The town of Nome, oh so distant town settled on the coast of Norton Sound in the land of Alaska, under the administration of the United States of America, in the last days of April 1922, had been having some recent events going on, but none of them sparked joy, only grief and sorrow. It even reached the distant larger towns of Juneau and Anchorage.

For some humans and dogs, they might have been over it by now, but a small group of dogs and humans could not. The recent and sudden death of Beringo, a gray siberian husky ace of Nome, sparkled a massive controversy. Him being discovered near the old boat outside the town of Nome led to two theories.

One that was somehow widely accepted was that Beringo was disoriented in the snowstorm and was severely wounded after tumbling down the cliff, damaging his vital organs. However, one equally powerful theory spoke all about how the old boat was the home of the wild beast, most likely a wolf, that attacked Beringo and ended his life.

The wolves weren't such an issue to the citizens of Nome due to them being surrounded by the wildlife miles and miles away. Still, the death of the town's beloved ace would mean there was the fire to ignite furiously with the fuel because of this discovery. By that, it simply meant the citizens of Nome were now going to be very likely hostile towards wolves, if they hadn't been already.

So, that morning, on the 30th of April, one of Nash's friends (Nash being Beringo's musher) was out on the streets, still feeling the melancholy for the passing of his friend's top ace. It was one of the days for him trying to return to normal after everything that happened very recently, but it was just the day that was going to further prolong his melancholy.

Him passing through the streets of Nome and hearing from various people saying: "Have you read today's edition of Nome Nugget? There's a column of Peter Nash and his sled team!" or something unpleasant like: "Was Nash really that neglectful? Why couldn't he look after his dogs more properly?! Beringo would have been alive by now!"

"What are they talking about?" Nash's friend couldn't figure out what they were saying so the best choice he had at the moment was to find out what the newspapers were saying about his musher friend. Making his way to the General Store, he wanted to see what those newspapers had written and he was really concerned about hearing "neglectful".

Paying the daily edition of "Nome Nugget" and coming out on the street, he unfolded it to reveal on the front page a picture of his friend, Peter Nash, with his entire sled team, Beringo being in the focus of this black and white photo. The words, written in bold above, were saying: "Peter E. Nash, a famous musher… or a negligent glory seeker? Pages 2-10."

"What the…?" The look on his friend's face was already saying it all, showing the disbelief and disgust about the last few words. Opening the next page of the newspapers, there stood another picture of Beringo, under which the text was saying: "Beringo, the town's most beloved ace, discovered dead in the outskirts of Nome. Cause of Nome's beloved dog's death still remains a mystery, but could it have been prevented?"

"We have been discussing with Peter (34) himself, being sure that he could have given us his thoughts, to which he let us know: "Beringo was one of my best dogs I've bred and risen for the sled service. The day he went missing I was making sure that the house was safe from the snowstorm, but I noticed too late he was not at home."

Surely enough, this sounds like a person who puts their own interests above the interests of their pets. He could have at least made sure to have them all at home then deal with the windows. At the time he was heard looking for him in the snowstorm, it was also likely presumed he had been likely drunk, screaming derangedly in the storm, claimed by one of the witnesses…"

Seeing how they had twisted the story in the newspapers to show Nash in a negative light was already making him crumple the paper underneath his fingers, but wondering what else could have they written, he carried on: "Beringo was buried that same morning, without letting anyone else know about the burial. Question remains, what was Nash trying to hide from us?"

"One of the witnesses, who is one of few to stand in Nash's defense, Leonard Higgins (41), the fisherman who comes from Nebraska, with his loyal pet Lewis, told us: "You're mistaken. I know Peter very well. We all were beyond terrified by the blizzard, we had to defend our homes from this raging storm!" Clearly Clark seemed like he'd have his dog outside on the street before the house."

"As far as it's spoken of, Beringo's death has likely resulted in a notorious scandal and may deteriorate Nash's career. Instead of facing the justice, the reports have claimed that Nash is planning to move away from Nome with the rest of the team, save for one of the dogs who will stay for a few months in Nome, and it was also mentioned that he wanted to make sure he wanted to give the puppies away."

"Even Mr. Higgins has claimed that he and his pet Lewis are not staying in Nome anymore. Could it be that Nash's actions made him do so, albeit there have been alleged claims of him saying that Nash is "a good person" and that out of "honor", he will return back to his farm in Nebraska, we are not certain. Apparently, anyone closely connected to Peter Nash, refuses to provide the citizens with any reliable news."

