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After all, you Red were the main reason she got to join us in the first place all those402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHgOLJpMCId
years ago. Do you remember? Anyway, one day she just decided to leave without a402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgCwCCVX4DC
word to anyone and we have never heard from her since.”402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgXYYgeL8io
The clouds and everything below them are yet again flashed with white, as another402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc7cg6QrKBT
thunderous scream echoes way up above their heads. Red lowered his brow and would402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkk3MRG4qWf
take a deep breath before he would dare raise it back up again... slightly...402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡONDy2g7TVi
“She disappeared?”402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7MSNC0dV6X
“It is not your fault Red,” replied Harigar Rhim.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWBCFT5JvqZ
“Yes, she has always made her own choices,” added Deena.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPUHK4Ed0Ja
“It was just like that huh?” Red insisted while staring back at them.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlX1V038afR
“She was gone?” he asked again, this time facing Deena, and although he may have402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqeRyNmB8p9
been staring at one or the other, the truth in its rawest form, was that his questions402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYanyvI29qK
confronted everyone here “What really happened. Can any of you at least tell me402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRVD2VAbXt9
that much? Marce?” It was obvious that the captain did not want to continue with402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrCxydEktv4
this subject and so he immediately decided to bring this to an abrupt conclusion, as402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzgVWyUQPMt
his final words on the matter began around the same time as his newfound footsteps402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkRoTXIf65y
brought everyone starting to follow him...402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡROvlAvcuBi
“One morning we all woke up to her disappearance. She was just gone. We had402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTp9Rinz65r
decided to spend the night in an inn amidst the frozen lands, way up to the far north402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV6Ec1xl1B3
as we were, of course, yet on another mission. We were forced to seek refuge from a402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNCs7iOHv5J
sudden storm, and what a storm it was; the flying snow raging, the howling winds alone402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxUxtTB1ofM
seemed like they could cut any part of you left uncovered if you dared to promenade402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0rS6c9PE0T
outside, you remember the aggressiveness of the north don’t you Red?402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY00upPeLOk
Anyway, conditions were met that forced us to a stop and so we did. I won’t vouch402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSVnqQNCVkg
for anyone else, but I am certain that few, if any of us, had any sleep that night.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGFtbrbuSCr
Not in that cold, not with those raging and screaming winds outside every window.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvVv1xU4uc3
The storm came to pass, and a warm morning took its place, but besides the relief of402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8FsLq6jYJe
a sunnier vista, that rising sun also brought us breakfast and its carrier, the innkeeper402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT67rCxSvxJ
who approached us with dire news. Such a sweet old lady she was. She approached us402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1rmSyHk75q
with the news that the woman in our party, the tall and pierced one - I’ll never forget402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6OhqXbQehi
the way she described her - had left during the night and had instructed her not to say402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiR37ZCivsG
a word to any of us. We were to be left unaware of her departure till it was too late to402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR5rV2J5qZc
try and stop her...”
“That tall woman in yer party captain, the one with her skin pierced all402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVuq7kNk8dP
over and a big spear behind her back, she just wandered into the night. Why,402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeUOn33PahD
she disappeared as if absorbed by the storm. Off she went into those raging402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡntJ09dgllQ
white blizzards, the likes which I’ve never seen in all my years living here.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQRSqyOyVEO
She left behind only the coin to pay your bill and the instructions for my silence. Not to say402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxXPodMvEIZ
a word I was, not until morning came.”
“The innkeeper did as she was told Red, and so only by morning time, did we learn402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA9kL4jZ0Lf
of what had transpired during the night.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxaH6FFD4Ez
We were all so very exhausted from the hardships we had faced up to that point, that402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW8pIq19tDU
none of us were in any condition to notice someone as skilled as Elistia taking leave.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC6LiUm0Ht9
We were too tired to notice most of the things we usually do, too tired to keep our402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeY2NqfKdO0
eyes open whilst at the same time too tired to sleep as well. It was a strange night for402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7uksivWySw
all of us. We were left behind, speechless around that small table, while Deena went402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRXf1D7edUF
out after any signs, but no tracker would have been able to find a clue. Not after that402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfE5nr8Y1um
storm. Elistia was one of us after all, and one of the Wurad, so no one would ever be402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgDlviqxPtZ
able to pick up her trail; not unless she wanted them to.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtgwLuiRbD6
So, what else was there for us to do, rather than mourn?402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqpnPp79H63
We had our time of silence for the loss of one of our own, one that left us by her own402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbtvIVc88VU
accord, and then shortly after we got back to our duties. I guess we all deep down felt402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Y9bMtnGv6
or at least hoped that being one of the Wurad, she had just gone back to her tribe but402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZugZbWLIhJ
in all honesty, to this day, none of us can claim to know for sure where she was headed402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXPJNeqafhj
and what intentions drove her.
