Her job... the one that had taken her out of the country, the one that was supposed to last only eight months and got extended a bit...

...just got extended fully. They offered her a raise and a promotion if she'll stay where she is for five years. No trips back here. No return.

Which means that Tash... has no Mistress.

She's going to call him over the weekend, talk to him then. I'm hoping he takes it well, but I know he won't. He loves her, and she loves him, and she is willing to give that up for a job.

For a raise.

For MONEY.

*shudders*

This... this, oh my children, is why I don't WANT to be rich, why I don't WANT to be poor either. Why I hate talking about money, why I am both careless with it and bizarrely obsessive about it.

Because I don't ever want it to come between me and my loved ones. Not EVER.

Money shouldn't have to be an issue.

It shouldn't have to be the center of our world.

*sighs softly*

Tash is going to be in tears tomorrow. Not because of a beating or a punishment or anything else, but because his heart is broken. Mistress K asked me to train him, to break him for her... she doesn't need me. If she wants him broken, she's doing just fine on her own.

That poor boy.

She says she's crying. And he will be.

Why is she so willing to torture them both with something that she can't just take back, something that she can't fix? Once she makes this committment, she's stuck with it... for five years. This isn't the angry-for-a-day soap opera, this isn't a harsh whipping or a cruel scolding.

This is reality, and it's going to hurt her for the rest of her life, Tash too.

I can't believe she is doing it. And I won't even ONCE tell her not to. It's her life. If money is more important... then that's how it goes.

I don't envy her any more, not for a minute, not for a SECOND.

I wouldn't want to be her for anything in the world, right now.