Syzek

7 - Syzek: Roaming

Balto and I trekked around Nome to reach the Western road entrance of the town. It only took a few minutes of trotting and walking, even including the time I spent picking myself up after tripping over a random wheel sticking out of the ground. We stopped right outside the road entry, staying inside the shadow of a small building.

The plan was for me to take the road posing as just another husky wandering the streets, while Balto snuck behind and between the wooden infrastructures to avoid being spotted.

"Yelp if you need me. I'll be behind the buildings," he said. "Boris passed through here recently."

Sounded good enough to me. "Meet you right here in a few hours," I responded, eyeing the road. "Or wherever you might find me," I added.

I gave Balto a brief grin, before trotting down the road. It was only then that I realized I had absolutely no idea how normal huskies were to behave around humans and other dogs. As I casually moved down the road, I tried ransacking my brain to see if I remembered anything about being a dog owned by a human. Unfortunately, nothing came up. Spending nearly half of my life practically living as a wild animal with the other half as livestock really took a toll on what I understood about myself.

Some other dogs were strolling the streets, either being dragged along by their owners or dragging their owners along. Of them a lavender pomeranian and a brown Afghan hound seemed excessively lavish and enthusiatic, exaggerating their steps and head movements as they strutted.

So I tried the exact same thing.

I curled my tail as far as it went and cocked my head back, pointing my snout upward into the clear skies. I then tried to strut fancily, raising my paws as high as I could before taking each step.

It was absurdly uncomfortable, not only in what I think I looked like, but also the motions themselves straining every joint imaginable. By the ninth step, I gave up on trying to replicate the motions of those two dogs, opting for my usual habit of trodding as silently as I could. No one paid attention anyway.

Quite soon, the wide road split into two, a second street straight branched off to the left from the road I was walking through. The road ahead simply led to an exit, though one that was currently being used to move large crates into Nome from a massive transport ship similar to the one I stowed away on. Seeing that, I veered left deeper into the town, staying on the far left side of the pathway.

As I turned the corner of one of the smaller buildings, I saw a decently sized crowd gathered in the distance at a minor intersection. Curious, I picked up a little bit of speed and approached the mob of humans gathered around what looked like a tiny wood platform. Once I was close enough to vaguely hear words, I slowed to a halt. I took note that each of the buildings in Nome were separated by rather large gaps populated by virtually anything that was disposed of through a window, easy to use as makeshift hiding places.

I backed myself up between two aesthetically similar houses, and peeked around the corner at the crowd, which had silenced itself by then.

A rather old man in a tidy fur coat spoke out in a loud voice, almost enough for me to hear his words. It was made more difficult by the fact that I could hear every word spoken by literally everyone walking past me to join the crowd. The obnoxious sound of a door creaking open appeared behind me as well.

Trying to focus on only the old man's words was irritating at best.

"Well, I'm certain it was nothing to be concerned about," a man's voice said a good distance behind me.

"Of course it was! Who knows what insanity can happen out here? Think of our daughter!" a distressed woman's voice responded.

"I know, honey, but we can't just break things like this to her at such a young age..." the man returned.