"We have been discussing with another famous musher of the town, Gunnar Kaasen (40), to see what he was going to say about these events. His claims were: "With all due honestly, I haven't known Mr. Nash a whole lot and I do feel sorry for his dog dying out there. Who or what had ended Beringo's life is something we may never know."

"It is obvious that Kaasen himself would rather pack his bags and make sure that he had nothing to do with this scandal. Instead, he decided to remain in Nome, although there have been speculations that he was going to send his current team into another town so he could dedicate his time into training the young pups to be the future generation of sled dogs. This all looked like a really difficult task for someone who is like Nash."

There were more pages to read, but he stopped right here. He was absolutely disgusted by the newspapers writing a twisted story of Nash. Crumpling the papers in his hands, he couldn't read any more of those lies, save for the fact that Nash actually announced that he was going to move away from Nome with his dogs but one, but was going to make sure the puppies were adopted first.

"These Nome Nugget newspapers have gone become trash! And that's where they belong now!" He whispered in anger when he came across the nearest trash can and completely crumpling the newspapers, he disposed it straight into garbage. Looking at the garbage can, he muttered: "What is next?! Tomorrow morning I see the headline that snowball fights cause mass shootings and violence?! Disgraceful!"

Clearly he was one of very few people in this town to openly oppose what Nome Nugget had written and this was the peak of their stupidity as he thought. Trying to calm down, he pulled out from his pocket the pipe and lit it so his worries would be put aside for a while, but the disgust from the newspapers wasn't going to wash away that soon.

Walking around the town and smoking, he was wondering how someone like them could openly spit on his friend who was an acclaimed musher until a few days ago. With the passing of the town's ace like Beringo was seen as a "scandal". True, it was a tragedy, but overly exaggerating like this was very spiteful.

While trotting across the town, he got to the other end of this small city, gazing at the outskirts. Precisely to say, he had looked at the old boat far from town. Beringo was found there, giving no vital signals and that boat was a pretty mysterious place. How accurate was it that boat was the home of the wild beast?

"The thing is, there are no beasts living in that damp boat!" He thought to himself while gazing at the tilted wooden boat from the distance. He was with Nash and another one that same day when Beringo was found and before returning into Nome, he and the other one had to look at whether the boat was inhabited or not.

He could remember climbing on the deck and carefully inspecting each part, even the small room that was once the sailor's wheel. Nothing, the room was vastly empty from what they could have seen and even the gray clump below the window, which was a blanket, didn't give them any impression that a deranged beast would live here or even try to fatally attack Beringo himself.

"Only thing I could actually remember was a feather or two of the goose, but maybe it was from those geese flying high above the town? What am I talking about? Geese can't hurt dogs!" He was looking at that old boat and smoking his pipe almost clouded his mind into making him believe some random and nonsensical ideas.

With his pipe finally going out, he shook it on the ground before placing it in his pocket and heading back home. Town's greatest ace was dead, an acclaimed musher suffered the fall from grace, melancholy was present all over the place and the mystery of ace's death may be shrouded in mystery forever.

"I can't say it was a wolf, because they are too afraid to come near towns. Though, I feel like if it was a wolf that attacked Beringo, this town will grow to despise them very soon." He spoke one last time before finally heading back home, clearly coming to him that the walk he had didn't help him a whole lot. It only stacked more worries in his troubled mind.

One would say that there was no one on that boat when they found Beringo and mainly everyone would accept it already. However, the geese's feathers on the deck were contradicting their beliefs and second, that blanket clump below the window of the sailor's cabin was not clumped for any reason. This boat was the home of a Russian snow goose…

...and only one wolf dog puppy…

Four days ago, dusk, during the snowstorm, not far from the boat…

"MAMA! Mamaaaaa!" The male brownish gray wolf dog puppy was calling for his mother desperately. He was told by his mother to remain in the cave under any means necessary until she was to return with father. However, the puppy was bonded very closely to his mother and when she was out of sight, the pup rushed straight ahead to follow his mother, a white wolf.

