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Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDNuhJHh6SQ
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQeY1XQ5p2f
holding her posture.310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm7QsDFJpcC
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoN3GoPKmzI
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbRHHKFhpcA
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmandVqI2hB
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbnWzzggOs9
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDBQJQ3EanH
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTAwGyvPfUI
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡouOK4lZjap
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6iTsS5hvnZ
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz4E57kIGSh
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU7FA2jcKoG
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnx0yO7K0BQ
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQHlPQuZGgB
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZH2hcEdxZV
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUCGrSw0qB2
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO8FFzhZlDl
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWOBaO1m1dj
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZAZD124d3R
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYDQeqqTBgR
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpUbSP7nI3E
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyWSXvfyivr
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjAppr67acc
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRPaHvOixMh
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ImZSZXYWm
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfbbZWs8qyC
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUkt0hFxkXg
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZrcJeRpKjF
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ3JAmtoLo7
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ85WKWhBRGk
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzj0AThu9JZ
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnyvGUXRGjH
at them...310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB6bECGURIp
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡugbLyjhMe2
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6A1Amscynz
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡibfIid3SsR
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKTUmNEcajJ
fancy any of it?”310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPnqJIp6ZCV
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡewvXyT3yjT
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡprZuGZhQlO
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvx6zcTMMYH
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKWgpj1yEVa
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs0z42Qb0Mf
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRBxNgBIfux
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7MD2T6Cf9z
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQcVyk1Y4a2
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡITT3ZDMucY
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlF0mXRb3VB
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4SHjlNjB44
it as it really is...”310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHTGZiuMqyQ
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrU36KGgtrU
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnClNqn0919
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ90sW9mglMk
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGIs7YHT2m1
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcxIiwJltGg
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvzlkBHjF2b
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3wi35HaBFL
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBaeDh791C0
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGJFSsDqV6Z
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5XVQ2pSdOn
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzwjFDvvxRs
than I would like to count.310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPiTjdWQmBt
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlu45HjK7Ba
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there310Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6VylkL6Avg
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.
