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Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqRK7HZkSsK
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVPBwWz8pV7
holding her posture.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjZZi2WkPLy
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡADN5Sqtc4h
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMDjmlViENp
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsfwR3xeDlR
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOtP3ehF8AR
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1KiXYXDctt
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu7M4L3CiuR
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpgDmN9npe3
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjCAVcEDdoy
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXi9IzpOEOr
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRP17i15bzE
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9SQ4IxAqEr
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZcJnjPHWS1
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3g1YUtBoB9
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw7knUqhPAa
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0o6SmwlK5x
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsWMQYikdn4
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRNxT66rh4v
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGuXNAaFyCH
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKhJuyW8EVd
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs2Z07UnL3T
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQMibggD7pi
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Fa0MaTdin
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6jDbGYj3rF
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHluZ3nRePk
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXGO6fXJsyS
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL4Y2PWGZhL
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Lyb2Npijd
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6dAXsxRV7W
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTuD9qbg9HR
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiNy3uG0HGP
at them...365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMnd0Qbe1eS
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP6z7NWpXGv
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrezFz2RZj9
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyVn1SKN9yn
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsY7q9xST9p
fancy any of it?”365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwLx8UGVTDj
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ34HKAOxGpi
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3bTuokGgEe
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5arGU0Iqq4
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMSuUVjdyCv
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡohyWOOFC2K
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzX4zgT04Mu
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVRsLAgOr9a
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkfySNmU6fB
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0qvdxU6d2I
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFJtmNqJZ9y
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAKMT24HhmK
it as it really is...”365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzTKrXfENK4
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUrh1ECFhRt
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Zm4BBCwDU
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH7NzW6Xkmh
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWmIguro6RP
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd8NxhhQ9gp
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1iO8y7vK8N
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpuupCsWksu
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfLWxkjVZCa
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlOHXEJBgep
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5KuxVWm2Wv
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNJwlB4y4s2
than I would like to count.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4rs6YetKVV
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBGux2brPnw
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm602Oqd64R
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.
