Chapter 9: A Broadening of Horizons
With the pair of Strider figurines tucked safely into a leather pouch, complete with a combination of hay and what appeared to be down feathers plucked from some bird as packing material, Eule and Star left the Carja/Oseram trade mission a pair of very happy Replikas. Even Minali left the trade mission lodge a very happy Gestalt child, since the slice of Mesa Bread Rashaman had given her had been very big and Minali seemed to prefer to eat slowly, savoring her food rather than bolting it down. A sentiment which Eule would very easily agree with.
Meanwhile, it was pretty clear that Rashaman, Torvund, and Bashid were also a very happy trio of merchants after all that spending Eule and Star did, judging by their enthusiastic waves of goodbye when they left. Even Bora the surprisingly tame boar was happily sniffing at them, although her happiness seemed to stem more from sniffing after the half-eaten slice of Mesa Bread Minali was holding, prompting the shy little Gestalt girl to duck behind Eule's legs until Torvund called his boar to heel. Fortunately, a quickly produced apple from the Oseram merchant prevented Bora from trying to follow them in pursuit of a treat, so that was one problem solved.
"Sorry about that," Torvund said as he rubbed Bora between her upright piggy ears, who was currently in the process of crunching up her apple treat. "Bora can be such a bottomless pit sometimes."
"Well, she is a pig, so that's not surprising," Star quipped, smirking down at the tame boar.
Torvund burst out laughing in reply, managing to get out "Fair enough!" in between laughs, making Bora look up at him in surprise before some more head-rubbing calmed her down enough to make her turn her attention back to the half-crunched apple.
Eule stared curiously down at the tame boar. "I'd forgotten to ask in all the chaos, but…what made you decide to keep a boar as a pet, of all things?" she asked.
"First of all, Bora is a travel-boar. She's a work animal, not just a pet," Torvund corrected, before thinking for a minute and shrugging, all while still stroking Bora's head. "And well, boars are big and strong. They're perfect for pulling huge loads, but no one seems keen on that idea. Everyone just prefers to have people pull the wagons and carts. So I thought: if I can just prove that boars are better than humans at pulling carts, then I can make a killing on the draft boar business. So a single purchase of a piglet and 2 years later, here's Bora."
"You purchased a boar as a draft animal?" Eule asked, now even more curious than before. "Why not a horse?"
"Or at least a cow?" Star asked, sounding just as curious as well. "Heck, even a donkey or mule would be better than a boar."
Torvund's blinks of confusion only confused Eule and Star even further. He then compounded the confusion by asking: "What's a 'horse'? 'Feert'? Or for that matter, what's a 'cow', or 'kooh', or any of those beasts you mentioned?"
Eule could only look at Star in bafflement, as her lover did for her as well.
"You don't know what a horse is? It's, ah…a large herbivorous, er, plant-eating 4-legged animal with hooves that can run really fast," Eule tried to explain.
Torvund merely continued blinking at Eule in confusion. "Aside from the plant-eating bit, that just sounds like a boar," he said.
"No, it's….a horse looks nothing like a boar," Star said as she rubbed her cheek shell, a look of both confusion and exasperation on her face. "A horse is much taller than a boar, and it can run much faster. Up to 64 kph."
Torvund whistled. "That is fast. If you ever have any of these 'horses', I'll be glad to buy one off of you to see how good of a draft animal it is."
"But…how do you not know what a horse is?" Star asked as frustration leaked into her voice to add to the confusion.
Torvund's response was a shrug. "Must be some animal your Eusan Nation has that we here don't."
That…made absolutely no sense to Eule. Horses still exist in the Eusan Nation, even if they were more or less toys for the most wealthy of the Eusan Nation government officials, as far as Eule has heard. Those very horses came from Vineta. In fact, based on the history books, they were some of the domesticated animals that were brought off-world before and during the fall of Vineta to the Eusan Empire, thus allowing them to survive the mass extinctions when few other animals did. Thus, it made zero sense that Torvund wouldn't even have heard of horses. Even Erika had known what a horse was.
And yet…it was also a confusing dilemma that had no answer at the moment. If Torvund didn't know what a horse was, then there's no way to even ask him for information that would lead to an answer. Thus, Eule could only sigh and accept Torvund's answer as the most sensible one for the moment.
"Uhh, Eule?" Star asked with a distinct tone of uncertainty in her voice.
"Whoa, whoa. Easy, Bora," Torvund said in a very distinctly calm tone.
The reason for both of their remarks was revealed when Eule was finally broke out of her thoughts, and found herself staring down at Bora sniffing curiously at her animal skin hosen-covered white robotic legs. It was so strange. Eule had just recently hunted a boar, and yet here was a boar that didn't fear humans in the slightest. It was actually a bit cute now that Eule has a chance to get a closer look at it.
It was when this very tame boar began sniffing further up her hosen to where her white robotic legs turned black at the mid-thigh level though that Eule started to panic.
"Umm, sorry? I don't have any food for you," Eule said to the boar.
The boar, perhaps sensing the tone in her voice, gave a disappointed grunt and then turned back to Torvund, nosing him and oinking hopefully for another treat.
"Now, now, Bora. You don't want to spoil your dinner now, do you?" Torvund said, reaching over the boar's head to scratch behind her ears.
Bora the boar, despite her bottomless pit of a stomach, seemingly accepted the scratching with a sigh, and flopped down on the ground to receive her scratching in a more relaxed manner.
"Huh, not sure how good a draft animal she is, but at least she's a cute lap dog, er, pig," Star amended.
Eule's giggles served as both agreement and reply to her lover's comment.
