The story so far:

---- Aija and the others are on the South-Land. They are waiting for the Leadership to attack. Aija finds out that The Gale was attacked on the Main Lands, and she worries for her brother - Rei/Goldstar. Goldstar is alive. They lost the Premiere, Leigh, Tailyn, Arah Lin. His leg is broken and his finger missing. Ze is getting better in his training. Ze and Ruyanir aren't married yet. Avery gets copies of the Leadership's experiments from Tailyn And feels bad for doubting Goldstar. Zuri thinks of the first time she met Aija. The Leadership attacks them and Zuri goes to protect the people of the South. Xan tries going after the others to help but soon realizes that he can't. He hates it. Zuri manages to get the shield up at the Zayr Settlement but a soldier fires at her. Luka goes with Var-Inu to fight and when seeking an Iernei shielder, an explosive hurtles to the ground towards him. Goldstar is weak thanks to his broken leg. he struggles in the battle. When a bomb comes hurtling towards them, Luka protects him. Thieron is with Aija and Ayr'i. They try and bring several jets down. When the Iernei spaceships arrive, the jets plunge into water, creating large waves that drag them all into the ocean. Aija and Ayr'i survive the ocean. The war comes to an end when Iernei spaceships arrive. Aija finds her brother Rei and Vincent alive. Nala finds Zuri in the Zayr Settlement. They go to the Core and find Luka, Aija, and Thieron.

----Aija and Thieron tell Goldstar all that has happened with them. Aija and Thieorn want to go to Ierne to give Aa'di Irih'va the Avo. Aija convinces Zuri to meet her family once before they leave. Luka didn't expect to survive this long. He now feels at home with Thieron and Nala. Zuri goes home. She asks her parents to go to the South-land with her. They refuse. Xan gets to the Core on the South back to the Aija and the others. He accepts Var-Inu's offer to get an Iernei body. Aija agrees to help and it works. Xan is now Iernei. Thieron goes to the Open to collect his family photo; Ieas confronts him. Aija saves Thieron. Thieron talks to Aija; she says she's confused and needs time. They all go to Ierne, Aa'di Irih'va welcomes them and takes Aija away. Zuri roams the Palace. She meets Ze, who tells her he doesn't like Nala and makes Zuri doubt her relationship with Nala.

----Aija is with Irih'va. He presents her the blade he'd had made for her. Aija asks Irih'va to remove her bond with Thieron. He agrees and accomplishes it.

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****14 GOLDSTAR****

The land of the free.

Meant for those who'd escaped the perils of the Leadership, it now lay shrouded in gravid silence, turned into a war-ground. And a mass graveyard.

The sun, brighter, still romanced the horizon. It grazed the plaques set up on the graves, coruscating in the velvety-blue darkness of constant dawn.

Goldstar stood by Himari, who knelt by Leigh and Tailyn's graves crying. Vincent stood beside him, supporting his weight. Goldstar had cried and cried; now he stood, silent, missing Leigh and Tailyn and cursing Mike Wiet in his mind. It was hard to see Himari by herself when he'd always found her with the other two. Leigh and Tailyn were buried in one plot, and Himari had put their hands together like they'd been in death. They'd buried the others, including Premiere Red, Arah Lin, and other members close to the Core.

Leigh and Tailyn, like other Gale members, had fought for freedom for the people. They were free in death. But that wasn't right. They were meant to be free in life.

The three of them walked back to Core, Himari leading the way. Goldstar limped, frustrated. Vincent held him, but Goldstar shrugged him off, vexed. Vincent stayed back, hurt, but Goldstar didn't turn to apologise or wait. He knew Vincent only tried to help. But Goldstar's heart had become eloquent in bitterness, crushing his soul into misery.

Goldstar watched as Vincent overtook him and walked faster back to Core and felt angry with himself. Everyone was upset, not just him; he had to be more understanding. But the more he learnt of the Leadership's activities, the more he felt derailed from reason.

News from the Main-Lands arrived with increasingly bleaker tones. Mike Wiet had declared the Oshiros as traitors, who'd fled one night very suspiciously, and announced that the Leadership would take over the transportation and air and temperature control systems. Goldstar had predicted this happening. His father was perturbed by the news – the business had been in the Oshiro family for generations. Ena felt like he'd ruined it. But Goldstar knew the blame rested on him. The Oshiro family had done so much for the Pristine Cities, and overnight, Goldstar's mistake had wiped out every good deed the family had done over hundreds of years. If Ena had to be gutted by anything, it had to be by Rei's failure.

