Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one171Please respect copyright.PENANA1wE3CSyW8j
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in171Please respect copyright.PENANABkmJZc8JCw
holding her posture.171Please respect copyright.PENANAfSe8zU6AZg
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.171Please respect copyright.PENANAuHPA9EKaAe
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was171Please respect copyright.PENANAJ9IMSKV7ad
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue171Please respect copyright.PENANAk4hF7L5bwE
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost171Please respect copyright.PENANAlSxBK50oWD
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.171Please respect copyright.PENANA2r6VmkklcS
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.171Please respect copyright.PENANACaoh5DZ3Th
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.171Please respect copyright.PENANAh0x2Y7VtEm
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.171Please respect copyright.PENANAn8yH2B0Hjl
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes171Please respect copyright.PENANApOmaW8ZtPV
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”171Please respect copyright.PENANA8HZeaG0pww
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...171Please respect copyright.PENANAWHDyH65Zn7
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”171Please respect copyright.PENANAqhn7ZXSz8N
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”171Please respect copyright.PENANAdBE5FQyKX9
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed171Please respect copyright.PENANAz2kZPPyniG
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”171Please respect copyright.PENANAkNRvzSUdtt
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt171Please respect copyright.PENANAamRZ5gij1b
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he171Please respect copyright.PENANAdfVToSykir
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”171Please respect copyright.PENANAHMT0rvU9xs
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...171Please respect copyright.PENANAq7ZakajYYS
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...171Please respect copyright.PENANAqNynDhnsOT
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,171Please respect copyright.PENANAfUVEQ89R5r
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position171Please respect copyright.PENANAZVjgU2uJFq
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of171Please respect copyright.PENANAfvLQvizpWd
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”171Please respect copyright.PENANAZrmUButtEJ
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the171Please respect copyright.PENANACMFsmMUxSP
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as171Please respect copyright.PENANA95t0J3tjce
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and171Please respect copyright.PENANAguAXOQ0TFV
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.171Please respect copyright.PENANArV41PFTjGc
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and171Please respect copyright.PENANAzQRGIarC0B
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight171Please respect copyright.PENANAYYBXqJn7xR
at them...171Please respect copyright.PENANAGimaMm0vDm
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to171Please respect copyright.PENANAH2jA45EIFu
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately171Please respect copyright.PENANAlQ6s88FSWZ
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new171Please respect copyright.PENANA0PL4DZ53Ix
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two171Please respect copyright.PENANAhPxtETxv4m
fancy any of it?”171Please respect copyright.PENANAb7KSU3oJOh
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others171Please respect copyright.PENANAk5dmYMC7KF
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.171Please respect copyright.PENANAIIDkhH1cxQ
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not171Please respect copyright.PENANAYCdvVIazRj
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry171Please respect copyright.PENANARsZrW6sNw6
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once171Please respect copyright.PENANAJhJbyOwt7A
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing171Please respect copyright.PENANA4v1k3y8iwM
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.171Please respect copyright.PENANAFwtNxzEK5Q
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.171Please respect copyright.PENANA5X9KXZ84b6
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as171Please respect copyright.PENANAqiPyYYM47y
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see171Please respect copyright.PENANA5MHOLDYJsO
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience171Please respect copyright.PENANAE1FUcKPh32
it as it really is...”171Please respect copyright.PENANANnUe1gZ1At
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”171Please respect copyright.PENANAAGaBZNhYTz
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”171Please respect copyright.PENANAUNBGk5Tcj5
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce171Please respect copyright.PENANAEJlW55hVnb
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice171Please respect copyright.PENANAtPv8UwpcqL
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were171Please respect copyright.PENANAqZVfdtQnFb
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most171Please respect copyright.PENANA6zf9dpg4zn
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her171Please respect copyright.PENANAvI85gzcR8w
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire171Please respect copyright.PENANAt4ZEGDLr7R
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully171Please respect copyright.PENANAEswJeP8GBF
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,171Please respect copyright.PENANAWTIboJblgL
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more171Please respect copyright.PENANA4hH5nFW3OW
than I would like to count.171Please respect copyright.PENANADHNhGV7C3y
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your171Please respect copyright.PENANAKjlHO2GQJe
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there171Please respect copyright.PENANATfsFhzYBL0
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.