Her heart was a tangled mess, a memory of what was, when she had been strong and valiant and untouchable. She was a trembling doll of the Queen she deserved to be, the one she had worked so damn hard for. The past nights she had put Thranduil from her mind completely, shaken as she was by their encounter and her own confession. She wouldn't allow herself to think of it, to think of her downfall, the one she could sense on the wind almost as easily as Alice could distant prey. Hotaru had pushed herself away, trying not to remember the nights of heartbreak and betrayal in her past, trying to muster up the courage to find her strength once more. The Goddess fight on top of her encounter with Thranduil had destroyed her walls, and she was rebuilding them to the best of her ability. What else could she do? 

Her thoughts went to her children, both blooded and not. Arya had disappeared into the snows, taking a piece Hotaru's heart with her in her absence that would not be filled until she returned. Raeru was similarly wraithlike, though understandably. It still hurt that Aviya and d'Artagnan had reclaimed her, when Hotaru had taken up the mantle before them and allowed herself to fall in love with the lost little girl. And Mirabella, the child that had finally returned to the peaks of the Basin, the one that had valiantly fought against the Moon Goddess, the one that reminded Hotaru so much of herself sometimes. Lost and filled with so much hurt and misplaced anger.

Find? Alice perked up inside her head at the prospect of distraction and a quasi-hunt. Her maiden's heart was as twisted as her mind, and Alice wanted only to spare her from that fate however she could. She didn't understand all the words that had transpired between her master and Thranduil, young as she was. Had been privy only to the tsunami of emotions that had overtaken Hotaru in the midst of it all. 

They were laying together in Hotaru's claimed cavern, watching the icicles melt in the Tallsun heat, counting idly the drops that hit the earth before their noses. Boring, Alice huffed from where she lay against Hotaru's side. Hotaru huffed right back, a small electric ball forming before her nose, pressing it stubbornly down against Alice. It popped with a small electric shock against the both of them, but it was worth it for Alice's yelp, Hotaru thought with a grin as her nose smarted in retaliation. 

"Fine, yes, let's go find her." Alice was on her paws immediately, bounding out of the cavern. Hotaru rolled her eyes and pushed herself to her hooves, walking out of her cavern and following the excited hellhound - easily spotted with the thick black-purple smoke that followed her everywhere she went, in a world of white. Alice awaited her patiently, and the pair struck out into the snow, searching for the girl they were trying not to think of as family. Pack, Alice sniffed daintily in her head, and Hotaru laughed softly, mist tickling her nose in the chill. "Okay, pack. I like that." Pack it was.