Chapter Text
Erend was lost, cold, hungry and confused... He had gotten lost following his much bigger sister Ersa on a trip to Meridian, the Carja capitol. The route her group had plotted went through to Nora territory just a little bit, not wanting to anger the secretive tribe.
Erend had been following a ways behind to keep from being found out. He had been tired of the familiar buildings and grounds of the Claim, having begged his sister to come along and was refused. As his usual aloof self, he had forgotten to wake up right at dawn when the group would continue their journey and found himself lost…
Smoke in the distance guided him to a strange outpost nearby where no one would speak to him. Everyone looked at him like he'd grown a second head. No one would help him and at a certain point simply pushed him out of the outpost.
For days on end he had barely been able to survive. Having made himself a crude bow and crude spear using his little knife he always carried with him... And now here he was, standing knee deep in a river, watching the water with his crude spear in hand... He saw a fish dart by and made an effort to strike it with the spear but it eluded him.
Erend yelled in frustration, stomping over to the side of the river and throwing down his makeshift spear, sitting down and pulling his knees to his face and started to cry...
What he didn't know however, was that he wasn't alone in the wilds.
Aloy had been wandering around the wilds of the embrace to see what new things she could find. She rambled to the birds in the trees about whatever was on her mind since she had no one to talk to.
In the middle of her one sided conversation with a crow she heard what sounded like the cries of a little boy... She followed the echoes of his cries until she came to a clearing by a river. She was shocked to see a young outlander, he seemed to be somewhat close to her age and the poor boy was sobbing while curled into a ball.
She didn't know how to approach him but she knew that food always calmed her down when she got upset. She went to the edge of the river and tried to remember Rost's lessons about water bending.
Before she did anything, she put her little spear on the ground. She raised her hands and carefully moved them, causing the water to rise towards her, pulling a fish from flowing water. She quickly grabbed the fish and quietly celebrated at her successful bending attempt.
She picked up her spear and used it to kill the fish. She quietly gathered a bundle of sticks to use as fire wood and brought them over to the little boy. She started making a fire teepee and she looked up at him, her bright green eyes filled with concern.
"Are you hungry?" Aloy asked
The little boy cried and cried as she did her task, she could hear him mumbling to himself... Some words would come into focus for her. Among them she heard:
"Worthless. Good for nothing. Idiot. Forge be damned troublemaker. Can't do anything right. What am I gonna do now..?"
Although once she spoke it snapped him out of it and he jumped, scooting away from her in fear and raising his arms to shield himself for a moment.
It took him a second to calm down and peek from behind his arms at her and blinked curiously. His cloudy blue eyes met her verdant green ones. He saw the dead fish and the little fire pit she made and groaned in discomfort, she could hear his stomach growling angrily. Looking around he cautiously got closer.
"You're talking to me right? Y-Yeah I could use some food…" Erend replied, his voice sounded nasally from crying.
A small smile appeared on her face when he scooted closer to her, accepting her offer for food. She nodded in response to his question.
He slowly approached the pile of sticks and took a second, taking a deep breath and snapped his fingers near his face a few times. Sparks flew from his fingers as he snapped them, till he got it right and a flame appeared in his hand which he then used to light the wood and brambles.
Her eyes got big, her expression full of excitement when she saw him create a flame in his palm.
"You can make fire? I can make fire too!" Aloy said excitedly.
She furiously rubbed her hands together until sparks came from between her palms. She proudly showed him the little flame she'd created in her hands.
"I've never met anyone else who could make fire before. I'm Aloy by the way. What's your name?"
Erend tilted his head at Aloy as she made a flame in her hands but seemed more comfortable with her after her introduction. Scratching the back of his head with a nervous but goofy grin on his face.
"My name is Erend. Yeah I'm a fire bender... I'm not too good at it yet..."
He laughed shyly before taking the fish and skewering it on a stick, setting it over the flames to help it cook.
"So Aloy... Why won't anyone here talk to me? Other than you of course... Cause I haven't done anything wrong and I need help to find my older sister again…"
She clapped to smother the flame in her hands.
