The Beasts were at once terrifying and awesome…

but they fascinated Suki. They had small pointed ears, antlers, and big furry bodies with long smooth tails that ended in a fluffy brush. They were most often black in this part of the world, but Suki had seen them tri-colored… white, with orange and black patches like the quilt on her cot. There were some that were reputed to be patterned, and some, very, very rare, that were smoke gray. Suki’s older cousin had seen a solid white one – just for a moment, and then it was gone. The Beasts were like that. They were there, grazing, for a minute and then – BAZAM! – they were gone, leaving behind only paw prints in the field grasses and a rush of wind…

Suki closed her eyes, but she couldn’t sleep—her mind was boiling like water. Use those powerful lords of the field and forest to go places?! She never slept a wink that night, but oh, how she dreamed! She thought of fields of flowers, and swift-footed Beasts… and her beloved Papa, who had simply vanished.

She jerked her head around in response to motion in her peripheral vision. That same Beast was dropping his nose into a fresh row of candleblossoms, walking along, placidly eating his fill like a woolly-yak or a goat.

If I can avoid scaring him, maybe I can ride on him! Suki thought.

Ride the gentle, giant Beasts along with Suki and help her find her papa as the Beasts eat flowers on their grand Sudoku Odyssey.