Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one112Please respect copyright.PENANAkrWYs1nHKK
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in112Please respect copyright.PENANAesj7FQwElj
holding her posture.112Please respect copyright.PENANAp1scrYpKxS
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.112Please respect copyright.PENANABurOV5BdaW
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was112Please respect copyright.PENANAe3J0ASCFnH
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue112Please respect copyright.PENANA6zJLsqHAHJ
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost112Please respect copyright.PENANA8B1LIsR32x
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.112Please respect copyright.PENANA7TxIjHT0N8
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.112Please respect copyright.PENANAJqE0sqcapw
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.112Please respect copyright.PENANA51CgNdOgtx
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.112Please respect copyright.PENANAfttEeciqLU
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes112Please respect copyright.PENANAi12gMQN9Sx
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”112Please respect copyright.PENANAu2PI40Wvje
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...112Please respect copyright.PENANAXLPrjeIE38
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”112Please respect copyright.PENANA7fmYCcrvqr
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”112Please respect copyright.PENANA8M0R9ID8Q0
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed112Please respect copyright.PENANADyYRRDEHy0
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”112Please respect copyright.PENANArZP8QAU4gC
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt112Please respect copyright.PENANAnkMPAnReAQ
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he112Please respect copyright.PENANACyuAQhQ9Kq
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”112Please respect copyright.PENANAsNR95bRqJa
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...112Please respect copyright.PENANApXIFq2VG7x
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...112Please respect copyright.PENANAKynpSjqlpH
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,112Please respect copyright.PENANAOYZ8xCEnGn
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position112Please respect copyright.PENANA9Hv2bOgUIT
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of112Please respect copyright.PENANA4PGVrwxKdm
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”112Please respect copyright.PENANA73oeeC2VJs
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the112Please respect copyright.PENANA3BN5oHO7j8
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as112Please respect copyright.PENANAtWypaCjOJ2
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and112Please respect copyright.PENANAj5gkGPVy3W
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.112Please respect copyright.PENANAGzXVFHrshX
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and112Please respect copyright.PENANAjxtLCW5D1L
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight112Please respect copyright.PENANAAUIyI8PJMj
at them...112Please respect copyright.PENANAhgPbk0axsL
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to112Please respect copyright.PENANANh11EmZV5I
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately112Please respect copyright.PENANAZhONRG0Ym9
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new112Please respect copyright.PENANAl2dt1fkAM7
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two112Please respect copyright.PENANAuXYTn90Zgx
fancy any of it?”112Please respect copyright.PENANArReXPFZCGE
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others112Please respect copyright.PENANALjzEyqs8WW
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.112Please respect copyright.PENANAAvEDhLax8w
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not112Please respect copyright.PENANANVS2ho9xyi
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry112Please respect copyright.PENANAVRwSuYjD7Y
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once112Please respect copyright.PENANAD2UUeY53sE
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing112Please respect copyright.PENANAYDysFTUgwY
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.112Please respect copyright.PENANAlMAcSiEhn4
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.112Please respect copyright.PENANAywEmHQCdJz
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as112Please respect copyright.PENANAe1iTEVRfIq
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see112Please respect copyright.PENANAkjV4tRRDUu
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience112Please respect copyright.PENANAIR0kgooOlR
it as it really is...”112Please respect copyright.PENANAUEmQZsJJOP
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”112Please respect copyright.PENANAv15p8np34Q
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”112Please respect copyright.PENANA44hLLrTVZl
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce112Please respect copyright.PENANAlbd9I6BhIQ
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice112Please respect copyright.PENANATriELyguHv
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were112Please respect copyright.PENANAwO7FzeSstn
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most112Please respect copyright.PENANAN07YJmZBCv
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her112Please respect copyright.PENANA0PA0XdO2CY
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire112Please respect copyright.PENANAHSgQfCzV4l
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully112Please respect copyright.PENANAch3ONiDjt3
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,112Please respect copyright.PENANAIrHqjdGo4k
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more112Please respect copyright.PENANAqOns6uOlEE
than I would like to count.112Please respect copyright.PENANAWsGSGlEwm4
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your112Please respect copyright.PENANAVLQWDwS4FW
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there112Please respect copyright.PENANApXwSi6Mo4Z
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.