Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one103Please respect copyright.PENANA3MiKIg6osQ
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in103Please respect copyright.PENANAR8FAtT9KLY
holding her posture.103Please respect copyright.PENANAIJunCZzCxv
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.103Please respect copyright.PENANAbhDVvG0bkv
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was103Please respect copyright.PENANAa97XCIfM3E
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue103Please respect copyright.PENANAj3J6OZvHUB
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost103Please respect copyright.PENANAIt5ecWoW16
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.103Please respect copyright.PENANAkAaZOcm6Lj
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.103Please respect copyright.PENANAr8XsoxXHEs
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.103Please respect copyright.PENANAS57jXjUqLZ
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.103Please respect copyright.PENANA3c91kj8vEa
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes103Please respect copyright.PENANAIoIa1wCFCP
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”103Please respect copyright.PENANAt8INpp7UP0
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...103Please respect copyright.PENANAEXSs2C08Cy
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”103Please respect copyright.PENANAJdHYqQ0Orr
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”103Please respect copyright.PENANAuLwtwPMrBH
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed103Please respect copyright.PENANAbObRGYZVrL
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”103Please respect copyright.PENANAVMqtFva7UU
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt103Please respect copyright.PENANAltDajFITn4
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he103Please respect copyright.PENANAO0KSuM3JH8
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”103Please respect copyright.PENANA8ReKxfvB6T
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...103Please respect copyright.PENANAldaqG63D8T
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...103Please respect copyright.PENANAzTRDMa8I17
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,103Please respect copyright.PENANASOsPDTqF8G
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position103Please respect copyright.PENANAhkJDevLZif
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of103Please respect copyright.PENANAwk5ML7SLI5
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”103Please respect copyright.PENANAoKKZm1O7UI
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the103Please respect copyright.PENANAnWmOwlEYsg
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as103Please respect copyright.PENANAbj8RiVwrNC
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and103Please respect copyright.PENANAgDtVRI2tZx
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.103Please respect copyright.PENANAhOvSKSwv5g
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and103Please respect copyright.PENANAjnIQfeuApi
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight103Please respect copyright.PENANAE2CoELNgPh
at them...103Please respect copyright.PENANA7eHSzVOenN
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to103Please respect copyright.PENANAt0eqyyMyxM
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately103Please respect copyright.PENANAgZ6hBhQm3s
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new103Please respect copyright.PENANAQsyqUaqtaV
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two103Please respect copyright.PENANAzdiqeSFvK4
fancy any of it?”103Please respect copyright.PENANAy1ysdCEEP1
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others103Please respect copyright.PENANA0wQVYoxFwu
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.103Please respect copyright.PENANAhxygCtELXy
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not103Please respect copyright.PENANAq1VM0jXssT
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry103Please respect copyright.PENANAO3HcFAnfrD
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once103Please respect copyright.PENANAl48fcfNYAn
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing103Please respect copyright.PENANA8XVX3RneWb
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.103Please respect copyright.PENANAQhrTAu1ebx
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.103Please respect copyright.PENANAQRjxuzbFtv
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as103Please respect copyright.PENANAZjCkou7tJl
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see103Please respect copyright.PENANAZYkz0hOOlr
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience103Please respect copyright.PENANAVnCXkyYOr8
it as it really is...”103Please respect copyright.PENANAnGMNN9t4NR
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”103Please respect copyright.PENANAQ8g3wcOvS1
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”103Please respect copyright.PENANAi3ap4GcWCF
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce103Please respect copyright.PENANAU2G1smCNrX
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice103Please respect copyright.PENANAWmWAoto1Li
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were103Please respect copyright.PENANAYtfcDJn8YX
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most103Please respect copyright.PENANAUlcR2Qrj43
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her103Please respect copyright.PENANAgZRM1zGDxG
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire103Please respect copyright.PENANA9y6jNN1l1E
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully103Please respect copyright.PENANAA1qGcL2LHW
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,103Please respect copyright.PENANAQsyhTTftPM
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more103Please respect copyright.PENANAImYsJS7eD6
than I would like to count.103Please respect copyright.PENANAlCgb5O9gi2
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your103Please respect copyright.PENANAZSc8xhZxP3
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there103Please respect copyright.PENANA75vkLRbnrN
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.