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Caught up in the wonder
Of one day being better
When my deepest, darkest blue
And the gold that paints your sky collide
The garden comes to life
- "Envy Green," The Arcadian Wild
----
Erend watches the Waterwing take off, the strange leathery whoomp-whoomp of its wings blowing sand back into the group of Oseram. He keeps his face impassive as the sand stings his skin. Stoic, even. He can do stoic.
So Aloy has a girlfriend now. Big deal.
Erend’s eye twitches a little, but he clamps down on it hard. Stoic. Think like Kotallo. Or Hekarro. Or hell, any of the damn Tenakth. They’ve only got two modes, angry and fuckin’ nothing, and Erend’s not mad so he’s going with nothing.
Nope. Not mad. At. All.
His eye twitches again as the Waterwing’s whoomps echo off the ruins around Hidden Ember. Loudly. He liked the Sunwing better. Quieter. More elegant.
Whatever, it’s fine. It’s fine! So Aloy went off on yet another adventure without him—without them, not just him—and got a fancy new machine and new Zenith intel and a new girlfriend who, even by just talking about her, makes Aloy grin bigger than he’s ever seen. That’s a good thing. His friend is happy! She’s happy. His friend.
Stop twitching, eye.
“Well, would you look at all of this!”
And then there’s him.
“Hammer to steel, this is exciting!” the new guy says. “What was this place? Oh my, think of the treasures waiting to be found!”
Morlund chuckles affably, while Erend makes eye contact with Abadund over his head. He doesn’t share in Abadund’s eyeroll—stoic, gotta be stoic just in case Aloy looks back while she’s flying away, again—but by the forge he wants to. Morlund drapes an arm over the new guy’s shoulders and leads him into Hidden Ember proper, saying, “Gildun, you have no idea.”
The two of them pass by Erend with barely a glance, chattering away like old friends already. Abadund sidles up to him, watching as they go. “You’re taking him away tomorrow, right?”
Erend grunts. “Gotta get him back to Base, introduce him to GAIA in person.”
Abadund hmmms. “And Aloy couldn’t just fly him there because…”
The stoic mask slips a bit. “Because she has to go to the Isle of Spires to help Alva coordinate getting the rest of the Quen fleet up here. With her new girlfriend. And apparently that has to happen right now.”
Abadund hmmms again. “It’s just that—“
“What?” Erend says sharply, turning to face him.
Abadund takes a few steps back, waving his hands defensively. “No no, all I meant was—“
“The newcomer dropped into the delve like a machine down a mineshaft,” interrupts a strong voice approaching behind them, “though the star-struck skyflyer knew not the chaos she left in her hurried wake.” Erend jumps in spite of himself, then growls in frustration as he turns to glare at Stemmur. Abadund just shakes his head. “Would the jealous bean counter lose favor in the showman’s eyes to the wide-eyed, curious interloper?”
“Shut up, Stemmur,” Abadund spits, “I’m just worried how much it’ll cost me if this Gildun convinces him to delve under one of these other ruins.” He stalks away after the pair, grumbling.
Stemmur stops beside Erend, resting an easy elbow on his shoulder. “And so the bean counter rushed off, but whether to protect his paramour or his hoard of shards, the old storyteller couldn’t say. Jealousy, that green-eyed monster, makes fools of us all.”
Erend just grunts, eye twitching.
“Though,” Stemmur continues, sonorous voice echoing softly in Erend’s ears, “I’d bet all the shards in his hoard that he’s not the only one trapped in the jaws of that monster.” He gives Erend a meaningful look.
“Shut up, Stemmur,” Erend replies, shoving the older man’s elbow away as he stomps after Abadund.
——
Truly, he’s never heard someone talk so much. Ever. And he once made the mistake of asking Alva “what’s up with your frilly Quen clothes anyway,” so, you know. That was three hours of his life he’ll never get back. Did learn something about textiles, though.
