Sometimes it was hard to see herself in them. She had never doubted that of her son. With him, his father remained an obscurity that neither marking nor personality elaborated on, while the girls wore Gaucho in them plainly. If not for birthing them herself she might have suspected they weren't hers at all, so slim were the remnants of her being in their manners and their hides. As she stood and watched the smaller of the two though, she traced the outline of her mark, faint and subtle ones, but surely there if she bothered to look.

The recognition brought some modicum of relief, a feeling that lent itself as a gusty sigh from her nose as her head drop and her hooves picked up. Too often had she been extending grief and hatred as of late, time for a little love, for some bonding. So the Mother of Companions slipped into the oasis from an opposite shore, kicking her way over subtly so as not to startle her girl into remiss. She found it curious the twin was separate from her other half, but decided not to mention it lest she call's Tae attention to it further. Better to have her all to herself for a chance Ampere thought greedily.

As Ampere neared, noticed by now or not, she announced her arrival with a wall of water cast towards Tae from the edges of her wing. Finding loose footing beneath the cool surface, Ampere perched enough to flex her wings back and forth repeatedly, playfully dousing the skull-marked girl. "It's about time you took a bath little flame! You were beginning to stink so bad the vultures were learning your name and the sand mistook you for its sister!" she teased as she settled back into the arms of the water fully, floating and bobbing in place as she relished the cool embrace of the oasis. Nearby Kygo foraged in the trees for fruit, content with Ampere's mood but not his hunger. Messily he tore at fruit flesh, casting many clearly good pieces aside and down towards the wolf, all the while seeming to chatter to himself as he stalked among the leaves.

Laughter rang clearly from Ampere was Tae retaliated with her own water, and though it paled enough that Ampere would barely have had to turn her head, she feigned a greater conquest and shielded herself in defeat behind her larger wings. When the chaos subsided and Ampere was left to float in the water's grip, her laughter dimmed into a bright and proud smile as she overlooked her growing daughter. Yes, she thought with a stronger affirmation, she has some of me.

Still, there was something decidedly not Ampere in both her daughters, something that came out now in the way Tae spoke of grandeur. It made the mare pause, and inwardly even bristle somewhat, for who was this small child to already hold such great dreams? In her own youth Ampere had certainly been bold and reckless and arrogant, but her pride had been in her (poor) talents as an untrained warrior, as a mighty explorer, not visions of infamy and leadership. Then again perhaps her birth into a nomad's herd played a part in that - grown up here, would she have chased after crowns and bonds so readily? The notion made her shudder with a certain apprehension; a cold realization that maybe she would have, so rapidly she pushed it away. Thankfully Tae preoccupied her with grooming, and happily Ampere set about running her teeth gently along the girl's spine, humming a gentle tune as she worked the dirt and debris from her downy foal fluff.

At Tae's question Ampere paused briefly, drawing away slightly if only to cup some water in her wing and run it down the filly's spine. "An old tale," she began with a smiling murmur, her song faded into summons of old memories. "Back when the world was new, when the gods were nearly foals themselves, there was a great and mighty dragon. Mnementh, the Fierce, had earned his name well. His teeth were terrible, his claws terrifying, and his breath, so intense the Sun was said to be jealous." Ampere smirked, leaning back from her efforts on her daughter's bath to enjoy the tale as her expressions retold it. "Mnementh came to know of his greatness over time, and with the swelling of his lands so too grew his pride. Eventually he wondered why he bowed his head to the sun, when surely he was just as great, if not better? So Mnementh got the idea that he should be a god, and so he flew and he flew and he flew, trying to break his way into the heavens." Water drying n her mane caused Ampere to shake it before continuing. By now Kygo had stilled as well and was raptly listening.

"Before he could reach it, if ever he even could, the Sun God came down to meet him. They clashed in a battle so mighty that it was all the other three gods could do to keep the rest of the world intact. It raged on for many days, for Mnementh was an impressive beast, but it was not enough. It is said that because the Sun fought with the strength of his family behind him that he arose victorious, while others say the Sun was always stronger, alone or not - you can decide little one, but the end is the same."

"Mnementh fell back to the ground below. Defeated, he could do little more but lay in the dirt before the Sun. Yet the Sun is not a cruel god, and though he bested the beast and was glad to put that arrogance to rest, he was fond of the tenacity Mnementh had displayed. So the Sun struck the dragon a deal." Here Ampere's eyes gleamed with mischief. "The dragons body was kept in the earth. His scales became the sand, turned red with the blood of the battle and his heart. His breath warms the land for all eternity, such was its heat. His eyes make the oasis, and his teeth and claws the much more treacherous sea around us. As for his soul... well the Sun lifted that into the heavens after all, which is why a certain cluster of stars looks like a dragon at night." Ampere finished, her nose reaching out to tease a warm breath at Tae's skin. Perhaps she thought the stars belonged to the Moon and not the Sun, but that was a different tale to tell.

"So, what will you be known for my love? What will make everyone remember your name. What will they call you in place of Tae, hmm little ghost?" Tae's earlier comment had not left her, and though she frowned upon the ease with which Tae had said it, she was curious too. Confidence was something she would never want her girls to go without, but she noticed they could both due for some modesty too.

