
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.