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Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKMBbIKfAd7
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwpayaAhs1E
holding her posture.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkHYPoEUJOl
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPrWAjhVUX8
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGDKcc7YgEA
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVEXIwVApq0
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ99SvcTJBbN
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi4TejmUYfK
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKn2BQzXox7
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyRUihLQQZV
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGbi26fdvea
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJfwLYoYMEM
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXUptyxQ6H6
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX68ggEg0Ge
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUNeBBKlLYl
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvR9dXNyfop
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj4AFP6d2Hh
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEvIqO4c5aa
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmZrV63iUkp
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMNmJoqRPDo
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡISNky5h0HB
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdW10zCqQUO
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwhN9UxpGuk
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfnrUpUh0PB
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK8NhRukNdm
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQTY52FajEJ
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2cYkLb18dl
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAWxbaE9xfo
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfDMRwt3JhA
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmP2KK75R0M
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnOMlT0nhGX
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡERMDZlBsdp
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCCsVh2Qh3A
at them...174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQe4ck0lmm1
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUzE3jxm8no
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2nz2KHfsMR
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWScrQO9S5h
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuNawu8iqlV
fancy any of it?”174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbZgebccX7Z
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmI5RvGolFn
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ43RJCxZTXn
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3uqGq3mGuP
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡARNrd44woF
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDZHxd0Gast
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVaPWPSwjli
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMKA0V9MvkK
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIIAHWtyWwO
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmKqHo0biPH
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRG8LnMdXRq
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd69wyRr0lp
it as it really is...”174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQpz2s4VzgO
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI92IcYP2Z1
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuMLUi0sxao
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkQZTHpUmRI
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoQoZLmQOMn
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHnswVSrK5D
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGhGgzlgJ68
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyn1uGPxVaj
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsd8RwaBJYE
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNKvkFhWajP
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLnaCZpNvu1
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnJVTOsFf8O
than I would like to count.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrA4zxTmtV1
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNfBwUkPjxT
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzVUZJQc3kt
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.
