Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFwImGa237n
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRZcb6XGZFT
holding her posture.425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8mpmegBjZJ
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrDC1uEABBx
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXGgBxaoIkX
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2xx3vqVSHb
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdPksrFEmFR
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK1ke2Y2mGn
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHYCug59omp
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBp9GntOOE5
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8lCzphjVIg
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvSTKheN6Lf
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWC5ESLaXgZ
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxpPZD2jwZC
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4zCFJxcCcw
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5vluOzTRAa
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2QDN91KBL4
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu1B23lCv8h
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrtnEXD8LBO
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHVDIaTwaWs
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwOZxUPyzgZ
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTUmrgbbPGz
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEpG8wywSbq
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHvJQXLgDDJ
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeEvlNhbRT6
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo1GzmPh23W
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmwjKfh0lL6
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWGF3rU5f4c
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCCLJHpaaFX
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRgFn14Vxwm
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEeu5S5AzSl
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA8QnAsCj2V
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqzmvmJ5lzw
at them...425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzwnrBXIAjQ
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡca7nToyEsL
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSK2cmbOZ3s
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdTZqdEIUHc
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj9nu3xrHwb
fancy any of it?”425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcGaDecHwf4
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTbNTtASbxf
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNc7KihMP0W
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUJ2HTB3p9V
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI8jxuMq7XH
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOptuHQmjjy
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5oE7dVCdoq
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkO4aBAd37J
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAbfZFEtxBq
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFxDsBhytJb
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJA5tLTmFe3
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9zot03lQIZ
it as it really is...”425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV028CSSXpw
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqeH1FCxm7v
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtn0m0h3r5B
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlD3SeWJu08
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZTk6lmfxAk
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhbhVBoXiN1
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN1c6woqrL3
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm830ZsRXaq
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbqVbOH4yzK
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbqFsgIc27z
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBmY0yRdKeY
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwvgguqXhOd
than I would like to count.425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJQ7QJ2T3MY
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOlq2xIY4fR
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there425Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrIvfGYPdOY
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.
