The base is filled with warmth, smelling of spices, freshly cut vegetables, and a delicious tang of something cooking in the oven. The sound of clattering dishes and casual conversation now echo in this space. One that has lately been feeling more loved and lived in than ever before.
The kitchen and the living room have been renovated, opening up the area with a proper Old World floor plan for cooking, lounging, and dining. Utaru flower baskets and mats are decoratively placed all around, courtesy of Zo. Small wooden figurines line the various shelves and surfaces, a steadily growing collection from Kotallo whenever he stops by. Alva, while not able to visit as often as she wants, usually brings gifts such as quilted pillows or blankets, which now drape comfortably over the couch and armchairs.
Erend has been providing his own contributions, too. By consistently adding to the ever-growing population of beer that already takes up way too much space.
By the time he rolled around with his most recent batch, however, Elisabet had put her foot down.
‘There’s no reason you need that much beer.’ She chastised. ‘You’re barely here as it is.’
‘What are you talkin’ about? I visit you gals all the time.’ Erend defended himself.
‘Right. When you should still be busy doing your part for Nemesis.’
‘Hey now I’m doin’ plenty.’ Erend objected. ‘You have no idea what I got cookin’ up over there at Hidden Ember.’
Elisabet would not be swayed.
‘I want it out of my house, Erend. All of it.’
‘It’s not a house, Lis.’ Erend protested. ‘It’s a base.’ He gestured to the room around them. ‘Besides, you know, I was here first. So, I should get the final say.’
Her gaze then turned unyielding. Similar to Aloy’s whenever she’s angry.
Although while her daughter tended to fly off the handle, furiously barreling through barriers like a Charger, Elisabet stayed eerily silent in her ire.
She let her expression linger until it was bordering uncomfortable. Then asked one simple question.
‘Excuse me?’
‘I… uh…’ Erend actually took a step back.
His eyes widened, as if he had just remembered who in the world he was talking to.
‘I mean, uh…’ Erend backpedaled. ‘You know what? I think I’ll just get these right outta your way, Lis. My treat. Don’t even worry about it.’
And that was that.
In addition to the growing domestic changes in the kitchen and living room, Elisabet has been adding decorations of her own. There are several scenic shots of the beautiful mountain ranges surrounding the base now hung up on the walls. Along with panoramic views of the various settlements that she managed to snag from Aloy’s focus.
There are also pictures scattered all around of Erend, Kotallo, Alva, Zo, and GAIA.
Plus, plenty more of Aloy and Beta that she strategically placed wherever she could, much to her daughters’ shy surprise and silent appreciation.
There were even some of Varl too, both inside, and outside by his final resting place.
‘I never got the opportunity to meet him.’ Elisabet had quietly said while hanging a picture of him up by the breakfast bar. As close as she could to where she was told he would usually stand to study with his focus. ‘But I can make sure that he’s always included here.’
‘I think he’d like that.’ Aloy concurred, her face holding a bittersweet expression along with her sister as they both looked up at the photo.
Varl’s smile was infectious, his personality always warm and welcoming. He was a loyal friend, a great listener, a steady presence to lean on, and someone that they would always carry with them.
Someone that no mere picture could ever truly hope to capture.
Still, it felt good to see him again. Standing where they would always find him.
That picture of Varl is still comforting now, but in a different way, as it innocently hangs on one of the walls across from the new kitchen counter.
An encouraging spirit surveying the scene of Aloy and Elisabet cooking dinner together.
‘Sunrise, you’re doing just fine.’
‘I don’t know.’ Aloy sounds uncharacteristically nervous. ‘Maybe I should check again.’
‘If you keep checking on it, you’re going to ruin it.’ Elisabet reminds her.
‘But it’s been in there for so long already.’ Aloy crouches down for what is probably the tenth time to cautiously open the oven door. ‘What if it burns?’
Their small family of three recently returned home from their manual override lesson only about a few hours prior. Elisabet hadn’t wanted to talk about what happened in the ruins. And, true to her word, proceeded to retreat into her room for a few hours once they were all safely back home.
Aloy and Beta did not disturb her rest, but could not disguise their worry.
‘I knew we should have left earlier.’ Aloy shook her head, her arms crossed.
‘Maybe it was just too much for her.’ Beta agreed, her voice small in the humming glow of the projection room.
Sleeping during the day is not something that Elisabet has done for ages now, after all.
Not since right after the merge. When she was still in recovery after her digital mind had been transferred into her new human body.
GAIA assured them, though, that all was well.
