The story so far:

---- Aija is a Volunteer at the Pristine School at Innermost. She works along with Zuri and Ze, who are her friends. Aija witnesses a strange event one night – light emanating from Rez's body. The kidnapper is after her soul, next, but he leaves her alive and goes away. Another man finds her, he wants to take her somewhere else - Aija though wary of him agrees. Aija learns of the existence of the aliens – the Ytai. Also, about the R'ies and H'eon, Harvesting and Àvo from Etrie. Etrie tells her that the man, who Harvested Rez (Thieron), will now go after her. He tells her that the spy/kidnapper's name is Luka. Etrie asks her to work along with him. Aija agrees to work along with Etrie on Harvest Stopping Missions.

---- Ze catches Aija returning early in the morning with two unknown men. He worries if she is doing something wrong by dating one of the men she is with. Ze decides to talk to the girls about it. Ze talks to Zuri about Aija – she too has seen Aija with the unknown man.

---- Zuri confronts Aija about the men she'd been out with.

---- Thieron is in the Open. Alton asks to visit him – something he had been avoiding for a long time since he punched Dhor-Wo, and broke his nose and jaw.

---- Alton is not angry with Thieron for hurting Dhor-Wo; he tells Thieron that he will send him to retrieve the Àvo.

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****12.3 - Thieron****

Thieron took a shower, changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt that was laid out on his bed for him. He let his hair air-dry as he sat on the bed. 

The room was rather big; it included a wardrobe, full mirror, and a dressing vanity. He hadn't seen Dhor-Wo anywhere. He had wanted to see him and admire his work – but he would have healed already.

Thieron tried to sleep, but his mind was wide awake. He paced around the room for a while, as his thoughts kept him awake.

Why had Nala been going out more often lately? She had also been staying out later. If she were tracking Àvo souls, she would have informed him. She always had.

Both Luka and Nala had to inform him about the souls they were tracking; it was a rule. Also, he Harvested most of them. Only in rare cases did Nala Harvest. Luka had Harvested only two souls in all the years they had known each other. Luka was good at tracking and capturing. Thieron had also instructed them to not focus on collecting Àvo souls since their focus now was on the Od'ro In'ealk – the Priority Soul.

Nala was the most loyal to him. What had changed? She was doing something she didn't want him to know, and he had to find out just what it was. He had always been vary of Luka; not Lalana. Perhaps, it was time to change his attention to her.

Thieron stopped his pacing. He was wide awake. Now there was no use pretending he could fall asleep. He slipped out of the room and made his way through the South Wing. He wondered where Dhor-Wo had run off to; probably to Alton's daughter. Dhor-Wo maybe stupid, ignorant and even arrogant but he was loyal to Alton's daughter – the whole reason behind Alton's motivation to take on Earth. 

It made Thieron happy to think that he had scared the Ytai – even more so because it looked like Alton supported him instead of Dhor-Wo.

He was ecstatic that he would be going to Ytèan to collect the Àvo. He had wanted this desperately; he hadn't realized how much until Alton had told him he would be sending Dhor-Wo. Who knew hitting Dhor-Wo would turn out to be advantageous to him? All he had to do was collect the second Od'ro In'ealk – the Priority Soul. One Priority Soul - Od'ro In'ealk – was worth five hundred normal strong Àvo souls. With two Od'ro In'ealk they would practically have no use for the other thousand plus souls they had collected – although Thieron was sure Alton intended to have two Àvo at his disposal if necessary.

Thieron found himself in the East Wing. A lot of Ytai were still up going about their assigned duties. He found it crowded, so he wandered out of it into the North Wing. He was sure it was where Alton stored the In'ealk even though it was the West Wing that was out of bounds for everyone; even for Ea – Alton's daughter whenever she visited Earth. When he was still living at the Mansion, he had once stumbled upon a room filled with In'ealk in the North Wing. 

He rounded the North Wing and came upon the West. He had always been curious about the West Wing; no one was allowed to go, and Thieron knew Alton hid something there.

He quietly made his way into the West Wing. No one was there. He walked, making sure his footsteps were soft and wished he'd worn the special shoes made from Ytèan yu'ir leather - they never made as much as a whisper. 

He looked around as he walked; it seemed empty. It was rather dark; the only light was the light seeping in through the windows. The place wasn't as furnished as the rest of the Mansion; it also seemed musty in comparison. He turned around the hallway to find an open corridor which led to a courtyard. It was the first time he saw the courtyard – it as his first time in the West Wing after all.

He didn't know what he was expecting, but it wasn't a well-maintained courtyard in the midst of an ignored part of the Mansion housing a manicured garden.

The moon's light shined beautifully on the garden. He walked along the corridor, looking out into the courtyard. He stood for a moment wondering about who maintained this area so well. He resumed his stroll through the open passage. It was lined with doors, and he wondered what rooms they led to. The wall of the corridor had few paintings hung on it. As he went closer for a better look, he realized they were photos, not paintings.

And, one of them was of his family.

He stood there, nonplussed, staring at his family portrait. Someone had done a poor job of wiping the blood off the corners of the frame, and it had stained the wood and hardened on the glass. 

It was his blood.

He stood there staring at it, his heart pounding. He was about five years old in Ytèan age, smiling without a single worry; it was around the time he had discovered he had an affinity for lightning. He belonged to the group of few Ytai who still possessed powers of the Spirits. His mother had been wildly happy when she'd learned of his powers. She'd had an affinity to lightning too.

His sister was seven in Ytèan in the photo, her beautiful smile showing her happiness. Their parents stood behind them looking content. They had been happy; he had been happy once.

He still remembered the day they had this photo taken. He and his sister had fought early in the morning; yet by the time they had to leave to get the picture taken, they had settled into sibling camaraderie. If he narrowed his eyes, he could make out the puffiness around his and his sister's eyes from all the crying that morning. But, for the life of him, he couldn't remember what they had fought about.

How was this photo even here?

He looked at his parents – his memory of them a constantly fading threat. He had received each of their eye colors. He had something from each of them; so had his sister. His eyes had never given him a problem – until he had to live with Alton Ivar.

He forced himself to walk away from the photo. The place was well maintained – which mean that someone could come by. Someone had to do the work. He walked fast, lost in thought. He passed the courtyard and walked into closed corridors, still thinking of his family photo. He slowed his pace as he turned left, deeper into the West Wing and halted suddenly.

The door to one of the rooms on the right was slightly ajar, and a small beam of light was sneaking out into the corridor. Thieron walked softly towards the door, listening to the soft voice filtering out through the room. He had been preoccupied with his thoughts of the photo he hadn't heard it before.

It was a woman's voice; sweet and mellow. He slowly inched towards the door and realized that the woman wasn't speaking – she was reading.

Thieron stopped closer to the door, and the woman stopped reading.

"Who's there?" another voice asked; another woman.

Thieron swiftly made his way out. He half-ran to the South Wing and his room. Once in, he compelled the door locked.

It wasn't Ea's voice. He would recognize her voice anywhere. No, it was a different woman. Who were those women? What were they doing in the forbidden West Wing? What or who was Alton Ivar hiding?

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