Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Aloy was annoyed, wet, cold and tired. But mostly tired as she paced around the small cavern, burrowing small crescent shaped grooves into her arms. She was tired of being thrown off course, she was tired of not having answers, she was tired of strange machine encounters and she was especially tired of swallowing her feelings for a certain Tenakth Marshal whenever said encounters put them in close quarters with each other. She really just wanted to shoot something, but a Burrower or five had seen to making that impossible.

All of it had started roughly a week ago when Aloy had been passing by the Grove. A Watcher with an odd white lens had knocked her off her Charger and started pushing her towards the entrance of the Tenakth capitol until she managed to grab her spear and smash the thing to pieces. Then, a couple days later, a Sunwing with the same strange white lenses dropped Kotallo at the Western entrance to the Base and would harass both him and Aloy if one left the Base without the other. A few days after that found the two trapped in the small structure on the beach by the Quen ferry, pinned down by an odd Slaughterspine. It hovered over them almost expectantly until Aloy managed to haphazardly lob enough adhesive bombs to make it slow enough that they could escape.

All leading to this morning when Kotallo and her had been headed through the Raintrace towards Cauldron CHI when they had been ambushed by a herd of about six Burrowers with the now familiar white lenses. The small, wily machines had managed to disarm both the warriors and sneak away with several other key pieces of Aloy's kit. Then, four of the machines pushed the two into a cavern and caused a rock slide at the entrance, trapping them. A pool of water splashed in the corner.

Aloy's irritation only grew when several minutes later, one of the stupid machines stuck its head out of the water and settled in to apparently observe them. She had chased after it and tried to see if the exit it came through was easily accessible. However, it was not and one of the things the buggers had wrested away was her diving mask. So, there she was pacing in a dark cave, lit only by hers and Kotallo's Focuses and the light of the Burrowers' lens, dripping wet, and trying hard to not notice the proximity of the very handsome man stuck with her.

"Commander." Kotallo called quietly, but Aloy ignored the gentle voice. She didn't like this.

After a moment of more pacing, and the bite of her fingernails growing more persistent, she heard the clicks and creaks of his armor moving before he was standing before her.

"Aloy." He called, a little louder. He pulled at her arms with his hand until she unfolded them and the feeling of him soothing over the crescent shaped marks she had left made her heart rate skyrocket.

She looked up and met his eyes. They were regarding her softly and she cursed the light of the Focus for not allowing her to see the deep brown she so enjoyed. "Are you alright?" He asked.

She pulled away and curled up on herself, squatting down and burying her head in her elbows. She felt Kotallo kneel next to her.

"No. I'm not." She admitted after a moment as she unfolded a little bit and settled her chin on her arm. "I don't know what's going on. These stupid machines won't leave us alone. We keep getting pulled away from the mission. We don't know where HEPHAESTUS is. What if this is its next form of attack?"

The warmth of Kotallo's hand settling on her shoulder stopped Aloy's spiral and her mouth shut with a definitive click.

"I do not think this is HEPHAESTUS." Kotallo stated carefully.

Aloy's mouth turned down and she stared at him sharply, demanding an answer.

"I didn't want to give a report until I had concrete evidence to back my conclusion. I know how you hate incomplete data, Commander." The slight tease in his voice caused Aloy to relax a bit and tic up one side of her lips in a small smile. "But it appears an incomplete report may be necessary at this time."

"Carry on." Aloy said, stretching her legs out and leaning back on her hands.

Kotallo smiled and began. "I knew we were headed to CHI to see if there was information left in the Cauldron network. But after the Slaughterspine, I decided to do some of my own research. I asked about the Grove last night while Ivvira took you to the baths, if anyone had encountered odd machines with white lenses of late. I was approached by Dekka, who told me a tale that is not common knowledge. I would ask that you keep this knowledge to yourself, Aloy." He spoke seriously and Aloy nodded.

"Although Hekarro's origins are well known, and he would obviously always carry a fondness for his home clan, he cannot show favor to one clan over another. To do so would disrupt his rule and his desire for unity." Aloy nodded in understanding. That seemed sensible. "So this story is kept under wraps as it would seem to show him favoring his home clan." Another nod. "On the eve the Grove was won and Hekarro first saw Faraday's message, his most loyal squadmate was with him, guarding the entrance."

"Atekka. The Lowland Commander." Aloy said.

