Horizon: Echoes

by Wandergirl108

Months after the battle for the Spire, Aloy is still struggling with her identity. Desperate to find herself, and maybe her mother, she leaves for a new quest, unaware of the new threats she'll find…and, begrudgingly, she lets herself be accompanied by the only person she knows who understands what it is to not belong. Canon now, will be AU when HFW happens. M-rated as of Ch.20.

33. A Woman's Place

Passing the food stalls reminded Aloy of all the foods she hadn't tried, and that her stomach hadn't gotten upset from her experiments the previous day. One particularly strange dish involved meat, vegetables, and sauce all topping some strange off-white strings that people seemed to be eating, and, feeling bold, Aloy bought a bowl for herself and another for Nil, still not emptying the used of the three remaining sacks of money she had strapped to her belt. Carefully watching the people around her, Aloy took the tools she'd been given and copied their movements when it came to eating the stringy things, taking every possible precaution not to spill anything onto her dress - and it was lucky she did, since the 'noodles', as the vendor called them, proved alarmingly messy to eat, and had she not tucked a rag into the neckline as the vendor suggested, the expensive fabric Rhoda had worked so hard on would have been thoroughly ruined. The noodles themselves were both grainy and squishy in her mouth in an extremely strange and somewhat unpleasant way, but Aloy had made do with much worse during winters in the Sacred Land, and the meat, vegetables, and sauce formed a riot of flavors on her tongue that she could appreciate.

Once the meal was done and the dishes and wash rags disposed of, she finally ventured further south to where the banquet had taken place, finding a lot of open space dotted with clusters of people where the tables had been. It was late afternoon by now, still not quite dusk, but wide cloth structures had been set up to provide temporary shade that still sheltered individuals and even groups; where the dust-covered hard earth turned to sand, people were sitting together on swaths of cloth and passing around food. There were more children here than Aloy had seen elsewhere, some of them in entire groups playing in the shallows of the water or building small structures out of the wet earth of the shore. Aloy looked at all this, and wondered how closely it might have resembled how the Old Ones had passed their time along the edge of the sea so long ago. If the Corsair based everything they did on ancient stories, did that even extend to this?

Shaking her head, Aloy stepped forward, though she wasn't quite sure what she was looking for. This just seemed like the place people went when they had nowhere else in particular to go, and though she wasn't Corsair and didn't especially want to be, she just wanted to…pretend, for a little while, that she could ever be part of a tribe, that she could ever belong somewhere…

"You there, in the green dress! Come over here, join us!"

Aloy turned, but before she could even react, a group of about eight women were already flocking to her without waiting for her to approach them. They all wore absurdly heavy-looking dresses, layers upon layers of shimmery fabrics bunched on their shoulders and hanging from their waists like enormous flowers, sparkly jewelry glittering on their fingers, wrists, necks, and hanging from their ears, hair woven in tight braids interlaced with ribbons and jewels. A cloud of sweet but unpleasantly unnatural odor seemed to hang about them all, and Aloy had to fight back the urge to sneeze as they all began chattering at once.

"Don't you look ravishing?"

"Is that style what's in fashion now?"

"What an amazing dress!"

"What crew are you from?"

"Where did you get that dress?"

"I…" Aloy blinked, trying to gather her bearings. "Rhoda stitched this dress for me, just today," she told the crowd of women.

A bunch of gasps and exclamations met this statement.

"Rhoda's really outdone herself with this one!" said one woman.

"And it looks so much lighter too, it's lovely!" agreed another. "Let's make this the new fashion, shall we?"

"You're sure to get a man with a dress like that, honey," a third said, this time actually addressing Aloy.

"Uh…" Aloy shook her head. "That's not why I'm wearing this. And besides, I already have a man."

"Do you now?" pouted the one who had spoken, and some disappointed moans tittered from the group.

"Oh, that's not fair," came a whine, "why should such a beautiful dress go to someone who doesn't need to impress her suitors?"

"Let me try it, won't you?" asked another, stepping closer.

Aloy stepped back. "Uh, no," she stated. "Rhoda fitted this to me anyway, it probably wouldn't fit you."

"She's right," sighed another lady. "She's got that petite figure, I could never fit into that size."

"Well, stop eating so much fruit, you dumb boar," jeered one of her group, and Aloy blinked, surprised at such a casual insult among what she'd assumed was a bunch of friends.

"What crew are you from?" one of the women asked Aloy. "I don't think I've seen you around before."

"I'm not from a crew," Aloy answered. "I'm…a traveler, from the east."

More gasps and exclamations. "The outlander girl!" a few of them whispered to each other. "But that means-"

They all turned, and finally noticed Nil, who was standing several paces away, his arms folded over his chest defensively, his face twisted in disgust. Apparently forgetting all about Aloy's dress, the whole crowd immediately surged over to Nil.

"The Champion!" they squealed.

"Oh, aren't you dashing?!" remarked one in a tone that seemed even more unnatural than the way HADES spoke.

"Such a hunk," concurred another in that same strange voice. "Even more handsome in person!"

"We were watching your fight with Shands," added a third. "You were amazing."

"It was a good fight," Nil mumbled, staring pointedly at the ground.

"Hey, if your outlander girl gets snatched up by another man, I'd be glad to comfort you-" began a fourth, reaching to place her fingers on Nil's arm.

Nil jerked away, swatting at the outstretched hand. "Don't touch me!" he snarled.

"Ooh, a faithful man, too?" gushed another of the women. "Aren't you just the full package?"

"You're soooo lucky!" a woman said over her shoulder to Aloy.

"I'm…not sure 'lucky' is the right word," Aloy mumbled.

"How'd you catch a man like him?" asked another of the crowd, and the women suddenly seemed torn between admiring Nil and pressing closer to Aloy in hopes of learning her secrets.

"It's…a long story…" Aloy mumbled, but they were already talking.

"You must have a whole wardrobe of dresses like that back east," one said eagerly. "In the safe lands, I bet you have all kinds of time to dedicate to fashion!"

"Not really-"

"And you're so pretty!" added another. "With such a slim figure! How do you stay so fit?"

"She probably doesn't eat as much as you do," another woman said to the one who'd asked.

"Yeah, stop scarfing down pineapple and maybe you'll be able to win someone a little better than the resident coward," jeered someone else.

"Resident coward?" Aloy asked.

"Oh, you're an outlander, you've met him!" exclaimed another woman, and Aloy wasn't sure if her question had actually been heard. "Sissy-boy Kryse…"

"Isn't it funny that the strongest man west of the safe lands came from the safe lands, and the most pathetic is one of our own?" laughed someone in the crowd.

"Kryse isn't pathetic!" Aloy exclaimed. "Isn't everyone in your tribe free to live as they see fit?"

"Oh, he's free," sneered one of the women. "But unless he learns how to throw a punch, he's never gonna get a girl."

"What does punching have to do with…that?" Aloy asked, already beyond baffled by these women.

"Well, a man has to defend his woman," stated another of the group. "Fight for her honor, protect her from danger, all that. Kryse can't even defend himself, he doesn't get in fights in the first place."

"Kryse is able to defend himself against the Machines," Aloy pointed out.

"More like he runs away from them," countered one of the women with something like contempt. "You know, he's never even gotten into a single fistfight? He always just concedes whenever a quarrel comes up, it's laughable. What's a woman supposed to do if her man won't fight for her honor?"

"Maybe she could…fight for her own honor?" Aloy suggested pointedly.

For a moment, the cluster of women actually stopped talking, staring at Aloy as though she'd said something absurd, but Aloy didn't flinch.

"Well…that's not a woman's place, is it?" one of them said at last in a haughty tone. "Women don't fight."

"What about Lanida?" Aloy asked.

"Oh, Lanida." All of the women scowled at that.

"What on Earth is she thinking?" grumbled one.

"Name a place where women call the shots," scoffed another.

"Women run things where I come from," Aloy told them. "In the Sacred Land of the Nora tribe, women are in charge."

Again, a blessed moment of silence met this statement. Then, all of them, even the ones who'd still been all but chasing a constantly backstepping Nil so they could admire his figure suddenly clustered together and swarmed Aloy.

"What on Earth-?!"

"How does that work?!"

"What do men do in your tribe?!"

"Women, fighting?! That's absurd!"

"Is it?" Aloy asked in response to that last one. "Rhoda told me the Old Ones had stories of a tribe of warrior-women. The…the Am - Ama -?"

"The Amazons?" one of the women asked. "That tribe of savages?"

"Plenty of people back east do call the Nora savages," Aloy admitted. "The Nora reject any knowledge of the Old Ones or advancements in civilization or technology - glyphs, metalworking, old ruins…"

"The Nora are the most fearsome tribe back east," Nil spoke up, and the cluster of women all jumped and turned to him as one. Aloy looked over at him too, and saw him flashing his teeth. "Not the Oseram with their innovative metal work and powerful guns, not the barbaric Tenakth who eat their enemies, not even my once-tribe, the Carja, with their massive stone cities and deciphering of the Old Ones' written glyphs; the Nora are the strongest, deadliest, most fearsome tribe east of the Oasis. It's lucky for everyone else that they believe their mother-goddess will forsake them if they ever leave their Sacred Land, because they could easily have all the eastern tribes in the same state of submissive fear that the Deima have you. They don't need technology or knowledge, their strength is unmatched with women leading them."

Aloy wasn't entirely sure she agreed with all of this assessment, but she chose not to protest solely because the entire group seemed distinctly upset by his words, as though some fundamental truth about the world had been thrown into question. Instead, she let them stew for a minute, then smirked and spoke.

