It had only been two months since Sofía had gotten her guide dog Buddy, who was sniffing the ground as Amber and James walked beside them.
The twins knew that Sofía treasured the puppy, since he made it easier for her to navigate her sightless world and less insecure about her blindness.
The Rebecca incident didn't help her about it before. It had only made it worse.
But that was now in the past as Buddy yelped and tugged on Sofia's dress.
"What is it, Buddy?" Sofía asked, not understanding why he had tugged on her dress.
"Let's play, Sofia! Let's play!" Buddy yipped, wiggling under her hand as she tried to pet him.
"Play what?" Sofia asked.
"You want to play with Buddy?" James asked. "No problem, Sof." He handed her an old ball he used with Rex, and helped her throw it.
Buddy yipped excitedly and ran after it. He dropped it at Sofia's feet. "Again!"
"Good boy, Buddy!" Sofia smiled, sensing his excitement. "James, can I try throwing the ball myself?"
"Go ahead, Sof," James agreed. "I'll let you know if you're close to anything."
Under James' careful navigation, Sofia threw the ball for Buddy, who caught it again.
Buddy dropped it at her feet, wagging his tail happily. "Again! Again!" he barked excitedly, accidentally pushing Sofia to the ground.
"Sorry, Buddy!" Sofía laughed with a smile, feeling him lick her face. "I almost forgot about my lesson with Mr. Cedric today."
"It's that long one. Isn't it?" Buddy whimpered, nuzzling against her.
"It's all right, Buddy," Sofia smiled as she felt Amber help her up. "I won't be gone that long."
"Do you want us to watch Buddy for you, Sof?" James asked.
"Would you?" Sofia asked.
"Of course we will," Amber smiled. "We know you're really working hard on your Braille lessons, and you get better after each session."
"Besides, Buddy probably wouldn't want to lay on the floor the entire time," James smirked, petting Buddy behind the ears.
"And he'll be easy to watch," Amber added as Sofia sensed her smile.
"You think so?" Sofia asked.
"I've had Rex since he was a puppy, and Buddy's the same age he was when I got him," James reasoned. "I know it won't be the same, but Rex can help us, since he's Buddy's big brother."
"Alright," Sofia smiled, hugging her siblings close. "I trust you two with Buddy. I really do."
Buddy yelped, licking her hand, making James and Amber laugh at him being affectionate with his owner.
"Come on, we have to get Sofia to Cedric!" Amber giggled, having Buddy stop in his tracks.
"Why don't you take her, Amber? I'll take Rex and Buddy for a quick walk, and we'll be back by the time you come back," James suggested.
"Okay," Amber agreed, and she and Sofia went off.
"Rex!" James called. He grinned as Rex bounded over to him. He was just about to jump on James, when he called, "Who wants to go for a walk?"
Rex and Buddy barked happily as James put their leashes on them and took them around the castle courtyard.
"Sofia has a lesson today?" Rex guessed from Buddy's sorrow expression.
"Yeah. I know that Cedric has to help her, but I don't like it," Buddy whimpered as Rex licked him.
"But it's important. How do you think she'd be able to read?" Rex barked, careful not to chase anything in his path.
"I know, but sometimes her lessons go so long that she falls asleep and can't play with me," Buddy sighed. "I want her to be able to read, but I just wish it didn't take so long."
"Don't worry, Buddy; you know I'll always play with you, and so will James and Amber," Rex assured him. "You always have fun with them, don't you?"
"Of course I do! I love jumping on James!" Buddy smiled. "But I do try to be careful when I'm around Amber. I know she doesn't like that game as much."
"No she doesn't!" Rex laughed before noticing a squirrel. "Must chase!"
"Right behind you!" Buddy yelped, wanting to play with the squirrel too.
"Bad dogs!" James groaned, chasing after the two.
"Sofia would tell you that there's no such thing as bad dogs," Amber smiled, seeing them run around. It turned into a grin when Rex and Buddy jumped on James and knocked him down, covering him with doggie kisses.
