After all, you Red were the main reason she got to join us in the first place all those172Please respect copyright.PENANAidoyP5yPJy
years ago. Do you remember? Anyway, one day she just decided to leave without a172Please respect copyright.PENANA9BVpwzoioH
word to anyone and we have never heard from her since.”172Please respect copyright.PENANAIqQBnWfYqq
The clouds and everything below them are yet again flashed with white, as another172Please respect copyright.PENANAheHZuyhyHL
thunderous scream echoes way up above their heads. Red lowered his brow and would172Please respect copyright.PENANADxtoh3LGTR
take a deep breath before he would dare raise it back up again... slightly...172Please respect copyright.PENANAichrqX1L7a
“She disappeared?”172Please respect copyright.PENANAHc6wm1JFza
“It is not your fault Red,” replied Harigar Rhim.172Please respect copyright.PENANAi3SGd6X9mT
“Yes, she has always made her own choices,” added Deena.172Please respect copyright.PENANAFGth6qt8oB
“It was just like that huh?” Red insisted while staring back at them.172Please respect copyright.PENANAlzEMezC2b5
“She was gone?” he asked again, this time facing Deena, and although he may have172Please respect copyright.PENANA9V7DonTtJS
been staring at one or the other, the truth in its rawest form, was that his questions172Please respect copyright.PENANAVP3BVmEqEF
confronted everyone here “What really happened. Can any of you at least tell me172Please respect copyright.PENANALGhaOHDbfx
that much? Marce?” It was obvious that the captain did not want to continue with172Please respect copyright.PENANA4VJe7zTQxk
this subject and so he immediately decided to bring this to an abrupt conclusion, as172Please respect copyright.PENANAThicJwhxso
his final words on the matter began around the same time as his newfound footsteps172Please respect copyright.PENANAT5yzKLyYnj
brought everyone starting to follow him...172Please respect copyright.PENANAF2QrajnA7l
“One morning we all woke up to her disappearance. She was just gone. We had172Please respect copyright.PENANA5XluKsKOZh
decided to spend the night in an inn amidst the frozen lands, way up to the far north172Please respect copyright.PENANAWfBaCekDF9
as we were, of course, yet on another mission. We were forced to seek refuge from a172Please respect copyright.PENANAZDInvJiiAq
sudden storm, and what a storm it was; the flying snow raging, the howling winds alone172Please respect copyright.PENANAKfOb05e2kR
seemed like they could cut any part of you left uncovered if you dared to promenade172Please respect copyright.PENANAdGhCvrRYpt
outside, you remember the aggressiveness of the north don’t you Red?172Please respect copyright.PENANAlKQgkXZ8o5
Anyway, conditions were met that forced us to a stop and so we did. I won’t vouch172Please respect copyright.PENANA8A1S1TmoTj
for anyone else, but I am certain that few, if any of us, had any sleep that night.172Please respect copyright.PENANAx3cMMfhUhd
Not in that cold, not with those raging and screaming winds outside every window.172Please respect copyright.PENANANazIebFagm
The storm came to pass, and a warm morning took its place, but besides the relief of172Please respect copyright.PENANAicgScRnWAo
a sunnier vista, that rising sun also brought us breakfast and its carrier, the innkeeper172Please respect copyright.PENANAUBJN6vDPCp
who approached us with dire news. Such a sweet old lady she was. She approached us172Please respect copyright.PENANAfhTxSq2JOj
with the news that the woman in our party, the tall and pierced one - I’ll never forget172Please respect copyright.PENANAPncTzPEg2S
the way she described her - had left during the night and had instructed her not to say172Please respect copyright.PENANAlyiUyOV27q
a word to any of us. We were to be left unaware of her departure till it was too late to172Please respect copyright.PENANA41yhS9aQlL
try and stop her...”
“That tall woman in yer party captain, the one with her skin pierced all172Please respect copyright.PENANAiGGNw6g5My
over and a big spear behind her back, she just wandered into the night. Why,172Please respect copyright.PENANAZXhtzxvmJM
she disappeared as if absorbed by the storm. Off she went into those raging172Please respect copyright.PENANAhXNKax238Y
white blizzards, the likes which I’ve never seen in all my years living here.172Please respect copyright.PENANAQYQegYcOP3
She left behind only the coin to pay your bill and the instructions for my silence. Not to say172Please respect copyright.PENANAKUp7DXkpUy
a word I was, not until morning came.”
“The innkeeper did as she was told Red, and so only by morning time, did we learn172Please respect copyright.PENANAD5IElZNM4i
of what had transpired during the night.172Please respect copyright.PENANA2AWsU2kHGD
We were all so very exhausted from the hardships we had faced up to that point, that172Please respect copyright.PENANA6SZaz5YoJM
none of us were in any condition to notice someone as skilled as Elistia taking leave.172Please respect copyright.PENANACwLF2ZmxjY
We were too tired to notice most of the things we usually do, too tired to keep our172Please respect copyright.PENANACy2aj7i7vT
eyes open whilst at the same time too tired to sleep as well. It was a strange night for172Please respect copyright.PENANAxGzldzsSH1
all of us. We were left behind, speechless around that small table, while Deena went172Please respect copyright.PENANAnbSslhHIMN
out after any signs, but no tracker would have been able to find a clue. Not after that172Please respect copyright.PENANALjemLblhol
storm. Elistia was one of us after all, and one of the Wurad, so no one would ever be172Please respect copyright.PENANAWOEoZkHQTg
able to pick up her trail; not unless she wanted them to.172Please respect copyright.PENANA8PT2S74NbR
So, what else was there for us to do, rather than mourn?172Please respect copyright.PENANA70Ut41yXxF
We had our time of silence for the loss of one of our own, one that left us by her own172Please respect copyright.PENANAf8v6ylM5sV
accord, and then shortly after we got back to our duties. I guess we all deep down felt172Please respect copyright.PENANARflKvx0Sfb
or at least hoped that being one of the Wurad, she had just gone back to her tribe but172Please respect copyright.PENANAJ6VuCA8fna
in all honesty, to this day, none of us can claim to know for sure where she was headed172Please respect copyright.PENANA8ywGuIJhek
and what intentions drove her.