The grunt of metal hit the tree branch as Aloy looked down from her spot. A lone stalker pounced the area just below her.

She turned on her focus, trying to find an alternative path to get to the crime scene just a few paces away. She pursed her lips as she spotted a herd of sawtooth's to her right.

She could remain up here and stealthily shoot it down but knew that would take far too long and would be a waste of resources. She mindlessly threw her hand back to feel the amount of arrows in her quiver.

She silently prayed to all mother for not becoming too rusty. With a mighty roar Aloy took out three tearblast arrows and aimed it between its shoulders. Successfully ripping off the guns component. It immediately cloaked itself and ran in a direction Aloy couldn't see.

Slowly but swiftly she swung down the yellow marked ropes and plummeted in the bushes below.

She pulled out three shock arrows and waited for any movement to appear from the landscape below. Fingers twitching for the arrows to be released. Foolishly, the machine ran through the bushes opposite of hers creating an opening for Aloy. With quick precision she let the arrows slice through the air and pierce its side. Ultimately rendering itself motionless.

With long strides and a roll to the stalker, she gripped her spear and swung it ferociously upon the vulnerable machine. It's lights flashed and sparks flew in her face.

She stood up and looked down on the beast. The rumble of its core broke her out of her victory trance as it stood up too quickly for her to roll out of the way.

Air left her lungs as she was launched off her feet and into the vine covered wall. The stalker limped in her direction, the ability to conceal itself no longer functional. She coughed harshly and slid herself up the long wall.

"Fucking dammit."

She felt so stupid, why hadn't she checked too make sure it was fully dead. She could just hear Rost sighing in disappointment at her mistake.

"Patience is a virtue, Aloy."

She didn't have time for this, "Patience my ass, now is not the time."

Gripping her spear with extra force to cause blisters she ran straight into deaths arms. Slamming her right leg in between its own she stared intently into its eyes as it turned its own head and opened its mouth to roar or bite she wasn't sure at this point. She wouldn't wait to find out either as she sunk her blade deep into its neck.

The animal like machine slumped down the ground in defeat. She planted her foot on its shoulder and ripped her long spear from its neck. The electric sparks never bothering her as it touched her skin.

Slumping herself on it as she breathed in slowly. Sweat poured down her forehead and the humid air making any exposed skin from the carjan armor sticky.

She didn't spare any time to take all of its resources, only managing to grab the shards. Not looking back, she made way to the path she originally planned to take. Making sure this time to avoid any flares.

She trudged through the mossy ground until there became a clearing with the crime scene in full sight. She turned on her focus and found a total of 5 bodies highlighted. The soul like signal appearing from above their bodies signaling them to be deceased.

Surprisingly there wasn't a lot of blood to be seen in the area. A rather clean fight, with scrabbles in the dirt. Most of them lay face first in the dirt with dried blood coming out of the old wound. She dare not inspect further, the smell already reaching her nose from standing.

She studied them all and saw no sign of arrows. A personal attack perhaps. Although judging from the footprints she came to the conclusion that there was only one attacker. She crouched down and turned off her focus.

These were six former soldiers. Whoever attacked them couldn't have been a random stranger or tribesman looking for revenge. Their bodies were close to each other with one man a bit further from the rest. His head lowered at an awkward angle with his dull eyes staring at her direction. He must've been the last one they killed.

She stood up and went to his direction feeling more creeped out the closer she got. She closed his eyes gently to reduce the feeling. It must have been a surprised attack. An ambush caused by one.

She inspected the knife that was just out of his hands reach. Feeling like he had thought about jumping to it before it was too late. Sadly she knew what the outcome had come to be.

Suddenly a thought popped up in her mind. She mentally facepalmed as she switched her focus back on urgently. She discovered a method the old ones used. Just like tracking footsteps they were able to track fingerprints. They even had the technology to discover who it was. It felt almost like cheating to how easy it was.

With the focus that Sylen's gave her she realized how much more modified it was. That she was able to see the outline of fingerprints just barely. Something she would have to further work on.

They were bigger than hers, a male most definitely. She swiped at her focus trying to find anywhere that would help her in discovering who's they were. She grew frustrated at rereading the same words 'fingerprints' over and over. She swiped angrily at the nonexistent screen and dismissed her focus.

"How the hell am I suppose to modify this to make it work?!"

How did they manage to tell who it was? There must've been millions of people back then, they must've used a system. Maybe they scanned every single person? They must have had something to do it for them, for having a human do that job would surely prove to be too much.

She looked onwards now to follow the footprints that leaded away from the bodies. It didn't even lead her fully out of the area. The dirt was too disturbed for her to follow. Adding on to that it had been a while since the death of these men. Footprints wouldn't have been fresh enough.

This male was good. She knew she had to be very prepared in close combat when she caught up to them. Hopefully soon, to put a stop to the killing. Taking another scan around the area she decided it was time to give a more thorough report to the sun king and his council. With a whistle she called the nearest strider and headed back to Meridian.

"Move."

"I can't allow you to enter."

"I don't have time for this, please step out of the way."

The soldier looked at her apologetically.

"Step out of the way, girl."

The soldiers stance straightened instantly as he casted his gaze above Aloy's head. Acting like he wasn't talking to her when he stepped in the hallway.

A middle aged man who looked far more older, wore clothing that held a bit too much jewelry. She could only look at him with curiosity on why he hadn't yet fallen over.

