[It isn't much information, but Huo takes in it gladly: his expression brightens, slightly but visibly, at the mention of animals.]

What kind? [It didn't come to him before, but now he knows, immediately and certainly, that he and animals get along.]

We've conversed through the journals, I believe. [He comments to Smoke.] He had mentioned a shelter for animals, though I had thought that he meant only cats, dogs and the like.