Chapter 11: Childhood's Dusk

Wood clashed against wood as training staff smashed against training staff in the flesh and bone hands of a Gestalt and the polymer-skinned and carbon steel-boned hands of a Replika. Snow was kicked up by both animal skin shoes and steel-toed, rubber padded feet alike as the combatants vied against each other for victory.

All witnessed by a certain Simple Universal Light Replika and a certain little Gestalt girl sitting on the sidelines on a fallen log, and acting as an audience for this match.

At last though, one fighter held up a hand.

"Enough," Rost said, panting out clouds of condensation in the process.

"Aww, really? I can go one more round," Star whined, also sending out clouds of condensation amidst her voice.

"You may be able to, but unfortunately, I need a break," Rost said, sitting down on a nearby rock in lieu of a chair.

"Are you alright?" Eule asked, walking up to Rost to examine him more closely.

"Oh wait, I didn't actually injure you during that sparring match, did I?" Star asked as she strode up to Rost too, now sounding just as worried as Eule was.

"I am fine, Eule, Star. I am not injured," Rost insisted, having learned to pronounce Eule's name more smoothly since those first few days. "It's more due to the fact that Star's strength means that every blow of hers that I block takes far more stamina out of me than usual. Almost as if I were blocking a blow from a small Machine than a human…which on second thought, is an entirely accurate comparison."

Star laughed sheepishly at that. "Sorry, big guy. I guess I get just a bit too excited about these sparring matches."

"Yes, I can tell," Rost said in a tone baked in his very familiar Kitezhian dryness.

Aloy then surprised everyone by shouting: "That's it!"

Before anyone could ask the little Gestalt girl what "it" was, said little Gestalt girl jabbed a tiny finger right at Star.

"Star, I challenge you to a sparring match!" Aloy shouted triumphantly.

Silence reigned in the wake of that triumph for several moments.

"Are you serious?" Star asked incredulously. When she received some very exuberant nodding from Aloy, she then asked: "Okay, kid, I'll bite. Why?"

"It's simple," Aloy said with absolute confidence. "Star is stronger and faster than Rost, and by a lot too. So if I spar with Star, then I'll get lots stronger! And if I can win, then that means I'm strong enough to win the Proving!"

"…Okay, that actually makes quite a bit of sense when you put it that way," Star admitted. "But kid, I'm seriously fast and strong. I might be a bit more than you can handle–"

"But that's the point!" Aloy interrupted. "If I fight someone who's that much stronger and faster than I am, then I can get that much stronger and faster!"

Star sighed, and then grinned at Aloy. "Well, kid, if you're that serious about the whole Brave thing, and I know you are, then how can I refuse this kind of heartfelt request? Alright, Aloy, let's spar until our arms and legs fall off!"

"Yeah!" Aloy shouted excitedly, holding up her shortened training staff for emphasis.

"Hopefully not literally," Eule added in a worried tone.

Although, the sight of Star giving her a grin and a thumbs-up in reply reassured her…even if Aloy's insistent declaration of "Don't hold anything back!" raised those worries anew.

Fortunately, to Eule's relief, Star did lay down some ground rules for this sparring match. All Aloy had to do was get in a single strike on Star's body. Anywhere was fine, even the arms and legs. Star would only defend, and all Aloy had to do was get in a strike on those places, and Aloy would win this sparring match.

All in all, those rules created a thoroughly sensible sparring match for a match between a Security Technician Guard Replika and a kindergarten-age Gestalt girl, relieving much of Eule's worries. What Eule didn't anticipate though was just how…exciting observing the resulting sparring match was.

Aloy didn't just stand there and swing wildly away at Star like Eule expected…or at least, Aloy didn't do that for very long. After that initial wild attempt failed to get past Star's defenses, Eule watched as Aloy began circling Star, trying to get around Star's defenses. When Star simply kept turning to face Aloy, Aloy then would suddenly change direction and try to get in a strike, only for Star to bat Aloy's attack away.

That went on for quite some time, with Aloy continuously trying to get past Star's defenses, and Star continuously countering them no matter how creatively Aloy got in her attacks. And yet…not matter how many times Aloy failed, she never stopped trying. She kept trying to find ways around Star's defenses, even when she was starting to get tired and out of breath.

The result was that even though Eule still mentally cheered for her lover…she also ended up silently cheering for Aloy as well.

"Eule."

Eule turned around at hearing her name, just in time for Rost to gently bop her on the head with a training staff, eliciting a surprised squeak out of her.

"I believe I have fully recovered from that sparring match with Star, and I also believe that Star and Aloy shouldn't be the only ones training," Rost said, handing the training staff to Eule. "So let us hone your spear-fighting skills as well, Eule, shall we?"

Eule smiled at Rost, and clutched her training staff with a determined look. "Of course. Let's give it our all!" she said excitedly.

Of course, the mock fight didn't go entirely in Eule's favor. Eule gave attacking and defending a good go, and even managed to get in some strikes on Rost…right up until Rost demonstrated very clearly that a person's entire body can be a weapon. Namely: with a leg sweep that took Eule's own legs out from under her, and resulted in her lying on her back as Rost jabbed the butt of his training staff at Eule's face, demonstrating how dead she would be.

But then Rost extended his hand down to Eule. "Now you know another way to down a human enemy. Will you continue?"

Eule smiled up at him and nodded, taking that hand to get back up. The practice fights continued after that, with Eule excited and eager to learn more about combat from Rost.

And for once, Eule was starting to think that wasn't an unnatural thing for a Eule to think.

Eule watched as Rost stood up from where he'd been working. "It's done," he quietly and proudly declared.

Eule stared in fascination along with Star at "it": the Banuk field bed that Rost had promised. It was basically exactly as described on the outside: a seemingly unassuming wooden box standing on four equally as unassuming short legs. What Rost hadn't mentioned was the triangular roof on the top, making the field bed resemble an adorably tiny house, made all the more adorable by Aloy poking around and in the field bed. At least, "tiny" in the relative sense. It was still 2.5 meters long, from Eule's estimation.

"Pretty big box bed you made there," Star noted, sharing Eule's opinion.

"It is for the two of you, after all," Rost pointed out. "It wouldn't do for Star to have to sleep tucking her legs in all the time. I do have to apologize for that though when you were sleeping in my bed."

"No worries there," Star insisted. "There's no way I can expect you to make your own bed long enough to fit a Star unit, and well, I'm used to it from Sierpinski anyways."

Rost blinked at Star in confusion. "You are used to it? Are you telling me your own bed at your own home also required you to tuck in your legs?"

Star simply nodded in reply.

Rost stared at Star incredulously. "Why?"

"Well, according to the Eusan Nation, it's because they didn't want to waste the resources to make beds in Star size or even Storch size, so they decided a one-size-fits-none bed was the best solution for all of us Replikas who aren't Falkes. And unfortunately, Stars and Storchs fit that bed size even less than the other Replika classes," Star explained, all with a bitterly dry tone.

"…And how tall were these Sh-Storchs of yours that you keep mentioning?" Rost asked in a morbidly curious tone.

Star lifted her hand to a specific point above her head. "Just add 20 cm to my height, and you've got the Storchs' height. Honestly, I'm convinced that at least part of why Storchs have such a reputation for being assholes is due to their usual accommodations."

Eule didn't need to be a Eule to watch Rost look upwards above Star's head at that exact point she indicated, and see the metaphorical gears turning in Rost's head calculating just how uncomfortable it would be for a Storch to sleep in a bed in which a Star needed to tuck in her legs to fit in.

Rost only reply to that revelation was a frown and a "Hmph" of disapproval. Coming from Rost, Eule knew that was practically a searing indictment.

"You know, the more you talk about your Eusan Nation, the more they sound like a really bad tribe," Aloy said, lifting the side wall/door of the field bed and poking her face out to add her own opinion to the discussion.

And frankly, it was an opinion that Eule was finding herself agreeing with the more their days in the Embrace pass by. To the point where Eule even found herself nodding at Aloy's words: something she would've found unthinkable when she and Star first arrived in Nora lands.

Aloy frowned as she thought, but then just as quickly as the frown appeared, it turned upside-down into a grin. "Then how about exploring in here to make you both forget that! There's no way Star needs to tuck in her legs in this bed! Come in and see!"

Amused out of her thoughts now, Eule crouched and climbed into the field bed as Aloy, and then Star, held it open. Star behind her then climbed in as Rost took up the slack of holding the door up, and then pulled out a long stick from a pair of loops on the inside of the door and used it to prop up the door on the ground, sparing him the effort of holding up said door.

All this, Eule saw as she was sandwiched comfortably within the field bed between little Aloy and Star, lying on a bed of what looked and felt like a whole bunch of stitched-together fox skins, with an additional fox-skin blanket for additional warmth during cold nights.

"This is a big bed," Aloy giggled.

"It is indeed big," Eule giggled right back, stretching out her white legs to their maximum allowable limit.

"Not for me," Star happily commented as she stretched her own white legs out to a length even further than Eule's, and still not reaching the other end. "This is, for once, a bed fit for a Star unit…and a lot more besides."

"Oh, like me?" Eule asked, fluttering her eyes at Star.

Star's reply to that was to lean over to give Eule a gentle peck on her lips. "Like you," Star happily confirmed.

"And me?" Aloy also asked, clambering on top of Eule's abdomen and looking hopefully at Star.

Star reached across and patted Aloy's head. "And you," Star also just as happily confirmed.

"I'm glad to hear that you are enjoying your field bed," Rost noted happily from outside as he peeked into the field bed. "Hopefully then, this will suffice until you two finally have your own room."

Eule sat up to look at Rost, catching Aloy before she could tumble off of her abdomen. "Where are you going to put that room, actually? There's not a lot of room to build in this area, I think?" Eule asked as she held Aloy, who was also looking at Rost curiously for the answer.

Rost simply made a beckoning motion. No speech was needed for him or for everyone else as they climbed out of the field bed to follow him.

When everyone was properly standing outside, Rost pointed at an area to the right of the front porch, where a fire pit currently laid with smoked cuts of meat still hanging over it by a wooden stand, all in front of a wooden wall lashed together with blue wire and pierced only by a pair of square windows, both of which featured wooden window covers that were currently both held up by sticks to let the house air out a bit.

"There," Rost simply said. "I will have to move that fire pit and break down that wall, but that will have more than enough land to build your room. I just need the flat stones for the foundation to start with, and then gather the timber, wire, and thatch for the walls, floor, and roof. I can work on the furniture afterwards, starting with a proper bed."

Star rubbed the shell on her chin. "Okay, I may be a Star unit, but even I can tell that's a lot more Araing than one person can handle."

Rost scoffed. "I built this house by myself. A single room is barely anything compared to that."

"But you're not alone now," Eule insisted. "You have us now, and I can't feel good knowing that you're working on something this big all by yourself. Let us help with the construction. Please, Rost."

Rost turned to look at Eule and sighed. "I appreciate it, Eule. I do, but neither you nor Star have any experience building a house, and I do. I just don't see how you two can help–"

"Then at least let us help gather the materials," Star interrupted. "That's a huge job for one person anyways, and it's going to take up the bulk of your time and effort. But with two Replikas on the job too, well, how much more quickly do you think you can gather those materials now?"

Rost stared at Star for several moments before sighing once more, but this time with a smile on his lips. "Very well. You may help me gather those materials. I need large flat stones like the ones you see below the house. They will provide a firm, stable, and flat foundation for the additional room. As for the wood, I have axes. They're ones I made following Banuk designs, as I've found them to be a bit more…usable than Nora axes. I will teach you two how to fell trees with them for the timber. There is a method to it. If you don't follow it, you could easily fell a tree on yourself or someone else by accident. Understood?"

Eule gave a Eusan Nation salute to Rost at the same time Star did.

"Understood, sir!" Eule belted out, also at the same time Star did the same.

Fittingly, Eule practically fell over giggling at the same time Star did, much to Rost's eyebrow-raised amusement. Aloy joining in on the giggling only completed the hilarity.

Aloy drew back the bowstring of Eule's War Bow.

Or rather, she attempted to. Judging by her inability to draw it more than a centimeter or two, she wasn't succeeding.

"Guess I'm too little to draw this," Aloy muttered as she finally gave up.

"Guess so," Minali said sadly. "We're just kids, after all. Adults have bigger arms than us."

"Wait, let me try!" Vala insisted, causing Aloy to hand Eule's War Bow to her friend.

Unfortunately, Vala didn't have any more success than Aloy did, no matter how much effort Vala tried to put into it.

"Aww, so this is what trying to pull an adult bow is like," Vala said in disappointment when she finally gave up. "Guess we're both too little to draw this."

Aloy then felt a warm, comforting hand on her shoulder. A quick glance revealed a hand covered in a familiar white glove, and Aloy looked up into the face of Eule, smiling consolingly down at her and Vala, who also had a comforting Replika hand on her shoulder as well.

"You two will be able to one day, Aloy, Vala. Just…not today," Eule said just as consolingly as her smile did.

Aloy looked up at that face, covered in that familiar black shell and with that familiar line across the middle of said face, and smiled back, becoming filled with determination. That determination led Aloy to pick up her child's bow, nock one of her child-sized arrows to it, and draw it back, aiming at a nearby Grazer dummy. The arrow she loosed from that bow hit the target on its flank right in the middle of the yellow center, and she smiled.

"Guess I'll better practice for that 'one day' then," Aloy said to Eule with a smile, really a smirk, before she started practicing firing on the move. It didn't go as well as her stationary shot, but Aloy didn't stop practicing.

Vala whooped and joined her in that effort, with Minali sitting back to watch and work on carving something out of a piece of wood. Minali had told everyone that it was supposed to be a fox, and while it didn't look anything like a fox right now, Aloy had no doubt that it will be…one day.

"Okay, hold that there," Eule instructed as slowly dumped in salted ground boar meat, flavored with wild garlic, ginger, and Carja redthorn chili powder, into the Oseram meat grinder with one white glove-covered hand, while her other hand was busy turning the crank of said meat grinder.

Star did a magnificent job keeping the cleaned turkey intestine on the output end of the meat grinder as ground boar meat began filling said intestine. Soon, Star twisted and tied off a knot to end a sausage as another one began. By the time Eule ran out of meat to feed into the grinder, Star had an entire string of delicious red sausages lying on the wooden table.

"So that's a 'sausage'? Or 'vurst'?" Aloy asked incredulously as she peered just as incredulously at the strings of fat elongated spiced boar meat encased in turkey intestines. "It doesn't look yummy. It looks kinda gross, actually."

"Well, it may look that way to someone who's never had sausages before," Eule admitted, before smiling broadly down at Aloy. "But trust me! These…hmm, I was attempting to make Weißwurst but it turned out to be more Rotwurst in coloration instead, but oh well. These Rotwurstwill be delicious anyways, whether fresh or smoked. In fact, let's have some now fresh! I'll get the pot!" she said excitedly.

A bit later, Aloy was watching several of those sausages boiling in bubbling water.

"It still doesn't look yummy," Aloy commented.

"Just be patient, Aloy," Eule said happily as she walked outside with her large Oseram pan with a pat of boar lard sitting in it.

Even later, Aloy was watching Eule fry the sausages in that boar lard, turning them over regularly to ensure a nice, even browning.

"It kinda still doesn't look yummy…but it smells yummy," Aloy admitted.

Eule only hummed "Eulenlieder" happily in reply to that.

Finally, Aloy had a wooden bowl in front of her. In that wooden bowl was a bed of steamed watergrain. Atop that bed sat slices of fried boar sausage, colored bright red from the redthorn peppers. Those sausage slices half-covered the watergrain, with the other half being covered by wild carrots, onions, and other spring vegetables stir-fried in the sausages' own juices.

To complete the dish, Eule added a small pile of pickled ginger strips in the middle, to basically be a palate cleanser and appetite stimulator in between bites. They weren't the classic bright red of the Rotingwerwurzel due to the lack of red food coloring available in the Embrace, but with the vinegar pickling, it should still taste the same.

Eule watched excitedly as Aloy carefully picked up a slice of sausage with chopsticks, sniffed it carefully, and then at last, took a bite out of it. Her excitement turned into joy as Aloy's face practically lit up as she chewed.

"Ohhh! This is yummy!" Aloy declared as she popped the rest of the sausage slice into her mouth and chewed merrily.

"Indeed, it is," Rost agreed as he chewed thoughtfully on his own sausage slice, delivered to his mouth via wooden spoon rather than chopsticks. "It has been a long time since I've eaten sausage. I do admit, I miss Oseram food at times."

"Ah, so you miss Torvund's cooking, you mean?" Eule teased, knowing exactly what wasn't going to come.

Indeed, Rost simply gave Eule his usual dry look and replied: "There have been other Oseram merchants in the Embrace aside from Torvund."

"And you bought food from each of them, yes," Eule said, nodding at the misdirection.

Rost merely stared dryly at Eule before sighing, saying nothing more.

Star's only reply to all of this was to snicker, and even then, it was with a mouth as full as Aloy's was.

Eule's only disappointment for the night was that, alas, Aloy turned out to not be a fan of pickled ginger. In fact, upon eating just a single strip of it, Aloy immediately chugged down a wooden cupful of water, apparently to wash the taste out, and then gathered the entire pile of pickled ginger in her bowl to put into Star's bowl, who was more than happy to devour what Aloy didn't want.

"You tricked me. This isn't yummy. This is just really sour spiceroot," Aloy accused Eule, staring at the Simple Universal Light Replika with a look of childish disapproval.

To which Eule could only laugh nervously, and deny the charges leveled against her.

On the bright side, Rost turned out to love the pickled ginger just as much as Aloy hated it. The strong tastes of the side dish turned out to agree with him. Eule hummed happily at this, already imagining how he'll react the Rotkraut she had busy fermenting in a clay jar buried beneath the front yard. Certainly, she and Star were eager for it to be ready, and she can imagine that Rost would be too.

Indeed, the Rotkraut was ready the next day for eating, and just as indeed, Rost turned out to love it just as much as the not-Rotingwerwurzel. At least Aloy gave it a try before also dumping the Rotkraut into an eager Star's bowl. Fortunately, Eule already had a plan for Weisskraut in motion beneath the front yard which would hopefully persuade Aloy that not all pickled foods taste bad, if Eule replicated the sweet-sour taste of true Weisskraut successfully.

And if not, well, Eule can always fall back on stir-fried vegetables, which Aloy now seemed to have developed a taste for.

And so the culinary experiment-filled days went.

