Chapter Text
“Home isn’t really a place at all. It’s more like… the people I want to be with,” Aloy says, turning back to look at Seyka, having her there drawing a warm smile across her face.
“I like that. And… Well…” Seyka takes tentative steps towards Aloy, “More and more, I’ve been thinking, I want to be with you. A-And I was hoping that you felt the same way.” Her stomach filling with butterflies, as the words spill out.
Aloy studies Seyka’s earnest face for a long moment, the way her brow furrows slightly with doubt. Apprehension. She breathes out, the syllables forming as though she’s afraid to hear herself say them. Admit them. “And… what if I do?”
“I think I know how to handle it,” Seyka replies, swaying forward the last few steps towards Aloy, drawing close. Aloy’s world stops. She fights down the split-second reflex to step back, to get another person out of her personal space, the feeling in her chest pulling taut like a bowstring. Time stands still as Seyka’s raises a hand side of Aloy’s face, her fingertips brushing like the barest sigh of a sea breeze against her jawline, her cheeks, her upper neck, every nerve ending they touch becoming hyper-aware. Seyka closes the space between them, her face drawing closer and closer, tipping to the side at the last moment as their lips finally meet.
The tightness in Aloy’s chest breaks; not the sudden snap that she’s so used to, but a crumbling away, the fear swept away in a rush of warmth as her heart thrums within her chest, her blood singing within her veins She barely notices any of it. Those lips. Seyka’s lips. Against hers. They part ever so slightly, involuntarily. Soft and yielding, until not as they press against her in earnest, gently closing against her lower lip, squeezing with the barest of pressure. It lasts seconds and feels as though frozen in time; it lasts an eternity and feels as though an instant.
Seyka pulls back, Aloy’s cheek ever so slightly pushing into the fingertips that still rest against her skin, a smile spreading across her face.
“Wow,”
“Yeah.”
Breathless half-laughs fall from each of them before a look of concern falls over Seyka’s face, her hand falling down to Aloy’s arm, who lifts her own hand to brace Seyka’s. The same look of concern echos onto Aloy’s face.
“Seyka… I have a long road ahead of me,” she says, her eyes earnest, but pained.
“I know,” Those two words bear no expectation, simply infinite understanding, “There are things I have to do, too. But… It’s enough to know how you feel,” she says, nodding gently.
“I don’t know when I’m going to see you again,” Aloy breathes, scared the words will shatter the last few perfect moments.
“Me neither. But no matter what happens… Just don’t forget about me, okay?”
A fleeting laugh falls from Aloy’s still-tingling lips, “Never,” she says, shaking her head.
Seyka’s arm slides up Aloy’s side and around to her back, the other wrapping over her other shoulder, pulling them together. Her head slides over Aloy’s shoulder, her chin finding what feels like home as she draws a deep breath in, desperately trying to etch Aloy’s smell, the feeling of her pressed against her, this moment of perfect, bittersweet calm indelibly into her memory.
They pull away, Aloy not wanting to pull her eyes away from Seyka, but she must. She turns, walking into the golden hour light, making it a few steps before she turns back, finding Seyka still watching her, giving her one last genuine smile and the slightest, almost imperceptible nod.
Seyka’s heart betrays her. “Fight for this,” It cries out desperately, “Fight for yourself for once,” it screams, threatening to tear itself free from her chest. “Aloy, wait,” she says, the words stumbling, too quiet to satisfy her heart, too loud for her cautious mind.
It’s enough.
Aloy, starting to turn away, freezes. Her heart becomes tangled in her ribs as Seyka takes jogging steps towards her. Seyka’s mouth hangs open for a moment, unable to decide what words to say, her eyes searching, “Fly north tomorrow morning,” she says in a hurry at last, taking another step forwards, once again within Aloy’s personal space, “Stay one more night,” she whispers, “with me,” the words a naked plea.
Aloy’s face breaks into a mix of emotions she can’t describe. Fear. Elation. Worry. Curiosity. “Seyka, I’ve never…” she starts softly, but Seyka shakes her head as an interruption.
“No, it doesn’t have to be like that,” she says with a look of utter compassion on her face. “I just… want time with you. A little more. Time where we’re not fighting for something. Time when we can just… be. I know that we both have so much we need to be doing. I know it’s selfish, and… I don’t fucking care, Aloy. It’s what I want, and I’m not going to lie to you and act like it isn’t. I want one night where I can set all of this aside,” she says, casting her arm out broadly behinder her, “Where we can set all of that aside. I want that. I want to give you that.”
Aloy glances away from Seyka for a long moment Is this a terrible idea? she asks herself. You need this as much as she does, her mind wars with itself. What if I’m not ready to be that for her? What if I am? There’s so much to do… Do this for her. Her mind continues to spin, threatening to pull itself apart, until a singular thought cuts through, silencing everything else, Trust her. Trust her like you have from the very beginning.
She simply nods.
“I have a small camp away from Fleet’s End. It turns out being a traitor to your people, even for a short while, causes you to set alternative living arrangements,”
“Only reasonable,” Aloy responds as she steps aside, letting Seyka lead her on.
“Boat’s this way,” she says with a jerk of her head in the general direction, starting to walk.
“Flying would probably be faster…”
“The boat’s this way,” Seyka repeats more firmly, rolling her eyes.
Aloy smirks, “The boat’s that way.”
The walk to Seyka’s skiff isn’t long, and thankfully the pair are able to give the pack of Widemaws that frequent the island a wide enough berth that they go unnoticed. Approaching the boat that’s been nudged aground and anchored off the back, Aloy puts her fingers to her lips and gives a sharp whistle, Seyka turning, startled, looking askance towards her.
“Oh! No, I’m not changing my mind and flying off,” the words hurried, “Just getting my things,” she says as the shadow of her Sunwing passes, the machine circling once before veering down, coming in to land with sweeping wingbeats. The machine giving a gentle wark of disappointment as Aloy approaches but doesn’t move to mount, instead moving to the front of the Sunwing and a large sectioned canvas duffle bag, one end fitted with the back half of the Sunwing’s stomach canister that latches to mounting points, the other with a strap that wraps around its torso behind the thick cords of wing muscles and buckles into place. Undoing the strap, then unlatching the bag, she swings it up over her shoulder and walks towards the boat.
“I was wondering where you kept your stuff,” Seyka comments, pulling up the anchor with a heave before moving to the controls.
“I was worried I lost it all when I crashed, honestly. Glad I didn’t. I set up a tent south of here inside a ruin after we… met. Since I was expecting to leave tonight I had it all packed up, but…” She heaves the bag into the boat and braces herself against the front, shoving forward as Seyka turns over the engines and throws them into reverse, water churning as Aloy pushes herself up and over the edge of the boat and settles in. “Now I’m staying a bit longer,” she says, looking back over her shoulder up at Seyka, who can’t help but smile down at Aloy.
“I’m glad you are,” she says as she works the controls, swinging the skiff around once it’s clear of the shallows and pushing the throttle forwards, engines roaring to life.
Seyka drives the boat southwest for a ways before pulling inland, heading straight for the derelict Horus.
“Uh, Seyka, you camped in there?” Aloy asks, incredulous, looking over her shoulder.
