Prologue

Alaska, or as they call it, The Last Frontier, is indeed an unique and incredible land at the far northwest of our planet. Some may say that it is at the end of the world!

From the coldest winters to lightly warm summers, with the summers being the only parts of year when there's no more snow. The winter extends to the middle of spring, even to the May and it may already start falling by the start of October, or maybe middle of September!

From its' landscapes, to the tallest mountains into the deepest seas, from the remote towns and islands, to the impressive cities. Into the snowy taigas and tundras, Alaska has a lot to offer.

From times to times, Alaska was always a place of native Americans, Inuits they are called, up until Americans and other people had settled their sovereignity on Alaska, claiming to be the lords of Alaska.

Alaska was always a place of many resources, gold being the best examples. Also, flora and fauna had grown impressive for the stunning nature and treacherous winters through its times.

Many nature phenomens had been sighted on this mysterious and impressive land and many more things happened in it. But this is not the story of Alaska.

This is not the history of Alaska, nor its' geography, nature, people, resources, flora, fauna and natural phenomens. This is the story of a canine family… or maybe a canine dynasty?

This is the story of the canine dynasty that would concern the dogs and wolves in it, sharing their bonds and blood relations within several generations, one of them being the Hero of Alaska.

Our story begins in the mid-to-ending of 1910s…

In the heart of Alaska, under the snowy mountains and above the thick layers of snowy taiga, there was this small wolf pack, consisted of barely more than a half dozen of wolves.

At least three of these wolves were in their cave. One of them was the young female arctic wolf pup. Judging by her looks and height, she could not have been more than four months old. She was sleeping soundly at the entrance of the cave.

Her fur was smooth as silk and white as snow, being neatly groomed and all in order, as if the young female was fond of being clean. Her dream came to the end as the male wolf, who was few years old, paced up to her.

Lowering his muzzle to the young pup, he nudged the female and whispered: "Tala! Tala! Wake up! Your mother and I have a surprise for you!" The young female wolf Tala was awaken by her father's nudging, opening her emerald green eyes sleepily.

"Uhhhhhhhhhhh, what is it, papa?" Tala yawned and stretched her legs as she seemed like she wasn't sleeping enough last night. Her father carried on: "Come on, Tala! There's something… or someone, you should see!"

"Huh, what?" Tala asked as soon as she heard her father saying "someone". Her father beckoned her: "Let's go, Tala! You'll be excited to see!" Tala followed him as he led her to her mother, who was laying down by the wall of the cave.

Her father few meters away from her mother and whispered to his daughter: "Now, go there and say hello to Hunter!" Tala was intrigued by what he said so she nodded and headed to her mother.

Tala's mother smiled as soon as she saw her only daughter coming to her that she let her know: "Tala, sweetheart. Come and say "hello" to your baby brother Hunter!" Did she hear that right… she had a baby brother?!

"Hunter?" Tala was surprised and as soon as her mother moved her tail aside, there she had revealed a male, black newborn wolf puppy sleeping by her belly. Tala's eyes widened in surprise and then in delight when she saw who Hunter was.

"Awwwww, look at you, Hunter! You're one adorable looking wolf puppy!" Tala whispered as she didn't want to wake her baby brother up. Tala's father came closer to her as he observed his newborn son, being proud.

"Tala, now you're going to be Hunter's role model! I hope he will learn from the best like you." Tala was flattered by her father's words, knowing that her parents would help little Hunter up.

Then the little puppy whimpered and stirred, rolling on his stomach. Tala was a bit startled by that, but her mother assured her: "Don't worry, Tala. He's just hungry! You'll get to see more of him here and there, alright?"

"Alright, mama." Tala nodded as she watched her baby brother Hunter being fed by his mother's milk. Even if it was an adorable scenery to look at, there was some work to do. That work was nothing more than hunting.

"Tala, come on, we're going hunting. Alpha is going to come for us." Tala's father whispered as he wanted to leave his mate alone with their newborn son. Tala nodded and followed her father outside, with the other wolves of the pack.

"Papa, when am I going to start to hunt all by myself?" Tala asked her father, to which he answered to her: "Soon that time will come, Tala. You still have a lot to learn. Once you feel like you're ready, then you'll start all by yourself! Who knows, you may be able to teach Hunter by yourself, when he's old enough."