With a final wave of goodbye to Torvund and even to Bora, the Replikas plus Minali were now finally off.
Or at least, that was the plan. Right up until Eule saw Teb and his two friends walk out of Mother's Heart's hall at that moment.
"Teb! Feld! Sal!" Eule called out to them, waving enthusiastically as she did so along with Star, who had echoed her greetings simultaneously with her.
The three Nora boys started and turned as one before they too waved back just as enthusiastically. Teb even started towards them, only to suddenly trip over his feet mid-limp. Fortunately, his friends both caught him before he could fall, much to Eule's relief, and all three of them sat down on the edge of the hall's stage as Eule, Star, and Minali walked up to meet them instead, sitting down with them in a line, with Eule sitting right next to Teb to her right and Star to her left.
"Hey, Eu-le. Star," Teb said happily, if a bit tiredly. "Sorry about that trip there. I just–"
"Teb, trust me: that's not something you should ever have to apologize for," Eule insisted. "If anything, I should be apologizing for making you think you had to walk to us in your condition."
"Oh, it's not that bad," Teb insisted in a casual way. "It's just that after that trial and all that stair-walking, my leg just sort of…fell asleep?"
"Maybe one of these days, you Nora might think about installing an elevator at your hall here?" Star asked.
"What's an 'elevator'? 'Owf-zoog'?" Feld asked.
"A machine for carrying people up and down a building. You know, so that people who have a leg injury like Teb can get up and down a tall building like the hall without straining that leg," Star explained, looking pointedly at said leg of Teb's.
"Well, if you can figure out how to design one for the hall, I'm sure more than one Carver would be happy to help with it," Feld said in a dry drawl.
"Hmm, maybe we can ask Torvund with help with that later?" Eule wondered out loud.
"Could be worth a shot," Star replied with an agreeing nod.
"Really, I'm fine. No need to make an entire people-carrying machine just for me, really," Teb continued to insist, before continuing: "It's not even my leg that was making me tired, mostly. It was, well…"
"The trial of your…father?" Eule guessed.
Teb's nod suggested to everyone present that Eule's guess was, in fact, correct.
"So out of curiosity, what happened to that asshole at the trial?" Star asked curiously.
Teb though, looked down at his feet, not answering the question, much to Eule's worry.
"Uhh, I mean if you're okay with answering that," Star quickly corrected.
"It's…I don't know what to feel about his sentence," Teb quietly answered.
"Yeah, the trial was tough. Never seen the High Matriarchs so furious before," Feld commented.
"Especially Teersa. She's always smiling and laughing, so seeing her that mad? So mad that she didn't even smile? That was terrifying," Sal commented with a shuffer.
"But Jasp's sentence? Brutal," Feld answered for his friend.
"And good riddance," Sal said as bluntly as it was blithe.
"Saaal," Feld said in a warning tone.
"What? I'm just saying what we feel. I mean, that chuff deserved to be made an outcast for what he did," Sal continued just as bluntly and blithely as before.
"He was made an outcast?" Eule asked in surprise.
Feld sighed. "Well, now that the rabbit's out of the trap, then yeah, Jasp was made outcast. 15 years outcast, the High Matriarchs sentenced him to. Not only that, but he's to be made outcast in exile from the Embrace."
"Meaning that we won't be seeing him in here for 15 years," Sal said in a very relieved tone.
"Yes, that's what I just said…oh, never mind," Feld said with an exasperated huff.
As much as Eule herself was relieved to hear that kind of sentence passed down on Jasp, she also couldn't help but notice how depressed Teb looked at the whole affair. "Teb, are you alright about…this?" she asked the young Nora man who'd done such a huge favor for her and her lover.
"Yeah…no…mm, honestly, I'm not sure," Teb said with a sigh. It took a minute before Teb continued: "I…I think I'm kind of…relieved that he's going to be gone for 15 years? But…he's still my dad…honestly, I don't know what to think."
Eule fretted over him. She had no idea how to react to a situation like this. There was absolutely nothing in a Eule's training on how to deal with what was very clearly a case of domestic violence here.
"Honestly, I wouldn't dwell on that asshole too much," Star said to him. "Go spend some time with your mother and maybe you two can work it out…uhh, did I miss something?"
No one could've not noticed Teb's wince at Star's suggestion, especially not Eule or Star.
"His mom's…gone back to the All-Mother," Feld whispered to Eule and Star. "Years ago. Hunting accident with a boar. Those things can kill someone if something goes wrong, and something did."
Eule very distinctly remember that massive female boar she and Star had hunted, and she could easily imagine something like that causing serious injury to even a Replika, much less a Gestalt. It's both amazing and terrifying how obtaining something as mundane as pork could be so dangerous in this land.
And that made Eule worry even more for young Teb.
"Oh, Red Eye forgive, sorry about that," Star said to Teb, now looking nearly as depressed herself. "I didn't know that's what happened. Are you okay? Do you have a place to stay, or…?"
"Oh, no, I'm fine! I have aunts and uncles who let me stay with them if…well, he gets too much," Teb admitted. "In fact, my aunt and uncle on my mom's side told me that I could stay with them for as long as I like if anything happens, and well, I guess this counts as 'anything' happening."
On one hand, Eule was relieved that Teb wasn't an orphan as she feared. On the other hand, the fact that Teb was still looking depressed took some of the relief away. Even worse, she had no idea what to say. She couldn't even begin to imagine what it'd be like to have an abusive parent. It was…if Eule had to be honest: an upside to being a Replika, but it was also a downside in this case.
All Eule could do for Teb as someone who's effectively a stranger was to put a hand on his shoulder.
