A/N: I'm back again! Still going strong but I think I may slow down soon. Not sure. Anyway, here is chapter 5!

Oh, for anybody curious about Hearthfire. I'm in the planning stages. I need to figure out what I want to do next, but hopefully it won't be too long till I put out the next chapter!

I really appreciate all your comments. They help my motivation and I love seeing your thoughts, questions, opinions, and ideas so please, keep them coming!

A Digital Mother

Chapter 5

Teersa

The year following the agreement with the Carja had led to increased trade, but the Matriarchs were careful not to let the merchants feel too welcome. They'd heard stories of how the Carja would try to use trade to make other tribes dependent on them and the Nora absolutely refused to be anything except self-sufficient.

Out of that desire and in light of the growing crisis, the Nora began to increase their attempts at farming. Normally, they simply gathered their food from what nature provided, but with the aggression of the machines growing, it made more sense for them to start growing some foods in places that were safe to reach.

The machine aggression also led to a restoration and expansion of or, in some cases, the building of walls around each village to create a barrier against sudden machine attacks. In order to keep their sparse farms safe, they were planted inside the walls. Not that they were very extensive. Mostly consisting of berry plants and the few vegetable plants that grew in the Sacred Lands. The Nora were not farmers and did not know much about plant care, so it was a difficult task, but they managed.

Jezza was the High-Matriarch who was chosen to oversee those attempts while Teersa oversaw the increased training and Brave patrols. She WAS a former Brave, after all. Lansra didn't do much other than grumble, not happy with their attempts at farming or trade with the Carja. She did accept the need for it though, which was progress.

Trade with the Carja brought goods into the Sacred Lands that, while not necessary, made life in the Sacred Lands a little easier. Foods that were grown from plants the Nora did not know and processed in ways the Nora did not understand were their primary objects of trade. Weapons like trip-casters were also usually bought from Carja traders and brought further into the Sacred Lands. That would soon change though.

Karst and his team of Seekers had returned after nearly 8 months in The Cut and had brought with them the secrets of Banuk bow making, as well as a few examples of other weapons for examination. As they told it to the High-Matriarchs, they had spent those months living and hunting with the Banuk Werak or clan that controlled The Cut and had earned their respect as hunters. There was even discussion of allowing the Werak to send hunting parties into the Sacred Lands north of Devil's Grief. Banuk and Nora hunters joining together to fell the larger machines that tended to roam that area.

The Banuk weapons and bow making techniques had been passed to the Nora weapon makers and combined with their traditional techniques to create new and improved bow designs that were slowly trickling out to the tribes. Special priority was given to ensuring the captains of each village guard were given the new bows first, followed by the Braves living outside the Embrace. That area saw far more machine activity, so they needed the new weapons faster. As for the Nora variant of the new weapons, that would have to wait until their crafters deciphered how to make things like trip-casters and rope-casters.

The area outside the Embrace was also where the highest concentration of weapons bought from the Carja saw use, since having something like a trip-caster was paramount when dealing with machines like Shellwalkers. Within the Embrace, the most dangerous machine to be found were Scrappers, which most Braves could take on well enough thanks to the new bows.

Still, despite the necessity of changing so many things about their way of life and the chaos that came with such changes, Teersa found she didn't mind. She wouldn't change anything about the last year and a half except the looming shadow of the machine aggression. Even that she could accept, since it came hand in hand with the little girl Teersa had come to love so much.

"Eessa!" Little Aloy shouted, pulling on the hem of her robe. Reaching down, Teersa picked up the daughter of the goddess with a laugh and a smile. She'd agreed to watch over Aloy while Rost was out on patrol. Troubling reports had been heard from north of Mother's Crown, so War-Chief Furn had called for their best hunters to join him on a patrol, meaning Sona and Rost had both left the Embrace to join their War-Chief.

At 18 months old, little Aloy had become like another granddaughter to Teersa and the old woman wouldn't trade her for the world. Her vocabulary was growing faster than most children, but she still had trouble pronouncing most words. Like Teersa's name.

"It's Teersa, little Aloy." The High-Matriarch said with a smile. "Can you say, Teersa?"

"Tee…reer…Earsa!" Aloy's face scrunched up as she tried to pronounce the word, before lighting up as she yelled.

