After all, you Red were the main reason she got to join us in the first place all those132Please respect copyright.PENANAILJ9ZDJ9IA
years ago. Do you remember? Anyway, one day she just decided to leave without a132Please respect copyright.PENANAQfz0TC0knO
word to anyone and we have never heard from her since.”132Please respect copyright.PENANAaAOWC6V1Vr
The clouds and everything below them are yet again flashed with white, as another132Please respect copyright.PENANAVmlzWfFHSZ
thunderous scream echoes way up above their heads. Red lowered his brow and would132Please respect copyright.PENANAfHSdIsqWPX
take a deep breath before he would dare raise it back up again... slightly...132Please respect copyright.PENANAtmJVx0NaFj
“She disappeared?”132Please respect copyright.PENANAyEfwVzbmuw
“It is not your fault Red,” replied Harigar Rhim.132Please respect copyright.PENANAfC3C5duL9D
“Yes, she has always made her own choices,” added Deena.132Please respect copyright.PENANAk5YS9b7QMH
“It was just like that huh?” Red insisted while staring back at them.132Please respect copyright.PENANAGQk3VRa6ff
“She was gone?” he asked again, this time facing Deena, and although he may have132Please respect copyright.PENANAQYKn4lyVoW
been staring at one or the other, the truth in its rawest form, was that his questions132Please respect copyright.PENANAeSQhEd6i4p
confronted everyone here “What really happened. Can any of you at least tell me132Please respect copyright.PENANA6CIIRpfAJz
that much? Marce?” It was obvious that the captain did not want to continue with132Please respect copyright.PENANAwxG7xQdRrc
this subject and so he immediately decided to bring this to an abrupt conclusion, as132Please respect copyright.PENANAkVaBe1ECF0
his final words on the matter began around the same time as his newfound footsteps132Please respect copyright.PENANAwehI1BdNhM
brought everyone starting to follow him...132Please respect copyright.PENANA6CcTVFrmrx
“One morning we all woke up to her disappearance. She was just gone. We had132Please respect copyright.PENANAdzUNYVJuIg
decided to spend the night in an inn amidst the frozen lands, way up to the far north132Please respect copyright.PENANApr1VyliANd
as we were, of course, yet on another mission. We were forced to seek refuge from a132Please respect copyright.PENANAowBZXt82j1
sudden storm, and what a storm it was; the flying snow raging, the howling winds alone132Please respect copyright.PENANAFcdBrR37dI
seemed like they could cut any part of you left uncovered if you dared to promenade132Please respect copyright.PENANAXVvQfRVMIV
outside, you remember the aggressiveness of the north don’t you Red?132Please respect copyright.PENANAfxqjPoIIRK
Anyway, conditions were met that forced us to a stop and so we did. I won’t vouch132Please respect copyright.PENANA4ldkCZpk0E
for anyone else, but I am certain that few, if any of us, had any sleep that night.132Please respect copyright.PENANAlCQQEyWDuE
Not in that cold, not with those raging and screaming winds outside every window.132Please respect copyright.PENANAUf0dEnmv6u
The storm came to pass, and a warm morning took its place, but besides the relief of132Please respect copyright.PENANASyF0Dm7OVH
a sunnier vista, that rising sun also brought us breakfast and its carrier, the innkeeper132Please respect copyright.PENANAurqVdsudmu
who approached us with dire news. Such a sweet old lady she was. She approached us132Please respect copyright.PENANAV2bL5R8bBm
with the news that the woman in our party, the tall and pierced one - I’ll never forget132Please respect copyright.PENANADsZHMDmZCG
the way she described her - had left during the night and had instructed her not to say132Please respect copyright.PENANAx4U4mxB9hi
a word to any of us. We were to be left unaware of her departure till it was too late to132Please respect copyright.PENANAadkIItfo3a
try and stop her...”
“That tall woman in yer party captain, the one with her skin pierced all132Please respect copyright.PENANAwgCNrdc03m
over and a big spear behind her back, she just wandered into the night. Why,132Please respect copyright.PENANA128WY6SZKi
she disappeared as if absorbed by the storm. Off she went into those raging132Please respect copyright.PENANAil8lNfATrO
white blizzards, the likes which I’ve never seen in all my years living here.132Please respect copyright.PENANAIuAzGdUmu0
She left behind only the coin to pay your bill and the instructions for my silence. Not to say132Please respect copyright.PENANAsxf4ZUC3hH
a word I was, not until morning came.”
“The innkeeper did as she was told Red, and so only by morning time, did we learn132Please respect copyright.PENANAtYn1NfOMK1
of what had transpired during the night.132Please respect copyright.PENANA7O6NWfrqzc
We were all so very exhausted from the hardships we had faced up to that point, that132Please respect copyright.PENANA6fDSOJ1MCo
none of us were in any condition to notice someone as skilled as Elistia taking leave.132Please respect copyright.PENANAWg8zv8XDQr
We were too tired to notice most of the things we usually do, too tired to keep our132Please respect copyright.PENANADf5MFu1M8n
eyes open whilst at the same time too tired to sleep as well. It was a strange night for132Please respect copyright.PENANAquMYaHNESx
all of us. We were left behind, speechless around that small table, while Deena went132Please respect copyright.PENANAwc51Zc4GSE
out after any signs, but no tracker would have been able to find a clue. Not after that132Please respect copyright.PENANAwrYEYc2Izv
storm. Elistia was one of us after all, and one of the Wurad, so no one would ever be132Please respect copyright.PENANA72DEof2vgy
able to pick up her trail; not unless she wanted them to.132Please respect copyright.PENANAP485W7RZoD
So, what else was there for us to do, rather than mourn?132Please respect copyright.PENANAuZE1g1Bi42
We had our time of silence for the loss of one of our own, one that left us by her own132Please respect copyright.PENANAslZPMMhCn5
accord, and then shortly after we got back to our duties. I guess we all deep down felt132Please respect copyright.PENANANVVfXhmjkj
or at least hoped that being one of the Wurad, she had just gone back to her tribe but132Please respect copyright.PENANAbog9YqrRcQ
in all honesty, to this day, none of us can claim to know for sure where she was headed132Please respect copyright.PENANAGDRX3iq18N
and what intentions drove her.