"The Nora hate outlanders, it's against the law to talk to outlanders or outcasts. I'm an outcast and I think that rule is stupid... They don't care if you haven't done anything wrong, all that matters is that you aren't Nora. Maybe I could talk to Rost about it. Maybe he'll let you stay with us for a while until something comes up." Aloy answered.
"Why do the Nora hate Outlanders? I don't seem too bad do I? I mean- I just need help finding my family, is that too much to ask for them? Not that it matters. I might as well be an Outcast to the Oseram anyways…" Erend trailed off.
"In the Claim you've got to be good at one of three things to make it. Being good at forging, good at tinkering or business. I'm not good at any of those things. Most other Oseram are the ones you find outside the Claim. They are either Delvers, Scrap Salvagers or Freebooters and Arms for Hire. I'm good with a weapon and I'm getting better with fire bending, at least I have that going for me." Erend continued.
She understood feeling like you don't belong, she'd been denied the chance to belong anywhere the moment she was born.
"You said you're good at fighting, maybe when you grow up you can be a Freebooter or an arm for hire! Whatever those are. I'm sure you'll find your place some day. You don't have to be good at forging to be a good Oseram, you said it yourself! Don't beat yourself up so much…"
She stood up and went to the edge of the river since she felt quite hungry as well.
She repeated her movements from before, moving her little arms to make the water rise. She grabbed a fish out of the bubble of water she'd made and the water splashed as it joined the river again. She killed the salmon with her spear and brought it over to the little campfire to cook.
He watched in amazement as she controlled the water of the river after just controlling fire.
"I didn't know that people could bend more than one element! Gosh you're so much cooler than me…"
"Other people can't bend more than one? I thought everybody could…" Aloy whispered to herself.
"I bet if I could bend more than one element people would finally see I'm not useless after all." Erend spoke to himself.
"Hey, hey, I've never met anyone else who could bend fire. And I think that's pretty cool. You're probably better than me." Aloy didn't want him to sell himself short.
Erend shrugged his shoulders, the steel rings in his oversized armor shining in the flames. He turned his fish around so it could cook on the other side.
"What about you? Why are you an outcast of the Nora?" Erend asked.
"I was cast out because I don't have a mom. Everything revolves around women with the Nora so me not having a mother was something to be thrown out for I guess…" Aloy answered.
"Why would you be cast out at birth for not having a mom? And why does having a mom matter so much anyway? It's not your fault cause you were just a baby, it doesn't make sense to me." Erend commented.
Aloy shrugged, not understanding it either. She absentmindedly clenched her fists and relaxed it, lifting up a small rock near her foot and putting it back down without touching it. She didn't want to think about that right now so she asked something different.
"I can only create small flames at the moment. I can see you're older than me, can you do anything cool yet with your bending?"
"Hmm… Yeah I can do something cool, I just learned how to do it recently. It's called lightning generation!"
"Fire benders can do that? I wanna learn how to do that! That would be so cool. Maybe we could both train our fire bending and some day I can learn lightning bending too! Can you show it to me?"
Erend stood up, wanting to impress his new friend like she had impressed him. He closed his eyes and started to breathe deeply in and out, in and out. Before raising his hand with two fingers pointing up and beautiful purplish blue lightning sparked from his fingers as he drew a circle in the air then thrust his hand forward, his fingers pointing outward and shot the lightning away from them, hitting a large boulder several meters away and causing it to crumble into smaller bits. He sat back down panting for breath. His short brown hair now all standing on end and making his hair look poofy.
"Yeah... it's not easy though, I can only do it for a few moments but I'm still learning... What? Is something wrong?"
Aloy watched him with great interest, she gasped in surprise seeing him break apart a boulder with lightning, the loud bang from it splitting apart the rock startled her.
She started clapping with excitement, amazed that someone could do something like that. Although she couldn't hold back her giggling when she saw all his hair had puffed out from the electricity.
"Your hair is all poofy! That was so cool! I wanna learn how to do that. Wait, wait, I can do something cool too. Give me a second."
"Oh yeah I forget that tends to happen when I do that, ha!"
