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Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFizllHc4wt
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhSET4n407K
holding her posture.291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv9AJst08lg
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5RuQhMwbe1
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiFYVlPorRD
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiMZZ0gufsa
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNXngdUGGMX
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ER70ZAwch
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF6n3oFFCqm
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeimmLajvEQ
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1rar1JVN6v
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8SsXUWYdoL
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd02UGvZdNf
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpaJ6oXkMEY
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzLejyPNGVi
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe4Vp6pYlWB
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDQGbUcsqxQ
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ2SdQ96hoX
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTXu39s38bF
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHEDmseFwAR
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhhrzNmVw85
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡog2huC8gTk
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjpxC8yI2ND
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu70efg02fk
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwVngjlcWcc
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzamh8lEclQ
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhHyaGzFcn2
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw11eylwAnC
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ATvFg5eTw
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtYQ60244RJ
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwQfuxOcJx1
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbmY3t3tZRa
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHH5EC8NkZ1
at them...291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK23Rp8IBn5
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpKAR3nRhp4
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6J1ghRDBHM
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZK9Ro5kxZj
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbsm1A3xZL0
fancy any of it?”291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxuK2IqtPyl
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZCTHTTC8n0
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYqODzJvakZ
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH7lKwt8xWo
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgogfTF16HQ
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrGt8yETLhj
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH3pl34b06k
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEviRVmfWJz
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT2bX1cEBaz
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkeZAB7r6Ms
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjI6BKO6TLn
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOK5ElhnJaT
it as it really is...”291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuYMVDFQx0B
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdCvAXg3TG6
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC4H8d1Fyos
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZXg7XVnz6K
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvnlRLaeuLi
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ47FY7xfuJm
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ77Slm1RaNE
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1uw2t055sv
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZPf8b1YpYo
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTjdaFnq5aA
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwuhu81xwtH
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDGeyrSWLrQ
than I would like to count.291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqOIO5UZYNK
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm6axz81SaD
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvoVSkxVmbM
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.