"Indeed. I see you've heard at least part of this story. Well, as Hekarro exited the Grove, a changed man, and returned to Atekka, an odd thing happened. A Burrower clambered out of the ground. One with a white lens. Hekarro, worried for Atekka and her, similarly worried for him, both ran forward to block an attack and promptly ran into each other. They toppled to the ground together. Their close proximity and the concern for the others' well-being finally snapped tension that had been a bleeding thorn in their squad's sides for years and they shared their first kiss." Kotallo smirked a little as Aloy's jaw fell open. "When they pulled apart, the Burrower was gone. Dekka married them a week later. Every once in a while, apparently if she hasn't visited the Grove in a while, Atekka will see a white lensed Burrower on the edge of Thornmarsh. She only ignored it once, until it burrowed under the settlement and tried to drag her out through the hole it had made in the melee pit. Since then, she knows better and spends the week following a sighting with the Chief. How the Marshals never knew she was there for more than just reports is still a mystery to me."

Aloy blinked rapidly at him, trying to assimilate the new information. Finally, she seemed to gain control of her mouth again. "I couldn't pin it down, but I felt like there was something in the way Atekka spoke about him. I just never expected."

"That they would be married? Indeed. I was quite shocked last night myself. But you can see why they keep it quiet. Although she is formidable and can certainly handle herself, someone might attack her in an attempt to destabilize Hekarro."

Aloy nodded, then paused. "So the white lenses go back at least to the beginning of the Derangement."

"Yes. Though I think further than that. After hearing that tale, I contacted Beta and GAIA. GAIA didn't recall any such protocols being placed in the Cauldrons or HEPHAESTUS. But something about the behaviors of the machines made Beta think. She was reminded of a myth of the Old Ones." He paused, tension visibly growing along his spine. Aloy furrowed her brow and nodded slowly prompting him to go on. He stood and started to pace, keeping his face to the shadows. "According to the myth, there are people made just right for each other. Sometimes though, circumstance or stubbornness keeps those people apart. In those instances, a chaotic being takes on a form to push the people together. Sometimes literally it seems. Apparently, in the Old World, the form was usually a goose."

"And you think it's now machines?" Aloy asked.

"Yes. I sent a message to Alva and Zo both, asking if the Quen or the Utaru had any mention of…"

Whatever Kotallo was saying faded into background noise under the sound of Aloy's brain suddenly running too fast. Just right for each other. Kotallo was certainly everything she could ask for in a man. Handsome, strong, loyal, but not inclined to worship her or treat her like something she wasn't. She had tried to ignore the insistent pull towards him to focus on the mission. But apparently that wasn't an option any more.

"So you think we've been goosed?" Aloy interrupted him.

The man, already looking like he'd been carved from stone, went somehow even more still, his chin curling down into his neck. "Yes?" He dragged the word out like a question, as though afraid to answer.

Aloy wondered briefly how much her reticence to act on her feelings was behind that reaction. She stood and entered his space, bringing a hand up to tilt his head so she could look into his eyes. "You think I was made just right for you?" She asked softly.

"I wouldn't want to presume, Comm…"

"Answer the question, Marshal." She said, her voice carrying the air of a command, but going no louder than a soft whisper.

"Yes. Yes, Commander." Aloy raised a brow at him. "Aloy. You are fierce as any Tenakth, more compassionate than anyone I know, smart, strategic, strong, beautiful. You've made me a better man, a better warrior, and I want to be even better because of you. For you. I couldn't imagine anyone at my side but you."

Aloy could have melted into a happy little puddle at those words. But she could see the guards coming back up in Kotallo's eyes and posture. So she soothed his cheek with her thumb while she spoke. "I thought I was made for the world. To save it, to protect it, to love it above all else, like Elisabet. I thought I couldn't have the distraction of loving someone. I couldn't deny the pull I felt towards you, but I thought it was something I would have to ignore. I don't want to have to give you less because of what I need to do."

Hope and joy lit Kotallo's eyes in the dim greenish blue light the Focuses provided. "Aloy, you've given me more than you know. Even just with those words. I had no expectation that you felt the same. I was just happy to know you. To be under your command. To think I was made for you… that you have felt this pull towards me as I have felt towards you… Can I kiss you? I feel I must."

She didn't answer with words. She chose instead to raise herself on her toes and connect her lips with his. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, bringing her closer to him and Aloy smiled into the kiss as his warmth infused her still slightly damp and chilled body. They sprang apart in surprise when the sound of metal clanging reverberated around the cave. They looked over to see six white lenses on them, at the edge of the water over a pile of their weapons and gear that had been stolen. Then the machines raced from the edge of the water and ran headfirst into the collapsed cave entrance, breaking it down and themselves all in one go.

After collecting their gear, Aloy and Kotallo left the cave hand in hand and went to Thornmarsh to get Aloy dry and have dinner, the trip to the Cauldron abandoned since they now had an answer to their machine problem. As they cuddled by the fire that evening, Atekka joined them. In whispered tones, they began to share the story of their week.

"How stubborn were you two that it took a Slaughterspine?" She laughed under her breath.

"Actually, it took a Watcher, a Sunwing, a Slaughterspine and six Burrowers." Aloy corrected sleepily.

