If truth be told she was getting sick of Gaucho's summons, of Gaucho in general. The fantasy she had always created of him within her mind proved to be an entirely different thing in reality once she was living beside him, governed under him, losing to him (not that that should have been surprising but a girl can dream). So when those damn flaming eagles shot into the air once again she let out an audible groan, head lifting from the oasis where water proceeded to dribble down her chin.

Her features scrunched up like she had eaten a sour pear, but she caught sight of herself in the pool's reflection and quickly wiped it off with a shake of her head. This is different she thought with an internal chastising. Gaucho was not quite Gaucho at the herd meetings; he was the sultan. Whatever he was summoning them for would be something useful to know, Ampere could at least give him that. For all his faults as a fantasy lover, he was capable as a leader, in most aspects (not that she had the right to judge).

Doing her best to swallow her personal feelings for him the Mother of Companions shot into the air, arriving with the rest of the herd before the the Wildfire.

---

His first words stunned her into silence. Prisoner. The word was like a hot brand sizzling across her heart, burning it up and sending fire into her veins. At once her feathers bristled, teeth set on edge, blue eyes flashing like lightning in a dark storm. She wanted to cry out, to run up to him and beat him across his stupid, handsome face. Internal questions racing around her skull withheld her though, itching so badly she had to scratch them with her attention, so much so she nearly missed her announcement as Gladiator, only faintly registering her name and then frantically asking her ears to echo what was just said.

He stunned her once more, the title a badge of praise and acceptance. Why she asked, echoing her thoughts on the prisoner. He had defeated her with relative ease during their spar, how did that prove she was fit to lead their fighters?

And finally his last admission, of applying physical handicaps to himself, in the middle of a killing spree sweeping Helovia, two of whom had been residents of their herd, and now their leader, their strongest fighter, was going to cripple himself?!

Ampere could not contain herself any longer.

Electricity bristled at her feet where sand unknowingly became sparks. She took two bold steps forward, her features tight with displeasure as her gaze narrowed upon the bay titan of fire.
"Why in the Sun God's name would you imprison someone!?" she roared, her wings flaring out with her words, her body a coiled challenge to everything he just explained, to everything he did. Somewhere deep inside she knew this was foolish, disrespectful in front of the herd, but her self control was still something being learned and there were too many things here to set her off.

"If you have a point to make then beat the miscreant in a fight, but do not hold them PRISONER! That is the worst," she seethed, barely able to form her words as her teeth gnashed in a fit of rage around them. She'd heard what he said about what the pink spy had done, but there were few, if any, crimes worse than imprisoning someone in Ampere's eyes. If the spy took something off someone's body, then you take something off of hers, but do not tether and bind her.

There was more to be considered than just the ethical implications as well, though int he heat of passion they were not the first to Ampere's mind, they existed there nonetheless. The pink horse would now be another task for them to oversee, another mouth to feed, one which they could not trust, and one which would probably have others looking for her. All the while surely there was someone looking for her, and soon enough they'd be knocking on their door, perfectly timed with Gaucho's insane impairments.

What the fuck was Sohalia doing!?

"Horses will come for the spy. We have to use our resources on the spy. And you will be weaker during all of it." Ampere had calmed somewhat, her initial explosion finished, though it simmered at the surface of her flesh. "Why take a prisoner?"

Buce's words were like a mouse dancing in front of a hungry snake. Ampere's turned to him in an instant, whatever love between them lost under the searing outrage that fell from her like a storm. Fangs bared, she struck at the mouse.

"THIS IS INJUSTICE!" She roared, the buzz word like kindling to her flames. In what world was it just to imprison a life for a crime of desecration? Dead bodies were dead, their souls faded and with it whatever freedom belonged to them. When the light left they became little more than misshapen earth waiting to be weathered. "This is a crime worse than that and thousands of others." She rounded upon him, wings an arc of fury as her voice came like a whip to each utterance he made. "Then give her scars if your so worried. The phrase is an eye for an eye, not an eye for a life."

When at last Gaucho spoke up however, his words broke through her clouds, head twisting over her shoulder to watch him with an icy stare. In an instant her storm settled, becoming an internal rampage of questions and disbelief rather than an exterior display. The spy had... come willingly? The truth was a blow worse than any physical one either of them could have delivered to her for her insubordination. Humiliation swelled like a tide in her chest, tight and cold as the waters of the emotion seized her heart, choked her windpipe. She had stood up for this mare and her life, and for what?

Ampere turned away from Bucephalus, stewing, falling. She had never known someone to willingly give up their freedom... well companions, but they were infants and she did not fault their choices which were forever bound thereafter. The spy however was grown enough to act, grown enough to choose correctly. Morse so the unfairness of it all was her choice was not a permanent one, like the companions. Even now her herd could be working to take her back, and all the while she gets away without bruises and a nice time in the paradise of their land. What kind of justice was that?

Too absorbed Ampere didn't afford Megaera more than a glance to her attempted intervention, and even then it was the robust posture of the warrior mare that drew her eye, not the useless words. Still, the bay seemed to catch herself, though she had little to be worried about. Ampere could hardly fault the mare for acting out when she led with that example against her own superiors. She preferred honesty though, and honesty did not impede her ability to follow or to act, something which gaucho likely knew given his inclination to promote her. Ampere trusted Gaucho as their leader, trusted in his strength and his decisions (usually), but she would not blindly follow his hoofsteps. At the very least he would always know where he stood with her, and Ampere could only ask the same of her warriors. They needn't bow to her, simply fight for the Throat when the need came.

In that, she had no worries.