Thoth was dead. He had been killed, in fact. His shadow had been cast in crimson, his bones committed to the earth and yet, Beltane had not said goodbye. No, nobody had told her to say goodbye. Balance did not need goodbye. Instead, she had taken him with her, cleaned him out, freed him from the mud and the soil. She had groomed him to perfection, a glistening yellowed-white that no longer reeked, was no longer soiled. Now, she waited with him. Waited for him to tell her the names, to show her the faces that had taken him from her sooner than she had thought; he never said, only whispered. When the moon shone upon him, he would whisper to her: a long day, a long night. She kept him close but safe, always safe. Tucked away in her den, in the shadows, where he could rest all he desired.
But today she had emerged, her eyes narrowed against the light as she snaked through the fields of spring grass. Pollen attached itself to her fur, flowers clinging to her undersides as her paws darted beneath her; her nose lingered but an inch from the earth, inhaling deeply as she sought her prizes: bones, feather, flesh, anything from the other side. She had questions for them all, questions for the trees and the wind but for them especially. She was deep in her work, deep in her own world as she began to dig, blunt claws slashing at the dirt and grass as she began to unveil the remains of what was once a rabbit but now, a tattered remnant of grey fur slung across the yellowed bone of a skull, cracked apart by another's teeth. She almost seemed gentle in the way she tore at the earth around it, her paws working with practiced grace and ease as she paused every several seconds to inspect her work. She had never known another might find her, never considered it.
But then he came, loud and young as he startled her. He landed with a thud, his voice sudden as she crouched suddenly, head whipping around to meet the child's gaze with frightening intensity. Though her lips had dared not raise, her eyes spoke of danger he might not have expected, their intensity much the same even as he spoke.