Atekka shook her head and laughed. "By the Ten. It only took 'Karro and I one Burrower. You young ones carry too much these days. Can't see the Raintrace for the trees. May the Ten bless you both." She left them both with an encouraging squeeze to the shoulder. They fell asleep, warmed and comforted by the fire and each other. When they woke, they shared a secret smile as someone reported the Commander had left for the Grove early that morning.

Chapter Text

'If you have noticed that you suddenly have the attention of a goose with oddly unsettling eyes, I have some good news and some bad news,' began the voice of Dr. Samina Ebadji, 'The good news is, hooray, you have a soulmate and you've started to notice your feelings for them.' Confetti exploded around the APOLLO Alpha. 'The bad news, you have avoided speaking to them about said feelings and have thus garnered the attention and possible intervention of what can only adequately be described as a chaotic entity, the Soulmate Goose.'

'The Soulmate Goose, as the name implies, only appears to soulmate pairs and only appears when intervention becomes necessary. The goose has been noted throughout generations of history. The pattern of the animal has been very consistent throughout that time. One of the pair will usually make note of the goose, generally the more stubborn of the two.' Aloy glared ineffectually at the hologram as it continued. 'Then it begins stalking, followed by herding type behaviors. If these prove inadequate, the goose might start stealing items. The goose is particularly known for attacking other potential suitors who come near one of the pair. Geese, for all that they are brittle boned waterfowl, are quite aggressive and have been known to bite.'

'If you've noticed a goose has been behaving similar to this description, my official recommendation is to go to that person you recently realized you have feelings for and tell them. Or kiss them. Or do something, cause if you don't, you're about to have a honking nightmare on your hands.'

Aloy scrubbed her hand down her face in exasperation. She didn't know why she kept watching the informational hologram. It confirmed what Beta had told her and what she was experiencing. She looked over at the feathery long necked irritant that was currently sitting beside her on the common room bench. It looked rather proud of itself and Aloy had the desire to grab its noodle of a throat and toss it off the mountain. She didn't, however, because she knew, having already attempted to impale it with a full bolt blaster clip, that the blasted thing would just return, more of a nuisance than ever.

"I don't have time for this, you know."

The goose gave her a very unimpressed look. She was growing to hate how knowing and expressive the things eyes were.

"He has other duties, and he's not even here right now."

The goose gave her a look that said 'So?' and proceeded to start hissing. Aloy stood up abruptly and began moving away. She knew the hissing tended to precede the biting. It jumped off the couch and began to waddle after her. Aloy shrieked and called for her sister.

Beta came into the room with a needle in her hand looking about as unimpressed as the goose did. "I wish GAIA would let me record this. No one's ever going to believe me when I tell them the Savior of Meridian is afraid of being bitten by a goose." The other clone said tiredly as she stuck the bird with practiced precision. Eventually, the hissing stopped and the bird flopped over, quieted for at least a couple hours.

"Geese shouldn't have teeth! Those bites hurt more because you don't expect them!" Aloy defended herself.

"And I say you have no room to complain, because this is all because you won't woman up and talk to Kotallo." Beta replied, crossing her arms.

"I don't. Have. Time." Aloy repeated through grit teeth.

"But you have time to sit around here and argue with a waterfowl." Beta said flatly.

Aloy looked away from her sister.

Beta released an annoyed sigh through her nose. "You think you can't have a normal life with normal things. You think you can't have love or a life beyond your duty to the world. So you think you can't give him what he needs."

Aloy hated Beta too sometimes for how perceptive she was. She nodded slightly, still not meeting the matching pair of eyes across from her.

"Doesn't he get to have some say here? He's your soulmate. He matches you better than anyone else ever could. Including me, and we're almost genetically identical." Beta spoke softly, coaxing.

Aloy didn't answer. She was suddenly very tired. "I have to think." She managed to get out around the lump in her throat and fled to her room.

Her dreams that night were of Elisabet, surrounded by friends and colleagues, no one to love but the world. She woke to GAIAs voice in her ear.

"-loy. Marshal Kotallo is currently making his way up to the Western entrance. You might want to get up to greet him."

Aloy sprung out of her bed and swept a hand through her hair, ensuring it lay flat on her head. As she made sure her clothes looked decent she asked, "Why is Kotallo here?"

"I believe you may find the answer to that question in the common room." The AI answered cryptically and Aloy wondered about the tone of amusement she swore she heard.

Aloy's door opened and she did indeed see the cause for the Marshal's sudden appearance. There, in the center of the common room, sat the stupid goose atop an incredibly familiar set of large, blue, winglike tassets. Aloy dropped her forehead into her hand and began to contemplate if she could try her fire bolt blaster instead when she heard the door to the Western entrance open and in stepped her Marshal.

