A/N: Warning: Violence.

Here we go! Second chapter of our anniversary double upload! I hope you like it. This one is a little different if you couldn't tell from the warning. No spoilers! Just read!

Oh, and check out the note at the bottom. I left a few notes and some questions for you if you're interested!

This is a very important chapter, and I am looking forward to your opinions! I love your comments and I very much look forward to seeing what you think of this chapter so please leave a comment or review with what you think!

A Digital Mother

Chapter 9

Mern

Mern fought the urge to yawn and grumble. He was a youngish man, having recently started his 25th year. Slightly below average in height, not a particularly impressive build either.
Dark brown hair, brown eyes, and tanned but still pale skin. Entirely unremarkable. The quintessentially average Nora. Indeed, his size was the only advantage he had because it helped make him one of the best damn scouts in the tribe! In his own opinion of course…

He'd been born in Mother's Crown and spent most of his life training to be a Brave. As a boy, he'd dreamed of winning the Proving, leading hunting parties, and eventually becoming War-Chief. Those were crushed when he finished right in the middle of the pack during the Proving. In terms of combat, he was entirely average. What he did have going for him was that he was small and sneaky. A perfect scout.

He'd been assigned first to Mother's Tears, going out on scouting missions to keep an eye on machine gathering grounds and looking for any unauthorized Carja hunting in their lands. Then, he was transferred to Mother's Vigil on War-Chief Sona's orders about two moons ago. Despite not being what he originally dreamed of, he found that he really did enjoy scouting. Especially when it was with Ezana.

Ezana was his partner. Nora scouts always operated in pairs, and they'd been paired up from the start of their assignment in Mother's Tears. She was fairly average in combat, like him, and was a good scout, also like him. Unlike him, she was remarkably beautiful. Gorgeous black hair, ebony skin, and deep, soulful eyes. She was wonderful and he was trying to work up the courage to ask her to be his mate. On one of their missions together was even the best time! Just the two of them, alone in the wilds? Perfect!

Nora Scouts worked in pairs and would often spend a week or two out together on their routine patrols. Mother's Vigil, which was slowly being converted from a village to a Brave garrison, had more scout teams than anywhere other than the Embrace itself. Although, Mother's Tears was a very close second. The two villages represented the border with the Carja Sundom, a notoriously vicious neighbor. Indeed, the Carja had already invaded the Sacred Lands once a few generations ago. Unsuccessful, they had retreated and built Daytower, choosing to refer to the Nora held territory as the 'Savage East.'

Yore, the captain of the Mother's Vigil guard, usually sent five teams of scouts out each week. The teams would spend one week out on assignment and two resting or training in the village, meaning they had around 30 scouts in total. Each team was assigned a different area, but one team was always assigned to the gate. Not that it was an actual gate.

The 'gate' was really just a watchtower with Braves assigned to it that marked the small no-man's-land between the Nora guarded Sacred Lands and the entrance to Daytower. The Carja could do whatever they wanted, so long as they didn't pass the gate. Scouts were assigned to watch the gate, and the guards. It was a precautionary measure. It made sense that, when you have an obvious gate made for watching a potentially hostile force, you also have a small but maneuverable team assigned to keep an eye on the gate itself, in case it was attacked in secret.

Mern and Ezana were assigned to the gate. Their camp was situated a decent way away from it though, not far from a crumbling stone structure. Nobody was sure if it was a ruin of the old ones or not, since it wasn't made of metal and the Nora didn't build with stone, but they didn't actually camp inside it, just in case. During the day, they usually slept. The gate guards could keep an eye on things when the sun was up so the scout team became an extra eye from the period between just before sunset to just after sunrise.

"Anything?" Ezana's gorgeous, musical voice asked as she crouched beside him. They were on a high ledge overlooking the gate itself. It was perhaps an hour after sunset and since they couldn't afford to be seen, they had no fire. Luckily though, it was summer and there wasn't any snow on the ground. They'd have been doubly miserable if it was snowing.

"Quiet and calm, same as usual." Mern replied, fighting another yawn. She sat beside him, watching and waiting. After a while, he fidgeted, fingering something in his pouch. It was a bead. One he intended to add to the string wrapped around his neck. Since the Nora used beads to signify close bonds, he wanted to add one for Ezana. Different marks and designs were meant to represent both the person and the type of bond. Considering he loved her; it was more along the lines of a bead you'd add for a mate than one for just a friend. Still, he wasn't sure how she'd take it, so he hadn't added it yet.

