The first order of business, after the two huntresses stripped the Clawstriders for parts, was to make for Brightmarket, the village whose leaders had placed the contract for their quarry. Aloy had been instructed by Talanah to seek out Lahavis. They claimed the bounty for the Machines, along with his thanks, before selling on some parts for shards and a well-earned dinner.
Ikrie was still giddy all the way through the meal, happily chattering in between mouthfuls of food and drink. "I daresay it'll be a Thunderjaw or a Stormbird for us next, just like when you were a Thrush yourself, hmm?"
"Most likely," Aloy told her. "Though I don't think you'll be quite so wild about the idea when we actually face one of either."
"Probably not," Ikrie admitted. "So all the more reason to get back to the Lodge and celebrate a little, huh?"
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
And so they did, riding back to Meridian but this time circling around further to the south, giving Ikrie her first proper look at the city from below.
"Damn," was the verdict. "It looks even bigger from here." Then there was a moment of further thought. "Wait, how do we get up on the other side of the city? How does anyone get from the town below to there?"
"Ah, well." Aloy got down off the machine, before offering a hand to help Ikrie. "I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise for you."
The first time she had seen the famous lifts was from the upper levels. To see them from below, seeming to shoot up from the rebuilt Meridian Village, was likely to be even more impressive.
"Blue Light in the ice" was all the words Ikrie managed for a good few minutes, upon sighting the structures. "I didn't realise they were quite that high." Her astonishment lasted even as they wandered through Meridian Village, the city and the lifts looming overhead despite the buildings that rose around them.
Aloy watched her with amusement. The Banuk woman looked keenly around everything around her – all but leaping on a platter of pork and pepper skewers offered by an Oseram vendor – but every minute or so, her eyes were drawn wonderingly up to the lifts.
"I see more Oseram and Banuk down here than up in the city," Ikrie mused eventually. "Hmm, some Nora too. I suppose they're 'despite the Nora' as well, hmm?"
"To varying degrees." Aloy tilted her head thoughtfully. "Most of the Nora round here were Outcast and grew disillusioned with the Tribe's customs, by that for a misdeed or because they strayed outside the Sacred Land. They're no longer considered that now. You know what I said about the declaration the Matriarchs made before the Battle of the Alight?"
"Anyone who answered the call would be declared Seekers?"
"Yeah. It applied to those Nora who were already here. And while plenty of them were happy to return home…"
"I see a lot of them here, still." Ikrie raised an eyebrow, and took another bite of pork. "That taste of freedom is hard to let go, isn't it?"
Aloy looked at her searchingly. Ikrie, she realised, was trying to figure out whether the people here represented where she might end up, further along the snow-ghost road. She couldn't speak for them, so she said, "From my experience, that's certainly the case. I'll answer a call for help, but other than that, I only need to heed the word of the Sun-King and the Hunters' Lodge. Speaking of which, let's get up there with your new trophies."
Ikrie made a nervous little sound in her throat when they stepped into the lift. "It's not quite as still as I'd have thought."
Aloy briefly rested a comforting hand on her shoulder. "They're tough, believe me. They were only brought down by Deathbringers in the battle, and the Carja took real care when they rebuilt them. So please, Ikrie, just try to relax, and enjoy the view."
She pulled on the lever, and the cage door shut. Then came the little shudder of the lift rising, and Ikrie let out a little squeak of alarm.
Aloy looked at her friend. Ikrie had clamped her hands to her mouth, and was rapidly turning bright red where she'd just a moment ago been even whiter than usual. "Sorry, I just… whoah!" she murmured, leaning on the wall and staring at the shrinking village below. "Oh I, oh I wasn't quite ready for this. Sorry, I must look the biggest coward."
"Never," Aloy reassured her, putting an arm round Ikrie's shoulders and pulling her close. "I did spring this on you in the most dramatic way, after all."
Haltingly, Ikrie returned the gesture. "You were right, by the way. It's quite the view." So much so, that even when the lift slowed and then stopped at the apex of its climb, she lingered, and Aloy with her until some Cajra finally asked them to vacate the cage. "Look at me," Ikrie laughed. "Like a startled child."
"No judgement from me," Aloy told her. "I promise you that."
"Thanks, Aloy – on both counts."
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
After arriving at the Lodge and presenting their trophies, they were called upon to tell the story of their hunt for the Clawstriders and their subsequent battle. Aloy was never much good at this, the spinning of yarns. But at this point, to her delight, Ikrie came into her own.