'No. Wait. The Marshal. Not my Marshal.'' She thought frantically as she tried to plaster a normal looking smile onto her face. She realized she probably failed as she was openly staring at Kotallo's legs which were showing significantly more skin than usual.

"Greetings Aloy." He said, sounding slightly sheepish. Aloy valiantly pulled her eyes from his well defined thighs and noted a flush decorating the unpainted tips of his ears. Yes, he had definitely noticed her staring.

"Lose something Kotallo?" Beta's voice drifted into the room and Aloy turned to glare at her sister. Beta just gave an 'I'm innocent' shrug.

Kotallo cleared his throat and answered. "Yes. I was preparing for a day of training the new recruits that came in from Tide's Reach when I noticed my tassets were missing. I was going to borrow a pair from the stitcher when GAIA informed me they were here at the Base." He finished, sounding wholly confused.

"Well there they are." Beta gestured at the goose which suddenly turned on her and let out a low hiss. She had apparently gotten too friendly with Kotallo for its sensibilities. "Perhaps you'd like to ask Aloy why this waterfowl deemed it necessary to steal your most singular item of armor."

"Beta…." Aloy growled as her sister pretty much skipped away to her own room.

Once the other clone was out of sight, she turned her attention back to Kotallo, who was watching her expectantly. She failed to notice the goose had moved until she felt a nip at her ankle and an itchy feathery push at the back of her knees, forcing her to stumble forward a couple paces. This went on for a full minute, Aloy freezing in place and trying to form an answer until the blasted bird headbutted her and she would take a step forward until the last very forceful push caused her to stumble directly into Kotallo's beaded chest plate. His arm came around her and they both wobbled a bit before he found the center of gravity and they stilled.

The scent of his paint, earthy like clay with just a hint of something floral, the feel of his strong, warm body so close, mixed with the ache in her chest from her dreams and the whirlwind of the morning loosened Aloy's lips and she blurted out, "You're my soulmate," right as Kotallo very eloquently brought out a confused, "Aloy, what…"

Things went utterly still for a moment as they both froze. Then, realizing exactly what had come out of her mouth, Aloy attempted to disengage and go hide forever, only to be prevented by Kotallo's arm tightening slightly at her waist and the goose making a ruckus.

"Please repeat that." Kotallo requested quietly.

Aloy tried and failed to suppress a shiver as she looked up, her eyes meeting his. "You're my soulmate." She said, more slowly this time. "And the goose is here as a measure to further prevent my stubbornness. I love you. And I didn't think I could tell you that when I need to stay focused on stopping Nemesis. I didn't think I could give you what you deserve from a partner when my attention is so…"

Aloy ended up swallowing and then forgetting entirely whatever the rest of her word spiral was as Kotallo's lips pressed firmly against hers. When they came away to breathe, he nuzzled slightly at the crook of her neck, causing her to giggle before he pulled back to look into her eyes.

"I gave you whatever is left of my life. That included my heart which you had already stolen at the Bulwark. I made my intent clear before my tribe that day. But I wasn't going to and I never will ask for more than you're willing to give Aloy. The world has already done too much of that to you."

Aloy's eyes were shiny by the time he finished speaking and she couldn't find it in herself to do anything besides pull him in for another kiss. When they found it in themselves to come up for more than the few seconds it took to take a gulp of air, the room was oddly still.

Aloy looked around the common room to find the goose had disappeared. She heard the outer Western door open and pulled Kotallo along to investigate. Waddling towards the edge of the landing was the goose. It turned back, gave one nod of its head and launched itself into the sky, angling itself South. Aloy laughed at the next poor sucker and then proceeded to turn her attention back to her Marshal. Yes. Her Marshal.

Chapter Text

Varl knew his mother considered him strange for his love of music. She considered it a frivolity. Vala said he sang about as well as a Glinthawk. Nevertheless, he felt the rise and fall of melodies within him, sure and steady as his heartbeat. The haunting melodies that rose from the Matriarchs on the eve of the Proving every year. The gathering songs. The war songs that he heard his mother hum as she pressed him and his sister Vala through training. Each spoke to him in turn, but none quite so presently as the songs that ran in his head.

The melodies that inhabited his mind were foreign to him, clearly not originating in anything he’d heard and he had no clue how they came to him. When he asked his mother, her face crashed into a mask of stormy fury and then fell to a look of resigned sadness before she managed to school her expression into its normal fierce and serious mien. She had told him to disregard the sounds, that the All-Mother was testing him. Varl could only ignore the music in the same way as he could ignore the errant thoughts that came to his mind. So he didn’t speak about it again until the night of his Proving.

One of the other hopeful Braves, a young woman named Taylea, had started singing once they entered the lodge for the night. Varl enjoyed the soft voice, delicate like the swirls of snow that came with the mountain winds. Another hopeful came in late, Varl thought his name was Tral, the fur and leathers about his shoulders drooping and his eyes dull as clear signs of exhaustion. Varl wondered if the young man would have what it took to run the trail the next morning. But as the last notes of the song died out, Tral perked up, his entire posture brightening, as his eyes searched wildly.

