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Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEtebhpOoSw
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ubCmwq455
holding her posture.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ70IzGzfnV2
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3fOpd1GgQZ
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo5EEVdGWRS
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn3qySI9BcE
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNubuL5E4Mt
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtqysRGKup7
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsW2oSFbCpN
“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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUM8P07JsVE
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTibr4J9pF8
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Kvc5XZgXw
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSDl2YmNqXJ
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO70Wu9h7t9
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFKdsKAwgyz
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIjwGjznanF
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyIuWS5jxB7
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQE4K6x9IYT
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX4cqq7iVlw
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ83bjG7ioaI
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡukMk66JOzP
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS2UAGr1EYk
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpnP2Ur89tk
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC4s3fkBQYa
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp9cvIAWv8x
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWrOxuctLW8
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfYISTKka7q
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF422KdDSHm
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC6e0m9MiJk
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9uVQeLPai8
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt4WnOm0wHB
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRv90wgtEgF
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡintUuKzx3a
at them...396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtsuHzl79Q0
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKKkKHwow7L
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRPPGv56Eji
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7h6kSp8K7Y
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqJL1MrqCYO
fancy any of it?”396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaJXWDKO2lc
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMI16SKXGRW
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqhBe0h250d
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSyVbpoLX60
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhMpP380sgd
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡetDk5j7dyQ
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS03vLc0ec8
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdtQChZ83Hc
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡabsOtydDdI
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsHX5savDSB
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYlPB8gKnmb
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6zv53urNmd
it as it really is...”396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2gmHPnNaix
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM7KZu2O5uv
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKlp62Wat6I
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFLIgtBIR3m
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp9UTtHodXL
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Gt9jKfAyq
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdDFnMdwNss
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPcHgVHQXzn
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvqAKRAPKvT
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0qhweFgMCP
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUZw19GBJRg
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡia52hhpU6C
than I would like to count.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkS2wo0qwLm
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDDFVsw8SkQ
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpJHtLGx46N
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.
