"Thank you," Daine says, her face splitting into a grin. "You won't have to watch him for long." Well, he won't have to. "And if you need anything at all, just let me know. His name is Sampson," she continues, crouching down to give the dog's belly a rub, "and he's clever. He knows 'sit' and 'down' and 'heel' and so on. And 'quiet,' though that shouldn't be a problem. He's not a barker." If he was, she wouldn't have picked him; she can guess how well Rush would respond to unwanted noise.

Sampson responds to the attention by thumping his tail against the floor and rolling over a bit to expose more of his belly. "Is there anything you'd like me to tell him before I fetch his things?" she asks. "He already knows not to be a bother when folk are working."