"It sounds like things will be okay for you. Maybe after some time, you might be able to believe it?" Eule asked in a hopeful tone, both for Teb and for herself.
Teb gave a short laugh. As weak as it was, it was still a laugh. "Maybe. Hopefully," he said with a smile as weak as his laugh was. "Thank you, anyways, Eu-le."
Eule smiled back at him, hoping that might help but secretly wondering if it was really working.
Then Minali surprised her (and all of them, she thought) by getting up, walking to Teb, tearing off a big chunk of the half-eaten Mesa Bread slice she was still holding, and offering that chunk to a clearly surprised Teb.
"This is…for me?" Teb asked, blinking quizzically at the shy little Gestalt girl and pointing at himself in clarification.
Minali's only response was an enthusiastic nodding and her holding out the chunk of Mesa Bread even further out at Teb until it was almost in his face.
Eule's worry meter relaxed a tick when she saw Teb give Minali a smile that was distinctly stronger than before.
"Thank you," Teb said, holding out his hand and gently accepting the chunk of Mesa Bread Minali placed onto it.
Teb then peered curiously at it, sniffed it curiously at first before it turned into sniffs of appreciation at the scent, and then took a cautious bite of it. Judging by the appreciative sounds he was making as he chewed, Eule figured that he was enjoying it just as much as herself, Star, and Minali did.
"Huh, this is good," Teb said after swallowing his bite of Mesa Bread. "I think…yeah, this is something from that Carja trade mission, am I right?"
Eule smiled and nodded at him. "Let's just say that was a free sample of Mesa Bread we got to try, and which resulted in our purchase of a loaf of it."
"Huh, you don't say," Teb said curiously, breaking his chunk into a pair of smaller chunks which he then handed to his friends.
Based on the equally as appreciative sounds Feld and Sal made as they chewed it, it would seem that they found it just as delectable as he did.
"Maybe I'll go check out that Carja trade mission too. Who knows, it might even be a good diversion from everything," Teb said with a laugh that sounded as self-deprecating as the kind of laugh März would make after an umpteenth case of bad luck.
After hearing her incredibly unlucky sister make those kinds of laughs all too many times, Eule could hear it very clearly in Teb's voice. "Teb, if you ever need help, you can always ask me for anything. You don't have to go through this alone."
"Or me," Star added. "All I got is my strength and speed, but I'll lend you them whenever you want."
Teb laughed, and this one felt even stronger than the ones that came before. "Thank you, both of you. Although, given how fast you ran when you were carrying me and Aloy, Star, I think I'll hold off on your offer unless I really need it. I've heard of being cart-sick before, but I wouldn't have thought being Star-sick was possible until 2 days ago," he said with another stronger laugh, making Star rub the shell on the back of her neck sheepishly, before adding: "You know, people here tend to be afraid of outsiders. Some people say that they're Tainted, and have faded from All-Mother's sight and all. But you two? I think All-Mother can see you just fine, so if you two ever need help from Her, I think she'll answer."
Teb ended that speech with a bright smile and a wave goodbye as he walked, or rather, limped towards the Carja/Oseram trade mission. Feld and Sal waved goodbye at Eule and Star (with Sal blushing at Star's grin and return wave, much to Eule's amusement) before following after their friend, walking right beside him to catch him again in case he fell.
"Honestly, I'm glad Teb had friends that he can lean on," Eule remarked with a warm smile at the retreating forms of Teb and said friends.
"Figuratively and literally," Star quipped.
Eule could only snort at her lover, giving her a gentle boop in the soft biocomponent portion of her cheek. "You're incorrigible," she said with a giggle.
"Well, you're adorable," Star said with her own gentle boop into soft Eule nose, the owner of which squeaked in protest.
Eule's smile turned mischievous as she leaned over and gave her lover a gentle peck on the corner of her mouth. "You're also gorgeous, by the way."
Star's return smile was as mischievous as it was loving as she returned that kiss, but directly on Eule's lips. "I may be gorgeous, but you're incredibly, absolutely, and stunningly beautiful."
Eule rewarded that kiss with her own on Star's lips, making this one last several long moments before finally parting. "I love you when you're being so effusive with your praise, and when you're being so descriptive with your word choices."
Star in turn rewarded that kiss with another kiss on Eule's lips, but this time, with her tongue gently finding its way into Eule's mouth, making Eule shiver in pleasure at the sensation of their tongues meeting each other. When their lips finally parted, with the sweet taste of their saliva in each other's mouths, Star grinned and said: "And I love you when you're too busy with me to care what anyone else thinks."
It was at that point that Eule suddenly remembered that they had someone with them, and turned to look at that someone with a blush rapidly rising to the biocomponent face. Fortunately, Minali didn't seem particular disturbed or even bothered by her flirting with her lover. On the contrary, Minali was watching them with an eager intenseness that echoed Aloy's interest in their flirtatious activities.
"Uh, my apologies, Minali," Eule apologized anyways, just to be sure. "You didn't find that…odd, did you?"
Minali shook her head so quickly that for a moment, Eule worried that she might injure her neck.
"That was great! It was…um…I've seen mommy and daddy kiss before, but I've never seen women kiss until now. Umm…is it…does it…feel good?" Minali asked in a now shy tone, looking down at her feet instead of meeting Eule's eyes.
Eule cocked her head curiously at Minali. Was she…interested in the idea of kissing another girl? At her age? Eule couldn't decide whether to be amused or scandalized that Minali was showing interest in romantic matters at this early an age. She supposed that perhaps the Nora were…how do the Gestalt put it…early bloomers? It was the best explanation Eule could think of.