"Stop fidgeting and add it already." Ezana said, suddenly. Startled, Mern's head whipped to her, their eyes meeting. She was smiling at him. His heart almost stopped.

"What are you…"

"The bead." She gestured to his hand, which was still fingering the bead in his pouch. "I saw you working on it back in the village. Why haven't you put it on?"

"I… I wasn't sure how you'd take it…" She simply smiled again, her face glowing in the moonlight. Pushing her hair aside, she showed him one of the braids woven next to her right ear. On it was a bead nearly identical to the one in his pouch, except instead of the glyphs representing Ezana like on his, the one in her hair had his name written on it!

"You…" Mern's face split into a happy grin.

"What are you waiting for?" She teased. He frantically removed his necklace and threaded the bead onto it. Putting the necklace back on, he looked up at her. He was about to speak, moving to put his hand on hers when something caught his attention.

Down in the valley, near the gate, there was a small group of figures making their way through the tall grass. There were perhaps a dozen of them, dressed in dark clothing. He couldn't make out much, but given the direction they were coming from, they were definitely Carja.

"Look!" He whispered, urgently. Startled for a moment, Ezana turned. Her face hardened when she spotted them. The Brave assigned to the night shift hadn't seen them! Mern moved to shout, but it was too late. One of the shadows leapt from the grass and drove a knife of some kind into the neck of the guard, who went down with a cry.

Alerted, the rest of the small team of guards rushed from their sleeping huts only to be caught unawares by more ambushers rushing in. Half asleep as they were, the Braves didn't stand a chance and were cut down before Mern or Ezana could do a thing.

"We need to get back." He whispered, trying to hold in the grief and rage he felt.

Ezana nodded. "The captain and the War-Chief need to know." She gazed towards Daytower and paled. "Oh no…"

Sure enough, there was movement. The gate was opening and through it marched a host. It was difficult to tell how many there were in the darkness, but it meant only one thing. The Carja were invading.

Mern and Ezana scrambled down the cliff as quietly as they could, keeping to the grass and trees, trying not to be spotted. Once they rounded the bend and were out of sight of the gate, they returned to the road and booked it. There was no telling how close behind them the host was, but every moment counted!

Sona

Sona stretched, her back popping. It was very early. Indeed, it was only a couple hours before dawn, but she was already awake. As War-Chief, she was used to early mornings. Her days were spent traveling from village to village taking care of issues, giving orders to the captains, and occasionally organizing hunting parties to take out dangerous machines.

Suppressing a yawn, she left the lodge she temporarily shared with Captain Yore and the lieutenants of Mother's Vigil. Sona had only arrived the day before, thanks to reports coming in of Snapmaws, a vicious and dangerous machine, being seen at a lake south of Mother's Vigil. Snapmaws were rare this far south. The region of the Sacred Lands outside the Embrace was known as Valleymeet, because it was a place where multiple valleys converged into a single area.

Mother's Crown lay close to the center and was the largest village in Valleymeet. Mother's Rise was much smaller and closer to the Embrace. Two valleys stretched west, creating the border with the Sundom. The northern valley was home to the most dangerous machines and Mother's Tears was located near the mouth. Mother's Vigil was located around halfway through the southern valley and usually only saw Broadheads, Watchers, Shieldwalkers, and the occasional Scrapper.

Since Snapmaws were not usually seen in the southern valley, Sona decided to investigate. She'd brought a hunting party from Mother's Crown with her, around 20 Braves in total. The full garrison at Mother's Vigil was a few hundred and they spent most of their time patrolling or hunting machines.

Sona strolled through the village, headed for the gate. Few were awake at this hour, giving the town a silent, almost creepy feeling but to Sona it was just like home. It was a Nora village, after all. Why wouldn't it feel like home?

She walked up to the gate and climbed to the top of the wall. Nodding at the sentries on duty, she leaned against the sharpened stakes that made up the upper battlements. Sona stood there for a while, watching the movement of the trees in the wind and thinking. She missed her children. Varl was shaping up to be quite the Brave and Vala? Her sweet little Vala had quite a future ahead of her.