"Mamaaaaaaaaa! Where are you!?" The pup cried as he faced the bitter cold snowstorm around himself. The mist was too thick, the wind was raging mercilessly and the snow was too heavy. His mother's scent and tracks were gone in this terrible storm. The tears were forming in pup's eyes, searching hopelessly outside.

The shock and awe in the little wolf dog puppy was strong, so strong that he wanted nothing more than to have his mother back against all odds. He was so frightened and shocked that he had left the cave that he wasn't being the only one said to stay in nor that there was his father. It was as if at this point, only his beloved mother was the one he could remember or think of.

Not looking where he was going, he suddenly bumped into something. It was too soft to be a rock and yet it was too hard to be a pile of snow. It was… feathery. That touch almost startled him when he noticed it moving in snow. It turned around and spoke in front of him, in a thick Russian accent: "Oi, boychick! What do you think you're doing here in a storm?!"

The pup was frightened by the feathery creature in front of him talking, but at the same time, that creature seemed… like it was going to protect him from the harms in this cruel world, instead of trying to hurt him. He frighteningly replied to the creature: "I lost my mama in the storm! I-I-I want to find her and I'm afraid to be separated from her!"

The creature looked around and noticed that there was nothing to be seen in a radius of a few meters, spread its wings and placed it above the pup, onto his back to protect him from snow and there it spoke: "It is too dangerous for you to stay out there! You must be sheltered from this storm! Did your mother shelter you before?!"

"But what about my mama?!" The pup replied to the feathery creature, being desperate to return to her, only to receive this reply: "Kiddo, there is no time now! If you don't get sheltered soon, you're going to freeze solid! If your mother were here, would you listen to her and be safe?!" It was clear that the pups could not win this argument and so he nodded, replying anxiously to the feathery creature: "There is an old boat… my home!"

"Old boat?" Creature spoke, wondering what kind of wolf dog puppy would live in an old boat. Then, a larger object, or at least the silhouette of it, was seen despite the storm from where they were standing, making the puppy say: "There! There it is! I see it!" The creature followed him when he noticed the outlines of the boat being sharper with each step ahead.

"Quick, inside, now!" Creature pushed the puppy in the sailor's room of the boat, that seemed like the safest part of the boat to be in the storm. Once they were inside, the mist was not present here and neither snow nor wind could easily penetrate this room. Then the puppy could see the feathery creature who led him inside on safety.

It was a male Russian snow goose, with blue eye bags seen below his eyes, his feathers matching the snow outside and the tipped feathers on his wings were black as coal. The pup looked curiously at the goose, who had that strange fatherly aura coming from him, and then asked: "W… who are you? W-What… what are you?"

For a frightened puppy, there was no other question he could ask for his feathery savior. Goose moved a few steps ahead with his wings spread on both sides encircling the puppy, answering: "Don't be afraid little one. I am Boris Goosinov, but everyone calls me Boris! You wonder what am I? Haven't you seen a Russian snow goose before?!"

"No, at least not one on the ground!" Puppy answered to Boris and despite him being desperate for his mother, he was not afraid of Boris. He asked him: "Tell me, little one, you do have a name, don't you?" Aside from his worries, anxiety and despair, thinking of his mother at this point, he couldn't forget his own name: "Balto."

"Balto? You were looking for your mother out there in a dangerous storm! You do know you could not make it if I didn't find you?!" Boris spoke to the wolf dog puppy, being more worried for the safety of the young one rather than being mad. Balto almost started tearing up in front of a Russian goose, murmuring: "I wanted my mama back…"

"Look, Balto…?" Boris placed his right wing under Balto's chin so the pup could look at him and then let him know: "Here's what we are going to do. Next thing in the morning, you will show me where you were before and we will find your mother, is that alright? I am sure she found a safe place in this raging snowstorm!"

Little did Boris know that his hopes were wrong, but it was something that was going to remain unknown to them for an indefinite time. Balto nodded slowly as if this was not comforting him at all. Boris looked at the gray blanket on one side and told him: "Come on, you better get some warmth and sleep. You look terrible!"

"Okay…" Balto's response was this mutter, very close to him not to break down in tears. Placing the blanket on the puppy, Boris also made some place for himself so he could shelter himself from cold raging out there. He placed his wing above pup's body and whispered: "Sleep well, young Balto. May our search tomorrow give us fruits."