‘Elisabet’s vitals are all within normal range.’ The AI confidently supplied. ‘There has been no change or strain from the day’s activities, so therefore there is no need for alarm.’
To prove GAIA’s point, Elisabet had later woken up this afternoon feeling perfectly fine.
Or so she said.
Alert and ready as ever for today’s cooking lesson, much to Aloy’s chagrin.
In nearly all things in life, Aloy would consider herself to be a fast learner. She picks up new skills like one would pick up new shoes. New technology as if it was common knowledge. New weapons as if they were mere child’s play.
But cooking…?
Cooking has always been her worst enemy, and she so very sorely knows it.
Elisabet has been trying to teach Aloy how to properly cook whenever she’s home from exploring the wilds. And they’ve been making good progress so far, too. But this odd anxiety of hers has been a stubborn bump in the road to navigate around.
‘It just… something about it doesn’t feel right. It never has.’
Cooking is a skill to be taught and shared between mothers and their children, after all, and Aloy has only recently been exposed to such a family dynamic.
Trying to learn it all now. It only reminds her of Rost.
Visions of him come to her whenever she chops a vegetable, stirs a stew, or tenderizes strips of meat. He taught her everything she needed to know about cooking, but even back then she knew it wasn’t everything that he could possibly teach her.
“I can only do this much for you, Aloy. I hope you will one day understand, and accept it.”
She did, and she does.
But now…
Her chest tightens, the space between her shoulder blades tingling whenever she and Elisabet go into the kitchen. Because, as much as Aloy could never describe how wonderful it is to spend time with her mother…
Elisabet is not Rost.
A fact not only recognized by Aloy, but Elisabet as well.
Her mother has not judged her for it, as always so supportive and patient in every way that counts. And for that Aloy is forever grateful.
‘We set a timer for a reason.’ Elisabet assures. Her voice is calm, a balm to frazzled nerves. ‘Meatloaf is pretty forgiving, so it won’t burn as long as you remember to take it out.’
‘Alright…’ Aloy sighs, irritated with herself once more.
She chooses to trust her mother over this weird insecurity inside her head, and reluctantly closes the oven door to return to her other task. A pot of hot potatoes is waiting for her there on the stove. The spuds let out hot puffs of steam as she shuts off the burner and carefully strains the scalding water out into the kitchen sink.
‘You’re going to need some butter and some milk.’ Elisabet takes the ingredients out from the fridge. ‘I usually just eyeball a little to start with.’
‘Eyeball?’ Aloy parrots in disbelief.
‘Yes.’
‘That’s not a measurement.’ Aloy points out.
‘Aloy, cooking is a science, but it’s also sort of a… feeling.’ Elisabet says, talking with her hands to try to emphasize her words. ‘Sometimes there just are no exact measurements.’
Aloy has heard this notion before, and it still doesn’t make any sense.
Especially not coming from Dr. Elisabet Sobeck, the renowned Old World scientist, roboticist and engineer that uses logic and figures above all else in just about everything that she does. Her telling Aloy that there are no measurements might as well be the same as Erend deciding to give up his love of beer. Or for Sylens to admit that there’s more to life than knowledge.
As if either of those things would ever happen in a million years.
‘Then how do you know when you’ve done too much?’ Aloy asks instead, deciding not to question her mother further as she reluctantly takes the offered butter and milk.
‘You’ll know.’ Elisabet chuckles lightly. ‘Because you’ll end up with soup instead of mashed potatoes.’
Aloy looks at her, not finding anything about this situation funny.
She follows instructions anyway, mashing the potatoes together into a fine paste.
She doesn’t bother to look up when Beta comes into the room.
‘Mom, do you know what happened to my other slipper?’ Beta asks, looking around with noticeably only one shoe on.
‘No, but I might have some idea.’ Elisabet pointedly glances toward Georgette.
The pink Clawstrider hasn’t changed all that much since she and Elisabet once shared a consciousness. She still sports her Tenakth colors, the Utaru flowers woven in her cables, the Quen disks upon her crown, and the Oseram plate strapped onto her tail.
Really, the only thing that’s changed is that she’s just a machine now.
One that’s prone to getting into trouble, if the fact that everything in this house tends to go missing is any indication.
‘Why does she do that, anyway?’ Aloy had asked after the first time it happened, when Georgette had stolen an orange and white Oseram headband from out of her stash. ‘Steal things?’
‘I know she has a glitch of some kind.’ Beta concurred. ‘But can’t something be changed in her code to fix it?