Young Aloy would no doubt become a force to be reckoned with and Sona had no doubt her daughter would be right there, alongside the redhead. The two were inseparable. Not to mention, the High-Matriarchs had agreed to let Vala hold one of the treasures of the Alpha's that'd been recovered from the ruins. Sona herself would be receiving one soon, if reports were to be believed.

She'd gotten a letter from Rost saying that Aloy was teaching him how to use one. Vala was also teaching Varl, who was simply borrowing his sisters Focus, but they wanted her home to learn with them. Sona wished she was home too. She missed her family, but her duty to the tribe kept her away far more than she liked.

Movement in the trees drew her attention, and that of the sentry. After a moment, two people came crashing out of the woods and down the road, sprinting the whole way. Both were dressed in Nora garb and the gate guards must have recognized them because they threw the gate open, allowing the two to rush in before slamming it shut behind them. Sona all but threw herself down to the ground.

"Report!" She barked to the now collapsed runners. No Brave would run like that if it wasn't an emergency. The young man coughed, trying to catch his breath. He was fairly average looking, if a little short. His companion was a lovely young woman with darker skin.

"C… Carja!" The man gasped out. "Invasion!"

Mutters broke out around them, and Sona's blood went cold. She knelt next to the two, placing her hand on the shoulder of the man. He took a huge gulp of air, coughing again. Someone thrust a skin of water into his hands, which he drank from greedily. Another was handed to his companion, who now spoke.

"We were assigned to gate duty." She started. "Everything was normal, until we saw someone sneak up on the gate from the west. Assassins or something, a whole squad of them."

"The gate platoon was dead before we could do anything." The man added, his voice stronger. "Last thing we saw was a host marching through the gates of Daytower. They're hot on our tail."

"How long do we have?" Sona asked, hurriedly. "What are their numbers?"

"An hour. Two, at most." The female scout replied. "A few hundred at least, but we couldn't get a good count in the dark." Sona stood and started barking orders.

"I want runners sent to every village in Valleymeet!" she shouted, "and one to the gate of the Embrace! Wake the village! Start an emergency evacuation! I want every non-Brave out of here before the enemy arrives!" Multiple Braves rushed off to carry out her orders.

Sona patted the two scouts on the back. "You did well." She told them. "Get some rest, but not too much. We'll need everyone." Looking up, Sona spotted Yore running towards her. A powerful warrior, her brown hair was short and she was missing a chunk of her nose after a nasty fight with a Snapmaw.

"What are your orders, War-Chief?" She asked, standing at the ready.

"Shore up our defenses." Sona replied, sharply. "I want every Brave and every weapon in the village here on the double! We have an hour at most before the enemy arrives."

The next hour was a flurry of activity. More scouts were sent out to try and spot the enemy force while the non-combatants gathered what they could carry and were quickly ushered from the village with only a few guards. They simply couldn't afford not to have as many defenders as possible. Mother's Vigil could not fall!

Weapons of every variety were gathered, and Braves were sent out to lay traps in every possible area they could in the allotted time. Tripwires rigged with explosives and other such traps were laid. Bombs were gathered on the walls to be loaded into a large sling that an enterprising young weapon designer had been tinkering with.

Once Sona had discovered it existed, she'd ordered the device mounted on top of the wall. Other, more traditional weapons were gathered too. Bows of every variety were checked and strung. Arrows, both normal and elemental, were laid in quivers at every possible point on the wall. All was gathered and prepared.

After conferring with Yore and the last of the Matriarchs to leave, it was agreed that a team of 100 Braves, roughly a third of their available force would hide out in the woods to the south and ambush the attacking Carja from behind. These were placed under the command of Yore, while Sona herself would command the defense of the village.

Yore's group had set out, but defense preparations were still under way when one of the scouts sent out came staggering back, an arrow in his shoulder. Sona rushed down to him, receiving his report while the healers looked at him.

"They're right behind me." He gasped. "Any minute now. Five hundred at least." Sona fought the urge to bite her lip. That was not good. A little over 200 more than her own force. Returning to the walls, Sona sounded the alarm. The wooden rampart was lined with Braves, all armed with bows and slings.

Each and every one stared out into the darkness with grim faces. To her left, Sona could see the scouts who'd first brought word from the gate. They were standing together, holding each other and facing west. She took a deep breath and thought of her children. Sona would not die here. She refused!

