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After all, you Red were the main reason she got to join us in the first place all those342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUGld2PNZ30
years ago. Do you remember? Anyway, one day she just decided to leave without a342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx3PqOI4q9Q
word to anyone and we have never heard from her since.”342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeAxhK2CofP
The clouds and everything below them are yet again flashed with white, as another342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpdZnFj6n20
thunderous scream echoes way up above their heads. Red lowered his brow and would342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC3UhnD24Zg
take a deep breath before he would dare raise it back up again... slightly...342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj41e7AxiIN
“She disappeared?”342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQoP9R2YSiO
“It is not your fault Red,” replied Harigar Rhim.342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJohAyEIpZ1
“Yes, she has always made her own choices,” added Deena.342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNTlYOLHe7L
“It was just like that huh?” Red insisted while staring back at them.342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi3Jzw8bpRt
“She was gone?” he asked again, this time facing Deena, and although he may have342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0x94nQk3n5
been staring at one or the other, the truth in its rawest form, was that his questions342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO0ZhxkzWTo
confronted everyone here “What really happened. Can any of you at least tell me342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr4tdKstKtD
that much? Marce?” It was obvious that the captain did not want to continue with342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIbCvASBFDj
this subject and so he immediately decided to bring this to an abrupt conclusion, as342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxs5bjvsE7P
his final words on the matter began around the same time as his newfound footsteps342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1vYsjMyhnu
brought everyone starting to follow him...342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhIxBInTT0y
“One morning we all woke up to her disappearance. She was just gone. We had342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ634zdCxucJ
decided to spend the night in an inn amidst the frozen lands, way up to the far north342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvJBtHTBwRS
as we were, of course, yet on another mission. We were forced to seek refuge from a342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkN9H8Dk9zE
sudden storm, and what a storm it was; the flying snow raging, the howling winds alone342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKU3SSADIpf
seemed like they could cut any part of you left uncovered if you dared to promenade342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwNJXzaZWmO
outside, you remember the aggressiveness of the north don’t you Red?342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlvTo6vyJnA
Anyway, conditions were met that forced us to a stop and so we did. I won’t vouch342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXPaE0hxloO
for anyone else, but I am certain that few, if any of us, had any sleep that night.342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSaHImBY3l3
Not in that cold, not with those raging and screaming winds outside every window.342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmd3ozFcvaJ
The storm came to pass, and a warm morning took its place, but besides the relief of342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHowa4P2r4N
a sunnier vista, that rising sun also brought us breakfast and its carrier, the innkeeper342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSuiY08ImuB
who approached us with dire news. Such a sweet old lady she was. She approached us342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡenOHyLrX19
with the news that the woman in our party, the tall and pierced one - I’ll never forget342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhHmfojxKcV
the way she described her - had left during the night and had instructed her not to say342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEpxoB17NtB
a word to any of us. We were to be left unaware of her departure till it was too late to342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡblrpCQ8G9L
try and stop her...”
“That tall woman in yer party captain, the one with her skin pierced all342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa2DWfHNlES
over and a big spear behind her back, she just wandered into the night. Why,342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS2D7j1QaW1
she disappeared as if absorbed by the storm. Off she went into those raging342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIx12zW7C4A
white blizzards, the likes which I’ve never seen in all my years living here.342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEDsbbpityf
She left behind only the coin to pay your bill and the instructions for my silence. Not to say342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡorfCeUaK0K
a word I was, not until morning came.”
“The innkeeper did as she was told Red, and so only by morning time, did we learn342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLS6EYKasoe
of what had transpired during the night.342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlebjeYIzEa
We were all so very exhausted from the hardships we had faced up to that point, that342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKb4mfhQdVg
none of us were in any condition to notice someone as skilled as Elistia taking leave.342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWikGdYxq9w
We were too tired to notice most of the things we usually do, too tired to keep our342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz4QtrMzDba
eyes open whilst at the same time too tired to sleep as well. It was a strange night for342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3IKUPd8Nq8
all of us. We were left behind, speechless around that small table, while Deena went342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX2NM5nbS95
out after any signs, but no tracker would have been able to find a clue. Not after that342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbbumQVxHhk
storm. Elistia was one of us after all, and one of the Wurad, so no one would ever be342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1LUSXoCiaZ
able to pick up her trail; not unless she wanted them to.342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPtuIoV92oy
So, what else was there for us to do, rather than mourn?342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYrdWoILat6
We had our time of silence for the loss of one of our own, one that left us by her own342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYJCkvY52Bq
accord, and then shortly after we got back to our duties. I guess we all deep down felt342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJOiiTeQoPe
or at least hoped that being one of the Wurad, she had just gone back to her tribe but342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEq70vadtKV
in all honesty, to this day, none of us can claim to know for sure where she was headed342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS6ZPO3T7dU
and what intentions drove her.
