Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one117Please respect copyright.PENANAjHE61wOqS0
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in117Please respect copyright.PENANApPrzDAQlln
holding her posture.117Please respect copyright.PENANAPOdwBeVAhI
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.117Please respect copyright.PENANAPQNYfYFTOj
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was117Please respect copyright.PENANAeEOyTuCYzq
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue117Please respect copyright.PENANA0R6aSf2QHG
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost117Please respect copyright.PENANAJ1eLtOWznG
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.117Please respect copyright.PENANA0iHXaQb5UK
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.117Please respect copyright.PENANA8M0O5htcGM
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.117Please respect copyright.PENANAWgzoXt2611
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.117Please respect copyright.PENANAFwHYVpfewp
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes117Please respect copyright.PENANA8DxZMVMbgO
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”117Please respect copyright.PENANA1E9tayfCT7
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...117Please respect copyright.PENANAZ4vMmE4gYL
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”117Please respect copyright.PENANAjqJKcgEysD
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”117Please respect copyright.PENANApSvOI7hsSA
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed117Please respect copyright.PENANAxYIabR27oQ
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”117Please respect copyright.PENANA52AmMhBxP6
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt117Please respect copyright.PENANAFkjHhE5Tiy
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he117Please respect copyright.PENANAem13lWuguf
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”117Please respect copyright.PENANAUMs15GlWoh
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...117Please respect copyright.PENANAkPhuLV2dnY
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...117Please respect copyright.PENANAgCcOIgGkOt
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,117Please respect copyright.PENANAWtsob0X4IZ
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position117Please respect copyright.PENANA3f0J3Ak7KG
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of117Please respect copyright.PENANA1cJt5dp0lc
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”117Please respect copyright.PENANAPtkU09xdzc
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the117Please respect copyright.PENANAWTbPXNlPgd
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as117Please respect copyright.PENANAsVvhGBU8B2
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and117Please respect copyright.PENANAIgUYVXzr1P
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.117Please respect copyright.PENANAJEw9BQV9n7
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and117Please respect copyright.PENANABk1l4hwnkh
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight117Please respect copyright.PENANAZX7m7ynQkp
at them...117Please respect copyright.PENANAXZwnsSYrBU
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to117Please respect copyright.PENANAo66B8EzmLT
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately117Please respect copyright.PENANADXw3k7s88I
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new117Please respect copyright.PENANAixNIwysTa5
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two117Please respect copyright.PENANAnwAsR829sk
fancy any of it?”117Please respect copyright.PENANA4lunaBflMg
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others117Please respect copyright.PENANASiIxTYn0Zs
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.117Please respect copyright.PENANAMXSK9v57cT
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not117Please respect copyright.PENANAWHCM5cHqr8
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry117Please respect copyright.PENANAmVf3286ffZ
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once117Please respect copyright.PENANAhQWd76fVdZ
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing117Please respect copyright.PENANAOC4GTDHjzf
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.117Please respect copyright.PENANAHpF8iBuP3B
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.117Please respect copyright.PENANAzqJ7yAhE0f
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as117Please respect copyright.PENANA90E4MJgaQm
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see117Please respect copyright.PENANACSdLoR3TJH
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience117Please respect copyright.PENANA7uznPrSbMP
it as it really is...”117Please respect copyright.PENANAmYFgsTnlIi
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”117Please respect copyright.PENANAeqgyA0yuCz
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”117Please respect copyright.PENANA7wLUKGvJGu
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce117Please respect copyright.PENANA7jrMvWmLif
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice117Please respect copyright.PENANA0cGYAPJKJ6
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were117Please respect copyright.PENANA37wwVM1bom
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most117Please respect copyright.PENANAwdS7HLBrUX
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her117Please respect copyright.PENANAey2vGJ3rK9
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire117Please respect copyright.PENANAKNPLpbgGZL
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully117Please respect copyright.PENANAyQhF1iwQcr
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,117Please respect copyright.PENANAl4kzo9uK2m
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more117Please respect copyright.PENANAsrD0HsBntb
than I would like to count.117Please respect copyright.PENANAbgoJpgehpu
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your117Please respect copyright.PENANAk9iJeslRxw
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there117Please respect copyright.PENANA5i4uVmeaDo
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.