A/N: I'm back! Hello! I really hope you enjoy this chapter. It's kind of an important one. Also, I'm hoping to have another chapter out soonish. It's already outlined but I make no promises on when I'll get to write it.

I really appreciate all your questions and comments and I'd love it if you kept them coming! They make me want to keep writing.

A Digital Mother

Chapter 7

Rost

"Do you see this plant, here?" Rost asked the two six-year-olds. He was kneeling at the side of the road just to the east of Mother's Watch, only about half an hour's brisk walk from the settlement. With him were his daughter, Aloy, and her friend Vala. Vala's mother, Sona, had asked him to start her training along with Aloy's once they both turned six. Normally, she would have been the one doing the training but as War Chief, she had duties that required her to be away from her children far too often to make training viable.

The two girls were still too young to join proper Brave training like Vala's elder brother, Varl, but they were more than ready to learn the basics of survival in the wild. Not that the Embrace was wild. No, thanks to the patrols of the Braves under Rost's command, the heart of the Sacre Land was as safe as it was possible to be. Indeed, despite the machine aggression, which was now being called the Derangement, most parents were willing to let any child over the age of 14 venture out on their own. So long as they stuck to the road, didn't wander too far, and that child was participating in Brave training.

Most children of that age had been taught how to avoid machines if they got caught or were learning how to kill them, but Rost's patrols had ensured that the areas most frequented by members of the Nora tribe were well and truly clear of machines. Only the areas less traveled by the tribe were dangerous now. Though, there was the occasional wandering pack that came in from the valley to the west.

As for why they were near Mother's Watch instead of their home at Mother's Heart, well, that was because of the annual meeting of the Matriarchs. While emergency meetings could be called, as had happened when the All-Mother appeared, the Matriarchs of the tribe usually only gathered once a year. This year's meeting was scheduled to take place within the next few days, and the Matriarchs were slowly trickling in from across the Sacred Lands. Unlike in an emergency, they were able to take their time arriving for the annual meeting. As War Chief and Second, Rost and Sona were required to attend. Rost had already escorted Teersa and the Matrairchs of Mother's Heart to Mother's Watch.

Sona herself would be arriving with the last group from beyond the embrace, and Vala wanted to get started on her training so that she could show her mother just how much she'd learned. To that end, he'd brought the two girls out beyond the village and just down the road. Where they were was perfectly safe, but wild enough to excite the imaginations of the two six-year-olds.

"This is called Salvebrush," he continued. The two girls looked on in fascination. "While traveling, it is always a good idea to keep a few of its berries in your medicine pouch. Do you know why?"

"Because they are good medicine?" Vala answered, hesitantly.

"Correct." He gave her a smile. "Here, try them." He plucked two berries and handed them to the girls.

"Ugh. It's bitter." Aloy grimaced while Vala made a face.

"Yes," Rost chuckled, "they are, but they can save your life. Always keep a pouch filled with medicinal flowers and berries on yourself when you journey beyond the safety of the village."

"Rost!" A voice called. Standing, he turned towards the voice. Jogging towards them was Enoa, one of the Braves who was stationed at Mother's Watch.

"What's wrong, Enoa?" Rost asked.

"I'm sorry, Captain, but one of the scouts reported Scrapper tracks on the roads to the west. It looks like a pack has wandered in from the valley. The patrols are requesting permission to hunt them down."

"Damn." Rost cursed under his breath. Turning to the children, he said, "Hold here a moment, girls and don't move. I need to speak with Enoa."

"Aw." Aloy pouted. "Can we at least go play by those rocks, Daddy?" She pointed to a barren outcropping further along and to the right of the road.

"Ah." Rost hesitated before nodding. "Yes, you may, but do not go out of sight! You should be able to see me at all times. Promise."

"We promise." They chorused, before scampering off towards the rocks, giggling all the way.