She stood up and ran over to the pile of rocks where a boulder once sat. She took a strong stance and held her fists at her sides. She tried to remember how she did this trick ages ago. She raised her arms over her head, straining as she put all her effort into lifting a heavy rock without touching it. She pulled one arm down and punched as hard as she could, sending the rock flying towards a tree. Unfortunately she missed, it upset her but she was just happy that she didn't mess it up this time. She fell on her butt and laid down in the grass, panting from exerting herself so much.
He watched her lift a large rock and throw it into the forest and looked at her in disbelief.
"You can earthbend too?! Fire and spit, I've never met someone that can bend three different elements! All I can do is firebend and lightning bend. But we both seem to have a little trouble with some parts of it... maybe we could train a bit together! At least till I have to go home of course... "
Rost had been looking for Aloy for quite a while now, and started to grow concerned, he had checked all the areas she liked to frequent when training and she hadn't been there... He called out for her in hopes she might hear him.
"Aloy? Aloy, home now!"
Rost searched through the woods, his worry building the longer he searched.
Aloy tried to show Erend her fire bending by lighting a fallen tree branch on fire. Although she couldn't make that big of a flame. He corrected her form and she tried again several times, each attempt showing minor improvements.
This was the most fun she'd had in a long time, she finally had a friend to play with…
She stiffened when she heard Rost call out to her. She smothered the flames on her hands and looked around for him.
"Crap, I've been out here for a while. I need to go to him or else he'll be mad... Come with me and I can try to ask him to let you stay with us." Aloy stated.
Erend hesitated but he saw no better options and so followed the redhead over to the stern looking Nora.
She followed Rost's voice and finally saw her stern guardian looking down at her.
"Sorry for being gone so long, Rost... I found an outlander who needed help. Erend here was cold and hungry. He got lost on a trip with his sister and he doesn't know where she went. Please, could he stay with us until something comes up? He's really friendly, he didn't hurt me just so you know…"
"Hello sir... Uh... I got lost while following my older sister's traveling party... She... Didn't know I was following her and I got lost."
Rost was silent as he looked between the outsider and his daughter... The outsider showed no signs of hostility, and his story was plausible and showed no signs of deceit.
While it was against tribal law to talk to outsiders, as far as he knew there was no law preventing an outcast from talking to an outsider. And the boy seemed desperate for safety which was reasonable.
Rost sighed and closed his eyes for a second before looking back at Aloy and nodding, he would allow it for a little bit. He turned around and gestured for the two of them to follow.
"Very well... Come. It will be dark soon."
Erend handed Aloy the salmon she'd had cooking on a spit, taking his own fish along too, but finished cooking it up in a bizarre way that Aloy never thought about. He took a deep breath, and small flames burst from his mouth as he blew out, cooking the fish better. He started to eat it on the way to their cabin.
"Thank you Rost... Erend, I can make you a bed when we get back to the cabin."
She looked over at Erend and saw him breathing fire onto the fish she'd caught, cooking it way faster than over a fire. She wanted to try that and thought about how he could've done such a thing. She took a deep breath and blew out like he did, she didn't produce nearly as many flames as he did. She was still proud of herself for being able to mimic his bending.
Although she silently panicked seeing that some of the embers had gotten on Rost's boots that were covered in fur. She quickly flicked up a rock to open his water skin that was strapped to his hip, pulling the water out to put out small flames on his boots. Unfortunately he'd be left with damp boots but it's better than being on fire.
"S-sorry! I was trying to cook my fish and your boots had embers on them…"
Rost had been a little ways ahead of them, he was aware that many Oseram were either earthbenders or firebenders, so he expected that kind of thing from the boy. What he didn't expect however, was for Aloy to mimic him and breathe fire as well.
Rost gave her an incredulous look as she then used earthbending then waterbending to put out the small flames on his boots.
"How did you- By All-Mother... You can't be- can you..? Nevermind, let's just get home."
He muttered under his breath for a moment, looking perplexed before his eyes opened wide with realization. He would have to talk to Teersa about this...
Meanwhile Erend thought nothing of it, opting instead to give her some advice on fire breathing, seeing as when she breathed out to make the fire, she seemed like she was forcing it.