But fire and spit, Gildun has a mouth on him. All the way down into the Dunehollow, he peppered Morlund with questions about the delve, insatiably curious about how they found it, all of the devices Morlund had had to invent on the fly just to get inside, what more he was looking forward to finding. All the way through the tour of the impressive underground facility, he asked Stemmur to recount Aloy’s perilous first journey through the ruin, with special—and repeated—emphasis on the defeat of the Tideripper. All the way back up the lift, he prodded Abadund to talk more about the ongoing renovations, and how many people had visited so far, and who his contacts back in the Claim were.
It was exhausting.
Erend himself had stayed stoically in the back. Ostensibly on hand in case a stray Burrower popped up, he’d been more than happy to be relegated to the background, passively listening to events he’d had no part in. Not that he minded. Nothing he wanted to talk about anyway.
So the little bit of peace he’s scraped together here on the balcony overlooking Hidden Ember’s nightly light show feels…earned, somehow.
“Hey, Erend!”
Erend chokes a bit on his ale. Figures.
“This is pretty incredible, isn’t it?”
Gildun plops down beside him, dangling his feet jovially off the side of the balcony. He takes a swig off his mug, prodding Erend with his elbow. When Erend only grunts in response, he scoffs.
“I mean, I know we’re both a little jaded now that we see dancing lights everywhere with these babies—“ he taps the Focus at his temple “—but come on! This?” He wraps an arm around Erend’s shoulder, pulling him as he gestures to the light show with his mug. “This is spectacular.”
Erend just grunts, “Sure is,” trying to squirm out of Gildun’s surprisingly strong grip.
“Aw, c’mon,” Gildun prods, “you can’t tell me you’ve seen anything as spectacular as this.”
Erend just narrows his eyes and looks away.
After an awkward beat, Gildun says cheerfully, “So, um, tomorrow! Off to this super-secret base, huh? Oh, I can’t wait to meet GAIA. We’ve become such good friends already. I’m so glad that Aloy introduced me to her. Did you know that she—“
“Look,” Erend interrupts, maybe a bit more forcefully than he intends. “We’ve got a long ride ahead of us. Maybe it’s time you got some sleep.”
He turns to give Gildun a pointed glare. For a split second, he catches a glimpse of a look of utter defeat on the delver’s face, but Gildun covers it up with a smile so quickly that it might’ve just been a trick of the light. “You’re right! Gotta be fresh for the journey, eh? You know, my mother always said—“
A rush of noise from the desert below cuts Gildun off. Or rather, Gildun hears a noise and squeaks in mid-sentence, practically landing in Erend’s lap.
Well, not practically. Actually. Laid across his legs like a heavy, shivering, clingy blanket. Erend takes a long, exasperated pull from his mug.
Gildun peeks his head up at the noise again, one eye hidden behind a thick forearm. And abruptly sits up, fear gone, childlike amazement back, all in an instant. “What is that?” he breathes.
“Morlund’s Amazing Elevated Orb,” Erend grunts, no amazement at all in his voice. No jealousy, either.
Nope. No jealousy. At. All.
“Morlund’s inside that thing?” Gildun peers out into the night, awe reflected in the patterns of light dancing across his face. “How?”
Erend shrugs. “Dunno. Aloy helped him build it.”
“Of course she did.” Erend had said the same thing when he first found out about Aloy delving back into the Dunehollow to swipe that burner on Morlund’s request. Only when he said it, the words were flat, emotionless.
Stoic.
When Gildun says it, his voice is full of awe. Admiration. Certainty, like there was never any doubt that that wonder floating in the night sky owes its existence to Aloy of the Nora.
Erend bristles. He thunks his tankard down on the rooftop and snarks, “Go ask Morlund, he’ll tell you the whole damn story, I’m sure.”
He wouldn’t have thought Gildun’s eyes could get any bigger. “You mean I could ride in the—“
Gildun cuts himself off, the noise of the burner catching their attention again as the Orb starts to slowly, gently drift back down to the sand.
“Yeah, there’s—“
Gildun jumps off the roof, tumbling gracelessly to his feet in front of Boomer and Delah’s workbench before racing as fast as he can out to the line of travelers waiting to take a ride in Morlund’s Orb.
“…a line,” Erend finishes lamely. He drums the heel of his palm against his thigh, muttering, “It’s not that cool. Doesn’t even go anywhere, just up and down.”
