For the spring of 1922 being already at the gates, one would think that at this point the environment in Nome would turn into grass and blossom like in the rest of the world, right? Well, the thing was, it didn't. Snow was ever present and even if it was less snowing than before, it was becoming mushier and squishier, but nothing that the dogs could manage.
A lovely late March day was for Beringo's friends. Beringo was naturally present with them that morning when they were taking a walk around the town of Nome. His entire team was present, along with the puppies of the parents. Even Roger was present, with Shanice as well. Since these two were more together, one would notice the new thing around her.
"So, what names are you planning?" Dakota teasingly asked her teammate while he was telling something to Shanice. He unamusingly rolled with his eyes, telling her: "Dakota, please! I know that you've been all excited for the past few days that Shanice and I will have our own family, but you don't have to breathe on our necks like that!"
"Honey, don't be mad! Look, Dakota, we're still not thinking of names yet, but if we do come up with something, you will all know, alright?" Shanice reasoned with Dakota, who was still cracking up from pestering Roger just for fun. Just then, Audrey spoke: "Mommy, mommy! Look, there's that bear looking dog coming to us!"
"Audrey, don't be rude! That's not a bear dog, that's our friend Lewis! I hope he didn't hear what you just told him!" Dakota was not pleased by Audrey's words and while Indiana was soft on her, Dakota didn't really appreciate this abrasive side from her and how she showed little respect for Max, who rolled with his eyes.
"Guid mornin, ye lads and lassies! Ah see the wee anes with ye all fur a walk today!" Lewis noticed a group of young dog he'd grown fond of and it might or might not have been the first time he'd seen the puppies before. Even Indiana surpassed Beringo in greeting the Scottish shepherd: "Lewis, what do you think? Have we raised the pretty puppies?"
Audrey was still looking like as if she wanted to call the grumpy shepherd "bear looking dog" but Max was faster this time: "Hello, uncle Lewis! My parents told me about you being a family friend! Is it true that you scared that one dog for making lies?" Yukon, Michael and Palmer were clearly not paying attention about that story before so they all looked confused whereas Molly giggled, thankfully paying attention to the details.
"Aye, yon lad had at coming! Nae shall speak lies and get away with at!" Lewis told that to the puppies and while none of the puppies really understood his thick Scottish accent, only Max and Molly were pretty much amused by his talk while other puppies, namely Audrey, weren't paying attention. As for their parents, Beringo, Roger and Shanice, they were delightfully laughing about all this.
"Looks like 'Mister Grumpy Fur', as I thought of him before, is gonna be a nice puppysitter for our puppies, Justin." Hallie thought that someone like Lewis would make a good puppysitter due to him having a rich history about himself and his very old homeland, fully of tales and myths. Even then Shanice let him know: "Lewis, make place for some more little ones, because Roger and I will have some in a month to come or something!"
"Ye dinnae say, lassie? At's lovely! A gourmet lad will be a father!" Lewis joked on Roger's dear life hobby and he chuckled nervously, leaving only Shanice not to laugh at that. Then Beringo got his turn: "Do tell me, Lewis, you had puppies before if I remember you telling me that, right? Does it make you feel nostalgic now?"
"Aye, ah feel like ah was a father once, like ye two, Indiana and Justin. They live wi ma love in the land of Nebraska! A far land!" Lewis nostalgically remembered his younger days, when him guarding sheep and racing in the wheatfields in the golden spring and summer days were his hobbies, but now he was surrounded in the snow areas, which he could tolerate, but missed his sheep guarding life.
"You know, that reminds me how I haven't seen my real family ever since they'd left two years ago. I know how it is like, Lewis." A young husky ace and a middle aged grumpy shepherd could related to some life issues. Justin asked something: "But, Beringo… I just remembered something? Have you ever tried doing 'Polar Bark' chain of messages to see if they were going to work to the town they live in?"
"I don't think that's a really smart idea, Justin. It is likely that some other dogs will take the message for themselves, distort it or pull a very nasty and salty joke on me and I don't really want it." Beringo realized that a Polar Bark should not be used foolishly for these messages because even then would that kind of choice backfire terribly.
"Ach, dinnae worry, Beringo! Look, ane day ye will see yer family! Now yer friends are yer family and with their wee anes, ye can forget on yer grief!" Lewis comforted him with some typical Scottish words when he showed him that Beringo could always find the happiness in the six puppies playing on the streets, watched by their loved ones.