Perching on a table, light dancing in her eyes, she recounted the battle, letting the tension simmer as she spoke of the menacing look of the Machines, their poise, and the care with which the two huntresses had laid their plans.
"We shaped the arena, just as our Tribes taught us," she smiled. "And then we went to take our first shots. That's when everything slows, when time stretches like your sling's cord or your bowstring, and you know that it will all end unless you bend all your wits and strength to the fight. These could be your last moments, stretching out as everything grows taut, and then…" Perhaps unconsciously, she had posed as if she held her sling now, ready to fire.
Now she released the imaginary shot with a fwoo of breath and launched into the fight. Her hands darted, chopping and jabbing at the air, and the Lodge rang with laughter and shouts of approval.
Aloy glanced at Talanah, sat next to her. The Sunhawk looked amused, stroking her chin, but she still leaned over to Aloy and murmured to her, "So it went more cleanly than it did for me."
"We were two instead of one," Aloy pointed out.
"Maybe, but Hawks and Thrushes usually take time to work that well together." The Sunhawk regarded her warmly. "I'd say you and Ikrie have something quite special. And on that note…" She paused as Ikrie brought the tale to a close and a raucous cheer went up from the hunters around them. "Any plans for where you might range next?"
"I'm going to let my Thrush call that," Aloy said as she beckoned Ikrie to sit with them. "Ikrie, did you get a chance to think about where we might head next?"
"I was wondering about going back to the Sun Steps," Ikrie said. "I talked with Ardik, and he says they've a good hunting ground."
"Actually, that would be the Sun Furrows," Talanah told her.
"Ah." Ikrie looked rueful, though a wry smile soon brightened her eyes. "I would point out that you'd save a whole lot of confusion if only you didn't use the word 'sun' for quite so many names."
Aloy fretted for an instant that her Thrush had just committed mild blasphemy, but Talanah looked amused. "You should try the Nora. Mother's this, Mother's that. But I was going to say that the Furrows are themselves good and close to Steps, and both have large Machines in abundance. Assuming, of course, that your plan's to hunt down some more trophies."
Aloy nodded. "That, and to drop in on my Oseram friends in Free Heap. It's been quite a while."
"Well, just make sure you're back in three days' time. Sun-King Avad is holding a feast for the anniversary." Talanah saw the confused look on Ikrie's face. "Of the Liberation, when the old king was deposed. Avad would be quite forlorn if Aloy didn't attend, and I'm sure it'll be quite fascinating for you."
Ikrie turned an imploring expression on Aloy, who laughed and reached over to squeeze her shoulder. "Of course, Ikrie. We'll make it a few days' trip, and circle back."
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
After that point, and with a few glasses of wine, tiredness told against them. Aloy and Ikrie wandered back to Olin's old house, where they chastely shared the one adult-sized bed.
That felt odd to Aloy, on some level. This bed had been… loved in? Was that the right phrase for it?
The thought might not even have crossed her mind had she not been surreptitiously watching Ikrie strip down to her smallclothes and I should really look away right now but she couldn't. Not even when Ikrie turned away and the binding around her chest came away. Aloy tried to tear her eyes from Ikrie's bare back as the Banuk huntress reached for her nightshirt. She failed miserably, and felt less guilty than she perhaps ought to.
The more she saw of Ikrie's pale, soft skin, juxtaposed against the angular contours of her taut, honed physique, the more she felt compelled to look. You are unhelpfully pretty, Ikrie.
Then Ikrie turned to her and Aloy, and it became necessary to feign innocence and act as if she had only just looked at the other woman too. She fumbled for something to say. "Guess you don't often get to sleep with as few layers as this, huh?"
"Nope. Honestly," Ikrie laughed, "I feel a bit of an itch every time I see that window open, warm as it is in here."
"But it's a good change, right?"
"Absolutely. I'd lose all the clothes in this heat, were it not that…" Another nervous, evasive giggle. "We'd better sleep. I imagine you'll want to be away early in the morning."
Aloy conceded. "It is generally best if we get to Free Heap for lunchtime. Oseram cooking – well, you sampled a bit today. Hearty stuff."
Ikrie lay down opposite her, leaving a little space between them. "Exactly what you want at the end of a long ride."
"Yeah."
Somewhere in Aloy's head, a little voice piped up and told her to close the distance, to kiss her, damnit. But she was tired, and so it was easy to dismiss the voice and just let sleep take her. She'd reckon with it properly at a later date.
