Harigar Rhim offered a quick pat on the shoulder and Deena a short smile but one116Please respect copyright.PENANA4fbkmYLsk9
that seemed like it had a long time coming. She had a harder time than the others in116Please respect copyright.PENANAtzXc5NQBYO
holding her posture.116Please respect copyright.PENANADfv0qvlgTz
“Celle, Lorian... this is Red.” Dhanel Marce introduced him in such a short manner.116Please respect copyright.PENANALQzq6D31pu
“He is an old friend of ours and a former member of the Hand.” The new figure was116Please respect copyright.PENANA9i2tIndTB5
a bigger man; slightly taller and larger than any other here and as he pulled his blue116Please respect copyright.PENANA6hxZWLjhzJ
hood back, he revealed his red hair and his red beard. Both coloured in vivid, almost116Please respect copyright.PENANAW6X5NtlM7x
flaming tones as if they were trying to match the very flames on his back.116Please respect copyright.PENANAfTcQsgGMkO
“What are you doing here? Answer me.” Celle takes a few steps forward.116Please respect copyright.PENANAeDpeBy5YdI
“You could say I still live here...” his voice matches the rest of him, deep and steady...
“No one lives here...” she insisted.116Please respect copyright.PENANAloqMqNjG7H
“That is enough Celle.” Dhanel Marce requested.116Please respect copyright.PENANAnRWRra9w9O
“Down girl.” Red did not care how much he could infuriate her; instead, his eyes116Please respect copyright.PENANAV2B10IYDwp
were now turned to Lorian, the quiet and more aloof of the group “And you?”116Please respect copyright.PENANA3JcxtA9VED
“...” the silent companion looked instead towards that mountain...116Please respect copyright.PENANAQUYpx4Yp0i
“Not much of a talker I see...” Red looked at him from hood to boot “I like that.”116Please respect copyright.PENANAGOgKIsO9qR
Celle insisted: “Sir who might this haphazard figure be?”116Please respect copyright.PENANAm5IObuoafC
“Disobedient and rude...” Red barely ever looked at her, and he didn’t seem fazed116Please respect copyright.PENANAjicwcX6rVo
by any of her words or stares either “So is this what you drag behind you these days?”116Please respect copyright.PENANAbKf1X4HUp0
“Everyone here has definitely earned their place” Dhanel Marce manages to halt116Please respect copyright.PENANATyns7dCw3A
Celle right before she can sneak in another word “just as they did in your days...” he116Please respect copyright.PENANAoaiQBSMGbF
smiles “that hasn’t changed my old friend. Nothing has really.”116Please respect copyright.PENANA5QaLFDvyVs
“I am not so sure about that.” Red keeps looking around at them, one by one...116Please respect copyright.PENANAxfv7iW8nOJ
“Sir I must intercede, we should not...” but Dhanel Marce cut her off once again...116Please respect copyright.PENANAcMm34wcZtr
“Celle, please...” he asked... “Celle here became your replacement Red, after... well,116Please respect copyright.PENANA4aBXQu72Br
you decided to take your leave of absence, and she has been exerting the same position116Please respect copyright.PENANALkeaM5OXgu
you did from day one. Needless to say, she is most capable and very much worthy of116Please respect copyright.PENANAX5uekC1BRw
such responsibility as my second in command. She holds my utmost confidence.”116Please respect copyright.PENANAw0MOrGDpn0
Perhaps the captain of the Hand said these words with ambiguous intent, so at the116Please respect copyright.PENANAdMwwRi0xiX
same time safeguard himself against any further implications from Red, as well as116Please respect copyright.PENANAXLvXMwL2Qh
to prevent any falser steps from Celle. Or perhaps he did not see that far ahead and116Please respect copyright.PENANASmE8pzVuq4
simply told the truth, regardless of it worked both ways even if only for a short while.116Please respect copyright.PENANAG9DylJmc0H
Red looked around once more and then his eyes stopped on the other two; Deena and116Please respect copyright.PENANAbQdiFoUJEs
