Later that week, Rost and Aloy were walking through the Embrace when she spotted a young man scaling a rock wall in the distance. He used several footholds to climb up before flinging himself sideways to another one, swinging to land on a fallen log that crossed a ravine. He looked back, feeling eyes on him, and made eye contact with Aloy. He smiled.

"Who's that?" she asked Rost as she examined the smiling boy. He was clad in supple leathers, edged with red machine cording. The sides of his head were shaved, with several dreadlocks tied back on top. His blue face paint identified him as a Nora, although the design was different from Rost's. Each family had their own mark. Aloy wore none. She had found Rost's stash of face paint once, and was in the process of copying his mark on her own face when he stopped her and hastily wiped it from her skin. He said the mark he wore was not fit for a little girl, and would say nothing more. It had crushed her. Was she not good enough? Had she failed him somehow?

"It doesn't matter. He is from the tribe. We are outcasts," Rost told her simply.

The voices of strangers echoed down the valley.

"Teb?" one shouted.

"Teb! Get back to where you belong."

Crouched on the fallen tree, the boy turned and ran along the trunk towards the distant voices, but he slipped. As he fell, he reached out and caught one hand on the rocky wall face, but there were no other obvious handholds nearby. His other hand scrabbled against the rock, looking for the smallest crevice to work his fingers into, but found none. He looked around in a panic, but didn't call out for help since a number of machines were grazing and patrolling the meadow below him.

"Aloy! Follow, quickly!" Rost shouted, taking off at a run towards the boy.

Her leatherbound shoes dusted the ground as she ran in a valiant effort to keep up with her mentor's long strides. She paid attention to her lungs, willing them to be patient, taking measured breaths and releasing them in rhythm with her footfalls. Even at her young age, she had learned to find her stride, and could run at a set pace for a long time.

They crossed a small stream and ran down a worn path on the bank. As they crested a small rise, the boy came into view again on the rock. His grip failed, and he fell, tumbling against the rocky cliff to the ground thirty feet below. He landed with a muffled thump in the grass.

The startled whinny of three nearby striders echoed through the valley, their glowing blue headlights turning to yellow. They began to survey the area, trotting a few steps in different directions. Aloy gripped a tuft of grass tightly as she realized there were watchers in the area, too. Smaller than the horse-like striders, watchers were more like two-legged sentinels with tiny arms, a huge lens for a head, and an eerie call that rang out at the first sign of a threat. Watchers themselves did not seem very difficult to beat, judging by how easily Rost usually dispatched them, but they had to be taken out silently.

One watcher followed another in a wide oval around the area. Luckily, neither had seen the fallen boy yet. Teb started to writhe in silent pain on the ground; he was alive, at least!

Aloy started to take off towards him, but Rost stopped her with a heavy hand on her small shoulder.

"There's nothing we can do. It's only a matter of time before the machines find that boy and kick him to death... but if I shoot at them, it will cause a stampede, and the striders will trample him to death instead."

Aloy activated the relic on her temple. As she looked from machine to machine, she could see glowing purple trails with arrows on them, one for each watcher. The striders had no trails. They had returned to random grazing and followed no paths.

"I can see the paths the watchers take!"

"Stop telling stories, Aloy. This is no time for make-believe!" Rost had seen her idly toying with the relic since the day she found it - tapping it, muttering to herself, swiping her hands through the air at invisible objects. She had told him the device showed her things, shining lights that only she could see. As far as he was concerned, it was nothing but a toy. Now he realized the depth of his mistake in allowing her to keep it.

Aloy was insistent. "I'm not lying! I can sneak through."

"You will not!" he told her firmly.

Aloy considered for the briefest moment.

She launched herself forward. Rost reached out to grasp her, but his hand only caught the small bow on her back.

"Aloy!" he called out in alarm. It was no use. Not only had he failed to stop her, he had stripped her of her weapon as well.

