Any ill that lay between them, any wounds that had not healed, Hotaru let them all fall apart and fade away. Nothing mattered except the fact that her sister was alive, where the rest of their family had perished. Where Hotaru had failed them. Even Rhea being witness to her weakness was inconsequential. She had proven herself as Lady, and a single viewpoint could be summarily dealt with in the future. But now...now...

Hotaru buried her face into Raeden's pale mane, sucking in her scent like she was dying. It was familiar. Changed only subtly with age and living life in the wilds, but still as present and unique as it had been when they were foals. Like a safety blanket, one she'd been sure had burned and wilted as easily as her parents. But she was here, alive, right against Hotaru's skin. Same height, same age, same soft gold-pink coloring, same pale eyes, same beating heart and burning blood. Twins, two halves of a universe made whole once more. It was all she could have hoped and prayed for, something she hadn't even allowed herself to amuse even in the depths of her dreams. Hope broke hearts, but this...the piece of her heart she'd thought gone for good had finally reappeared to make her whole. Or at least as close as a broken queen like she could be. 

Even hearing that soft butchered nickname was enough to make her laugh, bordering on hysterical, tears streaming happily from her eyes. Ru. RuRu. Come on, Ru! It was like a ghost whispering in her ears, lilted voices too high with foalhood, only to be echoed by her twin's voice here in the present. A name no others had dared to call her by, one she'd never allowed anyways. It had always been meant for Raeden, and at last it had been returned to Hotaru, like a gift she'd been missing all along. 

"You're the one who left," she laughed, though it was shaky with her relief and her tears. Finally she withdrew as Raeden thanked Rhea, though she didn't dare move any further away from her twin. But she did bend and wipe her tears against the insides of her forelegs, lifting her head and clearing her throat softly as she turned and gazed at Rhea, the Lady of her being slipping to replace the frantic joy she'd been exuding. "Thank you, Rhea," she noted softly, perhaps even a bit dismissively. Turning back to her sister she smiled softly and tilted her head back towards the borders where Alice was waiting. 

"Come, I'll show you around."

OOC thingies here