"You want to know how I ended up with Nil?" she asked them, and they all immediately turned to her. "He and I shared battles and experiences together, we told each other our secrets and fought by each other's side, we built a bond of trust and respect between us until we became…close. Nil never had to fight for my honor, and I didn't have to put on a pretty dress; what we have is built on who we are, not what we can do or wear. If any of you want to 'win' a man, I suggest you try talking to them, see if you can form an understanding and closeness with someone else. Who knows? Maybe you'll actually be happy for once in your lives."

With that, Aloy pushed past them to meet Nil at his side, and they both turned their backs on the overdressed women and walked further down the beach.

Beside her, Nil chuckled. "That was well done," he told her. "Your tongue is as sharp as your spear. Good to know we feel the same way about women like them."

"Have you ever met people like that before?" Aloy asked, glancing over at him.

"They're unfortunately fairly common back east," he answered. Then he flashed his teeth at her and added, "At least, they are in tribes run by men. Are men like that in the Nora tribe?"

"I wouldn't know," Aloy chuckled.

"Nice going."

A new voice spoke up beside them, and Aloy looked over to see a single woman in leathers approaching, a smile on her face. She had dark skin, darker than any Aloy had ever seen, almost as black as her braided hair, but something about her smile reminded Aloy of Vala.

"Whatever you said to the snob mob just now, it really upset them," the Corsair girl chuckled. Her smile twisted, and she added, "You're the outlander guests, right?"

"Yes," Aloy answered hesitantly.

"I wouldn't have had to recognize the Champion to be able to tell," the woman nodded. "Just the fact that you gave that crowd a talking-to says it all; the rest of us have given up. I hope you don't think they speak for all of us, though. No one likes them, outside of their little group."

"I know they don't represent all of your tribe," Aloy assured the woman. "I'm Aloy."

"Iani," the girl smiled, gesturing to herself. "Howdy. It's nice to meet you."

"Howdy," Aloy responded, returning the girl's smile.

"I tell you, having to live on the same ship as those glitter-girls is a nightmare," Iani chuckled. "I wish I could take them apart like you just did." She glanced between Aloy and Nil, her smile widening. "You two joining us this year has thrown a lot of things into chaos," she said, "but in the best possible way. We can all use a little shaking-up every now and then, you know?"

"We didn't come to cause trouble," Aloy said uncertainly.

"It's no trouble," Iani assured her, shaking her head hard enough to send her black braids flying, a smile still stretching her lips. "As I said, it's all in a good way." A pause, then she added, "That's a nice dress, by the way. You look great."

"Thanks," Aloy responded. "Rhoda just stitched it for me."

Iani laughed. "Rhoda keeps outdoing herself," she chuckled, and she looked over at where the 'snob mob' were all still standing together. "I guarantee, all of them are going to start demanding dresses just like yours by the end of the festival, with only half the coin they'll need to actually afford it, and it won't look nearly as good on them anyway."

"What's their problem?" Aloy asked.

"Oh, they just watched the wrong movies," Iani dismissed. "Anyone who's watched the good stuff knows women who only exist to dress up and look pretty and expect men to do everything for them are never of any real worth."

"Well said," Nil remarked.

"You wanna hang out?" Iani offered, gesturing back to a stretch of cloth where two other girls and a young man sat. "We might not be the most elite of our tribes, or even our crews, but I can at least promise we'll be better company than those idiots over there." She waved a hand towards the 'snob mob'.

"Uh…sure," Aloy shrugged.

Sunset had finally come, but it was hard to tell with all the lamps that hung from wires stretched between poles all around the inside of the massive wooden wall. Aloy didn't want to stay up too much later, considering how much she'd ended up oversleeping that morning, but just talking with these Corsair youths for an hour or so would be fine, surely. A little hesitantly, Aloy sat down on the bolt of fabric with Iani's group.

"Everyone, this is Aloy," Iani told her friends. "And Nil, of course, the Champion."

A chorus of "Howdy"s came from the other three, but when Aloy looked behind her, she saw Nil standing back, still looking as though he found everything around him distasteful.

"I'm Viva," said a girl with smooth hair paler than her skin and sparkling blue eyes.

"Neyda," spoke up the other girl, this one with much darker golden curls and brown eyes.

"Dakir," said the boy, a brown-haired youth with blue eyes.

"It's nice to meet you," Aloy told them, offering a smile.

"It's nice to meet anyone who would upset the snob mob," chuckled Viva.

"What did you say to them?" Dakir inquired.

"I just…told them about my tribe back east," Aloy answered carefully. "How women are in charge where I come from, and people bond based on their merits and not how they dress or how many people they can beat in a fight."

"Sounds like your kinda place, huh, Dakir?" Viva snickered.

"Yes," the boy smiled. "Sounds nice to me. Are your tribe accepting newcomers?"

"The Nora keep to themselves," Aloy replied; "anyone from outside their Sacred Land is…tainted. Somehow, they think All-Mother doesn't care about anyone who hasn't spent their whole lives in her valley, even though they also believe she's the source of all life on Earth."

"All-Mother?" Dakir repeated, sitting a bit straighter and raising his eyebrows.

"Not the same mother-goddess the Deima worship," Aloy explained quickly. "All-Mother is…well…" She frowned, realizing that wasn't quite true; technically, the Nora did worship the same mother-goddess as the Deima - it was another ELEUTHIA Cradle, just with a different understanding. "It's complicated," she finally managed lamely. "Um, what about all of you? Tell me about yourselves."

"Viva, Dakir, and I are from Demar's crew," Iani told Aloy, "same as the snob mob. Neyda's from Erit's crew, and we all wish we were too."

"Why not change crews?" Aloy asked. "Orns said your tribe is built on the idea that everyone is free to live as they please, does that not include joining a different crew?"

Viva sighed. "It does, but my aunt's one of the snob mob," she answered sadly, "and my mother won't go. I can't leave my mom with them."

"And we're not leaving Viva behind," Dakir spoke up. "Being related to one of those hags is the worst, we couldn't abandon her to live with that."

"So instead, they come to me for stories of what it's like to live as part of a crew not dominated by the snob mob," Neyda finished with a smile, the first of the group to speak in the same mannerisms Aloy had come to expect from the Corsair tribe. "The festival's our favorite time o' year, when we're not a buncha separate crews but one big tribe."

Aloy smiled. "It's always interesting how every tribe lives so differently," she remarked.

"How many tribes are there in the safe lands?" Dakir asked.

"Six," Aloy answered. "I'm only familiar with three…sort of four of them: the Nora, the Carja, the Banuk, and the Oseram to an extent. Nil would know a lot more about the Utaru and the Tenakth than me." She glanced back at her partner again, but he showed no inclination to join the group.

"Come sit with us!" Neyda called. "We have a few cookies left, ya wanna try one?"

"Cookies?" Aloy asked.

Grinning, Neyda opened a nearby sack that looked like it was probably woven from coconut husk fibers and pulled out a flat, round thing with spots. "We can share, mateys, aye?"

"Of course!" Iani agreed. "Go on, pass them around!"

While Neyda bit into the strange food, Viva grabbed the bag and took a 'cookie' herself, then handed it to Iani, who took one and passed it to Dakir, who took one and passed it to Aloy. A bit apprehensive, Aloy reached inside and took out one of the 'cookies'; it felt grainy, much tougher than the cakes she'd tried the previous night, and when she looked closely, she thought she could make out bits of dried fruit. "Those aren't blueberries, are they?" Aloy asked.

"Raisins," Iani corrected. "Dried grapes."

"Grapes?" Aloy repeated, but she took a bite. It was sweet, but not overwhelmingly so, and though the texture was yet another foreign feel in her mouth, chewy but fragile, it wasn't nearly as unpleasant as the 'noodles'. "Nil?" she asked, turning and holding out the bag to the former Carja who looked like he wished he could be anywhere else. "You want to try these?"

Giving an irritated sigh, Nil finally walked over to the swath of cloth, kneeling down right on the edge but still taking a 'cookie' from the bag.

"Not much of a talker, huh?" Viva teased. "No need to be shy."

"I'm not shy," Nil growled. "I just have no patience for pointless talk."

Not once had his silver eyes focused on Aloy, and Aloy was getting annoyed. "Nil, whatever your problem is, deal with it," she told him. "Go back to camp if you don't want to be here, I'll probably be there myself in an hour or so."

"An hour?" Neyda asked. "It's barely sunset!"

"I don't want to stay up too late," Aloy explained. "Usually, we set up camp when it gets dark, and I don't want to not be able to sleep at night."

"Y'all really just wander the outlands?" Neyda breathed. "Just like Kryse?"

"Not quite like Kryse," Aloy replied. "But…yeah. Nil and I don't really belong to any tribe, so we wander between them."

"Don't belong?" Iani asked. "Why not?"

"It's a…long story," was the only answer Aloy could give.

"Two long stories," Nil muttered.

"Are the Machines getting more vicious on land, too?" Viva asked. "We've seen some really scary ones lately, and more and more with each passing year…"

"The Derangement's getting worse everywhere," Aloy answered. "Sawtooths only appeared about fifteen years ago, and they're everywhere now, and worse things just keep coming to be. Did you hear about the Annihilator that appeared in the Oasis a few months ago?"

"Kryse said it was bigger than any oceanic Machine we've seen," Dakir remarked. "He didn't tell us much more than that, except that it was terrorizing the Bacchan. Have you seen it yourself?"

"We killed it," Aloy answered. "It's not just the size that's terrifying, Annihilators are loaded with some of almost every type of weaponry you can find on every other Machine, even some found on new ones that only recently appeared north of Nora territory; but the worst part is its fabricator module, which lets it rebuild its armor and weapons if you manage to damage it. It stays hurt, but if you break one of its guns, it'll make a new one for itself, so you can't really stop it from using its attacks."