Turning back to Enoa, Rost focused on the Scrapper problem. "We need to take care of the pack, quickly. There are Matriarchs and many others traveling the roads today, the last thing we need is a Scrapper attack. Report back to Anra and tell her to have six teams head out. Our best trackers should follow what tracks you've found, while the rest should comb the nearby areas and remove any machines they find."

"Should we send a runner along the road to warn any coming parties?"

"Hm." Rost considered the idea before nodding. "Yes. Send Ferza, she's probably the fastest runner stationed in Mother's Watch at the moment."

"Yes, sir." She nodded and turned to leave before stopping short. "Sir? Where did the girls go?"

"What?!" He whirled around. They were gone! The girls weren't by the rocks they had pointed to! "Blast it. I told them not to wander off! Vala! Aloy!"

Aloy

Aloy giggled as she and Vala scampered away from her daddy. She loved being outside the walls! Everything was so open and free! Not that she didn't love living in the village. She did! It was all warm and snuggly and there were so many people! Too many people, sometimes. That was why she liked exploring when her dad took her out into the woods, which wasn't very often. He said she wasn't old enough to start going out there on her own, so she could only go with him or other groups of children.

"Do you think there are any machines here?" Aloy asked, excitedly as she bounded up onto one of the lower rocks.

"Nah, I doubt it." Her best friend, Vala, replied. She too was up on the rocks, her arms out to keep her balance as she walked across a thinner boulder. "Uncle Rost says that the roads are safe so I don't think there would be any near us."

That was a little disappointing. Still, Aloy and Vala excitedly explored the hollow made by the rocks, unknowingly moving out of sight and earshot of Rost, until something caught Aloy's eye.

"What's that?" she asked, moving closer to it. It looked like a big hole in the ground!

"Is there a cave down there?" Vala asked, excitedly as the two children moved towards the opening. It was pitch dark inside the hole, which seemed to go down quite a way. Aloy got on her hands and knees, straining her head down to try and see what was in there.

"Be careful." Vala warned.

"I think I can see something!" Aloy said, happily. She could just barely make out shapes in the darkness, when her hands suddenly slipped on the muddy edge of the hole. "Wah!" She lost her balance and pitched forward into the dark.

"Aloy!" She felt Vala grab her ankle, but her weight was too much, and the two girls plunged into the darkness.

They tumbled. Aloy felt herself bounce off of something hard, and then another something, before they crashed into water with a huge splash. Luckily, they both knew the basics of swimming. Coming up for air, Aloy gasped. The light was dim, but she could see Vala's head poking out of the water.

"Vala! Are you okay?" she asked, panicked.

"I think so!" Her friend replied.

"Come on!" Aloy said, relieved, "I think I see the edge."

Together, they swam as best as they could towards the bank of the deep pond and pulled themselves out. The light was still dim, but there seemed to be enough to get a feeling for their surroundings. Looking up, Aloy tried shouting, hoping her father would hear her.

"Dad! Daddy! We fell!"

"Uncle Rost! Help!" Vala's voice joined hers. After a moment with no reply, Aloy kicked a loose stone, dejectedly.

"I don't think he can hear us."

"It looks like we're in some kind of cave." Vala said, looking around. There were spikes of rock and ice protruding from the floors and ceilings as well as moss covering the ground. There appeared to be light coming from a passage just ahead of them.

"Maybe there's a way out through there?" Aloy asked.

Vala shrugged, noncommittally. The two moved into the thin passage but were almost immediately forced to cover their heads and squeal as a flock of bats came flying out of the cave and over their heads. Once the flock passed, they continued down the passage until they came to a small opening.

"Looks tight." Vala said, looking at the opening.

"We can get through." Aloy told her with confidence. Yes, she was scared, but this was an adventure! Like the ones in Rost's stories! Together the two squeezed through the opening, nearly slipping on the icy floor of the open area beyond.

"Is this… metal?" Vala muttered, tapping the floor with her foot.

