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Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEuYW6WmeCa
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeoeB94iHOn
holding her posture.388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡynzLgkeCjh
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaHo0wakuHx
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCOZSWDJUAK
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡduyp2lEosN
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo4JEEU4kDC
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1YqEVEZ5Rf
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH5R5MrmMlR
“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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡARAC4Ajoxs
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjuTyLfKmcn
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgHTflNAHKQ
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQqyVloSf3S
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAbWGfb4Wx2
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnMF4Sbxxob
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiF9Qs9osNB
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyaDQr2Vzlo
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOsQleourGH
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY1PStzYPlW
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPzXDfwqsB4
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnx8KvfDwIV
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0dRwRFYYYJ
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMLWYkLS5Cl
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkB7rwowQgE
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVBXaVI57pc
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUjyE9LXIO9
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMRTxE0dlPi
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt1kiC9aPim
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqJoHBD6qcF
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW7gxGTx4D9
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiislCNRyzv
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9zpmMadSWA
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWycuYiYKKv
at them...388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBpoHwsva4L
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfCol9aAjZ5
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMMMSbmv1bN
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUteOBG9r2y
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh0EXciI1DH
fancy any of it?”388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa3gcnN3jpD
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2G6NlaA5Jn
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPJwbZprkdj
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡybpFVbNN03
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE48JaK4feG
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡntR3ZwKm3m
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy5KVo9k6Ih
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSMgmyg5XCM
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFeoIk7FSXD
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeSNQYkBGGc
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmeHAZoJS1g
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOJ2rVzMsPm
it as it really is...”388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQV17GdrPR1
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiX9HZNgRRg
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC7E6oGKN0K
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmvjhv22JUT
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdPfv819LwN
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOtqnDZ0Ibu
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwGJvNxP6yQ
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVj4L0YbMTA
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0YhnfdGQBW
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpALIaaTgDS
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ17SnChijzm
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWA739OxOvC
than I would like to count.388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUmqwDCvUx0
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSuUNaijsSF
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there388Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK8DsgLlES9
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.
