As always she felt lightened around Mesec. His presence seemed to soothe her soul, grounding her wayward, sporadic lightning trails into solid beams of light cutting through the dark; he made her into something akin to the stars which could guide your way. She sighed inaudibly as his voice hummed against her ears, relieving tension she hadn't even noticed. How had she let him hide for this long?

In that moment, whether she even realized it or not yet, she decided Mesec was someone she couldn't lose. She hadn't know then, so long ago, just how fateful her meeting him on the beach had been. The moment proved pivotal, in the same way Gaucho bathing in the oasis with her became. There was no denying the sway of emotions she felt for the dark knight beside her, nor for the Wildfire. Yet, there was a clear difference in how they affected her.

His touch rippled across her like wintergreen, tantalizingly cool, yet numbingly warm too. Her hide shuddered in response, invigorated by it. "Always," she breathed with a laugh, their joke as present as ever. "I've yet to manage it, but not for trying." She didn't want to talk about weather today though. She didn't want the storm clouds to gather and the rain to fall, because it blocked out the stars and it hid the moon. If that happened, how could she avoid the fire?

"Mesec..." she began softly, after the jest and the smiles fell away into thoughts and desires that jumbled together. She had never done this before. Whatever she'd had before, she'd never had to think about it or tip toe around it. The feelings came and she acted, and the other responded, hot and sudden the way fires flared up. This was something gentle though, something more precious which took time and patience to cultivate, and she was afraid to lose it the way you lost a good dream when you woke up. She didn't know how to love darkness.

"I-" she stammered, then faltered. Her feathers flared in response as she felt a flush run through her. Shaking her head, Ampere glanced away. "I was thinking the Whatch could use a statue." Not what she wanted to say. She diverted away from the uncomfortable of the unknown, grabbing for anything she could relate to him, and the Whatch was the first thing aside from weather. "Some place horses can meet us easier, to ask for help. Do you know of any stone crafters?"

She didn't know what she was trying to tell him. That she wanted him to what, stay with her? What did that even mean? How could she ask something of him she didn't understand? He was in the herd, it wasn't as if she didn't see him; maybe the winter absence just made it seem worse, made him seem gone. That was it...

[idk]