“On the other side,” Seyka calls out over the noise of the engines. “Look, when I first made camp the Horus wasn’t part of the geography,” she adds, now more clearly aiming for a narrow waterway that carves the island into sections. “You could have parked it in a better spot,” she concludes as Aloy rolls her eyes, accepting the usual playful jibe that she’s quickly getting used to coming from the other woman.
With a practiced hand at the controls, Seyka maneuvers around shallows and debris until the narrow channel opens up and she turns west, the open ocean soon visible in the distance as they pass lava pouring into the water and once again find themselves in shallows. Seyka draws back on the engines and wheels south once more, gliding through the shallow water before turning into a small gap that’s barely wide enough for the boat, past a few more ruined buildings before nosing the skiff into the beach.
“A bit easier to get to from the east, but much slower,” she says as she kicks the anchor over the back, walks to the fore, and drops onto the sand.
Aloy swings her legs over the side and drops to the ground, dragging her bag over the side and settling it once more onto her shoulder, “Lead on,” she says gesturing forward with ehr free hand.
Seyka leads her up the beach towards a steep rise and into the partial cover of ruined buildings and trees, making her way to one of the derelicts butting right into the hillside. The upper stories of the building have been ground away by time, the only thing left is a few lonely pillars of the second story’s outer structure and the flat top of what, centuries ago, would have been its floor. Beneath, thick greenery shrouds the entire first story.
Approaching the ruin, it isn’t until they’re right in front of it that Aloy realizes that the greenery is in fact bundles of brush lashed together with machine wire and hung from above, creating an obscuring curtain of foliage. A curtain that Seyka steps through, Aloy looking up in wonder as she follows, “I could have walked right by this,” she murmurs, drawing a sly smile from Seyka.
On the other side of the curtain the close wall of the lower story has also mostly collapsed, but has been covered with sheets of metal. Looking closer Aloy tilts her head to the side. “Shellwalker crate panels,” she says quietly, “You… broke them apart, punched holes at the edges and tied them together with machine wire. Like… giant armor plates, but… to make a wall… Clever.”
“Yep,” Seyka confirms, “Tied them up top to some metal spikes poking out of the building, then staked them at the bottom to keep them from moving. It’s not perfect, but it’s kept the wind and rain out even through a nasty storm or two, so I’m not complaining. Alright, armor off outside, and no boots inside… I don’t want mud all over the place, we’re not barbarians,” she says in an amused voice, pointing a warning finger.
“I’m only a barbarian by association,” Aloy says, feigning hurt.
“The… Nora?” Seyka asks, bringing it up from her memory.
Aloy nods, “A tribe far to the northeast of here, even by Sunwing. You… might not like it,” she says, tossing her gloves onto an upturned machine canister, then starting to loosen and pull off her own armor starting with her vambraces, hanging them on bent metal bars sticking out of the side of the structure, “A lot colder up there. We have seasons . All four of ‘em. Not like down here where it’s either ‘hot’ or ‘hot and sticky,’... no offense.”
“Hey, hot and sticky can be great in the right context,” Seyka says off-handedly as she tugs off her cape hanging it carefully right next to the door. She immediately starts to unwrap and untie the cloth portions of her armor, her vambraces and spaulders the first to go, hanging them on the same protruding bars. She doesn’t notice that Aloy’s face has flushed a particularly bright shade of red until she turns around, starting to unbelt her tassets. “Oh shit, I… Uh… Sorry, that was probably a bit… inappropriate,” she says, her face falling, “I… didn’t mean anything by it, I promise,” she adds quickly. “I guess not being in life-or-death situations every day means I just… fall into old habits – Marine habits. We can be a… rowdy bunch.” she says slowly, hanging her tassets up next.
Aloy raises her eyebrows, “I see,” she says, clearing her throat. “How… does all of that work?” she asks tentatively, taking off the belt that holds her quiver and various pouches, setting it aside and unbuckling and hanging her own leg armor.
Starting to unfold the cloth outer layers of her armor, Seyka pauses, “That’s… a question with a large answer,” she says after a moment, “Do you want the long version?”
Aloy pauses, considering her response, “You know what? Yes. For once, I want to take the time to hear everything ,” she says, unbuckling the plates covering her chest, upper arms, and shoulders, pulling them off and hanging them up, leaving her in the leather base layer of her armor.
Seyka pulls open the collar of her armor and tugs it over her head, taking a deep, refreshing breath, finally down to a simple linen shirt and the pants she wears as an underlayer, turning to Aloy as the woman starts to work at the lacing at the front of the leathers loose, pulling them away from her body with a groan of relief and revealing a simple linen shirt very much like Seyka’s underneath.
Unfortunately for Seyka, her world has come to a screeching halt as her breath hitches, teeth biting down on her lower lip, chewing slightly as she watches Aloy slide free from the form-fitting top, eventually remembering to breathe an eternal moment later.
Starting to work her arms free from the sleeves, Aloy glances over at Seyka, a look of concern crossing her face as she notices Seyka’s mouth hanging ever so slightly open, “Everything okay?” she asks as she hangs up the leather top.
“Wouldn’t change a thing,” Seyka says, pulled from her reverie in an instant, “Except for the whole ‘covered in a week’s worth of dried sweat, dirt, grime, and machine oil’ Apparently doing important stuff like downing a Horus and stopping a madman means you end up missing out on basic stuff like baths ,” she laments.
Aloy sits down on the edge of the nearby machine canister and unhooks the shin plates wrapped around her legs, setting them aside and prying off her boots, pulling a scrunched face and quickly tossing them aside. “Yeah, it’s… a consistent problem,” she admits as she leans over, dragging her bag towards her and rummages through, pulling out a pair of simple hide slippers and putting them on, “What’s the best way to clean up, then?” she asks, standing up.
Seyka, sitting on another upturned canister gives a sly smile as she unties and hangs the kneepads she wears, “Ahhh, I’m glad you asked. It is, in fact, the nicest part of this camp site,” pushing the metal plates leaning against the wall aside and disappearing inside for a moment before returning with a lantern and a cloth bag, “Get the door, I’ll show you.”
Aloy drags the metal plates back over the opening and joins Seyka on the other side of the curtain, walking north along the beach.
“So,” Aloy says, “Quen Marines, the long version,” she prompts again.
Seyka nods, “Right,” blowing out a breath. “This is probably very different for Divin- … Alva,” she corrects, “But… Diviners are a… special case. Just… to let you know in case you ask her and things don’t seem to add up. I don’t know what it was like for her growing up. For everyone else, things start around the age of 8. You have four years of basic education – reading, writing, math, geography, the ‘glorious history’ of the Quen Empire… At 12, you move on to apprenticing. Usually this is whatever your parents do – stitcher or weaver; wood, stone, or metal working; tinkerer; hunter; farmer…”
“I take it you didn’t follow in your family’s footsteps, being a marine?” Aloy leads,
“No, my father was a Marine. A fairly accomplished and decorated officer, actually. My mother wasn’t thrilled with me following in his footsteps. Didn’t want me risking my life, didn’t want me to experience some of the things my father probably went through – my sisters and I always got the feeling that he shared… cleaned up versions of his experiences with us when we were kids, and I haven’t really been back to get the ‘unedited’ versions now that I’m part of the same group. Mother didn’t like the idea of me leaving home, which I can’t really fault her for, given that I’ve not been home much since. Especially as Kina became more and more recognized as a Navigator… I think she just wanted our family to stay together. Not that it would have. I don’t hold the fantasy against her, I get it, but being a Navigator means you… well, Navigate. Kina was going to leave for months at a time eventually.” Seyka says, the beach giving way to shallows before them as they walk. Turning inland and following alongside a rock face that rises beside them, Seyka continues while simply Aloy listens, quite content to let her just talk, “I was… angry, or jealous, or envious… all of it? Because of Kina, and all the attention she got. Being a marine isn’t glamorous , but it’s almost universally respected . And I was younger, and decisions were so much simpler,” she lets out a heavy and looks up at the dimming sky, “I don’t regret it at all, but it’s easy to sometimes wonder what would have happened if it was all different,” she says, glancing over at Aloy, “I… imagine you have moments like that.”
