Alice's nose had never failed the pair before, and Hotaru trusted her bitch to lead her true and find the golden lass they sought. The trail was fresh, odd phantom smells floating through Hotaru's own thin nares. Close, Alice murmured across their bond, one that was almost always thrumming and wide open with activity, their senses melding and minds shifting seamlessly. It had been exhausting at first, migraine-inducing, but now it was almost impossible to tell where one soul ended and the other began. Neither would have it any other way, though they were probably bringing a whole new level to companion-bonded codependency.

Alice, of course, was correct. Hoofsteps paused in the distance, a dim sound to Hotaru but sharp with clarity to Alice as they traded back and forth. Hotaru trailed behind her soulmate, picking delicately through the snow, head tilted elegantly as Rexanna came into view. She seemed to be taken by surprise, though her head dipped obligingly beneath the awareness of her rank. Hotaru gave a demure smile in response to her deferment, her own muzzle dipping elegantly towards her long throat in respectful response. Unaware of the fact that Rexanna could not recall her name, she gave a wry, amused smile at the formal title. "Please, call me Hotaru." Alice grunted almost silently beside her. Lady better, she huffed, but Hotaru shoved aside her sister's commentary. The tension in Rexanna's frame was something she'd rather see gone, at least for now. 

"Can I be of assistance?" Hotaru hummed softly in her throat as Alice sat primly at her foreleg, leaning against her as always when not having to impress others. Hotaru's icy tresses flicked to curl round the delicate bone of her back ankle, tilting her head and assessing the mare before her. "You already have. You've proven yourself to be a competent Phantom," she complimented sincerely, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "I was Thief, before my promotion. I'm glad you helped fill the positions Arah and I left behind," she specifically did not mention the rest regarding the antlered woman, if only for the sake of her own temper. 

She quieted for a few long moments, tasting the words she wanted to say and rolling them along her tongue. "I can't say I don't miss it," she confessed softly, a faraway look in her mismatched eyes. Shaking her head slowly she smiled, telling herself to be polite and charming, her mask beautiful and impenetrable. She could not afford to be nostalgic, not when she'd been granted a higher position that she loved and thrived in. Her people came first, and because of that, Rexanna needed to be at the forefront. As much as it made her cringe inside, the title she'd once held - the one that had made her infamous, had made Ophelia and Illynx respect her, had won ties with the other herds - was one that had to go to the golden mare. 

"But...well, things change. It's your turn to take that mantle, if you will allow me to bestow it upon you. Will you become my Thief?" Eyes turned critical and serious, cutting across Rexanna's face. Hotaru may have been promoting her for the good of the herd as a whole, but the realm Rexanna existed within was her domain. It would continue to be that way, even while Hotaru reigned as Lady. Deimos had no inclination towards it, after all, and Thranduil more often dealt with the others - warriors, storytellers. And perhaps there was even a sense of possession, to use such a personal term. Mine. But Hotaru had always been a more selfish sort.