It seemed Mara was only partially right.

Gaucho listened, understanding easily for Tae had taken to their native language (or at least, his native language. He supposed the girl had two, having been raised in this place) quite easily. Still, it didn’t make her words any easier to bear. The dun’s dark ears flickered with her words, and his head bobbed slightly at the conclusion of her questions. He wanted badly to take her in his wings, to let his fire bleed away the ghostly magic overtaking her body and to make her feel loved and protected once again. Why would she be asking these things of him if she didn’t feel that way?

The dun sighed.

”Gaucho nesat yer mai, akka.” He offered immediately, with a snort that sounded more like a bitter laugh. And it was true. What wouldn’t he give to know where Ampere had gone? To know what had pulled her away from her home and her family? He felt that she wasn’t dead - quite literally. Somewhere deep inside, he thought that if she had died, he would know of it. Did Tae feel the same? Or had she felt something? Was that why she was asking?  ”Gaucho vos nesa.” He concluded, lowering his head slightly and allowing his daughter to see the weariness that he allowed to spread across his features. ”Me lei…” His eyes pulled away from his daughter, looking out into the vastness of the sea that now surrounded the Throat on all sides, as if to indicate that Ampere could be anywhere out there.

As for her second question … he really didn’t know why Zero would lie. He knew that the bond between Ampere and Zero was quite strong, and so if he didn’t even know where she was …. Again, he wondered what it was that could have pulled her away. ”Gaucho vos nesa,” he repeated with a shrug. ”Ishish vijazerat Tae?” That was the most likely answer, though a rather naive one. Sooner or later the truth would be revealed and his lie would surface - as it did. Why he thought that it might protect his younger sibling, Gaucho didn’t know. And despite the lie, the dun did find it moderately comforting to know that the lightning etched boy was looking out for his family, even if it was in a mistaken manner.

Her final question halted Gaucho in his tracks, despite the fact that he hadn’t been moving. He felt rooted, and almost as if a spear had been cleanly thrust through his heart. How could she even think such a thing? ”Kifindirgi Tae-” He began, but quickly broke off. In his mind, Mara showed him an image of Vinati, and suddenly it made more sense. But Tae was still just a girl. How could she be expected to understand the complexity of the relationship that he had with the blue and the white?

”Vos.” He replied simply, and then despite his child’s obvious wishes to speak with him not as a small child, but as one deserving of his answers, he moved forward and draped his wings around her small but growing body. ”Avvos. Avvos dirgat.”