"Don't forget the Swan Song function," Nil added. "It explodes in a shower of spears when it dies."

"Right, that too," Aloy nodded.

"That's terrifying!" Neyda exclaimed fearfully. Turning to her friends, she asked, "Ya think something like that could show up in the sea?"

"A modern Leviathan," Dakir murmured.

"I don't see why not," Aloy answered for them grimly. "Things are only going to get worse in the coming years. I…" She frowned. "I've told Orns what I've discovered about why the Derangement is happening, and that I have an associate working on ending it, but…he implied that the festival isn't a time to discuss serious matters."

At this, all four friends looked to each other at the same time and said, "Well…" Then they all laughed, apparently amused that they'd had the same reaction.

Feeling uncomfortable, Aloy forced a smile.

"You said north of Nora territory?" Dakir asked after a moment. "What does that mean, exactly?"

From there, they started discussing the tribes in the east and west, their territories and their customs, Nil adding input about the Utaru and Tenakth when Aloy made him but otherwise keeping silent. Iani and her friends seemed as clueless about what exactly went on with the Deima as everyone else, much to Aloy's disappointment, though they were able to add insight into the Corsair living patterns at least - apparently, there were islands far out to sea, beyond the sight of the shore, and plenty of Corsair crews liked to try to sail between them and explore the ruins they held for new artifacts, though navigation could be treacherous at times, and most crews could only manage one voyage there between yearly festivals.

Before long, the sky was black, the nearly-full moon shining above the distant line of the wall protecting the festival from the vicious Machines of Dry Bones. With an awkward but firm apology, Aloy insisted on leaving the group and getting back to camp so she and Nil could sleep.

"Come find us tomorrow, then," Iani told her, smiling. "We'd love to hang out some more!"

"Indeed," Dakir agreed. "There's a lot I'd like to ask you."

"Don't be a stranger!" Neyda told her.

"I won't," Aloy promised. "And I'd like to, uh, hang out with you all tomorrow, too."

"We'll look for y'all!" Neyda said.

"I'll look for you too," Aloy nodded. "Good night."

"Good night!" called the four friends as Aloy walked away.

Smiling, Aloy all but floated her way up the coast to the gap in the north wall, out of the lights covering the Corsair settlement, and back to camp, where her Striders still stood waiting. She felt a bit bad seeing the metal beasts that hadn't moved in almost two days, knowing that they had nothing to do, but if they couldn't return to their herd like this, she wasn't about to go to the trouble of returning them right now; she'd ride them back after the festival, then leave them.

"Are you going to take off that stupid dress?" Nil grumbled as she set down her pack and weapons and lit the campfire.

Anger flashed in her chest, and she turned around to meet his scowl with one of her own. "Nil, what is your problem?" she asked coldly.

"My problem is that you don't belong in a dress," he spat. "This isn't you, Aloy. Put your armor back on."

"What I wear is my business," she told him. "I'm only going to take it off now because I can't wear it to sleep." Reluctantly, she started bunching up the skirt of her dress so she could pull the fabric over her head. "It's your turn to take first watch," she added.

"Fine by me, as long as you're not wearing that sparkly thing," Nil remarked.

"You have no right to judge me," she snarled as she pulled the garment off and tucked it into her pack. "I'm having fun, Nil, and that should be enough for you."

"Fun torturing me?" he asked.

"Torturing you?!" Aloy repeated, baffled.

Scowling, her partner shook his head. "Never mind," he grumbled. "Just get your armor on and give me your Focus."

If only because she'd been in the middle of the process anyway, Aloy did just that, though part of her wanted to not do so just to spite him. Still, they were outside the wall, and danger stalked the ruins both on land and in the sea, it would be foolish to sleep unshielded out here. Once all her plating was strapped back on, she handed her Focus to Nil and got down on her bedroll, forcing her eyes shut.

It took a few minutes for her resentment to die down, but with the pounding of the waves drowning out the sound of Nil's conversation with HADES, Aloy eventually managed to drift off to sleep.

~o~

When morning came, Aloy watched it break, the sun rising behind her as she gazed out to the ocean with her Focus activated, on alert for Machines; when she'd initially been woken to take watch, she'd had some stomach pain that she'd had to go wet some rags and tend to, though she decided it was doubtful that the new food had been the culprit when she noticed her monthly blood had started. For some reason, she'd spent the entire night impatient for dawn, eager to return to the festival for its final day. Maybe it was Kryse's promise of 'entertainment', or maybe it was just so she could continue her conversation with the little Corsair group she'd found, but when at last Nil groaned and roused, Aloy all but dove back into the camp, already fumbling at the fastenings of her armor. Nil had to go to the shore to scrub his mouth out with sand, but Aloy had done that when she'd taken watch from him the previous night after tending her other needs, so she had plenty of time to get out of her armor and tunic, rub the waxy ball Rhoda had given her under her arms, and pull her dress on, drawing her necklace out of the loose neckline that came down to a couple of finger breadths below the hollow of her throat so that her keepsakes rested against the beading. It was nice to let her necklace see the light of day, too, come to think of it, and Aloy smiled as she tied the fancy boots and strapped the two and a half sacks of coins she had left around her waist.

"Still wearing that disgusting thing?" Nil growled as she eyed her packs.

"Yeah," Aloy answered cooly, glancing at him. "And if you don't like it, that's too bad."

He gave an irritated grumble and turned away from her but said nothing more. As annoyed as she was, Aloy was also confused; it was as though there was something he wasn't telling her, but when did he ever not tell her something?

…Aside from when she'd asked about his war crimes…but then again, they hadn't known each other at the time…

"Let's go, then," Aloy said at last, stepping out of the shelter.

"You forgot your weapons," Nil told her gruffly.

"I didn't forget them," Aloy said, a bit of bite to her voice. "I just don't need them." She'd decided to only bring the money bags with her into the festival's final day, no weapons, no armor, no other packs - she didn't need her things, and she wouldn't be buying anything that she would have to stow away, either. It still felt wrong to be so unburdened, but she was determined to make the most of this last event, enjoy every remaining moment she would get to relax with the Corsair to the fullest.

"Aloy," Nil groaned, and he almost sounded like Rost had whenever Aloy crossed a line growing up, a tone that went beyond mere disapproval. "This is insulting."

"How am I insulting you?" Aloy demanded.

"Not me," he growled, shaking his head, "you! Stop demeaning yourself like this!"

"I don't know what you're trying to prove, Nil, but you're only making yourself look bad," Aloy stated icily. "I'm wearing this dress, I don't need weapons or armor at this festival so I'm not bringing them, and you can either get over it or stay here and sulk."

"You're a cruel mistress," he muttered.

"This has nothing to do with you," Aloy said, "and I'm done arguing about it. I'm going now, either follow or don't."

With that, she shouldered past him and headed back to the entrance to the Corsair settlement. After a couple of paces, she heard him fall into step behind her, leaving Aloy wondering why he bothered complaining if he was always going to follow her. Still, even despite his mysterious grumpiness, the knowledge that he was always there, his presence her eternal and only constant, was as comforting as ever.

Entering the walled-off section of land where the Corsair celebrated their yearly festival already felt almost familiar, and Aloy was able to suppress whatever remaining unease she felt about not carrying any weapons. Before she could even begin to wonder where to go for the promised 'entertainment', a call cut through the low rumble of the crowd.

"Aloy!"

When Aloy turned, she saw Iani and her friends all hurrying towards her together, as though they'd been waiting for her, the idea of which left Aloy stunned.

"Y'all sleep well?" Neyda asked.

"I'm…yeah, hi," Aloy stammered. "Good morning. How are you?"

"We're all excited for celebration day," Iani told her. "Are you? We wanted to make sure you didn't miss anything."

"Oh, uh…" Aloy swallowed, gathered her bearings, and finally managed to smile. "Thanks," she said. "What is there to see today that you were afraid I would miss?"

"Come with us!" Neyda urged, grabbing Aloy by the hand. "The first play's gonna start soon, and it's my favorite!"

"Play?" Aloy asked as she was all but dragged forward a few steps.

"Relax, Neyda, let her go," Viva chuckled. Turning to Aloy, she added, "It's a stageplay, basically an event where people act out a story while everyone watches."

"So…like a movie?" Aloy asked, following the group through the market district.

"Well, we don't get the luxury of multiple takes, or special effects," Iani said. "But yeah, more or less. Actors acting out a story for others to enjoy."

"Takes?" Aloy repeated, bewildered. "Special effects?"

"Movies were recorded, so the Old Ones were able to act out parts of every movie over and over until they got each bit right, then put all the best pieces together to make one whole story," Dakir explained. "They were also able to use their technology to add things to the recording that weren't there in reality, like explosions or other things that would be dangerous for their actors to actually be around. Sometimes they'd have their actors play out events in a perfectly safe and controlled box and then edit in the background after the recording was done."

"How do you know all this?" Aloy asked.

"Dakir's our history expert," Viva chuckled. "He knows everything it's possible for someone without a Focus of their own to know."

"He never stops pestering our captain for more old memories from the Sheriff's Focus," Iani added. "And he's really good at piecing it all together, too, figuring out what it means. Assuming he's not just making it all up."

"Why bother putting in the effort of learning if I'd just invent the results out of nothing?" Dakir asked, affronted. "In that case, I might as well not bother looking into the Old Ones' memories at all."

"Whatever you say, Dik," Viva smirked, and the other girls giggled.

Feeling completely out of her depth, Aloy waited for the laughter to stop, then asked, "So…these stories that are going to be acted out today…are they from the Old Ones, or did your tribe come up with them?"

"Most of them are from the Old Ones," Iani answered. "There are a couple of plays written by Corsair, but they're no good."

