She had been meaning to talk to him after the meeting with the warriors. She hadn't stopped him then because his anger would have barred her words anyway. Besides, he deserved that anger, then, she hadn't wanted to take it from him or fight with him over it. She didn't want to lose him though, so she knew there was a very small window through which she could reach him again. The herd meeting had been her original hope, but he'd come late and well then she'd been deserving of anger.

Today, she thought with a certain solidarity when she woke up with the dawn. She had been scouring the sands for the ashy boy, but the Throat was large, and other duties at times interrupted her. She even started to wonder if he was still within the land - but his presence at the gathering gave her hope he hadn't left them entirely.

That's when Ampere remembered Feusohm. Maybe she'd always had the thought int he back of her mind and just wanted to try the old fashioned way, the way that took effort and skill and knowledge of someone to find them. Maybe she just didn't know enough to manage though, maybe she wasn't capable, but the try had been there, damnit. Still, she had to find him, today.
Reaching back with the fingers of her electric magic, Ampere pulled the bone-made blade from its sheath by her wings. The once magnificent monster, now reduce to a sloping dagger, stared back at her expectantly as electricity moved through it, holding it airborne as she scrutinized. "Find Cathun," she whispered to it, and in response the tip of the blade tilted, a long finger probing the distance where the fire child wandered. Dark lips smiled weakly and Ampere set out through the sands, following Feusohm's reliable guidance.

By the time Ampere saw him, he was not alone, which gave her hope. Particularly when Ampere saw who it was he was talking to. If Ranjiri was anything like the mare she showed herself to be at the herd meeting, then Ampere knew she was more than capable at saving a life. She still had to try though, she owed that much to him, and she wouldn't rest otherwise. Pulling in a deep breath Ampere moved on, careful not to draw too much attention to herself and interrupt them as she approached.

The conversation carried over, low and troubled, even more so with what bits were said that Ampere caught. Megaera? Ampere wondered to herself, remembering again what Cathun had shouted at her that day. She remembered too how easily the SunSpear had turned upon her at a moment's notice and on little more than empty words. Ampere's lips fell into a deep frown.

"No," Ampere murmured at last as she ghosted to a halt near them, still hesitant to fully join them when it seemed so... private. "I don't think you a coward. Fear has it's role in life, and I am often afraid." She tilted her head, her features gentle but lined with a confusion and a hurt she'd been unable to shake since the meeting. "I just think you're untrained, like most the rest of them. I did not mean to wound you, Cathun, just to rile you, as I'm sure Megaera did when she said whatever it was she said." A last attempt at defending a mare she'd thought honorable, but it was becoming more and more difficult.

Cathun's reaction was like a cold slap across the face. She stifled a sigh, regretting now her decision to approach after all. Perhaps she should have waited longer, until the boy was alone, but would it have ended any differently, with any fewer bristles?

Blue eyes drifted to Ranjiri, thankful for her kind and honest words that had managed to provide this much soothing. A low nod was given towards the golden fringed pegasus, loyalty swaying quickly for the mare she knew so little of. Though at the mention of the stud's necklace, Ampere became lost. For the life of her Ampere couldn't understand the importance of such a bauble in a time like this, or what it had to do with bravery.

She didn't have much time to dwell on it because Cathun was back to growling. Nonchalantly Ampere watched and listened to his tirade, wondering if this is what she always looked and sounded like. She could sense his frustration, the drive behind his words that she wished to mold into something more productive. She had the same thing, and just like him she suffered from being unable to make everyone see what she already saw. What does he see? she wondered, hoping she could know, so that she might better understand him. Ignorance was a lonely place sometimes.

"They've helped me often enough," she replied with a faint, short laugh. "Anger, like fear, has its place." Here her blue gaze glimmered with a wise mischief and her head leaned in closer towards him. "Why did you fight the wolf?" What did you feel child of wrath? Shouting in and of itself wasn't effective, but with the right time, the right place, the right words, it could make a great change. She saw that potential in him; the same intelligence and tenacity he had displayed in the Edge decision.

At his next set of words she did laugh. She couldn't help it really, and she didn't want to mock him, but was he really so blinded? "You think blood is all that makes family?" she asked suddenly, the mirth dying away to seriousness. The play was gone from her electric stare, replaced instead with steel. "Family is having each other's backs no matter what, all feelings aside, because without family you're as good as dead anyway. You're born into blood, you step into family, and you choose friends. You tell me which one matters more." She shook her head, reminding herself not to get annoyed. He was young and emotional and he needed to find out the same way she had when she was his age. Though, where was his blood then, if it seemed to matter so much to him?