Balto wondered what Boris was trying to say here, but knowing that he could not rely on anyone else but him until tomorrow, Balto decided not to question it and soon he was sinking into dreams, troubled and terrible ones. He was obviously first to fall asleep, all while Boris kept the guard a bit longer before the sleep hit him.

Surprisingly for Boris, his sleep was not disturbed a whole lot. He was awakened three times during the night, each time the storm being weaker and less dangerous. He could hear little pup's muttering and crying, repeating one the same: "Mama… mama… where are you…?!" If only Boris could comfort the little one, but he dared not to disturb him, not until the break of the dawn.

Dawn was much closer than Boris could expect. In fact, he even slept longer with the pup to notice sun rising on the east until it wasn't for someone's voice. In fact, it wasn't just someone's voice, but more than one canine's trotting and running out there. Boris still felt like he was half asleep and that no one would come here, but once the frantic screams of canines were heard, Boris couldn't sleep anymore.

"Chto?! What is happening out there?!" Boris muttered, trying not to wake the wolf dog puppy next to him under the blanket. He felt light headed for a moment, clearly not taking this rush out there all that lightly. For a moment, he thought that dogs rushing and barking mad was some kind of salty joke that would ruin someone's sleep.

"Peter! They found him! Right there!" Human spoke, telling the other one, while the third one was running behind. Boris couldn't see them, only guess they were very close to the boat and it was at that moment when Balto was awakened: "Wha… what? Boris? What is going on?! Why is everyone running and yelling?"

"I don't know, Balto, but stay hidden under the blanket! I don't like what's happening right here!" Boris instructed him not to go anywhere, being unnerved by the nature of peoples' demeanor near the boat. Balto wanted to see himself what was going on, but if Boris was taking this situation seriously, then he better listened to him!

The pup remained there and Boris also tried to move as less as possible, wondering where did all those dogs and humans go and whether more would come. It wasn't until minutes after the cries of humans and dogs were coming closer to which Boris started moving to Balto, telling him: "Stay calm, maybe they won't know we are here!"

"Who are they?" Balto asked him, but Boris was already thinking another thing - could Balto be one of those canine's pup? But if he were one, then Balto would be from the town and that way, would not call this boat his home. If that was all true, then Balto was none of those canines' pup. Suddenly, there was a thump on the boat.

Sensing the arrival of a human, because the thump was too hard for a dog to make, Boris rushed straight below the blanket and told Balto: "Listen, whatever you do, breathe as less as you can and do not move! Someone is here on this boat too and I don't know if that someone is friendly, do you understand?!"

Since he already covered Balto's muzzle with his wing, Balto could only nod and just then, they were laying hidden under the gray blanket in sailor's room of this ship when a shadow of one of two humans revealed itself, followed by another one that asked: "Do you think that there is something or someone on this old boat?"

"This seems like a place that suffered the least damage from an avalanche and yet, this place feels empty. I have no idea, save for this old blanket below the window, do you see?" First one asked when they both noticed an old gray blanket with a hardly noticeable bump that was trying hard not to move and it was a relief when soon another one spoke: "I think there's nothing here. We should go back to the town!"

"You're right. This place gives me creeps by standing in it, let's go!" First one replied to him. The thumps of their boots were fading away in the distance and were replaced with the snow creaking under their boots until they were gone. It was good enough for Boris and Balto to exhale in relief when they raised from that blanket, Boris saying: "That was a close one!"

"Boris? What happened? Why did we have to hide?" Balto wondered what this was all about, still trying to figure out why they were awakened by more than a half dozen combined dogs and humans near their boat. Boris didn't know what to tell him and he was bewildered by this rude awakening until it came to him what they had to do.

"Balto, I may not know what was happening right now, but we have other things to do! Look, it is calm out there! We should go and find your mother!" Boris reminded him what was their duty right now and now Balto's eyes widened in revelation what happened last afternoon, making him yell: "Mama! We have to find her, Boris, she has to be somewhere out there!"

"Let's go, maybe she has found the shelter in one of the caves nearby I have seen!" Boris pushed him with his wings outside and in a matter of seconds, they were out on a snowy beach, passing the trail of dog tracks and human tracks passing nearby. Boris already noticed that Balto didn't bother to stop and sniff those, as if those tracks meant nothing to him. Thus a great search for Balto's mother, with the help of Boris, took place, with pup's only intention to be reunited with his beloved mother.