Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one105Please respect copyright.PENANAmRRUOwv5At
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in105Please respect copyright.PENANAeuQ4KDDGdK
holding her posture.105Please respect copyright.PENANA4LuoF3oOGZ
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.105Please respect copyright.PENANAjRZCI5NYdr
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was105Please respect copyright.PENANAcRsiHHvu4C
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue105Please respect copyright.PENANALoAC3aEx0P
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost105Please respect copyright.PENANAMwpj602jYC
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.105Please respect copyright.PENANAdJV2bUXhYc
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.105Please respect copyright.PENANAXlzEYWmlqB
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.105Please respect copyright.PENANAPSuyCgCwtf
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.105Please respect copyright.PENANAeHT4Ya6wfk
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes105Please respect copyright.PENANAfLA7cAIr3h
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”105Please respect copyright.PENANAcICeE7KHBe
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...105Please respect copyright.PENANALZEwrtLC3L
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”105Please respect copyright.PENANAFwqMAQA14G
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”105Please respect copyright.PENANAUnUR2HhGL8
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed105Please respect copyright.PENANAtBuJy3IHu5
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”105Please respect copyright.PENANAv1j3dPeGfL
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt105Please respect copyright.PENANA9mrmuzdUjy
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he105Please respect copyright.PENANA9KKphuwSGX
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”105Please respect copyright.PENANAdDZnPqOTkg
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...105Please respect copyright.PENANA2YQvyIEh6a
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...105Please respect copyright.PENANAppJR8zCGZS
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,105Please respect copyright.PENANAe2pZOnA5W5
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position105Please respect copyright.PENANAcXsAj1NRFf
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of105Please respect copyright.PENANAI3SD9JOgVu
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”105Please respect copyright.PENANA13NsZieNxW
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the105Please respect copyright.PENANAj4mbsEJKPd
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as105Please respect copyright.PENANA0mNFYGDssL
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and105Please respect copyright.PENANAUMDJdnNkUl
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.105Please respect copyright.PENANAslzgmcgAWP
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and105Please respect copyright.PENANAn8scq26AEu
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight105Please respect copyright.PENANAFEJnks2jc8
at them...105Please respect copyright.PENANAwNz6Lu457W
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to105Please respect copyright.PENANAZmmygtJLwB
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately105Please respect copyright.PENANA9f3gPci6Rk
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new105Please respect copyright.PENANAbAn5621iVM
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two105Please respect copyright.PENANAfsyThF1DrI
fancy any of it?”105Please respect copyright.PENANAFQayX8mca1
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others105Please respect copyright.PENANAwJrfqJSceN
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.105Please respect copyright.PENANA0X6FV5gMxV
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not105Please respect copyright.PENANALOSEngw4cC
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry105Please respect copyright.PENANAeEPvP37fpR
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once105Please respect copyright.PENANAqDu08bzagX
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing105Please respect copyright.PENANAfgTI91LcWN
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.105Please respect copyright.PENANAYGpBU8CGSI
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.105Please respect copyright.PENANAOoUOHrJCzu
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as105Please respect copyright.PENANAEHi56LZtRD
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see105Please respect copyright.PENANAgXSa2AShPc
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience105Please respect copyright.PENANAOTf0s8NUkH
it as it really is...”105Please respect copyright.PENANAs1TBL4mFwH
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”105Please respect copyright.PENANAJlU2A913zP
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”105Please respect copyright.PENANA21jEMCsc8o
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce105Please respect copyright.PENANASKOoAOc3a0
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice105Please respect copyright.PENANAKjtfWwf45C
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were105Please respect copyright.PENANAj0xqU1jxrS
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most105Please respect copyright.PENANA3mgHyDQDAD
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her105Please respect copyright.PENANAL5Shchrj8b
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire105Please respect copyright.PENANA8Y7van5pWn
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully105Please respect copyright.PENANArv8LecDXU9
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,105Please respect copyright.PENANAA87VJejOmG
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more105Please respect copyright.PENANAuZKq6Np96W
than I would like to count.105Please respect copyright.PENANABEiWIZ6crk
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your105Please respect copyright.PENANA7Mjvp8yYeG
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there105Please respect copyright.PENANAlVhUkqIP7J
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.