"Aw, I kinda like the one about the old man hunting Krakens by himself in a little boat," Neyda pouted.

"No one can fight Machines alone like that," Iani scoffed. "You expect me to believe one person can be on a tiny little dinghy with a spear and one gun and take out a swarm of eight angry Kraken?"

"Plays aren't supposed to be realistic-" Neyda began.

"I bet Aloy could," Nil spoke up.

Everyone stopped short and turned back to the tribeless hunter, who had been following them as silently as the shadow he always said he was. He met their gazes with a hard expression, almost wordlessly daring them to question his assertion.

"I…don't think so," Aloy said slowly. "Not if I was out on the ocean. I can't fight in the water."

"You'd find a way," Nil said confidently. "You always do."

Aloy met his silver eyes, and couldn't help a smile tugging at her lips. Whatever his issue was with her current outfit, it warmed her to be reminded that he truly believed she could do anything. "Thanks," she told him softly. Not wanting to neglect her new friends, she turned to them and quickly inquired before they could make any remarks about what Nil had said, "The story we're about to go see now, is that from the Old Ones?"

"Uh…yeah," Viva finally managed, forcing a smile. "It's about a lucky wizard who wants to be remembered no matter what."

"A what?" Aloy questioned as they resumed walking.

"A magician," Iani replied. When Aloy only gave her a blank look, she chuckled and explained, "The Old Ones used to believe in people who could use magic, that is, do impossible things without technology or any sort of science. Like, people who could fly, or control other people's minds, or speak to the dead, or conjure anything out of thin air, stuff like that."

"I'm not sure they believed in it," Dakir spoke up. "It was just a fantasy they made up for the sake of telling fun stories, as far as I can tell."

"Well, the Old Ones did achieve a lot of impossible things," Aloy remarked.

"I mean stuff they couldn't actually do," Iani elaborated. "For example, if I was a pyromancer - a type of magician who worked with fire - I'd be able to just hold up my empty hand and will a ball of fire into existence above it, by doing nothing other than just wanting it to happen, that I could then throw without burning myself. That would be magic."

Behind the group, Nil gave a snort of what could have been either amusement or disgust, Aloy couldn't tell. "Hard to believe the Old Ones would come up with something that ridiculous," Aloy remarked. "Though I guess we're not much better…the story of Banukai comes to mind."

"What's that ye say?" Neyda asked.

As they walked the rest of the way, through the food vendors to the space that had been nothing more than a gathering place the previous day, where Aloy could see broad wooden platforms had been set up in front of rows of small seats, she quickly went over the myth on which the entire Banuk tribe was founded. While it had crossed her mind during her explorations into the story of Zero Dawn that the Nora tale of what happened to the Old Ones wasn't too far from the truth if the details were left out, the tale of Banukai still felt more unlikely than anything she'd ever experienced. Maybe, if ELEUTHIA had been out and free back when the Banuk tribe had formed, it could have been possible, but knowing that GAIA had been whole at the time, and that no one could have entered GAIA Prime except her before the mountain split open, the story felt laughable. Still, Iani and her friends seemed to appreciate it, all remarking to Aloy and each other that it could make a good 'play' as they approached a man in a red coat.

"Six seats, please," Iani told the man with a smile.

"Not many left," the captain remarked. "That many'll be three hundred coins."

"I'll pay," Aloy said eagerly, stepping forward.

"Oh, no, Aloy, that's okay-" Iani began.

"Please," Aloy insisted, cutting her off. "I have more than two thousand coins here, and I need to find a way to spend them all before tomorrow - I'm not Corsair, I won't be able to do anything with them once the festival's over. If anything, letting me pay for everything would be doing me a favor."

Not waiting for the argument to continue, Aloy held out her half-empty sack, the captain already pulling out a scale for her to measure the money out into. To her relief, what was left in the bag wasn't quite enough to pay the difference, and she handed it over and started pulling coins out of her second-to-last bag. It only took a few, but still, one less bag was a reason to be grateful.

"Thanking ye kindly," the captain nodded. "Ye're all free to take a seat, the show's about to start."

"Thank you," Iani responded, and her group, Aloy, and Nil walked past the red-cloaked Corsair. As soon as they found a group of six seats together, Aloy sat down with them, Nil taking the edge of the cluster, and looked to the stage, waiting, unsure what she was about to experience.

The 'play' was an interesting affair, with one person telling a story while other people acted out the events in the background. If nothing else, Aloy could see what Iani and her friends had meant about the story of Banukai making a good play, as she could almost imagine a bunch of 'actors' behind the shaman she'd heard the story from playing out Banukai's journey, maybe with some people wearing shells of Machine scrap playing the part of the Machines - for plenty of the 'actors' were dressed up as things they definitely were not, gods and spirits and animals, and even the humans of the tale wore outlandish garb that Aloy had never imagined anyone wearing. As for the story itself, it was…charming, Aloy supposed. Silly. The 'wizard' wanted to be famous, though why he'd need to work for that when he could use 'magic' Aloy couldn't imagine, and he began performing an outlandish series of tasks to try to win favor from the gods or just the attention of the people. Many times, Aloy was grateful for the audience's laughter, as it told her she was supposed to find the story ridiculous and wouldn't offend anyone by laughing herself. In the end, the gods were fed up with the antics of the 'wizard' and cursed him so that every article of food he touched turned into apple seeds, and for that, he was remembered forever.

When it was over, though, Aloy felt her smile fade, and she glanced over at Nil. Their eyes met, and several sentiments passed between them. Was this why the Old Ones had made such a story, to make people laugh during a time of safety? Or did they convince themselves that such a thing could be real? What did it say about the world that even the tribes of today would pass their time like this? Aloy thought she could appreciate these false stories a bit better now, having experienced one during a time when she didn't need to worry about serious matters, but for Nil, she could tell, it was abhorrent that the Corsair were following the same self-destructive path as the Old Ones.

"So?" Iani asked, snapping Aloy out of her silent conversation with her partner, and she turned back to see the dark-skinned girl grinning expectantly at her. "What'd you think?"

"It was fun," Aloy admitted. "Are there going to be more?"

"Of course!" Iani replied brightly. "There'll be several going at a time around here, and we'll have to pay to see any we go to, but they'll be running until nightfall. Would you like to see another one?"

"I would, yes," Aloy nodded.

"How about something classic?" Viva suggested from Iani's other side. "I think they're doing Cinderella in a few minutes over by the arena wall."

"Good idea," Iani nodded. "Come on!"

Just like that, they were all up and headed to another cluster of seats in front of another wooden platform, and Aloy followed. This story was a bit sadder, and dealt with subjects Aloy couldn't help but think were more likely to be true; even the ending, though technically a happy one, felt inherently wrong to Aloy, the prince and the princess didn't even know each other's names. Still, Dakir assured her that it was a story the Old Ones had told for decades if not centuries before they fell, so she forced herself to appreciate it. After that, Neyda suggested they see the one about the man fighting Krakens alone, and Aloy wanted to see it too, but the rest of the friend group wanted to watch something else, so they split up. Even then, Nil went with Aloy, having offered very few spoken words on the matter.

The play written by a past Corsair was distinctly different; Aloy got a more grounded feeling from it, a sense that she truly understood what the person who'd come up with the story was trying to say. It was art, she realized, art she appreciated; a glance at Nil told her he'd reached the same conclusion, surprising as it was. She distinctly preferred it to the other tales, at any rate, and she told Neyda so, and the rest of the group as well when they met back up. In response, the four all quickly agreed that Aloy needed to see one particular play about one of the old stories the Corsair tribe had been founded on, and promptly dragged her away to the upcoming performance of that.

This story was more complicated than the others had been, the outfits more lavish, with more people setting up false locations and false objects in the false environments. Had Aloy not known that this was a story of the Old Ones, she could have believed it might actually be a story about the Corsair tribe; it told of a band of 'pirates' and a band of 'navy' who wanted the sea-bandits gone, though most of the tale focused on a few key individuals whose loyalties seemed to be constantly shifting between the two. Near the end, there was a swordfight that looked and sounded almost real to Aloy, and when the hero's blade finally found its mark in the villain, there was a splash of red that made Aloy gasp. Immediately, Nil grabbed her hand and murmured in her ear "Not real," but he needn't have bothered; the way the villain responded to the mortal blow was far too dramatic for him to be genuinely wounded. As with the movie she'd seen, once the villain fell, there were a few more minutes of follow-up events, and then everyone, including the man who'd been seemingly stabbed, lined up on the stage and bowed together, the Corsair all cheering and slapping their hands together in response.

"How did they do that?" Aloy asked Iani as they walked away from the stage; Neyda had complained about being hungry, so they were headed for the food stands. "Make him bleed without hurting him?"

"Oh, that's an easy old-world trick," Iani chuckled. "All you do is fill a small, fragile vessel with red fluid - the Old Ones used dyes, but we just use animal blood - and then break it with a prop weapon. Those swords were dull, there was no danger of anyone actually getting hurt."

"Funny how dyes would be more disposable to the Old Ones than blood, while it's the reverse for us," Nil remarked, and Aloy stared at him; it was the most he'd said all day. "Did they use that trick for movies, too?"

"Oh, of course," Dakir spoke up. "They used fake blood all the time, even for decoration."

"Really?" Aloy asked, surprised.

"Oh, don't listen to him," Viva laughed. "He thinks the Old Ones had a day when they all dressed up like monsters and pretended their homes were full of rotting corpses."

"Halloween was a real holiday!" Dakir insisted.

"Sure," Iani giggled. "Whatever you say, Dik."

This got a chuckle out of Viva and Neyda as well, and Aloy pressed her lips together and waited, then asked, "So what are we going to eat? I'll buy for everyone."

"No, Aloy, it's okay," Iani began.

