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After all, you Red were the main reason she got to join us in the first place all those375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2wELnM2Hhe
years ago. Do you remember? Anyway, one day she just decided to leave without a375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5kyPZsdkzQ
word to anyone and we have never heard from her since.”375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWlHmJfPwIV
The clouds and everything below them are yet again flashed with white, as another375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWb8YQzfpzX
thunderous scream echoes way up above their heads. Red lowered his brow and would375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT4Y6Bb2aDz
take a deep breath before he would dare raise it back up again... slightly...375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqfOfkcZlQ1
“She disappeared?”375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQB2D3EVOgN
“It is not your fault Red,” replied Harigar Rhim.375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7DhtCTCfaW
“Yes, she has always made her own choices,” added Deena.375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYFRvf0w5jv
“It was just like that huh?” Red insisted while staring back at them.375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJHljLNvcA3
“She was gone?” he asked again, this time facing Deena, and although he may have375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj8vO3QBe09
been staring at one or the other, the truth in its rawest form, was that his questions375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6EaHoPpWkW
confronted everyone here “What really happened. Can any of you at least tell me375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYaV2H3txCh
that much? Marce?” It was obvious that the captain did not want to continue with375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLBGLLTXtxt
this subject and so he immediately decided to bring this to an abrupt conclusion, as375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKxfwQHlsEd
his final words on the matter began around the same time as his newfound footsteps375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0LdvBQFmKc
brought everyone starting to follow him...375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUWXlwJBCL8
“One morning we all woke up to her disappearance. She was just gone. We had375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKibFfZtCfi
decided to spend the night in an inn amidst the frozen lands, way up to the far north375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWQuU9rbyKD
as we were, of course, yet on another mission. We were forced to seek refuge from a375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoVv2ujS3Zj
sudden storm, and what a storm it was; the flying snow raging, the howling winds alone375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPnt1o7SzWr
seemed like they could cut any part of you left uncovered if you dared to promenade375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUGQfiGZjnk
outside, you remember the aggressiveness of the north don’t you Red?375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ66wfO4teTf
Anyway, conditions were met that forced us to a stop and so we did. I won’t vouch375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxqMCK6PFIi
for anyone else, but I am certain that few, if any of us, had any sleep that night.375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXOKO3kyYc3
Not in that cold, not with those raging and screaming winds outside every window.375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLuW7vJLjmY
The storm came to pass, and a warm morning took its place, but besides the relief of375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0hrF2yS9Nn
a sunnier vista, that rising sun also brought us breakfast and its carrier, the innkeeper375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEmJ8uK2ibP
who approached us with dire news. Such a sweet old lady she was. She approached us375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHrcTIDgpEI
with the news that the woman in our party, the tall and pierced one - I’ll never forget375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUNZvSEr7Ig
the way she described her - had left during the night and had instructed her not to say375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj55L3hJL4G
a word to any of us. We were to be left unaware of her departure till it was too late to375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa559eOb12N
try and stop her...”
“That tall woman in yer party captain, the one with her skin pierced all375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJxLpsH7oEg
over and a big spear behind her back, she just wandered into the night. Why,375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2TamZJ3ERi
she disappeared as if absorbed by the storm. Off she went into those raging375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8GX0eqF78m
white blizzards, the likes which I’ve never seen in all my years living here.375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZfkoYIao1o
She left behind only the coin to pay your bill and the instructions for my silence. Not to say375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9nFl8s4qW9
a word I was, not until morning came.”
“The innkeeper did as she was told Red, and so only by morning time, did we learn375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFYsLRXlxTy
of what had transpired during the night.375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFdh3gw65Wo
We were all so very exhausted from the hardships we had faced up to that point, that375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCd6ymHCVmr
none of us were in any condition to notice someone as skilled as Elistia taking leave.375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4UQCSEU0CR
We were too tired to notice most of the things we usually do, too tired to keep our375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyGLHYs8lLC
eyes open whilst at the same time too tired to sleep as well. It was a strange night for375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfx9pQA8HMU
all of us. We were left behind, speechless around that small table, while Deena went375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡibHWn2SA1B
out after any signs, but no tracker would have been able to find a clue. Not after that375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOPaXQbFlIP
storm. Elistia was one of us after all, and one of the Wurad, so no one would ever be375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlL1fP6QI0h
able to pick up her trail; not unless she wanted them to.375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz52LeJo3VM
So, what else was there for us to do, rather than mourn?375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAQGkKWZX2V
We had our time of silence for the loss of one of our own, one that left us by her own375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlxYviwSZja
accord, and then shortly after we got back to our duties. I guess we all deep down felt375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWS8z1mgShR
or at least hoped that being one of the Wurad, she had just gone back to her tribe but375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHXpTFVjINg
in all honesty, to this day, none of us can claim to know for sure where she was headed375Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTWQYzs8oyu
and what intentions drove her.