A black robotic hand gripped the edge of an exposed cliff edge as Eule pulled herself up it, groaning all the while. Her white gloves were gone for the moment, with Eule determining that it would be a bit of a detriment to this climbing practice, and might even rip on the rocky surfaces.

"Come on, Eule! You can do it!" Aloy shouted out encouragingly from above, having slowly but surely climbed her way up the cliff before Eule.

"Ohh, be careful, Eule," Star said in a very worried tone on the ledge where Aloy crouched, having also climbed her way up that very cliff Eule was currently climbing.

Even higher up, Rost watched Eule with a discerning gaze. Eule couldn't tell from where she was what his expression was, but she had little doubt that it was with the same insistent look he gave her when he convinced her and Star to join Aloy in climbing practice, insisting that "Such knowledge would be very useful to the both of you".

Thus, Eule was in her current predicament. She wanted to reply to that encouragement, worry, and determination; but right now, she was too busy concentrating on not falling. Granted, it wasn't a very long fall, and she thought she could likely survive it with minimal injury. She really didn't want to test that though, so she focused entirely on the next cliff edge, and the next one after that.

Even then, her foot slipped at one point, and Eule was left swinging that one narrow peg foot in the air for a few frantic seconds before that foot found purchase elsewhere, and she continued her climb.

Eventually, Eule pulled herself up a cliff edge, found herself on a flat surface big enough to crawl onto, and rolled over onto her uniform-covered shelled back, panting all the while.

"Good job!" Aloy shouted happily.

Star didn't say anything…in words. Her wordless cheer of joy was more than enough of a message for Eule.

Eule for her part didn't have the energy for words either. She merely gave both her lover and her favorite little Gestalt girl a thumbs-up.

Eule served three wooden bowls full of sliced sausage, stir-fried spring vegetables, and pickled ginger on steamed watergrain to Rashaman, Bashid, and Torvund; who all stared curiously at the dish.

"This Eule is proud to serve you all my signature Sausage Bowl. Enjoy!" Eule cheerfully declared, despite the formal bow she was giving her.

"Hmm, the way this is presented reminds me a bit of Sun-Seared Ribs," Rashaman commented curiously before he dug in.

"But with watergrain instead of grits," Bashid also commented before digging in himself.

Torvund didn't say anything until he had sampled every part of the dish, at which point he commented: "Sausage is good. Boiled and fried? Yeah, nice solid way to prepare sausage like this, and a good mix of spices as well. I would buy some of your smoked sausages if you have any extra, actually. I could use some for a good Meat in the Middle or for a nice addition to a bowl of Pot Stomp.

Eule smiled broadly at the Oseram merchant. "That is perhaps the finest compliment you could offer me. I would be more than happy to sell you some of my extras. We've made quite a bit, you see. Now perhaps then you might reciprocate by selling me some of your recipes for Meat in the Middle and introducing me to this…Pot Stomp, you mentioned? What is that, actually?"

Torvund grinned back, visible even through his overgrown beard. "I've still got some left over from my lunch. Let me grab you a bowl…and fine, I'll get you a bowl too, Star. By the Forge, you must have a bottomless mine shaft for a stomach."

Thus, Eule and Star found themselves with wooden bowls of…what looked like mashed potatoes, but with a lot more green in it than they were used to in mashed potatoes.

"I don't know what these 'potatoes' or 'kartoffel' are, but it is mashed mealroot mixed with broiled greens," Torvund explained upon being asked. "You just stir it all up together with a pinch of salt for flavoring, and you get Pot Stomp. It's a good solid meal: easy to make and will fill up your belly.

Indeed, as Eule dug in along with Star, Pot Stomp turned out to be as basic a dish as Torvund indicated. And yet, despite the lack of seasoning in it, there was something to be had for a simple dish of potatoes, or rather: mealroot, mashed together with vegetables.

"Of course, some meat is always a nice accompaniment to Pot Stomp," Torvund added, stroking his beard in thought.

"I would probably also add some garlic and ginger to it," Eule added as she finished off her bowl.

Torvund scoffed. "You like adding that ginger stuff to everything. Also, why do you call it that when everyone else just calls it 'spiceroot'?"

Eule blinked in confusion. "But Rashaman knew what I was talking about when I was buying it?"

"That is probably something unique to my tribe," Rashaman admitted sheepishly. "The word you used: 'ginger'? It's a word we learned from texts recovered from Old World ruins."

"You see, the Old Ones called spiceroot by that name," Bashid explained. "For us Carja, it was a spice recovered from deep in the Jewel, and subsequently grown in the Royal Maizelands. I was surprised that you called it by that name, really. Did your Eusan Nation also find that name among recovered Old World texts?"

Eule blinked owlishly at both Bashid and Rashaman. "Our Nation has always called it by that name. I don't even know if there was a time we didn't."

"Hmm, curious," Bashid said thoughtfully.

"Ah, no matter. As long as you're still one of my best customers, all is well!" Rashaman said with a laugh, before his face grew serious. "Although, it's because you're one of my best customers that I think I should tell you and Star: we may not be able to continue doing business for much longer here."

Eule looked at Rashaman in alarm. "What do you mean?"

Rashaman sighed. "We've been getting strange rumors from our regular suppliers. Very strange. It's…difficult to tell what's rumor and what's fact, but it's scaring them badly. Badly enough that fewer and fewer suppliers are willing to make the run to the Embrace. Without those suppliers, we'll have to close up shop and return to the Sundom."

"What kind of 'strange rumors' have gotten them so spooked?" Star asked.

"Rumors that are as disturbing as they are bizarre," Bashid added in with an uncharacteristically serious and depressed face. "The Sun-King going mad. The Sun-King sacrificing people in the Sun-Ring to the Sun in a blood-soaked ritual. The Sun-King ordering the capture of live Machines for that express purpose. Frankly, the rumors just get more and more wild with each telling. They can't be true."

Rashaman patted Bashid consolingly on his shoulder. "I'm sure much of it is exaggerated. We'll get to the truth of the matter soon enough.

"You'd better," Torvund muttered. "A mad and murderous Sun-King? Sounds like an honest merchant's worst nightmare."

Eule could only laugh nervously at this information, hoping that it was indeed an exaggeration.

"Okay, this is…a bit harder than I expected," Star commented as she trod upon a narrow wooden beam affixed to a wooden support by yellow ropes…which itself was affixed to a tree at a pretty decent height.

Star thought of this whole exercise as like the tests for drunkenness she and her sisters back in Rotfront did…only, this time, it was her walking on the thin white (or yellow, in this case) line instead. Just one foot at a time, one foot in front of the other, nice and steady.

At last, Star made it to the end of that wooden beam, and hopped across onto the square wooden platform on the next tree over, also secured to it by those same wooden supports and yellow ropes.

"Good job, Star!" Eule called from the platform behind Star, waiting for her turn to practice what Rost called "climbing exercises".

Star grinned over at her lover. "Nothing to it!"

Star's grin became slightly more strained as she watched Eule now attempt her own wooden beam walk. Even after all this time, she still worried about her Eule. The Eules' Overview file about how they were "unfit for combat" played back in her own voice unbidden in her mind. While Star knew that shouldn't necessarily translate to being physically unfit period, it didn't do much to make the little black butterflies stop dancing around in her motor.

Neither did the fact that Eule was having as much trouble as Star was in walking across that length of narrow wooden beam. It didn't escape Star's attention that Replika feet were still basically pegs despite the short toes, and feet with such small surfaces areas didn't lend themselves well to what amounted to tightrope walking minus the tightrope.

Star tried to assure herself that it was okay. She'd watched Eule spar with Rost to an enthusiastic degree, and climb with, if not as much confidence as their little monkey of a little Gestalt girl, then at least with far more confidence than a typical Eule likely would have. This beam walking would be just alright–

And that was when Eule overbalanced and slipped off the beam.

Star immediately started to dash forward to leap across and catch her lover before she could–

Eule caught the beam.

Star watched in disbelief as Eule's hands clutched the yellow-painted beam with a death grip, with said beam quietly creaking under the weight of even the lightweight Simple Universal Light Replika as Eule groaned.

"Eule, dear? Are you alright? Do you need help getting back up?" Star asked, trying hard to keep the frantic worry out of her voice at the sight of her Eule hanging several meters off the ground.

"No, it's alright," Eule called back in a voice that was only slightly strained. "I've got it."

There had been that part of Star's mind that, as ashamed as she was to admit it, still thought Eule was a helpless noncombatant who needed protecting.

That part quieted down considerably as Star watched her Eule pull herself back up onto the beam, using her arm and chest strength alone. She then watched as Eule carefully push herself back up into an upright position on the beam, and then, with a look of determination, carefully walked to the end of the beam, bunched both of her white legs, and then leaped.

By the time both of Eule's white feet planted themselves firmly onto the wooden platform, that shameful part of Star's mind ceased talking altogether as she embraced her lover and gave her a deep, loving kiss on her lips.

"Did you think I wouldn't make it?" Eule asked in a teasing tone.

Star gave a laugh that sounded nervous even to her, before admitting: "Yeah, I guess I kind of did. But well, you definitely showed me that I'm a dummy-head for doubting you," Star said sheepishly.

Eule's frown at Star's admission slowly turned into a sympathetic smile by the time Star finished speaking. Eule then raised up her hand, and gently poked Star in the nose. Star would've denied the resulting squeak to her sisters had they been around to hear.

"Well, perhaps then you'll have some more confidence in me the next time," Eule said in a slightly annoyed tone, before she said more gently: "After all, we're in this together. The laughter, the pain, and even the fights. I want to fight alongside you, Rost, and Aloy if things ever come to that. That's why I'm doing this."

Star smiled down at her Eule. "I know, and I'll be happy for that too. I probably won't stop worrying, but I want to see that day where I can be confident to have you at my side." Star's smile then turned into a grin. "Besides, I've seen your look when you're sparring with Rost. I think there's just a bit of Star or even Storch hidden in you. Just a bit."

"Oh, you!" Eule said with a laugh, playfully poking Star in the squishy biocomponent cheek.

Star giggled as she fended off the mock assault from her lover, before she then looked over at where Aloy was now climbing up the tree, using a combination of rings of yellow rope and wooden posts hammered into the tree as handholds. Like a monkey, the kid clambered up those handholds, and very quickly found herself on the end of the wooden bar Star had been traversing.

"You can do it, kid," Star said encouragingly, trying not to think about how high of a fall this was.

Aloy grinned and started to make her way across to Star, albeit with less confidence than she had climbing up.

Star's own confidence fell when Aloy overbalanced as she walked, just as Eule did, waving her arms as she tipped over.

"Kid–"

Star's words died in her throat as she watched Aloy catch herself on the beam with both hands, steadying herself before her feet could slip off.

"I'm okay!" Aloy insisted from her quadrupedal position.

Any worries that Star had about Aloy's condition, despite the kid's insistence, disappeared when Aloy got back up, and with a determined look on her face, ran across the beam to build up speed for the jump.

Star ended up stepping back along with Eule to make room for Aloy. By the time their little Gestalt girl leapt across the air and landed on the wooden platform, Star was grinning at Aloy.

"Good job, kid," Star said proudly, crouching down to give Aloy a hug.

Aloy's return hug along with Eule joining in on the hug felt like they made Star's biomechanical heart grow several degrees warmer.

Eule was reasonably certain this would work. It took quite a bit of work to cut this patch of black, textured Strider skin into strips, even with a kitchen knife made of that dark Oseram steel bought from Torvund, and the small frying pan she bought from him explicitly for this purpose had necessitated a trade of quite a few Shards, but finally, she had strips of Strider skin heating over a fire pit. A very outdoors-located fire pit, because she really didn't want plastic fumes to fill up their house.

"Think this is going to work?" Star asked curiously.

"Only one way to find out," Eule replied hopefully.

Slowly though, the strips of Strider skin began smoldering. Just as slowly, they began shrinking and bubbling. Eule ended up using a spatula (also purchased from Torvund) to keep moving the strips of Strider skin around as the acrid yet sweet smell of melting plastic began filling Eule's nose.

"Ooh!" Eule heard Aloy exclaim some distance behind her. "What are you cooking–hey!"

"Sorry, kid," Star apologized amidst the sounds of a struggling Aloy that was gradually getting further and further away from Eule's hearing. "You can't be coming near that now. We really don't want you to get poisoned by plastic fumes."

"Aloy, do as Star says," Rost advised from where he'd been standing as he watched this entire process.

Grateful to her lover and Rost for the save, Eule continued trying to melt down this Strider skin.

Unfortunately, the Strider skin refused to completely melt into a liquid. The best Eule could do was form and press the strips into a rough bar shape before taking the frying pan off the fire to stop the cooking process, and lifting the bar up with the spatula to lay down on a hexagonal section of Machine armor plate for cooling.

When that was done though, Eule had a black bar on that plate, roughly the same size and shape as a Eusan Nation ration bar.

"Huh, so that's what Machinestone looks like after you cook it?" Aloy asked curiously, having only now been allowed in closer, now that no fumes were coming off of it.

"It would seem so," Rost said dubiously, having wandered over to look at the results of Eule's cooking for himself. "Normally, I would advise against eating that, but I also have no idea how the bodies of you Replikas work, so if you say that it is safe for you and Star to eat, Eule, then I can only trust you on that."

"Oh, I'm reasonably certain that this is safe for Replika consumption. The only thing I am unsure about is the taste, so that is what we're going to find out," Eule replied as she reached down to pick up the plastic bar.

Only, when Eule picked it up, the plate came with it, with the bar having apparently stuck to the plate as it was cooling. It took a knife and some time working it under the bar at various points along its length, but Eule finally managed to break it free of its hold on the plate, which allowed her to finally snap it roughly in half, and hand one half to Star.

"Well, time to chow down on Ration K Prototype Substitute Bar, Version 0.1," Star commented wryly before she took a bite of the plastic bar.

Eule giggled at the naming scheme Star came up with before finally taking her own bite of the bar.

It was…not that bad. The taste was mostly as Eule hoped it would be: being that slightly sweet taste of plastic before turning more noticeably sweet as Replika saliva began pre-digesting the plastic. There was a noticeably acrid and bitter taste to it though that suggested that Eule had been cooking it on too high a heat, and so had burned the plastic. That was something Eule would have to watch out for in future attempts.

The texture was what surprised Eule though, and in a good way. It would seem that the layering of thin layers of Strider skin produced an effect similar to layers of crisp, flaky pastry. Indeed, this plastic bar was deliciously crispy, melting into sweet mushiness as bites of the bar were crushed between carbon steel teeth.

"Is it…tasty?" Aloy asked, with both incredulity and curiosity warring in her tones.

"It's…alright," Star replied before tossing the last bite of her half of the Ration K Prototype Substitute Bar, Version 0.1 into her mouth.

"The taste could be better, but at least it has a nice texture, even if I did make it by pure accident," Eule admitted.

"Hmm, but it didn't look yummy, and the bits I could smell didn't smell yummy either," Aloy noted with a thoughtful frown.

"Yeah, it's something unique to us Replikas," Star noted. "We can repair ourselves by injecting our wounds with plastic, after all. So it's only natural that we'd be able to eat it."

"Specifically: polyurethane foam is what we use in those Repair Sprays," Eule specified, before grinning sheepishly. "Although that's probably nitpicking to the point of uselessness there, especially since we don't have any of those Repair Sprays on hand to show you."

Aloy nodded in understanding along with Rost, before the little Gestalt girl peered curiously at the metal plate where the Ration K Prototype Substitute Bar, Version 0.1 had laid. Eule followed Aloy's gaze, and saw that there were still specks of black plastic stuck to the metal plate.

"But if you two think it's yummy," Aloy began, with Eule realizing with a sinking feeling where Aloy was leading to. "Then maybe I might try that–"

"No!" shouted Eule, Star, and Rost simultaneously.

"Aww," Aloy groaned in a disappointed tone.

Eule crouched down and gently laid a comforting hand on Aloy's shoulder. "Aloy, there are plenty of delicious foods that I can make for you that will be much more delicious than this plastic bar, and won't poison you if you try to eat it."

Aloy brightened up at that. "Ooh, like what?"

Eule had to think for a moment, but then something came to her. "Rost, Aloy, have you two ever heard of something called 'ramen'? Er, you might call them by something else. They're long, stretched out strings of unleavened dough cooked in boiling water. They can be eaten with or without soups, and typically with toppings and sauces added to them for flavoring or merely as an accompaniment to the meal."

Both Rost and Aloy shook their heads.

"This is the first I've heard of this 'ramen' that you speak of," Rost simply said.

Eule smiled excitedly. "Then both of you are in for a treat!"

Admittedly, Eule's attempts at making ramen noodles with the mixed wild grains that Rost has available during this season or stored from previous seasons' gatherings resulted in ramen that looked noticeably more brown and speckled with darker brown than the ramen she was used to in Rotfront. However, when cooked in water and served with slices of smoked boar and various spring vegetables (including green onion/springbulb) in a broth made from boar bones that would be otherwise discarded, the result was still absolutely delicious. With the oddly colored noodles even having a much richer taste than the beige noodles that were the staple of Rotfront ramen, even if they didn't have the springy chewiness the ramen back in Rotfront did.

And indeed, both Rost and Aloy were just as fond of ramen as Eule and Star were, and once Eule figured out how to make the ramen springy and chewy, she was certain they would love it even more.

Aloy stalked low towards her prey: a rabbit that was busy grazing on some tender greens. She could already imagine the taste of roasted rabbit. She did not stalk alone though. From just behind Aloy, she heard the now familiar sounds of steel and 'plastic' legs stalking along with her until Aloy stopped when she had judged herself to be just close enough.

"Here," Aloy breathed quietly to Eule.

"Right," Eule breathed just as quietly back in reply.

Aloy was impressed. Eule was already learning to sneak just as quietly as she could. Well, almost. It was why Eule was behind her, after all.

Putting that out of her mind for a moment now, Aloy drew back her child-sized bow.

At that moment, the rabbit suddenly stood up. As though it heard the sound of the bowstring being drawn back.

Aloy quickly loosed her arrow at it before it could bolt.

Alas though, the rabbit did bolt just as the arrow launched from the bowstring, and was quicker than the arrow was.

Aloy sighed in disappointment as she watched her arrow stick out of the dirt rather than out of a nice, tasty-looking rabbit.