Eule was about to reply to Minali's question in a hopefully explanatory yet tactful way, but then she noticed Minali look back up from her feet. At first, Eule thought that Minali had worked up the courage to meet her eyes again, but then she realized that Minali wasn't looking at her. Instead, Minali seemed to be looking at something…past her?
It was at that moment that Eule suddenly heard the pitter-patter of little running feet behind her. As she was in the middle of turning around to see the source of that noise, she heard Star say "Whoops," which was immediately followed by a very high-pitched yelp.
By the time Eule had fully turned around, she found herself with the peculiar sight of Star holding a very familiar-looking dark-skinned little Gestalt girl in both of her robotic hands, with said little girl in a strangely horizontal position, as though her lover had caught the little girl in mid-leap, apparently just before the dark-skinned little Gestalt girl barreled right into the Simple Universal Light Replika.
"Aww, you caught me! And I didn't even say 'Ambush'!" the dark-skinned little Gestalt girl whined.
Eule had to think for a bit to remember where she last saw this dark-skinned little Gestalt girl, which led to her remember this girl uttering that very word towards the Falke-like War-Chief, as well as the name Sona called this girl by.
"Vala?" Eule asked, hoping that she remembered the dark-skinned little Gestalt girl's name correctly.
Said dark-skinned little Gestalt girl though grinned at Eule in delight. "You remembered my name!" Vala cried with a definite lack of indoor voice, similar to another little Gestalt girl Eule was familiar with but cranked up a notch.
Despite the apparent "ambush", Eule found herself smiling at Vala and her antics. "Indeed, I did. So with that in mind, may I ask why you decided to, er, ambush me?"
"Well, mother said that I couldn't ambush her while I was working, and she's working right now, and it was getting really boring just watching daddy clean his weapons and Varl practice his spear stabbing, so I sneaked away and then I saw you two, and you said that you would talk to me later, and that means you could play with me, and so I ambushed you!" Vala said, barely pausing for breaths in between subject matter.
"Uhh, hate to break it to you, kid, but we didn't actually agree to talk or play with you back there," Star pointed out, a grin forming on her biocomponent face.
Eule could only nod in agreement at Star's point, remembering clearly how Sona had interrupted Vala's barrage of questions before the Replikas could even answer them.
A moment's silence passed before Vala's jaw dropped open in shock. "I misrembererd!" she shouted in just as much shock as she looked.
Eule cocked her head curiously at Vala's words. Her Focus didn't seem to translate the second one properly, apparently leaving it completely untranslated and thus unintelligible. A second later though, a small info box popped up next to Vala, which read:
"Translation error. Likely mispronunciation detected. Suggested correction: misremembered."
"Huh, so there are limits to the Focus' seemingly magical translation abilities," Eule noted out loud.
"Guess even these things can't tell what the other person is saying if they slur their words enough, or just not pronounce them right like this kid here," Star added to Eule's spoken thoughts with a grin.
"I got that word wrong too?!" Vala shouted once more, still in shock.
"Uhh, to be fair, we don't speak your language, so we would probably get it just as wrong as you did," Eule quickly consoled.
Vala's shock disappeared, replaced by curiosity now. "Wait, if you don't speak Nora words, then how are you talking right now?"
Eule pointed at the Focus on her right temple. "These devices. They speak for us, translating our words into your words, and doing the same for your words for us."
"Ooh! Magic things!" Vala said with awe.
"It's…most likely not magic. Just…anything but magic," Eule corrected and insisted, thinking that if these Focuses were actually magic, then they would probably look a bit more…magical than this.
"Awww," Vala now said in a tone of utter disappointment.
A tone which had the side effect of making Eule force herself to hold back her giggles to keep from offending Vala.
"Heeey! Stop laughing at me!" Vala said with a pout, indicating that alas, Eule's efforts were in vain.
"Sorry, sorry!" Eule managed to get out in between giggles. She managed to get it under control, and then the sight of Star still holding Vala in that horizontal position like some sort of stray cat just made her break out into giggles all over again, from which in between them she also managed to get out: "Star, maybe you could try putting Vala back down?"
Star blinked in surprise, and then Eule giggled even more as a blush slowly bloomed on the Security Technician Guard Replika's biocomponent face. "Uh, whoops. Forgot I was holding her," Star said as she finally and gently turned Vala upright and set her on the ground in front of her.
"Thanks! Ohh, but you caught me even though I didn't call out my ambush!" Vala said to Star with a grin, reaching up to pat her on her robotic upper arm. "Well done!"
"Uh, thanks?" Star replied uncertainly to being complimented by a small child, even as Eule continued giggling at the scene.
Eule's giggling abruptly ceased when she heard a strange beeping sound, and an information box suddenly opened up at the top of her vision. The words within that box read:
"Alert. Incoming call. Caller ID: Aloy. Accept: yes/no?"
"Äloy?" Eule asked in disbelief. "How did–wait, yes, I'll accept!"
Immediately afterwards, Eule suddenly Äloy saw snap into existence in front of her. At first, a panicking part of Eule's mind thought that Äloy was an unregistered Bioresonant (and a very powerful one, at that), and that she had just teleported in front of her in the way Commander Falke had just teleported around S-23 Sierpinski when she needed to.
When Eule calmed down from that initial shock though, she noticed some key details about the Äloy in front of her. Said Äloy had a shimmering, translucent quality to her that was tinged with lavender. It was the same qualities that strange 3D recording of that unnamed father of young Isaac had possessed back in that Metal World facility, which all but indicated that this Äloy was of a similar nature to that 3D recording, rather than her actual, physical self being in front of Eule.
