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Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtxv6XLzeWi
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkwbs67hOE2
holding her posture.400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu0JbeK8taR
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyQgE0mkEa6
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSlHMjHBb56
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoGTbELqOyt
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1NZoaRPrid
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAzkIbvbi8t
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe0QDwFnoHC
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt5GjRxdk3K
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6gpnrUH4sX
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCGmkn3J8WG
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxHHStENRu2
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcJid2UEHFB
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjGgzaiaOxV
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvsxE13sZvm
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡveosNUbRCJ
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkEr6Ukp3pZ
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL5GY4tVVTS
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCEGGLktof3
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNINQyOjKn9
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7nW0g2HF0U
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡveOxkqh2SQ
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIpqnJeN3ct
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtLRQVfLH4x
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNGlwruwbcD
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIug4tgJgkU
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQnk08CSywN
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡahd7uP0HiJ
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2FVWxe3KgK
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfeU1KCMAB6
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrbsprE7LMI
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFMhmxsQ3E7
at them...400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpwpFuWUuJJ
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Ev3BvAyjN
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyooQyToBXH
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjM4QCMIU1X
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYcDkQLxr3D
fancy any of it?”400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Ty6SVehnj
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEJWP0MN7gb
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCvcGxhVu6H
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Ch89wboHR
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNpWU8gGEWY
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxN6X7P7thQ
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuquvqOGOj2
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmG0tI4ucSZ
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ90qhKPXMDt
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6HDpU2C8wa
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1EkJdFZa5h
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGZGw19FgfI
it as it really is...”400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyVPeucDdee
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYYHCmw8ckM
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1NjuK0QiXg
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVrRDBLw62T
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4IxmtfQYWR
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlShR3XvqjZ
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcxQcZMlvmU
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVus2mX3LB9
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgik4Sx4oE0
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3sqDtQv2pK
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOOUrw17jOY
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUDCx4mZVcN
than I would like to count.400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYUjDoUAM6z
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIJofrinSZL
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR09dKzTXwH
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.