Not to mention, being with his friends and closest ones and seeing how innocent those little puppies were, reminded him that this afternoon, he was going to spend it with Aniu and their puppies, playing on the beach. He'd been waiting for it for a long time and he wanted to go there this morning, but since Max and Molly, out of all puppies, wanted to spend the morning with Beringo, he decided to stay for them and his friends!
Afterwards, they had all spent their day around the town, mostly allowing the puppies to play and see some more of town, Roger and Shanice discussing about the possible names for the puppies albeit neither of them wanted to reveal what they had in mind and Lewis telling the puppies how they remind him on his living in this exotic land of "Nebraska".
At around early afternoon, when they all had returned home, without mail deliveries today and indicating that both Hallie and Dakota were returning to their mail duty soon, Beringo had other intentions right now. He passed next to Indiana and Justin, telling them: "Alright, boys, now it is my turn to have my time with puppies, you get me?"
"We do, Beringo. I hope we'll meet yours one day, you know?" Indiana didn't have to ask twice what was happening, but at the same time, he respected if they were going to have to wait to see them. Justin asked him: "And I have been thinking, if they're tame and adorable as you call them, I've been thinking to introduce my puppies to yours, how's that?"
"Yeah, that can work, what do you say, Indiana?" Beringo wondered how'd it look like if their puppies had met one day, even if on one side they were purebred huskies and on other were half-wolves, half-huskies. Indiana didn't have to think this one through, saying: "Aw what the heck, if Justin will do it, I'm in!" Beringo already presumed that their prejudices towards Aniu faded away.
"Great, I'll see you all either later or tomorrow!" Beringo greeted them, heading for the old boat. Making his way to there without getting any unnecessary attention and having food brought with himself, he was on his way to the old boat, wondering what joys would he have today! If anything, playing with puppies was something he dearly hoped for.
Being already close enough to the old boat, he saw Aniu emerging from the side, but she was not alone. By her paws were their already a bit over a month old puppies, eagerly anticipating their father to come. Beringo smiled widely when he saw Juneau, Eyak, Aurora and Balto there, calling them: "Hey, you little ones! Guess who?"
"Daddy! Daddy!" The puppies all yipped and wasted no seconds to run to their father and before he could see it, he was already on his back, dropping the food on the side and laughing as he was being ticked by lots of tiny paws and hearing the puppies giggling in joy. This was all he needed, a pure joy from his offsprings.
There he saw little Eyak jumping behind his head and seeing the heterochromic puppy grab and bite his left ear, he let him have all the fun as much as he wanted. As for Juneau, she was already licking his cheek and Beringo licked his gray-faced white puppy by her head and she was seen laughing hard. As for Aurora, who looked a lot like him, she kept tickling him by his belly.
"Hello, sweetheart." Aniu greeted him with her warm voice and there he noticed puppy Balto being by her paws, being the only puppy who stayed by his mother. He greeted her: "Aniu, hey! It looks like our little ones couldn't wait to see me coming!" Even if little Balto was excited to see his father, he found himself more comfortable around mother.
"Daddy, what's this you brought?" Aurora looked curiously at the piece of food laying in snow and knowing why it was here, he took it and gave it to Aniu, who couldn't wait to satisfy her hunger. He told her: "Aurora, that something I brought is food. In your lives you'll need the food to live. But remember, we eat to live, not live to eat!"
"But why does mama need it and we don't?" Juneau wondered too, clearly showing that they were still being fed on milk and the time for solid food was to come. Aniu told her daughter: "You see, Juneau, as I take care of all four of you, I cannot go hunting yet and gain food by myself so your father is bringing me food and that way I don't have to worry."
"When are we going to taste that?" Eyak asked this, noticing how this piece of meat he was looking at looked delicious to him to which Beringo answered: "Eyak, your mother still feeds you on milk, but one day you'll be over that and then you'll taste the food yourselves." Out of all puppies, the most curious one, with the sharpest senses, was Balto, noticing the food his mother was feasting on.
"Puppies, Aniu, do come over, I have something to share with you all!" Beringo invited them, to come over by the old boat, hoping that no one from town was going to notice something suspicious. They all followed him over there and his news were: "I have been talking to my friends earlier and guess what? They're longing to meet you, young ones!"
"Who are they, daddy?" Balto finally spoke, sitting next to his father and wondering what a 'friend' meant. Beringo didn't waste seconds: "Balto, those are the dogs I'd grown along when I couldn't with my family and they are now like my family. With them I had ups and downs, but we've grown to trust each other and I'm telling you, you're going to like them."
"Beringo, what about their puppies? If ours will meet your friends, surely they'll meet their puppies to play, no?" Aniu wondered if that crossed Beringo's mind and if only she was around to find out to which Beringo steadily answered: "That is the part of plan, Aniu. They'll bring all of their puppies to play with you!"