‘Unfortunately, no.’ Their mother said, easily opening Georgette’s jaw to peer inside. The Clawstrider let her do so without fuss, perfectly docile. ‘This goes a lot deeper than that.’
‘What? Like her core programming?’ Aloy asked.
‘Think of it like… her personality.’ Elisabet hummed, trying to explain. ‘Hunter-killers were designed for a specific reason.’ She reached into Georgette’s mouth to remove the bandana, unbothered by her dangerously sharp teeth. ‘But she doesn’t have that “desire”. So, it comes out in other ways.’ She inspected it, frowning at the tears in the fabric. ‘Instead of targeting people, Georgette targets items. And… well…’ She handed the destroyed bandana back to Aloy.
Her daughter made a face, looking over her ruined headband as her mother stood up with purpose.
‘I’ll make mouth guards for her.’ She declared. ‘Right now.’
Those removable mouth guards have proven to be essential when living with Georgette, now that she and Elisabet no longer share a consciousness.
Currently, the Clawstrider is lounging on the living room floor with one of Alva’s quilted pillows in her mouth. One that would otherwise be destroyed by way of several puncture wounds if not for the guards fitted onto her teeth. Her chin is settled upon the couch cushions as she rests, the lights in her eyes dimmed to a dull pink.
She perks up, however, when Beta takes a seat next to her on the couch.
The Clawstrider drops the pillow and lifts her head, revealing a fluffy slipper underneath her jaw. After a few moments’ hesitation, Beta reaches out to grab her slipper, and Georgette nudges Beta innocently with her nose, otherwise unbothered as her stolen treasure is taken away.
‘How is the cooking lesson going?’ Beta asks, letting out a breath as she puts her slipper on.
Aloy makes a noncommittal noise, too focused on her task to talk right now.
‘Good. We should be done soon.’ Elisabet says in her stead, silently instructing Aloy to add more butter or milk occasionally as she watches her work. ‘How did the beads turn out?’
‘I didn’t see any air bubbles, so hopefully better than the last ones.’ Beta picks up the projector remote, turning on an episode from her latest holo obsession. ‘GAIA said they’re almost done curing, so maybe we can open them after dinner?’
‘Alright. Sounds like a plan.’ Elisabet concurs.
They’ve been experimenting lately with making flower petal beads out of resin.
The first round was a complete bust, as the petals bled and turned the whole project into sickly shades of brown. The second attempt was better, but something went wrong with the molds, resulting in a ton of air bubbles.
This last batch was the third time around, and Beta has been eager to check on them ever since they got back from the wilds.
‘Do you have to watch that right now?’ Aloy suddenly asks, looking tense as she glances up at the holo playing on the projector screen.
That show is one that Aloy finds to be perfectly fine on most days. It’s about a group of magical friends, fairies they’re called, that fight together against witches of dark magic or something like that. Beta has been obsessed with it lately. She keeps saying that the main character is just like Aloy. As once again that person is so “headstrong,” is “curious about new things,” and also conveniently has long red hair (Aloy is starting to notice a pattern here).
The issue now isn’t that Beta wants to watch the show. It’s that the theme song is grating on her last nerve when she’s already busy doing the stressful task of cooking dinner.
‘I was going to. Why?’ Beta asks, unconsciously sinking into herself in response to her sister’s tone. ‘I could lower the volume?’ Her finger hovers over the off switch. ‘Or I could leav-‘
‘Aloy, your sister lives here too.’ Elisabet cuts in with a disapproving frown. ‘She’s allowed to take up space.’
‘I know that.’ Aloy says, keeping her focus on the task at hand.
Elisabet gazes at her with a hard, reproachful stare.
The silence lingers long enough that Aloy actually pauses, but Elisabet does not meet her gaze.
‘Beta, yes can you lower the volume please, if you don’t mind?’ She asks gently, to which her youngest daughter immediately complies. ‘I’ll be right back. We’re going to need more butter, and we should still have some in the other fridge downstairs.’
She runs a hand through Aloy’s hair as she walks away, causing some of the tension in her eldest daughter’s back to soften.
Whenever they’re cooking, Elisabet always does that whenever she has to step away.
The fact that she still does it now, even when clearly upset with Aloy, is very telling.
Aloy’s tense shoulders lower further as her mother leaves the room, watching as Georgette gets up to noisily follow after her. Once it’s just her and her sister, Aloy puts the potato masher down. She looks over at Beta, noticing how she is looking toward the ground, appearing to still be debating whether to leave or not.
Guilt rises within Aloy.