"It's okay, Aloy," Eule consoled with a comforting pat on Aloy's head. "There's always more–"

The sound of a loud metallic thump immediately followed by an even louder thump from just beyond the tall grass ahead jarred Aloy out of her disappointment and Eule out of her consolation.

"Gotcha!" Star shouted in triumph from a short distance away where she stood with Rost, before she waved at Aloy and Eule with the hand that currently wasn't occupied holding a Sharpshot Bow. "It's okay! I got it before it could go after you or the kid."

"It" turned out to be a lone Watcher, now very dead with an arrow buried into its side. It seemed that Star's Sharpshot Bow had been so powerful that the arrow had slain the Watcher instantaneously. The Watcher's corpse was even still smoking a bit.

Aloy wanted to draw a Sharpshot Bow like that. One day.

"Honestly, this baffles and worries me," Rost said with a serious look on his face. "I've never seen Watchers just patrol like this on their own until now. Watchers always travelled in packs before so that they can watch out for each other as much as they watch out for the herds they guard. This makes no sense for them to do."

"Well, on the bright side, at least they're a source of easy kills now," Star consoled.

Rost merely grunted in agreement, not being able to deny that fact.

"Ooh, ooh! Can I try butchering it? Please?" Aloy asked excitedly, wanting to show everyone that she was a big girl now.

Rost nodded down at Aloy. "Alright. Show us that you have learned then."

Aloy gave a cheer and got to work, starting with the Watcher lens since it was the most valuable part. She knew that she wasn't yet strong enough to tear the entire Watcher eye out of its head like how she'd seen Rost do before. A few tugs on it confirmed that to Aloy.

So, Aloy did the next best thing: she took the rim of the lens in both hands, and carefully twisted it to the left until it came loose. She then kept spinning it left until she could pull the entire lens free of the eye, holding it up for everyone to see.

"Here, Star, your kill," Aloy declared proudly as she handed the Watcher lens to Star.

Star grinned down at her as she took the lens and carefully stowed it away in one of her unoccupied pockets, still numbering six in total for the Rule of Six reason that Aloy still didn't understand why Eule and Star followed.

"Good start on the butchering, kid," Star said warmly, emphasizing it with pats on Aloy's head. "That's a good amount of Shards for us. Think you're up for more?"

Aloy grinned back. "You bet!"

Aloy didn't get the rabbit…but this was just as good.

Eule watched Star drop from the rooftop, before turning around and holding out her arms. Eule happily obliged and dropped down, letting her lover catch her in her robotic black arms. Eule took the opportunity to lean forward and plant a kiss on her lover's lips. A kiss that they shared for quite a few moments before the heavy sound of Rost dropping down onto the ground next to them and the high-pitched sounds of Aloy's giggling made them reluctantly break that kiss. Star just as reluctantly put Eule back on the ground, and the two of them turned to survey the results of the hard work they'd been doing for the past several months, currently bathed in the orange light of dusk.

In front of them, where a fire pit once stood, there was now an entire new wing of Rost's…no, their house, extending some distance past the front porch and even past the right edge of their house, with the rightmost window on the front wall now gone, taken up by the new wing.

The new wing shared much of the same design as the rest of the house, being wooden walls lashed together with blue-dyed Machine wire and thatched with a roof of layers of wood shingles, each one Rost split by hand, with Eule and Star chipping in once Rost taught them how. A single chimney rose up from the left side of that roof, connected to a rock-lined fireplace below to give the new wing warmth and even a place to brew tea.

A single door stood on the right side of the wing's front, with a single window just to its left, and with the roof extending just over both to overhang them. Unseen from the angle everyone stood at, was a window on the right-facing wall and another window on the left-facing wall, with the three windows providing ample sunlight should they be opened.

That door though stood a very noticeable height above the front door, enough that Star didn't need to duck at all to get in. Even the door leading back into the rest of the house that Rost made was of the same height. Star had insisted that wasn't necessary, but Rost had been determined to make that accommodation, even going so far as to saw off parts of the upper wall to make room for that heightened door. Despite Star's insistence though, the sight of Star giving Rost a hug upon seeing those tall doors made Eule's biomechanical heart practically melt into warm plastic-melded biocomponent goo.

"It's perfect," Star said proudly.

"It truly is," Eule added, turning to Rost with a happy smile, wiping away the tears threatening to spill from her eyes. "Thank you, Rost, for this. Not just for the utility of this new wing, but for what it represents. For officially welcoming us as family."

Rost's reply was merely to look down at the ground, rubbing the back of his head. Even without the faint blush on his face, Eule could easily tell he was in one of his adorably embarrassed moods now.

Said blush only increased when Eule walked over to hug Rost, immediately followed by Star embracing both her and him in her robotic arms. Aloy joined in at the same time as Star, but alas, her arms were only long enough to encompass a small portion of the people in the hug. Mostly consisting of Eule's and Rost's legs.

"Okay, enough. Enough," Rost insisted as he pried himself loose from the group hug, if quite gently.

"Too bad you still don't have a bed in there though," Aloy noted.

"Yup. Just the wooden frame for a bed that's probably not going to be all that comfortable for sleeping on," Star added wryly.

"Unfortunately, providing the rest of the bed will be the hardest part," Rost added as he stroked his braided beard in thought. "Hunting and trapping the foxes and raccoons to make the bedding and blanket will take time, effort, and patience. We already have several skins, but it will still be some time before we have enough for a blanket, let alone bedding."

Eule could only nod at that, having participated in several of those hunts and having helped make some of those traps by now with her lover. "Fortunately, we still have our field bed, so it's not a pressing issue–"

"Oh, oh!" Aloy squeaked, hopping in place excitedly. "What about that field bed? Can't we just take the furs and blanket and just use them for the bed in there?"

Rost once more stroked his braided beard thoughtfully, but now with some hopefulness in his expression as well. "That…is certainly very possible. If you two don't mind me partially disassembling that field bed for it?"

"No, of course not!" Eule said excitedly. "In fact, it's the perfect solution! Thank you, Aloy!"

"Yeah, looks like we have ourselves a little Elster here," Star said affectionately, rubbing Aloy's head as she spoke.

Rost, as per his norm, said nothing, but his warm nod and smile down at Aloy spoke as much as any actual words.

Aloy, for her part, simply accepted the praise, both spoken and silent, and head-patting with a smugly proud look.

"Well, we had better get started then," Rost said at last. "If we want to get that bed ready for you two by tonight, it's best that we start Elstering now."

Eule started to nod, and then stopped when she realized what Rost just said. "Rost, did you just use the word 'Elstering'?" she asked with a grin.

Rost coughed. "Your tribe seems to hold these Elsters in high regard as crafters, so I believe it's only appropriate that I give my dues to their skill as well."

Star laughed and started patting Rost on the back. "Big guy, welcome to the world of Eusan Nation slang!" she declared with a happy grin of her own.

"I do wonder why you call me that, when you stand taller than me by about…" Rost held up a hand, raising it above his head until his fingertips reached the same height as the top of Star's head. "…a head's span in height. Maybe 35 cm, or close to it," he dryly estimated as a conclusion.

"Well, it's because you may be shorter than me, but you're also pretty long horizontally, but in a good way," Star quickly added when Rost's dry look at her turned drier. "Plus, you also have a pretty big heart that fits your size, so in every way that matters, you're a big guy to me."

Eule giggled at the sight of Rost staring at the ground, rubbing the back of his head, and faintly blushing once more.

It was the sound of those very giggles though that made Rost cough loudly, and ask: "So are you going to help me with that Elstering or not?"

Eule and Star both raised a robotic arm and happily voiced their affirmatives. Honestly, because there was something satisfying about Elstering one's own bed into existence.

Eule laid on the fox skin-covered bed she shared with Star, and the both of them were currently sharing with Aloy sandwiched in between them. To any outside observer, Eule was certain that they would've seen the three of them waving their arms and hands in the air in an oddly complex pattern for no apparent reason.

To anyone with a Focus equipped though, it would've been an entirely different sight.

"These Focuses can do so much," Eule commented idly as she scrolled through her Focus's menu options. "They're practically wearable desktop computers."

"What's a 'desktop computer'?" Aloy asked curiously.

"It's basically a Focus, but a lot bigger and heavier, and something only a Mynah can wear like a big cube-shaped hat," Star replied.

"Hmm, that doesn't sound like a very good Focus," Aloy concluded.

"Well, compared to these Focuses, no Eusan Nation computer is," Star added dryly. "Seriously, these things are practically magic. I don't even know how it's sticking onto our faces like this. Can't be magnets because it works on Gestalts too. Bioresonance tech, maybe? I don't dare try to take it apart to see if it's the case though, even if I knew what to look for if I hypothetically do take it apart."

Eule could only nod in agreement at Star, having thought along similar lines, before turning back to investigating her Focus and what it can do.

It was while scrolling through the available menu options that Eule came across something called "Screenshots". When she tapped the glowing option floating in the air to investigate further, it then turned into a pair of boxes one on top of the other. The top box read "Picture" while the bottom box read "Video".

Now with her curiosity even further aroused, Eule tapped on Picture.

And instantly, four L-shaped lavender marks appeared in her field of vision at the very edges, appearing in the corners of that field of vision as though it was the corners of a box encompassing it. At the top of her field of vision, equally as lavender text was now visible that said: "Blink three times to take picture."

Eule blinked in surprise at the odd message, but nothing happened. So out of further curiosity, Eule turned to look at Aloy and Star, who were both busy doing their own Focus investigations, and rapidly blinked three times in succession.

From her Focus, Eule heard the distinctly mechanical two-tone whine of a camera shutter, followed by a new message appearing in place of the Picture instructions that now reported: "Picture saved. Open in Picture Folder?"

Even a non-Eule could easily tell that the Focus was highlighting the "Picture Folder" with that underline for a reason, so Eule tapped on that next.

Eule was immediately brought to a screen similar to the Database menu option, but this one was labelled "Picture Folder" at the top instead, and this folder consisted of tiny pictures, with one blinking with a glowing border. Eule tapped on that one, which immediately expanded to fill much of her vision. The picture turned out to be a still image of the sight of Aloy and Star lying on the bed that Eule had taken before.

Eule was quite impressed. This effectively made the Focus somewhere between a wearable camera and a photographic memory module. It lacked the ability to respond to her thoughts the way the latter would have, but it more than made up for it by capturing those memories at a much higher image quality and resolution than any photographic memory module could ever take them at.

Honestly, Eule found this ironic. She'd been saving up her pay for one of the newer photographic memory modules–one of the new models that could take pictures in color, could store up to 36 visual memories, and even lets the Replika choose which memories to delete when it reaches capacity–so that she could preserve some memories of her time at S-23 Sierpinski. Only, that was now no longer possible…and then this Focus came along entirely for free. Eule's only regret now was not being able to preserve some visual memory of her sisters before they…passed.

Eule sighed in disappointment before turning back to her Focus screen to take her mind off of her sisters for now.

It was then that Eule noticed the other pictures in the Picture Folder. Out of curiosity, she tapped on one at random.

The image that filled her field of vision turned out to be a picture of a brown-skinned Gestalt boy. His round chubby cheeks and tiny frame indicated that he was no older than Aloy, and possibly even younger from the looks of him. Those cheeks though were dimpled in a wide grin, with the boy caught mid-laugh. A colorful, conical hat rested upon the boy's fuzzy black hair, and he was seated at a simple metal table with an adult's body in view sans face.

It was what rested on the table that made Eule go still though. Upon that metal table was a small, round cake decorated with white frosting and colorful sprinkles. Sticking out of that cake were five candles in a pentagon pattern, and in the middle of those candles, written in rainbow-colored frosting, were written the words: "Happy Birthday Isaac".

The forced cheer of Isaac's father saying: "Hi! Happy Birthday, Isaac! Daddy sure loves his little big man!" played back unbidden through Eule's mind, and she blinked back tears at the sight of this picture. Of course this Focus would contain such pictures. It originally belonged to Isaac's poor father, after all. Of course he would want to preserve him and his son's most precious moments within his device.

Looking through the other pictures, Eule found a similar pattern of pictures. Isaac pointing at a colorful animal in a children's book. Isaac asleep in a metal-framed bed, tucked in with fluffy blankets and a stuffed animal toy. There were even pictures of a brown-skinned woman, who had very likely been Isaac's mother if her constant presence with Isaac was any indication, and thus Isaac's father's wife.

Eule once more wondered what had happened to Isaac's father. Why did he just commit suicide right there, just after celebrating his son's birthday? It didn't make any sense no matter what Eule could think up. She just didn't have enough information to make that deduction, and she doubted that she ever would.

Thus, she put him out of her mind by going back to the option where her Focus asked her to choose between "Picture" and "Video". This time, she selected Video.

A similar screen to the Picture screen popped up in her field of vision now. Only this time, in the upper left corner of her vision, a red circle was present next to blinking white letters that read: "REC". Meanwhile, a timer had suddenly appeared at the bottom of her vision, counting up from 00:00:00. As Eule looked around, the last zero rose up by one every second. That timer was what told Eule that it took her six seconds to realize that the Focus was not just a camera, but a video camera as well.

"Amazing," Eule breathed, before realizing that she was recording essentially meaningless footage. "Er, stop recording?"

Thankfully, her Focus did in fact stop the recording, and then proceeded to ask her if she would like to save the video to the Video Folder. Eule told it "No", and then it proceeded to ask her if she would like to delete the video, to which Eule replied "Yes". Fortunately, it seemed that whoever programmed the Focus realized the possibility of user error.

By the time Eule closed the Screenshots menu, she felt two pairs of eyes staring holes into her, and turned to look into the very curious gazes of both Aloy and Star, silently asking with those very gazes what that was all about.

Those curious gazes turned into excited ones when Eule explained the Screenshots function.

"Oh, wow. A photographic memory module that can take both still images and video? With a capacity of apparently infinity? Who needs eye modules anymore when you have a Focus?" Star quipped. "Red Eye, this thing isn't just a mapping module–and a mapping module even better than our own–seriously, nice job finding that, kid."

Aloy said nothing, merely beaming proudly at Star in reply.

"But it's also even almost as good as my aiming module, so I barely need to use it unless I'm moving quickly," Star continued.

Eule nodded, and then stopped as she processed what her lover just said. "Wait, the Focus is also an aiming module? Really?"

"Yeah, you didn't realize?" Star asked. When Eule shook her head, Star explained: "You know that reticule that's always in the center of your vision when you have a Focus on? As it turns out, that reticule automatically tracks your weapon's aim instead of just staying in the center of your vision all the time. I don't know how it can tell when I'm aiming a weapon, but it can do that."

Now with her curiosity piqued, Eule wanted to test this Focus aiming module feature out. Getting out of bed and taking up her War Bow, Eule aimed at the front door leading outside. Just as Star said, the Focus reticule stopped following the center of her vision, and instead "stuck" to where her bow was aimed at. Even when she moved her bow's aim without moving her head, the reticule followed the weapon's aim.

"Whoa, the Focus really does help you aim," Aloy said from beside her.

Eule looked down to see Aloy having taken up her child's bow, and was also presumably staring at her moving reticule.

"Isn't it?" Eule noted excitedly. "It will be so much quicker and easier to aim a bow now."

Aloy's giggle and nod told Eule exactly what her favorite little Gestalt girl thought of that note.

And then an exaggerated groan made Eule turn back to Star.

"Ahh, my lovely Eule has left me all alone on our bed, forsaken!" Star said with all the melodrama she could muster. "All for a toy and a tiny mistress!"

Eule grinned at her lover amidst a giggling Aloy, carefully placed her War Bow back on the rack next to Star's Sharpshot Bow, and then proceeded to gracefully step towards the bed and climbed back onto it.

"Aww, don't you worry, my dear Star," Eule said as she laid down next to Star, snuggled up to her lover, and planted a kiss right on the corner of Star's mouth. "You won't have any fear of me leaving you alone on our bed for long. Not when you're so warm and soft in all the right places."

Star grinned back at her, and returned that kiss with a much more loving one on her lips. "Well then, shall we–"

Whatever Star had been about to say was interrupted by a small flying flame-haired bundle leaping into the air above Eule and Star with a loud cheer. For a moment, Aloy almost looked like she was a tiny Bioresonant girl defying gravity itself. But alas, gravity reasserted itself at the apex of Aloy's leap, causing Eule's favorite little Gestalt girl to land heavily on both Eule and Star's midsections.

"Oof!" Eule "said" along with Star, courtesy of the air driven out of their biomechanical lungs by the weight of a kindergartener landing on them.

"I wanna play too! Can I?!" Aloy asked excitedly.

Eule started to explain just why Aloy couldn't join in on her and Star's "game", but said explanation quickly broke down into giggles as the absurdity of the situation hit her. Star joined in on the giggles, followed immediately by Aloy as they all hugged and play-wrestled with each other.

All in all, while Eule did indeed want to enjoy some naughty games with Star, she had to admit that in some ways, these kinds of much more innocent games with Aloy were just as fun.

Rost carefully drew his War Bow, watching the lavender circle of light centered on where he was aiming his bow shrink as he pulled the bow back to full draw until it was as tiny as an insect to him. As he carefully relaxed the Machine wire bowstring back to normal, he watched as the circle just as carefully expanded back to full size with the action.

Rost was loathe to admit, but the Focus–cursed Metal World relic it may be–was incredibly useful. He had no need of the relic to assist with his aim, but it did allow him to make shots more quickly than aiming by eye alone. He can see just how useful that ability would be in the heat of battle, and would admit it…even if he felt like he was trying to pull one of his own teeth out in the process.

But…Rost would also admit that the Focus hadn't just become a tool of utility to him. It was also a way to connect with the new members of his family. Without the Focuses, Rost would never have been able to speak to Eule and Star this quickly. Oh, he had no doubt that he would've been able to learn this Eusan Standard Language that the people of their Eusan Nation tribe…eventually. And that was the key word. It would've taken time before he would've learned enough of their language just to speak to them on a conversational level.

Would Rost have grown so close to Eule and Star in such a short amount of time if he could barely even speak to them? Would Aloy? Honestly, Rost wasn't sure, but there was a big part of him that was relieved that he didn't have to find out, especially because of how much Eule and Star had become a part of his and Aloy's life.

Rost still found Eule and Star to be strange people. It wasn't just that they were of the Replika people, and so possessed bodies like that of Machines, but even stranger in some ways. Their ways could be just as strange. Rost would occasionally find himself unable to follow Eule and Star's conversations when the topic wandered into their home tribe's territory, and he still found their Rule of Six custom to be utterly bizarre, nonsensical, and self-harming in some, no, many ways.