Aloy glances away, a moment of silence hanging, “I… Definitely do,” she says, “But… that’s… a very long story that… I do want to tell you,” she says earnestly, returning her gaze to Seyka’s profile as they walk, “I’m not trying to keep it a secret, it’s just going to cause a lot of questions, and once you start asking them, it’s hard to know where to stop,” she says, stopping and pulling Seyka’s arm, pulling the woman’s eyes to her own, her gaze almost demanding, “But… I do want to tell you. Everything. Answer all the questions, no matter where they go, or what they uncover. How you might react.” she says softly.
Seyka’s features crease with a gentle concern, her hand coming to cover Aloy’s on her arm as she nods, “I know,” she says, letting the words linger before giving Aloy’s hand a gentle squeeze. She turns, pulling them both back into a slow walk. Seyka hums for a moment, then continues, “Right, the apprentice years. They start with two years as a junior. Many follow in their parents footsteps, like I said, but it’s also a time of discovery. You’ll spend a month working in the fields, two weeks at a smith, another month at an engineer’s workbench… At 14, you choose a path and start your apprenticeship proper. I didn’t have the patience for the weaving that my mother did, so I spent two years learning under Master Engineer Sonkoro. You’re mostly doing the scut work, but I was surprised with how much I picked up just by being around them. Their way of thinking, approaching problems, seeing how they used parts, and just familiarity with everything in the shop,”
“So that’s where you get it,” Aloy says, “The skiff, your fascination with my Pullcaster.”
“I promise, I’ll put it back together right. Just… one day! One! ”
“We’ll see. Maybe if you visit up north,”
“... I’ll hold you to that,” she says pointedly as they come to a stream feeding into the ocean, no more than a small jump to cross. Seyka turns and walks upstream, the rock face they were following swinging into a small horseshoe cove, a pool of water with a haze of steam rising off of it.
“A hot spring?” Aloy questions
“A hot spring.”
“I guess with all the volcanic activity in the area…” Aloy considers, “I’ve only seen them in the far north, in the Banuk lands – another tribe, like the Nora. I never got to try them… I was a bit busy while I was there,” Aloy says, “Supposedly there were some within the Nora Sacred Grounds, but Rost and I stayed close to home. Moving around was… difficult for us.”
Seyka shrugs, “You didn’t miss much in a way. It’s a spring. It’s hot,” she says, reaching up and carefully extricating her headdress and setting it aside before pulling a cord from her hair, bunching the black locks in her hand. Moving with practiced ease, she quickly has her hair tied up and out of the way, “Though It is probably the best thing to do after spending an entire week in armor,” she says, tossing the bag near the edge, starting to pull her shirt off.
“Ahh… S-Seyka,” Aloy says, her voice rising in alarm, holding her hands up and stepping back, her face flushing with embarrassment. “N-not that it’s… nothing I don’t see myself, but…”
Seyka’s eyes widen a bit “You… When you said outcast, you really meant completely isolated, alone, outcast , didn’t you?” she asks cautiously, brow furrowed. Aloy merely nods, looking a bit helpless. “I didn’t know it was that… severe. I’m sorry, I should have said something. I wasn’t going to take off everything, but if you want, we can… take turns? I can keep my back to you if you want. So we can still talk? Or we can just scrub down?” she offers.
Aloy’s jaw works slightly as she considers words and then lets out a breath. “I… have to start somewhere?” the words coming out as a half question.
“You don’t have to start now,” Seyka says quietly.
Aloy shakes her head, “N-no, it’s just... Strange. In my head, I know this isn’t really a problem. It’s just new, and I’m still not used to having people at all involved in… anything personal, really,”
Seyka returns a sympathetic smile and casually turns away. “I’ll wait till you’re in,” she says, starting to pull off her shirt and pants, a winding wrap of linen around her chest and a thin pair of shorts soon all she has on.
Aloy turns her back to Seyka and suddenly feels like everything she does is slow and clumsy. Her hands are all thumbs, her normally near-perfect sense of balance has vanished, instead feeling like she might as well be on top of a Tallneck with her feet tied together. Her clothes give her no shortage of problems, getting tangled in them somehow more than once, failing to suppress sounds of her struggle and frustration.
Seyka, for her part, waits patiently, trying and failing to suppress a smile herself, imagining what might be going on behind her based on sound alone. Don’t say anything, Seyka. Don’t. Say. Anything. Is… she going to fall in? How’d your first date go, Seyka? Oh, fine, I just mortified her by taking my clothes off and then she almost drowned .
Eventually, Aloy overcomes her clothing and sits down on the edge of the pool in linen shorts and chest wrap, the heat immediately going to work relaxing the knots of muscle in her calves as she slides the rest of the way in, all the way up to her neck. “Alright,” she says, almost timidly.
Seyka moves over to the lantern and lights it, washing the area in a warm glow to ward off the blue hues of night starting to drape around them. With ease, she slides into the water and grabs the drawstring bag, opening it and pulling out a few chunks of soap and a wash towel. “Who first?” she asks, holding them up.
“Y-you go ahead,” Aloy says, wrapping her arms around herself almost protectively.
Seyka merely moves over to the edge of the pool where water flows out, douses the cloth and starts to load soap into it. “Where was I?” she asks rhetorically as she thinks for a moment, “Right, 16. For most, it’s a non-event, really. Apprenticeships end and, in most cases, apprentices officially join their workforce. But if you want to enter the Quen Navy… 16 is when you decide. Boy, it was a fight. Well, fight’s not the right word. It was just… emotional. I think my mother knew that it was my decision, and that I wasn’t making it foolishly – she knew I had quietly already started training with a sword behind her back for well over a year, pretty much everybody who’s set on going into the Navy does that. ” she says, scrubbing away, pausing occasionally as she talks through her thoughts. “We just… had to have one last go at it, I guess. Before it was official. Before she wouldn’t be able to try and persuade me to change my mind anymore. Dad didn’t take a side. I think Mom got mad at him too over that at first. She wanted him to try and ‘talk sense’ into me, or whatever. He didn’t. Didn’t encourage me, either, for what it was worth. I eavesdropped on them arguing about it once or twice; he was adamant that it was entirely my decision, and that he would neither persuade me to join, nor would he help her dissuade me. So… off I went.”
