
Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one404Please respect copyright.PENANAAtilMXVa8h
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in404Please respect copyright.PENANARnfBmDvjLS
holding her posture.404Please respect copyright.PENANABxaKNSfPkJ
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.404Please respect copyright.PENANACXUHJaGDlz
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was404Please respect copyright.PENANACd3vT1XAAQ
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue404Please respect copyright.PENANADOWqLmZvwV
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost404Please respect copyright.PENANA7h1N8nJiJi
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.404Please respect copyright.PENANAfgD5pxvEOl
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.404Please respect copyright.PENANAMyG5SfanRO
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.404Please respect copyright.PENANAngDX5jvusZ
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.404Please respect copyright.PENANASC1Qn92kfL
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes404Please respect copyright.PENANA8GBB456oHW
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”404Please respect copyright.PENANAHechQZpRmk
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...404Please respect copyright.PENANAMiZ6FsPNt5
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”404Please respect copyright.PENANA1gEGyGkcBe
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”404Please respect copyright.PENANAoxomm765YG
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed404Please respect copyright.PENANAuc4HqcpMSs
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”404Please respect copyright.PENANAzJ63phNauY
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt404Please respect copyright.PENANAXWnMzlFo6Y
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he404Please respect copyright.PENANAWSBpLwThbc
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”404Please respect copyright.PENANA2CzxNUve97
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...404Please respect copyright.PENANALuVdjQCCXu
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...404Please respect copyright.PENANAhUnRLDp7u6
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,404Please respect copyright.PENANAdoGaBHSfDB
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position404Please respect copyright.PENANAU9p8NPp6u0
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of404Please respect copyright.PENANAlAz5V9l5Jl
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”404Please respect copyright.PENANAGRTxu1J70D
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the404Please respect copyright.PENANAS5DMYFbgfi
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as404Please respect copyright.PENANALRFJecqWl6
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and404Please respect copyright.PENANAfx25N99oRr
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.404Please respect copyright.PENANAfjC4GXk776
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and404Please respect copyright.PENANAED6fPHNPSl
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight404Please respect copyright.PENANAKW7RXWrBme
at them...404Please respect copyright.PENANAfiNNCqqiAv
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to404Please respect copyright.PENANAlLYMH5Q8WA
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately404Please respect copyright.PENANAxDFzULPcel
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new404Please respect copyright.PENANAyjvqM6sJsf
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two404Please respect copyright.PENANAO2EXaZ64zM
fancy any of it?”404Please respect copyright.PENANACQ5eZtYzhk
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others404Please respect copyright.PENANAuIB10qTOyF
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.404Please respect copyright.PENANACQaI2vA27Z
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not404Please respect copyright.PENANAfHVLRowHvK
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry404Please respect copyright.PENANAeRHsy7sj2D
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once404Please respect copyright.PENANA5dnmGZXfL2
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing404Please respect copyright.PENANA31ViCS5ppS
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.404Please respect copyright.PENANAl7A385py73
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.404Please respect copyright.PENANANPdqSUgmuN
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as404Please respect copyright.PENANA6nxKk3Gvwh
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see404Please respect copyright.PENANAUvwEeG94Iz
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience404Please respect copyright.PENANAF19WQURhRR
it as it really is...”404Please respect copyright.PENANA6ZN30JfAgM
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”404Please respect copyright.PENANAvqBNJ9I4NH
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”404Please respect copyright.PENANAuYj471gRkX
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce404Please respect copyright.PENANAYuYficMSSj
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice404Please respect copyright.PENANAxdUPIS3nHm
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were404Please respect copyright.PENANAERiFwiS4FT
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most404Please respect copyright.PENANAAylzlPO8MO
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her404Please respect copyright.PENANAWsQIuxaiTr
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire404Please respect copyright.PENANArYM24tz3jG
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully404Please respect copyright.PENANA71uP81JC6f
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,404Please respect copyright.PENANA0JQdjK9lCk
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more404Please respect copyright.PENANAFcs9TbWqNX
than I would like to count.404Please respect copyright.PENANAeBpsXe6Pm6
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your404Please respect copyright.PENANACXjP8UNvuY
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there404Please respect copyright.PENANAUwQBck0t0g
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.