"Please," Aloy said. "The seats at these plays haven't even cost enough to get me down to a thousand, and to be honest, I'm desperate for some way to get rid of these coins."

"You sure about that?" Viva smirked.

Aloy laughed. "Yeah," she replied, "you can order the most expensive things here and I'll be glad."

It seemed foods weren't particularly expensive, though, because even when the four friends gathered everything they wanted and could carry, there were still a good few coins left in Aloy's second-to-last sack. The first play had cost a lot more than the subsequent ones, and while Aloy was sure most of the tribe appreciated that, for her, it was almost exasperating.

"So," Iani said as they sat down together at a table, laying out all the dishes and platters of food they'd bought; Nil sat at a table nearby, wordlessly refusing to join in as he ate his share, "what are we gonna see next?"

"Maybe the one about the spy who made up everything he told the government just to get paid?" Neyda suggested.

"Do we…have to watch more?" Aloy inquired hesitantly.

Everyone turned to her in surprise.

"I'm enjoying these," she assured them quickly. "I just…Life's too short to waste on lies, even well-told ones."

"Well…no," Iani said slowly, "we don't have to watch more - the four of us have seen every play there is at some point, there aren't any new ones this year. But we wanted you to have fun."

"I've been having fun," Aloy repeated, "but it's…Well, it's the same reason I didn't spend much time at Holovid Studios; there are enough real stories out there, and in the meantime, I need to live my own."

"Oh, you've been to Holovid Studios?" Dakir asked, taking a bite out of his spiced roast.

"Briefly," Aloy answered. "I only saw one movie, and when I realized that it wasn't real, I just…lost interest. Have you four seen Holovid Studios?"

At this, the four friends looked at each other and giggled. "Wow, that brings back memories," Neyda chuckled. Turning her eyes on Aloy, she explained, "Back when we were kids, we snuck away from the festival one year to go to Holovid Studios and fiddle with the video player. We had no idea what we were picking out without Focuses, o' course, and we ended up with this really dumb one with this blobby purple monster making friends with other blobs…"

"It was animation," Dakir said firmly. "The Old Ones conjured the images entirely through their technology, it wasn't supposed to look like real life."

"That don't change the fact that it was really dumb," Neyda retorted with a smile.

"Why is it possible to manipulate the video player without a Focus, do you know?" Aloy inquired, finally getting to work on a new food construct: meats, vegetables, and even some cooked eggs held between slices of bread - bird eggs were incredibly difficult to get when you lived in the wilds, and for Aloy they were the rarest luxury she'd ever had the privilege of sampling before, so she wasn't about to pass up on having some now.

"Holovid Studios was one of Faro Automated Solutions's first ventures into the world of media," Dakir recited. "Once they had a hold in the market and were renowned for their work on the Claw-Back, they started branching out, trying to take over every aspect of people's lives, including entertainment, and Holovid Studios was where they started. At the time, Focuses were incredibly new, and they hadn't even produced enough that they could reasonably offer one to every single employee, but everyone who worked there had to be able to manipulate the video player. Basically, they had like two Focuses that they passed around between all the workers, and they all practiced at being able to select movies without being able to see what they were doing. Of course, in the early days, there were only around five 3D-scanned movies, so it wasn't difficult, but the functionality remained the same even as the model caught on."

"Okay," Aloy said slowly, understanding enough of all this that she was confident she at least had the gist.

"It's not hard to reset to the start," Dakir pointed out, and he lifted his free hand to demonstrate. "Just swipe your hand right a few times, then down a few times, and no matter where the display was before, you know where you are now."

"Still, it's really tricky," Viva interrupted. "We're lucky we managed to get anything at all. That's why the adult content's gene-locked, so no one could accidentally play a porno for some unsuspecting group of kids."

"We don't know that the adult content is porn," Iani groaned with the frustration of someone who'd had this conversation many times before.

"Oh, come on!" Viva protested, giving her a look. "We all know what's in there."

"There really is no other conclusion," Dakir concurred, nodding.

"We don't know for sure," Iani argued.

"What else could it be?" Neyda asked.

"I don't know, I haven't seen it," Iani responded defensively. "No one has, that's my point!"

"I have," Aloy spoke up, having just swallowed her bite of what the vendor had called a 'sandwich'. She set down her food as everyone turned to her and grimaced. "And…yeah, if I understand what the word means, it's porn."

"How did you…unlock the adult content?" Dakir asked, almost breathlessly.

"I, uh, have a device that lets me override Machines, and some old-world technology," Aloy explained. "When I saw that there was something I wasn't allowed to access, I got curious and used it to override the lock." Heat blossomed in her cheeks, and she looked down at her plate. "I'm sorry I did."

"This device, where is it?" Dakir questioned, while Viva gave a triumphant laugh and shoved at Iani.

From there, the conversation progressed, meandering from topic to topic, and it seemed they would never run out of things to say. Aloy did her best to avoid discussing the specifics of her personal life, though she managed to get a few things about the friends: Iani was a navigator for her ship, Viva wanted to perform in plays herself, Dakir's passion for ancient history made him something of a history keeper who hoped to get paid to teach other curious Corsair, and Neyda still hadn't figured out what she was meant to do. The friends had special names for each other, too - Dakir was 'Dik', Iani was "Ni-Ni", Neyda was "Ney-Ney", and Viva was "Vee"; but the context for using these nicknames seemed like it was based on subtleties of interaction that Aloy couldn't quite figure out, so she chose not to use them herself.

When at last the food was gone, Viva asked suddenly, "Aloy, do you dance?"

"Dance?" Aloy repeated. "I…Rost taught me some tribal dances growing up…"

"I'm not talking about tribal dances," Viva laughed. "I'm talking about just dancing for fun!"

"Then, no," Aloy answered, "I don't know anything about that."

"Well, then we have to teach you!" Iani exclaimed, leaping to her feet. "The concerts are going to start soon, there's going to be music all night up until the fireworks show, we can't let you not know how to dance!"

Dusk was already falling, but Aloy found herself wide-awake and eager as she followed the friend group back out to the communal space; most of the chairs had been cleared out, and on one of the wooden platforms where the plays had been performed, a few Corsair were playing music, not just drums and stringed instruments but a bunch of different tools, even a few they had to blow into.

"We'll be switching to old-world music later in the night," Iani explained, "but that's a lot more intense; this is great for practice."

"There are all kinds of dance moves," Viva picked up, "but to get any of them, you first have to understand moving on-beat, like this…"

And thus, under the light of the setting sun, Aloy found herself dancing with her new friends. It came surprisingly naturally, it just felt right to move with the rhythm of the music, while also strangely liberating, the fabric of her dress swishing and swirling around her. When Viva started showing her some actual 'moves', Aloy took to them quickly, it was like fighting without violence, and when she twirled around and sent her skirt flaring around her, she giggled with a weird sort of glee.

Then, all of a sudden, Nil caught her arm.

"Aloy," he growled, "give me some coins. I can't take this anymore."

"What?" Aloy asked, her smile instantly evaporating as she met his steely eyes.

"I may deserve suffering," he said, "but even I have limits. I can't watch you like this anymore. So give me some of your coins, and I'll go spend them on drink. Just don't make me stay."

Aloy shook her head, completely fed up. "Fine," she managed to growl, untying the coin bag that was running low and shoving it into his hand. "Whatever your problem is, go sulk and don't come back unless you're over it."

With a wordless grumble, Nil took the money and all but stomped away.

"What's his problem?" Iani asked.

"I don't know," Aloy sighed, turning back to her new friends. "He's been like this ever since I got this dress, and I wish I knew why…"

"He's probably just jealous," Dakir spoke up. "Doesn't want other men looking at you and thinking you're pretty."

"Like you would know," Viva said in a teasing voice. Then she shook her head and added, "But yeah, that's probably it. He wants you all to himself."

"Nil isn't like that," Aloy said, but she found herself lacking conviction. Nil was selfish, and would be the first to admit it; was that really the problem? It felt wrong, but…

"I don't know him personally, but he is a guy," Iani said. "Guys are like that. Don't worry about it, Aloy, he's just being dumb. At least he had the decency to walk away."

"…I guess," Aloy muttered. Forcing herself to brighten up, she added, "So anyway, that two-step thing?"

As the sun finished setting and the full moon rose, Aloy continued learning to dance, without her mate.

~X~

An hour after leaving his beloved behind, Nil stared at his empty glass, wondering how much more he dared to drink.

Back when he'd been a soldier, he'd seen his fellow soldiers drink themselves senseless; the veterans claimed it was the only way they could forget all the killing they'd done, the only thing that 'quieted the voices', they said, but that had never made sense to Nil - why would he want to forget? He'd seen other men completely lose control under the influence of alcohol, too, so after Cinnabar Sands, he'd been especially wary of the stuff; sure, he hadn't been drunk at Cinnabar Sands, but anything that might cause his self-control to slip was something to be cautious of. Never had he been temped to actually imbibe enough to alter his mind…

Until now.

The sight of Aloy, all glittery and pretty in a fine dress, dancing and laughing like a Carja noble girl…to get the memory of that out of his head might actually be worth the risks.

Yet he'd sworn a vow, and he didn't break his vows.

"Ya want another?" asked the barkeep.

"Maybe one more," Nil sighed, handing over a few more coins.

"Ye've only had three," the man chuckled, filling the glass cup with more of the ale that was much finer than anything the Carja produced. "Looking glum as ye do, I'd wager ye could use more than just one more."

"Too risky," Nil muttered. "If I lose control, I might slaughter your entire tribe; I have to be careful." Well, more likely he'd slaughter a few Corsair, and then Aloy would borrow someone's weapon and kill him, even in that stupid dress, but as nice as it would be to die by Aloy's hand, to die of losing control wouldn't be a death he could be proud of.

