"Stopped mushing?" queried Thor, surprised, "For no reason, eh...
That's very strange." In his line of work, the sled dog was familiar
with such procedures if a musher was close to getting burned, exposed
as a smuggler. When things became too hot, he'd settle back on his
gains, sell his dogs on and establish a trade in an agreeable
settlement somewhere out of harm's way. Sometimes this trade was
supplying other smugglers, but occasionally there was a man who went
straight, running a shop perhaps, or trapping for a living if the
wilderness still ran in their veins. Disregarding such thoughts, the
copper-coated Husky chuckled, "Per'aps ~he~ got too old." He grinned
and flicked an ear, taking them past a pair of dustbins, "Or maybe 'e
went mad. I can't see why anybody wouldn't want you. You're healthy,
fit, and like a game."

"What of your sledmates?" he asked, starting to slow down, they
should've been back at the butcher's by now. Oh no, he wasn't lost...
It had been too long since he was free to explore this town along
their courier route. That'll teach him to chase after strange females,
he wasn't paying attention to the backways of the town and now he had
no idea where they were. He'd be damned if he was going to snuffle
about and embarrass himself in front of this young lady, he'd just
have to keep going and come up with a fabrication as to why he
couldn't introduce her to Belisarius.

-John