‘I’m sorry, Beta.’ She apologizes with a purposefully softer voice. ‘This is just, really hard.’
She’s been working on controlling her tone lately, ever since she and Beta had a talk about…
What happened. Before GEMINI.
Elisabet had been there. A comforting presence for both her children as they reluctantly talked through their feelings toward one another.
‘I suppose I… used to be afraid of you. Because sometimes your tone, and your, uh, posture. Sometimes it felt just like… them.’
‘And, I guess, I used to… avoid talking to you. You were always so negative, and you really… made it seem like what I’d been doing out there, in the wilds, was never enough.’
It was a very long. Very uncomfortable talk. But Beta and Aloy have both been better for it.
Especially because their mother had been there, willing to ask the difficult questions.
‘And how did you feel when Aloy told you what you had to do, before first asking why you didn’t want to go?’
‘Bad…’
‘And how did that make you feel when Beta said that you didn’t understand her?’
‘Also bad…’
‘Then we have a starting point. Alright, this is what we are going to do from here moving forward.’
Elisabet had tasked each of them with homework to focus on for the future. Beta promised to work on being more optimistic and acknowledging of Aloy’s feelings. And Aloy promised to check her tone and give Beta plenty of space and reassurance.
Aloy had thought such a task would be simple enough, but looking back, apparently it isn’t going to be that easy.
For either of them.
Memories of what Beta said to her this morning come to forefront of her mind, of when her sister said she needed more coding practice, and was easily distracted. At the time, it didn’t register at all, Aloy being much more focused on their mother’s first time in the wilds.
But now, it causes her to purse her lips with thought, green eyes turned away.
‘It’s okay. I should have realized that…’ Beta trails off, gesturing to the cooking utensils strewn across the counter. ‘I’m sorry. For bothering you.’
She shuts off the projector and turns to go back downstairs.
‘Beta.’ Aloy calls after her with a sigh. ‘Beta, that’s not what I meant.’
Aloy can only watch as her sister leaves, forced to reluctantly let the subject drop as their mother returns to finish their cooking lesson.
Dinner is awkward.
Beta can barely look at her.
‘Aloy, I told you to be more careful with your tone.’ Her mother had said. Easily putting two and two together when Beta had rushed past her on the stairs to retreat back into her room. ‘You have to realize that it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.’
Aloy does realize that.
Now at least.
‘The mashed potatoes came out really well.’ Elisabet praises among the quiet. ‘You’re getting better at it.’
‘Yea. But everything else is…’ Aloy trails off, stabbing a fork into her meal.
The meatloaf and the asparagus are both undercooked.
Not enough to be inedible or anything, but definitely enough to be sorely noticed.
‘That’s what happens when you keep opening the oven door.’ Elisabet says as the voice of reason. ‘Things don’t cook evenly.’
Frustration comes over Aloy’s face as she continues to pick at her food.
‘… It’s not that bad.’ Beta says quietly, speaking up for the first time this meal. ‘I like the sauce.’
Aloy looks at her, the two of them timidly glancing at one another.
‘… Thanks.’ She says, to which Beta hums, finishing their meal in a little bit more of a comfortable silence.
Later that night, the resin hair beads are carefully removed from their molded casings.
Thankfully, they come out in pristine condition, all of them being very classic and beautiful looking. Each bead encases one of four different flower petals suspended in the clear crystal resin. Three of which stem from flowers that Elisabet has already chosen:
Blue Forget-Me-Nots for Aloy, which symbolize love and remembrance.
Yellow Tulips for Beta, chosen to represent happiness and new beginnings.
Then there are Pink Carnations. In honor of GAIA.
They represent gratitude. A concept in which Elisabet could never express enough to her with words for this beautiful new world that she managed to create. A world built upon years spent in total isolation, and one that held so many hopes and dreams of the countless people who worked on Project Zero Dawn. All of them coming together, putting their faith in GAIA, to build a better future after the end inevitably occurred.
GAIA was touched to say the least when she was presented with her chosen flower.
‘I owe everything to their dedication, as well as to yours, Elisabet.’ She said earnestly, her digital expression genuine and warm. ‘Though to nourish life has always been within my core programming, I was more than honored to do so.’
‘Still… thank you, GAIA. For everything.’
That only left Elisabet herself without a chosen flower.
GAIA helped Aloy and Beta to scour the APOLLO database, and together they found the perfect one. A signature flower that symbolizes rebirth and resilience.
A Lotus.
Chosen not only to commend Elisabet’s remarkable survival to see this new world she envisioned, but for doing everything she can to help preserve it without question all this time.
