Masque was completely unaware of her mother meeting up with an old acquaintance. She was far too consumed with playing in the muck to care about the world around her. It did not take long for her honey legs and golden mask to be covered in mud, blending into the black shadows that made up the rest of her back and body. Squelching out of the muck, lifting her paws high she looked like a mud monster being born from the earth to spread chaos and grime upon an unsuspecting land. The pup even made a soft howl noise before jumping back into the shallows to continue her mission of becoming the dirtiest creature to walk the forest.

Smiling in the direction of her wild daughter, Taika paid the other woman as much attention as she could with a child running around. Her breath caught in her chest at the question posed to her. The now familiar feeling of fear raced through her for a heartbeat. It had been every day she relived that day she gave birth, the day she had almost lost her pups’ lives to vicious hungry jaws. A tremble shook her body and she could not answer in time before Liquid Amber continued her words. What she was hearing surprised and shocked her. Leader? Members? She was intelligent enough to know what these words meant, but they had never been used to describe the transient wanderers. Those were words pack wolves used and lived by. Gypsies lived by the leadership of their own hearts. She thought of the others; of Coquette her soul sister, Morrigan and Roman, her own lover Edrick and her Imprint Los, of Dragonfly and even Liquid Amber herself. They were not members of anything. They were held together only by their love for each other and their love for the freedom they shared. The term gypsy was an identity, not a group. Taika searched within herself, questioned her very soul. Were her wandering ways and restless spirit strong enough to stay true to what really sang in the heart of a gypsy? The words grated out of harmony with the melody that had once played in the young woman’s heart. She searched herself. How far would her need for freedom extend? Chocolate eyes looked to her laughing daughter. How far would Masque’s?

She was pulled from her thoughts once more by Amber’s words. A small smile flickered across her lips and the tip of her tail twitched. Seasons ago she would have raced around at the ideas Liquid Amber presented. Today, with the fall of her friend from the throne of Spirane and the fear for the life of her children, she could only feel a soft echo of her lost glee. Maybe Taika had died at the snapping jaws of a stranger, the scars on her own lips the proof of the damage. She did not know if she would have been welcome in the mountains of Spirane now, now that so many of those close to her had left the peaks. Once more she looked to her daughter (who was now resembling a furry sea serpent in the pond). She knew the girl would enjoy such an event. Her grin grew broader. If Dragonfly had anything to do with the story it would be a sight worth seeing indeed! Still, she could not ignore the nervousness in her gut.

I think Masque would enjoy a show! She mused aloud. Perhaps she can convince Soma to go with her. Once more the word members grated against Taika’s senses. It was love of her family, chosen and not, found and sought that held her together. It was a chosen identity, a lifestyle adopted or forsaken, a calling to one’s soul. She blinked, barely able to contain her confusion at this concept and the conflict it brought to her identity. A loud splash and yelp drew her attention back to the pond, where Masque had taken a wrong step and stumbled dramatically over herself in the water. Even through the layers of mud and slime, the girl’s fierce independence shined through her lilac eyes. I do not believe she would could be a member of anything but family and friends. Or follow a leader outside herself. Taika did not believe she could either. Soma, however, she felt was destined for the safety, security, and the stationary lifestyle of a pack.