She'd taken the circlet as it collapsed from Hotaru's ruined skin, her magic whipping it to safety in the space between her wings. She'd stood for a moment then, watching the proud mare finally crumple. It had not been a good moment. Maybe it was that sickening sound of bone snapping, something symbolic of a soul or strength waning into something far lesser; whatever it was it hadn't been satisfying in the slightest. She had won, and she had done so correctly, but leaving Hotaru like that, with the wolf baying like the world was ending, seemed like something that she'd never be able to shake.

What's worse was Hotaru's forgiveness. It pressed like a weight on her as she flew (maybe it was just the return of her shield...). "She stays anyway," Hotaru had said, and Ampere's jaws clenched as she coasted across the skies, recognizing that loyalty int he canine whom always ran back to Hotaru's side whenever something went amiss, including the silence. She knows no one else, Ampere tried to reason, unwilling to admit she was wrong, that she could be wrong. Wolves are pack animals, of course she'd stay....
"She fights with me, not for me..." came the haunting sound of Hotaru's voice in the back of her mind. Ampere shook her head, embittered. She is influenced by emotions because of the bond... she is the child, and Hotaru the mother, so she fights because she feels it. I would fight for my child out of love, but I'd know it was all mine, all my choice.

She went over this several times more in her head, arguing with the pink bitch who wasn't even present. How had she somehow come out better than Ampere at the end? Was that the power of forgiveness? Ampere snorted.

"Stay in the trees," Ampere bade to Kygo. The bird was happy enough to oblige after their long flight, though he was curious why. Ampere didn't often speak to him, and never commanded him. His curiosity nearly bid defiance, but again, his laziness won out and he flitted away. Ampere meanwhile donned her tiger's pelt, her electrical hands pouring it over her body to shield herself. Gently she melted away into nothing, into someone else, into Thunderhead.

She followed Feusohm as he pointed towards Destry, sheathing him when the mare appeared on the horizon. Her identity cloaked, she swooped in fast and high, leaving no time for her to be noticed until it was too late. The circlet was gently tossed down towards the dark mare, a stone with it, electrically branded with the Whatch's mark. Then Thunderhead was up and gone, chasing up the sky and into the clouds to vanish.

DARKEST EVE - BRIGHTEST DAWN
THE WHATCHING SHIFT - GOES EVER ON

THROUGH ICE AND FIRE - WIND AND RAIN
WE STAND VIGIL - BREAK THE CHAIN



IF WOUND DOES BLEED - IF HEART DOES SOUR
THE WHATCHING SHIFT - ENDURES EACH HOUR

HEAR US NOT - SEE US FEW
WE STAND VIGIL - 'TIL JUSTICE DUE