let you choose one, depending which one of them you find fitting."

"Deal." Gundarsson accepted the offer and followed the host to the room of dogs. All while Marion and Clark were watching them leave. If they were to have a deal struck today, this would have been a relief for Marion, who joked in this situation: "Well, let's hope that whoever replaces me, won't steal my place in the team!"

Clark found that quite amusing coming from her so he simply told her: "Nonsense! Even if that someone is as good as you, know that our master will have to bring you back when you're capable for mail delivery again!" It was a relief that Marion was not taking this situation too seriously. No one would ever take her place permanently until she was old enough to retire.

"But I wonder who will be your replacement?" Clark raised his eyebrow as the minutes were passing and nothing came from the dog room. Then, the door knob was seen turning and opening and both men returned to the room, with Kaasen telling his guess: "I'm sure that Fritz will be the one you were looking for! He's the youngest one in here I have!"

Behind the door Kaasen and Gundarsson had returned with a dog who was looking like a replacement for Marion. It was black, golden eyed, Alaskan Malamute. Judging by his physical appearance, he still wasn't one year old, most likely he looked like as if he were nine or ten months old, but his looks were deeming like as if he were tall for a regular husky!

"Alright, Fritz, my boy, this man will be your musher for the next few months and see two of the dogs over there? You will be replacing one of them during that time!" Kaasen told his malamute while patting him by his head and scratching him behind his ear. Fritz gazed at the dogs that were sitting over there. His anxious gaze turned into excited one, which both Marion and Clark saw coming.

"I had no clue that we have a fan, Clark!" Marion amusingly whispered to her mate as the young malamute approached them carefully and being two meters away from them, he asked: "Are… are you Marion and Clark… the aces of sled service in this part of Alaska…?!" Technically saying, Marion was not wrong about the young one.

"We are, kiddo!" Clark laughed in an amusement when he was being asked this. Fritz, in his teenage voice, happily gazed at the gray male husky and tan female husky, to tell them: "I never thought that I'd ever meet you two! I've been amazed by how you two are just good as sled dogs! I could only dream about this meeting!"

The excitement in young malamute's voice remained strong and it just grew stronger when Marion revealed to him: "Well, say no more, Fritz. I'll be absent from mail delivery for couple of months and you will have the honor for the next few months to be in Clark's team!" At first, Fritz had howled in excitement, much to the amusement of both owners, then he had fully interpreted the first words.

"Absent, but why?" Fritz, while being happy that he was with the sled dogs he admired, was puzzled, only for Marion to answer: "I am going to be a mother and I cannot deliver mail with the puppies in my belly. I need to take the rest during that time." Whether Fritz dreamed to race in the same team with both of them or not, he decided not to tone down his enthusiasm.

"I see… but I hope everything will be fine with you during that time." Fritz wished the best for his puppytime heroine in mail delivery. All in all, it seemed like that both Marion and Clark had appreciated the young malamute. It wasn't their fault that they weren't able to notice him in between the other young dogs who'd been fond of them as well.

"Alright, let's get this over with. Come on, Fritz!" Gundarsson beckoned to his temporarly new dog to follow him, along with Marion and Clark following their master. Kaasen followed them outside because for this training there was one man to measure the distance for the training course and one to measure the time.

"It looks like the Main Street is not that busy today." Gundarsson noticed how sparse the people were placed around on the left and the right side of the street. Kaasen noticed the same thing and there he let him know: "I'll be in charge for measuring the time. Jakob, you make the trail for Fritz."

He did that as he moved to one end of the Main Street, where he led the dogs to stand behind the improvised start line while he headed to the other end to draw the improvised finish line, all while Kaasen stood by the start line. Since Marion and Clark required no training here, they stood by the side.

"Fritz, remember." Clark started giving him some tips, as the young one was anxiously walking around the start line. "This is just a training. Our master has chosen you to be Marion's replacement and if you don't do your best today, you can try again later, tomorrow or who knows how long it takes… just believe in yourself and that way you'll likely score your place in the team!"

Fritz gazed at the older husky and thinking on the best he could give right now, he inhaled and exhaled, preparing for the best, or worst, for the first run. Gundarsson, who'd made the line on the other end, yelled from the other side: "Gunnar! The line has been made! Make sure that Fritz is behind the start line!"

"GOT IT!" Kaasen yelled to the other end as he got his message. He looked at his dog, who was a bit in front of the line and so he moved closer to him and beckoned his dog to stand back for a meter. He told him: "Fritz, on my mark, when I press my stopwatch and fire my gun, you need to run as fast as possible to the other end of the street!"

Whether he knew if he was aware of what he was saying or not, Kaasen moved back to the wooden sidewalk, grabbed the stopwatch from his pocket in one hand and his gun from his other pocket in an another hand and he was heard: "Ready?! One… Two… Three…!" BANG! The shot was heard, simultaneously when the time was being measured.

If Fritz was startled by the shot from a such device or not, he had that strong feel flowing in his veins that as soon as he heard the loud noise, he started running as fast as he could, barking and panting while he was speeding impressively towards the other musher. Marion and Clark watched the young one run.

"Remember when we were in training sessions, Marion? I'll never forget the first time our master fired that gun!" Clark asked his mate as they were watching the young malamute running. Marion laughed when he just mentioned that, telling him: "Oh, I remember how you hid in the alley because you got scared from that noise! It's still fresh in my head!"

It was amusing to Marion, but Clark rolled with his eyes, obviously not sharing that kind of amusement with her. Just then, Gundarsson raised his hands as if he were indicating that Fritz had passed the line so Kaasen stopped the time, watching the time being spent on how fast could the black dog run. He seemed impressed by the time.

"FOURTY TWO! I REPEAT, FOURTY TWO SECONDS!" Kaasen yelled to the other side of the street when they had heard from Fritz's owner how fast he was. Now it was Clark's turn to crack the joke by telling him: "Huh, it looks like that he could beat your record of forty four seconds, but not mine of thirty nine!" Now it was Marion who did not share that amusement with him.

"We'll see about that!" Marion replied to him, hoping she'd steal her amusement back. This would be the case as Kaasen whistled to his pet, giving him a sign to get back to the start line and thus, there was going to be a chance they'd repeat this run few more times until they were satisfied.

"Good job, Fritz! I think our master made a right choice by having you being my substitute!" Marion told him when he was close enough and before he made it back to the start line, he smiled widely to say: "R… really?! That's great! Now I can't wait to be in the team…!" Both middle aged dogs nodded supportingly to him as he was being ordered to stand behind the line.

"It won't be the same without you, but he's going to do good when you're on a break, Marion." Clark whispered to her ear as they were looking how Kaasen was ready to fire another shot from his gun, start measure the time again and thus, give Fritz an another run in today's training session...