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Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHpVJGid9qs
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlMhOuBGwxb
holding her posture.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFMRmYpErXM
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzz4cLHrBUm
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxkscOZjVc2
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJOwnXmQssR
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpeftua5k09
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjvyPdVDQ7r
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBZBIyuAu4K
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7IgBBEdMTC
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZeT46vaz6l
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡixWi02YRBq
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyltfEsaltG
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXk4pTZR3eF
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdnr43Kct6Z
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKIAd2HwFB1
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyBRB08qROW
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPVyAZHealV
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVtmFyzDe1z
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKT0X2ygZBO
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7qMcAOKuII
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡufG3LhndiS
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcFUafLRXUA
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0rjVC9g2Pt
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCrhkkXPWMS
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4UBVpD1pvP
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8SwcXeTUmt
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdP0fr7C2ug
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzdXJIv1ooF
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQzjnSqwdH6
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAZaQVLejDk
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ytoM0Hjui
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVOHPIckgsG
at them...369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp878UcC4gb
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7hjMwGD49M
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCiRfwnlMBj
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSvhVMwCIkd
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeZXwnVlJPP
fancy any of it?”369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgGyAlHKpUI
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXzHP5DQzqv
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs5NNYlJJ6r
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡINZUGVNVjI
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBz2qm2EFMW
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt8zA4uDsFh
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLKS1P1d1Jp
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEDykUzFCPf
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqtBANQsnaJ
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5g6o8OE7ty
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEqd9NBEen1
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOfDhoWpkOX
it as it really is...”369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4upthQjFvS
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡokAK3YrHfp
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxG767qUQgQ
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5nKpQNt5zB
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR67v61xdP8
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMpnumuzr7m
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡigqhq0KwcV
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ67KSQ6QFRR
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw0s9J5ABOa
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE1nLuJtVFX
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhrpxuP8xHw
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfLgK5VewmY
than I would like to count.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEDOkwri6X7
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6UJx8SV55b
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6LIyRoiyAt
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.
