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Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYSCiR5oQQ3
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy8L5E1FsZw
holding her posture.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkUhl6ZSu8Y
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdAK6Hyyh7S
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbOQ8lrVafk
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPnz7wUtjI5
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvPdLEb2Pw8
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZapP95cMh5
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoNEMdn2xGT
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyc5UPmMiVM
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZksXoZi6ZT
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgcei9gmUu3
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO04tBeGRkI
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrBN2y6OM6h
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXPXg7jqnBZ
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzkK6UUh19J
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTkKZpIEQBD
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOTJKXJi7uj
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRhUsj3E67D
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGlM4dMzN9H
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe65dyYMjUv
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡegs9AK7rSO
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjJinMyXpXH
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW2qf9I7NRE
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq0LRkIssTr
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEet53PlNz5
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY1iXWJqR4z
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE0I9Rbi5g1
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQre9TnA7VA
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgrYbU8CRuG
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVQrfEzEIfe
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhnMSXStoZ5
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡARYdCl7Mtt
at them...309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt8oRf0LRkr
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiViPhIfR0t
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEPCcnAZOzF
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsMnjCYslfL
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCZj8RsglRT
fancy any of it?”309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkcSKLkneC6
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh7GGDjJdNk
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡstMPHWB8Gl
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ktXSrj1xJ
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3DNWCvXQvN
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbgzaxiVX5F
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzAtTylDPUf
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ071aG20rDu
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuKlyP3OXQ7
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3hGVg7XzH5
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYeIlzywxRQ
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaV9QQXW6sB
it as it really is...”309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCsm40lywU2
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs7Apezv8FK
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDBaj4fSJEJ
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcx4iscbGEy
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDtYQWjQvDY
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE9PaTcOuae
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJNRmSiVFHA
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXry4m0OJa3
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGB1Am0vPlx
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpPoeKrLJlP
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ47XAGUp5Hk
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT1MMnD78eZ
than I would like to count.309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzwRsmoqxNq
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQxzcxDrkqw
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there309Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCb8O1CRJHH
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.
