Epilogue

Jenna didn't want to leave, but she knew they had to before it got too late. They were too old now, and it was going to take long enough to get back home as it was. She nudged Balto with her nose and sighed.

"I know, I don't want to leave either," he said. "But I guess we have to. I'm really going to miss this place."

"I am too," she said. "I'm just glad we had this place for so long." She looked sadly out across the forest, trying to remember what every tree looked like, every rock, the waterfall, the river, so she would never forget.

"Yeah, I–" Balto stopped in mid sentence and sniffed the air. His eyes flew open and he turned his head in the direction of the entrance to the plateau.

"Balto, what is it? You know my nose isn't as good as yours."

Balto turned slowly around to look at Jenna. "... Dingo?!"

As he said it, a red and white dog appeared at the entrance to the plateau, and slowly walked towards them.

"Dingo!" Jenna yelled. She and Balto walked towards him and nuzzled him affectionately.

"Hi mom, hi dad" he said with a smile. "I thought we'd find you here when we couldn't find you anywhere else."

'Well you were right, son," Balto said. "We were just– wait a minute. Did you say 'we'?"

Dingo laughed. "You're still as sharp as ever, dad. Yeah, I brought a few stragglers with me." A red and white female entered the clearing as he finished speaking, and Jenna gasped. "Saba!"

Saba smiled and nuzzled her parents who were licking and nuzzling her. "Hi mom, hi papa," she said happily. "And that's not all..." She indicated the entrance again, and another three red and white dogs emerged and... one brown one.

Balto's smile faded as he stared at her. "... Aleu..."

Jenna began to cry as Aleu came over to them, and the three of them nuzzled and hugged each other. "Aleu, it's been so long... oh, my baby," she cried as she nuzzled Aleu's neck.

"I love you too mom, papa," she said with tears in her eyes. "It's so good to see you and my brothers and sisters again. I was worried when we couldn't find you, but Dingo was right."

"I always am," Dingo said with a laugh. "Ow" he said as Kodi cuffed his ear, causing their other siblings to laugh.

There was a flurry of conversation and everybody was trying to talk at once, telling their parents what they had been up to recently, and asking Aleu about her wolf pack. All of them were overjoyed to see their parents alive and well, and they were all happy to be together again, especially on that plateau. This had been their family's favorite place for years, and it seemed fitting that they were all there together again.

Balto and Jenna looked adoringly at their children, and they couldn't be any happier. They all lay down together near the edge of the cliff, a big red white and brown dog pile, sharing stories and talking and laughing well into the night. Eventually they all dropped off to sleep one by one, and soon nothing was heard but the slow, measured breathing of eight dogs.

Balto woke in the early morning sun, but he didn't move. He slowly became aware of his surroundings, and he realized he was the only one that had woken up. He was going to go back to sleep when he relaxed and breathed deeply through his nose. His entire family was all around him, and he could smell each one of their scents individually. His mate, his sons and his daughters were all pressed up against him, and he silently wept a tear of happiness for this moment, a moment he thought he would never experience again.

He was a hero, a son, a father and a mate. All of these things together defined who he was, and it was all of these things that made him so beloved to so many. The people of Nome, his mother Aniu, his mate Jenna and his children all loved him more than he ever thought possible for someone who started life as a tiny brown half wolf pup, an outcast reviled by humans and dogs alike, with no home to call his own and no parents to raise him.

He lay his head back down and snuggled softly into Jenna's neck fur, feeling the warmth of his children's bodies all along the length of his own. He had everything he ever wanted right there all around him, and he fell back to sleep with a smile across his greying muzzle.

~ finis ~

Author's Note: This completes my four-part series of Balto fan fiction. Thanks for reading, and may we all find the happiness Balto and Jenna found with each other.

-Xaqtly