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 man is after her 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. Zuri finds that Aija and Ze are both not at her Apartment. She goes to Market alone when Aija doesn't answer her calls. She meets Nala there, they spend some time together. Zuri arrives at her Apartment to find that another kidnapping as occurred. Zuri is worried about Aija now, who still hasn't contacted her. Ze woke to find himself in the basement, still. He goes back home, and he hears news that there is a kidnapping. He goes to check it out and finds Zuri, who tells him she is unable to contact Aija. Later, they find Aija returning to the Apartment but Ze finds something off about her.

---- Goldstar arrives at Pristine City one. He concludes that a Harvest has taken place at the School. Goldstar along with Tailyn goes back to the Gale Core.

---- He meets Iyler, after a long time. Goldstar and Iyler are dating in secret.

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****6.2 - Goldstar****

"Welcome back, Gold." Premiere Red was elated.

Goldstar shook hands with the Premiere and took a seat at the table. Iyler sat at the other end of the table, far from him. A few unit heads were present, many others out with their teams. There were two from Intelligence and two from Tech – one of them Tailyn.

"When I got word that you were coming for a while, I was delighted." Premiere Red said. "We hardly get to see you."

Goldstar nodded politely.

"The situation is getting worse," continued Premiere Red getting to the real crux of the meeting.

"Yes," agreed Arah Lin, Head of Weaponry, and Gadgets.

"There has been a total of twenty Harvests this month," said Tailyn, looking at his DigiScreen, "from all the Pristine Cities."

Premiere Red sighed.

"They are getting more and more audacious," observed Goldstar. "Do you have any information about the location of the Àvo?" 

"No concrete information is available, Goldstar." Himari from Intelligence said, "The word is that it might be located on Ytèan. And that Alton Ivar might be preparing to search for it."

"Have you informed R'ies about this?"

"Yes," informed Himari, "they won't take action until it has been confirmed."

"Any information on Ivar's nephew?" asked Premier Red.

"No, Sir." Leigh from Intelligence said. "But, his personal team was spotted at Innermost two weeks ago."

"Then why wasn't that Harvest stopped?" yelled the Premiere.

"Thieron killed the Unit that went there. It was informed to you, Sir." Leigh said.

"The whole team?" asked Goldstar, taken aback. 

Leigh nodded sadly.

"How could one man kill them all?" Arah Lin asked, her voice laced with shock. 

"It's Thieron," said Tailyn, matter-of-factly.

The Premiere huffed and banged his fist loudly on the table. 

Iyler had been quiet the whole time. Goldstar was focussed on the meeting, but he caught her looking at him now and then. How hadn't anyone caught on to them already? Or did someone know that they were secretly dating? Goldstar winked once at her when she looked at him again, and she turned away, her cheeks reddening.

"Something else is going on," Goldstar spoke. "I mean, what's the tally of Harvested souls?"

Tailyn tapped something onto his DigiScreen and then answered, "Thousand five hundred and two."

"Which means something is hindering them for they need a thousand souls only. The total count is more than the requirement. What are they Harvesting more souls for?"

"Maybe, they are doing it for fun," Himari wondered aloud, "while they search for the Àvo."

"No. Something else must be going on." Goldstar countered.

"Do you think they located two Àvo?" Premiere Red questioned.

"That would be terrible," Iyler noted, speaking for the first time.

"Dreadful," agreed Premiere Red rubbing his forehead. "What about the missing boy?"

"Harvest," answered Goldstar and Tailyn together.

Premiere Red grunted.

"He was just thirteen," Leigh said sadly.

The meeting went on for an hour longer, with Goldstar giving details from the other Pristine City he lived at.

"A group of five people from the Open have been brought into Protection," informed Himari, looking at her DigiScreen. "Two of them had requested the Leadership for permission to marry. Intelligence caught on and rescued them. They just escaped death and are in shock. Three others are from the Research Institute. They need to be Transferred."

Premier Red nodded. "Goldstar, I need you to handle this. Transfer these five from Protection to the South Land."

"Yes, Premiere." Goldstar answered. 

"Iyler Sun Smith, you go with him." 

Iyler nodded. 

****

When the meeting ended, Goldstar had to stay back with Premiere Red to discuss the next Transfer, although he was itching to get back to Iyler.

Once it was done, he found Iyler in the Training Hall with a few new members. He watched her for a few minutes admiring her patience with them. He still remembered the first time he had seen her four years ago. He was still shaken up from his first experience of a Harvest when she had found him. She had calmed him, explained to him about what had happened, and dropped him to the School Housing where he was still staying. It wasn't love at first sight for Goldstar. They had spent so much time together over the past four years; him training under her and then working together. It took over two years to acknowledge that he really did have feelings for her. Also, there was the lingering feeling that she might refuse to accept his feelings for her. He was also scared because of the obvious age difference.

Iyler later joined him at Hall for dinner.

"How long are you here for?" she asked him, cutting her savory pancake in half and spreading butter over it. 

"You know I can't answer that," he replied.

"I couldn't resist asking. You might give into my questioning one day." she grinned. 

He smiled at her.

"Like one day, you might even tell me your real name." she pressed on. 

"One day....," he assured.

Himari joined them sitting next to Goldstar. "Thieron was spotted today, here at Innermost," she said, eyes shining with excitement as if one had discovered that an extinct species of animal had been spotted. 

 Goldstar sighed.

"Was there a Harvest today?" Iyler asked, her voice holding worry.

"No," Himari answered. "More groups have been informed about trailing him."

"He's hard to spot," Iyler said lost in thought. 

"Hmmm..." agreed, Himari.

"This Thieron, does he work alone?" Goldstar asked.

"No, there are two more. They are mostly with him at all times. On rare occasions, he's by himself."

Himari left after dinner, and Goldstar walked Iyler to her room.

"If you are here for a longer time, then you mustn't walk me to my room every day," she told him standing in front of the door to her room.

The Core was big and housed several members of the Gale in the West Wing. Not many spent much time at Core as several people had separate day lives to get back to. Some preferred still being with their families and doing the work as a member of Gale in secret. It meant that many Gale members were in different positions all over the different Cities. It also meant more first-hand information.

Iyler was one of those who devoted their entire lives to the Gale. She lived at Core like a few others. But, Goldstar wasn't like her. He lived a double life like several Gale members. But, he stayed at Core whenever he did visit Pristine One.

"I know," Goldstar whispered, leaning closer to her. 

"When is the Transfer?" she asked, her voice laced with want.

"In a few days..." Goldstar answered, looking into her blue eyes. "I'm in charge, so I'll be commanding you." he teased. 

"I don't care."

"You don't care that your commander is younger than you?" he whispered.

"No. And you're younger than me by just five years. Don't act like I'm an old lady." she was annoyed.

Goldstar laughed. "You're so cute. I can tease you so easily."

Iyler hit him on the shoulder, embarrassed. 

"I love you, Iyler Sun," he kissed her, his words soft against her lips. 

"I love you too."

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