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Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiLodaCSlp2
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO8Yd5J7nc9
holding her posture.342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJTnqezi3a4
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsiFRSK7VJY
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRuPRN2Xrox
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0LY0R4yrj5
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡirFy6oFxpf
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡol9MvmTkXS
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbblqL7IbJP
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx62udYANFx
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaiHPsMjVxl
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpa4SXPLRkB
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8CS15rL7QD
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9kyS23q9Xa
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3m1MZSABkx
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxKg2xifwsS
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpgskyVu7lt
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwywG82WzDN
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe31f3ZNZkt
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5y6ei11YVK
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Ak0BCF9TF
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLAfVn6pO36
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5dFoAi0Jp6
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8GZ4SKe83S
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7SZqS4zfSm
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo4ScNBbihP
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKuZ4BoMEwC
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡduEXUEx25Y
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLFVzxULCio
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX9agCaO3MU
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4yiBZqiqme
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡharnOue0E8
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZgcDOfSrvy
at them...342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4w03s1gpTs
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDNS4JExzdg
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgVNkvmYZ0b
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEDES1AI4RH
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA7TIZvmtGI
fancy any of it?”342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk1jlKcL6KE
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuItHbXyWvm
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEpHbrsiSeB
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbCCpXJGPau
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjCwXPpunQr
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVkzcmLhe7Q
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡykXUrrhXeD
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3DLkwIst2Q
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdgWOndfThX
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqFfKNJofZS
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLgBoy3w98T
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjAZXTtRlAS
it as it really is...”342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCNqcv1y8Jj
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc5f0tmXTSU
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY4ojHr4vtJ
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwChVJZOi6C
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs69b2ETJPH
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbBDoqHuKdO
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGsKSiERVjt
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF8EZu1z8Fj
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHtIPR1XGdD
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Fy96E0dHu
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAvbliTX4bD
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPrFtVNH6z3
than I would like to count.342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSOIQkiDUBB
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHxlHvTYXsc
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there342Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZpFQGxgvRh
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.