She rolled down the hill and crouched into a patch of tall, red grass. Before moving forward, Aloy turned to look at her mentor. Her surrogate father gazed back at her helplessly, but saw that her eyes were full of fire. She was determined.

As she turned and peered out of the grass toward the boy, she reactivated the relic. She counted seven striders and two watchers. The watchers shared the same path in an elongated circle around the field. The three striders that had gone to alert mode had not spotted the boy, and had returned to grazing. He could not have fallen in a more inconvenient place; he was right in the middle of them all.

Aloy waited for both of the watchers to pass, going right to left, before sneaking forward into the next patch of tall grass. That patch took her between two striders, but she moved slowly to avoid making any noise. They took no notice.

On the far side, she waited again for both watchers to pass – left to right this time – before crossing the gap to a small patch of grass where Teb lay.

"Hey!" she whispered urgently as she reached him.

He was struggling to stand, and his breath came in painful gasps.

"Huh – how - ?!" he stammered, confused as he recovered his senses and focused his eyes on her face. The fall had knocked the wind out of him.

"Shhh! Stay down," she whispered, keeping a watchful eye on the machines. He obeyed, kneeling in the grass beside her. After a moment, she waved him forward, motioning to follow her before the watchers made another pass.

They reached the first patch of grass and began wading through, between the striders. Teb was especially slow as he inched forward on all fours, clutching his ribs with one arm. The machines remained oblivious as they munched idly on the shorter grasses, their noses snuffling for the best greens. After several long minutes, they reached the far side of the grass patch. Young Aloy put a hand out silently to tell her companion to stop there. They waited quietly as the watchers came around from the left and passed to their right. She motioned him forward again, and they crossed the gap to the next patch of grass, where they waded through with less caution and a rush of relief. In a moment, they climbed the small rocky outcrop where Rost waited; he pulled them up to safety.

Aloy looked up at Rost with uncertainty. She had directly disobeyed him, but saved a boy's life. Would he be angry with her?

He reached out, her bow in his hands. She took it gratefully.

Rost reached out again, pushing locks of her red hair aside to get a good look at the triangular device on her head.

"So… it is no plaything."

A smile spread on Aloy's lips. He believed her now! They both rose to leave.

"Wait… All-Mother bless that girl. Bless you both," Teb interrupted. His eyes were tender with humble gratitude.

Rost frowned as the boy spoke.

Before Teb could speak again, three men dressed in Nora Brave leathers approached from the path by the stream - his companions who were calling for him earlier. One of them spoke.

"Boy!" he shouted in an accusing tone.

Teb glanced at the approaching men, then turned back to Rost and Aloy, stuttering. "She… she saved me. I… I just wanted –"

"Boy! Seal - your - lips!" the man spat as he reached Teb. "They are outcasts. Both of them. And she… she is motherless!"

Aloy took a staggering step backwards.

Rost shifted his weight to the side and put a hand out in front of Aloy as the man leaned in towards her. His expression reminded Aloy of a snarling scrapper - a hyena-like machine that roamed the land in groups of two or three, scavenging fuel from dead machines and attacking human travelers. She was shocked more than saddened by his sudden hostility.

An outburst from Teb cracked the tense air. "Father...!"

Aloy could feel the violence simmering in the expression the Nora brave gave his son. Their face paint matched; their personalities did not. She held her breath.

He turned and spoke to his companions. "Come now. Let's go home." The group of them took a few steps away. Teb looked over his shoulder at Rost and Aloy in apparent distress.

"And you…" his father said, backhanding Teb across the face and dragging him away by one arm.

Aloy's aghast expression soured with fury.

As the group left earshot, Rost spoke. "That boy should not have spoken to us. It is against tribal law."

She already knew. He had told her as much before. Did he have nothing else to say about what had just happened? How she had used the relic of the Old Ones to save the boy, the way Teb's father insulted her, or how he had treated his son?

"We'll go home now. Follow." To Rost's surprise, Aloy stomped off ahead of him.

"I know the way," she said with venom as she marched home.