When he met eyes with the young woman who’d been singing, he breathed out reverently, “It’s you.”

Varl sat confused on his bunk as he watched the two scramble around the other people in the room to collide with each other, a mess of teary eyes and wide, trembling smiles.

“Haven’t you seen a Song Hearing before?” Varl’s friend Yer asked from the next bunk over.

“A what?” Varl replied.

“A Song Hearing. You know, when you hear the singer in your head for real for the first time? I was hoping to catch my own during the festivities, but she was quiet this year.” Yer finished, sounding slightly melancholy.

“I don’t listen to much singing. My mother doesn’t like it. And she keeps Vala and I busy with our training.” Varl responded, shrugging as a feeling of dread grew in his stomach.

“But you’ve heard them right? The songs in your head? The songs your soulmate sings?” Yer prodded.

“I’ve heard the singing. Just didn’t know what it was. Like I said, mother doesn’t care for it.” He didn’t know what else to say. To say his soulmate sang songs that weren’t Nora? Was his soulmate not Nora? A test from the All-Mother indeed.

“What do they sound like?” Yer asked.

“Beautiful. Earthy. Warm. Like Spring.” Varl said, sinking into the memories he had of the songs that drifted through his mind.

“Too bad for her, being stuck with your warbling." His friend teased, earning him a glare and a pillow to the face. "Sorry, alright? I hope you get to meet her one day.” Yer said sincerely and Varl’s throat seized up slightly as he realized he may never actually get that chance if what he was coming to know was true.

“Yeah. You too.” He said quietly, laying back and closing his eyes.

A deep rolling melody rose in the back of his mind and he allowed the steady waves of the voice to soothe him to sleep.

After the raids, the songs that skittered through Varl's mind grew melancholy. Slow songs filled with mourning that reminded Varl of the voices that rose over mounds of dirt around the villages until they managed to push the Carja out of the Sacred Lands. He wondered more than once how far the reach of the Carja's depraved destruction reached. But he was glad the voice in his head never seemed to go silent for long, unlike Yer, who never heard the voice in his head again after their Proving.

That grief in his friend's eyes, more than anything kept him singing the old gathering song every few days. Whoever or wherever his soulmate was, he was sure they didn't deserve to think they had lost someone else. He wasn't sure if it was comforting or not, for someone he would probably never meet to know he still lived. But hearing the voice in his head always soothed something that grew jagged in him until he heard it.

Traveling with Aloy was an interesting experience as he and his mother joined her in chasing after the murderers of the War Party. Things about her were undoubtedly Nora, but almost all of them were material, hair, clothes. She occasionally slipped into Nora lullabies, but most of her songs were foreign to his Varl's ears. Initially, upon hearing strange notes hummed under her breath, he hoped the newly minted Brave was his soulmate. Rather quickly though, he decided that the words of growing things and cycles of life would be odd coming out of the mouth of the redhead. Aloy was too full of fire to be the source of the steady rooted words that swayed through his mind.

Varl couldn't put words to his experience of watching Aloy enter and exit All-Mother mountain. The holiest place they knew, the home of their All-Mother. And she had just come out, the daughter of the goddess. He couldn’t deny the urge towards reverence. But she was still Aloy, the flesh and blood woman he had fought alongside. Not to mention, she seemed downright uncomfortable and set upon disabusing them of any deific notions they wanted to place on her.

So rather than offering her the worship she so clearly despised, he offered his spear and his bow and listened to her command to meet her in Meridian. He knew that oath would take him away from the Sacred Lands, away from All-Mother, and eventually away from the only family he had left. None of those thoughts cut as deep as he imagined, save the last one, but as he met his mother's eyes over the bowed heads of the gathered Nora, she gave him a sharp nod of understanding.

Varl wasn't sure if Aloy's recklessness was a result of her important mission, or a carry over from her outcast life, when only one person would miss her. Whatever the case, the Brave was glad he had followed after her. She needed someone watching her back.

He pushed hard from Barren Light as soon as his leg could hold him. Riding a Charger and running were still uncomfortable, but he could manage enough to get back to Aloy. As he skirted the lake around the Metal Devil, the ground shook, violently enough to nearly throw him from his mount. He knew better than to hope that his friend wasn't at the center of whatever that disaster was, and immediately started scanning for the cause of the disturbance. He caught the decreasing waves that spoke of disturbed water farther down the lake and shifted into a gallop, wincing slightly as his legs pressed into the metal.