A hypothesis which was put to the test when Äloy saw her, her eyes and mouth both widening in surprised joy, and she shouted: "Eu-le!" before leaping at Eule to hug her.
Eule instinctively stretched out her arms to receive an incoming Äloy, but then was shocked herself when Äloy made contact with her, and then passed right through her with absolutely no resistance.
As Eule heard the sounds of a thud and an Äloy-flavored groan of pain, which she now realized was coming from her Focus, she looked around in even more shock and worry. "Äloy?! What happened?! Where are you?!"
"Here! I'm here!" Eule heard Äloy reply as the little Gestalt girl ran back in front of her, smudged with dirt and with a few reddened areas on her face, but otherwise more or less unharmed.
Eule breathed a sigh of relief before tilting her head curiously at her favorite little Gestalt girl. "Äloy, while I do believe that you are in need of a wash and minor medical treatment, I do have to know though: how are you here right now in front of me?"
"Oh, oh! Let me tell you!" Äloy, bouncing up and down in her own very un-ghost-like excitement. "Rost needed to take a nap and he let me train however I want today, so I decided to try training to see if this Focus can do anything, but…well, it was getting really boring to train without you and Star. So I wished that I could talk to you, and then the Focus asked me if I wanted to 'Make a call' to you, so I did, and here you are!"
"'Make a call'?" Eule repeated curiously. "So the Focus is…a telephone as well?"
"What's a 'tele-fone'?" Äloy asked in her own curious tone.
"It's…a device that lets someone talk to anyone else with a telephone as long as you dial in the right number to connect you with that other telephone," Eule explained, then tilted her head incredulously at Äloy. "Although, this is the first telephone I've seen that lets you see the person you're talking to."
"Not me," Star suddenly piped up, making Eule look at her lover in surprise.
"Really?" Eule asked incredulously. "Äloy is right here not a meter away in front of me. You can't see her?"
Star shook her head. "I can tell that you're talking to the kid from what you're saying, but I not only can't see the kid, but I can't hear her too. It just looks and sounds like you're talking to empty space."
Eule blinked at her lover in surprise before suddenly remembering the other children around. A look at Vala and Minali revealed that they were both staring at her with looks of utter confusion and complete befuddlement written plainly on their faces.
"Why are you talking to the air?" Vala asked, confusion now inhabiting her voice along with her face.
Eule pointed right where the translucent image of Äloy was still standing in front of her, staring at Vala and Minali in just as much confusion as they appeared to be feeling. "You can't see Äloy standing right there at all?" Eule asked.
When both Vala and Minali shook their heads, Eule scratched her cheek shell in contemplation. "Curious, and Star can't see Äloy either despite having a Focus? Even more curious. I wonder, is this some way for the Focuses to make conversations private? How can I ask…Focus: can you include Star into this call between Äloy and me?" Eule asked.
As soon as the last word left Eule's mouth, Star suddenly said: "Oh, I see it. Yeah, I accept–oh wow, there you are, Äloy."
"Oh, Star! You can see me now?" Äloy happily, running towards Star.
Eule could already anticipate what would happen next. The only thing that surprised her was that Äloy merely tried to hug Star rather than leap towards her in a flying tackle-hug. Alas though, the same thing happened, and Äloy's small arms went straight through Star's breastplate-covered chest.
"Sorry, kid," Star said with a sympathetic smile. "Looks like this Focus can only make you appear to be here rather than actually being here."
"Oh," Äloy said in disappointment, dejectedly waving her hand back and forth through Star's arm.
"Well, at least I can see you as clear as the Red Eye. Well, if the Red Eye was purple and kinda looks like a doppelganger a not-so-great Kolibri made while after several shots of schnaps," Star quipped.
"What's a 'Ko-lee-bree'? 'Hummingbird'…it's a bird?" Äloy asked, her curiosity overtaking her depression for the moment.
"Yeah, an extinct one, but they're also another model of Replika," Star explained. "They're short and weirdly cute, but kinda spooky."
"Hmm, the one I spoke to seemed to be fairly normal," Eule noted.
"She didn't try to read your mind or anything?" Star asked, with both curiosity and worry in her tone.
"No, she did," Eule simply replied. "She was open and…casual, yes, about it though. She didn't act like it was anything special. I think it's just normal for her."
"Hmm, if you say so," Star said with a voice loaded with uncertainty.
"These 'Ko-lee-bree' can read minds?" Äloy asked incredulously.
"It's some Bioresonance spookiness on their part. Kolibris are one of the few Bioresonant Replika models, you see," Star explained.
"Ohhh, that weird thing you were talking about before," Äloy said with a nod. "I wouldn't mind asking one of these 'Ko-lee-bree' how they do it."
"Pretty sure that's a State secret, but I'm not going to stop you here if we ever meet any Kolibris," Star said cheerfully to the translucent lavender Äloy, who smiled back at the Security Technician Guard Replika.
"Wait, are you still talking to this Aloy?" Vala asked as she looked back and forth at Eule and Star with a frustrated look on her little face. "That's not fair! I want to talk to her too!"
"Um, but…Aloy is the outcast girl," Minali pointed out.
"Ohhh, so that's her name?" Vala asked with wide eyes. When Minali nodded, Vala immediately turned back to the Replikas. "That's double not fair now! I want to talk to Aloy and find out what she did she do to get outcasted!"
"She didn't do anything," Eule explained, remembering the anger she felt upon learning that. "As far as we know, she's been an outcast ever since she was born."
As Äloy nodded in agreement, still complete unseen to the other two Gestalt girls, both Vala and Minali's mouths dropped open in shock.
