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Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAa25n48S68
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD0l3bWWNfs
holding her posture.395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAgG7GWoEYR
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoTuPySTvDr
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy8ATMBI8rP
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2TEpe3o2CX
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjZDOw9WGcO
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3prG2TgGnz
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLvUM4FACPR
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2N3jLjpbSG
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ61hkkS2SGw
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc3AWsJh8LP
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8S3TmN9TWp
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡChn1AbtPrJ
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5o7oVfruet
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhQtjG6tjkD
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH1Fh7PV0PC
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm7IhSoBEps
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhlVt8FlQv0
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvemjXEW18T
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBoyYEabWb1
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB9fZnCOs54
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKxXDule89Q
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnOSvnl0Qnd
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE5Ld6QYygv
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0mHXE9qJNi
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNneY2rIKyz
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQw1lN6A971
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwsyFRD7Tjj
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ76N0NnTAQH
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3WubT7TCK9
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsRv5u5KSbT
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5oCtrnQGhy
at them...395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpOuuviVNZp
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡup9iFyi569
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHkBqMlqi74
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXe6Dg9tZrE
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgAh9FDT36p
fancy any of it?”395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh4kNuiG8wc
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7kJ4v3vkjD
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxxKAr7bgbz
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrShM8tF3eP
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv03DJoXlPX
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnlWQ6igKry
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ88cBOCAoZg
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3nGRBqQwzc
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGE1TojtXBN
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTbvqoldUQV
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ88wvOQN1VH
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKanRkuLSGe
it as it really is...”395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8K6odMisK0
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXjIGUTCWVs
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpQPpIHLF0K
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Bbd54arLY
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPLjpeOA8E0
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSETxRtwbMw
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzDC3MlvASb
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwPPO13YQvE
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0aFcUw6f9q
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPAwQrypetV
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdQxIKwqsSI
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ71ENF8WTo1
than I would like to count.395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsIyxy3PefZ
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx2f3ozMf4d
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there395Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7rs660jqjL
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.