"That was a good try, but it's all in the breath. My teacher told me that the breath becomes energy for the body, then you channel that energy out past yourself to become fire! It doesn't come from the muscle. Wanna try again?"
Aloy took notice of Rost's reaction but didn't know what to make of it. She'd have to ask him later. At least he wasn't mad at her for briefly catching his boots on fire.
"I understood most of that... I think."
Her fish was mostly cooked so it wouldn't take much more heat to fully cook it. She took a deep breath again and closed her eyes for a moment, slowing down her steps. She turned away from Rost so she wouldn't get any flames on him again.
She blew out, trying not to force it this time. With a flash of bellowing flames, she scared herself into stumbling backwards, accidentally burning her fish to a crisp. She looked sadly at the burnt fish, she'd have to wait until they got back to the cabin to get food now.
"Aw man... I was really hungry too. Oh well."
She ran to catch up with her new friend and Rost.
After a long walk, they reached the cozy cabin that Aloy and Rost called home. Although Rost would have to leave them alone for a little while, he had some important news to tell the matriarchs…
"I will be back, Aloy. Don't get into trouble with your new friend…"
Erend sat down on the floor in front of the fireplace with Aloy in front of him, using his knife to cut off portions of his fish so they could share the catch.
Aloy gladly took the portion of fish from him and ate it, thanking him with a nod. Rost could see how much happier Aloy was now that she had someone else to talk to that was close to her age…
Meanwhile Rost took a trip to Mother's Heart to seek the High Matriarchs, more specifically Teersa, who was the only one that would speak to him.
He stood before the Matriarchs Lodge, wondering how he would explain what he'd witnessed Aloy demonstrate.
Not long after knocking on the door to the lodge the high matriarch in question appeared from behind the door. He bowed his head respectfully to her, waiting for her to grant him permission to speak.
Teersa came out of the lodge and was met with the aging death-seeker she'd come to respect. She smiled at him and nodded.
"You may speak Rost. What news do you bring?"
Rost rose to his feet and met the old woman's gentle gaze that gave him a sense of peace for a moment before he got on with it and gave her the news.
"I believe there has been a mistake. Aloy demonstrated a feat of bending that is impossible for anyone else to achieve. I have a reason to believe that Aloy is the Avatar," Rost began.
"She met a young outsider earlier named Erend, who seemed to be lost, having been separated from his sister and traveled to the nearest lights he could find but couldn't get help. Aloy offered him aid. He was showing her how to breathe fire, she accidentally caught one of my boots on fire but then she used a rock to open my waterskin, using the water inside to douse the flames," He finished retelling the story of her impressive bending.
"I am also torn on what to do about the boy... Aloy seems so happy to finally talk to someone around her age, but he doesn't belong here, he came here by mistake, a mistake he is well aware of making for following his sister outside the Claim, Nor do I know where his sister might be, he said his sister was headed for Meridian but I do not know how long he has been separated from her for."
Teersa was baffled by this news. The mysterious origins surrounding her birth along with her possibly being the Avatar made her extraordinary.
"She's 8 and she can do all of that? Perhaps she hid it from you... I'd have to see it for myself, I don't doubt you're telling the truth by the way, I just- I need to be sure. Has she demonstrated air bending?"
"No, I haven't seen her air bend but if she is capable of 3 of the 4 then she might just have a difficulty airbending." Rost replied.
"Typically every incarnation, depending on their personality, will have trouble with a certain element," Teersa began.
"If the boy is Oseram and he hasn't harmed her, then he may stay with you two until further notice. I will tell the braves in the guard towers to watch for any Oseram and I'll send a messenger to Mother's Crown to watch for an Oseram caravan there as well. We'll make sure that boy is returned home. I'll be leaving Mother's Heart with you, I need to see what Aloy can do. When the day comes, I'll make sure she is welcomed for the Proving."
Rost nodded, surprised that Teersa herself would join him for the journey back for proof on the matter, but he wouldn't stop her. He nodded and started on his way back.
Teersa informed Jezza and Lansra of her departure, which led to an argument between her and Lansra due to the woman's fierce hatred and fear towards Aloy. However, Jezza was able to settle the matter. Teersa set out with the aging death-seeker, leaving Mother's Heart and heading towards the cabin.