“Off?” Aloy asks. She was purposefully trying to keep her eyes off Seyka, but ends up sliding back to her as she speaks. Any further words fall apart as the muscles of Seyka’s back ripple in a way that Aloy finds appealing in a demanding way to her eyes as the Quen baths. I… shouldn’t be soaping. … Staring. Shouldn’t be staring. Staring is wet… Rude. Staring is rude. The hot springs suddenly feel almost cool against her skin as heat boils up from beneath her stomach. The feeling is by no means foreign to Aloy, but it’s one that she rarely feels and keeps decidedly in check when she does, shit… she curses to herself, the heat trickling through her veins, starting to pick at the tangle of emotional knots within her. She casts her eyes away again, trying to distract herself.
Seyka begins to wash the soap away, along with all the sweat and grime, “Yeah, you leave home. Go to a base. It’s your entire life for two years, no contact with the outside, really.”
“You just abandon your family for two years?” Aloy asks. Another glance, her eyes devouring what she sees: Seyka waist-deep in the water, a slick of bubbles sliding down her skin, the wrap around her chest clinging in ways that… They’re just clothes, Aloy. Hardly… any clothes. She’s just bathing. Just… touching everywhere…
Seyka looks back at Aloy, her brow rising, “Says the outcast. It’s not as bad as it sounds. Everyone around you becomes your family. Like it or not, good and bad, but family,” she says as she clears her throat and gives Aloy a little spinning motion with her finger, “Fair warning to turn around,” she says as she starts to pull at her chest wrap.
Aloy’s eyes go wide for a moment, heat rising in her cheeks as she quickly turns. Oh, I should not be thinking about that right now. This is not the time. You have so much ahead of you, Aloy. She doesn’t know what she’s signing up for yet, it wouldn’t be fair to her to get attached until she knows everything…
“Anyways, that’s the first two years. It’s… intense. Stressful by design. It pushes you, breaks you, forces you to work with everyone around you to put yourselves back together… but you don’t get every piece back, sometimes you end up with a little bit of someone else, only realizing it after it’s all done, and stronger for it,” she says, washing herself clean once more and starting to scrub out the band of linen. “If I knew what it was going to be like going in, I would have been terrified. During, it just… was. One foot in front of the other. On the other side of it… I feel like I know myself. I know who I am, no matter what’s in front of me.” Wringing out the linen, she wraps it around her chest. “Your turn,” she says
Aloy turns back around, hesitating for a moment that only she notices, “Just… normal. Act… Normal,” she repeats in her mind as she stands up and wades over to Seyka, grabbing a wash towel of her own from the ledge and taking the soap.
Seyka opens her mouth, ready to turn, but Aloy seems to raise no concern. “That’s progress,” Seyka notes, “Although it looks like she could stare a hole through a rock.”
“So you’re done when you’re 18?” Aloy asks, starting to load the cloth with soap.
“Marine First Class Seyka, reports as ordered,” she says, throwing a flippant salute, her playful smile and laugh serving to help bury the groan that rises from her throat at the sight of Aloy’s midriff limned in rivulets of water and lantern light, Drown me, I would eat off of that, her mind growls, the thought sending a delightful ache through her body. Respectfully. With clear permission. All damn night, she swallows dryly despite the humid air, And for brunch the next morning, her thighs clenching together under the water at the thought. “Alright, your turn, how did Aloy of the Nora train to become the huntress she is today?”
Aloy’s movements seize as she’s confronted with the question. “Aloy, despite the Nora,” she corrects almost automatically, to which Seyka cocks her head to one side in confusion. Aloy resumes scrubbing her arms and laughs a bit, “Sorry, people often say that I’m ‘Aloy of the Nora,’ but as an outcast, I really… don’t feel much connection or belonging to them. Many of the things I’ve done have been despite what they are to me, and… what I’ve become to them,” she pauses, feeling like she’s already lost Seyka, “Sorry, like I said, it’s hard to know where to stop once the questions start,” she explains, pushing herself up onto the edge of the pool, working soap along her legs.
“Alright, easier question, then,” she says, “Hopefully,” she adds with a mutter, “Just… tell me about growing up? When did you start training?”
“Much easier questions,” Aloy confirms as she smiles. “I was born an outcast. Why is… complicated, but ignoring that, I was raised by my… adoptive father, Rost. He was cast out as well, many years before I was born, so I was given to him to raise – again, the entire story is complicated. It’s not one I want to hide from you, it’s just something to share when it’ll make sense, and that’s…” Aloy trails off.
“Not now?” Seyka prompts.
“Not now,” Aloy confirms, “But, as a young child, I desperately wanted to learn about my birth mother. I knew nothing about her. However, as an outcast, none from the tribe were permitted to speak to either myself or Rost,”
“They were forbidden to speak to you? That seems rather extreme,”
“Some would work around it in imaginative ways. An old woman, Grata, who lived close to Rost and I would pray loudly to the All-Mother when she needed our help, beseeching her to send a sign of her grace in the form of whatever she needed that she couldn’t get for herself. Food, pelts, herbs that only grew up on the steep cliffs… When we brought what she needed, she would once again loudly pray to the All-Mother, thanking her profusely for providing for her, leaving offerings at an alter in thanks… to the All-Mother, of course… loudly proclaiming a hope that her offerings would find their way to someone in need, again as a sign of her grace,” Aloy explains, waving a hand to Seyka in a silent ask for her to turn around before undoing the wrappings around her chest.
Seyka turns away from Aloy, her mind quickly unraveling Seyka, you should not be thinking about Aloy topless. Don’t do it. You’ll just… start thinking about what you’d do with your mouth and… what her face would look like… the sounds she’d make… where you’d want her hands to g-. Nope. Stopping. she struggles, biting down hard on her lower lip and clenching her eyes shut. A surge of heat and need blooms within her despite the distraction. “Tides. Oh Tides, I’m in trouble. Okay. Question, ask another question,” she decides urgently.
“So you were just… all on your own? You and Rost?”
Well, you could have done worse. Seyka congratulates herself. At least it was a question and not just a desperate, non-verbal moan.
“Mostly. One of the traders that frequented the Nora Sacred Lands would speak to us away from other Nora and deal with us. Rost in his time was greatly respected, from what I was able to tell. He knew of some who clearly still held him in high regard. He would simply talk to the air around them, addressing no one, and they would silently help as they felt they could without breaking the edicts,” she explains, washing clean and starting to work soap into, then out of her chest wrap, “As for the training, that started when I demanded to know how I could get the answers I wanted. There was only one way, and that was The Proving – the Nora coming-of-age test for those turning 18 and wanting to become Braves – warriors of the Nora,” she says, wringing the linen dry and starting to wind it back around her chest, “Nora law says it’s open to all and it makes no mention forbidding outcasts. It’s a challenge, and a contest. Complete the challenge, and you earn the title. Win the contest amongst all those running in the Proving, and you receive a boon from the Matriarchs. The plan was simple – win the Proving, ask the Matriarchs about my mother,” Aloy says, walking back to Seyka and sliding to the side of the pool and leaning back, clean, and with the heat really starting to soak into her muscles.
“Why do I get the feeling it wasn’t that straightforward.” Seyka asks, floating her way over to Aloy.
Aloy smiles, “I was six.”
Seyka stares blankly. “Six,” she asks incredulously.
“Six,” Aloy confirms “Rost began my training immediately. For him, once you committed to something, you were committed – your word was your honor, and his own sense of honor was one of the most precious things he had left to him. So we trained. Every day. It became my entire life. My entire , singular purpose. Win the Proving, get the answers I so desperately wanted.”
