Chapter Text
It’s been one heck of a forgefire day at the Base.
What started as a completely normal day promised to be full of reading and maybe a side of sparring, ended up becoming one long line of welcoming parties.
First, Varl returned from the coast with Alva, a Quen Diviner and the newest member of their team. After giving the woman a quick tour, Varl showed Alva to her bunk, and then disappeared into his room with Zo.
Then a few hours later, Talanah burst through the doors with another Carja in tow. Erend made a joke about being the most popular inn in the West to Kotallo, who only narrowed his eyes and stalked out the eastern doors. Erend couldn’t exactly blame the man; you really had to get to know specific people within the Carja before you could move past the tribe’s history of atrocities.
Talanah and the male Carja exchange a few words before he also leaves through the eastern doors. And just like that, the common area goes from busy thoroughfare to just the Sunhawk and Captain of the Vanguard.
“It’s good to see you again, Talanah,” Erend says. He glances at the doors where the two men just left. “I can’t tell if your mission was successful or not.”
The Sunhawk rolls her eyes before giving Erend a quick hug. “It was, I think. Just unexpected.” She shakes her head before glancing around. “Is Aloy here?”
Erend shakes his head in return. “No. Haven’t seen her in a couple weeks. But you’re welcome to stay and wait for her—we’ve got an open bunk. Uh, not sure where your friend is gonna stay, though.”
“Amadis. And I don’t know if I’d call him a friend,” Talanah clarifies.
Well, that’s a fascinating turn of events, considering the last time Talanah burst through here she was looking for the guy.
“Anyway, we’re just staying the night.” Talanah grows quiet and takes a longer look around the room. With a sigh, she snaps her head back to Erend. “Got anything good to fight around here?”
He lets out a laugh—no matter had what happened, at least Talanah still sounded like herself. “Sure. We’ve got Ravagers, Bristlebacks, a couple Shellsnapper sites nearby…oh, and Kotallo likes to climb up to the top of the mountain and fight some of the Sunwings.”
Talanah raises an eyebrow in interest. “Sunwings, huh? And Kotallo—that’s the Tenakth who was just in here?”
“Sure was.”
The Sunhawk checks through her quiver before nodding. “I think I’ll go see about those Sunwings. Thanks, Erend.” She claps him on the shoulder before also heading out the eastern exit.
Which officially leaves Erend alone in the common room.
With no one else around, and nothing pressing to do, Erend decides to get to work on a big meal for everyone. He chops, roasts, sears, and mixes until there is a literal feast on the counter.
The main course is a hearty rabbit stew thick with chunks of meat and vegetables with a base of Oseram ale. There’s also a smaller pot of it without meat for Zo. Rounding out dinner is a huge stack of flatbread, root vegetables roasted with Zo’s secret spice mix (the ingredients of which she refuses to share, no matter how he begs), and a large bowl of mixed berries. All the vegetables seem excessive, but he doesn’t know what Alva or the brooding Carja man outside like to eat, so he figures it’s better to err on the side of caution.
Everyone else’s timing is far too convenient. As if they were all just waiting for him to finish cooking. Varl and Zo finally emerge from their room. Alva appears out of the bunks. And shortly thereafter, Talanah and Kotallo stroll in from the eastern exit. That last pair is particularly interesting, as Talanah seems to be mid-story and Kotallo seems to have an awed, subdued smile stuck on his lips.
Erend’s never seen a smile like that on the Tenakth. He will be asking Kotallo about it later.
Without wasting any time, everyone gathers around the counter and starts piling food onto plates and into bowls. Varl runs down some food to Beta and weirdly enough, Kotallo volunteers to take food out to Amadis.
Talanah makes no effort to hide the way she stares at his ass when he leaves.
Erend will definitely be asking Kotallo about that later.
Alva and her tribe, the Quen, are the main topic of conversation. Everyone at the counter is fascinated by their culture’s interest in Old Ones’ knowledge (and the weird regulations around it) and their giant ships that crossed the ocean.
Zo and Varl openly hold hands on the counter, and Erend thinks wistfully about the last time he’s had the opportunity to show such affection. It’s been years. Mostly a result of being on the move so much during his freebooting days. The rest is because he lost his heart to the smart, capable red-haired huntress that day on the Alight. Hers is the only hand he wants to hold.
But enough mooning for now. He’ll have plenty of time to fixate on the thought of Aloy’s hand in his later.
Varl catches Erend’s eye and gestures his head over to Talanah and Kotallo at the other end of the counter. The two have turned away from the rest of the group, bodies angled towards each other. Erend can tell from Talanah’s movements and hand gestures that she’s telling Kotallo about one of her hunts. In turn, the Marshal seems fully caught up in the story, only stopping her for a clarifying question.
