Chapter Text
Dust kicked up in Aloy and Alva’s faces as they entered the desert. They could see the sharp point of Scalding Spear in the distance. It was going to be a pit stop for them to stretch their legs a bit before heading on towards Legacy’s Landfall. Alva had discovered some kind of flood control system called Leviathan and wanted to procure the data in hopes of saving her people. And by extension, the rest of the world.
“Woah!” Alva laughed nervously as she clung a little too tightly to the overridden Charger she was riding. “This is so different than being on the Floatilla.”
“You’re doing fine, Alva,” Aloy called from her own Charger that was leading the way. Even with the dust cloud in front of her face, there was something in the distance that caught her eye. It was a felled Thunderjaw. It wasn’t an uncommon sight to see a downed machine- what was uncommon about it was the sight of Tenakth, Utaru, and Oseram scrapping the beast. From what Aloy knew about the clans, none of them were particularly friendly with each other nor were they hostile. At best, the Tenakth and Utaru had their exchange of crops and Veterans. But to see them working together? That was something Aloy needed to witness in person.
As they rode closer, Aloy saw their group consisted of three Tenakth, two Utaru, and one Oseram. Aloy slowed her Charger to a halt with Alva coming up just behind her. “Is there something wrong?” She asked.
“No,” Aloy shook her head, “I am interested in what’s happening down there.” She tugged the wires of the Charger gently nudging it in the direction of the group.
As they approached, there was immediate attention drawn to them and then after a moment of threat assessment, one of the Tenakth saluted, “Hail Champion!” The others acknowledged their presence excitedly; they looked to be in their late teens. Upon closer inspection of their clothing and armor, it looked as if they pulled elements from each other’s tribes. While they each distinctly looked like their originating tribes, there were extra elements woven into their armor and clothing. To start, they all had seed pouches and colors from each tribe. The Utaru had the Desert Clan’s Tenakth style patterns on their clothes while the Tenakth had more Oseram metal in their armor.
Aloy and Alva dismounted and walked over. The Tenakth nodded and gestured towards himself, “I am Nedarro and this,” he gestured to the Tenakth girl, “is Jarrah. The Utaru are Jael and Kala. The Oseram is Digruf.”
Alva couldn’t help herself as she gave them a wave, “Hi, I’m Alva!” They acknowledged her with a nod while Aloy looked towards the Thunderjaw. It had been pierced with multiple arrows but there was a puncture in the machine’s underbelly that appeared to be the killing blow.
“I’ve never seen your three tribes working together before,” she stated, turning her attention back on the group.
The comment made them smile proudly and Jarrah stepped forward, “We were inspired by you, Champion.”
Both uncomfortably flattered and confused, Aloy asked, “Me?”
Jarrah nodded, “Yes. We overheard Sokorra whispering to the rest of Eagle Squad about how she wants to go to Plainsong and we were confused as to why. But when we heard that her brother died, we suspected that he didn’t die. So we left for Plainsong to see if the rumors were true.” She ducked her head in shame, “Admittedly, we went to bring him back so he could face a machine in the arena for an honorable death.”
“It changed though, once we arrived in Plainsong,” Nedarro picked up the story, “we bumped into a Veteran-”
“Jaxx,” Aloy confirmed.
Nedarro nodded, “He confronted us about why we were in Plainsong and we told him. I thought we were going to have to fight him, but instead he brought us to see Korreh and…”
“We heard his music,” Jarrah said, “we saw how he played an Utaru instrument but it was also Tenakth. And we saw how the Utaru accepted him. So we stayed in Painsong for a little.”
“That’s when we met,” Kala stepped in, “we’d never really interacted or seen Tenakth before but they were pleasant to talk to. We shared our cultures and before we knew it…” She slipped her hand into Jarrah’s. “We didn’t want to be apart from each other.”
Jarrah squeezed her hand back. “Nedarro and I had to go back to Scalding Spear but we kept slipping out every few weeks to Plainsong. We weren’t careful enough though because eventually someone noticed. So we left, permanently.”
“But Plainsong couldn’t afford to feed more mouths,” Jael continued, “and I didn’t want my sister to leave by herself. So I told her that we could make it out in the wilds on our own. Then we left.”
“Plus we figured that if the Champion’s squad can be made up of different tribes, then we can form a squad of different tribes too”
Aloy smiled softly. It was good to hear a happy story once in a while. “And what about you?” She asked Digruf.
The Oseram shrugged, “I was salvaging on my own and came across this lot trying to pick apart a ravager. It looked like they needed help, so I helped and decided to stick around. Plus, I’m a good cook and it’s nice to share meals with people who can appreciate good cooking.”
“It sounds like finding each other was fate,” Alva had to stop herself from jumping around with excitement. “And you took down a Thunderjaw together!”