"Oh yeah, and how are they like?" Juneau wondered whether she was going to like those puppies she just heard of and the look in her father's eyes was saying it all: "No worries, my daughter! Once you meet them, you'll have lots of fun with them." This made all the puppies wag their tails in happiness, albeit that was something they had a bit hard time to understand why.
"Now that I heard this, I think I'd love to meet their young ones myself, although I am not sure what they'll think of me, Beringo." Aniu herself longed to meet the young ones of Beringo's friends, fearing the the prejudices would be too strong on them, but Beringo was encouraging enough: "They all trust you know. I'm sure they'll teach their puppies that they should show some respect for wolves!"
This talk about wolves was still alien to the little puppies, but nothing that would discourage them because little Eyak whispered: "Are we going to play now? Are we? Pleeeeeeease?" Clearly that this sitting and talking was not what he favored right now, to which Beringo let him know: "Alright, you little rascal, we will!"
"I do have one idea in mind. Puppies, how about two of you spend time with your father and two of you spend with me? That way we'll have a lot of fun and joy to share!" Aniu suggested to her puppies and little Balto was already eagerly hoping to be with his mother, but he wasn't fast enough as Juneau and Eyak already reached their mother.
"We go with mama!" Eyak and Juneau loudly yipped as they had made their choice. Balto was disappointed that he couldn't be with his mother and she saw that. Still, she didn't want any drama to happen between her puppies so she came to nuzzle her youngest pup, telling him: "Balto, don't worry! You can go with your father and sister together and have some fun!"
"I know, mama, but…" Balto was about to complain, but Aurora rushed to him and licked her brother's cheek, telling him: "Come on, Balto, we're going to have a lot of fun! Daddy will take us somewhere fun, won't he?" Beringo, of course, wasn't going to miss that chance when he answered: "Oh yes! I will take you two to the forest nearby and show you something beautiful, how's that for a compromise!"
"Ohhhhhhhhh!" Balto and Aurora howled in excitement and with Aniu's help, they were put on Beringo's back and then she told her mate: "I shall stay with Juneau and Eyak here on the beach and keep them delighted as you three go up there." Beringo licked his mate's cheek and nuzzled both his elder puppies before claiming: "Now, let's get going, you two!"
Aurora and Balto's yips were heard fading in the distance as they were ridden by their father to the forest, all while Aniu's whisper reached: "Be careful, my puppies… namely you, Balto!" As for now, Juneau and Eyak were chasing one another on the beach and Aniu paid a special attention on their playtime, hoping they weren't going to be too rough on one another.
"Catch me if you can!" Eyak tagged Juneau by playfully hitting her shoulder as he was being chased by his older sister, all while Aniu was just resting there and delightfully watched them play. It wasn't until Eyak hid behind Aniu and he mischievously spoke: "Don't say a word, mama!" She nuzzled him cheerfully, knowing that he was being a little mischief of a puppy.
"Mama, mama, did you see Eyak somewhere?" Juneau, who had come close to her mother, didn't notice her brother nearby thanks to him being purely white and hard to notice around because of snow and their mother's fur. Aniu just let her know: "I don't know, sweetheart, why don't you keep looking? Maybe he's not where you think he is!"
"Oh? I guess you're… ahhhhhhhh!" Juneau didn't realize that her mother was just joking around and in the very next moment little Eyak sprang out from his cover and pounced his sister, with her rolling on her back and them giggling as this was a mere puppy fun for them. Then, a sound from the sky gained Juneau's attention: "Eyak, look up there!"
"Huh?" Eyak looked where Juneau was pointing in the sky and the sky was covered what it seemed like was a flock of birds, white birds with their feather tips covered in black, quacking d honking anwith one another. Eyak wagged with his tail, albeit he was not really aware what was the point of wagging his tail as he asked: "Mama, what are those up there in the sky?!"
"Those are geese, my dear Eyak. They migrate from one side of the world to another to seek warmth every year! Unlike us, they can fly and pass larger distances than you'd ever imagine, my son." Aniu shared her knowledge with her two puppies and now as they watched a flock of snow geese flying further, Juneau wondered: "Is there a chance that we will fly one day, mama?"
Aniu knew that we not going to happen because a dog, a wolf or even a wolf-dog could not even fly, but she didn't want to let her daughter down: "Maybe one day, Juneau! All you have is to hope that one day you'll be flying in skies." Puppies as young as Juneau did not deserve to have their imaginations shattered by the facts that early anyhow.
