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Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1sbaHTQrqu
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwakC8lltRp
holding her posture.214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZTZRJLI8iK
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsGf0L2LyTU
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEdJN5lIqEr
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZTn09qcPwV
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJvU4WXZnoE
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRwXNqh7YRu
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF4BH4BwzCj
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqkJclVe541
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1MDrBN8eoS
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKBD4WTFNAC
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpmWnEKL5aA
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2eDs4E0orq
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn5jgOSr9ES
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrFUcJLaGPX
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi53StAxVRu
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ03KlWMrDrd
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJN3EqTK9uF
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYTYKvXcStk
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoLLH5dVAXi
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9bVElyC9RD
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMKU3cEMZBx
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt39nts6fgM
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtRO3Ln2SoU
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZGxeOFktHj
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWip3ZoZCvP
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBVIxhlTBL0
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7YHOuw7icM
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFPdldsvsx6
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLjVdPRDk4l
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVixzWmRshc
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7j5dGodZeE
at them...214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ClIWIXJmm
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwCjZadUFwT
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSxVUmJ4pQL
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7L8SUAUmX4
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu1Z0tgMPHt
fancy any of it?”214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbManHuiiZT
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8KTBdw8r1H
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaD0XR7EiIt
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzNwI9LQyRQ
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXA10Lhl5t7
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyeT6awulRt
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyyadcXRmk3
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGRjM7Pqvts
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLDo5uH5oN0
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBamG99JQAa
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ8DA1AF276
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ71FaMKRaDN
it as it really is...”214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtH3YTk2qPV
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj1NSRNoBAO
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeUMAEGUF93
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFMBX1oD1Tc
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeOs3EaQb0L
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqQv2QoCHsA
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2iM8yTMBXK
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjQmLf2EQvq
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBt2FfwGHup
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB8sU6XycGN
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhmMYK6c5y7
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoZdh8jE3bS
than I would like to count.214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQgdDD9m1vw
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmVfADnUvCr
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ59F3d3Amey
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.
