"Gaucho never say Midas was good leader." He corrected immediately. Perhaps he had at one point, but he certainly didn't think it any longer. Too much had transpired between the deceased paint and former Sultan. Gaucho didn't break his loyalties easily, but the knife Midas had placed in his back made it all too easy. "But no. Gaucho not follow him. Still, Gaucho think relationship between Ophelia and Hotaru different than Midas and Gaucho." He flicked a wing slightly out from his shoulder, as if to indicate that he knew this wasn't the point she was trying to make. That Hotaru was more concerned with attaining a title and continuing to do Ophelia's business demonstrated to him that he had been correct - their relationships were nothing alike. Still, the point mattered little. The dun moreso wanted to hear their version of the account - a version Deimos fleshed out in his own way.

Gaucho's dark ears swiveled to the Reaper as he spoke with almost no emotion about the crimson lady. He exhaled something like a laugh as Deimos revealed he had once nearly killed Ophelia. "Gaucho almost kill her once too." He interrupted, his voice without mirth or remorse. Falling silent, he listened as Deimos iterated Ophelia's strengths, followed ultimately by labeling her a traitor. A deserter. Was that really the case? Surely the Reaper did not identify everyone who left his herd as a deserter?

Ah well, it didn't matter.

Drawing a deep breath, Gaucho focused - likely as Deimos wished he had from the beginning - on the question at hand. What were they going to do? The only real reason he had ever agreed to an alliance with the Basin previously was because of Ophelia. Without her, the Wildfire had little reason to continue upholding that agreement. Then again, without something in place, he would have to divert resources back to guarding his family against potential attacks from the unicorns. He had enough to worry about with the murders and his herd politics at the moment, and would prefer not to add the Basin to the burden he already carried.

And yet .... He didn't trust them. Not fully. Not without Ophelia.

"Who to say that in another season Hotaru not be gone too? Then Deimos come back and we have this talk again." Gaucho flared his flaming wings as if in a shrug to indicate that such a scenario would be undesirable for all. "Gaucho come to Basin in TallSun and we see then. Until then, Throat and Basin may trade openly. If anyone from Basin steals from Throat, Gaucho consider that a violation of this agreement. " Ophelia's words from the icy caves seasons past rang in his ears. She had accused him then of not setting clear terms, and she had been right. He wouldn't make that mistake again.

"Agreed?"