Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡERetyR2kqK
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQOLqIYVykY
holding her posture.428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdMjacfzcac
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB44NmnWT9r
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Ko3b4mXgl
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJLc2wHnsiB
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhGfuaNo4Y5
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhaGcPpbitW
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3pqKi7chcV
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxq7IJd7YIa
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBhyH1D8SCi
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ80Z065BM0
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrr8qEFJnVU
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv4gudybJql
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtuBHaVsA7h
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWjSO3vAHbT
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtbAVAtivuB
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHCqnaCYVjK
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXtjYHqhcHP
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwHWjFzhzr6
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzkIdHgCTrY
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnNW8jRtLGG
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuYBpiw2dYO
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRml2CdwrlI
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡULct1sS8Hb
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuSJeWNGFwJ
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡss5LtfQurh
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo3ZvoAcUmt
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd2g67YWdWB
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxxI7FbxcOa
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKLB9ddM2uv
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXykA2PXeRH
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNUd5oEXjp1
at them...428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMCXSRbi8vZ
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHbOO63w9JX
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcXxP6lqW42
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5i32kAUNne
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVTxroDmk8q
fancy any of it?”428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVshx7gG3mh
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7NVgkR2lO4
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9w3P61Q7sc
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLHeAywdCSR
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Jj210VpZi
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXsGPP5TzZa
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡId17xFBQ47
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ17G80RX4Sc
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpqvWnASbwp
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ304N1Q4017
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqO2V0qoW5R
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu4IsL9QrPz
it as it really is...”428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhe93PjXyIp
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVRT38t2Y9N
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtGhT5w6mmN
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC8y1d0yJbf
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa6958vC1Mp
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFwGeLeJliT
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS9C6IQX9XU
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡelbhmvGrpd
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEcwaKzABGB
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCjzKA2Lcnx
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW2u6FUrM4W
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPRtqFf1ldb
than I would like to count.428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWxvmmbEtWy
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWYZKSR8DVR
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there428Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN9e0a2TaZs
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.
