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Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPH4GZxvGf0
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfNsnjaqGJ1
holding her posture.266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2u77JOghXP
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡABANvqUQ8m
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2fCAjHzbBg
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgq6GcOBIBt
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfXMI7Aba96
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoKxun081Xz
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRQlJs7ltrt
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡItGkRPAQ9d
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOBc3Ub5LLg
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNHByRQfMT2
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2bj9KHIENg
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYgxLWMWKmA
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdREkYx98Ua
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrerUi6fGbq
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2GsG3srIoh
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWgWxnrPIFE
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPXJX5Ns7AB
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8B9CmqwXY8
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7u68rAsd2a
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmVCaON6OLP
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaYCAaNN2jT
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpJPXp2bvFS
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhKByZVI3mB
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWo1tcMJlGq
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡohORubd7a7
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTmBW1Pf3Mw
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv6Sns7oFCP
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGB3tfWzU56
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVOw0HgWEVQ
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkWy8AIM6vl
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHNpYrDOLC1
at them...266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgnVryup4kN
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbj91tc9zSc
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE4LlnpT103
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3u9J2Ck0zl
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6aqJBHhvIL
fancy any of it?”266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ41pilsZ3oG
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhWy6kFNVap
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLe2A06h78G
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyHy8Qhf6XA
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPbeegYAFwT
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjJvd1Gw5g1
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd8wohyCMQV
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSW1BahNOlk
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMqbThIjm3f
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIEGOmNHpgi
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFWrGwh3mk6
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHpVqn8hOTB
it as it really is...”266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUYmj1fDyeU
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ24DHYCyQPn
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ22zlRcMX6h
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdDqkYqFUW2
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVaTzmHhl8p
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQGMTcqiDRb
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbQscKuYrz5
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjCiutR9PNN
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1nLMQvLc0s
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHIFOOZNLUN
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKpoDJAaB8M
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Xppg0f51X
than I would like to count.266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoJvGrdnlbH
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3CxoreEXQS
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuL89InWtBY
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.
