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Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ7FnzLJbmL
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ46KFJdxTOI
holding her posture.366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpY7YHAWE6n
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMBVBYdiGBw
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ePIxdHHuK
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVflfhyphlc
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeTvcJ7mGOc
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtfDQ9FSRBm
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Wcl7qIjFF
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXBSpo37kSM
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE1Xk769Hui
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGRw0154LIO
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAAMxMDxUaG
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS0NOnMV5J4
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtE8HD5UR02
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5LVauT8DXQ
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6UONVu9YLn
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7LW5F8DRrD
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoBzuKUJ6Ra
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvbgGXYryMC
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡARbbGwDiIp
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw12UlfXAwC
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnRFlqhCCsN
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTtNiuR4o2Q
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTlPNNJ2uQz
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDaPnV3DyTv
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmiQRvQo7mv
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwAQkxh3xwf
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbI1IlzOvnL
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjCYDZN3EU3
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1M5dlqKm3j
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMc38cenBwt
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡthtKGLDH2p
at them...366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeVzpqYv4bD
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ05prhBJHI5
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCV7TS9tg5l
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1vuRRiOme2
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl9zscflegO
fancy any of it?”366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmwTDnvOV96
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnsa2oWH88Q
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEhKgsRLMun
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGdfUPU3Req
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgePf7z87FT
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQth2BklYZV
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYnmhipRMnW
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbahCPaAkYU
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ46LjuLjjD5
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnwEr9rDFV8
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡutNtm7SJ0J
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKmQ5S94YH6
it as it really is...”366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjFcZQdB67W
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCV6XwvDe1U
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡibiTLsq9vJ
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxv6kEFkNU5
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI3JR4VnOPO
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDIuDg2ejCP
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJbNT3utZAk
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7n3I62ZW6T
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjAcRgwHIKS
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUGNI2s0PcF
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrGWRSRbp7Z
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhCE04Jj2Sq
than I would like to count.366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeIh7psuDuz
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFXTSfYDFTY
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpnaFJwYHSQ
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.