Looking around, they could see what looked like metal shelves on wheels, along with railings and other metal objects. Even the floor was made of metal, and it was all covered in ice. There were even spikes of ice hanging from the ceiling.

"This must be a ruin of the Metal World." Aloy said with awe as she looked around.

"One of the old ruins?" Vala sounded a little panicked. "Aloy, we aren't supposed to be in places like this! Only Seekers can go down here!"

"Well, we have to find some way out, right?" Aloy rebutted.

"I… ok, you have a point." Vala griped.

With that, the two trudged through the ankle-deep water and across the frozen metal floor. Passing through the gap in a huge metal door they came to a large room with an open door at the end. Going through it, they kept going until they saw a bright light through one opening. Thinking it was an exit, they eagerly rushed towards it, only to discover it was a shaft of sunlight coming through a hole in the roof.

"What's that?" Aloy asked with curiosity, staring at the silhouette of whatever the light was illuminating.

"A dead person…" Vala whispered in fear.

Gulping, Aloy moved closer. She could see something shiny next to the body. Right above the rotting, desiccated ear of the corpse was a metallic triangle that was glowing faintly. Curiosity won out over fear or disgust as Aloy plucked the object from the head of the body.

"Aloy!" Vala gasped in shock, but the redhead wasn't listening.

No, she was too busy putting the triangle on the side of her head, in the same place the dead person had been wearing it. There was a loud screech and a flash of light, causing her to squeak and drop the object. Startled, Vala squealed and jumped back. Picking up the object again, Aloy put it back on her head. It just sort of… stuck to the side of her face, slightly above her right ear.

With another squeak, a circle of light appeared over the object and a dome of purple lines appeared over her. All around, the previously dark metallic objects began to glow with a soft purple light.

"Vala! Look! There's lights… everywhere!"

"What lights?" Vala asked, hesitantly. Aloy swiftly pulled the triangle off her face, causing the lights to disappear and handed it to her friend.

"Look!"

Slowly, Vala took the object and placed it on her head. She jumped a little before staring in wonder. "Wow… how does it do that?" she asked, amazed. After a moment, she took it off and handed it back to Aloy.

"I dunno." The redhead replied, putting it back on.

With a squeak, the lights reappeared. Looking around, she saw what looked like a door glowing purple. There were strange symbols floating above it. Aloy was very proud of the fact that she could already read the glyphs used by the Nora, but these were unfamiliar.

"There's a metal door over here." She said, walking up some frozen stairs with Vala close behind. "It's closed but… I can see a red light on it. Look." She handed the device back to Vala.

Less hesitantly this time, Vala put it on. "Huh. Maybe this… device is meant to help unlock the door?" She looked around a little. "I can see… lines or something, going from the door to something else. It looks like a lit-up box on the other side of that wall." She handed the triangle back to Aloy.

Looking, Aloy was able to see the lines and box her dark-haired friend had spoken of. Together, they moved towards and then along the wall, which had windows covered in ice and rock spikes, making it difficult to see inside the room.

"Maybe there's a way in there back this way?" Aloy guessed, headed down the corridor. It wasn't long until they entered the room with the glowing box. Floating in front of it was a blue circle with a red segment up at the top. Over on another wall, there was a second circle with the red segment at the bottom. Through guesswork and sheer dumb luck, they figured out that they needed to spin the first circle so that it matched the second one. This caused a strange noise to echo from the room with the door. The two girls grinned at each other, dashed back towards it and, spinning the now blue circle on the door, they high-fived as the frozen door slid open.

They continued on and down some stairs, until Aloy spotted another body. "What's that?" There was a… glyph of some kind floating above the body.

"There's another device on their ear…" Vala said, slowly.

"No, there's something floating over them. Hang on." Aloy reached towards it, but the glyph didn't react. Frustrated, she tried tapping the device on the side of her head. Suddenly, a green bar made a circle around the glyph and to her astonishment, the image of a glowing purple man appeared. Aloy let out a squeal and backed away as the man started to talk.