"But…she was a baby back then, right?" Minali asked quietly. Without waiting for an answer, she then continued in that same quiet tone: "How could a baby do something so bad that she got outcasted? That's…not fair."
"Yeah, babies can only wave their arms and legs, cry, and poop their clothes," Vala said, with a troubled look on her normally cheerful face now. "If that's enough for a baby to be outcasted, then every baby would be outcasted."
Eule smiled down at both Gestalt girls. There was something heartwarming about how their childish logic cut straight through to the heart of the problem, straight past the unfair sentencing to see the real problem with that outcast sentence. It was unfortunate and ironic that the Nora adults couldn't see as clearly as a pair of young children.
Vala then adopted a determined look on her face. "Now I double double want to talk to Aloy now! Can't you let me talk to her too?"
"I…may I talk with Aloy too?" Minali asked, looking up hopefully at Eule and Star. "Please?"
Seeing both of these children willing to defy a law that was very clearly being applied unjustly just to speak with a lonely little Gestalt girl filled Eule with determination. "Focus, can you include these two Gestalt children into our conversation with Äloy?"
A text box opened up at the top of her vision, which read: "Scanning for compatible devices to connect to…error. No compatible devices detected on individuals designated as 'Minali' and 'Vala'. Unable to connect individuals into chatroom. If individuals have compatible devices, please try again. If problem persists, please contact Faro Automated Solutions technical support at [UNABLE TO VERIFY CONTACT INFORMATION. PLEASE TRY AGAIN LATER.]."
Eule could only blink at the information her Focus just presented her. She assumed that compatible devices meant the Focuses or devices like them, which implied that there were more than just the Focuses that exist. But 'Faro Automated Solutions'? That was…maybe the name of the family who owns that store? But…why contact the Faro family selling these Focuses when it'd be far more logical to just contact the ministry in charge of manufacturing them? Surely, said ministry would have Aras who could provide that level of technical support, right? Then again, these people have clearly never heard of Replikas, so maybe it'd be a Gestalt technical staff member who'd be answering the phone?
And what did the Focus mean by "Unable to verify contact information"? Was it unable to reach this technical support? Does it even know what that contact information is? There were so many questions running through Eule's biomechanical head from this, and seemingly no way to answer them.
Eule ended up shaking her head to clear it. Her thoughts were clearly running off right now, so she needed to get the back on track. The problem seemed to be that Vala and Minali needed Focuses or something like it to be included into this "chatroom" that she, Star, and Äloy were part of. While Vala and Minali definitely did not have any such devices on their person, Eule knew perfectly well where to get more of them. After all, there were still four of them in her medical satchel after giving one to Star and another to Rost.
The solution seemed easy, but that apparently easy solution created another problem. Simply letting Vala and Minali borrow a pair of her spare Focuses was the obvious solution, but then again, Rost seemed to be highly uneasy about them at first, only barely agreeing in order to allow for communication between him and the very much non-Nora language-speaking Replikas.
"Vala, Minali?" Eule asked, focusing the two children's attention on her. "Do you know if the Nora have any laws against the use of…Metal World relics?"
Minali blinked at Eule. "We're not supposed to go into Metal World places though," she pointed out.
"All the adults say it's forbidden, and that you get outcasted if you do," Vala piped up.
Eule gave Star a look, which happened to be returned by Star at the same time.
"Let's not mention that Äloy was in that Metal World place then, over," Star radioed.
"Agreed. I don't want to find out if she can be punished with something worse than being an outcast, out," Eule radioed back, before saying out loud: "But is there any law against wearing a Metal World relic if it wasn't in a Metal World place?"
Vala and Minali gave each other a look before returning their gazes to the Replikas.
"Dunno. I never asked," Vala replied.
"Me neither, but umm…maybe it's probably bad to be wearing them if they come from the same place? Maybe?" Minali posited.
As Eule sighed in disappointment though, Vala piped up again with: "Why are you asking, anyways?"
"Well, you see: this Focus claims that you need to be wearing a Focus to hear our conversation and see Äloy, and I have Focuses that you can borrow, but–"
"Oh! I'll take one!" Vala said happily, holding her hand out.
Minali looked startled at Vala's blithe attempt to possibly break Nora law. "But–"
"Oh, it'll be fine!" Vala insisted, before whispering quietly to Minali: "If anyone asks, just say we didn't know it was breaking the law."
Eule could only laugh nervously at this apparent criminal enterprise Vala was embarking on, but she was happy that these children were willing to go this far just for an illegal conversation with someone.
Minali, meanwhile, looked down at the ground in thought for a short while before looking back up at Eule, and thrusting out her hand the same way Vala was doing, prompting Vala to grin at Minali in joy. Eule could only answer their determination by reaching into her medical satchel for two Focuses, and then dropped one into each tiny hand.
"You simply hold them up to your right temple here," Eule explained, pointing up at where her own Focus was. "And then let go. It should fly into your temple and stick there. To remove it, you just pull it off. I have no idea how it works that way, but it does."
Both Vala and Minali did exactly as Eule instructed, and even after watching it done many times by now, Eule still found it very strange that the Focuses just stuck to the Gestalt children's temples as though they were magnets sticking onto a Replika's carbon steel skeleton. Even after several discussions, neither she nor Star could come up with any kind of explanation or even a theory on how that was possible.
Star had just thrown her hands up in exasperation and had said: "It's probably Bioresonance technology…somehow."
Eule had very little idea how Bioresonance worked, so she couldn't say at all if that was the case, but she wouldn't be surprised if the Focuses were indeed Bioresonant…somehow.
Regardless, the Focuses seemed to be functioning perfectly, as was evidenced by Vala and Minali looking around them in awe, as well as the glowing, almost Falke-like halos floating just above the Focuses, seemingly serving as an activation light.
