Take Note
Erend was always the first person to greet her when she arrived in Meridian. No matter which entrance she used, he was there with that large grin she found so endearing. Even when she arrived in the middle of the night, crashing almost immediately onto the bed in Olin's old place, Erend was waiting outside the next morning to grab breakfast with her.
"How do you always know I'm here?" she asked him once when they were walking together through the market.
"I have my ways," he said and winked. "Besides, you're hard to miss with that hair."
"Seriously, Erend, how do you always know?"
He grinned and brushed his fingertips along the small braids curling over her ears. "The guards tell me."
"What? That fast?"
"I've never really asked, but apparently they have some sort of signal system. Whistles or hand signals or something, I don't know. The minute one spots you, they spread the word to the other guards who spread the word to the other guards who tell the Vanguard who find me."
Aloy shook her head, smiling. "And how, exactly, did they know to come up with this system?"
Erend blushed. "I, um . . . Well, I might have used to, you know, spend a lot of time at the different watch posts just . . . watching. For you." Aloy's smile grew wider. She could picture Erend, trying and failing to suppress his anticipation at seeing her again and though she didn't know the Meridian guards or the Vanguard very well, she did know the gossip that went on behind everyone's back. She also knew how much they looked after Erend.
"I'll have to remember to thank them," she said and kissed him lightly.