"I never said a warrior should be happy to die for strangers," she went on, less certainty in her voice now as she tried to understand the last jumble of what he'd said. She felt like it had to do with her, because he was talking about fighting and dying and living, but when had she ever said half the things he was talking about? Who marked him to die - her? She frowned. "I want you to live, but no life is honorable without work. If you bear the name warrior your job is on the battlefield and that comes with risks, but I hardly expect you to jump into every fight for the hell of it. I'd hardly say that's marked for death" She exhaled gently, nares flaring and eyes watching him carefully. "Perhaps a different job would suit you better." She wasn't sure she had ever met someone so seemingly terrified of dying, at least not in her line of work. Her soldiers knew the risk when they took the name, and many found glory in the fight, death or otherwise.

It was a lot, Ampere was good at talking a lot. She realized that perhaps it might be too much for him as she and Ranjiri seemed to be playing a tennis match of knowledge with the boy, but even so she'd continued, because they were things he needed to hear. Still, despite having ears on his head, she couldn't not assume he heard anything at all. So quietly the blue marked mare sealed her lips, a frown holding them in place. It was not any kind of dissatisfaction that molded the expression, but rather an internal uncertainty of how to save this stallion she saw sinking past her grasp.

With Cera she'd only needed to kick his ass. She would have done the same with this one if only he didn't seem so afraid.

Ampere knew about fear, about running, about feeling like you couldn't overcome something- fuck, that was her life. She didn't really understand how she dealt with it though. She got angry, like him, started a war she couldn't win and has just kept on fighting all other feelings aside. He needed something to fight for, but was it really the herd? Blue gaze drifted to the mare at her side, wondering if the gold feathered girl might be what he needed.

"Why do you keep talking about death and giving up?" she asked after letting silence guide her for a while. There was a firmness to her voice, but nothing hard or demanding. It was true curiosity, and something like a mother's wisdom behind it. "We all die, it's why you make the most of life."

After another moment of silent thought, Ampere tilted her head, that curiosity still in her gaze as she looked at the ashy stud. "What do you want?"

The conversation continued to be very confusing for Ampere, especially when Ranjiri started to talk about broken necklaces causing death, what!? For the most part though Ampere remained silent, letting Ranjiri, who seemed to have better handle with Cathun, talk the sense he needed. Somewhere along the way she figured she might be able to piece together what the fuck they were all talking about.

She was glad she did, Ranjiri talked some good hard sense. Ampere grinned, liking her more and more. Damn, why wasn't she a warrior?

"We do,." Ampere responded to his clipped question, trying to keep the agitation out of her voice. "We've just been a little busy fighting gods and all - and we don't share every personal story that comes our way." Though, he had a point, she needed to ask Megaera what the fuck she had done and said.

Cathun thankfully was reasonable enough to just explain things to her, and readily Ampere listened. She was not at all surprised to find that trouble with a god played a role in whatever chaos he was wrapped up in, but it didn't make it any easier either. He reached for the necklace he wore, as boring of a bauble as any other, or so she thought. When it struck the sand he ignited, the change so extreme Ampere's head lifted, eyes widened, even for all her experience with fire. She was not afraid though, and rather appreciate the burning of his body even as he called it a curse.

She tilted her head as he continued on his tirade, electric gaze shimmering as she watched the creature of flame stalk back and forth, then quiet beneath the embrace of the trinket. She watched him curse the world in so many words, and still she remained quiet, lips pursed with contemplation. When at last it seemed he had tired himself out some, and he was left with that final exhausting statement, Ampere spoke up.

"Why did you want to be king then?" she asked softly, watching him carefully. "Why did you choose to live here, under the Sun God's domain, his fires just as fierce as yours?" She exhaled steadily, "Why, if you don't care about or want to rely on others, did you run so hard and so fast to warn the herd of the bear god?" Why are you even here?

"You act like you don't care, but that's dragon shit. That, that necklace helps you have others in your life - not having anyone is something far worse than any curse, yours included. By its nature your curse would keep you isolated, but this necklace bridges those gaps. Why would you resist fixing it? One god is not the same as another, and no god compares to the evil that lives inside ourselves. You would do yourself a disservice to let that necklace fall, and you would blame the gods but it would be you Cathun that would have done it."

"That you've been dealt this fate is a terrible thing, but you cannot change that, you can only make it better, you can only fight for the things that you deserve. You deserve a life like this Cathun. For someone who's already cheated death why would you fear it? Conquer it, you are more than capable."