Artemis remembers when she was a child. She would be found running through the forest, or at the temple talking to her father, Zeus. She remembers running through fields, practicing archery, or playing. Back then it was just fun, a skill to prove she was just as good as any boy. She remembers picking flowers and bringing them home. She loved caressing the silken petals, sniffing their sweet scent.
She remembers her hunters. Every single one. She still is in company of most: they were loyal, loyal to her and their promise. She has most, but not all. She remembers the fair few that died in battle. She also remembers (no matter how hard she tries not to) the huntresses who revoked their status. Who left her for men.
Callisto, she was a fine huntress. She was forced to leave the hunt by Artemis herself. She had gone and tried to fool a goddess! Hiding the fact she was ripe with child! The child of Artemis's father! Of course Artemis had told her step-mother her of this problem. Zeus had turned Callisto into a bear to avoid his wife's wrath. To escape Artemis's fury, the girl became a constellation.
Zoe, her most trusted lieutenant. A daughter of Atlas, the Titan forced to hold up the sky; a burden Artemis was forced to share. She had helped Hercules, only to have her heart broken, and her sisters shun her. Poor heartbroken Zoe left the life of pain, and joined worked her way, and soon Artemis found herself attached to Zoe, caring about than she should. She likes all of her huntresses, but Zoe, she was different. Zoe seemed to understand her, like a sister, almost. (One that she didn't hate.)
When Thalia daughter of Zeus, Artemis's father, joined the huntresses, as soon as they got out of the throne room, she said "I'm not Zoe. I'm not going to replace her, I'm not trying to be her. I'm Thalia, daughter of Zeus. I'm going to be your new lieutenant." The girl kept her word, and slowly she rose up the ranks. Soon she had proved herself, making her name known.
As Artemis stared down, watching her huntresses, one of the original nymphs her father had assigned to her told the goddess she was leaving. Leaving for a young man, leaving all of the other girls, leaving immortality! As the meek nymph tried to explain, Artemis put on a hard mask, laughing coldly as she told the nymph to leave, and never to come back. (Paragraph break) Though her face is stone, when her heart rests she'll remember and grieve this loss. Like she does every time. She always grieves, and she always remembers.