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Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC14Noe93tx
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡimGCZUViCr
holding her posture.267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlZ1a87KDeu
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbHVqOecDcS
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg52YgbOOgY
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWzWT9UiMvL
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDsUmJWifcT
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjenVgMBnQn
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6RCXTMO6Vl
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkENcBU9BcY
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2iDNJSYNjk
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGlR9kVAenu
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡItoQhWvgin
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF0VBrhyBqC
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcQXMVIRd97
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnEjNCtESbw
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3WtoThzVTn
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3UH7aQZJGz
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyaKjI4dZoM
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAysJxK1JYV
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuJNTcOQ0jG
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj20kIXf05p
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVrgcT4UmyT
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrzNfS5VNqW
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1KkKD8ceFB
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYRkjZrZmX9
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡobbErW0gQO
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5t10GZMOKl
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlffqsvWdz6
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqRYThLlLmu
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc3QTzfJxHN
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw3OKoVbAxO
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcXQJ6TyQQv
at them...267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVp7VmRDB90
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnbzlbkTH82
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtqi5EE2MSX
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXqjQhxZuBV
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwAc8zjkIbY
fancy any of it?”267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCFUoehDfid
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCEFFhns5mL
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2hneIm3F5p
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVLxM8VIIAe
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWJx695o29Y
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQcLVLfbC3r
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgJ1DJahsHQ
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGWe8aRlibJ
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz4uCwkt7dR
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ceFkFQPh5
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsmSuX6KS8m
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAhDLV5E45y
it as it really is...”267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEoJeLl95W3
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZoqbk8jmEG
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVRRiXObszG
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4nDYQggnRW
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa8v0MYtBe7
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyEC1ZOeDgd
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw06K0uNpQ6
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx6qzGccLE8
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdq1OEMBZ8p
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡioMhNoWAts
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGriJVnLxlN
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0lI6TpygHM
than I would like to count.267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEy3VJnMvVh
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCWIceLw3iz
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF6G2NWorAr
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.