Aloy quickly went outside to grab some firewood, she lifted with all the strength her tiny body could muster to carry the firewood to the fireplace. She dropped them next to the fireplace with a huff.
She put in a big piece of firewood and tested out her new fire bending trick. She repeated what she did earlier and breathed fire onto the log. Thankfully she didn't catch anything else on fire and the log went alight. She waved her hands around with excitement and turned back to Erend.
"That trick makes lighting fires way easier! I don't know much about the Oseram but I know you guys really like forging and mining. Do you guys have any special things you do? Do you guys have music or cool traditions?"
He helped her bring in more wood, being able to carry more than she could, being quite strong for his age.
"Course we do! We have songs we like to sing at festivals or during times of struggle! My favorite is an old song about an ancient struggle between the Oseram and the Carja. They tried to take our territory and our craft but we fought back with steel and won our treasures back using our metalwork to drive them away. We sing it in times of trouble to keep ourselves going, to give us drive! Do you want me to sing it? I'm not too good at singing but I'd be happy to show you."
"Go ahead, I wanna hear it! By the way, I think there's some leftover boar meat in that box over there. We can make that for dinner later."
After a long trek back to the cabin, they could hear a boy singing from inside the cabin... When Rost opened the door to the cabin, they saw Aloy sitting by the fire listening to Erend sing an old Oseram song. Nothing seemed out of place and there was a fire going too.
Aloy noticed the door opened behind him, thankfully it was the end of the song so they didn't cut him off too much. She caught his attention and pointed towards the door.
"Rost, who's that?"
"I'm Teersa, Aloy. Rost came to tell me that you can bend in a way no one else can, a way that only the Avatar can... And I needed to see for myself. Sorry to interrupt you young man, I just need to see your friend for a moment."
"Awe I was just getting to the good part!"
His pouting earned him a sharp glare from Rost before he beckoned Aloy forward.
"Aloy, she'd like you to show her your bending. Not just your water bending."
Aloy was quite nervous since she'd never met one of the high matriarchs before and she wasn't that good at bending the other elements. She was really good at water bending, she was improving her fire bending and she'd only just started earth bending recently. Unfortunately she couldn't air bend just yet.
She stood up and stepped out of the cabin, going down the mountain to a meadow near one of the bridges so she had a clear area. She looked back at Teersa and Rost, Erend giving her a thumbs up made her feel a little better.
She stood at the edge of the river and began pushing it up and downstream repeatedly until she'd made a towering wave. Already she had exceeded the skill of most 15 year old braves. She pushed the water back down and let the water flow as normal. That was the easy part.
Aloy took a strong stance and imagined the face of the kid who'd thrown a rock at her head back when she was six... She threw her fist forward and launched a fireball from her little fist, hitting the rock outcropping across the river. She tried to relax as she demonstrated her new trick Erend had taught her. She felt a little dizzy after breathing fire again but she gathered herself.
Now for the really hard part. She saw a huge rock nearby but she didn't know if she could lift that just yet. But there were no smaller rocks to lift... Erend could see her shaking, she wasn't confident enough in her ability to take the next step.
Erend saw her struggle, she needed help and he could help her... He was familiar with earthbending techniques, having been taught them when he was her age to gauge if he was an earthbender or firebender.
He ran to her side and took a stance very similar to hers. He demonstrated the earth bending techniques he'd been taught when he was little, correcting her form.
Aloy followed his example and focused on the boulder in front of her. She followed his example and tensed every muscle in her body as she kicked up the boulder.
Teersa had never seen such a small child bend this way and with so much force, let alone earth bend. She was even more intrigued as she saw lightning spark from the boy next to her. She knew he was a fire bender but there was no way he could create lightning this young.
Aloy punched above her head, forcing the boulder into the air. Right as he shattered the boulder with lightning, she stopped several chunks of rock from hitting Teersa and Rost. She let the rest fall and rested the chunks she'd suspended in the air on the ground. She felt like she'd pulled several muscles.