The petals on the lotus look stunning in their crystal resin beads, too. Starting with white at the base and fading into brilliant pink at the tips. They pair nicely in particular with GAIA’s carnations, the color pink being an unexpected but clear symbol of their extraordinary connection.
Aloy and Beta take their time carefully unraveling those beads and sorting them along with the others into neat little piles on the coffee table.
Elisabet comes into the living room a few minutes after they’ve finished, shutting the east exit door behind her. Georgette is notably not by her side, having been banished from the base to perform her nightly duty of protecting the garden and the Grazers.
The living room is emptier now without the Clawstrider’s presence, but in her place is a foreign air of charged anticipation as Elisabet sits down on the couch.
Beside her lay a few hairbrushes, some containers of oil and gel, and a bag of hair ties.
Aloy silently moves to sit in front of her, sharing an expectant glance with her sister.
After a moment, Beta also takes her place in front of Aloy, who silently reaches out to remove her sister’s braids.
‘I still can’t believe how pretty they all turned out.’ Beta says in awe, more to herself than anything else as she twirls a lotus bead to catch the light.
‘I know.’ Elisabet hums, running her fingers through Aloy’s hair to remove fishtail braids.
She does not comment when she feels her daughter start to tense up under her touch.
‘Good call with the mold.’ She says. ‘I didn’t even notice that the last one had a hole in it.’
‘It was a really tiny tear.’ Beta acknowledges. ‘I wonder what happened to it? I thought we were being careful.’
‘Could have been from anything really.’ Elisabet shrugs, moving on to take out the other standard looking plaits from Aloy’s long hair. ‘No use stressing about it now.’
Aloy instinctively stiffens. Knowing that, to remove her usual braids, her mother must first remove her blue and red hair beads. And even with prior discussion and permission to do so, Aloy can’t help but feel uncomfortable and exposed as her hair is slowly let down.
She’s never shown this side of herself to anyone.
No one. Besides Rost.
Elisabet has always been more than understanding when it comes to how sensitive Aloy is about her hair beads. Never asking or touching without permission.
Which only causes Aloy to feel even more irritated with herself now.
For the fact that her body still, somehow, continues to treat her mother like a stranger.
‘It’ll take time, Aloy.’ Elisabet had once said, very gently taking her daughter’s stressed face into her hands. ‘You grew up without touch of any kind. Give yourself some grace.’
Aloy tries to do so now, reminding herself again why she’s doing this.
She wants all of her braids to be done by her mother. To take Elisabet with her. Always.
But Elisabet can’t do that for her until she first takes out those beads.
Regardless of knowing this, Aloy is unable to stop herself from tensing further as each blue and red bead is carefully removed and set aside into a small bowl.
It feels like something is suffocating inside of her.
Those beads are precious.
Irreplaceable.
After all, while most Nora are unbelievable sticklers for rules and customs, there is only one tribal law that Rost ever intentionally chose to break.
And he broke it each and every year.
On Aloy’s birthday.
There are eighteen red and blue beads in total, but she would never get the chance to wear the other two that she’s missed.
That is… until she found her mother.
Elisabet stepped in to fill that gap without question, making two traditional Nora beads out of wood and clay in honor of Rost. Despite her limited knowledge of working with such materials, she stubbornly worked on them for days. Until they came out looking nearly identical to the others.
The only difference being a single line of pink circling right down the middle.
The line symbolizes the lost loved one that has passed over to be with All-Mother, and the color represents the person that has taken up the important role of making beads in their stead.
Old and new.
Aloy’s mother and….
Aloy lets out a shaky breath, allowing that thought to drift away as she stares at all of the beads clustered together in the bowl. Elisabet’s beads are jumbled among them, that bright line of pink peeking through the shades of red and blue.
Once her hair is fully let down, her mother puts a hand onto Aloy’s shoulder, steadying her without words.
After a moment, Aloy slowly leans back against Elisabet.
Her mother hums and runs her fingers through Aloy’s hair once more. The action is gentler now, meant to comfort first and foremost. Her daughter leans further into it, treasuring her touch as she feels the soft and now familiar sensation of a kiss being placed against her forehead.
‘Any ideas where you want to put the resin beads?’ Elisabet asks, gently brushing Aloy’s long hair by hand until it’s free of tangles.
It falls down her back in curly waves, a cascade of brilliant red.
‘I don’t know yet.’ Aloy takes a steadying breath and reluctantly sits up.
