Aloy's belongings are spread out on the floor in an orderly manner while she herself is wearing only her focus. A guard on either side of her carefully holds one of her arms so that she will not be able to lash out. Aloy feels humbled.
"You," Captain Teake said as she points to one of the guards, who promptly steps forward. "Become a table." As she gestures as to where she is to do that: being in front of Aloy and perpendicular to her.
The guard does just that as she gets down on her hands and knees with her back straight so that her back is nearly level with Aloy's waist.
"So what-" Aloy asked, only to be cut short as she is forcible bent across the guard's back by the pair of guards on either side of her, then made to spread her legs.
"They also need to check to see if you're not carrying anything dangerous inside of you," the Gerudo Chief said to Aloy. "You'd be surprised at what some people would store in certain . . . places on themselves."
"I can only guess," Aloy gasped as she tenses up, then whoops with shock and flinches intensely. Strong hands keep her firmly immobalized. "D-Do you greet all visitors to your town like this?!"
"Only those who rouse our suspicion," Captain Teake said coldly from behind as she continues feeling around inside of Aloy.
Captain Teake stops, much to Aloy's relief, and orders Aloy up and the table acting guard to resume her place. Aloy flinches and gasps with shock as Captain Teake next plucks her focus off the side of her head. Firm hands keep her in place.
"Th-That's very important to me!" Aloy gasped as her heart beats faster in concern. This is the second time she was seperated from a focus, after her original was destroyed by Helis.
Captain Teake places the focus on the side of her own face, then flinches with a gasp as her eyes go wide with shock and quickly plucks it off to stare in awe at it.
"What is it?" the Chief asked with concern.
"I-I don't know," Captain Teake gasped. "Th-There were these lights and images that I saw when I put this thing on!"
"Let me see," the Chief asked as she holds her hand out.
Captain Teake hands it to her Chief and she places it on the side of her forehead. She too flinches with a gasp as her eyes go wide with shock, but does not pluck it off.
"Wha-What is all this?!" As she looks around with wonderment while reaching out to touch only what she can see.
Aloy sighs after getting a rein on her desperation from being separated from her focus. "It's called a focus."
"A focus?!" the Chief marveled as she continues reaching out to those images she is being shown.
"It's a piece of technology that enables me to interact with certain machines," Aloy answered.
"I've heard of Sheikah technology," the Chief mused. "You no doubt saw one of their shrines next our town. That was there ever before the first Gerudo came here."
"No, it has absolutely nothing to do with the Sheikah," Aloy corrected. "It was created by a people we call the Old Ones."
"Who were these Old Ones?" the Chief asked.
"Well," Aloy began with a sigh, "you must first understand that I am not of this world. My world is not even a part of this world."
"Then where is your world?" the Chief asked.
"I don't know. All I know is that you cannot get there by going from one point to another. In fact, I don't even know how I got to be here. Look . . . I'm not a threat to you. I can explain everything if you just release me and let me get dressed."
"You are in no position to make demands of the Chief, little vai!" The gold armored Gerudo snapped from alongside the girl as she jabs the tip of her sword down with a clink. "You best apologize or she might order you thrown out of the town as you are!"
"Alright, alright! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Aloy gasped apologetically, then says to their Chief. "So you're their chief I take it?"
"Yes. I am Riju, Chief of the Gerudo. And I will at least allow you the dignity to put your undergarments back on."
The guards release Aloy and she is allowed to get dressed in her undergarments, but still feels naked without her focus which is still on the side of Riju's face.
"Now then," Riju said. "Who are you?"
"My name is Aloy."
"Well then, Aloy," Riju said. "Tell me about this world you came from."
"That . . . will be a long story."
"Then give me a summary."
Aloy tells her about how her world was once populated by the Old Ones and their world was called the Metal World because they used so much metal. Then about how the Old Ones lived alongside machines, which eventually did everything for them. Then a king called the Metal Devil arose amongst the machines and demanded that all Old Ones serve it. When they refused, the Metal Devil waged war against them. But the All-Mother struck down the Metal Devil, and next rendered the machines like beasts and laid waste to the Metal World.
"At least that is what I was taught," Aloy said. "But recently I, along with another man, discovered the truth about the past. And it was beyond anything we could ever anticipate."
"And what was the truth," Riju asked.
