Katja was less then receptive to Raisa's insistence. For a long moment that only served to aggravate her more. Gods damn it all! she cursed to herself, thoughts dripping with acid and malice. Why did no one understand! But then... she heard the pain. She felt it somewhere inside and saw it displayed with neon vibrancy in her companion's features. Katja's oath had bound her body and soul to Raisa's cause and in her eyes that failure was something so tremendously tragic. How could the once-Queen stand there in anger as the warrior before her crumbled... As her friend...
Raisa sucked in a breath and stepped forward, closing the space between Katja and locking her bi-colored eyes with Katja's own steely orbs. "And if you die," she began with a calm serenity so far removed from her previous speech it was startling. Perhaps it even spoke of insanity. "Who will stand beside me to bring them home?" Breath hot and pluming in the autumn air, a year ago Raisa would have been welcoming the neighboring regents into her lands for a Harvest celebration...
"I still need you," she rasped out. It was the truth. Both in body and in spirit. Where Raisa was riddled with weakness Katja was strong. Where Raisa's moral code was little more than smoke in the breeze Katja was ironclad in her dedication. It was painfully admirable, and if Katja were to to abandon her... The thought sent a shudder racing through her core. It would be the final straw that fracture her already tenuous recovery. "My children were not lost, they were stolen. You fought for them, risked your life and blood... Nothing more than I could have done. And if you leave me all hope is lost. They are lost." I need you Katja, she thought with blinding intensity. She had not realized the potency of her inability, until she stood in the presence of this holy creature once more. I need you...
![[Image: Kxe2eLS.png]](http://i.imgur.com/Kxe2eLS.png)