"Heh," the barkeep chuckled. "Is it a woman?"

"Yeah," Nil admitted, drinking deeply.

"Mysterious, fickle creatures they be," the Corsair nodded sympathetically. "Even the Old Ones had to contend with 'em. For as long as men have walked this Earth, we've been confounded by one thing above all else: women."

"Aloy's not like that," Nil stated. "Or at least…I didn't think she was…" He sighed, shaking his head.

"Care to tell me the problem?" the barkeep asked. "It's a slow hour, I got time if ya need to talk."

This was something Carja bartenders did too, talk to whoever they served drink to about anything and everything; Nil had never indulged, but right now it was tempting. "She had this dress fitted for her," he explained after a minute. "All shiny and pretty. This morning, she left her weapons and armor back at camp, even her spear, and now she's dancing and laughing with this group of Corsair she just met last night…" He shook his head again, pained at the thought, and took another deep draught.

"And?" the barkeep asked.

Realizing that that wouldn't sound like a bad thing to most people, Nil huffed another sigh, this one irritated. "And that's not who she is," he snapped. "Aloy is a warrior, unstoppable and fearsome, she's a fighter, a goddess of the hunt. She's not some trophy who stands around looking pretty. It's just…not her." Pain overcame annoyance, and he sighed, draining his glass. "I thought I knew her," he mumbled. "I thought I understood her in her entirety. But that girl twirling and giggling to the sound of music…that's not my Aloy."

It took a moment for him to realize his words, and when he did, he choked on his own breath. 'His' Aloy? Aloy didn't belong to anyone, especially not him…

"Well, I don't know this girl o' yers," the bartender remarked, apparently not noticing Nil's stumble, "but I can tell you that to believe you know a woman in her entirety is to be a fool."

"I do know her," Nil stated, setting aside his strange slip-up. "Honestly, I think she's just doing this to torture me…or I would, if she didn't say that it had nothing to do with me. Could she be lying? Aloy doesn't play games…" He shook his head again. "I just don't know…"

"Well, as I said, even the Old Ones never managed to figure out women," the Corsair man told him. "But of all the methods they ever tried to tame those flighty beasts, there was one that had a better success rate than any other."

"And what's that?" Nil asked miserably.

"Talk to her," the man answered.

"Huh?" Nil looked up.

The Corsair shrugged. "Swallow yer pride and tell her exactly how ye feel, and why," he said. "Just lay it all out. It's not a sure-fire solution, but it's a man's best bet."

"Tell her why," Nil muttered under his breath, and he huffed a mirthless chuckle. "I doubt she'd take well to that."

"Well, you can either try it, or stay here and not drink," the barkeep said pointedly.

A few long seconds passed, Nil staring at his empty glass and wondering if he dared go for a fifth fill. He had no idea what kind of tolerance he had for alcohol, as he'd never even tried testing his limits, and he'd known men who lost their heads after only two drinks. It would be easier…but in the end, it went against everything he believed in, to try to escape reality like a coward.

Besides, he'd already told her about Cinnabar Sands.

"Fine," he groaned at last, setting down his cup and hopping off the stool. He gestured to the nearly-empty sack of coins. "Keep the rest, Aloy's desperate to get rid of it all anyway. For the advice."

"That's mighty kind of ye," the barkeep told him. "I wish you the best of luck with yer woman."

"Thanks," Nil told him halfheartedly.

Drawing one last breath, he squared his shoulders, turned towards the music, and set out to confront his warrior-queen.

~X~

Once the last rays of the sun had faded from the sky, the full moon bright and silver among the stars, Corsair had started flocking to the communal space where Aloy had been learning to dance. The group playing the music had shifted off the wooden platform, which had then been dismantled, as had the others; in their place, a large structure was being set up not far from the shore, with a hologram projector that Iani and her group assured Aloy would be used to play music that had been found in Dry Bones, produced by the Old Ones. For her part, Aloy was competent at dancing by her new friends' assessments, both fast and slow, but she found herself enjoying dancing more by herself - with partners, she had to guess at their moves, and they at hers, to limited success. Even slow songs left her swaying by herself, enjoying the rhythmic noise on her own terms. Iani didn't leave her, though, and the group did their best to include her in their casual joking around. With the lights keeping the dark of night away, the lack of weapons or danger, the music and the laughter and friends…several times, Aloy found herself reflecting on how she could never have imagined living like this.

But was that a good thing, or a bad thing? That, she couldn't decide. All she had to go on was Rhoda's advice, that she couldn't know what felt right until she knew what felt wrong.

Suddenly, the music stopped, and Aloy turned to see Orns climbing onto the larger wooden platform by the shore, which seemed to be fully built at that point, Lanida at his side.

"It's starting!" Iani told her excitedly. "The Sheriff's gonna start playing music from the old world soon!"

"That's when the party really kicks off," Viva informed Aloy with a grin. "All this? This was just passing the time."

Aloy eyed the purple-cloaked Sheriff as he began making motions indicating use of his Focus. She was definitely interested to see how the Old Ones celebrated, to hear their music, after what the Corsair had already shown her-

"Aloy?"

A sudden hand on her arm made her jump, and she turned to see Nil, his silver eyes grave.

"Nil," she said slowly. "Is everything alright?"

He opened his mouth, then closed it. A sigh huffed through his nose, and he glanced around, then leaned in closer and asked, "Can I talk to you? Alone?"

Aware that she'd made the same request of him two days prior, Aloy nodded. "Of course," she answered. Turning to the group, she said, "I'll be right back. Don't wait for me, okay?"

"No one waits once the beat drops," Viva chuckled. "Hurry back, alright? You won't want to miss this!"

"I'll be back as soon as I can," Aloy promised, and she turned and followed the shore north, knowing Nil would be right beside her.

"What's coming?" he inquired as they walked.

"Orns is going to start playing music from the ancient world soon," Aloy replied.

Her partner didn't respond to this. When she glanced over at him, he seemed uneasy, and Aloy felt her guard rising. There were almost no Corsair to speak of as they passed the booths and reached the gap in the wall, it seemed the whole tribe really was converging to enjoy the final celebration, but Nil still kept walking until they were at their camp.

"What's this about, Nil?" Aloy asked.

Turning around to face her, but still not quite meeting her eyes, Nil sighed. "This," he replied, gesturing vaguely to her - or, more accurately, to her dress. "I…I can't stand seeing you like this, Aloy, and I need you to understand why."

"You've already made it clear why," Aloy said coldly.

But Nil shook his head. "I didn't tell you everything," he confessed. "I…" Swallowing hard, he gazed out to the sea, drew a deep breath, then finally looked at her. "Do you remember the night before we raided the Cauldron?" he asked.

"Uh…" Aloy blinked. She remembered the night after they raided the Cauldron, quite vividly, but the one before? "Remind me?" she asked.

"We discussed…things," Nil said hesitantly. "And one thing I said, you said you had about ten questions about it, and I told you it was probably for the best if I didn't answer any of them?"

When he paused, eyebrows raised at her almost pleadingly, Aloy shook her head. "I don't remember," she said.

Nil took another deep breath. "I was wrong," he said; "I should have answered them, because maybe then you'd understand…"

Cutting off again, he shook his head, and Aloy frowned impatiently. "Get to the point," she hissed.

"Fine," he relented, and suddenly his face was a mask, his eyes distant in the moonlight. "When I was a soldier under Jiran, sometimes he gave me women as trophies for my work, as he did any soldier who pleased him. Among the slaves we captured to be sacrificed in the Sun-Ring, there were of course women, and he'd give them to us for use 'as we saw fit', or so he said, before they died at high noon the next day."

Words failed Aloy; all that managed to escape her throat was a strangled exclamation of disgust.

"The first one I was given was an Oseram woman," Nil went on, still looking far off at nothing. "When I found her in my room, she told me she'd rather die than let me touch her. I asked her if she was sure about that, and she was quite insistent, so…I obliged her."

"You killed her?" Aloy asked faintly.

He shrugged. "That was what she wanted, and I didn't want to…" He shook his head and didn't finish the sentence. "The trouble was," he continued instead, "she was a sacrifice bound for the Sun-Ring the next day, and now she couldn't be used to appease the Sun's wrath. I barely managed to talk my way out of taking her place - I pointed out that His Luminance said I could use her as I saw fit, and I saw fit not to bed her if she wouldn't willingly have me. I still don't know why he spared me, but somehow, I was let off with a warning.

"The second woman was an Utaru mother I'd helped capture myself. She had a…similar position about her situation, but I didn't make the same mistake twice; I went before my Sun-King and asked permission to kill her, as she requested. I was told that since she was my property, it didn't matter if she was willing to warm my bed or not, but I…Well, I didn't understand my honor at the time, but I knew it felt wrong, I wanted no part of it. After some…discussion, Jiran finally agreed to let me spill her blood in the light of the first rays of dawn, which I did, and after that…" He shook his head again. "Well, it was unlike the Mad Sun-King to be so considerate, but from then on, he only gave me women who would willingly submit."

"And what did you do to them?" Aloy asked in a whisper, afraid of the answer.

"What I was obligated to do," Nil shrugged. "I bedded them. Most of them were Tenakth women who submitted to my superior strength; once, there was an Utaru maiden who claimed she was 'enthralled by my beauty'; and one was a Banuk girl who afterward made it very clear that her intent was to seduce me into helping her escape."

"Which I'm guessing you didn't," Aloy said faintly.

