
Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one388Please respect copyright.PENANA4pxZ8agm5k
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in388Please respect copyright.PENANANHaMyXjUG0
holding her posture.388Please respect copyright.PENANAdsbpq6FXpR
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.388Please respect copyright.PENANAqK3tT6tlYD
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was388Please respect copyright.PENANA3dh8q0O1VN
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue388Please respect copyright.PENANAcquDrw50KJ
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost388Please respect copyright.PENANA0FnaXL69Yt
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.388Please respect copyright.PENANASR7WtED9i4
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.388Please respect copyright.PENANAX52mWZ1lTs
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.388Please respect copyright.PENANAYohKHiIpOa
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.388Please respect copyright.PENANAfK4g9BZCPQ
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes388Please respect copyright.PENANAmlyfhRllGV
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”388Please respect copyright.PENANAX0Yhgyz6S1
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...388Please respect copyright.PENANAvl8uUwj4w0
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”388Please respect copyright.PENANAvmfcSlu7XI
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”388Please respect copyright.PENANANlmrSQieqG
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed388Please respect copyright.PENANAddPeWFU9ry
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”388Please respect copyright.PENANAnEyuI0sBY6
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt388Please respect copyright.PENANAKYfITmQzGZ
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he388Please respect copyright.PENANAZmKhmnLZND
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”388Please respect copyright.PENANALJQ2D3AiUu
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...388Please respect copyright.PENANAf5phodRPPK
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...388Please respect copyright.PENANAvyUU9cOqC8
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,388Please respect copyright.PENANAF4p4t4yIZP
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position388Please respect copyright.PENANAEDuLjlO375
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of388Please respect copyright.PENANAgpHyNmBMbF
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”388Please respect copyright.PENANAm0ZakXAQc9
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the388Please respect copyright.PENANAoNdoE0lwQk
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as388Please respect copyright.PENANAXHIPY6fFek
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and388Please respect copyright.PENANARrxBQYs5AD
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.388Please respect copyright.PENANA706SBI12ux
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and388Please respect copyright.PENANAzmTT5svqMc
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight388Please respect copyright.PENANA7okGNIaUw6
at them...388Please respect copyright.PENANA7aiHosIBln
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to388Please respect copyright.PENANACGLRB5MUvL
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately388Please respect copyright.PENANA6lcARHoNXD
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new388Please respect copyright.PENANAx2N43QnSZv
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two388Please respect copyright.PENANAA1ZKDiNv0k
fancy any of it?”388Please respect copyright.PENANA3Z53sQCQ6K
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others388Please respect copyright.PENANAb9VSewAsru
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.388Please respect copyright.PENANAT2gA0U5HLb
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not388Please respect copyright.PENANAMQ7tR6vqjB
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry388Please respect copyright.PENANAUk2lI7jXAZ
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once388Please respect copyright.PENANAb3EmuR2vH2
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing388Please respect copyright.PENANAY4a3yzbjJc
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.388Please respect copyright.PENANAxB10QAVveI
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.388Please respect copyright.PENANAs87lbp52dO
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as388Please respect copyright.PENANAiTEa9yfnba
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see388Please respect copyright.PENANAqBJn2r1iJo
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience388Please respect copyright.PENANA1yc5ZuzfJA
it as it really is...”388Please respect copyright.PENANAEVln7oc1FC
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”388Please respect copyright.PENANAyWN2Mh0CsT
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”388Please respect copyright.PENANAO8S9TEPghU
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce388Please respect copyright.PENANAUGm7OTRTQ3
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice388Please respect copyright.PENANAWB8lpr8nhn
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were388Please respect copyright.PENANAefJyyFOMyT
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most388Please respect copyright.PENANA4CaZoKn5Kb
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her388Please respect copyright.PENANAQzY5MrgTIB
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire388Please respect copyright.PENANAdcRnBXepb2
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully388Please respect copyright.PENANAZskQpN0qRy
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,388Please respect copyright.PENANA9GgipyDJdQ
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more388Please respect copyright.PENANApKJzbyMAyt
than I would like to count.388Please respect copyright.PENANAGkOo47QKS4
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your388Please respect copyright.PENANAeWHwXBjw2m
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there388Please respect copyright.PENANAqwyAK37U6L
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.