I Will Always Have A Minute For You [Ereloy]

// 11 //

She stays in Lone Light for the evening and in the morning, starts to head the rest of the way to Meridian. She'd arrive early enough, when the sun was barely rising, to where she could still hunt a few machines before anyone even thought about leaving their homes. And she did exactly that. But before this, she would switch to her Shield-Weaver armor. She heads south of Meridian, just wandering around looking for any machine. Hey, maybe she'd be able to bring back a trophy for Talanah, the Sunhawk of Hunter's Lodge (and also her sponsor). She heads further down, skipping a Strider site and going straight for the Stalkers she knew were located there. The disappearing machine wasn't the easiest to take down because of the fact that they fade in and out constantly. They were harder to track, but even the exhilaration of taking one down was what always made Aloy choose them over anything else. But also a true huntress wouldn't turn anything down that wasn't really a challenge. Aloy hangs low, crouching into the tall grass nearby. She can't quite locate any of the Stalkers, and her Focus wouldn't be able to pick them up either, so she's just gotta wing it. She watches carefully, waiting for one of them to show themselves so that her Focus can tag it and she can watch it even when it completely disappears. One of them appears, and she does as such. After that, she crouch-walks a little closer to one of the nearby Stalkers, prepping a few arrows silently. She stacks a couple onto the bow, pulling them back. Steady, now.

The arrows fly toward the Stalker as she lets them go, and they both hit the Stalker's body. One on the stealth generator, the other just on the body. Maybe another hit to the stealth generator...

It didn't matter though, as the Stalker noticed Aloy from the hit of the arrows. Run!

She dodge-rolls out of the way as the Stalker ambushes the area of tall grass. From this, all of the other Stalkers had noticed her presence. Great.

Aloy had no time to lose. A couple of leftover corruption arrows would have to do something. She shoots a couple at the remaining two, and then backs out of the way, dodging the one she'd already damaged constantly. For a while, she just had to keep dodging and shooting the few with corruption arrows until one of them was gone. It took some time, but eventually she only had two left: the two she kept corrupting. She was able to pull the stealth generator off of one, so it could no longer go invisible. She'd shoot a few hardpoint arrows at it, and it would fall. One left. The last one was always the most challenging as it wasn't your main focus. Of course, it would be harder to focus on just one at a time, but when you were able to, you would be able to with much ease. The last Stalker comes close to death after continuously ambushing Aloy and her Shield-Weaver outfit, almost depleting the powers the outfit had. Aloy was so lucky it didn't completely deplete, otherwise who knows what would've happened instead?

She sets herself up for victory as she whacks the remaining life out of the final Stalker. She would collect her trophy from the one and then whatever else she could hold from the rest of them, and send herself back to Meridian. However, at this point it was easier to stop at the elevator in the Royal Maizelands to get herself back in. She struts down to the farm area of Meridian and finds the elevator. She pulls down on the lever and it starts to lift her after the doors squeak shut. She watches the surroundings as she continues to go up, looking at the almost-risen sun in the distance. People should be up by now, especially the Hunter's Lodge. The elevator comes to a stop and the door opens, and she exits it before it makes it's stop back to the bottom. The weirdest part was that the elevator from the maizelands to the main city went one direction - up. It didn't go back down.

As she walks through the city she listens to the hustle and bustle of the town, which was all familiar to her. People were exiting the main city to go trade with other tribes, or just taking time to wander around. Many people visited Meridian, and it was the trading center of the country. Even the Nora could trade with the Carja from Daytower, which is still right inside the Sacred Lands. Aloy turns into the Hunting Lodge, looking at how many hawks and thrushes were already there. She shook her head, knowing that that was very likely; hunters and huntresses were always early risers. She walks up the stairs, going to talk to Talanah, both her sponsor hawk and the Sunhawk of the lodge. "Morning, Aloy. I see you've already been out."

"I was bored."

"Sure you were, let's see what you've got."

"Just three Stalker trophies, for now. Oh, and I have a Thunderjaw and a few Sawtooth trophies from a few days ago too. If you can't accept them because they're too old of a hunt, I understand."

"I'll go ahead and take them all - I'm trying my best to work around the old 'only recent hunts' trophy rule."

"That's cool. I mean, obviously they can't be from months ago, but I'd say up to a week is pretty good."

"That's what I was thinking, too. Great minds think alike, Aloy."

"Let me be honest with you though, Talanah - I was waiting for the sun to rise before I even came into town."

"Nothing bad would happen around here during dark hours, but I can see where you're coming from."

"Plus, hunting's a good way to kill time."

"Definitely."

"So, Sunhawk..." She looks at the floor and then back up to Talanah, "I know I asked you this when you first became a Sunhawk, but really, what's it like?"

"Just as good as I thought it would be. It feels good to have control of the place. Plus, now we no longer have to worry about Redmaw anymore, thanks to you."
"Well, us. I couldn't have done anything if you wouldn't have sponsored me as your thrush."
"True. Even though Ahsis -" her voice bites at his name a bit "- tried to take Redmaw down, too, it was very obvious he wouldn't have been alive much longer."

"I'm glad we were able to take down Redmaw before he was killed by it. I wouldn't want to know what the Hunter's Lodge would've become if you hadn't become Sunhawk, 'cause you're clearly the better Sunhawk out of all of us." Aloy made sure everyone in the building heard her last bit.
"You're just biased because I'm your sponsor hawk and you're my thrush," Talanah adds, "aren't you?"
"No, not at all. I'm being honest. You're definitely way nicer that Ahsis would have ever been. You're way more accepting of the Sun-King's new Lodge laws than he was, and that's what makes you all the better!"

"Well, that was my goal all along -- allowing anyone regardless of Carja blood into the lodge." She pauses. "You're not a bad thrush, either, Aloy."
"You're lucky it's me. You could've ended up with a complete amateur."
"Not necessarily."
Before responding, Aloy leans up against the wall with Talanah. "I get the whole 'must earn 3 half-suns' thing, but you can take way too long and still get a half-sun. I'm at least quick and have some experience."

"Everyone has a different fighting style." Talanah looks over at Aloy.

"Fair point, but still. I'm sure you'd much, much rather have someone who's diligent than a complete dud."

"Okay, yeah, I see your point now. I definitely like having you as a thrush." Aloy wasn't fishing for compliments, but she did have a point - she was a diligent huntress, and always got the job done as quickly as possible before any threat got worse. That's what Talanah liked about her - she was determined to keep the main threat away from the people being haunted by it.

"Well," Aloy says as she pushes herself off the wall, "I should probably get going."

"Thanks for stopping by, Aloy. We really appreciate having you around." Talanah smiles at her."See you later, Talanah." She heads back down the staircase, not really paying attention to much. She pulls herself back to attention as she exits the Hunter's Lodge and back into the bustling main part of the city. She was hoping she'd run into Erend, as she wanted to let him know how everything at Thunder's Drum and being the Werak chieftain went. She was positive he would want to know, as he was curious about it anyway. She walks through the crowds on high alert, on the lookout for her fauxhawk-haired friend. The city was so busy, it was hard to see around everyone and find who you're looking for.