Harigar Rhim whom he has been friends with for a very long time, he looked straight116Please respect copyright.PENANAMZSDX6pGgE
at them...116Please respect copyright.PENANAQ2iROyr4uY
“No promotion for any of you I reckon. Not a single sample of acknowledgement to116Please respect copyright.PENANAqtwdh6zKkV
those serving long before this one came to join. She just tagged along and immediately116Please respect copyright.PENANA97JdBsDWll
started running things? I wonder if your king might have found himself a new116Please respect copyright.PENANAEoJIy3bcJs
favourite...” he pauses a bit as he easily reflects Celle’s harsh stare “So how do you two116Please respect copyright.PENANAjUdtenvzOe
fancy any of it?”116Please respect copyright.PENANAWotxkkMDLd
“We all have our orders Red...” Dhanel Marce concluded before any of the others116Please respect copyright.PENANAG5u6oqI5RO
could toss in the slightest contribution. A short but still awkward silence followed.116Please respect copyright.PENANA9ZruhyZTjN
The storm still has them, over this entire region those clouds, always ruthless, do not116Please respect copyright.PENANAt2ujslWzxJ
know the meaning of relent and ever do they allow anyone under their gaze to stay dry116Please respect copyright.PENANASEiDhk5fQv
or warm, for even the slightest amount of time. Closer to the edge of what was once116Please respect copyright.PENANAm2BV2kR6nE
a lively Brosse, now six instead of five, are experiencing the local weather, an ongoing116Please respect copyright.PENANAEvoeqHYJbA
storm that shows no signs of dispersion or the slightest weakness.116Please respect copyright.PENANA4XAnnHeOfv
“You are not wearing your mask.” Deena pointed out.116Please respect copyright.PENANAUusZF12VhO
“You don’t need that type of mask here Deena...” Red looked around once again as116Please respect copyright.PENANAmXh5z9FvwS
if he was looking for something, and every time he did, one could tell he did not see116Please respect copyright.PENANABcLvf1GAVT
this place like any of the others “Besides I like to see the world as it really is, experience116Please respect copyright.PENANAxdOFWj1smR
it as it really is...”116Please respect copyright.PENANAaSeq4roOTC
“Boss,” says Harigar Rhim “we need to get moving.”116Please respect copyright.PENANA6iS5MMG9hC
“Wait a moment” Red then widened his eyes “Where is Elistia?”116Please respect copyright.PENANA3XlA6xHEOW
“After you left, she was never the same again Red, she changed...” Dhanel Marce116Please respect copyright.PENANA1oT5SIjf4v
ignored Harigar Rhim and kept on talking, as if the sun was shining and his own voice116Please respect copyright.PENANAuls4EMevlQ
wasn’t being muffled by his mask or the heavy rain “...her focus and her strength were116Please respect copyright.PENANAUA8Enu1tKp
no longer there as she started to often endanger the success of our missions and most116Please respect copyright.PENANAohrTVKzGKB
importantly, her wellbeing. More than once either I or another, had to step in for her116Please respect copyright.PENANA7kgGGpl1Jn
sake; we suddenly began finding ourselves intervening often in inexplicably made dire116Please respect copyright.PENANASKKwC5Lw3H
situations, and whereas before she could have just handled them easily and gracefully116Please respect copyright.PENANAqx0TPslone
all by herself, now, now if not for us, she would have surely lost it all. Everyone here,116Please respect copyright.PENANAiKdblui6hX
except for Lorian who took her place, has saved her life more than once, and me more116Please respect copyright.PENANAKvh5KIHK8j
than I would like to count.116Please respect copyright.PENANA0XUAv2FYtj
We slowly started noticing, all of us, that she had lost something shortly after your116Please respect copyright.PENANASbZCESYnhp
departure; either her heart or her mind or maybe both. Something just wasn’t there116Please respect copyright.PENANAoeqlIdTK7Z
anymore after you left which is, I think, understandable.