"You think I want it this way?" He whispered. "It's the best I can do. He's right behind you." Then he spoke up in a cheerful voice. "Hi! Happy birthday Isaac! Daddy sure does love his little big man. Look, Daddy can't be there with you and mom, but… we can still have a party, right? Sure, we can!" He blew into a noise maker of some kind. Then the man flickered and disappeared.

"Aloy! What happened?" Vala demanded.

"There... there was a man! Look!" Aloy all but shoved the triangle into her hands. Putting it on, Aloy watched Vala's expression as she too saw the image of the man.

"Is that… the man who died here?" she asked, hesitantly before handing the triangle back.

"I think… he is." After a moment, Aloy stooped and pulled the triangle off of Isaac's Daddy and handed it to Vala. "This way, we can both see the lights."

Vala stared at the object for a moment, debating with herself, before taking it and putting it on. "If we get to keep these, I'm cleaning it once we're out of here."

"That's… probably a good idea." Aloy admitted, sheepishly.

They kept going until they came to a door that was partially open. Squeezing through the gap, they emerged into what looked like a series of frozen over rooms. Looking around, Aloy could see more lights floating above what looked like tables. One had another of the glyphs that had floated above the body of Isaac's Daddy! She didn't know what else to call him, and just calling him 'the body' felt wrong. Approaching, she… scanned? Scanned the object. Although no image appeared, she could hear a man's voice. Next to her, Aloy saw Vala do the same thing.

"Well, happy new year, dear diary. Can you believe we actually celebrated last night? Well, we did. Kind of. Director Evans invited everyone to gather in the community room. Don't know where she got the party hats. That was a ghoulish touch. So there we sit, watching the clock tick down to midnight, and I'm thinking, am I the only one here who gets the symbolism of this? Might've been worth it if Skylar had gotten drunk again, but... I seem to be a mistake she doesn't want to repeat."

"Community room?" Vala said, unsure.

"Why does he sound… sad?" Aloy wondered out loud.

They moved away until they came to a room that seemed to be filled with… beds? Metal beds? In each of them, the light triangle showed the purple outlines of… bodies. Each seemed to have another glyph hanging above them.

"What… happened to them?" Vala asked, sadly. "Why did they die here?"

"Maybe… they were killed by the Metal Devil?" Aloy reasoned. A light on one of the tables was blinking, so she moved towards it. Tapping the light in the air, she jumped a little when the image of a tiny person appeared, floating over the desk. She had dark skin kind of like Vala and was wearing some kind of cloth over her head. Aloy gestured for Vala to come look at it. The tiny woman spoke.

"Hello. My name is Samina Ebadji," Aloy gasped, "Alpha of APOLLO, and I would like to welcome you to this secondary Zero Dawn facility. Within this bunker, you will be kept safe from the Swarm while you continue your work on the APOLLO database and ELEUTHIA program." The voice cut out and the image disappeared.

"Samina Ebadji!" Vala said, astounded. They both knew that name, of course. Being descended from their leader, the story of the Alpha's was Aloy's absolute favorite. Not that it wasn't the favorite of basically every child in the tribe. They all knew the names of every single Alpha by heart. "This must be one of the bunkers the All-Mother spoke of." She was referencing the copy of the All-Mother's testimony on the death of the Metal Devil.

Aloy knew it as well, of course. She was a little young to TOTALLY understand the concept of a god, but she knew that the All-Mother was very important to the tribe. Her father and Granny Teersa, especially. Turning away, she moved to another of the bodies, and plucked the triangle off the dead woman's head. She'd give it to her father, so she could show him that they'd found a record of the Alphas!

"I can't believe it." Vala was still processing.

"I know!" Aloy replied. "This place belonged to the Alpha's!"

"But… if they were safe, how did they die?"

"I… don't know." Aloy was hesitant. "Maybe they ran out of food?" They could try and find more recordings of the dead people's voices, but an entirely new voice stopped them in their tracks and caused both little girls to scream.

