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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.
