Chapter Text
It was several weeks until they heard back from Blameless Marad's spy, and even then, Aloy was off on another mission to find Olin. She'd gone with Erend on a tour of the city, had a couple of drinks with him and shared stories, but then the next day she was gone. She'd told Erend that she couldn't just wait around to hear back from Marad's spy, but he hadn't expected her to leave so suddenly. Why wouldn't she? He mentally smacked himself, it wasn't as if she had anything to stay here for, as much as she didn't seem to hate his company, she had bigger things to do. He was just glad he'd gotten a few more smiles from her, and a couple laughs to remember while she was gone.
If her smile was wonderful, her laugh was truly heavenly. It was usually accompanied by a wide smirk, and was the most carefree aspect of her personality- you could tell she was actually relaxed when she laughed, the vibrations running down her spine and bending her at the waist if they were strong enough. He'd gotten her to laugh that hard only once so far, and it was with a joke about Avad's aversion to shirts.
She'd told him stories about her childhood, failures of hunting that he refused to believe, how could she have ever been unskilled? She told him the story of when she'd saved the boy named Teb when she was only six, and he was far more inclined to believe that she'd been that skilled when she was young, despite her protests that it was the focus' doing and not hers. He'd countered her stories with ones of his childhood, making his first war-maul, how proud he'd been of the misshapen lump of metal, and how his parents had chuckled but congratulated him on his work. She'd smiled widely at him when he told this story, and he couldn't help but smile back at her, remembering the ridiculous maul and his childish glee. He thought of that smile now, the way she'd looked at him as if she was imagining him as a small child, and finding it difficult. He was a large man, he could imagine it'd be hard to imagine a smaller version of him, only having known his adult form.
Little did he know, at this moment, Aloy was riding an elevator to the top of the mesa, thinking of that exact moment. She'd been gone about a month, and the first thought that'd popped into her head upon seeing the city in the distance was the smile and slight blush that had been on Erend's face when he told that story. She still didn't think she could picture him as a child, but she imagined he was stocky even then, hefting his imperfect maul high as he attacked the machine dummies, spinning slightly after the attack with the momentum of the heavy weapon. A strange feeling rose in Aloy's chest as she imagined this scene, and she examined it for a moment, not knowing what it was, before it flitted away as the elevator clanked to a stop.
The first thing she did was go to her favorite armor merchant and purchase the Carja style armor she'd been eyeing for quite some time. She'd been trecking across the desert in heavy, warm Nora armor for too long, and she'd thought she might die from the heat one time too many on this last mission. The bared midriff was unusual for her, but it would serve to keep her cool, and she was willing to do almost anything for that at this point.
She went into the nearest inn and changed into the armor, stowing her heavy furs in her pack. Immediately, she felt significantly cooler, the thin silks and bare stomach removing much of her built-up heat, and she quickly used a scrap of material to wipe the sweat from her body where it had accumulated on the trip back. Leaving the inn, she wracked her brain for the route to Erend's favorite bar, where she knew she was most likely to find him. Much to her surprise, he was not at his customary seat at the bar, instead she found some of his vanguard soldiers. They all smirked and one chuckled at some unknown joke, but they pointed her toward Avad's palace, saying that Erend had headed that way about an hour prior.
The trip to the palace was quick, and the guards across the bridge greeted her by name, which surprised Aloy. Although, she supposed, she was likely the only person with red hair they'd ever seen. She was the only person she'd ever seen with red hair, now that she thought about it. Must make her easy to pick out in a crowd, she thought. In the distance then, she heard the characteristic low guffaw that was Erend's laugh and a smile rose to her face, unbidden. She skips steps on the way up to Avad's balcony, forcing her face back into the neutral expression they're all used to. Despite her efforts, a smile springs to her face when she sees Erend- currently moving with exaggerated motions, clearly telling some sort of joke, if the snorts of his vanguard and the reserved chuckle of Marad is anything to judge by.
Avad is the first to notice her arrival, a smirk on his face and a small wave to bring her into the conversation. He is shirtless as usual, Erend's joke rises to the front of her mind, and she barely suppresses a laugh. Erend straightens at the sight of her, and his light blue eyes light up as they meet her green ones.