Erend directs a smirk back to Varl. “Drinks with Kotallo later?”
“Obviously,” he replies.
After dinner, leftovers are stored away and dishes are cleaned quickly. Alva makes a beeline for the data archives while Zo offers to help Talanah set up and orient herself with a Focus. This leaves just the three men in the common room.
Erend glances at Varl before offering, “What do you guys think? Drinks?”
Varl pounces on it right away. “Yeah, that sounds good.”
Kotallo narrows his eyes before nodding in agreement.
“Maybe in the war room?” Varl suggests. “Give the ladies some peace?”
Erend slaps his knees before standing. “Works for me. Kotallo, will you give me a hand with the keg?”
“I’ll get the chairs and the tankards,” Varl calls, already going to retrieve some of the spare chairs stashed in corners of unused rooms.
Erend and Kotallo opt for one of the half-full kegs in the eastern exit hall and carefully carry it into the room. Erend carefully moves most of Aloy’s collection of Strike pieces into their cubbies on the wall before they place the keg on the smaller table.
Minutes later, all three men are seated around the hologram-projecting table and sipping at their mugs of Oseram ale. This isn’t the first time they’ve shared a drink together, and Erend hopes it won’t be the last. He’s found comfort in this ritual and the comradery among them. They’ve shared a lot about their different cultures, their approach to fighting—even how they all met Aloy.
But they’ve never drunk together with the express reason to grill Kotallo about the way he looked at a woman, so this should be fun.
Varl starts it off, talking about his journey through Tenakth territory with Alva and how the terrain looks so much healthier since Aloy rejoined the subfunctions with GAIA. Erend shares a story about how a Shellsnapper nearly took him out on his last journey back to the Base from Hidden Ember.
Kotallo, though, seems to be content to just sit there and hum along with his companions’ stories.
Which just won’t do.
“So, how were the Sunwings today?” Erend asks, keeping his voice casual as his fingers idly play with one of Aloy’s Strike pieces. “Did Talanah immediately turn it into a competition?”
A small smirk stretches onto Kotallo’s lips. Perfect.
“Yes. The Sunhawk said that if this was to be a real training challenge, I shouldn’t be afraid of a little competition.”
Varl glances at Erend as he takes a sip from his tankard. “That sounds like Talanah. And who won?”
“I am not ashamed to admit that she took down three to my two. I have met many fierce warriors in my time, but the Sunhawk is…quite capable. I understand how she was able to ascend to the highest ranks of the Hunter’s Lodge.”
Erend does his best not to snort into his ale before adding, “And all without a Focus.”
“Her knowledge of machine hunting is unparalleled, with perhaps Aloy as the only exception. Are all Carja women like her?” Kotallo asks.
“No,” Varl and Erend answer firmly at the same time. The Nora laughs and gets up to serve himself another drink. “Erend, you know the most about Carja women—tell him.”
Erend shakes his head before leaning back in his chair. “No, they don’t make Carja women like Talanah. Most of the women work in the fields or the settlements, or are wives or daughters of nobles and don’t do anything. She created…quite the stir when she demanded to join the Hunter’s Lodge. From what I hear she’s still stirring things up like a Clawstrider with all the changes she’s making there.”
The Tenakth hums in consideration before taking a sip of his drink. “She told me about some of that. She wants to make the Lodge into one of service instead of showmanship. I find that to be very honorable.”
Erend hands his tankard to Varl for a refill. Varl fills it before chiming in with, “She’s definitely a force of nature. At the battle of the Alight, it was just me, Erend, Aloy, and Talanah right at the end.” He hands the mug back to Erend. “Do not tell my mother this, but I think she took down even more machines than I did.”
“I don’t want to tell your mother anything,” Erend replies before taking a long sip. “Your mother is terrifying.”
“You have not spoken at length of your mother,” Kotallo adds before taking his turn to get up and refill his tankard. “Why is she terrifying?”
Varl laughs as he sits back down. “She’s the War Chief of the Nora and very intense. Aloy would also say she’s a little too devoted to the Goddess.”
“And what would you say?”
He lets out a long, heavy breath. “It’s hard to say. Balancing what I believed in all my life with what I’ve learned here has been…delicate. And hard, sometimes. My mother is so devoted to her beliefs that I don’t think she would be very open to other interpretations of the world.”
“But as a War Chief, she would certainly approve of your choice in mate,” Kotallo offers. “I’ve seen Zo demolish Erend in a sparring match.”
“Hey!” Erend says.
Varl ignores the interjection and takes a gulp of his drink. “Maybe. The Nora don’t look kindly on outlanders. Anyone not of the tribe is suspected at best and shunned at worst.”
