From her position against the splash colored mare, Lakota begins to calm down. The tears still leak from her eyes, but the comforting touch does much to soothe the worst of her emotions. Her oversized ears flick back to catch the mare's questions and she mumbles her answers against Vita Nova's leg.

"My momma is Cher-kee. She was with my sister, Aiyana but they didn't come back." She peeked beneath the mare to check and see if maybe they were on the other side, just waiting to surprise her. Neither familiar figure lurked there, however, and she turned her attention back to the black mare that had rescued her.

"Yes," she nodded in response to being thirsty. The thought of the condition made her throat feel dry and scratchy all over again and she looks hopefully toward Vita Nova despite the mention of the creek. Thinking of her mother's milk has been at the top of her mind in the past few days. The prospect of a race, and the potential for some much needed fun, distracts her from even this longing.

She pulls back from the mare, a tentative smile forming on her lips. She'd spent a fair amount of time bumbling around with her sister, who had been her only playmate here in the Inlet. Cherokee had kept them fairly secluded after her interaction with Ironclad, not that Lakota understood any of this. Perhaps in time, she would recognize her dam's shame for what it was, but she was far too young to see it now. "A race? I'm really fast!"

Lakota shifts to take a few steps in the direction of the new target before replying, her tiny tail flicking eagerly from side to side. "I'm Lakota."

The girl skitters a few steps closer to the creek, latching onto the idea of the proposed race to stem some of her fear and anxiety. Belatedly, she connects something that her mother had said to the name the mare has given. Lakota's feet still as she turns back to Vita Nova quizzically. "Are you the Queen?"

What being 'Queen' meant was still up for debate, but in her games with Aiyana, Queen had always meant that you got to boss your sister around.