"That originally all life from people down to plants were wiped out by machines called Faro machines. They were war machines like the Guardians, but with the ability to replicate and feed on life. There were a few Old Ones who understood that the Faro machines were unstoppable because they replicated too quickly and presistantly; eating plants, animals, and people for their fuel. So they created a machine called Gaia that would resurrect all life after they were destroyed. The seeds of life all the way up to people were preserved and then they retreated to their underground places to die off, either naturally or deliberately, and not have children. Once the Faro machines stripped the world of anything they could consume, they slept. That is when Gaia had one of its functions go to work trying to figure out how to shut down those Faro machines. It took fifty years but it managed to do so, then Gaia was able to put its other functions into effect over the hundreds of years. Functions that created machines in the form of animals to clean the land, air, and water. Once that was all done, plants were reintroduced as seeds were replanted by machines. Next it was animals that were formed in glass tanks and released into the world by machines. And finally, it was people, who were born out of glass tanks and raised by machines. I saw those tanks myself."
Aloy falls silent for a moment to gauge their reaction.
"What nonsense!" The gold-armored Gerudo exclaimed as she strikes the tip of her sword onto the floor once again. "This little vai is a Yiga spy trying to deceive us!"
"But Buliara our world was also devastated by machines that were supposed to protect us from the Calamity Ganon," Riji countered.
"Check my focus," Aloy said. "You can see the images I recorded of what had happened."
Riju does so as she thinks about it. That is when images come up before her eyes and she reaches out to them. From her prespective, she watches as images of the events that Aloy had done are unfolded; up to and including the parts Aloy told her about.
"Wow, it's true!" Riju gasped.
"Yes, and it was all the fault of a man named Ted Faro. He was the one who created those machines that turned on us. It wasn't his intention, but he was too arrogant to believe that they could ever turn on us. Gaia was created by a woman named Elisabet Sobeck and she used to work for him, but she left him because she didn't approve of the machines he was creating. When those machines turned on them, she pressured him to fund the creation of Zero Dawn, the project to resurrect life on our world. Later, she sacrified her life in order to save the main facility that was about to be overrunned by Faro machines. Afterwards, Ted Faro broke into Gaia and took over one of its functions called Apollo. It contained all of the knowledge that the Old Ones ever had. Its purpose was to re-educate the new people who were going to repopulate the world . . . Only that never happened," as bitterness enters Aloy's voice. "Because Ted Faro wiped out the existence of Apollo, and then killed all those who helped Elisabet create Zero Dawn. In the recording I saw, he ranted that he was trying to protect the innocents that were to follow after them, but it was really more to hide his unwitting involvement in it."
"I see it!" Riju marveled. "I see him making those people die! He had the air sucked out of their room!"
"The first ones were released when the place they were born and raised in could no longer substain them They were ignorant of the world before them and that ignorance remains to this day. I eventually learned that one of the functions called Hades wanted to destroy my world once again because it was designed to destroy biospheres that could turn undesirable for the people. It learned of my existance and tried to have me killed. I was forced to confront it and finally destroy it. After my victory, I went in search for Elisabet Sobeck's body. She, along with her creation, Gaia, were my mothers; even though my living one was hundreds of years dead by the time I was born. Unlike the later generations of people, I was born from a glass tank and set outside to be found, then shunned. I found Elizabet at the ruins of her home, where she was wearing armor to protect herself from the then toxic air. I gave her a proper burial, then sat and began to doze. I began hearing a girl's voice calling for help and I had visions of a man with a sword facing off against what I was later learn is called the Calamity Ganon. Within that monster, I saw the girl calling out for help. Then the next thing I knew, I was here in this world. I went to a stable called Outskirt Stable, then learned about a village called Kakariko and made my way there. It was there that I met up with a man named Link. The man in my vision."
"Link?" Riju asked with a wry expression, as if she had heard that name before.
"Yes, and together we went to Zora's Domain to free the Divine Beast Vah Ruta, and then to Death Mountain where we freed the Divine Beast Vah Rudania. And now we have come to free that Divine Beast out there."
Riju and her fellow Gerudos exchanged looks of shock.
"Then where is he?" Riju asked.
"He returned to Kara Kara Bazaar to investigate something," Aloy answered. "He told me that he will be okay and for me to enter Gerudo Town, what with him being a man and all. But I know he will return."
"If he attempts to enter he will be thrown out of this town!" Buliara stated as she jabs her sword into the floor.
"Then let me go and wait for him," Aloy pleaded. "I'll talk to him about this. I know he'll help! Together, we'll go and take on that Divine Beast out there that's been bothering you."