This time Erend does snort into his ale, though not from amusement. “Lotta that shunning going around in the Sacred Land.”
Kotallo gives them a confused look before Erend continues. “Those slags made Aloy an outcast as a baby. She didn’t talk to anyone but the man who raised her for basically the first two decades of her life.”
Varl winces at that. “It has become painfully clear that some of the Nora traditions need to change. Especially now. The Nora have taken heavy losses over the past few years. I can see now how the tribe is dying. We shouldn’t be shunning anyone.”
These confessions from Varl surprise Erend. Erend hasn’t been quiet about how he didn’t care for the Nora casting out Aloy at birth, but he’s tried to tread carefully around his friend’s other beliefs. He didn’t know that the data Varl had been churning through at the Base was making him question things. And worse—that the love of his life would likely be shunned from the tribe that he still clearly cared about. They should talk about these things more.
Erend reaches over to clap a hand on Varl’s shoulder. “Zo will knock some sense into ’em. And if not, remind everyone that she’s a personal friend of your Anointed.”
His friend smirks. “I guess if anyone is going to stand up to my mother, it’s Zo.”
“Perhaps once she sees you two together,” Kotallo offers. “It is very clear that you complement each other well. I see it when you study and train together.”
Varl chuckles at this and raises his tankard in Kotallo’s direction. “I have the blessing of a Marshal of the Tenakth. I wish that mattered to them.”
“The blessing of a Tenakth Marshal should count anywhere. It’s definitely less stressful than having to haul your future spouse in front of a panel of Ealdormen,” Erend snorts.
Immediately he knows he made a mistake because Varl turns to him, the Nora’s smile shifting into a knowing smirk. “And why would you be thinking about that, Erend?”
He shakes his head at Varl, ready to throttle him. If only he could go back in time and keep his drunk ass from spilling every feeling in his heart to Varl after their battle at the Alight.
“I wasn’t. I was only adding to the conversation.”
Kotallo’s been frowning for a full minute at this point before saying, “I do not see Aloy wishing to do that.”
Erend chokes on a mouthful of ale while Varl bursts out laughing. “By the forge, Varl. That’s not public knowledge you can just share with anyone!”
Kotallo shakes his head. “He did not tell me. I simply have eyes.”
This just makes Varl laugh even harder.
By the forge, how did this happen? The drinking was supposed to be an attempt to grill Kotallo about Talanah—not for Kotallo to remark on his own lovesick ass.
Erend takes another long gulp of his ale. “That obvious then, huh?”
The Tenakth takes his own sip and shrugs. “Yes and no. Yes, because when she comes back to the Base, you snap to attention and look like you’re preparing for battle in anticipation of speaking with her. But no, because when the two of you do speak, Aloy smiles at you in the same way that you smile at her.”
Erend swears that he’s had too much to drink because it sounds like Kotallo is implying that Aloy returns some of his feelings. And that…well, he doesn’t know what to think about that. He’s gone so long assuming that this is one-sided—that he’s destined for a future where he helps Aloy but always stays firmly as the friend—that he isn’t sure what to say to that.
“He’s right,” Varl adds. “Aloy looks at you in a way that she doesn’t look at the rest of us. Zo even calls it her Erend smile.”
He is aware that Aloy smiles at him. After all, he can’t help but mentally catalog every smile, frown, and other look that passes over Aloy’s face, making notes about what seems to make her happy and what to avoid to never make her sad. But to think that she smiles at him in a way that she doesn’t smile at anyone else? He doesn’t know what to do with that information.
Part of him wants to shout with joy and go out and find her right this moment and tell her. But part of him knows the stress she’s under and doesn’t want to add something else onto her shoulders.
Kotallo narrows his eyes. “You did not know this?”
He lets out a small chuckle, running a hand over his face. “It’s more like I never dared hope for it.” And he still shouldn’t. Even if she does have an affection for him, he knows her. Aloy will never take something for herself when the fate of the world is still so undecided.
Varl nudges him with his elbow. “For what it’s worth, I think you should tell her. Aloy has come a long way since we first met her.”
“Yes,” Kotallo agrees. “Proclaim your interest loudly and without hesitation.”
Erend shakes his head. “I will not be doing it loudly. If I do, she might toss me outside to share a tent with that Amadis guy.” He gestures in the general direction of the eastern exit.
Kotallo scoffs. “Doubtful, as you are not an idiot.”
Varl shoots Erend an amused look before asking, “What makes you say that, Kotallo?”
Kotallo juts his chin at Erend. “If Aloy expressed interest in Erend the way the Sunhawk did in…that man, I know that he would not waste the opportunity.”