Under the guise of threat from the Gale, the Leadership had increased security in all the Cities. Secures roamed the streets, sometimes enforcing curfews. They had also unleashed a new, lethal strain of the Green Plague that quickly ran rampant in the Open and spread to Outermost. The Quarantine homes were overrun with people fleeing the Open from the Plague and the Savages. The Savages had gotten frantic, venturing deeper into Outermost driven by hunger. The Leadership tried to kill news of them, but instances of it popped from Outermost towns on the LINC. The Leadership took them down but not before several people caught glimpses of it on media.

Goldstar regarded the Core, restlessness creeping upon him. The Gale had failed. Spectacularly. He had failed his family, Leigh, Tailyn, the Premiere, the people. He stared at the entrance, a lump growing in his heart, feeling utter helplessness.

The Iernei guards, Nir and Jèai, greeted him at the entrance. He went in, and the two Iernei followed him, two steps behind. Goldstar had asked them to stop shadowing him, but they never heeded his request. They went where he did like personal bodyguards, and he'd had to rush out when they ate to go alone to Leigh and Tailyn's burial.

He found Premiere Zhaleh at her table, staring at Amelie's chair at the other side. Amelie hadn't made it through the battle. She was missing. But they knew they wouldn't see her again; it had been days since the dead had been rounded and the recognisable bodies had been accounted for. Amelie wasn't among them either. Goldstar had never seen Premiere Zhaleh without Amelie Carron, and now she sat there, alone, eyeing the empty chair.

Goldstar sat in front of the Premiere in the chair next to where Amelie always did. Premiere Zhaleh faced him, eyes red and puffy. Nir and Jèai stood behind him.

"You belong on this side of the table,"

"We're both where we belong," he corrected her.

She huffed. "Did you bury your friends?"

"Yes,"

"I never thought I'd see war," she focussed on the sun through the window.

"No one wants to be part of significant, harsh historical events in the making,"

"True," she agreed. "How do your parents feel about your sister leaving?"

"They don't know,"

She turned to him. "What?"

Goldstar told the Premiere about Aija's wish to meet them once she returned. If she returns, he thought. Goldstar wanted her back, but being with the Iernei Emperor didn't seem dreadful either. He'd seen the desperation to leave in her eyes. He hated it, but she perchance had done right by not meeting their parents. If she chose not to return, another farewell wouldn't do anyone good.

"I like her, your sister," Premiere Zhaleh half-smiled. "I'm most surprised by Thieron. I know the Main-Lands spent years trying to capture him before giving up." Premiere Zhaleh wasn't in uniform, with her hair neatly tied at the back. Her family had survived unscathed, but Goldstar knew she was disturbed still. Her thick, black hair cascaded over her shoulders, unkempt, like the crumpled dress she wore.

Goldstar didn't have a single memory of her in a dress. She appeared young. Goldstar agreed with her with a dip of his chin. Thieron baffled him. He may have saved humans and killed his uncle, but it didn't change the fact that he'd also killed humans. It confounded Goldstar that Thieron literally appeared the same age as him but was hundreds of years older. He also didn't like the way Thieron eyed Aija; Goldstar knew that look well. But Aija seemed to ignore the Ytai, and it brought petty comfort to Goldstar.

"What now?"

Goldstar didn't know either. But he'd been thinking a lot about an idea lately. "We could make a video,"

Premiere Zhaleh waited for him to continue.

Goldstar explained what he intended to do with all the information they'd collected, and she approved the plan. Goldstar asked her to send Iyler, John, and a few others to the Main-Lands for the job. That way, he'd have them far from him and get the work done. So far, Iyler and John had kept to themselves. They did try to create dissent, but the majority of the members had accepted Goldstar as their Leader. The Iernei Royal Guards trailing him also favoured him an image of authority.

John didn't turn towards Goldstar, and Iyler glared at him as Premiere Zhaleh explained their tasks. Iyler had cut marks all over her body, similar to Aija's. But Iyler hid them, making sure to keep pulling her sleeves over them every few seconds, unlike Aija. Goldstar stared out of the window until they'd left the room. Later, he excused himself and went in search of Vincent, guards in tow.

