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Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQjIxz19bbM
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEuzj0KqBEw
holding her posture.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM3Um26CHAf
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgzQUdhuViY
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCrod8J9p13
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ187TUyTEGj
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxiyEBUf8sS
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡozhPwwk0dG
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ82XpaDxRnq
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCaaWBL1mQ2
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgActuv5MNY
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaIivZDsXqQ
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxOQddr0h43
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDiBa3tt7Ds
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3fJrclVMyv
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQEeBQtxova
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTLQZq2A82q
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjJmSHCKe6O
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl4u8MvrML8
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHZiUtBqskS
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVnfNaMOUaP
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhWkCOF4xPa
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9DhrJ1TXgm
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVMaqKCPmML
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgHjy7TUZhh
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9vr0YYDX6p
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7chW8hys0g
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9XdWR8Ms83
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡycZeYtvsuC
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjATKuLeH4M
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyISO0IOGjT
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4yHi2oWWZi
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzLTcYkHrue
at them...278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVH6vHeJjT2
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVrCpISOulK
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoh1JI9zvKg
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnB7C4kSLJv
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM3r5QXoCvQ
fancy any of it?”278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgeapJu74UV
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJyRGFuZLOk
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2gqjLwzl9Z
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMhvn0WNygV
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdL9KDEg84c
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNbwd6PRxkX
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSToC10Vnsg
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlhuCeHRuIn
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9wwDethh8m
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS4JXrmjVi1
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡePvyX5Bl7N
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJM8YsAr8tq
it as it really is...”278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDUkv7zRZ9u
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNvukxVaALJ
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6jexxM5sHb
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS7wDO39hpn
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9kvUN9J3Qa
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTbeNSngLo7
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRXLnJ4gqqR
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBjroYBjNtx
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYcQYI4EU2q
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwUFSgktA6O
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuOO62wHN8P
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfpFvxJ9Tcv
than I would like to count.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr8ldqZRwfr
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbjkURq8aKG
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLev8ZS4rDm
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.
