She hadn't stopped walking as she talked. Each step she trudged across the desert was fire on her side, the extensive bruise gnawing angrily at the network of muscles behind her limb. Every breath expanded her rib cage, pushing on it from the inside, though that seemed of little consequence compared to the burning within her starving lungs. Competing for attention, both pains assaulted Ampere, but she grit her teeth in resolution, her breaths growing steady as she regained her wind, and her legs perpetual as she regained her ground. All the while her sights held Megaera firm.

"YES!" Ampere barked back, defiant and unrelenting; she finally was getting something from Meg, was maybe getting through to her. She couldn't let up now, couldn't risk this vital moment where the Sunspear might finally shake her and spring for the borders. "DON'T TURN AWAY FROM THIS!" Ampere roared, then wheezed as she shakily breathed in.

A song came on the breeze then, sharp and sudden. Whistling her name, the spear of the sun was driving for Ampere. Quick as a rabbit in a fox den Ampere set the electrical currents about her shield and hauled it from her back. She barely had enough time, in fact, not enough, not entirely. Like a muted gong the shaft struck her metal barrier, glancing off at an angle that cut through her left wing. Ampere had smartly kept her senses in bringing down the shield, but she'd stupidly reacted on instinct too and flinched down, her wings spreading from her sides for balance as she ducked. It was sort of like hiding behind the couch, but with your foot still sticking out.

Feathers tore free in the force of the impact, but other than the end smacking her wing's upper joint and an early molt, she was little worse for the wear. Certainly nothing compared to the continually torturous reminder of the stitch in her side, but still, Megaera was fighting back. Even if it didn't hurt as much, it seemed liked there was real gusto behind that move, and Ampere gave a low whistle of approval as she slung her shield back between her wings.

Still not enough.
Megaera was just burning on the edge of desperation, but she hadn't broken yet, not enough to keep her here.

"I get it," Ampere proffered her understanding like a consolation prize. Still, she was moving. "I've been there. I was sultana once. Did Megaera know that? Ampere didn't exactly tell anyone, and she hadn't left an impact the way Gaucho had. "Not for long- I failed, and I ran." The blue of her eyes swept over the bay mare, calculating if this was a good move or not, talking like this. "You see the Sun named me Sultana, me. And I thought, he must be mad, he must be wrong, because why would he have picked me."

He'd even crowned her.
Where was that crown now?
She'd lost it...

"He didn't waver though, and I started to have faith." A pause, wondering if she should reveal this next bit or move on... "Until, until I had my first child. His child." Was she about to cross a line? Was Megaera now about to come at her? Maybe she deserved it for what she was about to say. "Except, I was scared, because I'd never been a mother, and children require a lot. I didn't think I was ready, first the herd and now a kid, it was too much so I-I." Ampere stopped, blue gaze flashing. "I ran." A breath. A mistake. "I left my kid, his kid, all alone in the sands." She didn't need to say it, wasn't it obvious? She left that kid to die, because what else could it do at that age all alone?

"I came back, and it was hell, but he didn't burn me on the spot and I've served him and his herd ever since." What's the fucking point? "I failed Megaera. We all fail, we're only mortal." Hell, the gods fail pretty often too. "The point isn't that you don't fuck up. The point is what you do about it when you do." Running ain't it, take it from someone who knows.

"So what are you gonna do Sunspear?" Ampere lunged, feeling close enough now to risk the distance with her speed and her injured side. Her teeth flashed, eager to drive her point into Megaera's hide. "You gonna hide, or you gonna help us piece this fucking herd back together?"

---

A: 3/4
D: 0/1
W: 798/800

Hmm not sure what happened with this post @.@ @Megaera