
After all, you Red were the main reason she got to join us in the first place all those395Please respect copyright.PENANAmm6KWEicyD
years ago. Do you remember? Anyway, one day she just decided to leave without a395Please respect copyright.PENANAtVva60JP3h
word to anyone and we have never heard from her since.”395Please respect copyright.PENANAtiH83pK8pE
The clouds and everything below them are yet again flashed with white, as another395Please respect copyright.PENANAYCWDKl3xkV
thunderous scream echoes way up above their heads. Red lowered his brow and would395Please respect copyright.PENANA6SPlL4IxUn
take a deep breath before he would dare raise it back up again... slightly...395Please respect copyright.PENANAnvOtG9aeFC
“She disappeared?”395Please respect copyright.PENANAvfdAekRS7s
“It is not your fault Red,” replied Harigar Rhim.395Please respect copyright.PENANAgP0FlAWPNT
“Yes, she has always made her own choices,” added Deena.395Please respect copyright.PENANA1UnveSsnTd
“It was just like that huh?” Red insisted while staring back at them.395Please respect copyright.PENANAhR7iuV5s2w
“She was gone?” he asked again, this time facing Deena, and although he may have395Please respect copyright.PENANAjMa70Bz4zA
been staring at one or the other, the truth in its rawest form, was that his questions395Please respect copyright.PENANAaiX2aXyOAh
confronted everyone here “What really happened. Can any of you at least tell me395Please respect copyright.PENANAYvCrhn8GG8
that much? Marce?” It was obvious that the captain did not want to continue with395Please respect copyright.PENANAaQEYmeHfTR
this subject and so he immediately decided to bring this to an abrupt conclusion, as395Please respect copyright.PENANA509xJWEp58
his final words on the matter began around the same time as his newfound footsteps395Please respect copyright.PENANASpfq5FBxIR
brought everyone starting to follow him...395Please respect copyright.PENANAFCyltk6Mfe
“One morning we all woke up to her disappearance. She was just gone. We had395Please respect copyright.PENANA3o2OHf0QPo
decided to spend the night in an inn amidst the frozen lands, way up to the far north395Please respect copyright.PENANAHgMVWzqBZZ
as we were, of course, yet on another mission. We were forced to seek refuge from a395Please respect copyright.PENANADNdbkD1rri
sudden storm, and what a storm it was; the flying snow raging, the howling winds alone395Please respect copyright.PENANAv5QawZqGhV
seemed like they could cut any part of you left uncovered if you dared to promenade395Please respect copyright.PENANA6pzBUgBYNc
outside, you remember the aggressiveness of the north don’t you Red?395Please respect copyright.PENANAS2Ae9ZveUs
Anyway, conditions were met that forced us to a stop and so we did. I won’t vouch395Please respect copyright.PENANAkmMwLln8Pw
for anyone else, but I am certain that few, if any of us, had any sleep that night.395Please respect copyright.PENANAqanLfEOjuy
Not in that cold, not with those raging and screaming winds outside every window.395Please respect copyright.PENANA2T7ygRSDNV
The storm came to pass, and a warm morning took its place, but besides the relief of395Please respect copyright.PENANAFuHKgIXtyy
a sunnier vista, that rising sun also brought us breakfast and its carrier, the innkeeper395Please respect copyright.PENANATzf8NT5MVn
who approached us with dire news. Such a sweet old lady she was. She approached us395Please respect copyright.PENANACib0XKVdec
with the news that the woman in our party, the tall and pierced one - I’ll never forget395Please respect copyright.PENANAtPGunZJvng
the way she described her - had left during the night and had instructed her not to say395Please respect copyright.PENANATrBhYiar12
a word to any of us. We were to be left unaware of her departure till it was too late to395Please respect copyright.PENANA7t8bVBzRqa
try and stop her...”
“That tall woman in yer party captain, the one with her skin pierced all395Please respect copyright.PENANAug3d06BM9v
over and a big spear behind her back, she just wandered into the night. Why,395Please respect copyright.PENANAgyFLXNjbP1
she disappeared as if absorbed by the storm. Off she went into those raging395Please respect copyright.PENANASU4dbdtR4Y
white blizzards, the likes which I’ve never seen in all my years living here.395Please respect copyright.PENANACQvuKQvYSJ
She left behind only the coin to pay your bill and the instructions for my silence. Not to say395Please respect copyright.PENANAPXBTbcSP3q
a word I was, not until morning came.”
“The innkeeper did as she was told Red, and so only by morning time, did we learn395Please respect copyright.PENANAlLF8dr3fWE
of what had transpired during the night.395Please respect copyright.PENANAkO23LJA8jZ
We were all so very exhausted from the hardships we had faced up to that point, that395Please respect copyright.PENANA3xCRg75VV9
none of us were in any condition to notice someone as skilled as Elistia taking leave.395Please respect copyright.PENANAXNP8LcsonI
We were too tired to notice most of the things we usually do, too tired to keep our395Please respect copyright.PENANAGpiHimSRuI
eyes open whilst at the same time too tired to sleep as well. It was a strange night for395Please respect copyright.PENANAIGHCApivSX
all of us. We were left behind, speechless around that small table, while Deena went395Please respect copyright.PENANAwXEr5gUUFi
out after any signs, but no tracker would have been able to find a clue. Not after that395Please respect copyright.PENANAP9AJRt9IKQ
storm. Elistia was one of us after all, and one of the Wurad, so no one would ever be395Please respect copyright.PENANAIqtE8kC6pU
able to pick up her trail; not unless she wanted them to.395Please respect copyright.PENANA6Dw1i5qwM2
So, what else was there for us to do, rather than mourn?395Please respect copyright.PENANAhzCXQ1SCWu
We had our time of silence for the loss of one of our own, one that left us by her own395Please respect copyright.PENANAP0iYe1WYIP
accord, and then shortly after we got back to our duties. I guess we all deep down felt395Please respect copyright.PENANANMkUgIKYL1
or at least hoped that being one of the Wurad, she had just gone back to her tribe but395Please respect copyright.PENANAEnQQZS63a5
in all honesty, to this day, none of us can claim to know for sure where she was headed395Please respect copyright.PENANApC9SZAj8AL
and what intentions drove her.