Appallingly, Nil flashed his teeth in the moonlight. "Her ploy was a joke between me and my friends from the day she died to the day Jiran fell," he confirmed, and Aloy felt her stomach twist. "Toward the end of the Red Raids, Jiran even started lending me some of his personal concubines, and of course I did what I had to. But…" Any mirth left his face, his silver eyes grim. "I never enjoyed it," he told Aloy. "Whenever I was given a woman for my work, it took every bit of self-control I had not to protest. One does not simply refuse a gift from the Mad Sun-King, so I had no choice, but I hated it. Hated them. I never understood why everyone else in the army loved getting women, I took no pleasure in the act, to the point where half of my fellow soldiers were convinced I preferred men - which I don't, that wasn't the problem. The problem was how…fragile our trophies were. They were all soft and weak, pretty and delicate and pointless, like flowers."

"Nil…" Aloy shook her head, horrified and nauseated but also incredibly confused. "Why are you telling me this?" she finally managed to ask, the question not coming out nearly as harshly as she had intended.

"Because you're not like them," Nil answered readily, stepping closer to her. "You're not a flower, Aloy. You don't stand around and look pretty and serve men's desires. You're strong, powerful, and fearsome, your beauty is in your strength. That's why I…" He swallowed. "Why I enjoy being with you, as I never did them…why I love you. But now…" He grimaced, waving a hand at her. "Seeing you in this…it reminds me of them. You're dressed like one of those trophies, Aloy, like something weak and worthless, and it hurts me to have to think of them when I look at you. I hate those memories, of their sparkly finery and their soft bodies, I wish I could forget them all. And now I'm being reminded of them, when I look at you, at you!" He gave her a pleading look. "Do you understand?" he all but whined. "Do you understand why I need you to take off that damn dress?"

For a long minute, Aloy stared at him. "You know, Nil," she said at last, "this festival is really bringing out the worst in you."

"How is this the worst of me?" he demanded. "I had no choice, Aloy, what would you rather I had done? I was lucky I was able to convince Jiran to not force unwilling women on me, it's a miracle I was allowed to get away with that much!"

"Okay, maybe that's more the worst of your tribe than just you," Aloy conceded. "But still, between this and Cinnabar Sands and your fight with Shands…I've seen the worst sides of you since we came here. But…tell me your secrets and I'll tell you mine, that was the deal, so now I'll tell you why I'm wearing this dress."

"I thought maybe you were just doing it to torture me," Nil said, "since I spoke for you when Rhoda first made the offer. And I deserve torture, but-"

"I don't care that much about what you think," Aloy sneered. "If I didn't want to wear this dress, I wouldn't, it has nothing to do with you. Nil…" She drew a deep breath of her own, but unlike him, she had the courage to meet his eyes as she bared her soul. "I've fought my whole life," she told him. "Every single breath I've drawn, I've had to struggle for - even when I was a baby, I was very nearly killed for being motherless, and when I survived that, I grew up in the wilds, without a tribe and without any concept of safety. Just to stay warm and fill my stomach has been a battle, danger has loomed over me from the moment I was born and I've never been free. Machines have always been a danger, and the one time I thought I was safe from them, I was in a settlement for the first time, surrounded by people who hated me and wanted me gone; after that, I've been even less safe, there's always someone or something trying to kill me. Not once in my entire life have I ever been able to relax…until now."

Nil took a step back, his eyes wide.

"For the first time in my life, here at this festival, I'm safe," Aloy said softly. "For the first time in my life, I can put down my weapons and my armor, I can buy and wear a sparkly dress, I can eat exotic foods and laugh with friends and dance and enjoy being around people, without worrying about an attack that might come at me any moment, from any corner. This once, just this once, I don't have to be afraid. And I'm going to make the most of every moment of it. Tomorrow, the Corsair will return to the sea, and I'll go back to fighting for survival, but until then, I'm going to wear this dress, and I'm going to dance, and I'm going to eat and drink and let my guard down and have fun, because just this once, I can."

"Is it…really so awful to fight your whole life?" Nil asked.

"I don't know," Aloy answered. "I've never had the chance to live without fighting, I don't know what it's like. That's why I'm doing this, so I can know, so I can at least have the reference point. Maybe I can't live comfortably being safe, but I have to try it before I can be sure. I came out here to figure out who I am, Nil, and that's what I'm doing. And you said you would have my back no matter what."

"I…" He took a breath. "It's…easy to forget, sometimes, that you never had a tribe," he said. "You're so…" He shook his head, apparently failing to find the right words. "I didn't know you felt this way," he managed at last. "I thought you were just spiting me."

"Well, Iani and her group said the reason you were being so grumpy about my dress was because you were jealous," Aloy shrugged. "That you didn't want other men to look at me, and wanted me all to yourself."

"Jealous?!" Nil exclaimed. "Aloy, that's absurd! You and I both know I don't deserve you, and I hope that you'll find a better man to share your life with! If wearing this led to you finding a better mate than me, I wouldn't be jealous, I'd only be glad for you. You deserve better."

Aloy gasped softly, feeling warmth swell in her chest, and her lips curled up in a sad smile. She didn't question it; in a way, she thought she'd known he felt that way all along. "It's funny," she said. "I've seen the worst sides of you at this festival, and even now, I…I don't want a different mate. Maybe I do deserve better than a bloodthirsty lunatic, but…I don't want better, and I don't think I ever will."

"I pray that you do," Nil told her, and she could feel that he meant it.

"I couldn't," Aloy insisted, shaking her head. "I can't imagine ever feeling this close to anyone. You make me happy, Nil, and that's worth more than…well, you."

"That's not saying much," he remarked.

Maybe she'd known he would say that, but Aloy laughed all the same. "Are you at least done being judgmental about this dress?" she asked.

"If it really means that much to you, I guess I can let it go for the rest of the night," Nil sighed heavily.

Laughing again, Aloy extended her hand. "Come on," she said. "Let's go back. Do you dance?"

"Not the way you mean," he smirked, grasping her palm and falling into step beside her as they turned back to the Corsair settlement.

"It's really not that different from fighting," Aloy told him. "You have to be aware of your surroundings and the positions of your body, keep your balance and measure your movements, just without any weapons or bloodshed involved."

"So it's fighting without the fun parts," Nil chuckled.

"Oh, stop it," Aloy laughed, tugging him forward towards the sounds that were already audible as soon as they were back inside the wall, even as far from the source as they were - a beat seemed to pound through the earth itself, and lights and movement up ahead marked an entire tribe celebrating the Old Ones. "You can't just kill people all the time…and…I want to dance with you," she confessed, glancing over at him. "You're my partner. I tried dancing with other people, but I couldn't coordinate with them; I think you and I could make it work, though."

"You are a cruel mistress," he laughed. "Fine, if you insist. Just know that I would only do something like this for you, my love."

Feeling light, Aloy allowed herself to be enveloped by the earsplitting sound of ancient music. It was nothing at all like what the Corsair had been playing - it didn't sound like it could be made with modern instruments at all - yet it was still melodious, lively and full of energy, and Aloy found herself even walking in time with the beat, bouncing slightly with every step. When she finally reached the crowd, she barely managed to dodge her way past the edge, hoping to find Iani. It took two heartbeats to give up on that hope - everything around her was chaos, even with all the light it was impossible to distinguish anything about anyone, all the bodies moving to music that was faster than any human could play. Still, they at least seemed like they were trying not to run into her or anyone else, it wasn't the same as the chaos of war, and behind her, Nil was there, ever her constant in the world.

A sudden lull in the music marked the end of the song, though the crowd quickly filled the silence with cheers. Everyone was so happy, and Aloy took a breath, finding a small gap where she could take a moment. I don't need to find my friends to join in this, she realized, turning back to her partner, and she took his hand as a new song picked up, almost as fast as the one she'd come in on.

They didn't speak - with all the noise, it would have been pointless to try. Nil's lip was curled distastefully, but when Aloy took a step, he mirrored her movement. Forcing herself not to care what he thought, she started moving to the melody, she jumped and spun - and he caught her, balancing her as she finished her twirl and landed in his arms, only for them to immediately part again, moving as one. Aloy laughed as the beat picked up, the same laugh Nil had made when Shands had started really fighting back; dancing with other Corsair had been awkward, but even if Nil didn't like it, they were coordinated, just as they were in battle, two halves of one whole force, and she felt whole, happy, at home in this foreign setting.

Faster, wilder, they danced until the surroundings were a blur, it seemed impossible that neither of them ran into the other revelers considering how crowded it had been but Aloy didn't question it. For every leap, they caught each other's hands to launch each other into steps and twirls, there was no danger of falling when they were together. It was like a fight, but lighter, happier, safer, freer, and when the song exploded into a final finish, they ended in each other's arms, their eyes locked, chests heaving. Nil didn't even look distasteful anymore, and Aloy was still breathlessly laughing. An urge to kiss him seized her, and she probably would have acted on it if not for the cheering around her.

Blinking, Aloy looked around, and found that she and Nil had been given space, surrounded by spectators who clapped their hands together. Suddenly aware of the spectacle they'd made, Aloy shrank in her partner's embrace, slightly embarrassed.

"Maybe I was wrong," Nil said in her ear.

"Huh?" Aloy blinked and looked up at him, finding his teeth gleaming in the lamplight.

"You do look like a flower," he said, "but maybe not just a flower. You're…like a blossom of wild ember - pretty, but still powerful in your own right."

Aloy laughed again, but before she could respond, a single voice spoke over the sound of the new song that had started up.

"Aloy!"

All of a sudden, Iani was there, running over to her through the dispersing onlookers.

"I just saw the end of that!" she shouted, both in excitement and for a chance to be heard. "Did you guys plan that?!"

"We didn't have to!" Aloy called back, her grin returning. "We just know each other that well!"

Iani returned her grin, her lips shaping the word "wow" before she raised her voice to be audible again. "I'm sorry we didn't wait for you!" she told Aloy. "We usually split up around this time anyway-!"