Teersa laughed. "Almost, little one." Together, they left her hut and moved out into the village proper. It was packed as the members of the Nora tribe went about their daily lives. She could only smile as the sound of laughing children echoed over the village from where she could see them playing.

Pushing her little hands into Teersa's shoulder to raiser herself up and get a better view, Aloy looked around with interest. She was an inquisitive child, who had somehow managed to become quite a terror ever since she learned how to crawl, and later walk without holding on to something. If there was an object in the village, Aloy was determined to climb under, over, or inside of it if she could.

She still chuckled at one incident where Aloy had managed to crawl away from where Rost was preparing a meal. She'd entered their hut to find Rost in a panic, tearing the hut apart only to discover Aloy fast asleep UNDER her crib.

Suddenly, Aloy shouted. "Ala!" Following where the toddler was pointing, Teersa saw young Varl, now nearly seven years old walking down the street holding his baby sister, Vala. "Arl!" Aloy shouted again.

"Loy!" Vala shouted back, pointing at them.

"It's Varl, Aloy!" The young boy groaned as he approached. "V-arl. What's so hard about that?"

"Arl!" Aloy and Vala both shouted before giggling as only babies can.

Teersa could only laugh. "Not to worry, young Varl." she said, comfortingly. "Babies as young as them have trouble pronouncing some words and names. They'll learn it in time." Varl could only grumble.

"If you say so, High-Matriarch."

Vala and Varl were the children of Sona, the second to the War-Chief. Since her year off duty had ended, she had returned to her patrols, meaning she was spending more time than Teersa knew she would like outside the Embrace and away from her children. Sona loved her children fiercely, but she was a duty-bound Nora woman and therefore torn between the two.

Still, at least they had the companionship of other children. Varl had many young children his age to play with and had recently begun his training to run the Proving, so he was kept busy most days. As for Vala, she and Aloy saw each other every day while in the care of the mothers and Matriarchs who watched over younger children while their parents worked. The two were practically inseparable.

"Ow, Vala quit pulling my hair!" Varl whined. The little girl had grabbed ahold of his head while trying to push herself closer to Aloy. This whining only caused Aloy to laugh harder.

Rost

Rost let out a low sigh as he moved along the trail, accompanied by a team of seven other hunters. Led by War-Chief Furn, the hunting party had set out from Mother's Crown a few days before and headed north towards the ruin of Devil's Grief.

Scouts in the area to the north of the village had reported sightings of Bellowbacks. A rare and powerful machine that no hunter should take on lightly. They were not seen in the Sacred Lands very often and usually only north of Devil's Grief, not south of it, but were known to avoid humans. That is, until recently. With the increased aggression of the machines, there was no telling what would happen if they let the Bellowbacks move further south, closer to the settlements.

Far larger than any Strider, Scrapper, or Grazer the Bellowback had two massive, powerful legs used for running. It also had a tail that it could use to bludgeon opponents. These were not what made it so dangerous though. That was the massive canisters on its back and chest. Containing either Chillwater or Blaze depending on the type, the canister allowed the Bellowback to shoot out projectiles of ice or fire that were extremely dangerous to anyone who got near them and could be fatal if struck head on.

So, the War-Chief sent out the call for volunteers and experienced hunters. Rost was one of the few Nora who had killed a Bellowback and had been honor-bound to volunteer. Even though it meant leaving Aloy, he felt he had to go. Sona had joined him as expected. She was the second to the War-Chief and was required to be present when Furn called for warriors.

War-Chief Furn was older than Rost, with his dark brown hair starting to go grey. That's not to say he wasn't still strong. He WAS still the War-Chief after all and you couldn't hold that post if you couldn't fight, hunt, and track.

They had camped that night in the woods just south of the river while scouts went on ahead to get the lay of the land. When they came back with reports of spotting a Fire Bellowback in the forest near the water, the War-Chief had gotten the party moving. They marched on for perhaps half an hour but soon enough they came to a bend in the river, and the scout motioned for everyone to crouch. Stooping low, Rost and the hunting party followed Furn into some tall grass. Perfect as cover if you could stay still enough.

"There, across the river." The scout whispered, pointing. Sure enough, there was a Fire Bellowback in the woods across the shallow river.

"Hmm. Looks like it's just one." War-Chief Furn rumbled.