“You’ve been training. Every day. From when you were six , till you were eighteen .”
Aloy looks a little sheepish as Seyka puts it so bluntly, but nods.
“12 years? This explains so much. No wonder you’re so damn good.”
Aloy laughs a bit, “Rost was… Everything you needed in a teacher, even if it wasn’t everything you wanted. He was… harsh, demanding, uncompromising, almost unmatched in skill as a hunter, tracker, with the spear and bow. Proud, honorable, unwavering. Steady. A rock before any storm.”
“Was?” Seyka asks quietly.
Aloy takes a steadying breath and nods, “Was,” she confirms. “I won the Proving and then, as I was declared the winner, we were attacked. An ambush turned into a massacre. They were a radical splinter group of the Carja – the largest tribe of the North – called the Eclipse. Many died, including Rost who sacrificed himself to save me,” Aloy pauses, collecting her thoughts for a moment in a practiced manner as she recounts her past. “I was one of the few who lived. Barely.” Aloy says.
Seyka is quiet for a moment. “Shit.”
Aloy gives a sigh, “I’ve told the story so many times now that retelling it like this doesn’t hurt much,” she says, but still looks drained at the effort of saying even a few words about it.
“What happened next?”
“I healed, then I left the Nora Sacred Lands. I was charged by the High Matriarchs to find the truth, to find those responsible. Given the title, responsibility, and privileges of a Seeker of the Nora – allowed to leave the Sacred lands and return without being exiled. To walk among the ruins of the Ancients and not be cursed by the Metal Devils. I wanted to leave, so I jumped at the chance.”
“I take it this is where things get… complicated?”
Aloy looks over and smiles, “Not immediately , but… soon after. We’d need more than just an evening,”
Seyka looks over at Aloy, “You could… stay another day,” she suggests tentatively, “If you have… anything else you need to take care of down here before you head back north. I’d be happy to help,”
“Seyka…” she says, trailing off. “I… want that. But the road I’m on… I so rarely can have what I want,” she says softly, reaching through the water and lacing her fingers between Seyka’s, pulling their eyes to meet as though by sheer force of will, “I’m scared that if I ask for more, it’ll all fall apart,” her voice a whisper, “Like a dream that I’ll just wake up from, and it won’t have been real. This…” she says, letting her eyes wander around them, sitting in gentle lamplight, the hush of the waves rolling in on the distant shore at the edge of hearing. Settling on the woman next to her, “Having this ,” she affirms, squeezing Seyka’s hand, “Even for one night… It’s more than I’ve ever dared. It’s… everything I could dare ask for, and I’m afraid. I’m afraid that if I do, it’ll just fall apart because I’ve so rarely been able to have what I want, and when I try, it just… doesn’t seem to work like that.”
Seyka is quiet, studying Aloy’s features that have been stripped bare by her moment of vulnerability. She brings her other hand to Aloy’s cheek, asking in the barest whisper, “Everything you could ask for?”
“Well…”
Aloy’s response is a sigh against the skin of Seyka’s wrist. A desperate wish she dare not ask for.
Seyka leans forward, her forehead pressed against Aloy’s, fingertips barely holding her, so close that her breath dances over Aloy’s skin.
“Aloy,” Seyka’s voice is a warm caress against her lips.
She nods, a series of staccato shudders, as if saying anything more would dare too much.
Her first kiss with Aloy was a confession, and if Aloy dare not ask for more, Seyka answers by making the second a devotion. Seyka’s touch is a whisper against Aloy’s jawline that draws her in with a promise of boundless compassion, her lips pressing into Aloy’s, once more stopping her world in place as eyes flutter closed. Lips part, shift, and press together, heads tilt, Seyka’s fingers push forward along the side of her neck, fingers pressing into skin. Seyka pulls back slightly, lips wet and lingering, not wanting to separate, floating against each other, heat from their breath curling around their cheeks. Shakily, Aloy reaches up and tugs at Seyka’s Focus, pulling it away from her head and almost carelessly dropping it at arms length from the pool, before doing the same with her own.
Each breath is heavy as Aloy’s hand rises to Seyka’s cheek, clumsy and uncoordinated. Without opening her eyes, another desperate burst of shivering nods takes the place of words that Aloy cannot express and still dare not ask.
Seyka answers the unasked again, her lips finally pressing forward with an urgency that steals away what little breath Aloy struggles to keep. Her fingers slide around to the back of Aloy’s neck and tighten, fulfilling their promise and pulling her in, palm flexing against her jawline and thumb stroking her cheek as their lips embrace, Seyka claiming Aloy’s lower lip, pulling at it between her own as she presses in, the rest of her body somehow carried forward by such a small move, their bodies side to side and slowly tipping in towards each other. Entangled fingers squeeze together and then pull apart as Seyka starts to shift. An instinctual whine forms in Aloy’s throat at the loss of contact, immediately assuaged by the graze of Seyka’s teeth against their captive lip as her body rolls fully into Aloy, moving from sitting, heads turned and leaning into each other, onto her side, then continuing until her hips turn over and her leg falls across Aloy’s lap. Weight shifts and they’re face to face as Seyka settles into Aloy’s lap, straddling her with a growl of satisfaction from the Quen, lips not breaking apart for a moment.
Seyka’s arm slips around Aloy’s back, fingers splaying at her opposite shoulder, pressing their forms together with a need that Aloy has never felt as her world explodes with contact . She’s never felt so much skin against hers, and it’s as though she can feel every detail. Every contour as they press together. Her arms drift around Seyka, fingers dragging along the back of her neck, spread across the center of her back, muscles tightening and squeezing Seyka’s frame into her own as her skin devours the new sensations with an insatiable hunger, no measure of closeness sufficient, her lips struggling to keep up with the rest of her as they dance with Seyka’s.
The press of their bodies builds the smoldering heat that had been stirring in Seyka’s stomach until that aching need hits its flashpoint and ignites, a long-dormant fire roaring to life as Aloy pulls them together in a way that has passion thrumming through her, lips dancing with an impossible fervor against Aloy’s. Aloy, for her part, responds in kind as best she can, echoing every motion with curious wonder. Hands slide up the sides of Aloy’s neck and into her hair, embracing the curve of her head, arms resting on shoulders. As that fire reaches a fever pitch, she moans so deeply that it ends in a growl.
“She’s a fast learner,” Seyka marvels to herself, at first reluctant to break the scalding kiss to say it aloud, changing her mind as she realizes praising Aloy is exactly what she wants to do. She pulls away, Aloy’s lower lip held gently between her teeth before she lets it go with an impish smile, “Ancestors,” she says, her voice husky with arousal before diving back in against Aloy’s neck, her lips grazing against the soft skin as she kisses her way back up to Aloy’s lips, “you learn quick,” she verbalizes her thoughts as she pulls Aloy back into a still-smoldering kiss, reigniting the aching burn in her stomach as she pushes her tongue forward, sliding it experimentally across Aloy’s lips; an invitation, once more giving Aloy the question so she need not ask herself, lest she wake from a dream. Aloy once again desperately nods her head against Seyka and presses into the kiss. Seyka responds by letting herself become undone, pouring her entire being out before Aloy like a benediction. Her body quickly forgets patience and restraint, both burned away by desire, soon pressing down on Aloy's with demanding need, her tongue restless, teeth nipping and grazing at flesh, hips starting to gently roll underneath her.