Despite all that though, Rost now can't imagine not being able to trade off cooking with Eule, not being able to see Aloy fiercely spar with Star, not being able to hear Eule and Star's respective voices, none of it. Rost didn't quite know what to call the Replikas. Sisters? Additional daughters? He couldn't decide. But in the end, he couldn't deny that they had become a part of his heart, surely as he and Aloy had apparently become a part of theirs.

It was truly quite strange. Before all this happened, Rost would never have dreamed that he would go near a Metal World relic. Now though, he can't even dream of not having this Metal World relic on his temple. All because of Eule and Star. Truly, the All-Mother granted Her blessings in the strangest ways.

Speaking of, Rost had earlier heard laughter coming from Eule and Star's wing of the house. He could only sigh at this. This was the reason why Rost couldn't decide if Eule and Star were additional daughters or not. Both of them sometimes acted quite…childishly. Star far more so than Eule, but even Eule had her moments.

Again, the revelation of Eule being 5 years old and Star being 8 went through Rost's mind. Yes, the Replikas behaved like adults most of the time, but still…

Rost sighed once more, and decided to go check on them. He went in through the front door on the left, and climbed the ladder up to Aloy's room to tell her to go to bed.

However, Aloy's bed was predictably empty. With a third sigh, Rost climbed back down, and opened the door to Eule and Star's room a crack to tell Aloy, and possibly Eule and Star too, to get some sleep for tomorrow.

The words ended in his throat at the sight before him though.

Eule and Star were both fast asleep, their fox skin blanket only partially covering them. In between them, was Aloy, just as fast asleep, tucked in between the Replikas and hugging their Machine arms as though they were Ms. Duck and Ms. Strider.

Rost sighed in exasperation yet again, but there was affection mixed in this time. He quietly went over to the bed, reached down for the blanket, and carefully tucked the blanket up to all three of them.

It was then though that Rost felt the sensation of being watched. He peeked up at the trio's sleeping faces…only to notice that one of Star's eyes was not closed.

Rost had no idea how long Star had been watching him tuck everyone in, but his only reply was to give Star his driest stare.

Star's reply to that was to smirk at him before nuzzling up closer to Eule and Aloy, closing both eyes contentedly, but still with that amused smirk on her face.

Rost could only sigh for one last time, shaking his head at Star's cheekiness before walking towards the door back into the house, towards his own bed waiting for him.

And yet, as Rost did so, he had a soft smile on his face, silently wishing all three of them pleasant dreams in the process.

If only he knew…

A three-tone note kept playing over and over and over again. Low, medium, high, repeating in an endless sequence.

Aloy moaned in her sleep, wondering what was making so much noise.

"Attention, attention," a woman's tired voice spoke.

Aloy wondered who the voice belonged to as she tried to get back to sleep. The voice was too low-pitched to be Eule, but too high-pitched to be Star.

"39486…39486," the woman's voice continued in that same tired tone.

Aloy reached down to pull Eule and Star's fox skin blanket over herself, but was confused when her tiny reaching hands found nothing but her own clothes.

"60170…60170," the woman continued.

Aloy's questing hands found the bedding, but was even further confused when her hands did not meet the fox fur she was expecting to touch. Instead, it seemed to be some kind of…leather? Covering something faintly squishy underneath, but there was precious little of it.

"24326…24326," the woman continued still.

Not only that, but there was a dim light coming in through Aloy's closed eyes. A light…coming from the ceiling? Why was there light coming from the ceiling? Did something knock a hole in the roof?

"01064…01064," the woman continued endlessly, her voice still weary but seemingly not stopping despite that weariness.

Now chilly, thoroughly confused, and just as thoroughly annoyed by the woman's voice constantly saying those apparently meaningless numbers, Aloy finally woke up.

Aloy saw the strangest sight. Above her, the ceiling looked like it was made of some kind of…stone? It was so smooth though, and it looked kind of dirty though, like people had been making it dirty for a while, and no one cleaned it up.

Just to the left though, there was a circle made of metal. At the center of the circle, was some kind of…thing making white light. It wasn't very bright, but it was brighter than a candle's light, and it didn't flicker like a lit candle did. The metal circle seemed to be capturing the light, and…focusing it down. It reminded Aloy of the weird lights in the Metal World facility, but white instead of that pale purple color.

Aloy might not know what that light circle was, but she did know this: this was most definitely not Eule and Star's room, and the woman's voice coming from just outside her field of vision was definitely the voice of neither Eule nor Star.

Aloy scrambled to her feet and looked at the source of the unknown woman's voice.

The source of the voice– sitting in a chair made of metal tubes and…white stone–turned out to indeed be a woman. A woman with long hair as white as her dress, and skin so pale that it looked like she had never seen the sun before in her life. Aloy's jaw fell open upon realizing that the Ghost Woman had somehow taken her here.

Aloy peeked further left, and saw a door. It was a strange door made of the smoothest wood Aloy had ever seen, and was painted a red that made it look like it was painted with blood. Even weirder, there were a pair of small holes in the right side of the door that emitted a weirdly red light. The hairs on the back of Aloy's neck stood up at even that glimpse of that red, blood-colored light, but alas, that door was also the only visible way out. The Ghost Woman hadn't noticed her yet, so Aloy figured that she could maybe sneak out that way if she was quiet enough.

But…Aloy listened to the Ghost Woman repeat those numbers over and over again. Always groups of five numbers, each group repeated once before the Ghost Woman moved on to the next group. Aloy had never heard someone sound so…tired before. Like the Ghost Woman wanted to sleep, but she didn't want to or couldn't for some reason. Aloy had also never heard someone sound so sad and lonely before. Aloy wondered what was making the Ghost Woman sound like that, and why she was just repeating those numbers without stopping.

Her curiosity and compassion both now thoroughly aroused, Aloy stepped forward to get a closer look at the Ghost Woman, stopping only when she was just in front of a wooden table with a weird metal boxy device with a big square glass lens on it, and a flat box covered in square buttons in front of that metal and glass box (there was also a wooden shelf with thin boxes stacked vertically on it above, but Aloy only glanced at them before ignoring them), which allowed her to see the Ghost Woman from the side, and thus, finally see her face.

The first thing Aloy noticed were the Ghost Woman's eyes, which had been closed before when she had been standing over Eule and Star, but now were fully open. It was the first time Aloy had ever seen anyone with eyes as red as wild ember flowers, and Aloy thought they looked really pretty, especially with the red face paint under the Ghost Woman's eyes, so like that of Star. However, Aloy could also see that the Ghost Woman had bags under her eyes, like she hadn't slept for a long, long time.

The Ghost Woman's face was also kind of thin, like she hadn't eaten for as long as she hadn't slept. The Ghost Woman also had a bunch of bandages on her face, as though she'd been injured a lot. Aloy also saw…that there were bald patches on the Ghost Woman's hair? Like patches of it had fallen out? Only…Aloy blinked, and the bald patches were gone, replaced with long white hair that looked as if they had always been there. Aloy could only think that she had imagined those bald patches…maybe.

Even more weirdly though, Aloy could see that the Ghost Woman's hands and feet were…weird. They were both a dark purple color, like they were just one big bruise. Aloy can't even imagine how it was possible to get injured so that you could bruise your entire hands and feet, and even just past them.

Aloy was further confused though, not just by the Ghost Woman's hair, hands, and feet. Aloy had been staring at the Ghost Woman's face from right next to her, and yet the Ghost Woman didn't appear to notice. Yes, the Ghost Woman had some kind of weird hat made up of two circles connected by a thin band that covered both ears, but Aloy knew that even she would've noticed someone staring at her from that close. And yet, the Ghost Woman was only interested in repeating her numbers into another metal box covered in buttons, lights, and glass lenses; and nothing more.

A chill ran down Aloy's spine. Was the Ghost Woman really a ghost of the Forgotten? Did she not notice Aloy…because she was caught between life and death, and couldn't pass on?

Aloy was now both scared…and morbidly curious. Determined to see if the Ghost Woman was really a ghost, Aloy reached out with a tiny index finger, and gently poked the Ghost Woman in a part of her cheek that wasn't covered by a bandage.

Aloy's finger encountered warm, squishy cheek, so that alleviated Aloy's fear that the Ghost Woman was a ghost.

Except that now there was the brand new problem of the Ghost Woman squeaking in shock, and then spinning around to face Aloy, both arms held up to block…nothing.

Aloy, for her part, squeaked in just as much shock and jumped back, standing in a spear-fighting stance to block with…nothing.

Aloy and the Ghost Woman spent the next few moments just staring at each other in surprise, frozen in their respective defensive postures and blinking in confusion.

Then the Ghost Woman slowly reached up and took off her weird, ear-covering hat, placing it on the empty spot on the wooden table in front of the buttons and lights-covered box.

"Hello?" the Ghost Woman asked, sounding unsure of what to say.

"Hi?" Aloy replied, also sounding just as unsure.

Silence continued for another moment as Aloy and the Ghost Woman stared at each other.

"Umm, may I ask what you are doing here, in my room?" the Ghost Woman asked.

"I…I don't know," Aloy admitted. "I just woke up here on this…bed?"

"Oh, that's my bed…but that just makes things even more confusing, admittedly," the Ghost Woman said, with a slight smile forming on her pale, bandaged face.

Now that the Ghost Woman pointed it out, she had a weird bed. To Aloy, it looked and felt like just a big rectangular leather pouch filled with something soft to make it comfortable to sleep on. No blanket or pillow…and bed even had a thick layer of dust on it. As if the Ghost Woman hadn't slept in her own bed for a long, long, LONG time.

"Your bed is weird. Where's everything that you need for a bed? Your blanket? Your pillow?" Aloy asked curiously.

The Ghost Woman looked to the bed Aloy was standing on, staring at it with a confused look. "Honestly, I don't know. I had both, but they seem to be gone now. I couldn't tell you where they went even if I tried."

Aloy tilted her head at the Ghost Woman. "Did someone take them? But if they did, someone took them a long time ago, because of all the dust."

The Ghost Woman just continued staring at her bed with that look of confusion. "I really don't know. Only Auntie and Uncle lived here too, but I can't imagine why they would just take my blanket and pillow, and nothing else. The dust though…I feel like I should know why, but I…I can't seem to remember."

The Ghost Woman looked even more confused and sad at that.

"Are you okay, Ghost Woman?" Aloy asked in concern.

"I…I don't…wait, what did you just call me?" the Ghost Woman asked, shifting her gaze to Aloy now with a look of astonishment. "Ghost Woman?"

Aloy felt a warm blush rising onto her cheeks. "Umm, I'm sorry, Ghost-er, I'm sorry. I didn't know your name and what else to call you, so your white hair and skin made me think of a ghost of the Forgotten and…uhh…I'm really sorry."

The Ghost Woman stared at Aloy for a few more moments before, to Aloy's aghast embarrassment, started giggling.

"I'm sorry, but that's just…hee-hee!" the Ghost Woman giggled some more before, much to Aloy's relief, she got herself under control. "It's okay though, I've been called far worse. Oh, but I'm sorry, where are my manners?" the Ghost Woman then held out her bruised right hand to Aloy. "My name is Ariane Yeong. What's yours, Flame Girl?"

Aloy's embarrassed look turned into a grin at the nickname. Well, she deserved it for calling Arianyong a "Ghost Woman", and Rost, Eule, and Star all said that her hair was the color of flames anyways.

Aloy happily took Ariane's right hand with her own, and gently shook that bruised hand to not further injure it, feeling Ariane's slightly cold hand. "Hi, Arianyong!" she cheerfully repeated.

"Arianyong" giggled at Aloy. "No, silly! It's two names, not one. Ariane is my first name, and then Yeong is my second name."

"Arian…Yong? No, you said something more like…Ariane…Ye-ong? Yeong. Ariane Yeong…what a weird name," Aloy said in a puzzled tone. "Why would you need two names?"

Ariane gave Aloy a look combining confusion and amusement. "Well, Ariane is my personal name, and Yeong is my family name. Don't you have those too?"

"Nope! My name's Aloy, and just Aloy!" Aloy proudly declared.

Ariane smiled at her. "Just Äloy, eh…such a strange name, and truly nothing else?"

"Well, other people sometimes call me 'The Outcast Girl', but that's not my name, and I don't have any other name," Aloy commented. "Rost said it's because the Nora see all their kids as being everyone's kids, so that's why all Nora have only one name, so that's why my name is Aloy."

Ariane tilted her head curiously at Aloy. "Huh, this is the first time I've ever heard of that kind of custom, but it's fascinating nonetheless. Anyways though, nice to meet you then, Äloy."

"Heh, you say my name wrong too," Aloy giggled. "It's 'Aloy', not 'Aeloy'."

"But I did say Äloy…no, no, you say the 'Ä' with a weird accent. Like…A-loy? A-loy…Aloy?" Ariane asked.

"There! You got it!" Aloy happily said.

Aloy and Ariane smiled and giggled at each other as they continued shaking hands.

"So…may I ask what the story behind that 'Outcast Girl' title you mentioned before is?" Ariane asked just as curiously as she looked. "I can't imagine a little one like you doing anything bad enough to deserve being called something like that."

"I wish I could tell you, but I don't know too," Aloy said with a groan. Upon seeing Ariane's confused look, Aloy continued: "I'm an outcast from the Nora, but I don't know why. Most everyone doesn't know why either, and the few that do won't tell me. Stupid oath of silence. Why promise to keep why I'm an outcast a secret? What's so bad about it?"

"…So your people charged and sentenced you for a crime that they won't tell?" Ariane asked quietly. "What is even your punishment anyways?"

"Same as any other outcast. No one is supposed to talk to me, touch me, or act like I even exist, because that would be breaking the law," Aloy said bitterly. "It's been like that since as long as I remember."

"…That's awful," Ariane said sadly and just as bitterly. "And it's been that way for that long…how old are you? 5 seasons? 6?"

Aloy looked blankly at Ariane. "I don't know how long a season is, but Rost said I was about 6 years old."

"Years? Are you Vinetan?" Ariane asked curiously. "I've only ever heard Erika and Isa call seasons by that name, so you must be from Vineta, yes?"

"Umm, I don't know. I've heard Eule and Star say something about Vineta before, but I don't know if Nora lands is Vineta or not," Aloy admitted.

Ariane tilted her head curiously at Aloy, before shaking it. "No, that's not important right now. Your people charged you for a crime that called for that kind of punishment…and you can't even remember when this wasn't the case. You had to have been a…a toddler at most. That's…that's so sad."

Aloy could only nod at that.

Ariane's mouth set in a grim line. "Your people don't sound very nice. Just like mine, I guess."

Aloy nodded at that once more. "But…it's not all bad now. Things have been getting better. I have friends now: Vala, Minali, and Teb. All of them are breaking the law just to talk and play with me, but they're still doing it. I felt really lonely before with just Rost, but now I'm not. All because of Eule and Star. All because…of you."

Ariane blinked at Aloy multiple times, each in increasing levels of confusion. "Me?"

Now it was Aloy's turn to blink at Ariane in confusion. "You don't remember? You were standing over Eule and Star while they were sleeping. You were even wearing those same really thin white clothes. Aren't you cold in that?"

Indeed, Ariane's clothes were so thin that Aloy could easily see the outline of Ariane's nipples on her breasts.

Ariane looked down at where Aloy was staring, and then quickly used her free hand to cover her chest.

"Wait, where are you even looking?!" Ariane half-shouted in embarrassment, before her look turned thoughtful as her blush slowly faded. "Well, fortunately, it's not that cold here…but…no, I don't remember doing any of that. Sorry. I think…maybe you have the wrong person?"

Aloy shook her head. "I'm sure you're the Ghost Woman from before. Even if you don't remember though, thank you for bringing Eule and Star to me, Ariane Yeong. Really, thank you."

Ariane's blush returned once more, this time for a different reason. "I can't help but feel a bit weird at someone thanking me like that for something I don't remember even doing to people I don't even know…but you're welcome all the same," Ariane finished with a soft smile at Aloy.

Aloy smiled right back. "Maybe…if it's okay with you…can we be friends? Outcasts can't talk to other Nora, but we can talk to outsiders without breaking the law. And if you're from where Eule and Star are, then you have to be an outsider, and then you can be my friend…that is, if you want to…please?"

Ariane blinked in surprise at Aloy, before smiling once more, this time though, with a bit of sadness to it. "I…I don't think you want to be friends with me."

Aloy looked Ariane in the eye. "I really do."

Ariane looked down at the floor, which to Aloy looked to be made out of the same weird rock as the ceiling and walls.

"You really don't," Ariane quietly insisted, looking back up to meet Aloy's eyes with a haunted look. "You'll just get hurt by being friends with me. Just like Erika and Isa."

"Not me! I won't get hurt!" Aloy proudly declared, before her expression turned just a bit sheepish…but just a bit. "At least, when I become the Bravest of the Braves, I won't get hurt that easily."

Ariane now tilted her head at Aloy in combination confusion and curiosity, both for the moment eclipsing the haunted look for now. "'Bravest of the Braves'? I assume that there's a story behind that? One you might tell me, perhaps?"

Aloy nodded eagerly, eager to not see Ariane so sad and unhappy again. "See, the only thing I know about me being an outcast is that it's got something to do with my mother. Rost is better than any father, so I don't really care about that, but my mother…Rost said all Nora revere their mothers…and I don't even know my mother.

"And that's why I have to be the Bravest of the Braves. There's a Proving that all Nora who want to be Braves have to do to be Braves, but whoever gets first place on the Proving run gets a boon from the High Matriarchs, er, our leaders. The boon lets me ask for anything, even who my mother is and why I'm an outcast. So I have to get first place, or else I'll never be able to find out who my mother is," Aloy finished, with a look of both sadness and determination in her green eyes.

Ariane tilted her head once more at Aloy. "You can't take this Proving again and again until you get first place?"

Aloy shook her head. "Rost said that finishing the Proving makes you a Brave no matter what, and that Braves can't retake the Proving to get that boon. So I need to finish first when I run in the Proving, no matter what."

Ariane nodded. "I see. One chance only. I hope you win that Proving, and hopefully get to meet this mother of yours," she said with a smile.

Aloy grinned back in reply. "I hope so too! My mother is probably going to be really pretty and really nice like Eule, and really strong and really funny too like Star, oh, but also really smart and really wise like Rost, so she'll be great to meet!" she said happily before asking hopefully: "That means we're friends now, right? Right?"

