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Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpEz9FHuGgO
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsKqfXyE0ED
holding her posture.384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRue8lv6uG3
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2RtQ5HEjsR
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk1eXzVwLq7
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzjePoP2lVu
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr1PNcnvde7
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM71cULUrbs
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl9S6cOxFmU
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV0CLCgpWk1
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡylRIjC5IgJ
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ0dR8FXci5
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQHsQbk8mAA
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwynzqrofR2
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuhP1Y3UJzZ
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXkUkUMzKym
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡis9hpMO7BE
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxG4aG3Hxtr
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdvB6iEbOYy
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJqGRthd8It
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbcbDB1gF4n
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSlnFWw7dad
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVUQaT3tOk9
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWqxn7YqGhP
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0r82EouCfH
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6XIkeOp0Yx
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡodwP9cgEXG
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJbRZB1lc4S
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡETGMS2Gqkc
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ25dD4JNkRo
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4XHpf0m8iq
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL4KdvxNm1f
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJuFdHtlE9A
at them...384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtV4CgQ6V7H
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRP05Ord7va
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9RMstbmhdK
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSXWoY67y7y
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyH37lylpvR
fancy any of it?”384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCUpRub5D7y
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHqfIEQq33w
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdqmN2GxEwp
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP0uQG2dho2
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF6O3Ouxhtj
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ7OKXvIarv
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlkgpaGxbB5
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIIlrdw1Fl8
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKzY1baD8dA
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlyjCrzzfoO
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTZ8uSdAhS0
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMginvPK6Ae
it as it really is...”384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKBPbPuFlfD
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAnOyzAHKrS
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8j2A4PCwW1
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtrzmLRmOH5
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUhbQvMCjm3
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcepWlVMAhX
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZTn87WPZD3
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpb9oJuqIR4
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHRq4WqjPmv
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4PsqMBIHiN
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPXuKT6Y3oP
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi2Up1vfF2a
than I would like to count.384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhiu6iI5JYf
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSi0hphiSpb
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there384Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbhT5cVrUvX
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.
