
Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one322Please respect copyright.PENANA1w9hXbnaRP
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in322Please respect copyright.PENANASy6ExJKrme
holding her posture.322Please respect copyright.PENANAo4S0Rys1VO
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.322Please respect copyright.PENANAn4Sz08gjRj
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was322Please respect copyright.PENANA5M9Z3cB9vK
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue322Please respect copyright.PENANAZpFtfb8FTX
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost322Please respect copyright.PENANAadhJr9VmG4
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.322Please respect copyright.PENANAIyjgSFE3ed
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.322Please respect copyright.PENANAdiyWejgERd
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.322Please respect copyright.PENANAuGnIlNAhKi
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.322Please respect copyright.PENANASRIK600kcI
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes322Please respect copyright.PENANAVDd9VbRjka
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”322Please respect copyright.PENANAFApb5S8bEN
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...322Please respect copyright.PENANA4BKSaI0Xzw
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”322Please respect copyright.PENANA2Fh1PQ4V8M
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”322Please respect copyright.PENANAFxMmwrDHjm
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed322Please respect copyright.PENANA80Vk4p7UOP
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”322Please respect copyright.PENANAmHdefSZZ6u
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt322Please respect copyright.PENANAPhDLa2Rd2H
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he322Please respect copyright.PENANAh9IHlvDN99
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”322Please respect copyright.PENANA69vBxWSm3U
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...322Please respect copyright.PENANAuOUgx6rBOL
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...322Please respect copyright.PENANA3HjgAMLdjA
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,322Please respect copyright.PENANAcakpWD9epB
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position322Please respect copyright.PENANAUOkoGzBn8O
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of322Please respect copyright.PENANAFDxcaEZbeq
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”322Please respect copyright.PENANAd7sTy4Vnvo
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the322Please respect copyright.PENANAKIYPN3Nup6
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as322Please respect copyright.PENANAeJE9xGKaDZ
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and322Please respect copyright.PENANAKfmPHhSe2a
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.322Please respect copyright.PENANAt290kQNfLy
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and322Please respect copyright.PENANA0rIzhjhCTh
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight322Please respect copyright.PENANAs4MiSP4PUM
at them...322Please respect copyright.PENANAqdoblsgjNA
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to322Please respect copyright.PENANAxCqnYP79A3
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately322Please respect copyright.PENANA54toWEZtvp
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new322Please respect copyright.PENANAwR3E6pfE1q
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two322Please respect copyright.PENANA6xyPjqgd2f
fancy any of it?”322Please respect copyright.PENANA0fuf2EFWDj
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others322Please respect copyright.PENANAaVP88oUMwc
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.322Please respect copyright.PENANAv1m99vJUVA
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not322Please respect copyright.PENANAN9MVXIrvPc
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry322Please respect copyright.PENANA7Gfsqqz1z8
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once322Please respect copyright.PENANA41u4HLXTQf
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing322Please respect copyright.PENANAsPqKUAIdI8
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.322Please respect copyright.PENANAkbpTr6MUTn
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.322Please respect copyright.PENANA0wxftrW7pa
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as322Please respect copyright.PENANA5gQL8LqFhO
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see322Please respect copyright.PENANAvyYVXpAlt6
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience322Please respect copyright.PENANAjzeiPTT6t8
it as it really is...”322Please respect copyright.PENANAvuvuw1rtcl
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”322Please respect copyright.PENANA0sG340f2EI
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”322Please respect copyright.PENANAFQI5VwQl4W
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce322Please respect copyright.PENANA7cDdhxD8MS
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice322Please respect copyright.PENANAtckh4mf4h2
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were322Please respect copyright.PENANATLX1Ol75V6
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most322Please respect copyright.PENANAk80hcIYtqv
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her322Please respect copyright.PENANAwXRKtZuyEx
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire322Please respect copyright.PENANADH1jUbOpiX
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully322Please respect copyright.PENANA4CAHtYZfwg
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,322Please respect copyright.PENANAVO5yQhO3T5
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more322Please respect copyright.PENANAc1qU50hGdD
than I would like to count.322Please respect copyright.PENANAxKWA2xrU6G
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your322Please respect copyright.PENANA6dsntECvh7
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there322Please respect copyright.PENANA912ZJp9VkM
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.