"No, I need a word with the Sun King."

Instead of being angry at her choice of words the man calmly stepped in her direction. The only hint of distaste he had of her was hidden solely in his eyes.

"Whatever matters you have with our Sun King, will need to be postponed."

Aloy grew irritated at the second.

"We Carja, have very important matters of our own to attend to at the moment."

He casted a sly glance at her as he faced the door. "You're the anointed one aren't you, I hear you have many things to keep one like yourself busy."

She didn't care about having the last word this time. If she wanted to work with Avad she'd have to put her self on the people's good side. So she nodded like an obedient woman would and headed passed the man. Not apologizing for accidentally hitting his shoulder with her own.

When her figure was out of sight the man gripped the guards shoulder. To any other witness it would seem like he was showing him praise.

With a whisper in the soldiers ears and the mans shadow entering the light of the room, it was anything but that.

In the very back of the inns bar, Aloy had her feet propped up on the table with her focus scanning everything and everyone in the room. It was a rowdy day for the inn as men joined together in a drinking contest. Celebrating victory over a small quest they did for a very small amount of shards.

Shockingly she didn't see Erend's figure in the mess. She held out her hands in front of her and looked at her own finger prints.

She ran her fingers over the tips, feeling the calluses she earned throughout the years handling of her weapons.

She rubbed at a light blue tint that appeared on her fingertips. Wondering what she touched that was blue.

As the color got more brighter she began to panic. Could she have caught a disease from the dead men?

It wouldn't have been one she's heard of before she knew. Her focus began to beep as a stream of blue light scanned her fingers. She looked around hurriedly wondering if anyone else was seeing this.

Fortunately they didn't seem to bat an eyelash as everyone continued on doing their own business. She could feel the light gently caressing her hands, relaxing almost.

The light then vanished along with the beeping as a new word appeared to the right of her focus. 'Aloy's fingerprints'

Her legs fell off the table as Aloy jumped up in excitement. "Fuck yeah!"

This caused for the attention from some of the patrons. They seemed to be confused but took it as her cheering on the men drinking.

"Someone's excited."

With two beer mugs in her hand Vanasha offered the cheery redhead one. Taking it with a smile for thanks Aloy took in a big gulp. Coughing a little at the bitter taste, which made Vanasha grin as she pulled a spare chair up next to her table.

"I discovered something amazing and very valuable Vanasha!"

Sliding into her own chair Aloy held out her hand. "I can now track our finger prints."

Taking a small sip of her drink Vanasha perked an eyebrow. "By using that thing above your head I suppose."

Nodding feverishly Aloy reached out for her free hand and started to scan it with the focus. "Getting touchy aren't we my little huntress?"

Aloy didn't reply as she watched the blue light do its magic. Glancing up at Vanasha once in a while to see if she felt what she felt.

Vanasha's flirty smile slowly dissipated.

When the scan was complete she rubbed her hand in awe and curiosity.

Aloy glanced at the words 'Vanasha's fingerprints' before turning off her focus.

"What did you do exactly redhead? My hand felt tingly."

Taking another drink of the bitter liquid Aloy responded more calmly, "I scanned your fingerprints now, so I have yours stored in my focus along with mine."

Vanasha didn't seem as excited as Aloy was, "You're telling me you have to scan a persons fingerprints one by one before you could track them?"

With a humorless laugh Vanasha put an arm around the outside of her chair, "Then that's not really a good tracking method now is it?"

The excitement that Aloy had bubbled vanished at her statement. "I'm not entirely sure how the tracking works yet."

Noticing her change of expression Vanasha felt slightly guilty. "Cheer up huntress, it is something fascinating maybe even life changing."

Aloy didn't respond.

"Unfortunately I didn't come here accidentally, Your Radiance asked me to tell you he had a room prepared for your stay here in Meridian."

Aloy looked at her and bit the inside of her mouth, hearing the news of Avad offering her a place in his palace wasn't really good news to her. She didn't want any servants to bother with her daily routine, specifically that of bathing.

"Many would wish to be in your place you know, even I would. You should take his offer Aloy, even if you're not into the idea as much as I am you should still try it out, you deserve a nice bed to sleep in for the night."

Vanasha's words seemed a bit out of character for Aloy. Such a strong woman like herself was looking out for her. "Maybe I will, I just don't want word to go around that I could be his replacement."

"Replacement?"

Not wanting to say much more Aloy continues drinking hoping she'd get it eventually.

A bang on the table made her glance up.

This time Vanasha did laugh with humor, "Are you talking about that Oseram warrior Ersa?"

With another gulp, Aloy felt the liquid start to warm her insides along with her face.

"He hasn't mentioned her since her funeral, I'm sure any new talk about her and you would have died down by now."

Sighing Aloy knew it was time for her to leave. "You don't know, people love to bring up the past." Pulling some shards out of her pocket she placed them on the table. "Goodnight Vanasha."

With a wave to her retreating form Vanasha smiled at her back, "Take the offer Aloy."

Exiting out of the boisterous inn Aloy looked at the Sun palace high above Meridian. She wondered if he was up there looking down on her. Curious to know if she would turn the other cheek.

The streets were less populated as merchants were locking up their stalls for the night. A few rain puddles reflected the moon as it shun down below and the palm tree leaves glowed in the moonlight.

She supposed she did deserve a nice bed to sleep in.