Ariane sighed, but there was a smile along with that sigh. "Alright, if you insist, Flame Girl," she replied quietly.

Aloy gasped in joy, and immediately abandoned the handshake in order to step forward and hug Ariane. "Thanks, Ghost Woman! We'll be good friends!"

Aloy thought Ariane felt kind of cold the moment she began her embrace of her new friend; a notion which was only reinforced by the way Ariane went stiff in surprise at being hugged. Then Aloy felt Ariane relax, and then giggled in joy when Ariane's arms returned the embrace, feeling warmth slowly build up in Ariane's body.

"Thank you," Ariane quietly said, with the desperate warmth of a flickering ember behind it.

"You're welcome!" Aloy sunnily replied before releasing the hug and dialing it back down to a warm smile. "I'm glad you're happy now though. You looked like you were really sad before, when you had that weird hat on and you were saying all those numbers. Why were you just saying a whole bunch of numbers over and over again anyways?"

"'Weird hat'?" Ariane asked in confusion. Her eyes then turned to look at where Aloy was pointing in reply, and she started giggling. "Okay, first of all, this is a headset, not a weird hat. It's just for directing messages from the radio directly to my ears."

"Ohhh, radio. Like what Eule and Star and the Machines use," Aloy nodded sagely.

"I suppose?" Ariane replied in an amusedly confused tone, before frowning. "As for your other question, I was…I was…I…I don't know. I just feel like I have to send the numbers out because…because…I think I'm trying to call someone, to find them, but…I can't seem to remember who…someone important, but I can't…"

"Oh, oh! Maybe you could tell me about this person?" Aloy asked eagerly. "I'm a hunter in training, so I can track this person down no problem!"

"I'm trying, but…I can't remember," Ariane said in a mix of sadness, confusion, and despair that made Aloy's heart sink. "Why can't I remember anything? I feel like this person should be important, but whenever I try to remember this person, I just get…nothing. I'm trying to remember, but nothing comes to mind, but I feel like this person is the most important thing to me, but…I can't remember."

"It's okay, Ariane," Aloy said hurriedly, trying to keep Ariane from spiraling down into depression. "Rost said that 'Patience is one of the best virtues a hunter can have', and I'm not good at this patience thing yet, but if you wait a while, maybe you can remember who this person is? So don't give up!"

To Aloy's relief, Ariane's frown turned back into a smile at her, however faint it was. "I hope so, and thank you. This Rost person you keep mentioning though sounds very wise indeed."

Aloy nodded eagerly. "He is! Rost is the best hunter in the world, and he's better than any father too! He even hunted birds for the feathers for my hairband, you know!" she said proudly.

"Oh, I've been meaning to ask about that. Those feathers are so beautiful," Ariane commented curiously, making Aloy's chest puff up even more in pride. "But birds though? I suppose you are from Vineta after all, for birds to be where you live. May I ask what kind of bird those feathers came from? I've never seen feathers in such a vivid blue before."

"Oh, Rost said that they were feathers from a bird called a 'magpie'," Aloy replied thoughtfully.

"Magpie," Ariane repeated.

"Rost said magpies are really smart and like to steal shiny things to put in their nest, so I like them. They're kind of funny…Ariane?" Aloy now asked in concern.

"Magpie…magpie…Elster…that…that sounds familiar. Why?" Ariane asked no one as she held her head, gripping her temples. "Elster…Elster…Elster…Elchen, Elchen, Elchen…it hurts."

Aloy jumped back just in time to avoid a spray of blood splattering onto the strange stone floor. She watched in horror as her new friend continued vomiting blood onto the floor, so much so that it pooled warmly around Aloy's moccasin-clad feet.

"Ariane!" Aloy cried out in shock and worry.

"Elster, where are you? It hurts. Please, help," Ariane got out just before she vomited out another spray of blood.

Aloy steeled herself, and ran to Ariane, ignoring the blood splashing onto her moccasins. "Ariane, what's wrong?! Why are you throwing up blood?!"

Ariane looked up at Aloy, her red eyes unfocused. "Elster? No…Aloy?" she asked listlessly.

Aloy only now realized that when Ariane spoke, there was now a gap in her front teeth. A quick glance down revealed that very front tooth now lying on the floor, the yellowish-white of the incisor readily visible among the red of the blood, increasing Aloy's worry for her new friend. That worry only increased when she saw the bruises on Ariane's hands and feet slowly creep up her limbs, following the lines of Ariane's veins as though they were malevolent worms bent on spreading into the rest of Ariane.

Ariane's question though made Aloy think, metaphorical wheels turning in her head as she put the pieces of the puzzle together.

"Ariane, is the person you're looking for this Magpie person? This Elster?" Aloy asked, hoping that it won't make Ariane worse.

"I…," Ariane coughed, splattering Aloy's shirt with blood, but Aloy gently patted Ariane's shoulder and held her hand, ignoring the wet feeling of Ariane's hand and hoping it would comfort her a little, before Ariane looked back up at her. "I think…my head hurts when I think of Elster…but…I don't want to stop thinking about this Elster too."

"Okay, Elster, Elster…ooh, I know! I can help you find this Elster person!" Aloy offered.

"Can't," Ariane got out in between another blood-splattering coughing fit, before she quietly continued: "I can't even remember what this Elster person even looks like. How can you even-"

"I can!" Aloy insisted. "Rost taught me how to track, and that works on animals, Machines, and humans. Really, I'll find this Elster person for you. I promise."

Ariane just groaned, the bruising continuing to slowly creep up her arms and legs. "Why would you promise such a thing? For someone you just met?"

"Because you're my friend," Aloy said with determination.

Aloy then had an idea. She reached up with her free hand to her hairband: a simple strip of leather keeping much of her flame-colored orange hair out of her face, pulled off one of the two magpie feathers–still vividly blue even over a year after Rost hunted the magpie for them–stuck in there with loops of string, and presented it to Ariane.

"Here, for you," Aloy insisted. "For my promise to prove that I'm not lying, and so it can help you remember this Elster person. Since magpie is her name? I think?"

Ariane reached out and gently took the magpie feather with her own free hand. Aloy watched as Ariane clutched the feather shakily, examining the vivid blue and rainbow-y colors of the magpie feather with a trembling grip, as though even the weight of the feather was almost too much for her.

"It's beautiful. Truly, it is," Ariane said softly before looking back up into Aloy's eyes. "And truly, thank you, Aloy. For this, for your offer, and for your friendship."

Aloy sighed in relief as she watched Ariane's bruising recede until they were back in her hands and feet. They still didn't look okay to Aloy, but at least they were back to normal, and Ariane wasn't coughing and throwing up blood.

"You're welcome again," Aloy said happily, if a bit more quietly than she usually would. "Maybe you might want to sleep a bit now? You looked really tired, even before you started throwing up blood."

Ariane's smile turned sad again. "I do, I really do, but…I feel like it's been a very long time since I slept. Or maybe I'm not getting any rest when I sleep? I can't tell anymore. Honestly, I feel like I'm losing my mind at times, and I just keep forgetting that."

Aloy frowned at this, and a look of determination emerged onto her small face. "Hold on, stay right there."

Aloy let go of Ariane's hand, noticing that her hand was now smeared in Ariane's blood. She frowned in worry at the blood, but ignored it to step over to Ariane's leather bed, still covered in dust. She then took one end of it, wiped her blood-covered hand on the bottom of the bed, and then lifted it up with a grunt of effort before swinging it down, giving it a hard thwap!

Instantly, the air in the small room was filled with dust, cascading down through the air like snow in the dim light emitted by the metal circle above. Aloy coughed at all the dust, as did Ariane, but soon, that coughing subsided with the dust as it settled down.

"There! Now there's no more dust on your bed!" Aloy said proudly, before looking around the room. "Okay, now what can I use as a pillow…oh, I got it!"

Aloy took a short step towards a big piece of colored cloth hanging on the wall. It was a bit faded and had some weird stains on it, but Aloy could clearly still make out the black, red, and yellow stripe pattern on it, with the center having something that looked like an Old World relic surrounded by a trio of white stars, all with a pair of golden ears of wheat wrapping around it all, ripe for gathering.

Aloy, for her part, had no idea what the colors and the symbols meant. All she saw was a really big piece of cloth that looked like it was the softest thing in the room. Thus, resulting in her grabbing hold of the cloth.

"Um, Aloy?" Ariane said uncertainly. "That's–"

Alas, before Ariane could finish what she was saying, Aloy gave the cloth a hard tug, and ripped the whole thing off from the pair of pins holding it up. Amidst Ariane's surprised (nay, shocked) gasp, Aloy then climbed up onto the wooden table (after hopping up a few times without any success) to take one of the thin boxes on the shelf–which turned out to have a nicely drawn picture of a pretty black-haired woman wearing red armor and standing in front of a night sky with…what Aloy thought looked like two moons on it (and did that make Aloy confused)–and folded up the cloth around that box until she had a bundle that was…admittedly, still very thin: little thicker than Rost's cape. However, when placed at the head of Ariane's bed, it made a serviceable pillow.

"All done!" Aloy said in triumph, before walking over to take a still-shocked Ariane–her mouth hanging wide open-by the hand. "Come on, lie down there."

Soon, Ariane was lying down on her bed, with her head resting on Aloy's makeshift pillow, having stopped caring about what her head was lying on.

"Huh, you know, this almost feels like the old days," Ariane commented idly, before turning to look at Aloy with a smile. "Of course, I don't remember you being a part of my school years."

Aloy giggled in reply, wriggling in closer to Ariane on the tiny bed.

Ariane could only giggle in response to that. "So any explanation as to why you're sharing my bed with me, Flame Girl?"

"Well, Eule and Star say that when I sleep with them, they both get less nightmares," Aloy happily explained. "So I thought that maybe if I sleep with you, you'll sleep easier?"

Ariane's giggles turned into a quiet laughter for a moment before she hugged Aloy to her, still clutching the magpie feather in her hands. "Hopefully, I will, especially if this Eule and Star say so…and I do wonder now about the names you call them, but I'm tired now. I'll ask in the morning. Good night, Aloy."

"Night, Ariane," Aloy said as she hugged Ariane back and closed her eyes, and soon drifted off to sleep in Ariane's arms.

For a moment–a very strange moment–Aloy felt like she was lying in warm…water? And yet, she was still able to breathe, so it felt so weirdly comfortable. So comfortable that she felt she could lie in it for eternity.

Then Aloy's eyes snapped open.

The first thing she saw was the dried grass on wooden supports that made up the roof Rost's house, and also made up Eule and Star's room. Sunlight streamed in a window on the far wall as it rose in the east.

"Ari…Ar…A…huh?" Aloy asked in confusion. She had the name of someone on the tip of her tongue, but now that she was awake, she can't remember anymore. She thought that it must've been a dream, even if she can't remember what that dream was now.

A soft murmur came from Aloy's left.

Aloy's head turned in that direction, expecting to see someone.

And see someone she did: Eule blinking slowly and yawning, just waking up. Eule then turned to look at Aloy with her now very familiar blue eyes and red pupils, and smiled warmly. "Good morning, Aloy," she said happily.

"Morning, Eule!" Aloy replied just as happily, before turning around to look at her other side, thinking that whoever she was looking for was there.

And so she did see someone: Star still sound asleep, snoring away with a trickle of dried drool running in a path down from the corner of her mouth, reaching all the way to the black shell covering her cheek there.

Aloy couldn't help it. She started giggling at the sight, the fading memory of looking for someone vanishing with the hilarity.

The giggling finally aroused Star from her slumber, who woke up with a surprised snort, and turned to look at Aloy as well. "Morning, kid," she said with a smile, rubbing her familiar red-underlined eyes as she did so.

"Morning, Star!" Aloy replied just as happily.

"Good morning, dear," Eule also replied, smiling cheekily down at Star as she propped herself up on a black robotic arm.

"Good morning to you too, love," Star replied as she too propped herself up, and added to that morning greeting with a good morning kiss.

Aloy giggled at the familiar sight of Eule and Star being kissy-kissy above her.

"Hey kid, did you lose one of your feathers in your sleep or something?" Star asked when her good morning kiss with Eule was over.

Aloy just stared at Star in confusion.

"Oh, you're right," Eule added. "There's one missing."

Aloy reached up to her headband, to where the familiar magpie feathers were. To her shock, one was indeed missing.

"Ack! Did it fall?!" Aloy shouted in shock and dismay, now lifting up pillow and fox skin blanket, trying to find one of the precious magpie feathers Rost hunted for her.

Alas, Aloy never found that feather, but fortunately, Rost had another magpie feather in storage from that same magpie he hunted, all in preparation for such an eventuality. Thus, Aloy was happy again now that she had two feathers in her headband again.

With even the faintest echoes of her dream long since evaporated into the aether.

Ariane Yeong laid still in her cryopod aboard what remained of the good ship Penrose-512, still slumbering, still dreaming that dream she had, is having, and will have for the foreseeable eternity.

There was just one thing different in this iteration of eternity though.

A single magpie feather was now clutched in Ariane's crossed hands, still vividly blue even submerged in the reddish liquid of cryogenic fluid. A sign of a friendship with someone Ariane would never have expected to meet, and a symbol of a promise made by that friend.

A promise that would be fulfilled, one way or another.

Aloy gasped in joy as she and Star were finally allowed into the house's main room from Eule and Star's room, and could see the feast laid out before them. In fact, there were so many dishes that Eule and Rost had to put two tables together just to fit them all.

Eule bowed proudly to an amazed Aloy and an excited Star. "For tonight's feast, this Eule…," she said, stopping mid-sentence and looking up from her bow hopefully at Rost.

Rost sighed, and replicated Eule's bow. "And this Rost…honestly, I still think that's a very strange thing to say."

"It's just how it's done in the fancier Rotfront restaurants. It's for effect," Eule insisted quietly, before saying more loudly: "We present to you: a Mondfest feast for the first ever Mondfest celebration in the Embrace. Featuring dishes such as Rotreis, Rotbratramen, Rotwurst, Rotfisch, Rotgemüse, Rotbrezel, and the main star of this feast, the Seventh dish to break the Six: a whole Rotferkel! Happy Mondfest!"

Aloy's Focus didn't seem to translate much of the dish names properly, but she didn't need her Focus to tell what the dishes were.

Big bowls of fried red-colored watergrain, bowlfuls of red-colored stir-fried noodles, piles of juicy fried red 'wurst' sausages, several tenderly braised salted fish covered in red gloopy stuff, a huge pile of crispy stir-fried winter vegetables (a mix of goldbloom, greatbulb, and rainbloom leaves; as far as Aloy can see) also in that red stuff, a whole bunch of some kind of twisty bread with three square-shaped holes in it and baked to a dark red color, and an entire roasted boarlet. It was not only impressive because of how big it was, but also because she'd seen Eule and Rost spend a long time pulling out all the hairs on the boarlet, just so that could roast the whole thing with its skin on, giving it a very yummy-looking brownish-red roasted skin that made Aloy's mouth water at the thought of crunching into it, along with everything else.

The only thing stopping Aloy from digging in was a searing question in her mind.

"Why is everything red?" Aloy asked Eule and Star curiously, looking back and forth at them hoping for answers.

"I was about to ask that too," Rost added to Eule just as curiously. "I noticed while we were planning and cooking that you seemed quite insistent on making all the dishes red-colored, even the greens. Why is that?"

"Because that's how we Rotfronters have always celebrated Mondfest, and that's how it always will be," Star replied, even supplying a creaky old woman's voice for extra effect.

"That's the short answer, yes," Eule said with a giggle that was echoed by Aloy, before turning back to Rost. "As for the long answer: it's because we Rotfronters associate the color red with good luck, fortune, and protection. It comes from the deep reddish-orange color of the Red Eye of the gas giant in the sky, and so naturally it resulted in every new season, er, Rotfront year being celebrated with red foods in order to symbolically take in the Red Eye's power, so to speak."

"If you ask AEON though, then they'd say that the red comes from all the blood the martyrs spilled during the Revolution. No questions asked," Star added with a smirk.

Eule laughed nervously at that. "Admittedly, that is the new official explanation…but I think the Red Eye explanation sounds a bit less…grotesque."

"Ooh, sounds like we have ourselves a rebel here, and a most lovely rebel at that," Star teased.

Eule laughed even more nervously at that, blushing all the while…but there was a mischievous smile mixed in this time. "Oh? Then that makes you a rebel as well, because I do recall all those instances of you saying naughty things about the Great Revolutionary and her Daughter."

Star grinned back in reply. "Indeed, we are both but rebels in the eyes of the Eusan Nation, so why not be revolutionaries together to fight back against pointless name-changings and ridiculous leaders?"

Eule's reply was a bout of giggling. "Oh, Star–"

"Kissy-kissy talk later!" Aloy suddenly shouted, holding both hands up in the air. "First, let's eat all this Mondfest food!"

"Aloy, I do not believe that we will be able to finish all of this in one night," Rost pointed out dryly.

Eule hummed merrily. "That's why we Rotfronters also have a tradition of eating the leftovers over the course of the six days of Mondfest."

"I don't think there's quite enough food for six days either though," Rost also pointed out, just as dryly.

Eule's reply was to outright grin happily at Rost, firelight glinting off her anodized carbon steel teeth. "And that's why our job as Eules is to keep cooking whenever the food grows short, so that no one is hungry on any of those six days."

"I would also like to point out that I am not one of your sisters," Rost said with a dryness so very Kitezhian, and yet there was also a smile on his face. "But I am more than happy to cook up more food with you if these do run out…eventually. However, that's a question for the future. Right now, we–"

"Eat!" Aloy shouted at the same time Star did, resulting in Star holding out a fist towards Aloy. Aloy was more than happy to oblige by lightly punching Star's steel-boned fist with her own. Star had mentioned that this was something she did with her own sisters out of "comradery", but Aloy just liked it because it was fun and it made Star happy.

"Not yet," Rost said, making Aloy and Star stare at him in confused shock. "For a feast this large and so important to Eule and Star, we must give our thanks first."

Aloy groaned, as did Star, but they along with Eule clasped their hands together with Rost as they faced the feast before them.

"All-Mother, we thank you for the bounty you choose to bless us with today, as you did in ages past, and as we pray for you to continue to give us in the time to come," Rost said in a chant. Then he paused for a moment, and added: "And Red Eye, if you are listening, we thank you as well, for watching over your two people here in this distant land so far from you. May you continue to watch over them in the future, as you have for all of your people in times long past."