As for Beringo, Aurora and Balto…
"How are you two holding up there?" Beringo joyfully asked his two younger puppies when they were running in the forest nearby and judging by the giggles and laughter, Aurora just said: "Faster, daddy, faster!" Beringo didn't drop his running pace as he wanted to give them both pleasures for their young days.
"Daddy, is this what you do every day? Mama told me you run long ways!" Balto asked his father curiously and now that they were reaching the rock that had a pretty view on the town, Beringo slowed down, much to Aurora's confusion: "Daddy, why did we stop?" Bering gracefully laid down so he could allow his puppies to land in the snow safely.
"Balto, before I tell you, just look at the town over there! That is the town of Nome and that is where I live!" Beringo showed to his puppies what the town was and while the puppies could see that entire town from the boat, it was something a different view from here and not to forget, a very pretty one for them, with their excited howls.
"Now, you wonder what do I do every day, puppies? Aurora, you may be interested too!" Beringo had them to sit down in the snow and he laid down so they'd not have to stretch their necks needlessly. The puppies were waiting for their answer: "Puppies, I am a sled dog in the town of Nome, which you can see by this collar I wear around the neck!"
"What's a sled dog?" Balto asked, being alien to the word "sled", for which he received an answer: "You see, I am a dog what delivers something that's called mail from one town to another so the people from those towns can know what's going on in here! Being a sled dog makes you flexible and well-trained for that matter!"
"That sounds fun!" Aurora liked the idea herself, but not someone like Balto who with those cute puppy eyes asked his father: "Daddy, will I be a sled dog one day!?" With his hybrid looks and the fact that no human knew anything about half-wolf puppies near Nome, Beringo had that grim feeling if he were to tell him the truth so he had given him a small lie: "If you're willing, my son, then you shall be a sled dog one day! Who knows, maybe a lead sled dog like me!"
"A lead sled dog?" Balto was confused by the addition of the new word, to which he had his answer: "You see, I am the main sled dog in my team and it is my duty and responsibility to look after my friends. Some like to be lead sled dogs to boss the others around, but I don't boss my friends, I treat them like they're my brothers and sisters!"
"Like how I treat Balto, Juneau and Eyak?" Aurora wondered, although Beringo's biological siblings lived far away to the east. He nodded to his daughter, as if she could view his friends that way. Beringo couldn't resist seeing his puppies like this, sitting with one another and giving him that "puppy eyes" looks. They were just too adorable for him!
Aurora shifted her look to one side and her words were surprising: "Look, there is a snow moving down there!" Balto and Beringo looked were Aurora did and that moving snow, as the mentioned, was not a snow. It was a polar bear with that thick coat of white fur. The bear was carrying a large fish in jaws. Noticing the bear over there, Beringo's delight switched to anxiety.
"What is that snow carrying?" Balto asked too, not being sure if this was his imagination or the "snow" as Aurora called, was alive. The polar bear noticed a gray canine and his two offsprings in the distance and it was the moment that made Beringo's anxiety grew faster. What was that bear intending to do?!
Thankfully, his anxiety could fade away because the polar bear sniffed and turned around, as if those canines meant nothing to him. Beringo's delight returned and hearing his puppies call them 'living snow', he corrected them both: "Balto, Aurora, that was not a living snow! That was a polar bear! They are as white as snow, they love cold and they eat a lot of fish!"
"Why couldn't we go there and say 'hi' to the polar bear?" Aurora wondered if her courtesy would pay off here or not, to which Beringo told her: "No, Aurora, because polar bears don't like visitors if they haven't had their fish yet, alright?" That made her understand as neither she nor Balto talked about this because they were already demanding more rides from their father!
Later that night, when it was pretty late out there, even the lights in the town going out, Beringo had made his decision to sleep with Aniu and the puppies on the old boat. For this instance, he had already Aurora and Eyak tucked by him and already asleep all while Balto and Juneau were tucked by Aniu before the parents both cuddled to one another and the family seemingly was asleep.
Well, both parents and all puppies but Balto were asleep. Aniu only noticed that when she moved in her sleep and by her belly she could feel Juneau soundly sleeping, but Balto was not by her chest. Opening her eyes to see where her baby son was at, she hoped that he didn't wander anywhere else and soon she spotted him, looking at the deck, precisely, in the sky.
"Balto, honey, it is late! Why aren't you asleep?" Aniu asked her son, who heard his mother's sweet voice and he glanced at her, admitting: "Mama, I'm not sleepy. I saw something up in the sky, something shining!" Wondering what he saw, Aniu decided to join her son's side, but not before placing Juneau by Beringo's belly as Aurora was sleeping on his neck and Eyak took his chest.