"Nora!" She shouted. "Soon enough, we will face battle. I know that some of us may die but take comfort in this! All that we do here is to defend our Sacred Lands! To defend our mates, our parents, and our children! To defend the All-Mother! Remember her words! Remember the Alphas!"

All eyes were on Sona as she continued her speech. "When Accursed Faro woke the Metal Devil, did the Alphas run?"

"No!" The gathered Braves shouted.

"When the Swarm threatened to destroy all life, did they simply lay down and die?"

"No!"

"No!" Sona shouted with them. "Generations ago, when the Carja last invaded, did we simply roll over and let them conquer us?!"

"NO!" They shouted once again.

"No, we did not!" Sona agreed. "We drove them from our lands! Now they come to try again! Let us show them why they ran from us before! Let us show them the might of the Nora! For the Matriarchs! For the Sacred Lands! For the All-Mother!" A deafening roar filled the air as Sona thrust her spear high, with every Brave in the village raising their weapons and cheering alongside her.

Sona turned and faced the west. As the sun began to rise, she spotted the line of soldiers. They were dressed in leather armor, padded with metal. Most of them carried long weapons with blades attached to the end, but Sona could see archers behind them. Marching at the front was a dark-skinned man. His armor marked him as a captain.

The force stopped just out of bowshot and a messenger made his way forward. At a signal from Sona, an arrow was fired, landing at his feet. The messenger stopped just before the line of buried traps on the main road. He pulled out a scroll and began to shout.

"Savage Nora! I come as an emissary of Captain Zaid, commander of this host! His Radiance Jiran, 13th of the Line of Luminance has decreed that the savages beyond the Sundom are to be captured and sacrificed to appease the angry sun! Captain Zaid is merciful! Lay down your arms and surrender and you will be treated fairly until your delivery to Holy Meridian!"

Sona could barely believe it. Did this fool really expect them to surrender after being told their mad king wanted to make them human sacrifices? This was worse than an attempt at conquest! This was lunacy! Sona would have laughed if the situation wasn't so dire.

"Thola." She addressed her lieutenant. "Give them our reply."

The black-haired Brave grinned and drew her bow. It released with a twang, sailing through the air and striking the messenger in the shoulder. The main cried out, pitifully running back to the line with his tail between his legs. Answer received; Sona could see the captain giving orders. The column began to move up the road, bringing a battering ram and what looked to be an assortment of bombs and fire weapons. They could not allow those to reach the walls.

"Just a little further." Sona muttered, her bow at the ready.

It was almost agonizing, watching the soldiers approach the first line of traps. However, it was better than the traps remain a surprise. Drawing her bow, Sona gave the command to open fire. Twangs were heard all around as the Nora Braves fired their bows. A hail of arrows rained down on the Carja front lines. Many carried shields, which they used to cover their heads. Others weren't so lucky.

The new bows were powerful enough to punch through Carja armor, making it nearly useless if one took an arrow. They couldn't penetrate the shields well enough to do damage, but they would pierce through, causing panic in the soldiers holding them. Sona could see the officers driving the men onwards. The soldiers began to charge, rather than march.

"Fire at will!" Sona shouted. Twang after twang was heard, as the Nora released their bows. No elemental arrows though, not yet. The Carja approached the line. A few passed between the traps, before one snagged his foot on a half buried tripwire. There was a deafening 'boom' as the tripwire blew, causing a chain reaction.

When the smoke cleared, there were dozens of Carja lying in varying states of dismemberment, injury, or death. Still, more closed in. Driven on by their commanders at the rear. More traps were detonated and yet still they pushed on. Volley after volley was fired but only normal arrows until Sona gave the command.

"Rain fire down on them! Release the sling!"

The large sling was drawn back by its creator, Nanra and released, sending a collection of bombs screaming over the walls, causing chaos amongst the attackers who were now scattered. Still a large force, they were now avoiding the main road. That was fine. While fewer in number given their limited time, there were still traps in the grass around the road.

Fire and frost arrows rained down from the walls of Mother's Vigil as the Nora swapped to their elemental weapons. Still more bombs of all types were fired from those Nora who had personal slings. Yet, it was not enough to stop the attackers. As a guess, Sona thought there were likely six hundred, rather than five. Not good, but they were doing well. Roughly a hundred had fallen to their traps and arrows but they kept coming.

