Hearing the laughter and conversations, one of the knights, Sir Finnegan, came over to investigate. "What's going on here?" he asked.

"Ever since last night, we've been telling stories about how our pets were named, and how we got them," Sofia replied, "Do you have any stories like that, Sir Finnegan?"

"Well, I never had a pet of my own when I was younger, but I think I know just the tale to share with you and your friends, Princess Sofia," Sir Finnegan paused, "It was a few months after your brother became my squire…"

"Oh no. Sir Finnegan, please don't tell them about that!" James pleaded, seeing the smile on his face.

"Yes, Sir Finnegan, tell us about that!" Amber urged.

"No! Please!" James was begging now, but everyone heard the laughter in his voice, and saw him smile.

"Too late, little prince," Sir Finnegan smirked, and began his tale.

Sir Finnegan's flashback

James had only been Sir Finnegan's squire for a few months. The knight didn't know that he was doing extra work to keep his mind off singing. However, he sometimes looked a little pained whenever he heard Sir Maxwell singing something and invited him to join in. James usually refused, but Sir Maxwell said he could sing with him when he was ready. Then a few days after James started singing in public again, he'd gotten another crushing blow: his dog Rex, whom he'd had since he was a puppy, had died in his sleep the day after the karaoke party where James had said he'd never sing behind a closed door again.

"Prince James, are you sure you're all right?" Sir Finnegan finally asked.

"I'm fine," James managed a smile as he looked up from polishing his armor, but the knight could tell that he had something on his mind.

"Why don't you go see if anyone else needs your help, lad?" Sir Finnegan suggested, "I'll be all right on my own for a while, and you've burned the candle at both ends for the past few days."

James nodded, and went to see if anyone needed his help. He saw some of the royal dog trainers, and went over to see if he could be of assistance.

"Thank you for offering to help us, Prince James, and I'd appreciate it if you'd help feed some of the older puppies," one of the trainers smiled.

As he helped feed the dogs, scratched some of them behind the ears, and petted others, James smiled for the first time in days.

A few weeks later, Sir Finnegan saw King Roland coming toward him. "Sir Finnegan, I wanted to ask how it's been having James as your squire," Roland greeted him. "I know you said you didn't have much luck with squires in the past, but I've noticed that James has stuck with it."

"He aims to please, your Majesty," Sir Finnegan smiled. "The eight squires I had before him quit after a day or so, but not him." He didn't know that James had also been tempted to quit, but after a talk with Aunt Tilly, James changed his mind.

At the same time, James, who had been helping Chef Andre in the kitchens with several turkeys for an upcoming banquet, saw that he was running a little late to meet Sir Finnegan. "Is it that time already?" he gasped, seeing the clock. "I'm sorry, Chef Andre, but I've got to go! I'll be back later to help finish up!"

James ran out of the kitchen, forgetting that he hadn't cleaned up, and the strong aroma of hot turkey hung all over him.

Meanwhile, as Roland and Sir Finnegan were talking, they noticed that the dogs were racing toward something, and they sounded excited.

"I've never heard those dogs sound so enthusiastic," Sir Finnegan observed. "I don't see any squirrels around, do you, your Majesty?"

Roland shook his head, and as they looked around, they saw a lone figure coming from the opposite direction. The figure was running, and every now and then, he and Sir Finnegan caught a whiff of hot roasted turkey.

"What the devil?" Sir Finnegan started, but then they heard a shout of surprise as the figure was knocked down and surrounded by the dogs.

"Let's check it out," Roland suggested.

As Sir Finnegan and Roland made their way toward the dogs, they saw that they were all converged around something, yipping and barking excitedly. Suddenly, they heard another sound from the middle of the dogs: laughing.

"James?" Roland asked.

"Prince James?" Sir Finnegan asked.

"Dad! Sir Finnegan!" they heard James' voice from under the pile of dogs who were sniffing and licking him. "Help me!"

"He must have been helping Chef Andre prepare the food for the banquet," Roland observed, noticing that the smell of turkeys was even stronger.

Sir Finnegan nodded, and gave James a mock glare as he looked up at him. "I should be furious that you're late, little prince," he started, but then he smirked. "But I think you've been punished enough!"

"The same thing happened when you were younger. Some things never change," Roland joined Sir Finnegan in laughing as they shooed the dogs away, helped James up and pushed him toward the knights' barracks.

End Sir Finnegan's flashback

Everyone was laughing at Sir Finnegan's story, but James was trying not to as he covered his very red face.

"James, we're not laughing at you, we're laughing with you!" Amber teased him.

"That's brilliant, Amber, but I'm not laughing," James grumbled good-naturedly, but his smile said otherwise.

"Don't feel that way, Prince James; isn't this the knight's job, to tease his squire at every opportunity?" Sir Finnegan joked, mussing James' hair as James pretended to pout.

"Dad, you and Mom aren't going to write that one down for the collection, are you?" James asked.

"You know that was funny, James," Roland smirked. "It was just like when you and Amber were younger. The dogs would act like they were asleep, and no matter how quietly you two moved, they'd wake up and start to jump on you. You always pushed Amber out of the way so she'd be all right and you be on the receiving end of the dogs' tongues."

"We've done that ourselves," Hugo agreed, Desmond and Zandar nodding beside him.

"Well, okay, just so long as I'm not the only one," James agreed at last, allowing himself to smile as Miranda pulled him into a hug.

"I can think of someone else who liked to play with the dogs when we were kids," they heard a new voice. Everyone looked up to see Tilly coming toward them. "I've got a little while before my treat for all of you is all set, so I can tell you all about it."

"Do you need help getting it out of the oven, Duchess Tilly?" Sandra offered.

"No thank you, dear, but since you're as into cooking and baking as I am, I'll give you the recipe, and perhaps one of these days, I'll pop by Orillia and take you and your sister with me on one of my adventures," Tilly smiled.

"That sounds like fun," Sandra agreed. "We can take Zoe with us too. She would have come with me last night, but Mom said she was working on graduation gifts for all of us."

"Whiz-bang!" Tilly smiled, "Now, everyone get comfortable, and I'll tell you the story..."

Author's Notes

Sir Finnegan is from The Silent Knight, and Tale of the Eternal Torch, and he went through eight squires in one week before James became lucky number nine.

Tilly and Sandra's conversation is like a tie-in to chapter 41 of theblindwriter95's Family Love.