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As much as Vala hated Bast’s company, as the Proving grew closer she had to endure ever more of it. To truly prepare, Nora needed to train with someone as close to themselves in capability as possible.
Bast was Vala’s only peer in that regard.
So, Vala grit her teeth and trained alongside him, channelling every ounce of annoyance into her fighting. It proved a useful weapon of its own against the machines who roamed too close to Mother’s Heart.
It was during one such afternoon of training that they caught sight of the outcast girl, deeper in the valley than they, easily identified by her auburn braids even at a distance.
Bast scowled at the sight of her. “I wonder if she has a scar.”
“You’re lucky she didn’t give you one back in kind,” Vala said, taking a step towards the edge of the rocks for a better look. She had heard rumours that Aloy, for that was the outcast’s name, intended to run in the Proving. Bast may be foolish enough to ignore an opportunity to watch the competition, but Vala was no fool.
“That must be three, no… four Watchers down there that she’s fighting,” Vala said, “and a Scrapper.”
Which certainly got Bast’s attention. “That’s impossible. She’d be…”
Bast’s voice fell away into the breeze; the arrogant young man for once in his life went silent as he stepped alongside Vala.
For, no matter what Bast proclaimed, it wasn’t impossible. Aloy was doing battle with a pack of machines and besting them. She moved with a fluidity that only came from years of hardened training; anticipating the machines’ behaviours and reacting almost before they moved. The spear she carried pierced through the underside of one Watcher as she slid beneath it, then almost immediately she yanked the weapon free and put it through the head of another.
Five became three.
Bast said something else, but Vala was too engrossed in the battle taking place out in the fields. She clenched her hands at her side and willed Aloy towards success; pushing herself up onto her tiptoes, as though that would give her a better look.
The Scrapper was the last machine standing; a nasty vicious curmudgeon of a machine that could see a Nora Brave dead in a heartbeat if they were to become distracted…
Vala glanced at Bast, narrowing her eyes. He would not be above causing such a distraction to rain doom upon the young woman that he held so much contempt for. On occasion, he had played such vile dirty tricks in training with other Nora, nearly causing them to succumb to great injuries, or worse.
He had even tried to do so with Vala.
Once. And never again.
The thought, it seemed, had not crossed his mind this day; perhaps it had, after all, been a lesson learnt. He stared, open-mouthed, as Aloy circled the Scrapper.
When the Scrapper lunged, Aloy rolled aside, then followed up with a leap that allowed her to bring the spear down upon the Scrapper with an almighty force, cracking off the armoured metal encasing its more fragile parts. With one last jab of her spear, Aloy had defeated the last of the machine pack.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Aloy crouched to salvage from the machines, pulling parts from them with her bare hands.
“Come on,” Bast muttered, his reverie broken. He turned to walk back to Mother’s Heart.
Vala allowed herself one last look over the carnage caused by one single person before following him. She so truly hoped Aloy would run in the Proving.