When Rost looked up from his prayer though, Aloy could easily see his surprise to see Eule and Star looking at him with the happiest look they'd given in a while, with tears threatening to spill from not only Eule's eyes, but Star's as well.

"Oh, Rost!" Eule said as she stepped forward to give Rost a grunt-inducing hug.

"Rost, you big lovable guy!" Star said at the same time, just reaching Rost a moment after Eule did to add to the hug, making Rost grunt once more.

"Me too!" Aloy cried out as she dashed over to embrace Eule's, Star's, and Rost's legs all at the same time in her tiny arms.

That made Rost sigh, before he finally said: "Alright, enough. Enough!" he said as he practically squirmed out of the group hug, but Aloy smiled at the smile she could see on Rost's lips even as he did so. "The prayer is over now, so let us enjoy the Goddess's bounty before it gets cold."

Thus commenced the first Mondfest feast to ever take place in the Embrace.

And in the end, despite everyone's best efforts, particularly Aloy and Star, there was still quite a bit of food left by the time everyone was full to bursting.

"Want to eat more," Aloy managed to get out, reaching with her spoon for another mouthful of Rotreis, before giving up and flopping back onto her chair. "But too full."

"Ahh, it's been so long since I was so full," Star said dreamily, patting her bulging motor.

"Thought you said you had two…motors for yummies," Aloy got out.

"That I do, but alas, they're both full of so much delicious Mondfest food," Star replied, still with her eyes closed in bliss.

"I am definitely taking that as a compliment," Eule teased.

"As will I," Rost added with a happy nod.

Both Aloy and Star raised an arm in cheer and agreement, unable to do more than that with the current state of their being.

"So out of curiosity, Aloy, what was your favorite Rotfront dish here?" Eule asked eagerly.

Aloy thought…and thought…and thought some more, before answering: "I liked them all. So many new foods from your tribe…I can't pick my favorite," Aloy replied mournfully. "Although, the soup-less ramen and the twisty bread was fun and tasty."

"Ah, I'm glad you enjoyed them…although honestly, I feel slightly disappointed in my attempt to recreate Rotbrezel," Eule said with a disappointed smile.

"What was wrong with it? They tasted perfectly fine to me," Rost commented. "In particular, that honey and dawnberry mix you painted onto that bread, this 'Rotbrezel', combined with the salt sprinkled onto it gave it a most wonderful taste. Not to mention the use of ash-water to boil the dough in before baking? I never would've thought that would do anything, let alone give the bread a crispy, browned skin."

"Honestly, I'm also glad that mixing water with wood ashes made a basic enough water to produce that browned skin, but the texture was definitely not that of true Rotbrezel," Eule insisted. "None of the flour I used seemed right. The flour made from mixed wild grains produced too dense a bread, and even using watergrain didn't quite work out. The closest I got was from the maize flour I purchase from Rashaman, but even that wasn't quite fluffy enough and the taste, while certainly delicious, isn't quite right for a true Rotbrezel."

Rost stroked his braided beard in thought. "Fluffy bread, you say? Hmm…perhaps the next time you meet with Rashaman, maybe you could ask him for some Carja snow flour? I've had bread like what you described before, and the Carja I spoke to about it said that the texture was due to that snow flour."

"Snow flour," Eule repeated in an increasingly intrigued tone. "I take it it's because the flour is as white as snow?"

Rost nodded. "Apparently, that's the only kind of flour that will produce that fluffy texture you spoke of that these Rotbrezel should have," he explained. As Eule's eyes widened in eagerness though, he continued: "However, snow flour is also much more expensive than regular flour. Many times so. According to the Carja I've spoken with, it's because snow flour requires a lot of work to sift out the bran and germ from the grain. So bread like the kind you describe is typically something only Carja nobles can afford to eat regularly."

Eule frowned upon hearing that. "Hmm, so white bread is only for nobles in this world? I suppose this is the consequence of not having access to grinding machines for flour."

Rost raised an eyebrow at that. "Honestly? The thought of a machine that can grind grains into flour for me sounds bizarre and almost profane…and yet I can't help but desire one."

"That would be two of us," Eule said with a smile.

Aloy in the meanwhile, tore a small chunk of Rotbrezel off of one of the remaining ones, and was nibbling on it with all the idleness of a bloated squirrel. "I think if this Rotbrezel bread was any yummier, I would've exploded already from eating too much of it," Aloy just as idly noted, before opening her mouth wide in a deep yawn.

A yawn so deep that it set off everyone else yawning.

"And I believe is the All-Mother telling us that we should get to bed," Rost said after his yawn was over and done with.

"Oh, oh, not quite yet!" Eule said excitedly. "There's still one last thing Star and I want to do. See, an important tradition at Mondfest is for adults to give children a little present for the occasion."

Aloy instantly perked up from her food coma at the mention of "children" and "present" in the same sentence. "Ooh, what kind of present?!" she asked Eule and Star.

Eule's reply was to head back into the room she shared with Star. When she came back, she was holding a carefully wrapped leather bundle that she handed over to Aloy. "Perhaps you might open it, and find out?" Eule hinted mysteriously.

Aloy wasted no time in carefully untying the string tying the bundle shut. When the top parts of the leather package finally fell open, Aloy stared in awed fascination at what was within.

A pair of steel hexagons, seemingly carved out of a piece of Machine armor and painted entirely in a bright red. A much smaller hexagon was carved out of the center, with the edges of the larger hexagon having a raised rim. On both faces of the hexagon, symbols were just as carefully carved into them.

Aloy could make out two lines of tiny symbols on one face, each separated by…what Aloy initially thought was three dots in a triangle pattern, but upon closer inspection, were three four-pointed stars in that pattern.

As for the lines of symbols? Aloy stared at the symbols for several moments, trying to decipher what they meant herself, before reaching up and pressing her hand to her Focus to see if it would give her any clues. Instantly, the Focus materialized tiny words just above and below the two lines of symbols drawn in lavender lights. One face had only the number "1" in between the triple stars, but the other…

"'Liberty' and 'Equality'?" Aloy read out, before looking up at Eule and Star. "How do you say that in your words?"

Eule reached up to take off her Focus, and indicated for Aloy to take hers off as well, before slowly and clearly saying: "'Freiheit' und 'Gleichheit'," before putting her Focus back on to say: "Did you get that?"

"'Fry-height' and 'Glihhh-height'," Aloy attempted to repeat.

It took several repetitions between Eule, Star, and Aloy before Aloy was able to pronounce the words right to her satisfaction.

"Now if only the Nation practiced those things as hard as Aloy here practiced saying them," Star quipped.

"That's…admittedly not wrong," Eule admitted with a sigh.

"So what are these metal rings?" Aloy asked curiously. "And why do you give them out at your Mondfest festival?"

"Ah, those are Rationmarks, specifically 1 Rationmark coins…or at least, the closest we could get to 1 Rationmark coins," Eule explained much more happily.

"Jan, Rana, and little Minali were really helpful in teaching us how to carve metal to make those counterfeit Rationmarks," Star added.

"They're not counterfeit Rationmarks!" Eule cried in outrage.

"Ehh, technically, they are. They're near-perfect imitations of Rationmarks; so much so that the average Rotfronter wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Heck, even my sisters and I wouldn't be able to tell the difference if I hadn't helped make them myself," Star quipped with an amused smirk.

"Oh," was all Eule said in reply, staring down at the floor with a look of embarrassed disappointment.

"Well, we don't have to be worried about it at all," Star said hurriedly. "It's not like we're planning to defraud anyone with it. It's just an art…project…oh, wow, now there's a thought. Whoever thought a Star unit would help out with an art project," she said with a snort.

"An art project for a good purpose," Eule said determinedly.

"Now that I can agree with," Star said with just as determined a tone. "Even if making the paint for these counterfeit Rationmarks was…well, a pain in the, er, shell," she finished under the unamused gaze of a Eule who didn't want her cursing around children.

"Well, at least Minali's family were helpful in helping us make the paint, as well as finding the ingredients," Eule added with a sigh. "Who knew that crimson bloom would be so difficult to obtain?"

"Ah, so that's why you were both gone for an entire day without explanation," Rost said. "I assume that climbing those cliffs to obtain crimson bloom was…challenging?"

Eule and Star both nodded in agreement.

"Why in the name of the Red Eye would a plant grow only on rocks and cliff faces?" Eule asked with a weary sigh at the memory of scaling sheer cliffs for those admittedly gorgeous crimson flowers. "And without any leaves as well? Just a flower and stem sticking out of the rock, and nothing more?"

"I've read about plants that do grow on rocks like lichen," Star noted. "Maybe these are lichen flowers?"

Eule could only shrug in reply, before turning back to Aloy. "Anyways, these Rationmarks are what our Nation uses as currency instead of Shards. Every Mondfest, it's been a Rotfront custom for parents to give Rationmark coins dipped in red paint to their children, or even just to children they know. The coins are dipped in red paint in order to…well, officially, it's supposed to symbolize the blood of all those who sacrificed their lived in the Revolution for our freedom, but I've also heard that the red paint is meant to make the coins resemble the Red Eye, allowing it to take in any bad luck to protect the child from it. Oh, but you have to wash the red paint off before you spend it, or else the bad luck will stick to the child."

Aloy looked up at Eule with a shocked look. "Wash off the paint? But I don't want to do that. It looks so pretty with it on."

Eule and Star looked at each other, and they both smiled.

"Well, it's not like anyone here is going to accept Rationmarks as legal tender, counterfeit or not, so why not?" Star said offhandedly.

"Indeed, why not? Maybe it will just continue to take in bad luck from Aloy the whole time," Eule posited with a giggle, before her expression turned a bit more thoughtful. "Interesting how in the end, it's an art project after all…but it's an art project I would gladly do again for Aloy. At least, assuming that you like it?"

Aloy immediately nodded vigorously in reply. "I do! I really do! I've never had anyone give me anything for any festival except for Rost and my birthseason presents. So really, thank you, Eule, Star. Thank you!" she shouted joyfully.

Aloy emphasized her gratitude via the embrace of Eule and one of Star's. By now, the feel of their warm cloth-covered Machinestone shell was as familiar as the feel of Rost's just-as-warm hide-covered form. Likewise, the feel of Eule and Star returning her embrace was just as familiar.

"You're most certainly welcome, Aloy," Eule replied happily, before asking both Aloy and Rost curiously: "Although, 'birthseason'?"

"I take it's got nothing to do with our seasons?" Star quipped in question form.

"From the way you describe your Rotfront tribe's 'season', I don't think so. If anything, your Rotfront's 'season' seems roughly equal to four of our seasons. Maybe a bit less," Rost replied in the Kitezhian dryness he reserved for situations like these. "A season for the Nora is simply spring, summer, fall or autumn, and winter. We Nora divide each season into early, middle, and late; so a Nora's birthseason can be any one of those twelve seasons. As for Aloy, her birthseason is in early spring. In fact, you two just missed Aloy's birthseason."

"Rost gave me Ms. Duck as my birthseason present that season," Aloy declared proudly.

"Ohh, so that's why you were so eager to play with Ms. Duck in the bath," Star noted with a revelatory grin.

Aloy nodded in affirmation. "Ms. Duck was the newest, so she gets to play first," she explained with complete confidence in her reasoning.

"Indeed, I can understand that," Eule said with a smile and a giggle, before turning to Rost. "Although, there is something I've been curious about. Rost, you said that the High Matriarchs gave you Aloy to take care of, yes? So here's my question: how do you know Aloy's birthseason then?"

"What, did you guesstimate based off of how old Aloy was at the time and what season it was when you got her?" Star asked curiously.

"If only I had the hindsight or math skills," Rost replied dryly, getting a snort and a chuckle out of Star. "Contrary to your assumptions, I simply asked Teersa when she and the High Matriarchs received Aloy when no one else was around. She was quite accommodating for that specific question, even if she was careful not to reveal any details about Aloy's birth. I simply marked that season as Aloy's birthseason, which I feel is quite fitting for her."

"Oh?" Eule, Star, and Aloy asked simultaneously, all with equal amounts of curiosity.

Rost this time was the one who chuckled for a bit before replying: "For we Nora, each season is associated with a particular concept. Early spring, in particular, is associated with life. Specifically: the beginning of life due to that being the season when life starts awakening from the long slumber of winter. Given how lively Aloy is, I feel her birthseason is most appropriate for her."

"Mm-hmm," Aloy agreed with a nod, as did Eule and Star, before Aloy suddenly realized something. "Is that why you always give me animal stuff as a birthseason present?" she asked curiously.

Rost rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "It's not the only reason…but I admit that it's part of it."

"I'm guessing he's given you more than just Ms. Duck as a present?" Star asked teasingly, but also curiously.

Aloy nodded eagerly, before a thought occurred to her. "Do you want to see?" she asked, not just to Star, but to Eule as well.

Upon seeing them both nod just as eagerly as she did, Aloy scrambled up the ladder to her room, retrieved her box full of her treasures, and scrambled just as quickly back down to open up her treasure box to Eule and Star.

"Ooh," went both Eule and Star, making Aloy swell up with pride that they thought her treasures were amazing too.

"I guess Rost really likes carving animals out of wood," Star commented. "I see Ms. Duck, and I guess a Ms. Bird of some kind, and other Ms. Bird, and…hey, is that a Ms. Hawk? Do you only just make birds for Aloy?"

"That's not a bird," Eule pointed out.

Aloy looked at where Eule was pointing, and smiled. "Nope, that's something Rost gave to me for one of my birthseason presents. He said it's a Grazer doll made in Banuk style."

"I found it while climbing in the mountains southeast of the Embrace one day," Rost explained. "It was beside a Banuk rock painting, and a highly elaborate one at that, although I am not well-versed enough in Banuk art to understand what it meant. This Grazer doll had been resting atop a wooden structure, wedged into it in such a way as to prevent the wind from blowing it off. Oddly enough, the structure was protecting a box resting within, and within that box, was a single sheet of paper covered in Banuk glyphs. Unfortunately, I did not and still do not understand how to read Banuk glyphs, so I couldn't make any of the message out. Thus, I simply tucked it away for safekeeping until I found someone who could, which I sadly have not found as of yet."

By now, Rost had the undivided attention of not just Aloy, but also Eule and Star as well.

"Could we by chance see this letter?" Eule asked, her voice brimming with as much curiosity as Aloy was feeling.

Rost's reply was to simply climb the ladder upstairs. A few minutes of rummaging later, he returned with a small wooden box, which he opened to reveal a very yellow flat sheet of something that looked like pounded animal skin to Aloy, covered in symbols that she presumed were the Banuk glyphs Rost talked about. Symbols which Aloy found to be completely meaningless.

At least, for a moment.

"As you can see, Eule, Star, the Banuk use completely different glyphs from the Carja, despite speaking the same words," Rost explained. "Is this something you can read, or–"

"I can read it," Aloy piped up.

"…What," Rost said flatly, as though he couldn't believe his ears. "How would you–"

"I can read it as well," Eule added.

"Me too," Star chipped in. "Or rather, my Focus can. It looks like it's overlaying a translation over the writing, and then recording it into the database. Neat."

"This Metal World relic can…amazing," Rost breathed, apparently having looked at the paper and can now read what was written on it at long last.

Aloy couldn't help it. As her eyes followed the glowing lavender words floating above the Banuk glyphs, she ended up reading them out loud: "'This will likely be my final words to you, my son. I have left as many offerings to you as I have wished, and now, it is time for me to see what lies in the east, beyond the rising Sun. Perhaps there, I will find the source of the Blue Light, and feel its warm embrace. Perhaps that will cleanse me of the shame of having never been the father you could've had. Farewell, my son. Tektuk.' Is Tektuk the name of whoever wrote this?" she asked.

"I…I am not certain," Rost replied. "It may be who this letter is addressed to, but I don't know…Eule, are you alright?"

"What, yes…no, perhaps not," Eule said as she wiped away the tears threatening to spill from her eyes. "Something about this letter made me wonder who this person was, and why they would abandon their son like this when they clearly didn't want to…and it reminded me of Isaac's father from that recording."

Rost nodded in sympathy as Star hugged Eule for mutual comfort. Aloy put down her treasure box on the dinner table and joined in, hoping to make Eule less sad about this. She knew that remembering that man who wished this Isaac boy a happy birthday (which Aloy figured was something like a birthseason, but a lot pickier) still made Eule sad, so she always made sure to hug Eule whenever the subject came up. Aloy was fairly certain it worked.

"I'm honestly just as confused about that Old One who killed himself as you are," Rost noted. "Just as I am confused about this mysterious Banuk writing to his son."

"That would make both of us then," Eule said with a smile. It was slightly forced, but there was real humor in it that made Aloy feel better.

"I guess we'll just have to wait until we can ask a Banuk about it then, whoever these Banuk are," Star noted as she leaned her face against Eule's.

"They're a hardy tribe that lives to the far north of Nora lands, where the snow falls especially fierce and thick in winter," Rost explained as he closed the Banuk box once more. "The Banuk are an odd people. They seem a bit like Nora at first, but they don't fear the Metal World like we do, they make devices out of Machine parts, and they raise certain animals like goats for their meat, fur, and milk. Beyond that, I don't know that much about them."

"Well, it's certainly more than we do," Star quipped.

"They sound like smarter Nora," Aloy noted.

"Aloy, there's a reason why we Nora do things the way we do," Rost said sternly.

Aloy just crossed her arms, and said nothing. She heard Rost sigh, but she didn't care. She still felt some of the things the Nora did sounded dumb, and not even Rost could change her mind about that.

"Perhaps you can tell us more about your treasures in bed?" Eule asked curiously, and just a bit quickly.

Fortunately, Aloy was happy about the interruption. She was more than happy to open her treasure box back up and talk about all the treasures Rost made for her. Even that one bird head necklace thing made from a boar tusk that Rost didn't say much about, and still didn't.

At least, until Aloy got tired. All the food, warmth, and happiness was making her sleepy. She tried to stay awake to spend more of Mondfest with Rost, Eule, and Star; but alas, it was a futile fight. As Rost carried her to bed, Aloy was only consoled by Eule and Star assuring her that there would be five more days of Mondfest to spend.

That was enough for Aloy's tired mind, and she drifted off to the land of dreams far from reality.

Maybe a bit too far from reality.

Aloy's eyes instantly snapped open for various reasons.

The first was that she felt cold, smooth metal underneath her instead of the warm, furry fox skin she expected.