"So many lights," Vala breathed in wonder.
"It's like the stars came down from the sky and–oh! Umm…are you Aloy?" Minali asked shyly.
Äloy just stared at Minali, blinking in surprise before looking down at the ground in a Minali-like shyness Eule never expected to see from the normally outgoing little Gestalt girl.
"Yeah," Äloy mumbled, before she dared to look back up to meet Minali's blue eyes. "Hi…um…Minali."
"H…Hello," Minali replied just as shyly.
The shy exchange might've gone on forever had Vala not stepped in and said very happily and very loudly: "Hi! I'm Vala! Nice to meet'cha!"
That seemed to break the ice, so to speak, and cause a friendly conversation to begin between the three little Gestalt girls. They ended up talking about the most random things, from their likes and dislikes, to what they ate that day, to even if they found any interesting bugs.
Eule smiled warmly at this scene throughout that conversation, comfortably leaning herself against Star as she did so, with Star just as comfortably wrapping an arm around her in a one-armed hug.
"The kid looks really happy," Star said softly.
"She does," Eule commented just as softly. "I'll bet that this the first time Äloy has ever spoken with children her age before."
"And all because of an otherwise reasonable law being misapplied to a little kid," Star mused with a dark look on her face.
Eule could only nod at that. What else was there to say about it? Being made an outcast certainly seemed more reasonable a punishment to her than being forced to work in a remote mining colony.
Suddenly though, a young male voice rang out: "Vala! Where did you go?! Stop playing hide and seek already!"
"Oh, no! It's Varl!" Vala hissed. "Quick, hide the Focuseses!"
Vala and Minali both immediately pulled their Focuses off and shoved them into their pockets, looking as innocent as possible as Vala's apparent older brother soon strolled into view and saw them.
"There you are!" Varl said as he rushed over. "You can't just run off like that. You're going to get into so much trouble."
"Dad said that I could play in Mother's Heart!" Vala shot back, with a tongue deployed for emphasis. "I'm still in Mother's Heart, so I'm not in trouble!"
"Knowing you, you'll find a way to get into trouble here somehow," Varl shot back with his own stuck-out tongue, before turning to Minali and politely saying: "Hi, Minali," prompting a just as polite greeting from Minali, before finally turning to Eule and Star, and saying: "I'm really sorry if my little sis caused you two trouble. I feel like her name should be Troubala rather than Vala sometimes."
Amid Vala's indignant denials, Eule shook her head vehemently. "It's okay. She wasn't any trouble. She was a very pleasant person to talk with."
"And very energetic too," Star added. "The very picture of a healthy kid."
Äloy nodded as well, having run behind Eule and hiding there despite no one being able to see her without a Focus.
Varl breathed out a sigh of relief. "Thank the All-Mother. Now come on, Vala. Let's go practice some bow-shooting and leave these outsiders alone now."
"Aww, what?!" Vala protested. "I wanted to talk with them some more!"
"Vala, didn't you say you wanted to win the Proving?" Varl asked in exasperation.
"Of course I do!" Vala shot back, earning a gasp from Äloy.
"Well, then you've got to start early," Varl said dryly, before he smirked. "Or maybe you're not that serious about winning that Proving? Well, you can just settle for being a Brave. Nothing wrong with that–"
"I'm going to win that Proving when I'm old enough, and there's nothing and no one who'll stop me!" Vala declared before running off, giving one last wave back at the group before presumably continuing back to her home for her Brave training.
"So Vala wants to win the Proving too, huh?" Star asked with a thoughtful scratch of her cheek shell.
"Yeah, Vala thinks she's got something to prove over those chuffs who say women don't make good Braves," Varl said, before he looked at Star in surprise. "Wait, 'too'? Are you going to run in the Proving too?"
"Me? Nah, that's not it," Star said, before casually saying: "Just asking for a friend, is all."
Varl simply shrugged at Star. "Well, hope your friend makes it in the Proving too. I got to train for my own Proving in a few years, so see you all later. I mean it. I didn't get a chance to talk with you two before, and so um…I want to when I have time," he said with a friendly wave before running off after his younger sister.
It was only when Varl was well and truly out of earshot did Minali quickly put her Focus back on. "Oh wow, so it looks like you'll have some competition at the Proving, Aloy," Minali said.
"Yeah, but at least she'll be competition I know," Äloy said with a smile.
Minali smiled back at her new friend. "That's true."
Äloy then looked at her own new friend. "Are you going to be in the Proving too, Minali?"
"Me? No, no, no!" Minali shook her head vehemently. "I don't want to be a Brave. I want to be a Carver like my mommy and daddy. Fighting sounds too scary anyways."
"Oh," Äloy said, looking down at the ground in disappointment.
Eule reached down to give Äloy a reassuring head pat, only for her hand to go right through Äloy's head, and thus she pulled it back up with a sheepish look on her face.
"Oh, but I'll be cheering for both of you," Minali quickly said when she saw the very disappointed Äloy look. "And if you need any Carving done, then well, I promise that I'll be good enough to Carve for you too."
Äloy's disappointed look turned into a smile. "Thanks, Minali."
Minali blushed, and it was a very red blush that made Eule and Star both smile down at her. "Y-You're welcome," Minali practically mumbled.
Äloy blinked at Minali in confusion before looking back up at Eule. "So when are you and Star coming home? It's been a really long time."
Eule giggled down at her favorite little Gestalt girl. "We were actually on our way back."
"Yup, and with those promised souvenirs too," Star teased with a cheerful grin.
