The stench of death could be smelled for almost two miles and Valour, who had already wandered quite far from his mother's side was drawn toward it. He knew better than to get too close to the falls and spent nearly an hour looking for a safe way down, eyeing the still and familiar form laying on shore below. He knew inside his head who it was but he couldn't prevent his paws from taking steps closer and closer until his eyes confirmed it and he had no choice but to acknowledge the fact that his father had died. His body had begun to rot the sweet stench making his stomach recoil and he backed away, lips quivering as he fought the urge to vomit. He had always been drawn to beauty and to the more aesthetically pleasing gore in life and this....this was not pleasing. It was sad and he hated being sad, he especially hated knowing that his mother would never have his father by her side again. He couldn't comfort her or support her, he knew he was but a child and that she would be the one to care for him and Bronwen alone now, an entirely unfair thing in his mind. So his decision was to run away, find a home where she wouldn't have to worry about him. He stared at his father in disgust and turned, running off in fear that his mother would catch up with him even though he wanted her to. 

The young mother knew.
He'd promised, but she knew.
The sunset when he'd slipped out to go for a walk, just for some water. She knew he wouldn't return that night. She'd found the body the next morning, laid beside her late husband and wept until she had no tears left in her eyes and the flame in her heart had all been extinguished.
That night, when she still lay next to his cold body, Phex looked to the sky and saw Laroche's star. That would be what she'd call it. 
Only knowing her children needed her pulled her away from his body that night and was sure the smell of death clung to her.

And now, Valour knew for certain. She watched from afar as he paced a the top of the fall, his whimpers crushing her heart.
She let her son run, not expecting him to leave. But in one way, she was grateful she didn't have to look at Valour Laroche again. In every other way, her heart shattered into the trillion night-stars even more.
All she had left in the world was Bronwen.