x
Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Lmeo5nFNZ
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJdW8Ps9Aox
holding her posture.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjVrXUtwvry
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqURKpywIFj
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEqTfdABULN
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9N46yAooNg
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7JlxExQTeI
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmSe0I6oFLI
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIG37FaTVbn
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg5AUcccVgF
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGtqN0c8waC
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuOdDa5w6jW
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLrmi27QO2g
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0mIILhZ9fv
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNrwR5EpFiF
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡki2mNiUoKl
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO3hAAhHsrn
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmZlusiltAd
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTOIFjDjAbT
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJYnG1d7fge
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb3YjfkYX8g
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDL4j0OZ5fA
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLtjTTkGlYo
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxF1bEwiIOx
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBajO2v4Ulu
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGE7wK3cXo6
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ifYPmnoBW
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYLpFS3ogID
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNLjbbDghUh
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeFflNcYBUe
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY2ejvOERGc
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwROsmBqiGN
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAEEsdXnbTu
at them...367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQrAkrXfcKl
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvtc2AB7a6F
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPVbDJc5q2a
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvfdVGT31Ut
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8U7oAC4Ss9
fancy any of it?”367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0gB0iCq6A0
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9R0DHj0EUs
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡANoQi08KXc
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwkAAkLMzcN
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ87GoxsvQY1
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMQugpkGTje
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBLJccG6Tiu
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgKpafONZRA
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFZE4ip4lbl
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡifYFeWf4pc
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMWM6uQTqab
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ54HmjtTqfq
it as it really is...”367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOBRAat6BcP
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbk30DosoXf
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡexeVso21tf
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUiIvDNh1u4
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyqcDVYvLE0
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC0AtAN8j9x
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeadW3QTg9G
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdl7RkYP66M
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Xs6oZrEOj
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2zj1u4V3K3
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ56EqkNCePM
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuGN55jKzqM
than I would like to count.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDpm7AndBIM
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyKB2xSyjXM
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLsLEwju8sg
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.