She resumes running her hands through her sister’s hair, trying to piece together her vision of how she wants all three of them to look.
It’s been an odd task to undertake. Doing another person’s hair.
It’s normal for elder Nora siblings to do their younger brother or sister’s hair once they’ve reached a certain age. The main duty of braiding still falls to their mother, but overall it’s a good practice to undertake that allows for strong bonds to form between siblings.
Aloy hasn’t shied away from braiding Beta’s hair whenever the occasion calls for it.
Which it does. Often.
Aloy runs some hair oil through her sister’s red locks, experimenting with where her beads should go. Beta has fewer than Aloy; most of them consisting of matching lotus beads. To symbolize that they come from her mother, in honor of each of her birthdays.
Plus, she has two more that are considered to be gifts; one from Aloy and one from GAIA.
Gift beads are a pretty common practice; being a singular bead gifted from a family member or close friend.
Growing up as an outcast, Aloy herself has never received one. Not until today.
Absentmindedly, she thinks about where those beads will fit into her own usual style as she begins braiding her little sister’s hair.
She stops, however, when Beta visibly flinches.
‘You’re pulling too hard again.’ Beta complains, her brow pinched with pain.
‘If I don’t pull hard, it’s going to fall out.’ Aloy says with no mercy.
They’ve had this conversation before.
As Beta’s hair is shorter, it needs to be pulled tighter to stay in place. Especially now more than ever so she won’t lose any of her new beads.
‘Mom doesn’t pull that hard.’ Beta points out.
‘And it always falls out at the end of the day.’ Aloy counters, pulling a strand of hair into place.
Beta gasps dramatically, curling away from her sister’s touch.
‘You’re doing it on purpose.’
‘If you didn’t want me to braid your hair, you should have said so.’ Aloy glowers.
‘I want you to do it.’ Beta admits, looking back at her older sister with the same frustrated expression. ‘Just not so hard.’
‘Then I don’t know what to tell you.’ Aloy argues back, the two of them glaring at one another.
Before their bickering can escalate any further, their mother cuts in with a halfhearted sigh.
‘Girls.’ Elisabet sits back, running a few drops of oil through Aloy’s hair. Her movements are slow. Almost lazy. ‘Please.’
Something in her tone has both Beta and Aloy pausing.
The two sisters share a glance, before looking back at their mother.
‘Are you still feeling tired?’ Beta asks shyly.
‘Are you hurting anywhere?’ Aloy asks more directly.
The question of ‘was today too much too soon?’ goes unspoken.
‘No.’ Elisabet shakes her head. ‘I’m fine.’
Those words, which are never to be trusted, cause Beta and Aloy both to frown suspiciously.
‘I’m fine. Really.’ Elisabet repeats, this time in a gentler tone as she takes her time sectioning Aloy’s long hair. ‘You don’t need to worry about me so much.’
‘I always worry about you.’ Aloy admits softly, glancing over her shoulder.
‘We both do.’ Beta concurs quietly.
Their words cause something in Elisabet’s face to fall.
Her green eyes harden, closing off.
In the end, she doesn’t respond further, only braiding Aloy’s long hair once more into fishtails.
Beta runs her fingers over her new braids, admiring the multitude of dangling pink lotus beads peppered amongst her red locks.
Behind her, Aloy stands, taking a moment to stretch. Her own new fishtail braids sway with her movements as she goes to stand behind Elisabet.
Beta turns to watch them as Aloy gets to work removing their mother’s braids.
Elisabet’s birthday beads, she decided, will be comprised of GAIA’s pink carnations.
Seeing as her own mother, Miriam, is no longer alive to make ones for her.
‘Are you sure?’ Aloy asked. ‘We could always make ones to honor her?’
‘No.’ Elisabet immediately shook her head, abruptly cutting off that line of conversation. ‘GAIA’s are just fine. We’ll use those.’
‘But… you’re sure?’ Beta asked hesitantly.
‘Yes.’ Elisabet insisted. ‘Please, I don’t…’ She sighed. ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’
Neither Aloy nor Beta pressed further, following their mother’s wishes without question.
Beta watches now with fascination as Aloy expertly weaves those pink carnation beads into their mother’s hair. Her fingers move with an ease that is clearly honed and tempered over many years of practice, quickly working at a pace that Beta finds hard to keep up with.
Even as she is slowly learning the nuances of this Nora practice of braiding, Beta was still surprised to find out that Elisabet will have a fewer number of beads than either of them.
Because apparently, birthday beads have an age limit.
As, within the tribe, you only receive beads made by your mother up until the age of twenty.
