She is one of the last to arrive.

It's fitting, in a way that she can't truly put to words. When Thranduil does not appear after his soft voice caresses her ears and promises his swift return, her lips turn down into a frown and she steps forth into the rain from the safety of her cave. It chills her almost instantly, wetting her pelt and darkening the blush of her coat to a darker hue of red. The rain plasters her long icy mane against the curve of her neck, but it does little to deter her as she wanders down towards the lake. Alice hounds her on loose, bouncing paws, a silent companion as they follow Thranduil's trail to the east.

Did he run into someone? Hotaru murmurs contemplatively towards the bitch, who chuffs wordlessly for a moment in reaction. He's too sly for that, unless he wanted to be seen. For a moment a surge of jealousy overwhelms the Lady, but she flicks an ear and it's gone to be buried and forgotten until a later date. This had once been his home, his realm to rule alongside her and Deimos. Any nostalgia he felt couldn't be ignored or condemned on her part. Especially when she knew he would disappear soon enough, and she would have to say goodbye to him once more. Until an indeterminable time went by when fate would bring them back together.

Alice, pacing farther ahead, went rigid. The hairs all along her back went slick and flat, and her tail swept between her legs in a display of fearful submission that Hotaru hadn't seen from her since she was but a pup. HOTARU! the hound screamed in her head as she went racing off down towards the lake. The Valkyrie jolted, stumbling and racing after her companion down the rocky shores of the lakeside. It was clear where she was heading, at least - a group of bystanders edging in and blocking her view. Her heart pounded in her chest, fearing what lay at their hooves.

Who? Who is it, Alice?! Their state of mourning was obvious, their bowed heads and slumped shoulders too familiar to her prying eyes as she raced down the embankment in a shower of half-frozen gravel and mud that the rain had brought forth from the earth.

Deimos.

It was so fantastical and impossible an option that Hotaru nearly didn't understand what Alice was saying. That she had responded to Hotaru's question instead of announcing an arrival. What? No, that wasn't possible. It...it couldn't be, could it? He had been in perfect health when last she'd seen him. The Valkyrie should have heard the call of his soul across the spiritual planes, begging her to shepherd his soul away from the mortal plane. He should not have passed without her scythe reaping him from the earth. I didn't give you permission to die, her heart cries in agony as she pushes through the surrounding bodies beneath the sheet of the rain to lay her eyes at last upon his prone, motionless body. It's not time, Deimos. This isn't right. I'm not ready!

She feels less like a Valkyrie, like a Lady, as she stares down upon his body. His corpse. Instead she's the young successor he'd taken under his wing, teaching her the ropes with a gruff, tough love that had helped her flourish into the Lady she was now. He had been there when Thranduil left, when Ashamin left, when Rexanna left. He had been her friend, her protector. Someone like a brother in arms, as she'd led alongside him proudly.

Hotaru had loved Deimos, and the fact that the word had to change tense was devastating for her.

Even though her son, her love, her friends gathered around...the Valkyrie stood vigil over the grandest warrior she'd ever had the honor of knowing. Head bowed and rain pouring against her spine. Alice lifted her head in a mournful howl that echoed eerily across the valley, singing until she had no more breath in her lungs a ballad of goodbyes. Perhaps the magic of the land would carry it into the ether where he could hear it, and know that he was loved and honored in death.

"Rest easy, Reaper. The finest this herd has ever seen." Her voice is low with the weight of her newfound solitude, but it rings heavily across those gathered. She will grieve alone, but for now she allows her tears to slide free without a single twitch of accompanying facial expression. The rain washes it away, but they warm her cheeks nonetheless. "You will be honored." Even if she had to beg and barter everything in her sleeves, she would give Deimos this one last thing. So that he would never be forgotten, exalted in his passing.

Watch over us, Deimos. May we not stray without you here.

This is no mistake, no accident
If you think the final nail is in, think again