She almost doesn't come.

It wouldn't have been due to any form of protest, but rather because depression weighed so heavily on her, that Ampere barely has the will to eat, much less attend herd duties. It is perhaps only because of her new child's need to survive that she even finds the strength to get up each morning, to push whatever bits of foliage into her mouth that she does... but will it be enough? Gaucho was her sun, and without him she now stumbles in the dark, guided not even by stars or moonlight (for that was Mesec, and he was lost too...). Ampere only has the random forks of lightning to lead her, and then only when a storm is raging.

She almost doesn't come, because she is lost.

Only because she was near enough does she answer the call, her child in tow; Kygo played a large role in encouraging her too. So she stands, kind of - she's a bit woozy on her feet, as adrift physically as she is emotionally - and barely focuses on what is said. That Sikeax stands up there and says anything at all is just another reminder that he is gone, and that in and of itself is crippling to Ampere.

Now that the heat of the moment (or lack there of, given the loss of the Wildfire) is gone, Ampere is tangled up with despair instead of anger. Initially she'd needed someone to blame, as we all are prone to want when things get fucked up. Because without blame we feel even more hopeless, because how else can we fix it so there's no tragedy again? How else can we move one, if not to punish someone and feel better? Someone, something, has to have caused it and be held accountable. It had been easy enough for Ampere to put this on Sikeax, the head healer. Why hadn't she helped him sooner? Why hadn't she done enough to save him? Did she want the crown all along, did she sabotage him? such dark thoughts ailed Ampere, and still did, quietly whispered somewhere in her scattered mind. Even though she had always liked Sikeax before, even though the God of the Sun found her worthy to give the crown, it hadn't been enough to keep Ampere's blame at bay. Those are rational things, but grief is anything but, and it is cruel to expect sanity from such a significant sadness.

In time, perhaps Ampere would find her mind again, but this was not that time. Gaucho's body was still fresh, his mark upon nearly every inch of the Dragon's Throat - and certainly in half of its inhabitant's bloodlines. She hoped the herd, her family, would not hold her torment against her when its cause was so clear - she hoped they would not turn so violently against her when her heart was torn from her chest and burned to ash alongside the corpse. All that she had done for this land and its kin, surely meant something after all this time - it surely meant she could at least mourn.
At least,s he might have hoped these things, thought these things, if she'd any notion to consider herself and the situation. All she could see was what was no longer present though. Gaucho.

There was something Sikeax said that got Ampere's attention though. Surely, if she'd been in a better state of mind she would have assessed Volterra, an inevitable judgement given his important role and the fact she use to have it. Likely she would have found him acceptable, given what seemed to be a noticeable affinity towards the battlefield just by looking at him, and given that she knew she was not in a capable state to take up that reign once more. Except that wasn't it, and Ampere wasn't of sound enough mine to care enough about a complete stranger holding such a rank.

No, What Ampere paid attention to, was Sikeax's proclamation that they imprison what appeared to be a wholly innocent group of horses.
Gaucho hadn't taken all of Ampere with him when he left, just the good parts of her, the parts sunlight had always been able to touch.

"NO!" she screamed out suddenly from the crowd, her eyes bright as the blue lifted from tracing some shadow on the ground. Fierce, they locked onto Sikeax. "We cannot rip the liberty away from someone, least of all for such an empty reason! The Unbound hasn't wronged us, you're just annoyed by their presence? Unbelievable!" her words were flung like spit from her maw, such was her rage. Around her sparks danced to electric life, drawn forward by her strong emotion. "Do you intend to begin as a tyrant, Sikeax the Freedom Slayer?" Sikeax the Fire Killer.

What was most shocking perhaps, was the lack of other voices she heard. Was the rest of the herd okay with this, this breach of integrity?!

Ampere's love for Gaucho was massive, and the loss of him halved her, but the roots of her ethics ran deeper than her heart, and they bristled now from the very marrow of her bones.