"Aloy! Aloy, are you alright?" the panicked voice had asked, coming out of the devices on their heads! Aloy nearly ripped it off in fear before the now soothing female voice spoke again. "Oh. Forgive me. I did not mean to frighten you."

"Who… who are you?" Aloy asked, a little scared.

"My name is GAIA, and I am speaking to you through the Focus device."

"Focus?" Vala asked.

"The triangular metal device you have placed on the sides of your heads. They are called Focuses."

"Are you… in charge of this place?"

"Yes and no. I was alerted to your presence when you entered the facility because I am connected to it, but I do not have a physical presence."

"Are you a spirit? Like the All-Mother spoke of?" Vala asked, excitedly.

GAIA's voice seemed… hesitant. "Not… exactly, but that would be the easiest term."

Aloy had a feeling the disembodied voice was hiding something. Also, how had GAIA known her name? Maybe she heard them talking? Still… for some reason, the voice felt… familiar. Comforting, even.

"Would you like me to help guide you out?"

"Can… you really do that?" Vala sounded suspicious.

"Of course. This is no place for children. To your right, there is another door. Go through it and down the corridor. There should be an opening to the sky just beyond it, along with some rubble you can climb."

Aloy and Vala glanced at each other before nodding and silently following the advice of the disembodied voice. It wasn't like they had any better ideas.

"So… did you know the Alphas?" Aloy asked, hesitantly.

"I did." GAIA replied. "They were my friends."

"Did you know Elisabet Sobeck?!" The redhead demanded, much more excitedly.

"Yes. Dr. Sobeck… Elisabet… was a dear friend. I was very sad when she died."

"What was she like?" Aloy asked, almost belligerently. "Please, tell me!"

"Aloy!" Vala shouted, because the other girl had stopped moving.

"If your father allows you to keep the Focus, then perhaps we can speak of Elisabet another time. For now, you should get out of this facility. Oh, but… please do not mention my name to anyone."

Pouting a little, Aloy obeyed. Together, she and Vala made their way forward, following GAIA's direction until, faintly above them, they heard a voice.

"Aloy! Vala!" The two girls grinned, excitedly. "Are you down there?!"

"Daddy! We're here!"

"Uncle Rost!"

The two scrambled forward. Up above them, they could see Aloy's father peering down out of a hole in the roof. Helping each other, the two children climbed and scrabbled up as far as they could, till Aloy's dad was able to grab hold of them and hoist the girls out of the hole.

"All-Mother be praised." He gasped in relief, hugging them both. Perils of the recent past forgotten, Aloy melted into her father's embrace like she always did. After a moment, her father let them go so he could look at them.

"What were you doing down there?"

"I'm sorry." Aloy hung her head. "I fell in. Vala only fell in cause she was trying to help me."

"Such places are of the Metal World. Only Seekers are allowed to enter!"

"But, Uncle Rost!" Vala stammered. "That place belonged to the Alphas! We saw an image of Samina Ebadji! She spoke to us!"

"What?" He gasped.

"It's true!" Aloy chimed in. "We found these weird triangle things, and they let us see lights and visions!" She pointed at the side of her head.

"You found what? Wait, that's…"

Rost

Rost could barely believe his eyes. All the panic and fear of having lost his baby were replaced with a sense of wonder as he beheld the item sitting on Aloy's head. The events of the day he took custody of her were forever burned into his mind, including the image of this device. If he remembered right, the All-Mother called it a Focus. A tool of the Alphas! If Vala was right, and the device let them see a vision of an Alpha…

"Here!" Aloy said, excitedly holding another such object out for him to take. "I found one for you!"

Rost hesitated for a moment, filled with apprehension before taking it. He had to know. There was a screeching noise as it attached itself to his head. Light filled his vision before settling. There were odd glowing circles surrounding the devices on the two girls' heads.