Most of the Iernei Army had left, leaving about thirty of them on the South, including three Healers. The Iernei Army had dropped the Leadership's soldiers on the Main-Lands before their journey away, saving Goldstar the decision on them and conserving precious food and med supplies. Aa'di Irih'va was thoughtful to send his Healer, not just fighters. Goldstar had sent him his thanks in a letter, hoping he knew to read CommLang as well as he spoke it. Goldstar's respect for the Emperor grew tremendously, and he knew he wouldn't mind if Aija stayed back on Ierne with him. Goldstar owed the man his life and the South.

The Iernei Healers had scanned his leg using an intriguing Scroll-sized device; it had shown multiple fractures to his leg. They'd told him that if they'd had the opportunity to heal him as soon as he'd been hurt, they could have healed his leg completely. But now, his bones had set weirdly in the cast, and they couldn't reset it wholly right. They'd fixed him the best they could but warned him he would have some pain all his life – nothing he couldn't manage with a few healing-runes and tonics now and then. Goldstar now had no use for the crutches, his leg hurting only when he exerted himself. As for his missing finger, no one could mend that. But he was grateful to be able to walk on his own without crutches, even if he limped.

Goldstar had an idea where Vincent would be. He toddled to the Tech Room, receiving a bow from the Iernei and a nod from humans as he walked past them.

"You don't have to follow me everywhere," he told Nir and Jèai.

"Orders from Emperor," Jèai, the younger guard, proclaimed.

Goldstar paused to look at her. Her white uniform appeared stark against the dark of her skin, her black hair in coils, reaching all the way to her waist. Her pink-green eyes, like gems, were startling. Nir, the opposite, had white skin, long blonde hair tied up in a bun, warm brown eyes. They both towered over Goldstar; both had their lower lips pierced, the gold rings shining when the light grazed them right.

"Orders?"

"Threat to your life, maybe," Nir alleged.

Goldstar sighed and proceeded to the Tech Room. Sure enough, Vincent sat at one of the Screens, watching news of the Main-Lands. He lifted his head as Goldstar slowly limped to him.

"I'm sorry,"

"It's alright," Vincent switched the Screen off, "we're all on edge."

With no one else in the room, Nir and Jèai stood by the door.

"I still shouldn't show it on you," Goldstar sat in front of Vincent.

"What's wrong?"

Goldstar surveyed his broken leg.

"Rei?"

"All this – everything – it's my fault. Punishment for not joining Wiet."

"You did the right thing," Vincent placed a hand on Goldstar's. "You chose the Gale."

"And so people died. They still die – they released a more virulent form of the Plague. Wiet is doing this because of me. They're all dying because of me."

Vincent didn't answer at once. His brown hair, now overgrown, curled at ends, making him look boyish. He also hadn't shaven in days. He wore the seaweed-green uniform, including the overcoat that he often complained about. The South was colder than the Main-Lands.

"It's not your burden, Rei. He chose to kill people. It's on him; the people's blood is on his hands. Not you. You didn't kill them; you made a choice to be with us. Wiet made his choice."

"All choices have consequences,"

"And so will his," Vincent said. "Tell me, did you know for real if Wiet would start war?"

"He gave his word,"

"But, war, Rei? Something they've been trying to avoid for the past seven-hundred-odd years? This planet will not survive another massive war. He's a fool if he wants to resort to it."

"But he did it," argued Goldstar.

"And it was his choice. Not yours,"

Goldstar bit the insides of his cheeks, legs shaking. Vincent put his hands on Goldstar's legs, laying pressure to make him stop trembling. Goldstar grew fidgety, wanting to pace. But the sting in his right leg made him reconsider it.

"Stop blaming yourself. You're our only Rei of hope."

Goldstar's gaze flitted to Vincent's. "Did you just...?"

"Yes, I did," he smirked. "Rei of hope,"

Goldstar scoffed, struggling to not laugh.

"Well, it made you laugh," claimed Vincent.

"You don't see me laughing,"

"You're only trying not to,"

Goldstar laughed.

"See?" Vincent planted a kiss on his head. He cupped Goldstar's face in his palms. Goldstar stopped laughing. "I love you, Rei. I believe in you. Trust yourself. We'll get through this."

"I fall, and we get back up together. Right?"

Vincent sucked in a sharp breath of air. "Yes, my love." 

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