Chapter 8

  Life Among the Nora

  The m air was crisp as Ana stepped out of her dwelling, the st of damp earth and pine lingering in the valley below. The vilge of Mother’s Heart stretched before her, a colle of wooden huts and winding pathways, all built withiural embrace of the surrounding cliffs. Smoke from m fires curled into the sky as the people of the tribe prepared for another day.

  She pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders, watg as the Nora went about their routines. Mothers tending to their children, hunters returning from early m expeditions, traders setting up their wares—this was the only life she had ever known.

  Unlike Aloy, she had grown up within the fines of the tribe, raised by High Matriarch Teersa after her mother perished in the raid that had stolen so much from them. The same raid that had turned Rost into an outcast. He had once been her family, but the ws of the tribe had kept them apart.

  She was not an outcast, but she was not fully one of them either. Without a parent to guide her, she had always felt like she was walking a fine line, an outsider within her own home.

  Yet, the Nora had shaped her. She followed their ways, respected their traditions, and uood their fears. She knew why they g to their ws, why they saw outcasts as untouchable. A, she could never bring herself to truly agree.

  She had seen the way they looked at Aloy. How they whispered behind her back. How they ignored her existence. And it made her wonder—if her mother had lived, would she have been like them? Would she have looked at Aloy the same way?

  As she walked through the vilge, she observed everything arouhe people, the sounds, the rituals.

  he training grounds, young Nora warriors practiced with their bows, their arrows cutting through the m fog. The Proving was ing, and tensions ran high. It was their ce to prove themselves, to earn a pce among the tribe.

  A group of older women sat by a fire, murmuring about the ing trials, speaking names of those they expected to succeed. Aloy’s name was never mentioned.

  Ana ched her fists. They didn’t even aowledge her.

  Further down, children ran past, pying a game of chase betwees. For a moment, she let herself imagine a different life—one where Rost had not been outcast, where her mother had lived, where she and Aloy could have been raised together as sisters within the vilge.

  But that was not the life they had been given.

  She made her the steps leading to the High Matriarchs’ lodge, passing woven banners fluttering in the cold wind. Teersa was inside, speaking with the other Matriarchs, but Ana didn’t o see her to know what she would say.

  “The tribe es first. The ws are sacred.”

  She uood the words. She just didn’t believe ihe way Teersa did.

  As the sun began to dip, Ana slipped away from the vilge, her feet carrying her beyond the gates. Out here, the world was different—untamed, uable, free.

  The wilds stretched before her, golden grass swaying in the wind, t trees casting long shadows. She moved through the underbrush with practiced ease, following the familiar trails carved by geions of Nora hunters.

  This was where she felt most at home.

  A herd of Striders grazed in the distaheir meical flinting in the fading light. A Watcher lurked nearby, sing the area with its pierg blue gaze. Ana remaiill, waiting for the right moment before slipping past unnoticed.

  She climbed a rocky ledge, her breath steady as she pulled herself up. From here, she could see far beyond the sacred nds, past the borders the Nora refused to cross. The world was vast, stretg far beyond what the tribe allowed them to know.

  And somewhere out there, Aloy was training.

  Yet, despite the beauty of the wilds, there was an unease in her chest. The maes had always been dangerous, but tely, somethi… off. They were more restless, mgressive. O few outings, she had noticed strange signs—subtle scratches on tree bark, tiny iions in the soil that didn’t maty animal or mae she knew. And today, she spotted something new: faiallic traces high up orees, as if something small had crawled across the bark.

  She ran her fingers over one of the marks, frowning. Whatever it was, it wasn’t natural.

  Ana exhaled, shaking the thought away. She had more pressing matters to focus on.

  Ana sat on the edge of the cliff, watg as the sky turned shades e and violet. She thought of the years that had passed, of how much Aloy had ged. Once, she had been a curious, determined child, alushing forward, never bag down. Now, she was strong. Capable.

  And soon, she would face the Proving.

  Ana exhaled, knowing what she had to do.

  She made her way back through the wilds, past the t trees, past the whispering grass, until she reached the pce where Aloy lived.

  She found her sitting by a fire, sharpening the bde of her spear. The glow of the fmes reflected in her eyes, determined as ever.

  Ana approached and sat beside her.

  “The Proving is ing,” she said softly.

  Aloy didn’t look up. “I know.”

  Aated, then tinued, “You have the skills to win. You know that.”

  Aloy finally met her gaze, something unreadable in her expression. “And then what?”

  Ana frowned.

  Aloy set her bde down. “If I win, I get to be part of the tribe. The same people who ignored me my whole life. The same ones who wouldn’t even say my name.”

  Ana swallowed. “It’s what you always wanted, isn’t it? To belong?”

  Aloy was silent for a long moment.

  Ana sighed. “I just… I want you to know you have a choice. You don’t have to prove anything to them. You don’t owe them anything.”

  Aloy looked back at the fire, her expression unreadable.

  Ana stood, pg a hand on her shoulder. “Whatever you choose, I’ll be here.”

  She turned and walked away, leaving Aloy aloh the crag fire and the weight of the choice before her.

  To be tinued.....