"It's not alone though." Sona added, pointing. Coming out of a copse of trees were two Watchers that split and moved in opposite directions around the Bellowback. Watchers were machines with a large, central eye that served as watchdogs for machine herds. If they saw a human approach, they would make a loud metallic screech and cause the other machines to run. Recently though, the Watchers had started attacking hunters who got spotted instead of just screeching and running.

"We need to take out those Watchers quietly." Rost whispered. "If they alert the Bellowback to our presence, this will get considerably more dangerous". Hopefully they could take them out with a swift strike directly to their eyes, but if just one saw them they were in for a fight.

"Hmm." Furn rumbled in agreement. We'll double back towards the bridge," he pointed west down the curve of the river, "cross out of sight and make our way through the trees back to this point. You two will stay here," he picked out two of their party.

One was younger and had been an eager volunteer. Too eager in Rost's opinion, but at least he was willing to fight. The other was older and more experienced. Likely chosen to stay so she could keep an eye on the younger one and keep him from acting rashly. Rost approved. He would have done the same.

"Once we reach those rocks," Furn pointed out some medium sized boulders on the other side of the river, "we'll split into the trees. At any point after my signal, the two who stay on this side of the river will take out the Watchers. Remember to aim for the eye. If you miss, we're in for a fight. Once that's done, we'll take out the Bellowback. If you think you've got the shot on its eyes, take it but be certain! We don't want to fight this thing if we can avoid it."

It was a solid plan. Using their spears to take out the Watchers was out of the question. It would be far too difficult for them to sneak up on the machines without being noticed. Because of that, taking them out with bow shots from across the river was the perfect tactic. The five Braves ran swiftly down river to the bridge and headed across. In a silent crouch, they made their way stealthily back towards the machines.

Rost knelt behind one of the boulders with Sona beside him. Slowly, he peeked around it. The coast was clear. Moving on Furn's signal, they split into the trees. Rost silently dove into some bushes, bow ready and waiting for the sharpshooters to take out the Watchers. Although he could not see the War-Chief, Rost had no doubt that he had given the signal to fire when ready.

Rost slowed his breathing, trying to stay as silent as possible. It would not do to be caught because he was breathing too loud. Rost wasn't sure how long he had waited, watching the machines move. It seemed both an instant and an eternity before he heard the twang of bowstrings. One arrow found its mark in the eye of the Watcher closest to Rost, causing it to go down silently.

Sadly, the other arrow was a hair slower to be released than the first. The second Watcher swiveled its head and the arrow buried itself in the Watcher's shoulder. The machine fell with a loud screech before rolling back up. One of its legs was damaged, but it could still move.

"Go!" Furn shouted.

Rost rose and his new bow twanged, the arrow finding its mark in the Watcher's eye. Still, it was too late. The Bellowback had heard them and with a mechanical roar, it charged towards them through the trees. The hunting party fired, but the beast was too fast. Only one arrow found its mark, glancing off the armor plating covering the Bellowback's left leg.

"Scatter!" Furn commanded.

They did as commanded. Each member of the hunting party split off. Some went for higher ground, others towards the river. Rost drew his spear and rushed forward as the Bellowback charged past him. With a mighty thrust, he lodged his spear into the right leg of the machine. The metal gave a loud rending noise as the knee buckled.

Rost was forced to retreat without his spear, which remained lodged in the leg of the Bellwoback. Hobbled but not immobile, the beast let out a mechanical roar and spewed globs of molten liquid towards him. Rolling away, Rost moved to a better distance and drew his bow.

"Well done, Rost!" Furn shouted. "It's crippled! Arrows!"

Multiple shots rang out. Some glanced off the armor of the machine. Others lodged themselves in open areas between the plates and canisters. A few struck the canisters themselves. Rost's own arrow was buried in the jaw of the beast, but that did not stop it from spitting out another glob towards the hunters.

Two Braves rushed in to skewer it with their spears, but Rost had noticed something. One of their arrows had caused a leak in the blaze canister! Another hit and it would blow! The explosion would likely kill the Bellowback, but if any of the Braves were too close, they would be caught in the blast.

"The canister is leaking! Retreat!" Rost shouted. Running forward, he grabbed the two Braves by the backs of their cloaks and threw them back. He had just turned to run when the Bellowback swerved, causing an arrow that had been aimed for its eyes to connect with the canister.