The second was that she now saw bare stone above her that looked just as smooth as the metal she was lying on, and certainly not the grass-covered wood she expected. A ceiling that was also only barely visible thanks to a weird bar that let out light that was just barely in her field of vision.

The third and most important though was that Aloy smelled a sharp tang in the air. It reeked of steel and a sharp smell she couldn't identify, but aside from that sharp smell, Aloy was familiar enough with the scent of blood from helping skin animals that she could identify it just from smell alone, and the fact that the smell was really strong instantly put her on edge.

Aloy quietly got back to her feet, making as little noise as possible as she rose up to a crouch and looked around.

Aloy saw that she was in a small room. Just in front of her were a row of 6 orange chairs facing her, with another 6 chairs facing away on the other side just visible from where Aloy was.

Even in her crouched position, Aloy could see someone sitting on the chair to the furthest left. Or at least, the back of that person's head, considering that they were facing away from Aloy on the opposite side of the rows of chairs. All Aloy could see was that this person had long dark red hair, some of which was tied in a Nora-like braid hanging down their back, and what she could see of the back of this person's neck was light brown in color: paler than Vala, but darker than Rost.

Aloy wondered if this person was a Nora, but decided against asking for help if they were. She was still an outcast, after all, and if this person was a Nora, then they would just shun her like all the rest. Thus, Aloy decided to continue examining the room before trying her luck with this maybe-Nora, who thankfully hadn't noticed her get up.

There was a door that the maybe-Nora was facing that looked a bit like the two-part sliding doors in that Metal World place she fell down into with Eule, but that didn't catch Aloy's attention nearly as much as it should've. Mostly because now that Aloy was more alert, she could tell where the smell of blood was the strongest: to her left. And so Aloy's head turned left–

All of Aloy's thoughts and motion ground to a halt when she saw the blood-splattered body lying there in the corner of the room, almost half-hidden by the darkness of the dim lighting. The lighting though was bright enough so that Aloy could see the blood pooling beneath the still body, as well as the trail of blood leading to the middle of another door.

Aloy didn't need to be the greatest hunter in the world to tell that was where the body was dragged from, and the fact that the maybe-Nora was in the same room suddenly made Aloy very, very nervous.

Something kept Aloy's eyes glued to the body though, instead of looking towards the potential threat like how Rost had taught her. Was it the blood? Aloy thought it looked a lot darker than the color blood should be, but she figured that it was just a trick of the darkness…maybe.

No, it wasn't just the weirdly dark blood though. Aloy peered closely at the body as she could without taking a step, because she thought the body looked…familiar. Aloy quickly noticed the dark blood-splattered white legs, tipped with that four-toed white foot that Aloy noticed both Eule and Star had, which they had explained was "standard" for all Replikas. The four toes, they meant, not the white feet. Thus, Aloy instantly realized that this body belonged to a Replika like Eule and Star, and that the dark-colored blood was actually the "oxidant" stuff they had for blood.

Aloy's gaze went higher, noticing the black band separating the lower knee from the upper knee. Aloy still found it odd to think that Replikas have two knees, but she supposed it was only natural because their legs had three parts to it, unlike the two parts she, Rost, and every other "Gestalt" had.

Her gaze went higher still, noticing how the white legs turned black at the thigh, with a red band right in the middle of that thigh that made Aloy suddenly very nervous about how familiar it looked.

As her gaze went even higher, Aloy's heart started sinking as she noticed the white hand and arms, which she knew were white gloves, but were now soaked and splattered with that same weirdly dark-colored oxidant. Aloy's gaze went to the body's stomach, which resulted in her staring at what looked like a whole bunch of…organs bursting out of the body's clothes and even the black shell there. They looked…weird though, bloated and twisted in shapes that no organ should ever look like.

Aloy quickly moved her gaze further up, and instantly regretted it, because she saw white cloth bulging in ways that she knew were supposed to be breasts, but were most certainly not in this case. Not in any way breasts were ever supposed to look like.

Aloy's horrified gaze finally reached as high up the body as it could go, and it was somehow worse. The head had only bits of what's left of the face and even black hair still feebly clinging on, revealing a mostly bare skull with red muscle fully exposed. The skull though was not white as Rost said human bones were, but dark grey. Aloy remembered that Eule said Replika bones were steel, and so that must be it. The eyes though…Aloy only got a glance at them, and she quickly looked away from them. The sight of blue eyes bulging out of their sockets, devoid of eyelids, terrified her. The only thing she had left to look at though was the hat on top.

The same weirdly small black hat with the three red stars on it that had made Aloy wonder how it stayed on before Eule showed her how.

The exact same hat that Eule wore.

The same hat that this body wore, which Aloy had long guessed was the body of one of Eule's sisters. The hat only confirmed it in her mind.

Aloy ended up taking an involuntary step back. She was fairly certain she stopped the accompanying gasp coming out of her mouth.

Except the red-haired maybe-Nora instantly swung around to face Aloy, revealing a woman wielding a knife made of the smoothest steel Aloy had ever seen in her right hand and a look in the maybe-Nora's eyes that screamed "Death!" as her left hand grabbed the backrest of the chair in preparation to throw herself over it.

Aloy yelped and jumped back to get out of the maybe-Nora's reach.

And that was when the deadly look in the maybe-Nora's eyes–which Aloy now saw were a green just a shade darker than her own–disappeared just as instantly as it had appeared, now replaced with a look of pure shock and confusion.

"A…child?" the maybe-Nora asked in disbelief.

Aloy took the opportunity to examine the maybe-Nora woman's face, and discovered not a single blue face paint marking that all Nora normally had. No face paint at all, really. Just a single dot below her left eye that was a lot darker than the rest of her skin, but Aloy was also pretty certain that still wasn't face paint.

"You're not a Nora," Aloy said to the likely-not-a-Nora woman.

The likely-not-a-Nora woman merely blinked in confusion at Aloy. "Nora?" she asked.

Aloy blinked back in just as much confusion. "You don't know what a Nora is?"

The likely-not-a-Nora woman slowly shook her head as her reply.

"Oh," was all Aloy had to say in response to that.

Thus, the two of them stared at each other in awkward silence for several long moments. Long enough for the definitely-not-a-Nora woman to start fiddling with her knife, and for Aloy to start shuffling her feet.

The definitely-not-a-Nora woman then broke the silence with a cough. "So…what are you doing here, little girl? This…isn't a place where you should be. It's admittedly not where I should be either, but especially for you, very much so," she asked.

Aloy instantly opened her mouth to protest, but then after a moment of silence, shut it again as she thought about it. Really thought about it. "I don't know? I just fell asleep, and then I woke up here…wait, where is here anyways?"

"Somewhere called S-23 Sierpinski," the definitely-not-a-Nora woman replied. "It's…not a good place."

"S-23…Seer-pin-ski? Wait…that's Eule and Star's home! The one where they said their sisters became…Deranged," Aloy said hesitantly, now finally briefly taking her eyes off of the definitely-not-a-Nora woman to glance at the body of Eule's sister before focusing back on the definitely-not-a-Nora woman. "Did…did you murder her? Was she…Deranged?"

The definitely-not-a-Nora woman glanced at the corpse too, lingering a bit more than Aloy did, before returning her gaze to Aloy. "I don't know what exactly you mean by 'deranged', but…yes. I didn't want to, but I did murder that Eule unit. In my defense, it was self-defense after she attacked me. There was something…wrong with her."

Aloy couldn't helping glancing once more back at Eule's dead sister, at the organs that still looked wrong in a way that made Aloy's stomach churn–

Did one of the body's fingers just twitch…no, Aloy told herself that she was just seeing things in the dim light. Despite what Eule and Star said about their dead sisters coming back to life, Aloy knew that the dead can't do that. Even Rost said so, so she made herself turn back to the definitely-not-a-Nora woman, only keeping the body in the corner of her vision.

Just out of hunter's habit, Aloy would swear. Rost did teach her that a downed Machine sometimes wasn't necessarily a dead one.

"Rost…he said sometimes people have to kill other people, and that's what a Brave has to do if they have to," Aloy said, not sure if she was saying that to herself or to the definitely-not-a-Nora woman. Taking a deep, shuddering breath afterwards to steady herself, she looked up at the woman's green eyes, and continued: "So…okay, I understand why you did it…if you're telling the truth–"

It was because Aloy had been keeping the body in the corner of her vision that her gaze instantly snapped to it when it rose back up.

Even the way Eule's sister got up didn't look normal. She twitched, trembled, and jerked the entire time, as if her body didn't work right. Even when she managed to lever herself upright, she still continued twitching, jerking, and trembling; causing that still weirdly dark oxidant to splatter to the floor in drips and drops from the numerous open wounds on her body.

And her eyes. Eule's eyes were always that blue with red pupil that Aloy had always known and grown familiar with, just as she did with Star. The eyes of Eule's sister were still blue, but there was only a sliver of it barely visible at the edges of the overwhelmingly wide pupils, only they were not the familiar red that Aloy had come to associate with the Replikas, but white. Aloy had no idea what white meant. Eule and Star had no idea what white meant either when they had talked about it. Aloy wondered if anyone knew what white eyes meant.

Aloy had barely begun to ponder that when Eule's sister opened her skeletal mouth, and SCREECHED.

Aloy covered her ears and stared as Eule's sister began screeching in a horrific imitation of some kind of bird, reaching up and clawing off some of the few remaining bits of skin left of her face, before turning around and running for the door with the oxidant trail leading from it.

Eule's sister began slamming against the door over and over and over again, seemingly unable to figure out that she wasn't getting through, leaving splatters of dark oxidant on the door that grew bigger and bigger with each impact.

Eule's sister began clawing at the door instead, still screeching but now in a desperate tone, as if her very being depended on getting through that door. The effort was just as futile, with streaks of dark oxidant dripping down where glove tips had torn off, leaving oxidant-covered fingertips scraping against steel.

Eventually though, Eule's sister then sank down to her upper knees, and her screeches then devolved into sobs. Aloy couldn't see her face from where she was standing, but she could see drops of something far too dark to be tears splattered against the floor. Even so though, the sound of Eule's sister sobbing rent at Aloy's heart. She sounded far too much like Eule to not do that to Aloy.

Aloy wondered if maybe Eule's sister wasn't quite completely Deranged? Maybe there was just enough left in her that Aloy could get her to calm down? Maybe no one had to die after all?

And that line of thought was why Aloy opened her mouth and asked: "Eule's sister? Are you–"

"No!" the definitely-not-a-Nora woman hissed.

Aloy didn't even have time to react to the definitely-not-a-Nora woman hissing at her.

Eule's sister instantly sprang back up and jerked around until her gaze was facing Aloy again, allowing Aloy to see her oxidant-streaked face. She then SCREECHED once more before rushing towards Aloy, oxidant-soaked hands stretched outwards almost as if they were claws poised to rip into flesh.

Aloy sprang back and started to run. She could tell a predator's rush, even a predator as obviously unstable as this one.

But before Aloy had taken even a few steps, there was a green, white, light brown, and dark red blur that slammed into Eule's sister.

Aloy watched the next actions take place almost in slow motion.

The definitely-not-a-Nora woman stabbed her knife deep into Eule's sister's throat in the same motion that slammed Eule's sister against a partially open two-part door. The woman then jerked the knife out sideways, spraying dark oxidant onto the floor and onto the woman herself.

As the screeches turned into gurgles, the woman then yanked Eule's sister to the right, spun her until she was sideways to her, and then shoved her through the partially open door.

Eule's sister gave a gurgling screech as she fell through, which became quieter and quieter, until it suddenly ended with a quiet thump that Aloy just barely heard. Aloy realized that it must've been a long, long, long way down to…wherever that door led.

And just like that, the fight was over. Aloy had no idea how long it had lasted, but even she knew that it couldn't have been all that long.

The definitely-not-a-Nora woman had been taking deep breaths to calm down, and then took one last one before turning to look at Aloy, her face and the front of her clothes now splattered with that weirdly dark oxidant.

"Do you think I'm lying now?" the woman asked.

Aloy shook her head in reply. She couldn't think of anything more to say after…that.

The woman then sighed and walked back to the rows of chairs to sit down heavily on one.

Aloy stared at the woman for a moment, and then with a look of determination, walked over and sat down on the chair next to the woman. She then took off her blue scarf, and held it out to the woman, who was now curiously staring at her.

"What?" the woman asked.

Aloy continued to hold out her scarf to her.

"Your scarf? Why do you want to give me your scarf?" the woman asked further.

"Your face," Aloy simply replied, still holding out her scarf.

"My…wait, you want me to wipe my face with your scarf?" the woman asked incredulously, before shaking her head. "I'm fine, really."

"No, you're not," Aloy insisted, still with that determined look on her face. "You need to wipe off your face."

"But I can't do that! Not to your scarf!" the woman protested.

"You saved me," Aloy simply explained, holding out her scarf even further to the woman. "So you get to borrow my scarf for a bit to wipe that blood, no, oxidant off. Really."

The woman stared into Aloy's eyes for several moments, before sighing, and then gently taking Aloy's scarf. She then took one end of the scarf, wiped the oxidant off her face, her hands, and even her knife onto as small an area of that end of the scarf as possible, and then used her now clean knife to cut off that oxidant-soaked end of that scarf.

"Hey!" Aloy protested.

"It's for your own good," the woman insisted before placing her now-clean knife on her lap, and handing Aloy back her scarf. "I don't know if…whatever these Replikas have can spread through blood contact. Better safe than sorry."

Aloy didn't like it, but it made sense to her, so she just huffed and wrapped her now slightly shorter scarf back around her neck. She then sighed, and held out her hand to the woman. "I'm Aloy," she said sulkily, although she would've denied it if the woman had asked about it.

Fortunately, the woman didn't. Instead, a small smile crept onto the woman's face as she took that small hand and gently shook it. "I'm Isolde Itou."

Aloy tilted her head at Ee-sor-de-ee-toe…no, just Eesorde. She heard a slight pause between the two names.

"Two names. Your name name, and your family name," Aloy noted. "Just like…just like…"

"Like?" Eesolde asked.

"Like…hmm," Aloy hummed, rocking her head back and forth as if trying to jar that memory loose. But alas, nothing fell out. "I can't remember. Weird. Someone also told me they had two names, but I can't…"

It was so weird. Aloy thought she was usually pretty good with names, so why wouldn't this name come to her?

Thankfully, Eesorde was pretty patient, sitting quietly even as Aloy flopped onto the backrest of her chair in frustration.

"Well, hopefully you'll remember this person soon," Eesorde said with a quiet, hopeful encouragement. Aloy then watched Eesorde touch her hand to her chin in thought before the woman looked at her. "This may be a long shot, but…have you seen my sister?"

Aloy tilted her head at Eesorde in confusion. "Your sister?"

"Yes. You'll recognize her if you've seen her," Eesorde simply explained. Aloy had no idea what she was talking about though, and fortunately, Eesorde seemed to pick up on that, further explaining: "She's my twin sister…my identical twin sister. She has the same face as me, right down to this mole under my eye."

"Ohhh," Aloy said with an impressed nod. "I've heard about that. I guess your mother and father must've sent a prayer to All-Mother twice."

Aloy was so busy nodding to herself that she failed to notice Eesorde's confused expression.

"In any case," Eesorde continued. "Her name is Erika. If you ever see her, could you tell her I'm looking for her?"

Aloy tilted her head at Eesorde. "Erika? Wait…that sounds familiar."

Aloy practically jumped in her seat when Eesorde leaned in really close to her.

"Where did you hear her name? Where? Tell me!" Eesorde asked, or rather, demanded.

Aloy froze in her seat, staring up at Eesorde's intense expression, nearly in tears.

Eesorde quickly pulled back, wringing her hands with a look of guilt on her face. "I'm sorry for scaring you like that. It's just…I've been looking for my sister for…a really long time. I came here because I'm sure she's here, and I won't leave until I find her and bring her out. So please, if you know anything about Erika, I beg of you to share it with me."

Aloy stared up at Eesorde for a few moments, watching her pensive face, before nodding and then thinking. "I think…Eule mentioned that she knew someone named Erika at her and Star's home, and if this is that S-23 Seerpinski place, then Erika must be here somewhere. But…I never asked where Erika was at this place, so…hmm."

Eesorde sighed. "Oh well, at least I know it didn't lie to me or deliberately send me to the wrong place," she said, prompting a look of confusion from Aloy before Eesorde shook her head and continued: "In any case, thank you for that confirmation, Aloy. It still helped."

Aloy grinned up at her. "You're welcome, Eesorde!"

"It's all…wait, what did you just say?" Eesorde asked in disbelief.

Aloy blinked in confusion. "You're welcome?"

"No, no, not that. The other one," Eesorde clarified.

"…Eesorde?"

Eesorde sat still for several moments, before she at last snorted and start giggling.

"Hey!" Aloy shouted once more in childish anger.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Eesorde half-sputtered, giggling all the while. It took her several moments to calm down again, and explain: "I'm really sorry. It's just…it's been a long time since I've heard someone mess up my name like that…and in that specific way too. Hmm…are you from Vineta too?"

Aloy tilted her head as she thought about that familiar word. "I don't know. Eule said that she thinks we live in that Vineta place, but then she also think that maybe we don't? So I don't know if the Embrace is Vineta too, and you didn't even know what the Nora are, so I really don't know."

"The Nora?" Eesorde asked in confusion.

"That's my tribe…or at least, it's supposed to be my tribe," Aloy said in a huff. "It's really hard to believe that they're my tribe when most of them pretend that I don't even exist."

Eesorde nodded. "Ah, I see. I've never heard of these Nora people, but then again, there's so many different people in Vineta, so it's possible that you're just from a small group of families hiding somewhere…but now I'm both curious and disturbed: why do most of your people pretend that you don't exist?"

"It's because I'm an outcast, and they won't tell me why," Aloy explained, before she noticed Eesorde's confusion, and continued: "See, Rost said that the Nora usually only make the worst criminals outcast: where they pretend that the outcasted person doesn't exist. Except for Rost, who said he made himself outcast but won't tell anyone why. But for me, the Nora just made me outcast when I was a baby, and they won't tell anyone why. Especially me."

"That's…bizarre," Eesorde commented with a thoughtful expression. "And so what? You're just stuck as an outcast forever?"

"Nope!" Aloy declared proudly. "When I win the Proving, oh, that's the Nora's way of picking Braves to defend the tribe, then I can make the High Matriarchs, oh, that's the three old ladies who are the Nora's leaders right now, I can make them tell me why I'm an outcast and who my mother is."

