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Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpdKDjfnXLa
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg8yUj49kI8
holding her posture.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNKaziuoFKy
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs63KqxqvbF
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGNMfXTGore
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7HM7eTAIZ3
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPjx5HTSfhn
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM0ECuDerLV
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5fCsR4deIH
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIlreCmk6MJ
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnA99wVY1In
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEmGRRdMBRQ
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKC8cmTayZO
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmG4ldt3x2K
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlLy2GOlBeo
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnW0KKOtHCP
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFAEYQcKPcP
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqdnJy4BA9j
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7AzaPorge4
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqm63INSWrL
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQOYRVPLY2Q
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4HqlU06Vmt
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwq6A4IBZF0
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtgjt0hrsEd
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGZMs7xC28j
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1WQuomly9K
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3GkInIu3m1
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbf7f6uVCt6
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk3pUIU371k
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqEgNPkvCrZ
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6DMa2nxN3j
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQJQ6teCJRs
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡywshxZzU5G
at them...396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcC4BYsrVRb
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZzkBOyo3Vo
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl8XPwExZxY
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRxPeupAkft
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4GwgFzYomQ
fancy any of it?”396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDX5iIlpRRg
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd2i0Xj5sfG
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF1bdTjWfGx
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1dzAEeotc7
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡedgBh9oxKW
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuh9HiZQWJO
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRUbpsADiNi
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhQJeYV1pwg
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdWfgOIBmYB
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP7R1vZs3sF
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF2E1b6vzSb
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLOTOgAFg6w
it as it really is...”396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMk8BtZaQCt
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3BWAiUqWCa
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyzgdDEj5FK
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhPvyj7Wc7D
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmlhvFoRhyp
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5pZnvXpYjN
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJAn70GBK54
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUmesKbqJBo
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4n0lRwQDHp
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpT8rFL7UrN
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1yykmFlVov
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvDKikqi3eR
than I would like to count.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGZOPNwX5Dh
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeJdlr4pZod
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSvrDIq8aPm
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.