It appeared the commanders did not care for their men, since they were driving them on through the gauntlet of traps. Now within range, the Carja were finally returning fire. Arrows were screaming towards the Nora as well as away from them. Sona ducked, an arrow burying itself in the wooden palisade behind her. She growled at the sound of Nora Braves being struck, crying out in pain. One fell next to her, an arrow in his neck.

"Mern!" A terrified voice shouted. Glancing over, Sona saw the male scout from before toppling from the walls, an arrow in his chest. She didn't know if it was fatal but hoped it was not. The female scout nearly leapt from the walls but was held there by her compatriots. The groups on the ground grabbed the fallen Brave and hauled him away with other injured defenders.

There was a healing hut deeper into the village. Those with healing skills remained behind to treat the wounded as soon as they came off the field, with some of their number being assigned to ferry the wounded from the gate to the healers.

A horn sounded from the back of the column, causing the Carja to push forward even faster. They were approaching the gates. A group approached, shields over their heads and carrying a battering ram. They intended to break down the gate, but Sona was having none of it. No, she was going to unleash another of Nanra's clever inventions, though this one had been installed by Yore quite a while ago as a defense against machines.

The shielded column reached the gates, passing under the wooden overhang. The wall began to shake as they bashed the ram against the gate. They only got three strikes against the gate, more and more Carja pouring into the slightly shielded area next to them before Sona gave the order.

"Open the doors!" Two Braves pulled a set of levers, opening a trap door in the wooden overhang. With a heave, they dumped barrels into the hole. The liquid poured out, dropping onto the defenders who screamed in pain as they burned. Not that this was Blaze, of course.

No, the walls of Mother's Vigil were wood. Fire that close was just plain stupid. No, these barrels were full of chillwater. A freezing substance produced by some machines that had been hunted just to collect the resource. The liquid poured onto the heads of the attackers, so cold it burned. They dropped the ram, and many fled screaming only to be cut down by arrows. If Sona had to guess, roughly two hundred and fifty Carja lay dead on the field.

"We're running out of arrows." Thola told her, grimly. Sona nodded. It wasn't like they'd prepared enough for war. Only enough for training and for hunting parties to use. It would be time for spear work soon. Still, she had one more trap to spring.

"Sound the horn." She ordered.

Thola obeyed, blowing into a large object that produced a loud sound when you blew in one end. A low note sounded through the valley. Many of the Carja attackers paused, hesitating. With a battle cry, a force charged from the woods and crashed into the Carja force from behind. It was Yore! Sona could see the captain herself leading the charge, clashing with the Carja captain she'd spotted earlier.

The Carja attacking the walls broke in a panic, rushing back towards their commanders. Volleys of arrows followed them, striking down many of the fleeing Carja. The entire enemy force was in disarray but there were still over three hundred soldiers left and Yore was outnumbered.

"Don't just stand there!" She shouted to her fellow Braves. "Open the gate! Let's push these sun loving heathens back to their precious desert!" A cheer sounded, and the gates were thrown open. Leaping over the puddles of chillwater and the flash frozen bodies, the Nora charged out with Sona at their head.

They crashed into the fleeing attackers, pincering them between her own force and Yore's. The clash was intense. Sona ducked beneath a halberd, gutting the Carja with her spear. They pushed on, driving themselves into the main bulk of the panicking Carja force.

The shock of the melee was intense, but Sona pushed on. Ducking, stabbing, blocking, slashing. The warrior chief lost track of the number of foes cut down in her wake and how many of her fellows fell beside her. Thola went down, her left arm missing and a blade in her gut. A halberd removed the head of a Brave, which spiraled through the air and struck another.

Still, Sona pushed on. She had no time to grieve, only to fight. She would defend her home! She would survive and see her children again! She was War-Chief of the Nora and she would not die to any filthy Carja! No! She would avenge her brethren and push these monsters back to the pit they crawled from!

Not all of the enemy had panicked. Some tried to rally behind their captain, who Sona could see across the field. Where Yore was, she didn't know. What she did know was that she needed to cut the head off the snake. Pushing forward through the melee with a cadre of Braves at her side, Sona fought desperately to get to Captain Zaid.