Her fingers tighten in Aloy’s hair as the kiss deepens, pulling on the strands, drawing a gasp from Aloy as sensation crawls across her scalp, every hair suddenly unique, her back arching, tearing her lips away from Seyka’s with a burst of air and a whimper of need. Seyka pulls Aloy’s head back down till their foreheads meet. Eyes opening and locking against each other, brows creased with singular focus, eyes dripping with need, boring in as their chests heave against each other, passion leaving little room for air in their lungs. Aloy gives yet another quaking nod.
Seyka breaks away, pulling down on Aloy’s hair, tipping her head back. Her lips become ravenous, raining heavy kisses along Aloy’s tilted jawline, diving down to kiss her way up the side of her neck, teeth grazing and nipping delicate flesh, wetness and telltale marks trailing across Aloy’s flushed skin.
“Fuck,” Aloy gasps weakly, letting her head fall back into Seyka’s hands, her entire body responding with a shiver of convulsions, Seyka pulling away only to have Aloy reach up, nesting her fingers into the makeshift bun and pulling her head back down to her neck, “More,” she demands, a breathless adulation, drawing a burst of playful laughter from Seyka.
“Yes, ma’am,” she growls into Aloy’s ear, the heat of Seyka’s breath drenching Aloy’s neck before she dives low to Aloy’s other side, teeth closing over the thick cord of muscle atop Aloy’s shoulder gently applying pressure, lips pressing tight against and sucking in, drawing the skin taut. It earns a gasp from Aloy, turning into a hiss as she draws air in across her teeth.
“Oh, d-damn,” she whines, her fingers clenching tight in Seyka’s hair, holding her desperately to her shoulder. Seyka slowly bares down, pain spiking in Aloy’s muscles but pleasure surging down her spine, much to her surprise. Her mouth hangs open, eyes clenched until she draws an urgent breath, raggedly gasping out, “S-Seyka! Oh, f-fuuu-, Seyka !” before her words dissolve and reform into a moan of unadulterated pleasure so pure that she’s never heard from her own lips. Her eyes go wide, chest heaving with gasping breaths as Seyka lets go and begins worshiping every inch of skin along her shoulder with kisses before working her way up the woman’s shoulder.
Aloy’s fingers go limp in the woman’s dark hair as she lets the shivering joy course down her spine, out to her fingertips and down to her toes, washing away the pain from moments before with a whine of pleasure that drops into such a guttural, throaty moan that Seyka pulls back and simply marvels at it, “Mmm, what can I do to earn more like those?” she purrs, a hand coming to the center of Aloy’s chest, pushing back and starting to kiss at her collarbones and working lower, that same hand slipping down Aloy’s side, fingers grazing the linen-wrapped swell of her breasts.
“I don’t even kn-know,” Aloy admits shakily, words tumbling from her lips
“Do you want to find out?”
Aloy shivers at the offer as her fingers pull feebly at Seyka’s hair, threatening to completely undo the bun keeping her hair out of the water and simply whimpers, “S-Seyka…” she pants desperately, pulling the woman away slightly.
“Yes, Aloy?” comes the answer with that same husky edge that has Aloy shuddering for reasons she can’t even explain to herself.
“ Fuck, ” she gasps emphatically, leaning in and mimicing Seyka, frantically planting kisses up the front of the woman’s neck. It draws another laugh from Seyka, mixing with a sigh of pleasure at the sudden attention, Aloy stretching up to plant the final few up her chin, the woman’s position atop her giving her what feels like a towering, unreachable height. Seyka leans down and slides her lips gently against Aloy’s jaw until her breath is hot against the woman’s ear, teeth gently digging into her earlobe, deliberately moaning softly right there. Aloy’s arm tightens, pulling Seyka’s head in against her and gasps out, “M-more,” the same desperate plea.
Seyka obliges, a gentle moan that swells and breaks, resolving into breathless words, “Mmmnngh, I need you, Aloy,'' she praises, heat lingering on Aloy’s neck, Seyka’s fingers sliding up to Aloy’s jawline, painting featherlight touches up and down the angle of her face. Aloy’s head slips back, as though it were so heavy with the foreign sensation of need that floods through her that she can’t keep upright. Seyka smiles, preening herself inwardly at plying her partner’s needs draping her arms lazily over Aloy’s shoulders, waiting for her to recover, still running a finger idly along Aloy’s jaw, then down her neck.
Dragging herself up with a frustrated groan, Aloy gently captures Seyka’s roving fingertips in her hand and moves them to the center of Seyka’s chest. Her eyes are lidded with pleasure, skin flushed red from cheeks down to upper chest with arousal, and she fixes Seyka with a conflicted look, who freezes, a look of worry suddenly crossing her face.
“I… I want this. With you. ” Aloy says, her eyes burning in the gentle lantern light, “But… I can’t. Not because I’m worried I’ll wake up from a dream – if that was going to happen it would have been when you were kissing and… biting…. and I nearly – ” she hesitates for a moment
“Wait, really?” Seyka jumps in, her eyes going a bit wide, glinting mischievously, “That good?”
Aloy gives a gentle squeeze of her hand still in Seyka’s hair, bunching at the strands in her fist, “Seyka…” she admonishes gently before continuing, although unable to hide her smile despite herself. “Seyka, I’m… not ready for more,” she says simply. “Or… I’m ready for more but I’m scared? Maybe I’m not ready, and I’m scared that I never will be. I want more – I am aching for more. Believe me, I want… all of it. All of you. Desperately and completely, more than anything I’ve ever known. Something I haven’t known until now. I didn’t even think I’d be able to get to… this,” she says, breaking her hands away and gesturing to the woman still straddling her, “I don’t even think it’s because we’re moving too fast, or that you’d be my… first,” her eyes turning sheepish before pausing and considering her next words, “I just… I’ve always lost the people who have been the closest to me. Every time I hear you like… that , my heart jumps out of my chest. Every time your touch makes me feel like every nerve in my body is on fire… In the back of my head, I’m afraid that it'll just happen again if you get that close. I pushed everyone away for months, and I realize now that it was a mistake. I know that I need people by my side for what’s to come – the fight with Nemesis. I need you by my side. But having someone here ,” she says, pulling Seyka’s hand across the distance separating them to her heart, “That still has me scared, and it’s going to take me time to… get over that. To recognize that I need this,” a pause, a squeeze at Seyka’s hand, “More than the fear.”
“Aloy –” Seyka starts, Aloy putting her fingers against Seyka’s lips.
“I’m also afraid that when you learn everything that you’ll change your mind. Honestly, I won’t blame you if you do. It’s… a lot to take in, and I can’t imagine how you’ll react to some of it. All of it. Any of it. But if you are going to change your mind, I’d rather it be before we...” she trails off, “y’know.”
“Fucked?”
Aloy’s cheeks nearly become incandescent. Seyka laughs and takes those burning cheeks in her hands and pulls them towards her, pressing a gentle kiss against Aloy’s lips as a peace offering, her forehead once again pressing into Aloy’s. “You know, if you’re worried about me running away because of all this mysterious shit you keep talking about, it might help to just actually tell me about it.” .