"Was it a really shiny star or a moon you saw?" Aniu walked to her baby son, who walked outside on the deck, trying to figure it out. Balto shook his small head, answering: "It was something else, mama. The lights in the sky, red, blue, green… and they were alive!" Of course, what he saw was nothing else than…
"Those are the Northern lights, Balto! They're pretty mystical to each one of us." Aniu let him know what he'd seen and even more, Balto was jumping up the deck, looking at the darkness that was once covered in yellow spots, saying: "When I was with daddy earlier, we saw there's the town as he said it… will I ever go in that town as he calls it?"
Aniu couldn't assure him on that one, due to his hybrid looks and him being a half-wolf. Like her father, she didn't want to crush his dreams as a young puppy so she told him: "Once when you're older, you'll go to the town all by yourself! But what do you say I take you to the edge of the town? There is something I want to show you!"
"What is it?" Balto looked in his mother's eyes, being genuinely surprised by what she just said. She told him: "Balto, trust your mama and stay with me. Come on!" So Balto obeyed and stuck close to her paws and before they had left the old boat, Aniu searched at something near their bed and there she grabbed a dusty bag with something rattling in it.
"It was a good thing that your father kept this when he and I were on a night out months ago, before you were born." Aniu rattled with the bag she had carried in her jaws and beckoned to her son to follow him, but then Beringo's sleepy voice asked: "Aniu…? Balto? What are you two doing? It's pretty late…!"
Making sure that Balto didn't find out the surprise yet, she rattled the bag again and asked: "Beringo, remember this?" Even if he was dead tired, he could recall that sound anywhere possible so he smiled with his eyes closed: "Oh, I know what you mean now…! Well, if you're showing it to Balto, stay safe, both of you!"
"We will, darling. We won't be long. Now, let's go, Balto!" Aniu led her son to stick around her when they left the boat. Balto stuck close to his mother, not letting himself distance from her more than thirty centimeters. By the time they knew, they were at the edge of the down, engulfed in darkness, save for the source of light at the corner of one house.
"Balto, stay right here with this bag, I'll be back immediately!" Aniu instructed him what to do, leaving little puppy confused as he saw his mother moving to the house and grabbing the source of light - oil lantern. As she said it, she was already back and there she asked him: "You must be wondering what am I doing? You are going to find out right now."
The rattling bag and the oil lantern was already making little puppy ask a lot of questions as he was sitting in the mushy snow, but then Aniu grabbed the bag and poured its contents on the ground nearby, noticing a handful of colored glass shards, making little puppy ask: "What's with those colored crystals, mama? Aren't they too sharp?"
"Don't look at how sharp they are, just look what is going to happen! Wait for me to put the light on the place." Aniu ensured him that he didn't have to worry about the sharp glass shades when she positioned the lamp to the south of shards, standing in the way of lightbeam and there she told him: "Look what is going to happen when I let the light flow through the shards!"
"What?" Balto was confused by this statement, but as soon as Aniu moved out of the way and let the light beam shine through the glass shards, Balto noticed something he could only dream of - the Northern Lights! Those shades of red, magenta, green, cyan, blue, violet, gold and to name others, dancing in front of him… and to think that he had a better view on them right here, right now!
"They're pretty, mama! How did you do that?!" Balto came closer to the lights and he went on to touch them, only for his paw to pass through them as if he were swatting a dead air. Aniu nuzzled her baby son to let him know: "It is something that your father showed me when he and I were going out together at night. In case you're wondering why I am showing this to you is because one day you'll meet someone special in your life to show the lights."
"Someone special?" Balto wondered what she was saying, but knowing that he was still, learning, she just remained positive on his curiosity, telling him: "Just like how your father is that someone special in my life, so you will find a female who's going to be your someone special!" If the life was this cheerful and beautiful, Balto dearly hoped for his future!
As they were still watching the lights, Balto already felt the sleepiness coming to him. His eye-lids being heavy, him yawning widely and eventually falling asleep by his mother's paws indicated that it was time for them to go back. The oil lantern burned out so Aniu just dropped it near the house she found and being careful, she placed the glass shards back in the back, intending to bring them with herself.
Once she had the bag ready, she grabbed both her son and the bag with her jaws and silently paced back to the old boat, where once they made it, first placed Balto on the floor, then the bag on the place she found earlier. At last, she tucked Juneau back to the belly where she was before and Balto back to her chest, licking him by his head and nuzzling her younger son before the sleep came to her at last.