“I appreciate that faith in me,” Erend replies. He is not as confident as Kotallo that he wouldn’t completely mess it up.
But Kotallo continues, seemingly not ready to finish talking about Talanah. “Any man who has a woman of the Sunhawk’s talents pursuing him, but somehow returns east not sharing her bed? He’s an idiot.”
Erend leans back in his chair and hides a smile behind his tankard. “I am damn curious about how that happened. Talanah was so determined to find him. Even asked for Aloy’s help. Now they can’t even stand in the same room.”
“I’m hoping Zo gets the story out of her while they’re in Focus training,” Varl says.
“Good luck. As soon as she turns the thing on, I have a feeling that Talanah will want to go field test it.” Erend knows because they have the same restless instincts. It’s why they abandoned Avad’s council at the first whiff of a machine attack. “If that happens, you should go with her, Kotallo. This being Tenakth territory and all.”
Kotallo gives a small nod. “I would be honored to assist one of Aloy’s companions.”
“I bet you would,” Varl agrees cheekily.
Erend is about to comment on how Talanah was checking out Kotallo earlier in the evening when there is a soft chime on everyone’s Focus.
“Aloy is approaching the mountain from the west,” comes GAIA pleasing tone.
“What timing,” Varl says. “Erend, you should go meet her.”
Kotallo raises his tankard at Erend. “Loudly and without hesitation. Go with the Ten.”
Erend flaps a hand to dismiss Kotallo’s words, but he gets up from his chair all the same. “I’ll go meet her because she’s my friend and is probably hungry. Not because of whatever you two are thinking is going to happen.” He points at each of them before excusing himself into the main common room.
The chances are high that Aloy is starving, so Erend quickly pulls out some of their leftovers that taste good without being reheated and makes a plate for her. He’s grateful that Beta setup that proximity alert on Aloy so that he can make sure she gets some food in her when she comes back. He’s seen how she eats out in the wilds and he knows that she needs it.
The doors from the western entrance whoosh open and Aloy strolls through, shaking snow out of her hair. When she sees Erend behind the counter, her face lights up and she smiles happily at him.
“Hey, Erend,” she says in greeting. Her eyes seem to widen as she spots the plate of food on the counter.
“Hey, Aloy. It’s good to see you,” he replies, making his way around the counter. “Got some leftovers here for you.”
“Thank you.” She sets her bow and quiver down on his couch and walks over. Before sitting down in front of the food, she surprises him by wrapping her arms around him in a quick hug. “It’s good to see you too, Erend.”
Instinctively he returns the hug, but it’s over so quickly that he barely processes that it happened.
They take a seat and Aloy doesn’t hesitate to tear into the food. “What’s been going on here?” she asks in between mouthfuls.
“It’s been a busy day,” Erend starts. “Varl arrived with Alva this morning, then Talanah showed up this afternoon with that Carja guy.”
“Amadis?” she asks. Erend doesn’t miss the concerned look on her face. “I’m glad I didn’t miss Talanah. Is she okay?”
He chuckles and takes a sip out of his tankard. “Surprisingly. Amadis marched himself outside and she went to fight Sunwings with Kotallo.”
“Kotallo?” The surprise is evident in her voice.
“Yeah, I know. But they seem to have hit it off. Kotallo’s been talking about her hunting talents all night and I definitely saw Talanah look at his ass earlier.”
Aloy snorts in the middle of a sip of water and has to steady herself not to shoot it out of her nose. It’s adorable.
“I’ll have to talk to her,” she says once she swallows the water. “But I certainly like Kotallo more than Amadis.”
Erend gestures to the exit with a nod. “Can I ask what happened there? Talanah seemed really into the guy before.”
Aloy lets out a sigh and shakes her head. “It’s a long story, but the short version is that Amadis’ ex is still alive and he’s not completely over her.”
He winces on Talanah’s behalf. “Ooof. No wonder he’s camping outside in the cold. He’s lucky she’s letting him tag along back home.”
“I know,” Aloy replies around a mouthful of berries. She finishes chewing and swallows before continuing with, “She promised him she would see him back safely to the Sundom.”
“Mmmm, so keeping her word. Very honorable. I’ll be sure to tell Kotallo.”
Aloy laughs before standing from the counter. She grabs the last two pieces of flatbread off her plate. “I should probably go check in with her and Alva. But I’ll talk to you later?”
A warmth blossoms in Erend’s gut. Two conversations with Aloy before she heads out again? That’s a rare treat. And he’s a lovesick dolt for being so excited about it. “Of course. You know where to find me.”
She gives him one last grin before heading off towards data archives where he can see Alva hard at work.
He’s certain that he’s imagining it, but he does have to admit that there’s something in that smile that isn’t like her other ones.