Aloy’s eyes meet Seyka’s and she takes a heavy breath, “It’s… going to change everything you think you know,” she says softly.
“You’ve already done that, Aloy. Start somewhere and we’ll get through it.”
Aloy’s head falls back and she takes a deep breath. Staring up. “It’s not that easy,” she says, almost helpless.
Seyka draws her arms around Aloy, letting them fall on her shoulders, pulling the woman against her, adjusting slightly so that Aloy can rest the side of her head against Seyka’s upper chest and shoulder, Seyka in turn using her place straddling Aloy to drop her chin gently on the crown of Aloy’s head. One hand moves to the back of her head, burrowing into the fiery locks of her hair, thumb gently stroking against the strands while the other slips down her back slightly, keeping her held tight. Aloy’s arms wrap tightly around Seyka’s waist, clinging to her. Seyka simply lets the silence stretch.
Aloy is thankful that the steam and water hides the tears budding in the corners of her eyes
“It could be that easy. How do you know it’s not?” Seyka asks quietly after some time.
Aloy pulls back and draws a breath in, mouth opening to speak, then pauses, thinking on her words. “How much do you know of the Time of Ashes?” she asks, letting go of the woman and tapping on her thigh gently, hinting that they should get out of the spring.
Seyka hesitates for a moment – having nothing to do with the question she’s asked and everything to do with the loss of contact – before reluctantly pulling herself away from Aloy, then thinking for a moment further to consider the question before answering, “Not much. Or at least… as much as most Quen? That’s mostly for Diviners to… Divine about,” she says, moving to the edge of the pool, settling her Focus back around her head and pushing herself out and to standing.
Aloy drops her own Focus back into place and climbs out beside her, “Tell me what you know, then” she says, pushing what water she can out of her linens and gathering her things and the bag of soap.
Seyka gathers her things as well, although slower as her mind dredges through her memory. She shrugs slightly, the lantern in her hand lifting as they start to leave the small cove. “It’s the time in the past when the Ancestors and all others – the Old Ones, you call them I think – fell. The ruins around us are what remains of a tribe so advanced, so enormous, it doesn’t make sense that they slowly died out… Something happened. Something big, and it wiped them out. The Time of Ashes is that event or… series of events? And maybe the time before it, or after it? It’s all a bit…” she wobbles her hands to finish the thought.
Aloy blows a breath out with a pop of her lips, cheeks puffing and then deflating in a rush of air. “We have so much to cover,” she says after a moment with a nervous laugh. “Where to start,” she considers, tucking her things under her arm as they walk along the stream. Aloy seems lost in thought until they turn back onto the beach, tapping her Focus and waving a hand in front of her towards Seyka, offering the connection to her as well.
“GAIA?”
“Yes, Aloy?”
“Seyka’s here with me, and I need to get her… up to speed. Well, we’ll probably need to get a lot of people up to speed in the coming months, but… Seyka first. I’m going to talk through it, but it’s… a lot. Do you think you can start working on pulling together a… collection of historical data for reference? Something that she can go through on her own to fill in the details that I’m not going to remember. Anything would be better than just opening up the whole archive for her to just… drown in.” she says, looking over at Seyka apologetically, who seems to be simply confused.
“I can gather relevant information from the archive, using the specific datapoints you have found over the last two years, and task APOLLO to build out from there, filling in with any historical records it may have. However, while APOLLO will be quite capable of structuring this data, I believe it will lack awareness of the recent social and political context that would be necessary to make this information most usable for Seyka or others,”
Aloy nods to herself, “Work with Alva,” she suggests immediately, “the Legacy in particular will complicate things for any Quen. She’ll know best how to… manage that.”
“I agree. I will discuss it with her once I have something started and worth working on.”
“The real problem I’m having right now trying to explain this to Seyka is figuring out where to start, and deciding where to stop.”
“I’m sure you will do just fine,”
“Oh, and GAIA? If you can, try and –” she pauses, sighing, “Try and limit direct mention of… my connections? I already have too many titles, I don’t need more.”
“Of course,”
“Thanks, GAIA,” She waves her hand, closing the channel.
“That… That was Gaia? A woman you know?” Seyka asks, “You’ve mentioned her, but…”
“That was GAIA,” Aloy confirms, “You’ll get to know her in time. Hopefully what she’s working on will turn into something that can fill in the gaps for you. There are going to be gaps, but let’s start with the Legacy. Tell me your thoughts on it,”
“Before I had a Focus? It made sense. I believed it. Knowledge that was entrusted to the Quen as the chosen of the Ancestors. It added up, at least enough to not question it. Compliance is also… persuasive. The Legacy is revealed to those blessed with a Focus, our sacred charge to defend it against all outsiders who would seek to use its knowledge beyond what the Ancestors intended.” she says, her voice taking on a slightly mocking tone, the words coming out as though wrote memorization, “Now that I have a Focus? Feels more and more like bullshit. Between the Focus and what you’ve shown me, what happened with Londra, I know something’s not right, but I have no idea what, or why, and it just keeps getting more and more frustrating..”
Aloy tilts her head to the side, “It’s not that the Legacy is entirely bullshit. It’s just that it’s… incomplete. Very, very incomplete, as you’ll find out. For two reasons. The larger of the two is that the Quen have a different type of Focus than I do. An older type. Because of that, the final 10 to 15 years of the Ancestor’s history is ‘Lost’. The Focus’ of all Quen – except yours and Alva’s – are unable to read what was left behind in those final years. Those years lead right up to the Time of Ashes and explain what happened, how it happened, why it happened, and what came next. Or at least, they would, if not for the second problem with The Legacy,”
“Let me guess, if ‘Lost’ knowledge is one problem, I’m guessing ‘Forbidden’ knowledge is the other?”
Aloy glances over and smiles, “Mmm, good in a fight, attractive, and you catch on quick,” she says playfully, her mind doing a double-take, Was… was that just flirting? I think I was just flirting. I flirt ? before pulling herself back together, “Knowledge that’s Forbidden by the Overseers isn’t so much ‘Forbidden’ as… ‘not something we want you to know’, from what I can tell. You’d have to talk to Alva if you want details, I can only guess at what knowledge is Forbidden according to the Quen. I’m not concerned with what’s ‘Lost’ or ‘Forbidden’, a fact I’m guessing would make me less than popular with the Board of Overseers,” she says.
Seyka winces, “Yeah, they… might try and have you killed. If nothing else to ‘reclaim’ the Focus that ‘belongs’ to them.”
“Already had a close call with Bohai and a bunch of bows pointed at me,” Aloy says, Seyka’s eyes going wide, “Alva smoothed it over,” she adds quickly at the look, Seyka clearly still shaken for a moment.
“But,” Aloy says, stopping short and pulling Seyka slightly by the arm, a jolt of electricity lancing up her fingertips at the mere casual contact with the woman, “Oh, that is going to be an adjustment,” she realizes as she catches Seyka’s gaze, “That’s one of the reasons that telling you all of this isn’t easy. Once you know, you can’t take it back. You’re going to know, and a lot of it is knowledge that could get you in a lot of trouble. Killed, even, as you said,” she concedes, worry creasing her face.
