Chapter Text
By the Ten, he was lost.
Kotallo turned in a slow circle. None of the dwellings around him looked in the slightest bit familiar. This end of the settlement was completely empty—no one had opened their stalls in the aftermath of the recent arrival of the Tenakth delegation, meaning there was no one he could turn to to ask for directions. Even if there had been someone about, he didn't know the location of the stall he was looking for. Maybe he could drop Aloy's or Erend's names but considering Aloy had done everything within her power to distance herself from the Nora, she probably wanted to stay as anonymous as possible.
Without warning, something hard struck the back of Kotallo's head, making him stumble forward as flashes of light filled his vision.
Had he been so lost in thought that he'd failed to notice someone sneaking up on him?
"What do you think you're doing here? Get the hell out of the Sacred Lands!"
Kotallo spun around, his one hand flying to the now-throbbing back of his head. He found himself face-to-face with an angry, slightly crazed looking Nora man dressed in tattered clothes. Kotallo concluded he was probably an outcast and lived in the wilds as he stared the man down, unsure what to make of the situation.
"What, is there something wrong with your hearing?" the man demanded when Kotallo didn't respond. Kotallo's attention was caught by a small rock clenched tightly in the man’s fist, speckled with blood. Kotallo realised it washisblood as he pulled his hand away from his head and saw it covered in the deep red liquid.
"Nobody wants you blood thirsty Tenakth here, justget out!"
Kotallo took a step back as the man lunged forward, clearly intent on attacking again. Kotallo's had reached for his khopesh; he wouldn't kill the man, just slice at him deep enough to teach him a lesson.
Kotallo jumped as the rock that had been aimed at his head, for a second time, was knocked off its trajectory mid-air, falling to the earthen ground. Kotallo's head whipped around, not entirely surprised to see Aloy standing behind him, her stance that of someone who was relaxed, in control of the situation.
"Brom, the Tenakth are not here to cause us any harm," she said, her voice calm, soothing. "There’s nothing for you to fear."
The man narrowed his eyes at Aloy, muttering under his breath. "They’ll take us, they’ll kill us," he muttered repeatedly, eyes glazed over. "They’ll kill us."
Aloy's response was to approach the man, her expression gentle, understanding.
“I promise you, Brom, no one is going to die. Not you, not Orana, no one. Do you think you can make it back to where Orana is waiting for you? I’m sure she must be worried about you, Brom.”
Rocking forward on his heels slightly, the man named ‘Brom’ nodded and walked off, muttering to himself.
Aloy glanced at Kotallo, feeling a wave of relief to see he was alright. Internally, she chastised herself for intervening; Kotallo could have managed on his own. Though she knew his approach might have been less diplomatic, given the tight grip he had on his khopesh.
"Thank you, Aloy," Kotallo's gentle voice interrupted her angry thoughts.
"Sure," she replied, her gaze drifting to Kotallo's hands. She was startled to see fresh blood streaked across them. "You're hurt." Finding herself rattled by the edge of concern that slipped into her voice.
Kotallo glanced down at his hands.
"It appears so. That man, Brom, cracked a rock against my head. No doubt it looks worse than it actually is..." His voice trailed off as Aloy moved behind him to examine the wound.
"I don't think you'll need stitches," she said after a moment. "But I'll need to stop the bleeding and take a closer look to be sure."
"You’ll oblige me then?" Kotallo asked.
Aloy sighed, running a hand through her flame-colored hair.
"Just follow me," she muttered. He could have gone to the healer; it wasn't a life-threatening injury. But there was something in seeing him bleed that stirred something in her. "Stay close. People here don't take kindly to the Tenakth. They've been wronged too many times in the past to be forgiving of you now."
Kotallo hummed in acknowledgement as they walked side by side.
"I suppose they don't know about Erend’s history with the now Tenakth Chief then?"
Aloy simply shook her head.
Erend and Alva found themselves taken aback when Aloy walked back into the stall with Kotallo in tow.
"We send her out to find food for lunch, and she returns with the Tenakth Chief. Not sure how that works out, but okay," Erend remarked.
Eisa darted out from the back room, her smile fading as she saw who had accompanied her mother. "What's he doing here?" she demanded unhappily.
"Eisa!" Aloy scolded loudly, startling everyone. Eisa's eyes widened with confusion as she looked at her mother. "We do not speak about people that way. Do you understand?" Eisa nodded gingerly. "Good. Now apologise."
"Sorry..." Eisa muttered, scuffing her feet against the floor.
Kotallo gave the child a measured nod.
"Now, I need you to go and get my medicine pouch, do you think you can do that for me?" Aloy asked, her tone that of no nonsense.
"Yes." Eisa nodded, turning on her feet and heading to the back of the stall. Erend raised an eyebrow at Aloy as she led Kotallo around the counter and sat him on a bench she had located there. His confusion turned to shock when he saw the nasty gash on the back of Kotallo's head.
"By the Forge, what happened?"
"Brom, he thought the Tenakth had come to declare war against the Nora," Aloy replied shortly. Erend snorted, clearly amused.
"Who's Brom?" Alva asked as Eisa returned with Aloy’s pouch.
"Brom…" the girl looked sombre as she handed the pouch to Aloy, who smiled gently as poured some distilled spirits into her hands.
"Is there something wrong with him?" Kotallo asked.
"The Nora seem to believe so," Erend explained. "He was cast out for having murdered a fellow Nora. Told the Matriarchs that ‘the voices made him do it’. Poor sod, way I hear it, he’s heard voices in his head since he was a young lad.”
