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Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWLK0PffueQ
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy1lUTn1STE
holding her posture.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMluLwRegY4
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG65FJ5eRJt
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcgtxxpQwbl
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡckizNLkxXS
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXgGnYOOQBb
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtz7pGBiJH2
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNy457Ck7zb
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmrbeCTFVYv
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGVad2jUSeh
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWTuugytMaN
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGNAT7nU7bf
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgnzlw9EufY
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaExxtKLe5z
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCF0Pyduu9O
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4MZk4r4Su6
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpwTw0P0Zuq
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZcuFfyoYeb
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN1agL6O67r
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXapQqNZ8Lq
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlOfLyeaL5K
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJHLs6K2o1m
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqPtSqpzGxU
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmjFc5GMQVu
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9pesFbi2Fd
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkOxyDiSwFv
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI2luzusMF7
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkqEp2MQhId
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9GdMwrAi2R
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Kpk7vVh3p
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4D2q9GyLLu
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHqfqjY4ji3
at them...213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0JjMsrFuzr
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ252dCPZO5k
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYqMQRN65mg
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKDwBdM8lZD
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHkfxCHn6qf
fancy any of it?”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLsPVWe6w9u
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ38TiadEr5E
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA63J589cLV
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQW9jvPTLHY
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkt6P78gRM1
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCsSm4SAh1E
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrazYuqoT7k
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpaDefhLXH7
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2rcDbuFe2c
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvbw1XNXhAJ
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMn5lZjg3LH
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡahFgfaU77P
it as it really is...”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFtQW2EBSCs
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcU2xftuAiS
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeAMnIqSsgK
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2E87hEWaTm
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYEbQvFIiij
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG8NtH2Uexl
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKxrQZK4hQT
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYZRXyZTXD1
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj2Xqgy2rpE
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUVOhTGgUbq
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdB7iRyG5fI
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwKCyuh7RDD
than I would like to count.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOshCcyoK4n
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6XRb8pH7aP
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Z3rXoGYzs
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.
