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Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlTyLs523LJ
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQYAT4b2C48
holding her posture.387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEEApANCm8J
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Su2lsYGax
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvTXc43zHX0
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVjkV1E6tZo
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0eLZLGRUv6
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ5uft4bwNE
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrxTDlT0hNf
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLzvWoljvrD
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2n0VlSmlh8
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGJrtqMOAjg
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLpF4NKMgMH
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSateQYvoug
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLOLtjTsifa
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ECC6lTcd6
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIBwM1FSmwC
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2rnDKbVTJf
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtIpJ40s6QU
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfCF5OY1juY
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvZIn9MMkgC
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ34ZCAoJgx7
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRqaS0xOVVH
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHFt3CEHFNF
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpjHIuEWSPw
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiEJ7q3o2Jq
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZNzjDjHLuI
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvScYgVeRgj
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNsm9APt8eI
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzyi41ztIo9
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ISjGqrW5F
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrjkNUS6Uls
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNXZecUA2CH
at them...387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKRuRMfqQXm
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡryDXvycaDt
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkB1B5iPm16
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFSSWmHQZXd
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgK8X8JDBwM
fancy any of it?”387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG2i0NxqEfb
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxNF9XIs3X1
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGwmfKsZaF2
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPgweqpbJFa
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD6AOFam4YJ
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdAXyommpGg
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnX6ooLnjTz
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg9apMArrIs
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu0wJLl4SiG
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXDHM5UtNdV
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ24SksNtQKm
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdQsJdzHx2s
it as it really is...”387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6O9Qtg2AXy
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmjD1wWwwMS
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs9WQdcWrK2
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA02qophnvf
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ66sQnMWXyr
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOZEvcJjBLd
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQSXcxm3m4o
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGPy9S81nSy
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgheFRt2p3s
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgqmWjTxKMK
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1O06kk5rFO
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdW3bwSnZem
than I would like to count.387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1dNr3sE1g3
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3i7yX5nQvH
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there387Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡas5UULYskk
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.