He found her collapsed at the edge of the lake, coughing out water, pale and disoriented. He felt a stab to his gut when she initially misidentified him as Rost. She was mumbling about mountains to the West of Plainsong, but most of her words were lost under her shaky breath. She needed help. He knew the basics of healing, as any Brave would, but he could tell even without a scan that her injuries went deeper than his knowledge could fix. He needed to get her to a healer.

The song in his head that sounded for all the world like a death knell compounded the icy hand of fear that gripped his heart. For the first time, Varl found himself almost wishing the singing would stop as he gently carried Aloy along, hoping desperately she would last until they reached the nearest settlement. He caught the sight of torches in the distance and lengthened his stride, but did not run, as much as his mind kept telling him to hurry on repeat.

He saw a few people dressed in reeds, their hands holding bows casually at their side, standing near the torch lit entrance to the small walled settlement.

"Hello." He called. "Please. I need help. My friend is badly injured."

The bows and bodies immediately shifted from a casual guarding stance to alert and aggressive.

"Stop outlander. You can go no further." One of them spoke, their voice hard.

Varl grit his teeth and tried to remain pleasant, but his voice raised slightly in his desperation. "Please. I don't mean any trouble to you or your people. Is there a healer here?" He shifted Aloy in his arms to show her pale complexion and shallow breathing.

"Whatever trouble she stumbled upon is no concern of ours." A woman spoke roughly. "We don't need any outlanders around here. Don't want any outlanders here."

"Please…" he pleaded. His stress ratcheted higher as he noted the singing in his head had ceased. "She's on an important mission. One that will save countless lives. I have shards. I can hunt. I will do whatever I need to. Please, is there a healer here and can she be seen?"

"I am a healer." A voice came from farther in the settlement.

A woman stepped into the light of the torches. She wore an outfit of white reeds and a headdress woven around a machine piece. White painted petals stood out starkly against her sepia cheeks underneath her eyes and below her mouth.

"I am a Gravesinger but I also have skills in healing. My name is Zo. You may use my shelter. Let them in." The last she said to the guards who still stood warily blocking the entrance.

"But Re still needs attending…" Someone said.

"I have done what I can to soothe her for the night. I would've been heading for my rest soon anyway." Her voice was firm.

"Outlanders though…"

"She needs attending. He has sworn no harm. And if it will put your mind at ease, I take responsibility for their actions here. Now, let. Them. In." Zo's voice had moved past firm to forceful and demanding, brooking no further argument.

The guards stepped aside and Varl followed the Gravesinger to a woven shelter. She ushered him in through a fabric curtain. He laid Aloy as gently as he could on what appeared to be a sleeping mat and stepped aside.

"What happened to her?" Zo asked as she got to work, carefully removing Aloy's armor.

"I'm not sure," Varl replied, turning his back to give his friend the privacy he knew she would have wanted. "We were separated, I was catching up when I felt the earth shake. I found her at the edge of the lake. She's been pale and her breath has been shallow."

"Whatever happened, she took some heavy hits. Took a knock to the head too, looks like." Zo spoke with clean, clinical words as she worked, not belying the seriousness of the injuries, but in a gentle and soft voice that kept Varl's heart rate from shooting any higher.

"Will she be ok?" He asked.

"Hmm. Head wounds can be tricky things. If she wakes, I think we can be optimistic on that front. However her ribs and her breathing concern me. She will need to rest. Too much movement may cause further harm." Zo replied. "We should keep watch on her to ensure she does not turn for the worse at least through tonight."

Varl's mouth twisted at that suggestion for rest. Good luck getting Aloy to stay still without tying her down. Actually, scratch that, good luck getting Aloy to stay still even with tying her down.

"You can turn around now. I've gotten her covered again." Zo's voice came from behind him.

He turned to see Aloy back in the light linens that went under the Oseram armor set she'd been wearing, laying on her side, covered by a light blanket. Zo was knelt at his friend's side looking up at him. He knelt down and brushed a lock of hair away from Aloy's mouth.

"Thank you, Zo. You have no idea how much you've done in helping us." His voice quieted under the weight of his relief.

"Is she your harmony?" Zo asked.

"I don't know what that means." He replied honestly, looking to the Utaru woman. Now that the panic saw fit to release his mind somewhat, he could admit she was exceedingly beautiful.

"It is our saying for one's soulmate. Your harmony. The one who sings in your head."

"Oh. No. No way. She's just very important. And like a sister to me." He assured.

"Ah. Well, you've done the tough work in carrying her here. I can watch her for the first part of the night. You look like you are ready to fall over." Zo offered.

"I'd appreciate that. Just a couple hours though. It sounded like you had duties to attend to. I know you need your rest as well." He said, setting an alarm on his Focus before pillowing his head in his elbow and drifting off.

When the beeping in his ear woke him, a Nora lullaby was swirling in his mind. He tapped the Focus a little harder than necessary, hoping to knock the memory away. But the music didn't stop. And as his brain moved closer to wakefulness, he realized the old familiar melody wasn't just swimming in his subconscious. The words were ringing in his ears as well.