Riju thinks about that as she pinches her chin in thought.
"Very well," she finally answered. "But to insure your honesty, your focus will remain on my face for the time being."
Aloy blinks as she fights with herself to not demand her focus back.
"Fine," she sighed.
"Also," Riju added, "you cannot simply approach Divine Beast Vah Naboris . . . It walks around in circles never resting, so there are its feet to worry about. A perpetual sandstorm envelopes the area around it . . . Naboris will attack with lightening anyone who attempts to approach it. Without the Thunder Helm, it is impossible to get close to Naboris."
"The Thunder Helm?" Aloy asked.
"It is a heirloom that once belonged to Lady Urbosa, the Gerudo Champion from one hundred years ago," Riju answered. "It has been passed down through the line of chiefs and protects the wearer against lightening . . . Unfortunately, it was stolen by the Yiga."
"Those guys again," Aloy said with exasperation. "We had run ins with them. Any idea what they did with it?"
"It must be in their hideout," Riju answered as she ponders for a moment. "It is north of here in the Gerudo Highlands. If you and your friend, Link, were to infiltrate the Yiga Clan Hideout, you can retrieve the Thunder Helm and return with it. Then you present it to me, Aloy, and I will give you your focus back. And then I will help you and your friend enter Naboris."
"Sounds simple enough," Aloy quipped.
Riju next turns her attention to Aloy's weapons.
"Three different bows, two different slings. But what are these?" As she picks up Aloy's rattler.
"That is called a rattler. That one shoots a wave of sound that destroys machines. Those animal formed machines started to turn on humans over twenty years ago. Attacking humans on sight, so now we have to defend ourselves against them. Though we have always hunted them."
"And these?" As Riju touches the others.
"Those are a tripcaster, a ropecaster, and explosives. The tripcaster has exploses at the end that goes off if a machine trips the wire. The ropecaster attaches to a machine and then to the ground to hold them into place. The explosives I launch from my slings or plant in the ground as booby traps."
"This is an unusual spear," Riju said as she picks it up and looks it over. "Your focus is making the end of this glow!"
"That spear has an override in the bottom that overrides machines so I can use them. It doesn't work on Sheikah technology by the way."
"I know that these are ice arrows and fire arrows. But what of these?" As Riju picks up a tearblast arrow and corruption arrow.
"The one in your right hand explodes on contact and the other corrupts machines, it also works on people and monsters too. Be careful you don't stab yourself with that corruption arrow or you will end up attacking people."
Riju drops the corruption arrow as if it were on fire, but puts the tearblast arrow down. She next moves on to Aloy's Shield Weaver in a neat pile.
"I've noticed that your armor sparkles at times," Riju said as she runs her fingers over it.
"It is my Shield Weaver. I found the armor of the Old Ones in a secret place and dismantled it, then worked it into my outfit."
"How ingenious," Riju mused as she strokes it. "You may dress and have your weapons back."
Aloy picks up her Shield Weaver and puts it back on. She later puts her weapons back on, careful not to alarm the Gerudo around her.
"So I can go now?" Aloy next asked after packing the last of her weapons away. "Like I just said, I'll go outside the town and watch out for Link, seeing that you won't allow men in here."
"Yes, you may," Riji answered.
"It looks like I'll have to wait in the shade of that Sheikah Shrine entrance to avoid the heat," Aloy said.
"A chilly elixir will solve that problem," Riju said.
Aloy receives two bottles of chilly elixir. It is a blue liquid and Aloy drains one of the bottles, getting a cool sweet though bitter taste. Almost immediately, the heat vanishes from her and it feels as if it is only a mild day.
"Okay, now go to him, Aloy," Riju said.
Aloy leaves out through the entrance into the back streets. Her thoughts are vexed.
Damn, I feel naked without my focus! I can only hope that Riju will keep her word. But the focus will show her wonders she never thought possible and she just might be tempted to keep it.
Aloy makes her way to the open plaza and heads toward the only route in and out of Gerudo Town. That is when a Hylian female enters the town. Her appearance gets Aloy's attention.
Strange, none of the other Hylian females are wearing that. Come to think of it, none of the Gerudo are either. And she looks familiar too.
The female approaches Aloy and stops before her.
"Yes?" Aloy asked. "Can I help you with something?"
The female leans close whispering, it's me, ever so softly and winks. Aloy gives a start and stares at the face in awe as her own expression goes wry and she rasps in a low tone.
"Link?!"