"Oh, so Rost is your father then?" Eesorde asked. "Since you keep mentioning this person's name?"

"No, he's not," Aloy bluntly said, before more proudly saying: "Rost is better than my father by lots. I don't even know who my father is, and I don't care. Not when I've got Rost."

"Ah…sounds complicated," Eesorde simply said by way of reply.

"Not really. Rost is Rost, just like Eule is Eule and Star is Star," Aloy explained clearly.

Eesorde tilted her head at Aloy. "Huh, you mentioned this Eule and Star before, but now I wonder…are they Replikas? Specifically: a Yoo-Eule unit and a Star unit?"

"Yeah," Aloy replied blithely.

"And…wait, you said this place is their home? Then…how did they get to Vineta?" Eesorde asked in confusion. "This is Leng. It's practically on the other side of the Solar System."

Aloy just shrugged. "They don't know either. Just that a Ghost Woman brought them," she said, not really understanding much of what Eesorde said.

However, the mention of Ghost Woman sounded familiar to Aloy. She felt like she was on the verge of remembering something. She–

"Ghost woman?" Eesorde asked incredulously, shaking her head and sighing in the process. "Still though, I hope you win this 'Proving' of yours. No one should be treated as though they don't exist from birth, and not even be allowed to know why. I'd offer a blessing from Mother Sea for you, but unfortunately, there's no sea here for me to offer you a proper blessing."

"Mother Sea?" Aloy asked, now instantly having forgotten what she wanted to remember. "Is she like All-Mother?"

"Hmm, you mentioned this All-Mother before. Who is she?" Eesorde asked curiously.

"Oh, Rost said that the All-Mother gave birth to all life: human, beast, and Machine. That's why he and the other Nora pray to her a lot," Aloy explained, before she thought about what she said. "Although it must've hurt to give birth to the Machines."

Eesorde snorted before her look became more somber. "Ah, then All-Mother must be what your people call Mother Sea. She was the one who gave birth to all life too. She birthed all the creatures of the sea, great and small, and those creatures eventually survived to walk onto the land, so indirectly, She birthed all life. At least, that's what mother and father told us: Erika and I. Before they also said that Mother Sea was dead."

Aloy just stared at Eesorde in confusion. "Your All-Mother is dead?"

"Did your Rost not teach you that?" Eesorde asked in surprise. When Aloy shook her head, Eesorde gave her a sad look. "I wouldn't be surprised, but even you could see it, right? How there's barely anything alive in the sea besides small fish and plankton?"

"But…I've never seen the sea before," Aloy said. Even under the shocked look Eesorde was giving her, she continued: "Eule and Star talked about the sea before, but I can't even imagine it. How could there be so much water that you can't see anything but water for as far as you can see, and it's all salty water too? Why would it be salty? Did someone just dump a giant barrel of salt into it? It doesn't make sense."

Eesorde just continued giving Aloy a shocked look. "Wow. You must be from deep in the surviving continents to not even know that. I can only tell you from what I know though: Mother Sea is dead, and we killed her. All of us Gestalts did. That's why we have to fight to protect what's left of Mother Sea and her children, or else She will stay forever dead."

Aloy scratched her head. "So your Mother Sea is dead, but she can come back to life?"

"That's what mother and father said," Eesorde replied. "There's a part of me that doubts it…but there's also a part of me that wants to believe it. So even though I can't offer you a proper blessing from Mother Sea, I can at least offer you one in spirit. So could you hold out your hands, as though you were receiving some water?"

Aloy did so, now very curious as to what was going to happen next.

Eesorde reached into the right side of her skirt, into one of the two black-topped pockets there, and pulled out a rectangular bar that looked like it was made out of some silvery metal. However, that couldn't be, because Aloy saw that one end was crumpled like thin leather.

Eesorde opened up this crumpled end though, revealing the red-colored bar within, or rather, a piece of such a bar since it looked like some of it had already been broken off. She then broke off a piece of the already shortened bar, and held it up.

"I give you this offering to ask for your blessing, Mother Sea. May you and your children accept this gift of food so that it might sustain you both for a little while longer," Eesorde said formally, sounding to Aloy a little like Rost when he was praying to All-Mother. The Rost effect though was spoiled when Eesorde adopted a sheepish look. "I'm supposed to throw this into the sea, but there's no sea to throw it into and I don't want to waste food…even if it's just a Ration C bar. It's supposed to be safe for Gestalts and Replika alike to eat, and I haven't had any problems eating it, so maybe you could take it in Mother Sea's stead, Aloy?"

Aloy nodded, and accepted the bit of red bar with great curiosity. She had heard about Eule and Star talk about their tribe's "ration bars" before, and was curious about what they tasted like. So the instant that bit of red "Ration C" bar hit her hands, Aloy instantly popped it into her mouth and started chewing.

And chewing.

And chewing.

And chewing still.

Yet no matter how much Aloy chewed, it didn't seem to make it any better. Aloy could only compare the ration bar to bread, but if it was really dense, really chewy, and weirdly tasteless. Aloy could taste a sort of meaty, slightly spicy, and slightly sour taste to it, but other than that…there was very little in the way of actual taste. The taste was like…if someone took one of Eule's very tasty wurst sausages, and just somehow sucked out most of that tasty taste, and just gave you what was left. That was what it tasted like to Aloy.

It was only now that Aloy recalled that when Star talked about the ration bars, she didn't look particularly happy about them. Now Aloy knew why.

"Not good?" Isa asked.

Aloy almost wanted to spit it back out, but it wasn't that gross, and Rost taught her to eat everything in her bowl, or else it's rude to All-Mother. So at last, she swallowed the well-chewed piece of ration bar, and said with a very determined look: "I don't want any more."

Eesorde smiled at her. "You and me both. I'm only keeping and eating this because there's nothing else to eat that I found. It's nothing compared to my father's cooking, but well, it's still fuel. At the very least, the Nation makes their ration bars to be calorie-dense."

Aloy watched as Eesorde took both hands and cupped them, scooping them upwards as though she were taking some invisible water from the air.

"I ask for this blessing not for myself, but for this child to succeed in her Proving, and discover the truths about herself and her birth," Eesorde said to the air, at least, from Aloy's perspective. "I ask that you offer your blessing to this child so that one day, she will repay you for it, and help save you in turn. This, I solemnly ask of you."

Eesorde then brought her cupped hands over Aloy's, and opened them, as though pouring that invisible water she took from the air into Aloy's hands.

"Umm, this would normally be the part where you drink the seawater to accept Mother Sea's blessings, but well…you'll just have to pretend that there's actually seawater in your hands," Eesorde explained, blushing lightly in embarrassment.

Aloy nodded in understanding, and pretended to drink the invisible water to save Eesorde any more embarrassment.

Aloy did try her best to imagine what seawater would taste like. Salty water…Aloy thought that would taste weird. The next time she drank water, she wanted to add some salt to it, just to better imagine what the sea would taste like.

"Do you think She heard?" Aloy asked.

"…I hope so," Eesorde replied quietly, hopefully.

"Hmm, I'll add in a prayer from All-Mother to make it louder," Aloy said, putting her hands together like Rost did when he prayed to the All-Mother. "All-Mother, I hope you make sure Mother Sea can hear that blessing…oh, and help Eesorde find Erika. If you're the mother of all life, then maybe you can help one of your kids find her twin sister, okay?" she asked hopefully, before turning to Eesorde. "Did it help?"

Eesorde replied to her with a smile, however small and fragile it was. "I'm sure it did…hopefully. But uh…my name is still not 'Eesorde'. It's Isolde. I-sol-de."

Aloy thought hard about that pronunciation. "Ok, I said the 'I' part too long, so…I-sor-de?"

"No, I-sol-de," Isorde corrected.

"Yeah, that's what I said. Isorde," Aloy countered.

"No, it's a 'L' after the 'O', not a 'R'," Isorde insisted.

"But you keep saying 'Isorde' like there's a 'R' there," Aloy insisted just as much.

Isorde looked up at the ceiling as she started muttering her own name to herself. Then, with a look of realization, Isorde covered her face and groaned.

"Isolde. Sol. Sol. Not sor. Urgggh! Must be getting tired to make a mistake like that," Isorde muttered out loud, before letting her hands fall back down and giving Aloy a sheepish look. "How about you just call me Isa? It's what my family calls me, and my friends too…well, friend."

Aloy smiled up at her. "Ok, Isa! That's a lot easier to say, but why do you say 'friend' like you've only got one?"

Isa's smile turned wan upon hearing that question. "Because I had only one person who I could call 'friend'…but she then she left me, so I'm now back to zero. Funny how things work out, huh?"

"Oh," Aloy could only say to that in reply, looking down at the metal floor. "I didn't have any friends either. No one would talk to me to be friends with me, and Rost is too…Rost. I love him, but he's too Rost to be friends with."

Aloy then looked up at Isa with a smile. "But that changed when Eule and Star came. Then I got two friends, and then they let me make three more friends. Some days, I still think it's weird to go from no friends to five so quickly, but I like my life better this way."

Aloy's smile then turned into a look of determination, holding out her hand to Isa. "So that's why I'm going to be your friend too. No one should have to be like me and have no friends at all. So will you be my friend, Isa? Please?"

Isa spent the next few moments just blinking at Aloy in disbelief. Then, she smiled down at Aloy. "Ok, as long as you're offering, how can I refuse?" she said, taking hold of Aloy's hand and gently shaking it.

Much to Aloy's joy. "You made a great choice! I'll be a better friend than the friend that left you!"

Isolde's smile then turned sad. "You don't need to do that. Ariane left me for entirely sensible reasons. If I were her, I would've left me too."

Aloy opened her mouth to protest, but then the name hit her like a charging Strider. "Ariane? Ariane…" she said to herself.

The name sounded so familiar, but Aloy couldn't…quite…remember…where it was from. Something about…birds? But what kind of bird? All Aloy could think of at the moment were the two magpie feathers she had in her hairband…

"Magpies!" Aloy suddenly shouted, making Isa jump in surprise. Aloy then turned to Isa and asked: "Do you know anyone named Magpie? I just remembered I'm looking for someone named Magpie, but I can't remember who it was for. Just that the person I'm looking for is named Magpie for some weird reason."

Isa blinked at Aloy in surprise, and then her look turned thoughtful. "Elster…Elster…strange. I just met an Elster unit recently. Do you mean her?"

Aloy blinked in confusion. "I don't know what an 'Elsterunit' is, but can I ask her? Do you know where she is?"

Isa shook her head. "I spoke to her, asking her about my sister, but she was looking for someone too, and so we parted ways. It hasn't been that long though. She might still be wandering around on this floor, looking for the elevator. It's those two double doors there…well, the one on the left, at any rate. The one on the right doesn't seem to be working for some reason."

"Ohh, so those are elevators," Aloy said in realization, remembering Eule and Star talking about them.

They didn't look that impressive to Aloy. They were just two-part doors. Nothing special. Still, they gave Aloy hope.

"So if Elsterunit is looking for these elevators, then she must have to come here, right?" Aloy asked in excitement. "That means we can just wait here for her, right?"

Isa nodded. "That should hopefully be the case."

Aloy grinned. "Yes! Now we just wait!"

And so the two of them waited on the orange chairs.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

Aloy's eyes started to droop though, and she started to sway. Everything that had happened, from almost being attacked by Eule's Deranged sister to the lump of ration bar in her stomach, was making her sleepy.

Try as she might, Aloy's head thumped against Isa's left arm. After a moment, she then felt a warm hand stroke her head.

"Go on, just sleep for a bit," Isa said warmly. "I'll wake you up when that Elster unit arrives."

Aloy nodded through half-closed eyes, even though she badly wanted to sleep.

The final straw for Aloy though was the sound of soft singing. Isa was stroking her head while singing a song about a "sheep" named "Belly of Tea" and some people called "wellermen" (whoever or whatever they were) who were bringing sugar and tea and rum. She only knew what tea was and didn't like it, but the sound of Isa's voice, like the sound of soft birdsong, lulled Aloy to sleep.

Aloy again, felt like she was being submerged in water for a very brief moment. It was weirdly warm water, not hot enough to be a bath but not cold enough to be river water. It was the strangest thing Aloy had ever felt, but it was like she could lie in it all day.

Aloy's eyes snapped open, and upon seeing the grass roof of her home, she started panicking.

"Oh no! I missed her! I…I…"

Aloy now couldn't even remember who it was she had missed. She knew that she had been waiting for someone, but every time she tried to remember, it just slipped away.

For that matter, she knew that she had been waiting for that someone with someone else, but she can't even remember who that someone else was either. All she could remember was a woman's voice, softly singing…something, but now…she couldn't even remember the words to the song.

"Aloy?" a woman's voice asked from below.

Aloy scrambled from her bed towards the edge of the second floor, and looked down.

She ended up looking right into the blue eyes of Eule, who was looking up at her with concern. All while carrying that long-handled wooden spoon Rost (and now Eule too) liked to use for stirring stews.

"Are you alright?" Eule continued to ask with worry in her tone. "You were shouting something above, so–"

Aloy's reply was to drop down from the second floor, dash up to Eule, and hug her waist, eliciting a squeak from the Replika.

After a short while though, Aloy felt a familiar Machine skin hand pat and rub her head.

"Did you have a nightmare, Aloy?" Eule asked gently.

Aloy nodded, rubbing her face against the thick, rough cloth of Eule's short leggings. She didn't know why, but the sight of Eule made her scared for a moment, and that scared her in turn. She couldn't remember how, but she was sure that her nightmare had something to do with Eule, and she didn't want to feel like that towards one of her most favorite people in the world.

So she was just going to hug Eule until she felt better. And already, especially when Star and Rost came onto the scene, the fear was already gone.

Elster-512 stepped out of the elevator back onto B1, wondering if there was anything of use there.

The first thing that the Land Survey/Ship Technician Replika saw was the Gestalt woman she had met just a short time ago. What was her name…Isa Itou. Yes, that was it.

Only, the Isa Elster had met had been a bit perturbed, but was more or less calm and in control.

Not like this Isa. This Isa was frantically running around the B1 elevator lobby, looking like she was looking around desperately for…something. Elster had no idea what, but whatever it was must've been quite small. It's the only reason Elster could think of as to why Isa would look under the rows of chairs.

It was at that point that Isa finally noticed Elster standing there, and quickly ran up to her.

"Elster unit, have you seen a little girl?!" Isa asked with a tone that sounded just as frantic as she looked. "She's about this high, has flame-colored hair, is wearing a bunch of sewn-together animal skins, and has a blue scarf! Oh, and her name is, uh, Aloy! That's it! Aloy! Have you seen her?!"

Elster shook her head. She had never met anyone of that description, Gestalt or Replika. This little girl was likely a Gestalt though. Flame-colored hair wasn't exactly normal for a Replika to have, even if the Nation allowed that sort of thing.

That apparently wasn't the right answer for Isa though. Isa whined deep in her throat, looking around even more frantically. "Oh no, what if she wandered off to look for you? What if she's run into some of the strange Replikas? What if she's bleeding, or dying, or worse?!"

In all honesty, Elster thought those were likely things that would happen to a Gestalt child in this place. She decided not to say this though. Isa looked like her personality was destabilizing enough as it was.

Elster was surprised when Isa just jabbed a finger at Elster's face. "Stay right there, and don't move! Aloy wanted to ask you something, and I'm not going to bring her back here just to find you gone, and then we're going to have to look for you again! Understood?!"

Elster's surprise was so complete in the face of this aggression from Isa that she could only just nod. She then watched as Isas marched over to the door with the blood…or rather, oxidant trail leading to it, and started to fiddle with the door keypad.

Elster was…conflicted. She knew that she needed to head down. She had a promise to keep, even if she couldn't quite remember what this promise was or who she made a promise to.

But…Isa obviously looked like she was in distress. If she had been a Replika, Elster was sure that her personality would've completely destabilized by now. Even so, Isa's obvious worry for this mysterious Gestalt girl made Elster worry in turn. The desire to head down and the desire to help warred within Elster.

The thing that made Elster decide was Isa yanking her bandaged left hand back with a yelp as a spark flew out of the partially disassembled keypad, shaking her already injured hand seemingly in the hopes that it will assuage the current pain.

Elster went up to Isa, who looked back at her. "Please move," Elster requested.

When Isa did, Elster got to work on the keypad. The keypad wasn't the same as the keypads onboard the Penrose-512, but certain things were just similar enough that when she put two wires together, the double door slid open. Well, one of the double doors slid open anyways. The other was apparently jammed in the closed position, but at least the gap was still big enough for Isa to squeeze through.

"Task completed. You can proceed now," Elster reported.

Isa nodded in relief. "Thank you…um…" Isa looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry, but I never asked for your name…er…"

Elster blinked in surprise at Isa. The thought of a Gestalt asking for her name was a strange request. Her brief conversations with her fellow Elster units during her pre-mission training for the Penrose program had implied to her that Gestalts don't make it a habit of ever asking Replikas for their names.

Clearly though, Isa was a different sort of Gestalt.

"LSTR-S…no, LSTR-512," Elster said.

Isa smiled. "LSTR-512. Just some letters and numbers, and yet that's a Replika's full name," she mused, before bowing in gratitude to Elster. "Thank you. Now please stay here and wait for me. Please."

Elster nodded, but then asked: "May I accompany you on your search for this missing person?"

Two people searching can cover more ground than one. This was obvious to Elster. It would shorten the length of time she would have to be stopped on her journey down into S-23 Sierpinski. This was the rational course of action for her.

This was what Elster convinced herself with.

Isa, for her part, looked surprised, but then she smiled at Elster. It was, oddly enough, a smile that made Elster's biomechanical heart feel warm and pleasant. She didn't know why.

"Thank you," Isa simply said, before she set off, with Elster following behind after a quick stop to grab a box of 12-gauge shotgun shells she spotted. Those looked like they would be handy if Elster ever found a shotgun to fire them from.

In the end though, the missing Gestalt girl could not be found anywhere in B1. Not even a trace of her could be found. Even searching B2 had yielded no clues, and had required a necessary expenditure of ammunition to put back down the things that used to be EULR and STAR units.

So Elster and Isa ended up separating from each other back at the elevator lobby, both disappointed that they could not find this Aloy girl. Elster could only express a hope to Isa that Aloy was safe, due to the lack of any body. It was the best Elster could do for her.

Even if Elster felt that she could've done better.