Aloy avoided the base the night after her big blow up with Beta. She let Alva know she needed some space. Because the base walls weren’t sound proof, Alva knew why and didn’t question it. Aloy trekked northward, through the Utaru forests, finding a place to camp in a crevice where she’d once restored a Plowhorn. It was quiet and dark, cut off from most of the world except for the canopy of stars. She’d left without any supplies but could survive with just her bow and spear should the occasion arise. As it was, the Utaru’s territory was plentiful with fruit tree orchards revitalised now that the landgods weren’t poisoning the ground and vegetables were growing in every fertile scrap of earth.
The next day, after a restless night’s sleep, she headed east to the cliffs the Utaru originally descended from. They had come from the east and settled in Plainsong, a land adorned with giant solar dishes whose panels were shattered but whose structure remained even after a thousand years. It was a steep descent and a no less easy climb. Aloy had to concentrate on every handhold and nook to jam her toe, unable to think beyond not falling to her death. She grasped and pulled, heaved and climbed until she reached the top of the range and sat on the edge, looking at the big picture.
“Big picture…why can’t they see it?” Aloy moaned, returning to her avoided angst the moment her mind had room to think. “Flirting and carrying on with each other. He’s a bloody Faro clone! He’s got genetic disaster written all over him! What was she thinking? He’s a nightmare! He makes me so…argh!” She picked up a stone and flung it towards the base. She listened as it clattered to the slope, bouncing over and over, rattling all the way to the ground and startling a Lancehorn that couldn’t fathom where the projectile had come from.
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Aloy lay on her back and looked up at the clouds.
“Why…why does this bother me so much?” She muttered. “Why am I so focussed on this when I’ve got to…” She closed her eyes and groaned. “I’ve got to keep my eyes on the big picture…damn it!” She sat up and swore. “I’ve been so focussed on them I haven’t been able to think straight! This world’s coming to an end and I’m worried about my sister’s purity? I have got to get it together!” Aloy stood up and brushed off her tunic. “And I’ve got to do it right now.”
She leapt into the air, activating her shieldwing, coasting towards the ground, remaining airborne for almost thirty seconds. Any longer and she doubted her arms would be able to hold her up. She aimed the drop towards a herd of Chargers, landed silently next to one, overrode it and was galloping away before the rest of the herd realised what had happened.
Aloy tore across the land, heading for the path up to the base, nodding to the Utaru who waved and dodging around Plowhorns that were tilling the soil. Plainsong was rich with harvest bounty once more, the land making up for months of neglect and barren fields.
Before she could reach the base, her FOCUS sparked.
“Aloy, are you there?”
“I’m here, Alva and nearly home.”
“Uh…you mean the base, right?”
Aloy rolled her eyes. The only other place she had ever called home was the cabin she’d shared with Rost and there was no way she was returning there. It was barren without his presence in it.
“Yeah of course I do.”
“Oh. Good! We’ve got some Oseram here. They have come from Las Vegas and said they want to help you with your dream.”
“Morlund’s there?” Aloy beamed. She liked the wide eyed, innocent and somewhat slipshod dreamer.
“Morlund, Abadund and Stemmur. And another woman called Silgar that they met on the way up?”
“Tell them I’ll be there shortly.”
“Will do, Aloy.”