His eyes popped open. Aloy still lay across from him, eyes shut, her breath still shallow, though she had gained some color back, he noticed.

He sat up and looked at the Gravesinger. Sure enough, she was the one singing. Her voice filled the space, steady and sure, warm and rooting and every other thing he remembered attributing to the voice in his head. He didn't want her voice to fade. Not yet.

After a moment, he quietly joined in the song, and watched as the petaled face turned to him with wide eyes. Her singing faltered for a second, but they continued until the last verse petered out on a whisper. Varl could tell his eyes were slightly wet and he was glad to see Zo's eyes were also shining in the low light coming from the lamp in the corner. They crashed together in an embrace.

"You are so tone deaf." Zo laughed wetly into his shoulder.

"Hey!" He exclaimed in mock outrage. "And here I was going to say how soothing your voice was during the raids."

"Yours too. When you sang after days of quiet, your voice was still the best sound I think I'd ever heard. It was nice to know you were still out there somewhere." She said, her voice going low in tiredness. He felt her mouth widen with a yawn against his collarbone.

He smiled and pulled back. "My turn to watch the patient. We can talk more later. You need to sleep, Zo."

"Very well. If she stirs or seems in distress, wake me?" He nodded and watched her mirror his motions from a few hours previous, laying on her side and resting her head on her arm.

Her breathing evened to that of sleep not long after. He started humming one of the tunes he remembered she sang before the raids. When he saw her lips curl up and her body loosen slightly from its tightly balled position, he smiled and started singing properly, though quietly.

Chapter Text

“Beta?” Kotallo called quietly before the younger clone could disappear back down to her room.

She turned back and immediately started asking questions. “Was there something else you thought of in the arm's functionality? Did we overclock the tension on the fingers? I told GAIA I wasn't sure-”

“Beta.” Kotallo said the name firmly but quietly again, breaking the young woman from her sudden spiraling.

She clamped her mouth shut and gave him a slightly apologetic look.

“The arm works well. Beyond expectations even. I just had one last question. I wish to carve something into it. The inside of the forearm to be precise.”

Beta's eyes met his and he saw the understanding there.

“As long as you don't work so aggressively that it ends up jarring something, it should be fine. And the plating in that area is thick enough that I'm not overly concerned. We can test it again once you're done. Do you…want help?” Beta asked, her tone careful.

“No. Thank you.”

Beta nodded and turned again. Before she turned the corner, she paused. “I'm glad it's you.”

Kotallo felt his cheeks heat slightly beneath his paint before he turned to the arm sitting on the other table of the war room. How much the pieces of metal and wire cut, shaped and soldered together represented to him. At first, the hope of restoration. Now, a tool and a reminder of overcoming.

But he had lost more than just an arm on that dusty red field. And he would never get that back anymore than he would ever get his arm back. But what it represented, that hadn't been lost, as much as he had acted like it had been at first.

He understood why she hadn't come to him. Her mark would have only come in recently, as he'd been learning the glyphs. In the middle of this mission. This too important mission on which all depended. She wouldn't step aside for an unnecessary distraction. Not even for her soulmate. Not even for him.

But he wanted her to know that he was there. That he would always be available for her, in whatever capacity she wished. That he hadn't given up on the bond they shared.

His determination resealed, he grabbed some paint pots and tools and got to work changing the arm from the hunk of dark and bright metals into something that suited him. On some of the flatter areas that wouldn't move so much, he painted some of the marks he lost, smiling faintly at the memories of the battles they represented.

While the paint dried, he ate dinner with the squad and played a round of Strike with Erend. He smirked at the Oseram’s back as it stalked away to the bunk room after a decisive victory. Then he rose and returned to the war room.

The paint had dried perfectly, so he set to work with the tools, carefully turning the forearm so the inside faced up towards him.

And with a steady hand, he began to carve.

A mountain peak with a bridge across it, the shaft of a spear, the round boundary of the melee pit, the tail of a Clamberjaw. The mark had come in when he was fourteen. Tekotteh had sneered at it, but Kotallo had never gotten it covered by the inkers as many often did. He had traced the lines often, a soothing gesture before sleep.

That same sense of calm washed over him as he ran a finger over the grooved lines he'd just made.

He probably could have carved them with his eyes closed.

Pleased with his work, he slid the bracer he'd made onto it, covering up the name. He would show her when the time was right. But one thing at a time.

--

Aloy smiled, mostly bemused by Kotallo's behavior. He was being mysterious, but playful. In a way that was almost irritatingly attractive. The drop in his tone when he spoke of his revenge had made her flush all the way to the soles of her feet and she wasn't entirely sure it hadn't seeped into the ground.

