Round 130 Special Prompt

It was the season for fireworks, and it made Tek remarkably tense. While loud noises didn't bother the dog too much (he'd grown up around guns after all), they bothered his herd of goats greatly. And when the herd was on edge, it put Tek on edge too. A herd that was nervous would make more rash decisions, so Tek knew that he would have his work cut out keeping them safe. More than once he'd been forced to track individual goats down and return them to the herd after they'd been startled by a firework and run off. He was exhausted.

But the new year did have something positive to bring for Tek. The Slate Mine estate had a sister organiation called the Shadow Cove ranch. Each year, Shadow Cove borrowed half of the goat herd to help with their race horses. At the start of each year, they switched the members of the goat herd around. Some would come back from Shadow Cove now that their horse's career had changed or ended. Others would leave Tek and go to the ranch to be assigned to a horse. It was a bit of a chaotic time, but Tek enjoyed reuniting with familiar faces and hearing all of their stories.

He just hoped that the fireworks would be over by then. The last thing he needed was for the newcomers to immediately go missing.