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Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtNyyfBh3e9
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk1JzO0xDIF
holding her posture.305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNi9WsPLqxN
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQuxnPg8eId
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJMcv5qSomX
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvjT8AGCA62
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHbeH06htyS
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8wtIdLhgXX
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGLY82hXt3m
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfKVghxUEut
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡADqxUqzhqa
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFYGhPY8Pmv
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ob7XDWAoc
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8wIgWDsN7G
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4JOuRfQaCw
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2QomPlzMr4
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6QXRAKGoVa
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzPOWrPjTHh
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD2EVwNgLaW
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzDeyUl95D5
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBmsiOxqwAF
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeNQ9Qlj98p
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡytTD4jALfZ
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSjiJeSXdYq
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtuduomOCh1
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMS7i7yl6Vk
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq7m3D05Jjd
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ57LPuvlXf9
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPBvSXAIFjW
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡteZlOXFafd
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHuOqgF0KSe
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJFyfyyJF9V
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjEjpTwY8m9
at them...305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcsU0reeswB
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHR9GB8suPN
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡih6RDsEy3k
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCqlmu3Yxm1
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyfoM867kPi
fancy any of it?”305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe7aH6b2rea
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFwfpIz3pd0
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP85x5KMXNT
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzr7rg3LLnf
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ099uSkSFa1
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMe0lBCYJRh
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBYPULLL2pi
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw5bvbI8nHB
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY4R8rOfEkd
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnhmZRABxWN
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNaUcoFOljQ
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLML4PAoLzf
it as it really is...”305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXEj47UrJKq
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQiGvfIFB0h
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlc8HnQa1CZ
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz6Idt0Ekqm
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡznnDeqwLlc
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtljQ71bJ2c
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUoifzyUqPT
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2HIGTmkhIL
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSvlMB6FYFq
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFahOWVxmnp
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY3lg0PW7rY
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ37tnmomdn
than I would like to count.305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsEoueJPG3e
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTmElmYoWB0
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ428nfVh8DB
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.
