Peat Cookie bounced on his heel, his eyes twinkling as two salt hound puppies dashed in circles around his boots. A calf, no taller than his knee, trotted after them, its hooves kicking up tiny sparks of salt dust. He barely got to see the animals that the Kala Namak Knights trained up close!

“Bark! BARK!” One puppy yapped, nosing a bunch of flowers Peat Cookie had hidden in a shirt pocket. He gasped, snatching it away. “Nuh-uh! That’s top secret! Only for the Knight Commander!”