Masque’s face lit up in a smile as brilliant as the sun. She knew his gnarled face and cleft lip left him grotesque. His smile, twisted and ugly, was beautiful to her lilac eyes. His gruff and rasping chuckle, music to her ears. Her own grin was mischievous and playful. She loved getting the grouchy, hardheaded, muttering male to lighten up occasionally. At least this time he wasn’t exactly growling at her. Giggling, she ran around him still more, dancing in the mists and among the grasses of the river shore.

She paused, head tilting to the side, an ear batting in concern. If it hurt to talk, she would not want to stress him by asking him to do it! So when he asked about her travels she launched into the fabulous tale of the adventures she had been on with her mother.

We explored so many places! Mom took me to the mountains where we looked for trolls and ogres. She taught me that rock spirits are happy to help protect us when we need it. Sometimes, when we listened really close they would lead us to shelters and caves during storms. My favorites were the forests though. Listening to the fairies in the branches and leaves. They always loved to play and sing to us. I chased them everywhere on the ground and they would lead me to rabbits! As she spoke, she continued to jump around him, not getting too close but her movements clearly excited to be close to her friend again. Her words masked the truth of her adventures and the causes of the new marks on her face. Storms had chased her and Taika through the trails and hardships of mountains, sending them deep into sheltering caves. Once the storms had passed they had followed floods back into the forests where attention to detail was all that would bring them to rabbit dens and scarce food. Other pitfalls had clearly befallen young lady, but her smiling face seemed to refuse to see it for what it was. Instead, on one of her passes, she poked her nose into Tychon’s shoulder, inhaling deeply before spinning away again. Tell me about you! You still smell of Spirane! Her smile turned impish. Did you find any magic yet? It had been a challenge of her puppyhood. He had believed everything could be explained by science, save Imprinting. Masque… disagreed.