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Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi22IeKMvES
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdoR7kDk6fz
holding her posture.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt79ERmr6A0
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrKzlbnPE5T
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWJoqeeqSvz
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFmsoAXuD2t
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAtOGb9uNId
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjKhdsfontL
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUYZsa122YH
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdfNAyXbcOw
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1QLXsm6E7B
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVKO1u3U6Lz
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOoka1YBiNT
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFnt3ukMLGx
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdTMFZgfV6x
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7zKJIkzOBd
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡamNFT4rG6K
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb5rcKARbCq
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡowRgpD5vs7
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvtLYnByhgv
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT3LWq6RMpc
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY491ZFCX1e
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzeffIy9VAO
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNpBGJIFBxR
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡceIGZ6lGBa
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbxE6u4ow6G
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPm9PmjVdPf
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlPGujViY4O
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNQxoSghNTy
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUiAi7aGleh
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt8IDh4YnVK
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdTNG1dHOhK
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWm0DnUZuH4
at them...318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcAYC3nIkwV
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6sltk3afLp
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNLPRgZPCzE
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡigp9hDXGBN
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ56lDSKVQDv
fancy any of it?”318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdsq0L8Ic0u
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmITIDIwLA1
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAfI16GCPjW
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡstbkT2w3aS
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHYrQ2fBMbW
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL2CVUI72EH
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe2FFgSzERb
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXPjePWAfXE
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ1mL80eMjm
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvToOqgbMa2
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDHL1ZcqzwY
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvPRrQDze0b
it as it really is...”318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrZUNlYwQBc
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcJmTxpjdNd
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQqvDMwimIE
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡScy2qfYtsx
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtDHJZbzlSO
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAzhmGvecLa
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjy5tdBTl1W
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSiqe6T1tTz
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAp1ceC1IJA
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAQIFsHB9WF
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGfvkOYfj2k
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQKGAm1jeSG
than I would like to count.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4NsOrsNWjo
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfaPVU7XfGO
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOBHgrMglFA
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.
