Heart Like a Machine

Chapter 8

When we had finally reached Meridian, we were both pretty tired from the long walk. Not to mention fighting some machines along the way. We walked in and the Carja there were welcoming. I think they wanted to be forgiven for what they have done in the past and that's why they're more welcoming to visitors.

"I need to look for someone," Aloy said.

"Who's that?" I asked.

"His name is Erend. Has a bit of a long beard and has a long strip of hair going down his head. He's Oseram."

"I see," I said and continued to look through the crowd.

"There he is," Aloy said and walked over to him. "Erend," she called out to him.

He took notice and smiled, waving as he walked over to us.

"Came all the way to Meridian just to see me?" he asked, a smile on his face.

"Have you been drinking?" Aloy asked.

"Kind of. My sister has been missing for a while. We're trying to find her, but we've come up empty handed."

"I see. Do you know where Olin is?"

"Olin, he came back with us when we left the Nora. Haven't seen him since, but I do know where his house is."

"Lead the way."

"Who's this?" Erend asked Aloy, looking at me.

"Y/N," I said.

"Nice to meet you, Y/N. You're also Nora."

I nodded, "Aloy and I grew up in the same tribe."

"You two must be close friends," he said.

"Something like that," I said quietly.

"Let's just find Olin's place," Aloy said and we followed Erend into Meridian.

When we reached Olin's place, he was not there. 

"Alright let's just look around, but don't break anything."

We all started to look around for any sort of clues as to where he could be. Aloy seemed to see what we can't, because she pushed something from above and it crash landed onto a barricaded door leading to a basement.

"I did say not to break anything," Erend said.

Aloy just kind of shrugged her shoulders as she made her way down to where we were. 

"Alright, time to get searching," I said and walked down first.

We did some more searching to find that he was working with a group called the Shadow Carja. We returned to the main part of the house and we began planning on what to do next. But first, Erend wanted to find his sister, which was the important part for him. As for Aloy, she wanted to find Olin and get answers from him. 

"So let's find your sister, Erend, and then we can find this Olin," I said.

"About that, Y/N," Aloy looked over at me.

"What's the matter, Aloy?"

"I think we're walking into a pretty dangerous area now. With this group called the Shadow Carja and finding Erend's sister, we don't know what we're up against."

"Yeah, we're probably the best group to go out there and figure it out."

"I'm going to go with Erend to find his sister. It's the least I could do for him since he gave me information on Olin. And afterwards, I will look into the Shadow Carja."

"So what you're saying is," I started to speak.

"I would feel a lot better knowing you're safe here in Meridian. I don't know what I would do if I lost you out there. Just knowing I was with you and I couldn't do anything to help, it would just sit with me for who knows how long. Rost's death is already sitting painfully with me, but I know he would want me to move on. But you, you're different, Y/N. Friend or even more than that," she said and walked towards me. "You mean a lot to me. I can't afford to lose you."

I just nodded my head, "I-I understand."

She reached over and pulled me into a hug, which she had never done before, "I want you safe and if anything happens in Meridian, you'll be here to help them."

"Be careful out there."

She pulled away and nodded. I looked over at Erend and smiled at him, "Take care of her out there."

"It might be the other way around, but I will definitely do my best," Erend said. "My place isn't too far from here. Just walk out and take a right, first house on the left."

"Thank you," I said and walked out with them, but we went off in different directions. 

I headed off to where Erend's place was and found myself inside a nice roomy house. I walked over to the bench that was there and sat down, not knowing what to do now. Getting a little antsy, I got up and walked out of the house and decided to explore Meridian. I had wandered a bit too much since I found myself walking out of Meridian and back into the wilderness. There were a few machines roaming about and decided to take a few of them down, see if their parts were worth anything special. Afterwards, I walked over to the creek and sat down, looking at my reflection, thinking back to what Aloy had said before she left.

"Maybe she does care about me and sees me as more than a friend. Maybe I am reading too much into it. But maybe she is coming around and coming to terms with her thoughts and feelings. Again, I might be reading too far into things. I know she sees me as her friend and wants to look after her friend, but maybe, just maybe," I said, smiling slightly, my heart racing. "Oh who am I kidding. We're just friends," I said and picked up a rock, tossing it into the creek. "That's all I'll ever be to her is a friend. Nothing more and nothing less."

I sighed, wanting more, but I couldn't force her into something she didn't want to be in. I looked at my reflection and looked at the paint that was on my face, marking that I was part of the Nora. Aloy didn't have any on her face. And there were some women in Meridian with Oseram face markings. I reached into the water and was about to remove my face paint, but my dad's voice came to mind. I grew angry and splashed at the water, causing a few droplets to fly upward and land on my face.

"To hell with you dad. I don't care if I'm a Nora or not," I was about to wash it off, but something was stopping me.

I closed my eyes and shook my head, standing up from the water. I was about to head back to Meridian, but I took one step and fell flat on my face.