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Taima, Satika was determained to believe, was a gentle and sweet natured infant. The little girl just... hadn't realized it yet. Somewhere, beneath the exoskeleton was a good heart. And as soon as Taima realized it, the leather sheath could be taken off her tail. Until then, the claws were enough to contend with.

Animals, she'd decided, would be the key to unlocking Taima's hidden heart. They would get something for the infant to grow up with and love, something that she could nurture. And that would bring out her gentle side. A turtle, maybe. Or something that moved fast enough to avoid the dangers that those claws presented. Satika would not tie them. They were the only hands the poor girl had.

And so it was that she was in the pet store, Taima on her back, peering into cages and tanks. She wore a long, flowing brown skirt, and a matching shirt in softer earth tones. The bunnies currently had her attention, reaching into the pen she ran her fingers over their fur with elegant, gentle fingers. On her back, Taima snapped at the air and sucked furiously at her pacifier.

Satika spun at the man's voice, she'd been so caught up in the rabbit that she hadn't noticed his approach. The movement flowed elegantly into a perfect curtsy, and if she noticed that he was apologizing, she certainly didn't show it. She lowered her head, her hair falling forward to hide much of her face, her eyes focused on his feet.

"I should have been more aware of what trouble Taima was getting up to, Sir." She responded, her musical voice gently deferential. She rose than, in an equally liquid movement, though her eyes remained on his feet. Gods forbid he think her a negligent mother. "My daughter is often confusing to those who first meet her."

Taima was also screaming now, confused by all the movement and the sudden appearance and disappearance of a new play thing. She allowed herself to be removed from her backpack, snapping angrily at the air until the musical shushing sounds eased her anger. Her claws lowered, though her black eyes still glared out at the world.

Satika shifted Taima's weight to a more comfortable position in her arms, and studied the young meerkat. "I am sorry for the confusion, young sir. Might I offer you a meal in apology for the trouble?"

Satika allowed the man to speak, bouncing Taima gently and keeping her eyes downcast as she did so. He seemed friendly enough, if strange in the way all Gaian men were strange. And yet another man wandering about with a child at his side. Did the women of this world know nothing? Nevermind.

"Yes, she is Taima. And I'm Satika, wife of Hasaren." Nevermind that he was long gone and unlikely ever to return. He was her husband and he was not, to her knowledge, dead. If the required time passed without him, she would mourn. But until then, she was still his wife. "Might I be honored with the knowledge of your name as well?"

His next words startled her more, but the serene mask of her face showed none of it. "I assure you, sir, that my daughter will show all proper decorum. You needn't worry about the future safety of your son."

The boy's question was greeted with a smile, and a slow thoughtful nod. "I would need to consult your mother on some appropriate recipies, but I would be more than happy to prepare them for you. I fear they are not a normal ingrediant in my diet, though I'm certain they are very good."

Oh! The poor dear. While she maintained a properly calm expression, a hint of pity entered her eyes as she looked down at the boy. No wonder his father was out with him. To have lost a mother so young. It would be hard, healing from that. At least he was a boy. That would make it easier.

And his father would find a new mother soon. Time healed.

All the more reason to have the child over for dinner, though.

"Then I shall simply have to discover a recipe myself, young sir."

Perhaps she would have said more, something appropriately comforting, but Taima chose that moment to spit her pacifier out in an arc that landed it in the ferret pen. She then began screaming fiercely, her claws waving in the air and clicking angrily at nothing.

Forgetting, for the moment, her duties to the man addressing her (for every woman was a mother first, as the gods demanded) she adjusted the small girl so that Taima's head was on her shoulder, and bounced her lightly, crooning in a soft musical voice in a language of murmurs and soft hisses.

Reaching in carefully, she grabbed the pacifier from an albino ferret already attempting to play the thief and tucked it away in her bag.

"My apologies." She murmured, when the fussing began to die down a bit. "She is young, and does not like my attention to be split."

Well, at least the boy wasn't lingering on the loss of his mother. Poor pet. Satika could only hope that there was some aunt or grandmother living with the family, someone to give the poor child guidence. She bounced Taima lightly in her arms, in an effort to keep the infant quiet.

"You flatter me, little sir." Satika responded, watching with a smile as the boy departed. He could use a few lessons in manners, that little one. But without a mother, what else did one expect. He was still sweet.

"A great pleasure to meet you as well, sir." She responded to Patrick, swooping into another curtsy, an interesting action with an infant in her arms. "May Liasar's grace find you."

It seemed the appropriate thing to do, calling upon the goddess of the home for the poor man. Surely, he could not long leave his children without the comfort of a woman. "Be well."

Knowing a dismissal when she heard one, the woman disappeared deeper into the shop, murmuring sweet nonsense to the infant she held.