Tala agreed with her father as the two of them met up with the other wolves of the pack and as they stood in front of the forest, it was going to be an another day for hunting small mammals such as wolverines, squirrels and rabbits for this small wolf pack, with the additional member.

The fall came and went by, with the winter tightening its' cold grip on Alaskan wildness…

The white rabbit was sniffing in the snow, hoping there'd be some kind of food underneath the thick layer of snow. With the rabbit's muzzle twitching while catching the scent, the rabbit didn't notice at first someone was following, or rather stalking from behind…

It wasn't that until the rabbit's habit caused him to turn its' head and look behind. The stalker was none other else than the excited male black wolf puppy - Hunter. Hunter looked at the white rabbit with the pure excitement in his eyes - could this be his very first hunt?

But because he was still a puppy, he still had no experience in sneaking and stalking the prey so the rabbit made a run for it and when Hunter saw how fast the rabbit was, Hunter made a run for it, hoping he'd catch up. Only that he didn't - the rabbit was too fast and it fled deep in the forest.

"Aw come on, that's not fair!" The wolf puppy growled in an annoyance upon seeing how his prey had fled away. From his behind, Tala, now being six months old, walked cheerfully to Hunter and asked him amusingly: "Have you tried to hunt by yourself, Hunter?"

Hunter looked up to his big sister and told her: "Tala, I was so close to catch the rabbit! But somehow he's seen me and ran!" It was clear that he wanted to catch it, but he lacked the hunting experience, ironic for his name. Tala lowered his muzzle to lick him by his head to comfort the little one.

"Now, now. You're still very young! One day you'll learn to hunt like me!" She encouraged him not to give up on his dreams. Hunter, while sitting in the snow, asked her: "Are you… going to teach me how to hunt, Tala?" Before he could get his answer, he noticed his parents coming to them, obviously catching up to their pups.

"Tala will be your mentor how to hunt one day, my son. But even she is still learning how to hunt!" Hunter's father spoke authoritatively, but warmly, to his son as he could notice the ambition in his son's eyes. Tala told her father, full of hope: "Papa, I hope that I'm pretty close to start hunting independently!"

Her father looked her in the eyes and nodded, letting her know: "You're, but there's still only a small bit to learn before you go hunting on your own. When your mother and I see it ourselves, we'll leave you on teaching your little brother." The smile on Tala's face showed how eager she was for those times to come.

Tala and Hunter's mother walked up to her pups and let them know: "Come and stay with me, your father will find us the prey and we'll have a proper family dinner! How's that for today?" The pups looked at each other and of course, they simultaneously spoke: "That sounds good!"

But before their father ventured into the forest, Hunter asked: "Dad… there was a rabbit I tried to get, but it ran away. Do you think you can find that rabbit?" His father stroked him with his paw on his head and spoke with the determination in his voice: "I'll give my best, son."

The adult wolf then hopped in front and marched into the thick forest, leaving his mate and pups behind in order to find them a meal for today. While it was uncertain what he was going to catch, Hunter wagged with his tail, hoping it was going to be that rabbit!

Eventually, as the time went on, their father had returned, but much to Hunter's misfortune, it wasn't the rabbit, but rather a wolverine in his father's jaws. With the muffled tone he spoke to his family: "That was one very fast rabbit, even for me! But this wolverine is going to be plenty for us all!"

While it was a relief that they were going to have a meal, Tala noticed how her little brother had hoped for the rabbit meal. She patted him and said: "Don't be sad, little brother! One day, when you learn how to hunt by yourself, you'll be faster than rabbits, agile like squirrels and tough like wolverines!"

He did see the wisdom and comfort in these words his sister said so he rubbed himself against his sisters' legs before their mother spoke: "Come now, you two. We might be able to return to our den before the sunset!" Indeed, the sky was starting to become gradually darker as the sun on the west was starting to sink under the horizon.

The brother and sister looked at each other and nodded, leading Hunter to hop on Tala's head while she carried him to the den, following their parents and being happy that they were not going to starve tonight and hopefully not any other day or night in the future, be it near or distant.