Taika had seemed out of sorts for weeks now. Her thoughts were more scattered than usual and she remained quieter than she had been. Even quieter than after the attack on her pups. The energy that had once filled her with spirit and joy turned to anxiety and worry. Her heart and soul were pulled in two directions, her body starting to take the toll. The glossy nature of her soft fur had started to dull and a strange thinness started to take hold of her features. It seemed as though she were losing herself and she was not fighting the battle to get it back. Therefore, it was up to Masque.

The pup had started to fret about her mother’s emotional slide. She had tried everything within her power to cheer her up! Take her on quests around Taviora, tell her the stories the field mice had told her about the birds, even tried to dance with her under the spring star light. Masque had poured her heart and soul into trying to bring her mother back from the darkness in which her mind and migrated. The effort had not gone entirely unnoticed by the disillusioned mother. Finally, on a day where it seemed her mood had sunk into the joyful puppy, Taika took her to the side and told her a story.

There is a Prince. She whispered to her fanciful daughter. A prince who has lost a part of himself to the darkness, to fairies of the evil courts. I have been searching for him, trying to help him reclaim what he lost. Masque’s eyes went wide, her body trembling with the excitement. But the evil spirits have been trying to sap my powers as well. They are holding a part of me captive and only the rescue of the Prince can save me. His name is Edrick, but since he is missing part of himself he goes by the name of Eldritch. I am doing what I can to save him.

Masque was determined not to let her mother take on this task alone! Immediately she had slipped from her caretakers’ watchful eyes and raced from the land of Taviora and into the unknown of the faerie worlds around her! The spring was fruitful and full of life. Along her path flowers grew plentifully. She picked out a numbers of shapes, scents, and sizes. Gathering them in her jaws she picked to her pace along a trail. The scent was familiar, but strange. It was curious to her, but she could recognize the path Taika had taken to and from this place in the woodlands. She came to a clearing that was thick with the smell of the strange familiarity and she stopped. Placing her flowers in the center of the clearing she looked around with her gold and lilac eyes. She lowered her body to the ground, tail waving behind her just above the dirt. Prince Eldritch? She spoke into the open air around her. Prince? Lady Taika sent me to resc… speak to you! Hardship is better faced with friends! She said I could be your friend.