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When Tuska woke up the night after, she found herself alone in bed. Arthur had managed to slip out early enough in the morning without waking her, a feat that wasn't too difficult since she was known to be a heavy sleeper. She looked over at her clock and saw that it was edging close to two in the afternoon. She gave a soft sigh and ran her paw through her disheveled hair and spat out a few strands that had got caught in her mouth.

The promise that she had made to Arthur kept replaying in her mind as she went about her "morning" routine of getting herself presentable with a shower and some breakfast. When she opened up her fridge she noticed that her stock of food was sparse, and the notion of needing a new source of income kept playing in her head. So in truth, she really had no other option than to go to the sled team conference later that day. Or more accurately, in an hour or so.

She dressed herself up as best that she could, which was much more presentable than she had been for quite some time. She had to thank Arthur for the good night of sleep that she had. In truth she likely wouldn't have been up to this sort of a thing if not for him and the decent rest that she had.

Without wanting to wait too long, the husky exited her apartment and began the series of halls and an elevator ride that would take her down to the airport's first floor where the conference was going on. She was actually surprised by the amount of attention such a thing was getting, being that it was Winter now, recruiting season was over though there was a bit of a Fall rush, it was nothing like this.

The final elevator that she rode down in was packed with a combination of new recruits, airport staff, and current sled team members. She had thought to tap someone on the shoulder and ask what was causing such a high number of people to be in attendance to this conference, but she figured she'd have her questions answered soon enough.

The conference room itself was a massive, open space that had booths for various companies and divisions that worked for and within the airport. On top of that, there were of course sled team captains that were accepting new recruit resumes and they had their own special booths towards the back of the conference.

Tuska glanced around as she wondered inside. There were quite a few moving bodies and the dull roar of conversation permeated the whole room. It had been so long since she had attended such a conference years ago when she was starting out that she didn't really know where to start. As she wondered about she noticed that there were many other sled dogs that would give her sidelong glances and would mutter among themselves about her being present in this conference.

It made sense, she was the most well known team captain at the airport and news of her failure all those months ago had permeated every ear there within. It was then that she began to hope that it wouldn't dampen her chances of joining a new team, but then again she wouldn't exactly be upset if she wasn't able to.

It was a few minutes of wondering around and not really getting anything done when she suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder that caused her to turn around. The familiar face of Reggie greeted with her with a wide grin and open arms. "Reggie!" she called out and leaped into his embrace. The two hugged close and nuzzled at each other for a little while before drawing themselves back. "It's so good to see you."

"Likewise," Reggie laughed. "How have you been?"

Tuska gave a slight shrug and let her arms drop back to her sides. "It's been really tough, actually. Almost every night is sleepless and I'm in need of some work."

"Well shit, had I known you were coming around I would have put in a good word for you to my team." Reggie glanced back over his shoulder towards a small group of other dogs that Tuska didn't quite recognize.

"Is that why you're here?" She asked with a tilted head.

"That's right, winter season is coming on strong, we gotta make sure we're in the best shape possible for some early missions."

Tuska nodded her head and turned her eyes to scan the room again. "It's been so long since I've been to a conference like this. We've never needed to." She turned back to Reggie with a smile. He shrugged in response.

"We had a pretty solid team. Nothing ever needed to change," he agreed. The woman gave a sad nod of her head and her eyes turned to the floor. Reggie's ears splayed against the top of his head as he realized what he had said and made a show of clearing his throat. "Anyway... Have you heard the big news around the conference?"

Tuska brightened up a little as she was all too excited to change the subject. "No I haven't. What's up?"

"An important shipment has come to Feighlow that is supposed to come here but the blizzard is keeping all planes grounded for a whole week. They intend to send some sort of tank or wait out the storm," Reggie explained quickly.

"What's so important about this shipment?" Tuska blinked and cocked an eyebrow.

"It's a medical vault that has a special cancer drug in it. I'm not really sure much more than that."

"A vault?" Tuska laughed. "I guess that's interesting, I've never really heard such a thing. Must be a pretty important drug."

"That's not what's so exciting about it though." Reggie said quickly. "Because The hospital here is so desperate to get the vault they aren't going to wait for a tank or for the storm to settle, so a single sled team is going out to get it."

Tuska blinked in astonishment and her eyebrows were lifted high. "W-what?" She stammered. "A sled team is going to go all the way to Feighlow? That's 150 kilometers! And there's no beacons, who the hell is crazy enough to do that?"

"Me," a deep voice sounded behind Tuska, making her turn to see a towering malamute standing close enough that she was greatly unsettled, though she recognized him right away. His name was Kojak, and he was one of the more recognizable faces at the airport. He was a head and a half taller than Tuska and he was just as muscular as Arthur, if not more. Compared to Tuska's reign he was the second most decorated and revered sled team captain at the airport, right behind Tuska. Or he had been until she was forced to step down. "Long time no see, Tuska."

"Tch, figures," Tuska grumbled. "This is a suicide mission, Kojak, running this in a blizzard is nothing short of a death sentence." It was as she spoke that she caught the sight of the rest of Kojak's team standing behind him. One female and three males, but another familiar sight came to her, and it was then that she realized that Taylo was a part of his team. The white furred husky had his back turned to Tuska but it was unmistakable that's who it was and her heart was sent into a flurry of motion as emotions raced through her mind.

"You'd be right about any sled team that wasn't lead by me. Or you," he conceded and shrugged his shoulders. "But listen, I'm not here to argue or dick measure, I'm here to offer a proposition."

Tuska stared the tall male in his eyes and then glanced back at Reggie to see what he thought, but he offered little more than an apologetic shrug. When she turned back to Kojak she let her weight shift to one hip. "I'm listening."

"Join my team," he stated simply. Tuska almost laughed in his face. While no one ever really had rivals, Kojak and Tuska had been in competition for as long as they had known each other. "There's no one better that I'd rather have to make this mission work. And barring certain...internal issues I'm certain our team would be undeniably the best in the whole history of the airport." A cold dread suddenly washed over her body as she realized what this all meant. Tuska didn't care about Kojak or really the others, but if Taylo's life was in danger then she had to talk him out of it.

Read the full chapter here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/warmth-in-arctic-19972522