Teersa stumbled backwards from the chaotic bending display, gritting her teeth since that thunderous sound definitely reached Mother's Heart nearby.
Rost was equally as shocked as Teersa. Once his ears stopped ringing from the crack of thunder from Erends display, he gave Aloy an approving smile and a nod. He was pleased with her.
Erend was also exhausted from that display but he was also pumped. He let out a triumphant yell, wrapping an arm around Aloy's shoulder and pumping his fist in the air.
"You both are remarkable benders. I've never seen someone so young generate lightning. Now I know for sure that you're the Avatar, Aloy... All Mother had blessed us with a gift and none of us knew it." Teersa proclaimed.
Aloy didn't know what this "Avatar" was but it sounded really important.
"Thanks Erend, that really helped me. What's the Avatar? I've never heard of that." Aloy asked.
"The Avatar is a person that is born with the ability to bend all four elements and master them. No other person is capable of such a thing. They can even speak to spirits beyond our world, they are the bridge between our world and the spirit world. It's clear to me that you are the Avatar." Teersa informed them.
The High Matriarch turned towards Erend to speak to him.
"Young man, I will have braves keep watch for any Oseram that come through Nora land. They will report back if they spot any Oseram and bring you to the border to meet them to see if your family is there. You have my permission to stay with Rost and Aloy until then. I must head back to Mother's Heart so the braves don't think we're under attack. I wish the best of luck to both of you." Teersa finished.
Teersa bowed her head towards Aloy and made her way back to the settlement.
Aloy, Erend and Rost returned to the cabin right as the sun disappeared over the horizon. As they went to bed, Aloy smiled at Erend before turning to the other side and dozing off…
Erend and Aloy had been getting along very well the past 2 weeks. But unfortunately all good things must come to an end...
Today was the day that the Nora scouts spotted an Oseram caravan traveling through the Sacred Lands. Ersa was with them and was quite furious that her brother was with them.
She was escorted into Nora territory and brought to the Embrace. She was then brought to Teersa as per Terrsa's wishes so the outlander could be confirmed and led back to her little brother.
Meanwhile, Erend had been telling Aloy stories and helping her with her firebending, and she had been showing him how to weave and stitch along with other useful skills.
They were sitting in the front of the cabin, taking a break from training and were making trinkets with some leather and beads. One of the Oseram steel rings on his ill-fitting armor had fallen off recently from wear and tear. He decided to use it and made a strong braided leather chain for it. Erend had given it to Aloy as thanks for not leaving him in the forest a few weeks back.
Suddenly, they heard a woman's voice, Rost grabbed his spear defensively but lowered his guard seeing an Oseram woman approach the cabin, assuming it was a member of Erend's family.
"Erend you are in so much trouble!" Ersa yelled.
Aloy flinched hearing the woman yell so suddenly. She saw someone who looked to be about 5 years older than Erend. She had short dark brown hair like him too. She made the safe assumption that she must be Erend's older sister that he'd spoken about.
"I guess it's time for you to go... Thank you for teaching me so much about fire bending and sharing your culture. I hope I'll see you again someday…"
She hugged him tightly and handed him a red and blue beaded necklace that she'd made. She wanted him to have a gift so he wouldn't forget her. They held that hug for several long moments before he stood up and reluctantly returned to his sister.
Erend was upset that he had to leave his new friend behind but he couldn't just stay in Nora territory. He hung his head as Ersa flicked him on the head and told him off for following her while also checking to see if he was hurt. Ersa then sighed and turned to Teersa, who had followed her here to make sure no Nora would stop Ersa.
"Sorry if he caused any trouble, he can be a handful but he's still my baby brother... Thanks for looking out for him and keeping him safe for me but now I gotta head home with him, no doubt mom and dad will be upset but I guess I can't blame him... stuff gets boring sometimes…" Ersa apologized, now with a much more gentle voice.
Ersa took Erend's hand and started walking back the path they came. Erend looked back at Aloy with a hopeful smile and waved his goodbye...
Teersa began to walk back with Ersa and Erend. Aloy looked back at him with a sad smile, waving back at him, hoping to All Mother that they would cross paths again...