With winter's last dying breath she wanders from the northern reaches to the southern lands, a memory of gifts and celebration ringing in her mind like silver bells. It's a leisurely journey - whatever she misses, it isn't of much consequence for the rose woman. Trinkets and jewelry lay in her cavern in abundance. Riches and gold and everything a gluttonous matriarch could desire decorating her lean body or the corners of her cavern. So why is she here, where the crowds thicken and the voices hum in jubilation? Where magic and happiness clouded her senses like a thick cloud?

Mate? Alice whispers in her mind, a flash of intense gold eyes and a warm, rare smile flashing like a faded snapshot in her mind's eye. For a moment Hotaru wants to reject it, if only out of some sense of pride or independence. Some lingering notion of not needing anybody, much less a lover. Not after Ashamin, after Thranduil, after Tingal. But she can feel the metal on her breast, tingling with sympathetic magic. She knows he's here, somewhere, and there's no point denying that to Alice.

Yes, mate. Can you find him? The hound's eyes have no pupil, just black depths, but Hotaru suspects there is a shine of anticipation in them nonetheless as the wolf mutant turns and runs into the fray, nose low and smoke billowing behind her as she passes.

While she waits the Valkyrie stands to an empty side of the beautiful glittering tree, her bicolored eyes revealing her awe as the colors wash across her skin in a myriad of shades. It truly is beautiful. But then the metal on her breast warms and she lifts her head, the pull almost tangible. Mate! Alice cries happily in her head, and her hooves quicken. She excuses herself softly, prim but dismissive, her goal already visualized.

He is striking in his wolf cloak, the backdrop of snow only aiding in separating him to her eyes, letting him become her whole world and focus. She slows as she comes near, knowing the happiness her Celtic knot necklace must be projecting to him.

"Thranduil," she calls softly for his ears alone, the wind tousling her pale locks as she smiles lovingly at him. An expression she is only recently growing accustomed to once more. One she holds private and dear, but one she simply has to show now that he is here before her.

Hotaru slides up against him as easily as breathing, his warmth meeting hers as she turns to bring her warm muzzle to his in intimate greeting. Eyes warm and punch drunk with his presence. Alice ventures off to greet Haldir, but Hotaru only has eyes for the golden illusion before her. "This tree really must deliver presents if I found you here," she teases softly, even if the undercurrent of sincerity and love is perhaps too revealing. Nips along his muscled shoulder in a move a bit too passionate, but she can't help it. She has missed him desperately. Not living with him any longer...the distance between them aches sometimes now that they are sure of where they are with one another.

She gazes at him beneath the flickering lights and thanks the magic of the night for bringing them together.