“He’s what the Old Ones referred to as ‘schizophrenic’. He’s harmless, mostly, but he has been known to show signs of aggression and fall victim to violent outbursts.” Aloy further explained.
"Some of the other kids think he’s scary, but I just think he’s a little lost," Eisa adds with a sad smile. Before Kotallo can respond, a wet sensation around his wound makes him wince slightly.
"Head wounds bleed a lot," Aloy concedes. "I was hopeful you wouldn’t need stitches, but it seems Brom hit you harder than I’d initially thought.” Aloy eyed Kotallo intently before adding, “This is going to hurt."
"I trust you," Kotallo assured her as she started treating the wound, stitching it closed with a slight tremble to her otherwise nimble hands. He hadn't forgotten that Aloy had always been the one to tend to his vast array of injuries over the years. She was as good a healer as any, if not better in his opinion.
A figure stood before the entry to the stall, gaining everyone's attention, hoping to see a customer. Their hopes fell as Chaplain Dekka poked her head in. "Pardon the intrusion..." She looked bewildered as she glanced between Kotallo, Aloy, Erend, Alva, and Eisa. "I heard what sounded like a kerfuffle, so I just wanted to check if the Chief was here..."
"At ease, Dekka," Kotallo said, standing with a grimace. "I was caught up in a slight misunderstanding. Nothing to be too concerned about. Everything's fine."
"Right." Aloy would have laughed at Dekka's expression if she wasn't in such a bad mood. "Long time no see, Erend. Aloy." She nodded at them both, lingering on Aloy before stepping out to wait for Kotallo.
"I'm hungry," Eisa suddenly spoke up, breaking the intense silence. She was sitting on the counter, legs swinging.
"That's right, we never did get any lunch, did we?" Erend asks rhetorically.
"If you can find another stall that’s open besides this one, then all power to you," Aloy said as she screwed the lid shut on the bottle of distilled spirit and stored it back into the pouch Eisa had bought over earlier.
Erend sighed.
"Fine, point taken. Take Eisa home before the kid starves."
"Yay!" Eisa cheered, sliding off the counter and running toward Aloy, wrapping her arms around her mother’s waist. "Let's go, let's go!"
"All right, all right." Aloy laughed quietly as she took her daughters hand in her own. "Let's get going."
She seemed determined to avoid Kotallo's gaze as she left Erend to secure the stall for the night. "Bye Uncle Erend, bye Alva, bye..." Eisa hesitated, realising she didn't know Kotallo's name. "Um... bye…ugh...?"
Kotallo chuckled at the boy's distress. "You can call me ‘Tallo," he said gently.
Eisa grinned.
"Bye, ‘Tallo!"
It wasn't until Aloy was halfway home that she realised Kotallo had given Eisa permission to call him by his nickname, the one only she had ever used, rather than by 'Chief', as if signalling he planned to be around more often.
Oh, this just wasn't going to work...
"Aloy's the reason you came back today, isn't she?" Dekka's question hung in the air, more rhetorical than anything. Kotallo didn't answer and after an extended moment Dekka spoke up one more. "Permission to speak freely, Chief."
"Permission granted." Kotallo acknowledged with a hum.
Dekka inhaled, choosing her next words carefully.
"The reason Aloy left the Forbidden West seven years ago. I knew. I knew about the pregnancy, I was there to guide Aloy through labour, I was there when Eisa took her first breath. I knew."
Kotallo stopped dead in his tracks, stunned. His heart felt as though it had leapt into his throat. His lungs felt tight in his chest and it was any wonder he remembered how to breathe.
He whirled around, eyes wide, nostrils flared.
"I'm sorry?You knew? You knew that she was with child? You knew and have known where she was, why she left, and not once did you think to mention it? Not once, in seven years?!" Kotallo's composure had shattered. He was seething, clenching his fist so tightly that his nails dug into the flesh of his palm, drawing blood, his knuckles snow white. Dekka stood before him, waiting for him to regain some semblance of control. After a long moment, Kotallo croaked. "For seven years, I drive myself mad at the thought that I would never see her again. That I would never hear the sound of her laughter again, witness that rare smile spreading across her face…”
Dekka, though not surprised by his outburst, hesitated before speaking again.
"If it's any consolation, I took a blood oath and swore to Aloy that I wouldn't tell you or anyone else where she was and why she'd left. I am sorry, Chief, know that it broke me to keep it from you. I saw how you suffered, and I was powerless to offer you any comfort." She confessed.
Kotallo leaned against a nearby boulder, feeling dreadfully dizzy. He wanted to blame it on his earlier run-in with Brom, but he knew it was Dekka's sudden confession that had him reeling.
"No... You have nothing to apologise for, Dekka. Aloy trusted you to protect her, to keep her pregnancy and the birth of her child a secret. If anything, I should be thanking you for keeping your promise to her," Kotallo said, struggling to process the flood of information.
"I truly am sorry, Chief. Know that it pained me as much to see her leave as it did to see you wane away after her."
There was a long pause.
"Was it truly so bad?" Kotallo whispered.
"There were many instances over the years where I thought you'd strayed too far from the path to come back again, yes." Dekka confided. "But each time, no matter how deep your hurt, you came back to us. Hekarro was right to choose you to supersede him. You are strong, both in mind and body." Dekka conceded. "You make us proud, Chief."
"You know, after all these years, you'd think you'd be comfortable enough to just call me Kotallo. I might be your superior now, but we all know you could still draw first blood against me, Dekka." Kotallo smiled softly.
"And don't you damn well forget it, Kotallo." Both Dekka and Kotallo smiled at each other.
It had been a long day.