“We didn’t take it down,” Digruf countered, “a ghost did.”
“A ghost?” Aloy asked skeptically.
The group nodded and all eyes went to Jarrah and Nedarro. “It was the ghost of Marshal Fashav.”
Aloy raised both eyebrows, “Fashav died at Barren Light. I was there.”
“We’re not mistaken,” Nedarro insisted, “we saw him. We were accosted by the Thunderjaw and found ourselves pinned down. We thought we were going to die.”
Jarrah cut in with an intense excitement, “But then we heard an explosion and the Thunderjaw turned away from us. And that’s when we saw him charging headfirst towards the machine. In a matter of moments, the Thunderjaw was down! I’d never seen anyone fight like that before!”
“I thought we had died but then he came up to us and asked if we were okay and that’s when I knew it was him. Still in the Chief’s colors and Tenakth armor. As soon as we told him we were alright, he vanished.” Nedarro finished their story with eyes full of wonder. Even the Utaru and Oseram were impressed by the retelling- and Oseram were known to tease those who believed in spirits, gods, etc.
“People don’t just vanish,” Aloy pushed back, “it must’ve been someone else.”
“There’s no one else it could be. The Ten must have sent him to protect us.” Jarrah insisted.
Aloy bit her tongue to keep from arguing. Varl would be better suited for this conversation. She didn’t believe in a higher power but knew that having that belief was important to people. She would, ashamedly admit that it took Varl scolding her to understand that.
“Well,” she said, taking her leave, “I’m glad you’re all still alive and that you’ve found each other. Stay safe out there.” They group waved and saluted their farewells while Aloy and Alva remounted their chargers and took off towards Scalding Spear.
“I saw the events of Barren Light from your Focus,” Alva finally spoke as they continued on and out of ear shot from the others. “I don’t know much about Tenakth culture but it sounded like he was someone very special.”
“He was,” Aloy confirmed, “Just from our conversation, I could tell he was going to change the world. It’s a shame that he died before he could realize that goal. He and Hekkaro worked so hard for a lasting peace.”
“Do you think it’ll still happen?”
“I hope so. After the Kulrut a lot of people saw the hologram with Faraday’s message. It should help to sway the Tenakth towards peace with the Carja. It would have been easier with Fashav, that’s for sure.”
“What happened to him?”
Aloy sighed softly, “He was taken back to Meridian and buried under the Alight. Full soldier’s honors.”
“That’s why you think that they were mistaken.”
“Yeah. I think it’s an imposter. Someone posing as Marshal Fashav.”
“That’s… concerning. But maybe it’s not a bad thing? It sounds like this imposter wants to do good.”
“Or it could be someone trying to dismantle Hekkaro’s vision of peace.” Aloy reasoned.
Alva frowned, “Or it could be that.” She had come to recognize the feeling of disappointment ever since discovering the Ancestors weren’t the paragons the Quen had believed them to be.
It seemed like Anoy could read her mind because she said, “I hope it is someone who’s doing good out there. But if they want to do so then they should do it as themselves. Not as Marshal Fashav. Let him rest.” Aloy pressed her hand to her Focus, “Hey Kotallo?”
–
Kotallo swiped over the data on his Focus trying to block out the irritants that Erend called music. Music was not the clashing and screaming of metal and hoarse voices. Although, he did have to admit that it was fitting for the Oseram to like a form of music called ‘heavy metal’. It probably reminded him of working in the forge.
“Hey,” Kotallo turned his head to see Zo standing in the doorway holding a bowl of stew and a full leaf of a variety of fruits. She approached and set the food down on his table, “I figured you’d be hungry right about now.”
At the sight of the food, his stomach betrayed him and growled. Zo smiled and gestured towards the common room, “You’re welcome to join us out there, you know.”
“Thank you.” Kotallo grumbled and watched her leave. He looked down at his food and then towards the common room where Erend had pulled up a stool to the counter to join Varl and Zo. While he was content to be alone, there was a small stab of jealousy that went through him. Being a Marshal was his whole life and camaraderie was part of that but there was something different about being around Aloy’s allies. They were so easy with each other and he felt like he was the odd one out. Even Beta seemed to get along with them better and she stayed in the basement.
He picked at his food for a second and then grabbed the bowl and leaf before entering the common room. Before he could change his mind, he ignored the look of surprise on everyone’s faces and dragged a chair to the bar. Kotallo was grateful when the surprised looks went away and the trio were quick to include him in the conversation.
“I was reading about how the Old Ones played something called ‘sports’,” Erend started explaining, “There was one called ‘bowling’ and apparently you needed to roll a heavy ball and knock over these wooden blocks.”
“That’s it?” Varl asked, “I thought you said sports had teams and that the Old Ones used to bet money on it.”
“Yeah! I thought so too, but apparently there’s a lot of different sports!”