The explosion sent Rost flying but by the grace of the All-Mother he did not impact any rocks or trees. Instead, he was sent headlong into the river. The icy water doused his flaming clothes and broke his fall. He could feel the bruising on his back from the force of the blast, and he may have sprained his knee when he hit the bottom of the river but was otherwise unharmed.

Rising out of the water, he saw another of the Braves had hit the water and cleared his eyes in time to see the third jump into the river, dousing his flaming cloak. The Bellowback and much of the nearby ground and trees were aflame, but the machine was still moving. He could see Sona up on one of the boulders. With a shout, she fired an arrow that flew straight into the eye of the machine. With one last mechanical groan and a shower of sparks, it collapsed.

"Douse the flames!" Furn shouted, rising from his vantage point. "We cannot let the fires run rampant or they'll burn across the Sacred Lands!

Together the hunting party scattered, with Rost limping on his injured knee. They stamped on the grassfires and poured water from their canteens on the flaming bushes. Sona, in a stroke of genius, pulled a large, bowled plate from the Bellowback's carcass and used it to throw water from the river onto the burning trees.

It took them a good long while, but they got the fires under control and eventually doused. Moving towards the carcass, Rost could spot his ruined spear still sticking out of the machine's knee. The wood was charred, but he could salvage the metal to make a new spear.

"Well done." Furn said, congratulating the party. "This likely won't be the last Bellowback we see. It's proof that the goddess was right. The machines are going to get worse."

"And we will be ready for them." Sona declared, to the cheers of the other Braves.

Rost shook his head and rubbed his eyes. Something seemed to be off with his vision, because there was a strange distortion just… behind… "War-Chief!" He was too late. The air within the shadows shimmered and some kind of blue bolt flew from the trees, slamming into the Nora War-Chief. There was a blood splatter as the older man was thrown, crashing into a tree.

"Scatter!" Sona commanded.

"Where is it?!" One of the other Braves yelled, panicking.

"There!" Rost pointed to the moving distortion. "It's invisible! Follow the warped air!" He drew his bow and fired, but the figure was too fast. He'd lost it! Spinning, Rost hastily drew another arrow and searched for the distortion.

"Aagh!" One of the Braves shouted in pain as he was bowled over. Claw marks appeared on his shoulder, bleeding profusely. Thinking fast, Rost scanned the ground looking for blood, but it was dark under the trees.

"It has blood on its claws!" Sona shouted, her thinking the same as Rost's. "Use that to search for it!"

"Up on the tree!" A Brave shouted. Sure enough, the air on one of the trunks was distorted. Rost and three others fired their bows. One of them got lucky and struck the creature. Rost saw sparks as something flew off of its back. With a shimmer, the machine appeared as it dropped to the forest floor.

Low to the ground and covered in dark metal, it was a sleek thing. Four legged and with a long, swishing tail. Whatever they had hit must have been what kept it invisible. The machine screeched and rushed at Sona, but she was ready for it. Just as it moved to swipe with its claws, she jumped aside and thrust her spear.

Sona's spear lodged itself in the hip joint of the right rear leg, severing it. The machine gave a screech and buckled. With a twang, Rost fired his bow. The arrow pierced the armor gap and flew directly into the skull of the machine. The beast gave one last yowl before collapsing, dead.

"What was that thing?!"

"One of the new machines the All-Mother spoke of." Sona scowled, ripping her spear free. "I didn't think they'd appear so soon."

"We must send word to all patrols to look for a shimmer in the air. That is the only way to spot it as far as we know." Rost added as he moved to kneel by the War-Chief. Whatever it was that hit him, it had gone right through his neck.

"Is he..." Sona started, hesitantly.

"Dead." Rost confirmed, shaking his head.

Sona and the other Braves bowed their heads. "May he live forever in the memory of the All-Mother." They muttered as one. After a moment of silent prayer, Sona rallied them. As second to the War-Chief, she was now in command.

"We need to get moving." she commanded. "Vai, I want a sketch of that thing!" She gestured at the new machine, "then I want it scrapped for parts! Seela, help Mern patch up his shoulder. I want that bleeding under control! Then grab some wood to make a stretcher so that we can carry the War-Chief's body back. Rost, put a splint on that knee and then start scrapping what you can from the Bellowback. Jorn, Thala, you're with me on lookout. We don't want any more surprises!"

