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Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLX00e75bg0
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhOpzIbWp1l
holding her posture.357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtQTa0v3zLT
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ma4f9Wrgv
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO7LwljYgY4
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBAISzBqg6d
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIxHsTQaZdt
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡopU4ac10ul
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡleRvcHpnf9
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjO0BcrQw5H
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl4O6PVg51U
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVNi0LcuQqB
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGpHuM8e0K0
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOFjLMeuQRm
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCDVweP8s5U
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQQvXRJvLGI
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7bm8smeuDW
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPukSqM1CPk
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYayVDi2d1m
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7jy4CnBIaB
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr1kccDY7zq
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡquineTypAc
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd9npEaUDxl
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMmsAo1voUy
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoGh7mam9t3
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiXPKIyTkum
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS20wdPCf0f
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1xblnbW0A0
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDaVc1vLJ6n
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5IlpDlkEYt
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhzb9eu7kmq
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4UlUcgQ5Jh
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJfYaQOi7K4
at them...357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJiTV3GcjiP
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVNVBeZwhtp
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbwqRmHR4O9
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡesNpEyQvQJ
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyHkp9ZMSS0
fancy any of it?”357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSZJDpvF7qV
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsGilQCSAxw
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxoUOpGRYnT
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgZ4O6VyWEg
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT2WXoYepBK
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ89rmOKGag3
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR1yRU5P7Tr
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoSSPgI5j1O
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgRRsjz79zv
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkfnL00ecFN
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzjd9kfGYmF
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY98bA8dj80
it as it really is...”357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL9lgvQcoM0
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRTxwqq0uBB
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmAEcF1J494
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrNVdERJIQg
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhtyAkBUzPg
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡToniH3K8cj
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX5WCZizVYV
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJByqPS59X7
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxNawKcYps4
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJis5ZP3feR
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4DopHcFC0Z
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP6ub9dVd8I
than I would like to count.357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyfNnQKe7Rg
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1HyYE8g8SF
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there357Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ1oMtguTym
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.
