Mouse shook her head again. "We have traveled far, and will travel further. Our troubles will not dog your door."<br/><br/>But she fixed her gaze upon the son. "You lost someone dear to you, did you not? Someone who will soon be forever beyond your reach, even with your people's command of dark arts." Truth be told she knew little of necromancy, but she knew that kidnapping was worse than death to corpse-eaters like these, for one spirited away would<em>never</em>return.<br/><br/>"There is not a man, woman or child behind me who has not left in the ground someone they cared for," she gestured to the gathered refugees behind her, "we do not cry, for they fell for a cause they believed in. But their absence is felt; we reach for them in the morning and embrace only air. We bid them good-night and hear no answer. We are a people filled with holes. I would not see it happen to another. Not so easily as this."<br/><br/>Her eyes blazed with a sudden light and she struck her staff against the ground. The ground rumbled and the stone beneath her cracked and split, throwing a cloud of dust around her. As it settled, she spoke.<br/><br/>"I have the strength for it. For those I have lost, for those I may yet save, let me fight."