A sharp pain pierced her side, and Sona looked down to see a halberd slash had cut through her armor. It wasn't deep, only a flesh wound but it burned. With a savage growl, she threw her spear directly at the face of the one who'd wounded her. It pierced his nose and went out the back of his skull. Not even stopping, Sona ripped it out and kept moving.

"Retreat!" She could see Zaid giving orders which echoed across the battlefield. "Retreat!"

"Push on!" Sona called to her fellow Braves. "Drive them back to Daytower!"

The crush of Braves sent the Carja running, scattered and with their tails between their legs. Sona kept pace with them. Her Braves occasionally stopped their pursuit to loose arrows, taking down more Carja and still they went on. For hours, pushing and driving the enemy until the last of the invaders was sent running through the gates and down the road to Daytower.

"Hold!" Sona called, stopping herself. There were roughly a hundred and fifty Braves with her, all looking exhausted. "We cannot assault the fortress."

"What do we do, War-Chief?" One Brave asked.

"We garrison the gate! I want more timbers! Shore up the walls! Seal the gate! This position must not fall again!"

Hours passed, runners were sent and yet Sona, her side lightly bandaged, worked tirelessly with her Braves until at long last, another party of Nora arrived. With them was Korg, the captain of the Mother's Crown guard. Following along behind him were around a hundred fresh Braves.

"War-Chief." Korg bowed. He was a large man with a full beard of brown hair.

"Korg." She nodded to him. "What news?"

"Healers and supplies have been delivered to Mother's Vigil." He reported, his voice gruff. "I've left one of my Braves in charge of a detachment helping to guard the village and came here to relieve you."

"You have my thanks." Sona clapped him on the shoulder. "I'll take my force back to the village. They've earned a rest."

Korg nodded. "We'll continue your work here, War-Chief. The gate will not fall. I swear to the All-Mother."

With that, Sona and her Braves made the trek back. They were worn, exhausted, and the sun was set well before they arrived and yet when they entered the gates, they were met with raucous cheers. Sona moved through the village receiving congratulations and words of thanks from the gathered Braves, healers, and even the Matriarchs who had returned.

She did not stop moving until she reached the healing huts. Her side still burned, but it was minor. A healer came bustling over, insisting on treating her. Sona all but flopped onto the edge of an empty cot, ignoring the fussing healer.

There were many wounded inside. Some looked to be more or less alright. Others in more dire straits. A few were missing limbs, a few had bandages over one or both eyes. Looking around, Sona spotted the scouts from before.

The young man was lying on a cot, his chest covered with a bloody bandage. Seated next to him was the female scout. She was holding his right hand in hers, weeping. Sona could see the matching beads they wore. They probably were mates, then. It reminded her of Von, her own mate. He'd died shortly before Vala was born but she still missed him.

She continued to watch as the young man's head moved ever so slightly, his eyes cracking open. His free hand rose, cupping the cheek of his mate, who was still weeping. He gave her a weak smile, which she tried to return.

"Will he live?" She asked the healer, gesturing.

"Who?" the healer looked. "Oh, Mern. He'll live, but he's hurt pretty bad. He's in for a long recovery, but he'll recover."

"Good." Sona muttered.

"War-Chief." Yore limped into the tent. Her leg was bandaged, but she looked alright. "I have the casualty reports."

"How bad is it?" Sona asked, warily.

"Forty-seven dead." Yore replied, grimly. "There are also around sixty to seventy wounded. Some of them might not make it, the healers aren't sure."

Sona could only grimace. The numbers weren't terrible, all things considered. In nearly every respect, this could be considered a victory. So, why did it feel like it was only the beginning of something horrific?

A/N: Whew! That was hard to write! What did you think? Like it? Please let me know your thoughts and thank you all! It's a little hard to believe I've been writing for a year but I'm really grateful for the support I've gotten for both A Digital Mother and Hearthfire. Thank you!

Oh, and I should be getting one more chapter out this month. That one will be the proper monthly update. These two were for the anniversary celebration!

On to the notes and questions!

Firstly, Mern and Ezana are Oc's that will likely not appear again except as the occasional background reference. I just thought seeing things from the perspective of a random Nora would be an interesting change of pace and a good start to this chapter. What did you think? Honest opinions please!

Also, I have questions!