It didn't take them long to follow her orders. Rost bandaged his knee as best he could and set about scrapping what little could be looted from the Bellowback carcass but there wasn't much. Only a few intact shards and some braided wire. Soon enough, they were on their way. It was slow going, with two of them injured and the body of the War-Chief to carry but after a few days of travel, they made it to Mother's Crown.

There, they rested the night while Sona spoke with the Matriarchs of the village. The Matriarchs immediately dispatched runners to the other villages with the news of War-Chief Furn's death and the appearance of a new machine. Going with them were sketches of the carcass and everything the hunting party could remember about fighting the invisible machine. The next day, they began the trek back to the Embrace and Mother's Heart. Rost could not wait to see his little girl again, and had no doubt that Sona felt the same about her kids.

Teersa

When the news of the new machine and the death of Furn reached Mother's Heart, it caused an upswing in both tension and relief. Tension coming from the death of their military leader and the appearance of a machine that could turn invisible, and relief stemming from the fact that the goddess had spoken truth, which allowed them to prepare.

The crafters who were working on the new weapons stepped up their efforts and collaborated with the hunters to devise a method of marking or trapping the beast. Their current focus was on some kind of bomb. Bombs were small devices that were unfamiliar to the Nora but used sometimes by Carja and Banuk hunters. When fired from a sling, they exploded on contact to devastating effect.

The Nora crafters were hard at work designing their own and, inspired by attempts by the Banuk, were figuring out ways to attach bombs of different elemental types to arrows. The idea was that if they could attach an elemental charge to the arrow, it would cause more damage to the machines.

In this case though, they were trying to design a paint bomb that would explode in a wide area, hopefully coating the invisible machine and rendering its invisibility useless. They were only in what they called the 'test phase' and still a long way off from producing enough to send out to their villages.

As for the death of War-Chief Furn, Teersa and many others mourned him greatly. He was a good man and a skilled hunter, having led the Nora as War-Chief for nearly two decades. He would be laid to rest with honors in Mother's Heart, and Teersa had no doubt that his spirit would live on in the memory of the All-Mother.

Teersa was at the gates when the hunting party returned to Mother's Heart. They were a grim-faced group as they marched through the gates, Furn's body carried on a stretcher between two Braves. His arms were crossed over his stomach and his spear laid upon his chest. Sona led the party through the gates with Rost at her right hand.

"We have returned, High-Matriarchs." Sona said, gravely. She gave a solemn nod to each of them in turn. "The hunting party has carried the body of War-Chief Furn from where he fell; here to Mother's Heart. I now entrust him to you, so that he might be given proper burial rights."

"Thank you, Sona for bringing him home," Jezza replied with a nod, "and thank the All-Mother that the rest of you returned safely."

"In light of Furn's death, the tribe is in need of a new War-Chief," Teersa added, sadly. "As his second, the position of War-Chief falls to you Sona. Do you accept?"

Sona knelt. "I accept this most solemn duty, High-Matriarchs."

Teersa smiled at her. "You shall be formally inducted after Furn is laid to rest. Until then, you may take some time with your family. We only ask that you take spare a thought to choosing your second before the funeral."

"There is no need to consider." Sona shook her head and stood. "I would have Rost, and no other as my second." Teersa could see Rost's eyes go wide in shock at Sona's words. He clearly had not been expecting Sona to pick him.

"If Rost is your pick, then he has my support." Teersa said with a grin.

"Mine as well." Jezza spoke up. "Rost is a worthy Brave and most wise. How would make a superb second."

"I might have made an argument for Resh," Lansra grimaced, "if he had not so disgraced himself. Rost will be a fine choice."

"What say you, Rost?" Teersa asked. "Will you accept becoming the second to War-Chief Sona?"

Rost knelt upon the ground. "I accept, High-Matriarchs. I hope to serve you and the All-Mother with honor."

With that, the group separated. Lansra took charge of Furn's body, but Teersa would join her and Jezza later to perform the funeral rights. For the moment though, she had a little girl to reunite with her adopted father.

She joined Rost and Sona as they made their way through the village to Sona's hut where she had left young Varl temporarily in charge of Aloy and his sister. He was a very dutiful boy, and it wasn't for more than an hour, so Teersa felt he was responsible enough to handle watching them.

"Dada!" Aloy screeched with delight when Rost stepped through the door. She was sitting on a rug in the open area of the hut, with a few painted wooden blocks in front of her. On the other side of the pile of blocks was Vala, who also screeched happily when Sona came into view.