"Hold on, I think I…" Aloy seemed to go quiet and still for a moment, as if listening to something, before hesitantly tapping the odd symbols of light in front of her. To Rost's astonishment, an image he had only seen once before appeared. A woman with dark skin and a cloth head-covering. He'd seen her visage on the day the All-Mother had gifted the tribe with the tale of the Alpha's. To his further astonishment, she began to speak.

"Hello. My name is Samina Ebadji. Alpha of APOLLO, and I would like to welcome you to this secondary Zero Dawn facility. Within this bunker, you will be kept safe from the Swarm while you continue your work on the APOLLO database and ELEUTHIA program."

Rost could only gape. How could this be? He had no idea what half of what she said meant, but he recognized her name, that the was an Alpha, and that she referenced 'the Swarm,' which was a name the Old Ones had used for the Metal Devil.

"See? I told you!" Aloy ignored his shock.

"I… we must report this to the High-Matriarchs." Rost shook his head, duty overcoming shock and dread. Also, despite how proud he was of Aloy for having survived what was likely a harrowing ordeal, he could not let her go unpunished for disobeying him. He took a moment to stare down at the two girls, sternly. "Also, just because you may have discovered a relic of the Alpha's doesn't mean you two are off the hook for wandering away. I told you not to go out of sight."

Aloy and Vala could only pout and follow along behind him.

Teersa

Teersa all but collapsed into a chair following Aloy, Vala, and Rost's recounting of the story. One of the bunkers of the Alpha's? Right under their noses? Furthermore, it had to be a sign from the goddess that Aloy, daughter of the All-Mother, was the one to discover it! What is more, they claimed to have heard the voice of a spirit!

"What do we do, High-Matriarch?" Rost asked, hesitantly. He held the three Focuses in his hand, having confiscated them from the children who were now moping.

Normally, Teersa would turn to her fellow High-Matriarchs for counsel, but neither of them were there! Jezza was still in Mother's Heart, overseeing a harvest, and Lansra had taken a few days off to visit her grandson in Mother's Cradle before the meeting. Alone as she was, Teersa was unsure of what to do.

"I… will head into the mountain. Perhaps being closer to All-Mother will grant me some insight." She said after a moment. "Give those to me, for now." Rost handed the strange devices over to Teersa, who took them gingerly.

Leaving the two children to Rost's admonishment, she headed for the mountain, mind whirring. So intense were her thoughts, that she barely registered anything until she stood before the Womb of the Mountain. She moved to bow and pray when something caught her eye. A person, standing in the center of the room. Suddenly, her mind snapped back to full awareness as she registered that it was All-Mother! Standing there, the size of a human and in golden raiment! Teersa threw herself to the floor.

"Oh, All-Mother! I did not know if I would ever behold you again! I am honored!"

"Please, Teersa. Rise." The Goddess sounded both cheerful and melancholy. Obeying, Teersa stood and faced the All-Mother. "You should know that I am already aware of what transpired down in the bunker." All-Mother offered Teersa a smile. "I was the one who guided them out."

Teersa's jaw dropped, gaping at the All-Mother who gestured at the devices in her hand.

"The Focus, under certain circumstances, allows me to speak with their bearers from afar. The girls believe me to be a… spirit, and it is better if it stays that way for now."

"I… of course, All-Mother." Teersa bowed her head, unsure. "What of the…Bunker? What is it? What do you wish us to do with it?"

"It was a facility utilized by members of the support staff who followed the Alphas Samina Ebadji and Patrick Bochard-Klein. When the Swarm closed in and they were unable to escape, the workers still trapped inside chose to end their lives on their own terms, rather than be devoured by the Swarm."

Teersa bowed her head in sorrow. Such brave souls. The All-Mother continued to speak.

"Aside from being partially flooded and frozen over, the facility is safe for any to enter. Though, if it is easier for you, then perhaps send a team of Seekers inside. After all these years, the personnel deserve a proper burial."

Teersa nodded her head in agreement. "It will be done, Goddess. I swear it. But, what then? And what do we do with the devices?"