Eule ended up giggling some more at Äloy's excitement, which ended up peaking so much that the little Gestalt girl was hopping in place. "Oh, oh! Thank y–oh, you haven't given it yet! So I'll thank you then! See you later, Eu-le! Star! Oh, and um, bye, Minali. So…how do I leave this 'chatroom'…oh, yes, I do!"
With that final word said, likely to her Focus, Äloy then blinked out of existence just like a proverbial Falke teleporting away. The only difference here is a small information box at the top of Eule's vision announcing: "Aloy has left the chatroom."
"What's a 'chatroom' anyways?" Star asked curiously.
"I was hoping you knew, actually," Eule admitted.
Star merely shrugged in reply. "The only thing I can say is that this 'chatroom' these Focuses use seem a lot more advanced than network mail."
Eule nodded, having used n-mail herself and definitely noticing that whatever technology the Focuses are using is many generations ahead of the text-only n-mail message service in use by the Eusan Nation, but that was a topic for another time. Right now, there was something else far more important to talk about.
"Minali, thank you for talking to Äloy," Eule said, making the shy little Gestalt girl look up at her in surprise. "She doesn't understand why she's an outcast any more than we or anyone else does. As far as we can tell, she's just been alone with no one but her father for as long as she remembers. I know you're taking a lot of risks by, well, breaking Nora law like this, so I must thank you from the bottom of my heart for that, Minali."
Minali's immediate reply was to blush brightly, and then stare at the ground, poking her fingers together out of shyness. "Y-you're welcome. But…well…I think I should thank you and Star too. For letting me get to know Aloy. I…I just thought she was an outcast like everyone else does…until you both showed me that it's not as simple as that. S-So…thank you too."
Now it was Eule's turn to blush, giggling in embarrassment at the praise being heaped upon her by this adorable child. "You're very welcome, Minali."
Star's own embarrassed giggles clearly told Eule that her lover was feeling much the same. "No problem, kid."
Minali giggled herself in reply before gently pulling her Focus off and handing it back to Eule, who just as gently took it and returned it to her medical satchel.
Except, that act reminded Eule of something.
"Oh, Vala forgot to return her Focus," Eule noted.
Star waved it off though. "It's fine. We'll just ask her for it when we come back later."
Eule smiled warmly at that. "Yes, later. Heh, we can come back to this place later whenever we want. Honestly, after all that drama, it feels almost…unreal that we have so much freedom now."
"A lot more freedom than we would've had back home, anyways," Star noted with a bittersweet smile, as though the good memories of the Eusan Nation were being overwhelmed by the bad.
To which…Eule almost didn't dare think it, but her lover had a point. Even after the Great Mutiny of just over a decade ago, years before Eule's time, life for Replikas under the Eusan Nation weren't actually all that great. Eule had listened to enough quiet, angry mutterings from Februar to learn that Replikas would become free citizens after working off their Commission, but that the Commission times can be incredibly long and becoming a "free" citizen often turned into a case of being free to be just as oppressed as any Gestalt citizen.
Here in the Embrace though, even with the injustices present, the life Eule experienced with Star was almost…too free. There was no AEON watching everyone with motion-tracking security cameras, Protektor officers, and State Bioresonants. There wasn't even a Red Eye keeping watch over everyone in the sky above; only a bright Sun warming everyone below it. It almost felt terrifying to have that much freedom for once in her life.
Terrifying…and yet also…a relief?
"Hey, love? You've been pretty quiet for a while now. Are you okay?" Star asked with a distinct note of concern in her tone.
"Oh, yes, I am," Eule replied with a reassuring smile, before that smile turned just as bittersweet as Star's tone had been. "I was just thinking how we have so much freedom in the Embrace. Far, far more freedom than we had in our old home, whether in Sierpinski or back on Rotfront. It's a little frightening, but at the same time, it's also relieving. As though a weight that I didn't even know that I had been carrying has been lifted off of my shoulders."
"So you just chose not to notice Adler yelling at everyone for not following the latest rule change from AEON? Or all those security cameras just following every move we make?" Star asked with a slight hint of amused dryness to her tone.
"Mm, it's more like I shoved it all into the back of my mind because I didn't want to think about it consciously. As though I didn't want to think about how stifling my own home was," Eule admitted, before she gave a warm smile to her lover. "But now we have a new home, and there's no eyes watching us but the ones belonging to those who care about us. So, let's get back to them now, shall we?"
Star smiled just as warmly back. "Honestly, I do want to see the big guy and the kid again. It's only been hours, but it feels like days. So, let's go cure our little bit of personality destabilization with a dose of Rost and Äloy!"
Eule giggled at her lover's enthusiasm, before she had a sudden realization. "Oh, hold on. Let me pick through our Machine parts first."
A puzzled yet curious Star set their Machine parts sack on the ground and opened it up for Eule.
"Minali, your mother said that she needed a new…wood chisel, yes?" Eule asked. When Minali eagerly nodded, Eule continued: "Do you know which Watcher part is needed to make that?"
"Watcher thigh bone or lower leg bone," Minali said instantly, without hesitation. "Mommy always uses them to make the best wood chisels."
Eule deftly pulled out the required pair of bones and gave them to Minali. "Could you please take them to your mother? They're gifts for helping us learn some critical things about this land."
"As well as a promise of future business between us," Star said with a cheerful wink.
Minali smiled brightly at the Replikas, and nodded energetically. "Okay, I will! Bye…Eu-le. Star. See you both later!" she said just as energetically before dashing off towards her parents.
And with that last task out of the way, as well as their Machine parts sack soon stowed away on Star's backpack once more, the two Replikas were soon on their way back home.