"We're not bad, are we, James?" Buddy asked, licking him in the face.
"He can't talk to us like Sofia can, but we're not bad," Rex grinned, licking James' forehead.
"Come on, guys! Stop!" James begged good naturedly as Buddy sniffed him.
"They must think you're a treat," Amber grinned with a smirk.
"They do know sweet things when they see them!" James laughed under Rex.
"But I'm over here, and they're licking you!" Amber smiled. She couldn't help laughing herself; this was just like how it was when they were little. The dogs would want to play with her and James, and James would try to save her. She'd end up with muddy pawprints on her dress while the dogs would surround James and lick him.
After Rex had tired himself out from playing with James, Buddy gently licked him before looking around and spotting the door to the castle.
He knew that he couldn't disrupt Sofia from her work even though he wanted to, sniffing the ground of the castle halls before making his way to Sofia's room, spotting her doll Maryanne in a corner from where Sofia had played with her earlier in the day.
Buddy knew he wasn't supposed to play with the doll, but that didn't stop him from licking her, sniffing her, and curling up next to her. He was happy to be near something that at least smelled like Sofia.
James and Amber found Buddy on Sofia's bed and sat on either side of him, scratching his ears and stroking him. "You're a good boy, Buddy. You've come so far since you became Sofia's guide dog," Amber smiled.
"He does a brilliant job helping her get around, that's for sure," James agreed.
Buddy barked happily at the compliment before looking at Maryanne again.
The brown hair reminded him of Sofia. That caused him to whimper before putting Maryanne in his mouth.
To him, she was probably missing Sofia too.
"Hold it, Buddy," Amber scolded gently, "You know Sofia's doll isn't a chew toy."
"He probably misses her," James reasoned. "I remember one time at Royal Prep after I got Rex, Dad told me that Rex didn't move from his spot after the coach took us to school. He didn't eat anything all day. He finally snapped out of it when we got back, and that night, I told him that I'd missed him too, and in art that day, I drew a picture of him, since we had to draw our favorite animal."
"I remember that," Amber smiled as she stroked Buddy. "But what can we do for Buddy? He can't draw."
"Maybe not, but we can," James smiled. "And I know, he's colorblind, but he can recognize Sofia, or at least a picture of her."
Buddy barked at the idea, dropping Maryanne to the ground before picking her up again.
"Until then, Maryanne is her replacement," Amber smiled a little before kneeling down towards Buddy. "Don't chew on Maryanne. You'll upset Sofia if you do."
Buddy nodded softly, gently biting on Maryanne's string hair.
"He'll be fine as long as he doesn't get into mischief," James smirked, stroking behind Buddy's ears.
"And maybe I can make Buddy a doll that looks like Maryanne, and another one that looks like Sofia," Amber suggested. "That way, Buddy won't have to keep playing with Sofia's original doll. Violet says I've gotten a lot better at sewing."
"I can help you," James offered.
"Since when do you do needlework?" Amber smirked.
"Remember when we were five and I had to have my tonsils out?" James asked. "I was so bored up in my room that Mom and Violet came up to keep me company. They taught me how to sew, since that was what Mom sometimes did when she was sick and couldn't talk."
Amber smiled. She'd almost forgotten about that. "You made that little rag monkey doll," she remembered. "Then when you lost your voice at the funeral, when I came up with your ice cream and orange juice, you were working on a little vest for him."
Carrying Maryanne in his mouth, Buddy had walked out of the room as the twins talked, wondering what to do.
With Rex asleep, there wasn't much Buddy could do except wander, and wander he did as the puppy found himself outside. Carefully putting Maryanne to the ground, he started to dig.
Rex had taught him how to dig, and he sometimes would dig for Sofia so she could feel the dirt with her fingers.
As Buddy started digging, he made sure to keep the dirt away from Maryanne. Sofia wouldn't be happy if she got dirty, even if someone could clean her.
A few moments into his digging, Buddy gave an excited yelp as he found what looked like a good-sized bone. It might have been one that Rex buried, but he wanted to pull it out anyway. When he dug it out, Buddy smiled as he started chewing on it.