"Aloy! It's good to see you, we've received news from Marad's spy on Dervahl's hiding place," he starts the sentence with a smile lingering from his joking, but it fades as he thinks of how much closer they are to finding Ersa. A nod to Erend at this news, and then Aloy looks to Blameless Marad for more information. He details the spies findings, and that he last reported in from Pitchcliff, a small village on the side of a mountain in Oseram territory.
"Great, I have time to head there now, if that's fine with you, Erend?" Aloy's determined exterior had returned, her usually bright eyes dark with the thoughts running through her head. She'd been resistant to helping Erend at first, her own personal goals seeming more important than helping the vanguardsman get revenge for his sister's death. But when she'd found out what really happened at that ambush, she'd resolved to find Ersa. She'd seen the hope that exploded on Erend's face when she'd revealed the truth, and she couldn't deny him this closure. After all, half of the reason for her mission was getting revenge on the man who'd killed Rost.
A determined, almost angry look settled onto Erend's face and he nodded at her, looking as if he didn't trust himself to speak cordially at the moment. Aloy could almost see the thoughts running through his mind, and behind the stormy look Aloy almost thought she could see a sliver hope glimmering.
The trip to Pitchcliff was long and quiet. Aloy settled into the silence, trying to ignore the tension in the air between Erend and the other Oseram vanguardsmen. When they camped the first night on the side of the road, the vanguardsmen started drinking some Oseram brew they'd brought with them, and started singing a drinking song. Normally Aloy knew Erend would have joined in, but tonight he only watched them with a slightly sad look on his face, and they were sobered sooner than usual by the somber atmosphere. Aloy was busying herself making arrows to one side of the campfire, cautiously watching Erend, concerned about his dower mood. He was usually such an upbeat happy person, seeing this other side of him threw her off, and she decided she'd try and cheer him up.
The next morning, she suggested that she'd capture some mounts and they could ride the rest of the way there, in order to arrive faster. Erend was cautious, his vanguard had never ridden machines before, and it was only his second time doing so. Aloy smirked at them and assured them out wasn't so hard, knowing that the vanguardsmen wouldn't want to be shown up by her. So they grudgingly agreed, and Aloy set off tracking the nearby pack of striders. Swiftly and stealthily, she took control of five striders, and killed the other two in the pack to harvest for parts.
She returned to camp riding one strider and trailing the other four behind her, and Erend marveled once again at her. The other three vanguardsmen gaped openly at the sight of Aloy leading practically a whole pack of striders, one of them gripping his weapon tighter out of habit. She dismounted the strider and detached the others from hers, grinning widely while her face was turned away. She led three of the striders over to Erend's men, and presented one to each.
"Now this is the easy part, they're loyal to me at this point, they won't attack you unless you attack them first. You see the flatter, lower part of their backs? That's where you'll be sitting. Once you get settled there, you'll need to grab some of the wires on either side of their necks, which you'll use to guide them. Now, who wants to go first?"
Erend looked between Erend and his men, and he realized the smirk that graced her features was almost predatory. Sometimes he looked at her and saw a beautiful woman, and sometimes she reminded her more of a stalker. Setting traps for her enemies, observing from a distance until she knew how to cripple them correctly. He shook the thought from his head, she wasn't trying to harm his men, she was just being practical as usual, speeding their trip to Pitchcliff. He laughed aloud at his men's reluctance, and walked over to the last strider that he knew was his, hopping onto it's back with only a little difficulty. A silent sigh of relief left him when he successfully mounted the machine, glad that he didn't manage to embarrass himself in front of his men and Aloy.
This action inspired confidence in his men, and all three of them tried to then mount their striders at the same time, two of them knocking legs against each other and falling in a heap on the ground. The third nearly made it, but the other two bumped his mount on the way down, and it started running off, jostling him off it's back suddenly. Soft groans came from the two in a pile, and a sharp Oseram curse from the third, and Erend let out a deep guffaw at the state of the best warriors in the sundom. Aloy stole a glance at him, doubled over with laughter at his men, and she turned back and grinned at them widely. Apparently, they quickly understood what Aloy was trying to do, because the next half hour was a series of embarrassing failures on the part of the vanguardsmen, and nearly continuous laughter from their captain.
When they were finally all mounted and on their way again, Aloy sent them all silent nods of thanks before joining Erend at the front of the party.