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Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGSXJp67FKq
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZL1PcYPYxB
holding her posture.343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDc62G3Yb9W
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡocvzn8TaOC
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeBBihKoAzK
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAFa1xOcNXW
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp9Iliv79A3
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfwOvehFlvg
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUjSQFek9Uq
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf2q61bnj6s
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRZkbjbKi2I
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg7onmiBHiJ
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ2YaPgsG1E
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH91df47hkC
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYA3yMCYWN1
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv3uVXQxYlR
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ49FxLW4cEo
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv1fVDDgzs3
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2I9aMMyUmA
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ17aSJY4tvN
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEnBFVGeiqe
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh3sT0l5lmk
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk89rth0gJt
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnAMK1PcLpt
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxs3KbyC0Ht
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbhlQ0rIxVN
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIxYknqp5BU
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1atxUZs45S
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRM9C0kbPVU
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxRFMAgtEWS
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN0I22h2UC9
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlaThhnu1Jy
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8FisXeE64b
at them...343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbaKwvBcqZA
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaY9thNM5qB
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqPHQyaXCBP
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVU9G47gp4X
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIOH6rnmCNI
fancy any of it?”343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2p9SUoOgnX
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrHKiHWxnOs
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcZSaEVqDs5
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡayLIVbVSwx
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6lF5mq1dJ5
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJqYyygCcr1
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTI0BD3fhlm
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJTNwyxOlMZ
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHQzmjgb5nH
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuj2kwZY3ux
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVBksXWugRL
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMXXQqyhb8W
it as it really is...”343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsjlTPfgvFW
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHJpw4LeU9E
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMTtJXPOK9U
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3M8Tx2Ofc1
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC3mH9wrhG9
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Q5wgaRacz
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW9IOxvMlzI
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7RxOPoFg7L
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsUrpHwR3GR
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwVdFsclacs
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyjkIuwzfgR
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn2dELOzRPB
than I would like to count.343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ58Azhw5jRH
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgujsVAtJ0o
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyiKqEEYhQK
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.