When you are considered to be fully grown in the eyes of All-Mother.
After which, you can start handing those beads down to your children for special milestones. Such as for their first successful hunt, overcoming the Proving, or for finding a mate, etc.
Upon learning of this notion, Elisabet had taken it very seriously. Carefully considering information about the Nora and recognizing her own little family’s needs.
Ultimately, she decided to give four of her birthday beads away to each of her children.
To Aloy; one for winning the Proving, one for stopping HADES, one for resurrecting GAIA, and one for defeating the Zeniths.
And to Beta; one for graduating from APOLLO, one for escaping her captors, one for building the rig and pulse generators for Cauldron GEMINI, and one for defeating the Zeniths.
Beta can feel the weight of those pink carnation beads along with a light pulsing in her scalp from how tight Aloy has pulled her hair. It’s a constant, nagging feeling, but one she’s willing to put up with for her sister. Elisabet is of the same mindset, both of them willing to have their hair traditionally braided in order to form more of a connection with Aloy.
Her sister hasn’t said as much, but Beta knows that it means the world to her.
She can see it in the way that Aloy’s expression is content, her posture relaxed as she meticulously braids their mother’s hair.
The only Nora custom that Aloy has never asked of them is face paint.
And Beta highly doubts that she ever will.
Aloy doesn’t wear face paint, a fact that Beta found to be quite odd once she’d learned more about their tribe from Varl. Upon broaching the subject some time ago, he explained that Nora face paint is actually decided by a child’s father.
“There’s not a lot that’s passed down by fathers in the tribe. Face paint is really the only specific thing. And for Aloy… Well…”
Beta’s just happy that she isn’t alone anymore. Face paint or no.
Elisabet retires for the night shortly after that.
Beta and Aloy stayed up together in the projection room for a while with GAIA, spending time casually working on their own various projects to combat Nemesis and recapture HEPHAESTUS. Once it had reached eleven o’clock, however, Beta diligently said goodnight to her sister and headed off to bed.
With both GAIA and Elisabet’s help, she has been getting better lately about going to bed at a more reasonable hour. She still tends to wake up long after sunrise has passed, and it’s been very difficult to force herself to go to sleep at a normal hour, but she has slowly been seeing results.
Some nights she can even stay asleep all the way until morning.
But others, well, she simply isn’t so lucky.
Beta startles awake in the darkness of her room, gasping for breath as her eyes wildly look about the humming servers. Without thought, she scrambles up from her bed and quickly climbs the stairs in search of her mother.
This has happened before, and the trip is mostly from muscle memory now.
It’s not a want anymore. It’s a need.
She needs to see her mother. Right now.
To make sure that she’s still here. That she’s not…
Beta opens the door to Elisabet’s room and shuts it behind her. Once inside, she sighs with relief in the familiar, safe setting, taking in the comforting scent of this space filled with notebooks, machine parts and budding flowers.
Elisabet does not stir in her bed, and after a moment, Beta moves to join her.
She startles, however, upon noticing two green eyes staring back at her in the darkness.
While Beta has been told it is perfectly normal for Nora daughters to co-sleep with their mothers, Aloy has still chosen to sleep in her own bed for the most part.
Or at least, that’s what she had assumed.
Considering that the two of them have never crossed paths like this before.
The two sisters stare at each other in the darkness, Beta lingering near the doorway and Aloy watching her from over their mother’s shoulder.
Beta sinks into herself as the silence stretches on.
But just when she is thinking of leaving, though, Aloy reaches a hand out toward her silently.
Beta’s eyes glance at her sister’s outstretched fingers, and she lets out a breath she hadn’t been aware she was holding.
Silently, she tiptoes to the bed and lifts up the covers. Elisabet’s back is to her, arms loosely wrapped around Aloy as she slumbers. Beta slots herself into place behind her, wrapping one arm around her mother and hiding her face in between her shoulder blades.
Her other hand meets Aloy’s, clasping onto her sister like a lifeline.
For a minute or two, the room and the world are silent, until Aloy speaks.
‘Did you have another nightmare?’ She keeps her voice low, even though they both know well enough by now that Elisabet will not wake to anything short of either a sunrise or an earthquake.
Beta does not answer her with words, only giving Aloy’s hand a small squeeze.
Her sister returns the touch, remaining silent until she speaks.
‘Tilda took her away again.’ Beta eventually admits, her voice small.
‘You’ve been having that dream a lot.’ Aloy acknowledges.
