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Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnmW0ZrHneL
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYsNPs8f0dV
holding her posture.325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYIueu024Da
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHMLyIFGaKc
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl7bhtUhlQW
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpiKfbwiz4q
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBqNz3346T0
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmfCVHwCxxI
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1mUVYr6xms
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWemL9OvqQI
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡROYAyoL2EX
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0JvF38Mn4L
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEji6JYhnqb
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdWNctZTmUI
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZK2lxAM5ML
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI4BdlEdy1g
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNWpUpe3D7O
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrXZU3MdUZW
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaaTmkWyFAg
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhfmzk1XitA
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOn0lTrkfff
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA33aAyE6GK
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2YhoXZzihK
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXsr1fXW88E
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyb5gBS0kIU
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy0fWPXQsUi
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKhDjIgPrXT
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFT6fgwr3h3
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXFqgx54nBA
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoQhgZIRB6g
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCboVwyxVEz
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPbYAm5dblR
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSHJ6Avzzch
at them...325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdGLt6juKfo
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLu4lSjykom
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7vFhiUnvwh
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPQ6NoN3NOB
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8SKJ5FwqEw
fancy any of it?”325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvHDPEGp6BV
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAdycnvuBOw
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgtYy4fMkzU
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO0LkEw2uvY
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQsKJwUceV4
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIu5LQiuSFO
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlGciVhvDiO
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNqsjLYIOOx
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5KPIUsOEhh
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEqNfkZwkeE
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSq19SfrkHj
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmVvjhCTjqB
it as it really is...”325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq48lby7LSb
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS5c0SSXYIb
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeDz5TljwFs
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPq1CEfps9m
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDLPBlC7ciZ
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHkaBbhhoFq
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1gmFO4uNZx
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBmLM3MaeUx
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD4Sx4q3YcV
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ37NAJOcSf3
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡECnUP2fUD3
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHhRuXVs60k
than I would like to count.325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfM1xE1QVor
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXyNeAvcW9D
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there325Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDjyyncbdKy
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.