Not like a Sunwing.
Or a Waterwing. Apparently.
He finishes off his ale, then turns his back on the light show in search of more.
——
“You’re sure I wouldn’t be a bother? Because I’d love to see what else—“
“No, no, of course not, Gildun!” Abadund says with mock cheerfulness as he practically pushes Gildun toward where Erend and the two tame Chargers are waiting. Erend winces at Abadund’s volume. And the reflection of the morning sun off the sand. Definitely drank too much last night.
“What Abadund means to say,” Morlund says with a chuckle, clapping Gildun on the shoulder, “is that there’s still plenty of wonders to be found beneath the sands out here. I know Aloy’s probably got something important for you to do.” He taps his temple, indicating Gildun’s Focus. Erend winces again. “But you’re welcome back to delve with us anytime.”
“Just send word first,” Abadund adds quickly.
Gildun gives a grin. “Oh, that’s so wonderful to hear! You know, when I was up in the Frozen Wilds last, I…”
Erend tunes out whatever ridiculous story Gildun’s come up with now, choosing to check the pack strapped to his Charger for the third time. “Speaking as someone who talks for a living,” Stemmur murmurs as he walks up behind Erend, “that boy sure doesn’t ever shut up, does he?”
Erend just gives him a wry look.
Stemmur chuckles, putting a hand on Erend’s shoulder. “You gonna be alright, Vanguard-Captain?”
Erend hefts his warhammer, strapping it loosely across the Charger’s back. “Made the trip all the way down here, didn’t I?”
Stemmur shakes his head gently. “I mean, with the headache.” Stemmur gestures back at Gildun, rather than Erend’s head. “And the heartache.” He gestures up at the western sky, rather than Erend’s chest.
“Shut up, Stemmur,” Erend grumbles.
The wordsmith just gives a half-bow and an enigmatic grin.
“Oh, for— Gildun! We’re leaving! Now,” Erend shouts, hoisting himself onto his Charger.
“Which was when I— oh!” Gildun exclaims with a start. “Coming!” He rushes over to the riderless Charger, stopping a few feet away. Cautiously, like a fox approaching a wild boar, he creeps around toward the Charger’s head.
Erend rolls his eyes. “C’mon, Gildun, we don’t got all—“
Gildun shushes him without looking at him—actually shushes him! Him, Erend Vanguardsman! The chortle coming from Abadund’s direction dies in a fit of coughing at the scowl on Erend’s face—and keeps his eyes locked onto the Charger’s face. “You’re a good girl, aren’t you?” he says quietly, holding his hand out. “Aloy tamed you up, huh? Made you gentle enough for a silly ol’ delver like me, huh?”
Erend shifts his seat, getting ready to yell again, but stops himself at that last. The softness of Gildun’s murmur, the tenderness on his face. It’s…unexpected, to say the least.
“That’s what she does, isn’t it?” Gildun continues, slowly approaching the machine, hand still outstretched. “Takes bad things and makes them good. Takes wrong things and makes them…makes them right.” His hand is inches from the Charger’s snout, eyes locked onto its eyes, voice barely audible over the desert wind. “I know. That’s what she did for me, too.”
Erend’s chest feels suddenly tight. He shifts uncomfortably again, glancing back at a spot in the western sky. Happening to glance. Just a coincidence.
The Charger nuzzles into Gildun’s hand, and he smiles happily. “You are a good girl,” he says lightly. He strokes the machine’s head, then deftly—unexpectedly so—leaps onto its back. He gathers the neck-cables up into his hands and finally looks over at Erend. “After you, friend!”
Erend blinks and shakes himself out of…whatever that just was. He looks back at Morlund’s trio, all of whom are staring at that display just as slack-jawed as he is. The awe on Morlund’s face, the confusion on Abadund’s, the…grin on Stemmur’s?
Except Stemmur’s not looking at Gildun. He’s looking at Erend.
Erend sets his jaw. “Heeyah!” he yells, kicking his Charger into motion, leaving Hidden Ember behind in a cloud of sand.