“Huh,” Kotallo chewed thoughtfully, “I wonder if there are any of these ‘sports’ that the Tenakth would like.”
Erend paused, thinking, and then, “They had this thing where they would race machine powered boats over water.”
“Speaking of water,” Kotallo frowned, “I have been meaning to ask Alva to bring something back. I am curious to see if what I read is true.”
“What is it?” Zo asked curiously.
“Apparently, the Old Ones found a way to hear the ocean no matter how far away you were. It is done by holding up the carcass of a deceased water creature to your ear. It is called a ‘sea shell’.”
“Is it any water creature?” Varl asked, “because we can catch fish.”
“I am unsure,” Kotallo sighed, “the rest of that data was corrupted.”
“That is disappointing,” Zo admitted, “Perhaps if we have some time we can experiment and figure out which water creature it is.”
“Sounds cool,” Erend started, “maybe there’s a way to weaponize- ah, no. Nevermind.” Erend’s face quickly faltered with an expression that all three of them recognized as grief and regret. Varl knew it was because weaponizing sound was something that Derval had done and it killed Ersa. Erend only ever talked about his sister with Aloy. Only once he had opened up to Varl about Ersa and it was when he took a month off to put his sister to rest.
“ Kotallo?” Aloy’s voice called him through his Focus.
“Aloy, what can I do for you?” He answered, attracting the attention of all the others.
“ I just encountered something strange that you might want to look into.” It sounded like she was riding, “Alva and I just bumped into a group who claimed they saw… they claim they saw Fashav’s ghost.”
Kotallo felt his blood run cold then hot. “What?” He growled clenching his fists tightly. “Who would dare to impersonate him?” He ignored the concerned looks from Varl, Zo, and Erend.
“ I’m not sure, but Alva and I are stopping in Scalding Spear. We’ll get more information first but I just wanted you to be aware.”
“ I will meet you there, then!” Kotallo was riled up and ready to go.
“ No.” Aloy was firm, “ We’ll check it out first and then let you know. ”
Kotallo had to steady himself from fighting Aloy, “As you wish, Commander.”
“What was that about?” Zo asked. Kotallo didn’t answer but scooped up the rest of his lunch and brought it back to his room.
–
Aloy and Alva arrived in Scalding Spear that evening hours after the sun had gone down. The heat, thankfully, had simmered down but it didn’t stop the stickiness of their sweat adhering to their clothing. The soldiers at the gates were chattier than usual and it seemed like there was a celebration going on inside. The Tenakth music was loud but the conversations were louder. Everyone was talking about “Fashav’s” recent appearance.
“I thought they couldn’t go back to Scalding Spear,” Alva whispered to Aloy.
“They can’t,” she confirmed, “They’d be killed for deserting. I don’t think that’s what happened here though.”
“I’ll go resupply,” Alva offered, seeing Aloy starting to scan the settlement for something or someone.
“Thanks, Alva.” Aloy spotted Yarra and Drakka talking with each other. She was glad her interference had helped them to see things eye to eye and work together.
“Champion!” Drakka greeted.
“Hey, Drakka. Yarra. What’s going on?”
“Marshal Fashav is back,” Yarra replied.
Aloy and Alva shared a skeptical look. “Really?” Aloy pushed, “It’s not an imposter?”
“Nope,” Drakka shook his head, “At first we thought it was a shared hallucination; that Regalla’s rebels had poisoned our waters. But it’s not. It’s actually him.”
“But he died,” Aloy insisted, “I saw him die at Barren Light.”
“He survived, thank The Ten,” Yarra praised, “He spoke with me and Drakka about starting a proper peace negotiations with the Carja beyond the Embassy.”
“Marshal Fashav didn’t need to convince us,” Drakka informed reading Aloy’s expression, “we’re already on board. You taught us to overcome our differences and if we can do it then so can the Tenakth.”
Aloy’s heart was thumping in her chest. It was a feeling of hope. “How did he survive? Do you know?”
Yarra and Drakka shook their heads, “Nothing specific. Only that he was wounded but is very lucky to be alive. We told him about what you did for us and that Marshal Kotallo has joined your company. He seemed to be very interested in that, but he moved on saying he needed to visit the other settlements.”
“Did he say where he was going?”
“Sorry, no,” Yarra apologized.
“Thanks,” Aloy stepped away. She needed to tell Kotallo what she had learned but at the same time she was worried that he might not act rationally. The Marshal had never opened up to her about his relationship with Fashav but she could sense that there had been something going between them. She started suspecting it when she noticed that Kotallo had snuck into her room to hold Fashav’s token. He didn’t do anything except hold it and stare. As a result, she never brought him up in conversation.
Aloy brought her hand up to her Focus. “Hey Kotallo. Come to Scalding Spear. I think Fashav is alive.”