Not for the first time, she wondered if this was the way things went with soulmates all the time, this intensity, or if it was just Kotallo.

Ahead of her, he ducked down behind a large rock.

“Here.” He said, his voice a low command.

“Alright. Talk to me. Why are we here?” She asked, crossing her arms over her chest, indicating she was done with him being secretive.

He tilted his chin towards the field ahead of them, where an Apex Scorcher prowled into sight. “I wish to test the arm on that. It has been a menace to the valley for some time. Reports say more than a few of the Clan have been killed.” He said somberly before his lips tightened into a determined scowl. “No more.”

She nodded and gave him a wide, genuine smile. “I'm honored to help.”

He nodded his thanks and pulled the machine arm from his pack. He lifted it slowly, and attached it to the base of his stump. It clanked a bit as it bent and stretched with its start up calibration.

Aloy watched with rapt attention as the mechanics moved with precision in near perfect mimicry of a flesh and blood arm. Her heart warmed as she saw that he had decorated it with painted lines to look like his marks and a bracer over the forearm even though it likely didn't need it. He looked up to her from his own careful study of the startup sequence with a pleased smile and gestured ahead.

“After you.” He offered.

She grinned and shot a simple hunters arrow at the machine while barely looking. “You're up, Marshal. Let's give that arm a real test.” She said, slinking into the tall grass.

She caught his smirk as he dodged away from the sonar blast from the Scorcher’s scanner ears. She was almost as shocked as the machine when a line of electricity shot up its flank and locked it up.

Once she finally realized and got over the fact that the shock blast had come from Kotallo's arm, she grinned and shot off two tear blast arrows. They gave a satisfying ‘thunk’ before the deep bellowing blast of the echo shells exploding reverberated through the air.

Several more arrows that were decidedly not hers peppered the machine's back as it stood once the shock effect wore off. She nearly missed the machine turning its red lenses on her when she heard an endearingly excited whoop from some distance.

She just felt the air from a swipe of one of its paws graze her back before she bolted around one of the boulders and into a patch of grass. Without line of sight, it would pretty quickly lose interest in her, especially if Kotallo attacked again.

The familiar sound of arrows hitting metal followed by the bitter crackling of frost hit her ears and she peered around the boulder to see the machine's movements locking up.

She slipped her spike thrower into her hand and launched an explosive spike in a perfect arc to hit its power generator. It exploded in a bright ball of light and crackling lightning that sent the Scorcher collapsing to the ground, overwhelmed for the second time by shock elemental damage.

Another volley of arrows from Kotallo slammed into its haunches and the red lenses blinkered out to the dull gray of a dead machine.

Kotallo walked up and looked down at the machine for a moment before planting a foot on the cooling metal body, crashing his metal arm through the plating of the chassis and ripping the mass of wire and metal that was the machine's heart out. He stared at it until Aloy drew closer, then looked up to meet her eyes.

“Well it looks like the new arm works fine.” She said in a gentle tease.

“Indeed.” He said while he bent and placed the heart at his feet.

As he straightened back up, his hand hovered over where the machine arm was coupled to what remained of his left arm. His face twisted thoughtfully.

“Are you taking it off?” Aloy asked, confused.

“I will. I've come to realize that I do not need it. Who I am now is without an arm. And that's what I've overcome. I will wear this when I need it. But to wear it all the time would be like wearing a disguise. And I'd rather be myself.”

“I wouldn't have it any other way.” She said with a warm smile. It made her exceedingly glad to see him accepting himself.

“Before I do remove it though, there's something I wanted to show you.”

Aloy tilted her head slightly in curiosity.

Kotallo took a slow, steadying breath and hooked his fingers around the top of the bracer he'd placed on his metal forearm.

Aloy's breath hitched and unconsciously her hand moved towards the bracer on her own left arm. Her fingers clenched tightly around the clasps as the carefully carved letters became revealed.

Aloy.

Her name.

She'd known, of course, given his name currently emblazoned on her own left forearm. But that he'd taken the time to make it a part of his metal arm, that he'd considered it important enough to do so, made her heart warm.

“When I lost my arm, when I lost the name upon it, I believed I had lost any hope of the future that it offered. I know better now.” He said and stooped to pick up the heart at his feet again. “I understand our mission. That it takes precedence over much. But I could go no longer without making clear where I stand.”

Aloy smiled and nodded, encouraging him to go on.

“I’ve already offered you what's left of my life. But that was as a warrior, looking to be pointed in the direction of a battle. I offer it to you again, as a man,” he held out the heart towards her, “and with this heart, I offer you my own.”

She took the heart and clutched it to her chest, where her own was swelling with emotion below her ribs. She couldn't find any words besides those she'd already given him. “How can I say no to that?”

His answering smile was brighter than the sunshine glinting off the snow around them and far more beautiful than any sight she'd ever seen.