"It's fine!" Aloy assured her. "Go have fun!"

"We'll come find you for the fireworks show, okay?!" Iani offered.

"I'll look for you too!" Aloy promised.

"See you then!" Iani grinned, and she turned and vanished into the crowd.

Alone with her partner in the crowd again, Aloy turned back to Nil, their hands meeting. This song was a bit less intense, but it only felt right to move with him. When an actually slow song finally started up, Aloy insisted that he be the one to hold her waist; they didn't need words to argue, he wanted to give her the power, but he was taller than her, and that made the alternative awkward. To be so close to someone that she could have an entire argument with them without either of them saying a word…Aloy smiled and leaned into his chest, happy and whole, glad he'd decided to get over his issues and dance with her.

A minute into the slow, intimate tune, Aloy felt Nil's breath warm her ear, and he spoke.

"This music is kind of boring, isn't it?" he remarked.

"Hmm?" Aloy asked, lifting her head so she could talk in his ear as he did hers. "What do you mean?"

"Can't you tell?" he chuckled. "A human didn't make this. It's too…clean, too stilted, like how HADES talks - it sounds like music, but you can just tell, something's off about it." Another chuckle rumbled in his chest. "What do you say we show them some real music?"

"And what would you consider 'real music'?" Aloy snickered. "The screams of the dying?"

He laughed. "A melodious sound, to be sure," he responded, "but I had something more artistic in mind." He pulled back to meet her eyes, his own eyebrows raised pointedly.

She blinked, then suddenly realized what he was saying. "Last Girls on Earth?" she asked.

The tribeless hunter nodded, his teeth flashing in the lantern light.

"I don't know if we can," Aloy said slowly.

"Let's go ask!" he encouraged, already moving, almost dragging her along with him.

"I don't know," Aloy protested as she tried to hold him back, but he was very insistent. "You can't really dance to it."

"It's better than something you can dance to," Nil responded as they pushed through the crowd. "This is…what did that one data point call Vani's music? 'Algorithmically-generated glitter trash'?"

Aloy barely heard him, but she remembered, and as the music only got louder, pounding in her ears, she paid more attention. It did sound off, somehow; it sounded good, but almost too good - Aloy didn't feel anything in response, it was just designed to sound pleasing without any meaning to it. It wasn't art.

No wonder Nil didn't like it.

Before she knew it, they were at the platform where Orns and Lanida stood by a projector. Neither of them were dancing, interestingly enough, and no one else was up there with them, but Nil climbed up without hesitating, and Aloy made a split-second decision to follow suit.

"Howdy there!" Orns shouted over the noise. "Something the matter?!"

"We'd like to offer some of our own music!" Nil called back. "Can Aloy's Focus play something for everyone?!"

"Of course!" Orns responded, and to Aloy's surprise, he smiled. "We'd love some new material! By all means, little lady, interface with the player!"

"It's not…!" Aloy glanced at Nil. "It's not really a dancing song!" she told the Sheriff. "Can we explain that first?!"

"Aye!" Orns answered. "Just scan the device, you can talk to everyone! Wait until this song's over, though, aye?!"

Aloy nodded, feeling a bit nervous; already, there were eyes on her, and she swallowed hard and lifted her chin, then tapped her Focus and scanned the projector.

A whole bunch of displays lit up around her, the entire lineup of songs that were coming and options for things she could do. Aloy left the song currently playing, "Binding Starlight", but brought up her data points and, with only a moment of hesitation, dragged the song from her cache to the song list. There was a display that read "Up Next", and Aloy tapped the "Cancel" option on that. Time passed on the song playing, and Aloy waited, quelling her anxiety with a few deep breaths.

The music ended, silence came, and then Orns stepped up beside Aloy.

"Attention, Corsair tribe!" he called, and he clearly already had his Focus connected to the "Speaker" option, as Aloy could hear him clearly over the sound of the crowd. When she looked over at him, he was grinning. "Our outlander guests have brought with them a new song from the ancient world, and they've graciously offered to share it with us. A few words from them first, though; seems it takes a bit of explaining."

He looked at Aloy, and Aloy tapped the "Speaker" option. "Uh," she managed, and her voice rang out across the settlement, simple as that. Drawing one last breath, she turned to the crowd, all of them looking at her expectantly. "This song is…It's not really for dancing," she told them. "It…"

"May I?" Nil asked beside her, tapping her arm.

"Sure," Aloy answered with relief, taking off her Focus and handing it to him.

"This song," Nil said, his voice enhanced by old-world technology, "was written by two girls who suffered for the innovations of the Old Ones. Their jobs were being taken by robots, and it was left to them to train their successors before being sent away without a means to survive; such was the way of ancient times. This song was the only rebellion they could enact, their final screams in protest of a dying world, a scream they thought would never be heard. It's not pretty, and it's not supposed to be pretty; it's emotion in the form of sound. Just listen, hear their anger, feel their loss, and you'll understand."

With that, he took off Aloy's Focus and handed it back to her. She stared at him for a minute, stunned to hear him talk so passionately about something that by all rights shouldn't have mattered to him, and he met her gaze steadily. Finally, with a nod, Aloy reached out and told the machine to play 'Last Girls on Earth', dragging it from the cache to the button at the top of the device and pounding it down with her palm, lights activating as the machine powered up.

The announcement introducing the song sounded out, audible to everyone whether they had a Focus or not, and Aloy stepped back, strangely nervous. Then the clanging started, then the shouting, it was barely even singing, and Aloy winced, counting the seconds until it was over. Luckily, it wasn't a very long song, and when it slowly fizzled out after the final scream, it was all Aloy could do to look at the tribe she'd forced to listen.

For a moment, there was silence. Then, a voice.

"Can we hear that again?" called someone.

"Yeah!" concurred someone else, "again! And can we see the lyrics? Put up the visual display!"

Her jaw slack, Aloy nodded and stepped forward, swiping through some options to tell the device to display the data point visually as well as playing the sound. Then she dragged Last Girls on Earth down to the button and slapped it in again, and the data point started over, the words rising in massive lights over the wooden platform.

This time, Aloy watched the crowd. No one was laughing, and no one seemed annoyed; some faces were blank, but that was it. Many more seemed enthusiastic, some even tried singing along, and when the song ended, the uproar was louder:

"Again! Again!"

Feeling a smile form on her own face, Aloy played the song again, and again the only song by Concrete Beach Party rang out for an entire tribe to hear. More of them sang along, jumping and shouting with passion, even drowning out Laura and Shelly's final scream with their own call: "We're the last girls on Earth!" It didn't even seem to matter that plenty of the ones joining the call were men, they…felt it.

Aloy didn't have to wait for the request she knew was coming, she told the song to play again, grinning, a warm bubble of happiness swelling in her chest until she thought she could fly. As the Corsair tribe sang along, celebrating the memory of the two girls of the Metal World, Aloy felt Nil draw close.

"You feel it, don't you?" he asked in her ear.

"What?" she asked, turning to see his gleaming silver eyes, his flashing teeth.

"That feeling that you're truly living right now," he said. "You feel it right now, don't you?"

Stunned, Aloy turned back to the crowd. Their enthusiasm filled her with joy, and hearing them scream for her to play it again was euphoric. She complied, then turned back to Nil. "Yeah," she answered. "Did you know I would?"

"Of course I did," he answered, flashing his teeth. "I know you, Aloy."

But why? Aloy wanted to ask, and she opened her mouth to do so, when suddenly, a flashing yellow light in the distance caught her attention. Blinking, she stepped around her partner, looking out towards the ships bobbing among Drowned Bones, and tapped her Focus as the yellow circle her device was displaying turned red.

A massive shape was outlined in blue under the water, and it took Aloy's Focus an extra moment to scan it. An alarming number of yellow shapes lit up within the outline, and the display, covered with more icons than it could even show, made her heart sink:

"HOSTILE MACHINE
Leviathan"

Quick as a flash, she brought up the information her Focus had scanned on the thing, giving her a picture of a massive creature with leaf-shaped legs and a long, thick neck, its head elongated by a broad snout, wider than a Snapmaw. There were more components listed than anything Aloy had ever seen, but she swiped past them all to the last one, finding exactly what she was afraid of:

"Fabricator Module"

Behind her, the song had ended, and the Corsair were already asking for her to play it again, but she whirled around and tapped the "Speaker" function on the display instead.

"Machine!" she shouted. "There's a Machine coming from the ocean, a big one! Everyone, get away from the shore!"

The tribe didn't respond right away; she even thought she heard some laughter. But from the edges of the crowd close to the lapping waves, some gasps and alarmed cries began to rise. Turning back, Aloy saw that a massive shape was building from the water, the many small boats that had brought the tribe ashore tossing and flipping, sliding back as the ocean swelled and parted to reveal the head of the enormous Machine.

Horror filled Aloy's veins with chillwater as the thing began to emerge, its red eyes rising high as its long neck extended. Based on what she'd seen, judged against the size of the head that lifted into the air, this creature wasn't just bigger than an Annihilator, it was significantly bigger than a Tallneck. Covered in the same shiny metal that had guarded the Annihilator, the massive beast roared at the crowds of people who were already scattering, its enormous, fanged jaws parting to reveal a gun like that on a Bladefin, and flames ignited in its throat before billowing out to explode against the sand.

---

I'm fully aware I could have cleanly split this chapter into two, but I am SO damn tired of this festival, and I figure you are too, so I wanted to release it in as few chunks as possible so we can get back to some giant robot dinosaur action. If it helps, this is actually the last long chapter I'll be posting, all the rest will be of much more reasonable length.

While I'm here, the Leviathan is a plesiosaurus crossed with a sea dragon.