Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one155Please respect copyright.PENANAuKBXTIsJvN
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in155Please respect copyright.PENANASUmupoxrG9
holding her posture.155Please respect copyright.PENANAvSOILp1zNW
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.155Please respect copyright.PENANANqDEkwvbTD
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was155Please respect copyright.PENANAhvqo6PpqVM
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue155Please respect copyright.PENANAwOh38H6kY0
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost155Please respect copyright.PENANALAiuuByNyz
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.155Please respect copyright.PENANAOnqtAVSY76
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.155Please respect copyright.PENANAFi2khAonUz
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.155Please respect copyright.PENANAOgbHcyOsxH
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.155Please respect copyright.PENANA2H18StA8M3
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes155Please respect copyright.PENANA3I7LMut6Zk
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”155Please respect copyright.PENANAv40o0Vvo5L
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...155Please respect copyright.PENANAZDUfKy2W7m
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”155Please respect copyright.PENANATcQSpGCKil
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”155Please respect copyright.PENANAnUxGvdJCdF
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed155Please respect copyright.PENANAn5Z5zd1H1c
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”155Please respect copyright.PENANAWCpFYiqQrc
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt155Please respect copyright.PENANAIo3pWDEQx4
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he155Please respect copyright.PENANAuNlpK8kkdA
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”155Please respect copyright.PENANAivQZjOsV7A
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...155Please respect copyright.PENANAJcvK3Unx68
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...155Please respect copyright.PENANASxDbKbrhiv
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,155Please respect copyright.PENANATxUQHutblo
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position155Please respect copyright.PENANA1YlDf8Ju9y
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of155Please respect copyright.PENANA86wG5k8mHQ
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”155Please respect copyright.PENANApGqlpM6IG6
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the155Please respect copyright.PENANA07aJ0QYWcr
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as155Please respect copyright.PENANA2S7d9725fu
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and155Please respect copyright.PENANAfi8OHj2rOz
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.155Please respect copyright.PENANAyaJk4PBmTN
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and155Please respect copyright.PENANAeMoBGyijgR
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight155Please respect copyright.PENANApH5hfOBjcj
at them...155Please respect copyright.PENANAeUrcCqV5cO
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to155Please respect copyright.PENANAqR2l7bLVRQ
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately155Please respect copyright.PENANARdOkkMRCRN
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new155Please respect copyright.PENANA4dVksYon7x
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two155Please respect copyright.PENANA7GgcrGSp3Q
fancy any of it?”155Please respect copyright.PENANAyVcwBEuZX3
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others155Please respect copyright.PENANAmXWSJT7726
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.155Please respect copyright.PENANAfRpUpKJjT9
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not155Please respect copyright.PENANA7VJ4mu43w8
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry155Please respect copyright.PENANAnNIXlctnR0
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once155Please respect copyright.PENANAha9f9MpLeL
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing155Please respect copyright.PENANAIWxp2zEQCm
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.155Please respect copyright.PENANA3tPahxH3q7
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.155Please respect copyright.PENANAoMzOpMvUhU
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as155Please respect copyright.PENANASAWnd85EV5
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see155Please respect copyright.PENANApVO547YEYI
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience155Please respect copyright.PENANAJIlk0JksvT
it as it really is...”155Please respect copyright.PENANAtvTCyQ312S
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”155Please respect copyright.PENANAbvZB78eQTh
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”155Please respect copyright.PENANAt973wKFoCf
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce155Please respect copyright.PENANAAJxmMOI0UL
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice155Please respect copyright.PENANA9h5ERrf3Wx
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were155Please respect copyright.PENANAGN1ExHrBtq
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most155Please respect copyright.PENANADyWAXjWn4r
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her155Please respect copyright.PENANABS3vVMSbZU
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire155Please respect copyright.PENANAqU2xmVlXaS
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully155Please respect copyright.PENANAqn72O573b1
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,155Please respect copyright.PENANAP3ZNw9fA5s
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more155Please respect copyright.PENANAoW6lp3jPEr
than I would like to count.155Please respect copyright.PENANA0ndfRZw7zA
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your155Please respect copyright.PENANAQQOQKnlHJy
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there155Please respect copyright.PENANAqXkBa58vG6
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.