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Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLfm8YaobY4
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrBnaTdTe9T
holding her posture.272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR4XUYscacm
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1hAHJOS0Lo
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBAknCAUaB0
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPpGUvr3nsI
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw2cT4Fe9Et
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsVcKYgKe5D
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVJAIAxlGoV
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbhkYrvQpWW
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj3YLJ9exgR
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3jDazSdMab
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHRnYDI8B2S
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS6oiK5P7HD
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVJkZpmnQHU
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP35chRJ0H2
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtgVeAPqJjV
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡygxxLbGhLD
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt6uwMVZEcQ
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDiH4zQsZXk
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡangLiVsT9x
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlKQiLWYDwB
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUCIRCGEBva
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnW6k4PlGPC
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPL4O24PJtE
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGLmWjU1M2O
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd6yIUX9eYv
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWlUBNSNJz6
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvFp9HOsvNI
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXV7eMbjywm
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCZkLi9yZ8j
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX4fOWKQLhs
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSYcKzVlzH9
at them...272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGnZtwTo4jf
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaF4PiueRGg
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTLqthTyofU
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpVvyTbAKPW
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9p1kosITxd
fancy any of it?”272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQpQDRBkZvA
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLcUcGoNDbZ
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaYMAbwCpEd
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUfVWPywZSg
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX7gmirsyHu
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5hHYjNSTNU
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs5GWqH7Ao8
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZbpjD5FpUS
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm8Q5909pMo
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIyHwZ2X8mn
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm7uMce7Lai
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAayHXdsxQM
it as it really is...”272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzsMob2FWlK
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡREUEs8ONfh
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7sRrMsUZQQ
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUTYsMLsDVH
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXGkqbn49EU
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsdihtOwCjr
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZgp85PgNvo
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhUP9AGzwaw
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGGqqIhxe8P
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCxEAaeHsVf
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBx5zWCn2NY
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzgnYjKWq6K
than I would like to count.272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcb6gPuu3h1
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKUdFTZAEDO
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there272Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡED0CFdYVRL
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.
