The desert glass bottle repeatedly clanked on the table, it's noise drained out by the atmosphere of the bar/motel. The bitter liquid sloshed around the inside as Aloy would drink and pause drink and pause.
Her eyes focused on the rim when she pulled it to her lips. Her leg bounced below, her nerves pumping through her wanting something to happen. Her ears would pick up on any key words around her. Dead. Soldier. Criminal.
She had spent too long in the desert with little to nothing to report back. Her scheduled time of stay was coming to a dull end. She had no doubt nor any remorse for the way she may have smelt, only resting to camp in the wilderness.
Her eyes scanned every drunken fool and prostitute around her, the smell most likely a common scent in this establishment.
The cool tip of the glass brought her ecstasy after hours to no end in the soaring heat. It clanked against her teeth as she brought it up once more.
She'd always figure that people got drunk because they loved the taste so much. She'd occasionally see Rost making something of the sort, he called it 'moonshine'.
Though as the sour taste of the scrappersap flooded down her throat she'd realize it was only for the sole purpose to get drunk. To forget about the mess or to live ones life freely she heard.
Setting the last bottle down she licked her lips to try and get it all out. It was already high noon
and she told herself this stay will be a reward for, well.
A warm golden hour glow filled through the man made windows. It would've been a pretty sight to bear without hearing the stairs groan as a rather overweight man tried his best to lure in one of the younger prostitutes.
Perhaps the reward could wait? The chair creaked when she pulled out the sound of her boots audible in the tavern. Legs making a mad dash for the exit of the building. Wanting no more than to take a bath in the settlement's bathhouse.
"Think you're all high and mighty?"
The huntress's hand shadowed the makeshift door. Her fingers bending ever so slowly as she turned her head. The front of the woman's dress looked to be ripped, but upon further inspection it was the handiwork of the seamstress that made it look so horrendous.
Her fan furiously mocked the red head as she glanced over at her. "Are you thinking lowly about the poor little old me now?"
The woman stretched her neck a little, pointing her chin to the outside as she leaned further into the wooden wall. "I heard the Sun King had a new little pet to open it's legs for him now."
The breath of alcohol on Aloy's tongue lingered as she gritted her teeth. The woman only casually raised an eyebrow.
It didn't take long for Aloy to bite back her tongue in her honor before a tumbling young teen found his way to the older woman. His hand sliding down her open blouse without any greeting. "The King does in fact love his leftovers!"
Aloy felt something stir in her gut, rebuttal? The woman's earlier remarks nor the one she was about to make delved into her as she lost any respect for the woman's argument to be valid.
Almost stumbling out Aloy threw her body weight onto the door, the stall flapping as she made way. The reality of the sun welcoming her back in its arms.
Here the air was much fresher. Kids played around with one another, their parents mingling along.
Briefly did Aloy wonder if the men she was looking for had a family. Were they to grow up without a parent?
No, they had a mother. A mother would help raise them up, father or not.
Aloy took a step to the right.
Mothers were strong, courageous, caring.
Aloy's head held high, her body on a mission.
She was all of that, she was everything a kid would have wanted in a mother.
The settlement was so small that it didn't take a field trip for her to reach the entrance of the bath house. With big letters carved on the sign above and the many patrons coming in and out.
Strip. Wash. Get out.
Going in, the red head only wished for the pools to not be steaming.
Her then pale skin turned flushed, steam rising above the water. She had requested a room for herself, preferably with temperatures not of the desert.
Yet there she was, water up to the tip of her breasts in hot water.
In the end, it would help take the dirt and grime off her. With no Vanasha to barge in either? Perhaps she could live with this.
The water massaged her joints, sinking her naked form even more into the blessed liquid. She moaned into the bliss feeling of her alone time.
It was rare, these moments. Eyes closed, the red head would take advantage of Avad's mission.
A war party. That's what Uthid saw the formation as. He stood amongst the Blameless Marad, his eyes narrowing dangerously at the King conversing with General Kieran.
An uneasy feeling in his gut that he no doubt knew the man next to him could feel it. His jaw clenched at the prospect that neither of them made a move to stop them.
That no one wanted to try once more to convince Avad that he was not trustworthy.
"I trust that you will send messengers during the duration you are there?"
Avad waited patiently, his face holding no emotion throughout the ordeal. Behind him stood close to 50 men. All in the traditional Carjan warrior garb.
With the utmost bow, Kieran remained composed. "There won't be a day where you wonder about our well being."
This still did not satisfy the King, he knew something was suspicious. He knew that everyone despised the man before him.
General Kieran was many things but one for sure, he was a sly man. Who shed no signs of doubt to many.
Did he trust the man? No. Did he have reasons beyond suspicion? No.
Avad was younger by years, shamed by those from his father. He would not let the man in front of him take him for granted.
Every thought that crossed his mind was every step closer to him. Till he leaned past his ear, "Should I hear the opposite will you wonder about your own being."
With a clap of his hands, the Sun King of Meridian stepped away from the party and its leader. Rejoined by Uthid and Marad.
"We will wait eagerly for you and your men to return."
General Kieran said nothing, a grim line set upon his lips. Turning to said men in a military routine style, he raised his arm upwards in a fist.
"March on!"
With a roar the men of low backgrounds marched on. In compliance with the General, his shadow melted behind him.
Falling behind the soldier in the very back. The soldier who passed by the Sun King without an ounce of recognition. The silver lining in his eyes already stitching together ways he would murder the old man.