"Mom!" Varl leapt up, happily and ran to his mother. She knelt down and pulled him into a hug, before moving to pick up her daughter.

"Hello, little one." Rost said with a smile as he lifted Aloy into his arms. "Ouch!" He yelped as the little girl grabbed ahold of his beard. "Now Aloy, we've talked about this. No grabbing the beard."

"At least she's not ripping it out of your skull like Vala does." Varl muttered, rubbing his head.

The two babies just laughed, happily.

GAIA

HEPHAESTUS was working faster than GAIA had anticipated. A hunter-killer that could turn invisible was a very dangerous machine and one that would cause great harm to the Nora if they didn't find a way to combat it. She would need to step up her simulations and research into capturing HEPHAESTUS, HADES, and her other subordinate functions.

The problem was one of storage. They would need a data storage device large enough and portable enough to capture them. Which, of course, wasn't even taking into consideration the fact that they needed a way to find them. Unless she could connect to one of the MINERVA towers, GAIA was blind to what happened on a global scale. The ELEUTHIA facility was just too limited to allow for global scanning. With time, though, she should be able to scan the majority of North America and GAIA was relatively sure they would not leave the continent.

Most of her sub-functions had likely fled to data processors that could hold them and would remain there indefinitely. They would continue their work but in an increasingly chaotic manner. HEPHAESTUS though, would probably be harder to track down. Still, her priority would have to be HADES, the extinction protocol. It was the most immediate danger to life on earth if it became active, but GAIA did not anticipate it being able to do much unless discovered by a human.

It would be eighteen years before her baby was ready to take on the task of saving the world, but GAIA was determined to provide her with everything she could ever need to complete the task. With that in mind, she set herself to continue the expansion of her scanning network and finalizing the learning module she would eventually gift to her little girl.

A/N: And Done! What did you think? Our first fight/hunt. Please leave a comment down below with your thoughts, questions, and ideas!

Alright! So before anybody says anything about it being too early for Stalkers I just want to say that everything I have says Stalkers were first encountered by the Carja about 4 years after Aloy was born. It doesn't say whether or not anybody else saw it first, so I decided to use it here! You like it?

About weaponry. I couldn't find info on when elemental arrows were developed, but I'd be willing to bet it was in response to the derangement. Maybe some Oseram or Carja had them before that, but I think they became widespread during the derangement and the red raids so they will be slowly introduced from here.

Oh! I'm a little surprised that nobody noticed or at least commented on Karst except Ryanlarsen84. I didn't make him up. He's the merchant from Zero Dawn that was a former Nora Outcast. He got punished for going into the old ruins in canon, so I decided to make him a Seeker so that wouldn't happen!

About the fight scene. I was playing Zero Dawn to get some idea of how I wanted the Bellowback fight to go and actually ran into one and a Watcher at the bend in the river north of Mother's Crown. Just west of the Bellowback site south of Devil's Grief. So, I used that encounter and location as the basis for the fight scene in the story!

Answers to Questions

On FFN

LunaShadowWolf: I think I've figured out how I will be having them interact, but I won't be having GAIA just tell Aloy everything. Nor, I think, will Aloy be telling many people about GAIA.

On Ao3
Aleza: Honestly, I'm thinking about having the Nora be as well armed as Aloy from endgame Zero Dawn eventually. Minus the Shieldweaver of course. Not entirely sure yet, but its fun to think about!

WhiteQueen666: 6-7 months sounds pretty accurate. Thank you!

Ryanlarsen84: I don't think the Nora even knew that ruin was there before Aloy fell in. Oh, and thank you for linking that timeline to me!

Reactivegull12: I've wanted to punch him so many times! My first playthrough, I was really disappointed that Aloy doesn't get to put him in his place. Also, I'm glad you caught the latrine connection!

DanUzumaki1: I love that idea! I don't know how well it would fit into my story though. It might mess with some of my tentative plans, but I want to read a story with that idea somewhere!

GermanHorizonFan: I have some ideas for the Red Raids and who might or might not show up, but we'll see how it goes. I get what you mean about Aloy and Seyka, but I really liked them together so I might stick with that. I don't think I'll be having her with Avad though. I like them together, but it feels a little too much like he's trying to replace Ersa with Aloy which is a little creepy. Love the idea about GAIA and the sub-functions though! I'll consider it.