That Tae was so attentive please Ampere and put some of her concerns to bed. They are only children she had to remind herself, something continually difficult when they strove to act like adults so soon. Zekle had never seemed to mind basking in his youth, while her daughters seemed to run away from it as quickly as possible. Perhaps that was just the truth of all men though.

"He is always watching," she laughed softly as Tae flicked water at her in her haste. "He protects us," she murmured, "and he's looking to make sure none best his legacy- do you think Gaucho could?" her gaze glittered playfully as she considered the thought. "Hopefully not or he will climb down from the stars to incite another battle!" With her story was getting wildly out of wing now she let it's chatter dwindle back to her question.

Tae's reaction once more surprised the blue mare. She was sure the girl would have rattled off a list of future accomplishments (or perhaps current), but instead the filly fell quiet and reserved. "You don't need to know yet," Ampere murmured in reassurance, reaching out to wrap Tae in the crook of her neck. "All you need to do is live and the world will teach you, so long as you've the mind to watch and listen and learn."

"I think Tae the Little Ghost will be a fine title for you though," Ampere whispered. "or perhaps the stinky?" Pulling back abruptly Ampere threw her wings out to cast another wall of water before making her way back to the bank, clambering up and giving a hefty shake once back on the land.

"C'mon, I know a place where cactus fruit is still growing!"

In her playful haste (she had considered challenging Tae to a race) Ampere realized how itchy she was feeling as the water was drying on her skin already. Although she'd shaken it off, some still dripped down her belly and her legs. Pausing for a moment on their new quest to acquire cactus fruit, Ampere let her nose bump against the ground as she searched and searched in circles. Finally she seemed to find what she was looking for and dropped first to her knees, then to her side, and began some vigorous rolling on either side.

Laying in the sand comfortably, she heard Tae's call and subsequent question. She considered just flopping back onto the ground and laying there for a few good hours, it was certainly preferable to answering that (to be honest it was preferable than most things to Ampere). Snorting out some sand clinging to her nose, Ampere resigned herself to lay on her sternum and regard her clever girl with a heavy blue stare.

"No," she murmured, forcing a smile, I think he's mad at me. "The gods share their wisdom in messages to be deciphered and articulated, but their anger and their punishment is direct and obvious. If a god were mad at you little ghost, you would surely not need to question it." That was the truth.

Grunting as she lifted herself back upright and gave herself another shake, Ampere turned more towards Tae, her nose reaching out affectionately for her. "Magic works in mysterious ways... I might seem a disciple of the Time God, but it's the Sun I serve and respect, I've barely seen the Spark in passing. Our coat colors and markings seem to be just as unpredictable." She stretched out her wings and glanced at them as if to be sure. "We carry certain things of our parents, and our gods, but all the little bits and pieces make something different, make us, well us. You see, you have those spots on your wings like me, and you move spirits like I do lightning. You've got your father's striping on your legs, and his brown too!"

She smiled comfortingly, but even if her words offered reassurance them both, Tae and Grusha certainly behaved more like children of the Moon than the Sun. It had only been a few days between her and Mesec after Gaucho... was it possible they carried a darkness in them from that? Was he their father after all? Mesec was a bright light in the night compared to his mother, but she knew his was a constant struggle to fight his lineage, something maybe fresh foals couldn't grasp yet. The colors could easily be from her mother's side... but no, those stripes were Gaucho's, at the very least.

Ampere's smile fell away with a shaky laugh as Tae's quip plunged like a cold blade into her conscious. Yes, like when I'm mad at you, she could have said, and it would have been truthful, but that was the problem. Was that all she had built their relationship on, obvious anger? There was this moment of course, and others... but she certainly had more memories of yelling at the girls than not, and the distance she felt between them was aided by her as much as them. She'd tried to keep them at wing's length, afraid, furious, repulsed even at times. Shame washed over her.

Her moment of self pity was distracted by the sterling dragon that wafted into existence. At the sight of it Ampere smiled weakly, proud of her attentive, intelligent daughter. Gradually sparks buzzed into life around them, born of the decayed life that had fallen into ruin among the sands. The blue fragments of electrical energy drifted together, melding into a dragon as well. Ampere sent her creation towards her daughter's, letting the lightning lizard dance with his ghost. She laughed.

As the humor fell away, the slow expression of Tae pulled on Ampere instead. Her attention lifted from their designs, settling instead on the pale gaze of Tae, one that seemed so reluctant. She had never seen the twins have any trace of doubt, so that Tae revealed something akin to it now immediately grabbed Ampere, and she focused on it, terrified that it seemed to stem from her. "Of course you are you," Ampere murmured as she moved forward, quickly trying to close the gap, physical or otherwise between herself and her child. Her wings extended forward to wrap her in a hug, her neck curling to pull the skull-marked head into her breast. "And I will always love you for that, for you, my little ghost."

"You already make me proud," she whispered, keeping the moment close and quiet and reverent. "You are so brave, and clever, too clever sometimes! You're talented, and you're a good sister." She leaned back so that she could better look at her girl, smiling broadly, if not a touch sadly. "I just want to make sure you continue to grow up big and strong (and alive), and that you know the way the world works. I do not mean to be angry at you little one, I just mean to teach you right and wrong - sometimes it is not always so easy to know."