Aloy will obviously tame machines, but I've always been curious. Do you think she names her mounts? Maybe just calls them all the same name like Geralt and Roach from the Witcher? If she did name her mounts, what would it be? Any ideas?

Next, it is my intention to go as far as possible. That means Zero Dawn, Forbidden West, and hopefully the next installment too, whenever that is. My question is, what canon events do you all want to see? I'm talking side quests or things like that. Like I said last chapter, I'm a big believer in the ripple effect and both my stories are centered around it. One small change that gets bigger as time goes on. This means that most of my stuff starts off close to canon but diverges as the ripples spread.

For instance, nothing that happens with the Nora will affect someone like Sylens. He'll be exactly the same at the start of Zero Dawn because he has no interest in the Nora. But the actions of the Nora might change the lives of someone like, say, Ourea or Aratak because they are involved with the Nora.

So, what do you think would be fun to look at? What canon events do you think are really important or just would be fun to see changed? I always welcome ideas to inspire me to write!

On to an interesting idea! What kind of music do you think the main characters would like? I listen to music a lot and it got me thinking about what the characters would like.

For instance, I'm certain that Kotallo would be a Sabaton fan. If you don't know the band, they mostly write about military history. As for Aloy, I'm fairly sure she'd go for either power metal or maybe something like Blink 182.

Beta strikes me as the kind of person who likes classical music. Beethoven, Mozart, etc. But she secretly listens to Kpop and doesn't want anybody to know. Rost is 100% a classic rock kind of dad.

What do you think? What band or music genre do you think specific characters would go for?

Lastly, shipping.

So, shipping isn't really a huge part of my work. I prefer it to be a background element. It comes up when relevant, but it is not the focus of the story. However, this means that I am open to suggestions for what ships to look at including in the story, so I'd like suggestions!

I've noticed that there aren't really that many different ones in the Horizon fandom. It's mostly just Aloy x any of the important male characters, Talanah, Vala, or Seyka since Burning Shores came out. I don't really want to do any of the Aloy x random important male because they're so overdone. Definitely not Vala but maybe Talanah. Honestly, I like her and Seyka together best, but I do understand why others don't.

That said. Here are the ships I will NOT be including at all for various reasons. Aloy x Vala. Aloy x Varl. Aloy x Avad. Aloy x Nil.

Actually, maybe not Aloy x any Carja? Given that she will be aware of the Red Raids this time, she won't be as neutral towards them as she is in canon. I'll give it some thought.

As for 100% confirmed pairings, there is only 1. Varl x Zo is confirmed. I love them together.

That said, I was thinking about different ships that would make for interesting reading or writing in the background and came up with a list, mostly focused on characters other than Aloy. I would love to know your opinion, but I have to stress i am NOT limited to this list! If I didn't think of something, tell me! I love interesting ideas!

Here's the list!

Aloy x Seyka (I think I prefer this one, cause I like them together but I'm open to ideas!)

Aloy x Ikrie

Aloy x Talanah

Vala x Erend

Vala x Ikrie

Vala x Kotallo

Vala x Alva

Beta x Erend (I think they'd be cute together!)

Beta x Alva

Beta x Talanah

Alva x Kotallo

Alva x Erend

Alva x Nil (Odd combo but could be interesting.)

Talanah x Teb (Randomly popped into my head. Not sure if it'd work.)

Talanah x Erend

Talanah x Ikire

Answers to Questions

On FFN

LunaShadowWolf: I hope you liked the first true look at the raids! In canon it didn't seem like the kids of Aloy's generation that lived in the Embrace were all that affected, so we'll see.

Dracofighter: No worries! I kind of feel the same, it was a bit of a missed opportunity. I'm just trying to figure out if keeping them sentient is something I could write and do justice. Some of them really seemed like they didn't want sentience. Others I'm not so sure about.

Dasgun: /-/

Rios: Thank you for the suggestion!

On Ao3

Leo2394: I will try and take it as far as possible! Thank you!

Jpx0999: Aloy is special, and GAIA is a really protective mama! The Nora won't let her do much fighting when she hasn't run the Proving, but that doesn't mean she can't contribute!

Ao3Prime: I hope you liked this!

Knight2000uk: I'm glad you're loving it! I love ripple effect stories. It's very satisfying to be able to track huge changes all the way bak to one tiny detail being changed from canon.