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Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ra4nOIKAZ
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPiHtiidhFf
holding her posture.308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLqWermUoO4
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4R5jrnNQuh
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡySqtXmgLON
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB2RhNXzy15
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj1EBbsZOQ5
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsFGsp8a7vT
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Bt4V7rheD
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡblP8gTYXim
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBqqKmYJvw3
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡarcE4BUehs
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTmkbXeeLCT
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNvYJfuYaSX
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPfRi4CtXsz
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNGA0jburbY
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ52QnyLIVLc
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQAKGrd6IUa
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAkOg2LU4x4
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxDOYoG7xxR
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLvS59Amm3X
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDIpkaw0b6H
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQEdCTiePtp
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqk0OOJwWdQ
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqCYiKICklI
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkpsn5aS6hk
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkcwy0wSKGJ
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP3RwNT9LrH
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRuzSUIKeH2
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0EncdFdspJ
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwopwf0i0S3
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqhj1qUwiUc
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIUI7XZS0tZ
at them...308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIsF0aaMC9W
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRr3YfMF4nM
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM09GFBIsxH
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmrKhCAmVPy
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRBipgHBauz
fancy any of it?”308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaQgC3HT9ut
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh9iiCIaObG
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaDbFM9FMaD
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTqVqkcS95f
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9IyfdSJ0fP
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6qJnJsOsKp
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMEb1JxOV2R
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEGfJLubemp
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjNlHIeBFwT
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDDtPlYJpWm
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8PuXDEPO0N
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmc8FHWcR4x
it as it really is...”308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOJkP813jZU
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo3BJu89kM2
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxZ5uX3odFb
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhQdyzZVypz
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG1dfoR9OGk
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgc7qIaQ20R
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBJtHqTsIpb
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsCZeKHakrL
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ18gN1HpHfP
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvOOjTucuxU
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKFHg9mn6h7
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUlQvlFnvRy
than I would like to count.308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNrRYu0BVIC
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBl6Y8fOG8e
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMnfsz6XTyH
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.