"My daughter will be able to make use of the facility when she is older, but for now I would only ask that you clean up what you can and remove the bodies for burial. As for the Focuses, I think it best that they be returned to Aloy and Vala. It will be an invaluable tool for Aloy, so it is better that she learns to use it now. As for Vala, I doubt she'd let Aloy do anything dangerous by herself so she should have one too. I will let you decide what to do with the third, or any others found within the bunker."

"As you wish, goddess." Teersa bowed again, overwhelmed.

GAIA

GAIA smiled to herself as she faded from view. Perhaps not the godliest conversation she'd ever had, but then she wasn't a god and was dealing with some very complex emotions. She got to speak to her baby! Her precious little girl! Sure, it was only because she'd fallen into a potentially dangerous place and could easily have hurt herself but still!

She was also a little melancholy, considering she was finally able to ask that the Nora put the poor workers inside the facility to rest. She hadn't known any of them personally, but they had all worked so hard for so long. They deserved to be buried somewhere that could see the clear sky their endeavors helped create. Not trapped in the bunker than had been as much a prison as it had been a safe haven.

Still, her joy could not be contained! Aloy had a focus! She could talk to her baby! Keep a better eye on her! Even give her the learning module she'd been working on! Of course, she couldn't exactly tell Aloy much. That she was technically the 'All-Mother.' That she was Aloy's actual mother. One of them, at least. Nor anything pertaining to how she kind of needed Aloy's help to capture her rogue sub-functions. No. Her baby was much too young for anything of the sort.

No, for now the Focus would be a toy and a learning tool, and it would let her talk to her baby! Yes, the circumstances surrounding how Aloy found it were… not ideal but what did that matter when she now had a direct line of communication to her daughter! Just because she couldn't TELL Aloy that she was her mother didn't mean she couldn't act like a mother! Just… a digital one.

A/N: That's it! Pretty important chapter, right? What did you think of our first look into Aloy's perspective? How about Vala? They have Focuses!

I did say she would find the ruins soon! I kind of have a plan for them, but it's a bit down the road.

I hope I did alright with the personalities of the kids. I tried to base how Aloy acts and talks on how she speaks in the prologue of Zero Dawn.

Please, leave me some of your thoughts and ideas in the comments! I really want to know what you all think.

Answers to Questions

On FFN

LunaShadowWolf: Thank you!

Vmage2: I'm glad you like it! I hope you liked this chapter too.

Frostwolf3227: I don't think she's likely to show herself to too many people for a while yet. She doesn't want to be a god, so she'll only appear when she absolutely needs to say something. At least until Aloy is older.

Dracofighter: Thank you!

Rios: I really appreciate that! It's different than Hearthfire, but I will be keeping them both going for as long as I can.

Theonethatsee: Here's more!

On Ao3

Jpx0999: I'm still not totally sure if I'll keep the subfunctions sentient. I'm leaning towards not, but I'm not sold on the idea yet. As for the Nora, I don't think many will find out the full truth. It'll be more of a generational shift as they slowly realize they weren't quite right. Don't ever apologize for long comments or ranting! I love reading longer comments.

WolvezRock17: Red Raids will be soon! I have some ideas for them, so we'll see. Oh, and it might not be the last we see of younger Ourea and Aratak. Still trying to figure out how I want to handle a couple things.

Reactivegull12: I'm glad you're enjoying both this and Hearthfire! I'm probably going to try playing Forbidden West on the max difficulty too, just to see if I can. If only it would come out on PC soon. There still isn't a proper release date for it.

JamaLlama: I'm glad you noticed! Whenever I talk about where characters are, I'm always looking at the game map to figure out what might be around them. In fact, in this chapter I mentioned them looking at Salvebrush near the entrance to the ruin. That's because in the game, there really is a bunch along the road near the Mother's Watch ruins.

SpiritDeNight: Thank you!

DarthLordNoxious: I'm glad you like it!