While he chewed, Buddy glanced at Maryanne before placing the bone in her lap. "We can share it," Buddy smiled, gently licking the doll.
"There he is!" James called from the distance, having the puppy curl up next to Maryanne.
"Buddy, what are you doing?" Amber smiled. "Did you find that bone and now you're sharing it with your friend?"
Buddy barked happily, nudging Maryanne toward Amber.
"Thank you!" Amber smiled, taking the doll in her arms and brushing off the dirt.
Buddy nudged the bone toward James. "I found this too!" he yipped happily. "I'm going to share it with Rex!"
"Is that yours?" James asked, scratching him behind the ears. "You and Rex can share that!"
"We can?!" Buddy yipped before remembering something important: James and Amber couldn't speak puppy like Sofia could, so he started tugging at Amber's dress.
"You want to know if you can share it with Rex?" Amber smiled, scratching Buddy's ears. "Of course you can! That's probably why Rex buried it, so you could find it and the two of you could share it."
James smiled as he remembered seeing Rex with that big bone. He wondered if he was going to share it with Buddy when he first buried it, but he knew he didn't have anything to worry about. Rex and Buddy had been friends since the day they had been introduced.
He knew that they played together and took naps together, but James had to remember that Rex was an older dog and didn't have as much as training as Buddy when it came to energy.
However, it didn't mean that Buddy was the perfect one of the two, as the puppy demonstrated that by running off in search of something to chew on.
"I'll keep Maryanne in my pocket for now," James suggested. "Sofia wouldn't be happy if she got lost."
"Good idea," Amber agreed, handing the doll over to him. "You've got bigger pockets in your coat than I do in my dress anyway. But we should still keep an eye on both dogs."
"Like we should with Buddy?" James asked, noticing that the puppy had ran off.
"Sofia will never forget us if he's lost!" Amber groaned, sighing in frustration.
"Luckily, I think I know where he's gone," James smiled, pointing toward Rex's doghouse.
Amber followed him, and she smiled when she saw Buddy cuddled up with one of Rex's toys.
"He'll get into mischief eventually," James smirked, peering behind Amber. "Rex did as a puppy."
"Believe me I do," Amber said, rolling her eyes. "And so does Dad..."
"So he got into an important document Dad had to sign! Buddy knows better than to do that!" James chuckled, looking down at the puppy. "Right?"
Buddy looked up at James and started to tug at his sleeve a bit roughly than usual.
"And Sofia's right, we need to work on Buddy's social graces," Amber smiled. "Sure, he bows in her curtsy class, but he needs a little more discipline. But if Buddy did get into one of Daddy's documents, we all know who can fix it!"
"You know I can," James grinned, scratching Buddy behind the ears.
"Oh, James," Amber smirked, playfully rolling her eyes.
Buddy stopped tugging on James' sleeve as he spotted a butterfly and began to chase after it.
"Hopefully he's careful enough to watch out for the mud puddles that came from last night's rain," James said, getting a little nervous about Amber and him watching Buddy. "And we know how Sof tried to feel the raindrops by opening her window before she went to sleep."
"That was probably why she got sick," Amber mused, "She got wet in the rain, and slept in her cold, wet bed."
"One of these days, she'll learn," James agreed. "But I hope she learns her lesson before she catches her death of cold!"
"That's not funny, but I know what you mean," Amber agreed.
James nodded, knowing that since the accident to never joke about Sofia feeling in any way.
Realizing that Buddy was gone, the twins saw a trail of muddy paw prints leading inside the castle.
"Please don't be up with Cedric and Sofia, Buddy," James murmured.
"Please don't be in the throne room," Amber murmured.
They were both wrong, but in a way, James was right. They followed the muddy paw prints to Sofia's room.
"Okay. At least he's safe," Amber sighed in relief.
"Yeah, but the hallway leading up to Sof's room is a muddy mess," James added, "But I'll clean it up while you keep an eye on Buddy."
"Good idea," Amber agreed.