‘It was different this time.’ Beta shakes her head, her voice hurt. ‘Aloy, she went with her. Mom left us.’
‘That would never happen.’ Aloy immediately denies.
‘Could it?’ Beta asks with a frown, laying her head against her mother to look up at her sister. ‘She’s been acting weird lately. Distant.’
Aloy tilts her head, a contemplative look on her face.
‘I’ve noticed it too.’
‘Whenever I ask her about it, she just looks… sad.’ Beta recounts. ‘Do you think maybe she might be having regrets? That she stayed?’
‘No, Beta.’ Aloy shakes her head. ‘I think if she really wanted to go, she would have gone from the very beginning. When the plague was still happening.’
‘I guess you’re right.’ Beta looks away.
‘Maybe you should ask her tomorrow.’ Aloy encourages. ‘You haven’t told her about those dreams, right?’
Beta has never scrounged up the courage to tell Elisabet the full details about her nightmares, only choosing to confide in her sister so far. It’s easier that way, seeing as Aloy already has her own history with recurring dreams.
Though, Aloy’s dream has noticeably stopped.
Ever since it came true in real life when Elisabet gifted her the world necklace.
Beta hopes against all hope that her own dream doesn’t come true, too.
‘Maybe. It’s just…’ Beta trails off, squeezing Elisabet tight. ‘I don’t want to lose her, Aloy. I don’t know what I’d do without her.’
‘I know.’ Aloy sighs, doing the same on their mother’s other side. ‘Me too.’
Beta grows silent, feeling a sudden air of expectation come over the room as she peeks up at Aloy. Her sister doesn’t say anything more, however, and merely shifts to settle down in their mother’s embrace, leaving Beta feeling strangely uneasy.
She grasps tighter onto her big sister’s hand regardless, not letting Aloy go until sleep calls for her once more.
Bonus Scene:
‘What? Go with Tilda?’ Elisabet has an incredulous look on her face as she places a plate of eggs, bacon and toast on the table. ‘Why in the world would I ever want to do that?’
‘I don’t know, you just… did.’ Beta says timidly, picking up her fork to poke at her eggs.
Elisabet looks her daughter over with that assessing gaze of hers, the one that makes both Beta and Aloy feel as if they will never be able to hide anything from her.
What she sees in her youngest daughter today causes her face to soften.
‘I would never go with her. Not back then and especially not now.’ She says reassuringly, wrinkling her nose with disgust. ‘Really, an eternity with Tilda? In space? No thanks.’ She reaches out to cup Beta’s cheek, turning her face up. ‘Besides, I would never leave you or your sister. You know that, right?’
Beta looks at her shyly, giving a small nod.
‘Right…’ She says, allowing her mother’s words to ease her fears.
‘Speaking of me.’ Aloy comes to join them, holding two plates of food. She hands one to Elisabet before sitting down with her own breakfast. ‘What was I doing this time?’
At this, Beta can’t help the smile that comes over her face.
All of her dreams start consistently at the top of the Zenith Base, where Beta is left all alone as Elisabet is taken away. Strangely, however, Aloy is never present when this happens.
Her sister is always back here, at home.
Doing something hysterically mundane in the wake of their mother being stolen away.
‘This time you said,’ Beta sits up a bit. ‘What? No, I can’t go with you right now, Beta. I’m busy.’ She says with sarcasm and attitude, mimicking her sister’s voice. ‘Can’t you see I’m cleaning the candles?’
At this, Elisabet raises a red eyebrow.
‘Cleaning… the candles?’ Elisabet slowly repeats.
‘That’s what she told me.’ Beta says, holding up her hands. ‘Don’t ask me what it means.’
‘So, Aloy won’t help you?’ Elisabet asks. ‘In any of your dreams?’
‘No.’ Beta shakes her head. ‘She’s always too busy doing something else.’
Elisabet looks between her two daughters then, lingering with something in her gaze that’s hard to read. She must decide not to share it, and instead gives Aloy a halfhearted look as she gets up to grab more coffee.
‘Well, it’s good to know that candles are more important than your mother, Aloy.’
‘In my defense,’ Aloy looks around at the multitude of candles scattered around the living room. ‘There are a lot of them.’
‘But you weren’t even cleaning the candles. That’s the strangest part.’ Beta shakes her head, looking at her sister. ‘You were just shooting them with arrows.’
That ridiculous image has Elisabet fondly shaking her head as Aloy turns away with laughter.
Beta only looks toward her sister with a smile, trying to commit that precious sound to memory.
Dream Eater Allyphant Creations 
Leave a comment