Seyka purses her lips, brow narrowed as she considers the words. It’s clear that thoughts war within her as she weighs the decision in front of her. “From the way you talk about this, it’s… big. Impossibly big. But if you can look me in the eye and tell me it’s the truth, no bullshit, I’ll believe you. And if… If I have to give up my people for truth,” her lips shake slightly as she considers the ramifications of where her thoughts are going, “ Fuck ,” she swears softly, shaking her head, before squaring her gaze on Aloy, “If it’s a choice between my people living a lie and truth, I pick the truth,” she confirms, nodding with finality. “Drown me, as much as it would hurt, I couldn’t build my life on lies once I knew them for what they are. I just have to hope that the people I care the most about are… willing to take that step with me.”
Aloy takes a deep breath, her gaze dropping to the ground, looking back up, “It’s a hard step to take, believe me,” she says distantly, looking back up. “You’re sure,” she asks, one last time.
“I’ve trusted you with my life before, now’s no different.”
Both of their hearts flutter at those words, but they regain their composure quickly, hoping that the other didn’t see the momentary lapse.
“I’ll do better tell you the truth. I’ll show you. ” Aloy says firmly as they approach the foliage curtain before Seyka’s camp, walking through.
“Now?” Seyka asks curiously, almost hopeful.
Aloy shakes her head, “Tomorrow,” she says firmly as they get to the other side, stopping before the panel door to Seyka’s hovel. “Looks like I’m staying at least one more day,” she says, looking over at Seyka with a smile.
Seyka’s face splits into a smile like the sun bursting from behind the clouds, “Wait, really?”
“A lot to cover,” she says, her words stifled as suddenly her lips are caught in a short, blistering kiss, causing a lance of pleasure to drive down her spine, pool beneath her stomach, and then race to her toes as she goes wide-eyed at the sudden contact. Stifling a groan of need in her throat that surprises her, she fixes Seyka with a wry look, “Don’t thank me yet,” she says, pulling away. Seyka’s face turns puzzled, “There’s going to be a lot of flying tomorrow.”
Seyka’s face falls for a moment, but as she thinks it through her smile returns, leaning forward and pecking Aloy once more on the lips, “Worth it,” she says as she jerks her head towards the door, “I can get out of these wet clothes in there, if you’re okay out here?” she asks, reaching for the door and pulling it open.
Aloy nods, going over to her bag as Seyka disappears out of view inside, not bothering to pull the panel shut. Aloy rummages through her bags and finds a pair of loose linen pants, stitched with Nora colors and patterns up the sides of the leg along with a fresh shirt and quickly changes, hanging up the wet strip of linen and shorts to dry. She quietly steps to the door, looking in right as Seyka’s pulling a shirt over her head, the soft lantern-lit curves of her bare chest and stomach visible along their outermost edges not giving anything more away, but the valley her spine and the muscled contours of her lower back are on full display for a glimmer of a moment. It’s enough for Aloy’s eyes to drink greedily.
Seyka turns and smirks, noticing Aloy in the doorway “Like what you see?” she asks innocently.
Aloy breathes out a gentle laugh through her nose, “Pretty sure, yeah,” she says, managing to convey the difficulty she’s having parsing her emotions while still giving an honest answer. She dips away from the door and takes a hold of her bag, heaving it into the small hovel as Seyka lights a second lantern inside and Aloy pulls the door shut.
Looking around in the warm lantern light that now fills the space, Aloy takes in the shelter. Although the building around them is much larger, most of it has collapsed over time, the majority of openings out of the room that look like doorways having caved in. It has left Seyka with a roughly square room not much more than 10 feet to a side. The hexagonal top and bottom panels of Shellwalker crates have been laid out on the ground, and what they don’t cover has been strewn with a heavy layer of fronds to keep the dirt floor from turning to mud. On one of the plates, a pallet and bedroll, assorted personal effects and sundry items scattered around the room in some unknown organization.
“There have been nights where I’d have fought a Thunderjaw to have shelter like this,” Aloy says, admiring the space, “Plenty of days where I did fight a Thunderjaw and still didn’t have something this nice,” she adds with a laugh.
“It came together far better than I expected,” Seyka admits.
Aloy drops a roll of dark gray machine material on the plate, along the rest of her bedding. She unrolls the machine material and begins to inflate her own sleeping mat as Seyka looks on in clear confusion.
“Something tells me that’s not traditional Nora bedding,” she says as she rearranges her own blankets.
Aloy shakes her head, pulling away from her task, “Longleg neck sac. Airtight material. The real key was the adhesive that some machines have started showing up with. The stuff sticks it together so well I couldn’t get it apart if I tried. Some small valves out of the scrap heap, and a few tries to get the pattern cut out right… it keeps your body off the ground, the rocks out of your back, and while it’s not as good as a proper pallet or mattress, it packs down into nothing,” she says, returning to the task.
“I can’t tell if you’re a bit crazy for thinking up all this stuff, or a genius. First the Pullcaster, then a Diving Mask, and now bedding? Are you sure you weren’t an inventor in a past life?”
Aloy gives a smile as best she can, along with a shrug, and soon has a pad she uses as a pallet inflated, following suit with what clearly serves as a pillow.
The pair busy themselves with other evening tasks, soon sitting lazily on upturned machine canisters, sharing a mix of food from their packs after deciding it was too late to start cooking anything over a fire, instead sharing whatever pack-stable sundries they happen to have, soon full on cured meats, nuts, berries, fruit, and root vegetables.
“So, what else are you going to tell me about tonight?” Seyka asks as they finish eating.
Aloy shakes her head and swallows, “We should probably stop where we are on it. There will be plenty to talk about tomorrow, and if we start now we won’t get any sleep. Also, I’m exhausted,” she says as she pulls a drawstring bag closed and tosses it into a canister with other food, moving to her bed and arranging herself.
Seyka gives a slightly annoyed sigh, “Ugh, my curiosity is annoyed, but you’re probably right,” she says as she follows suit. It isn’t long before they’ve extinguished the lanterns and are lying in the dark. The sounds of the night slowly fills the silence.
“Hey Aloy,” Seyka asks into the dark.
“Mhmm?”
“Thanks for changing your mind. I’ve enjoyed your company. Like this… Not fighting packs of machines. Not fighting crazed maniacs in Old World death behemoths. Not almost dying.”
“Yeah,” Aloy replies, “Definitely a nice change of pace,” she agrees. But it never lasts, Aloy adds to herself, not wanting to spoil the moment by saying it aloud.
“See you in the morning, Sunwing,” the rustle of blankets filling the room as Seyka rolls over.
That single word echoes in Aloy’s mind for a moment, and it simultaneously ties her heart into knots and completely unravels her mind as a slow, inexorable tingle starts at the back of her neck and slowly permeates her entire body, leaving behind a beautiful, drowning warmth. How long she basks in it she has no recollection.
“Y-you too,” she replies quietly, an indeterminate amount of time later.
Seyka smiles into the darkness, chewing on her lip slightly with coy happiness before settling deeper into her blankets. She was worried when Aloy didn’t respond at first, her breath held without realizing it until her chest started moving again, but something about the way Aloy’s voice inflects, she can tell it very much wasn’t due to disinterest. She doesn’t know what this feels like, does she? Seyka wonders as she lets herself relax, What it’s like to let someone get close to you. Seyka lets out another sigh, letting herself fall off into sleep.