Yo! This story still lives! I just haven't had much inspiration to work on it lately, but I was replaying the game and stumbled across this tiny, one-off side quest in Sunfall where you help a brother get medical treatment for his sister (and fight a Thunderjaw in a narrow canyon because Why Not™) and I suddenly wondered ... what would the NPC have thought of that? Of this ... random Outlander sweeping in and helping for legit no discernible reason? Kindness is unheard of in Sunfall, especially for the slaves/refugees like Adas and his sis, so ... why? Aloy is doing it out of kindness, and we the player are probably just doing it for the EXP, but I had the sudden urge to try to see what was going on in this kid's head during that quest. Thus, this update.

Anyway, I'm still working (and stuck) on Aratak's chapter, but this was a refreshing break.

Copyright Disclaimer: I do not own Horizon Zero Dawn or any references made in this story. The only things I own are my headcanons on the plot and the characters.

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Chapter 4: Adas

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She swept in at sunset. Adas didn't notice her at first, he was too busy sacrificing what little water he could spare for his sister's feverish forehead and trying to squash the little voice in his head that whispered Shianah was already as good as passed. He only noticed the stranger when a shadow fell over him and an unfamiliar voice murmured, "She's very pale. Is she unwell?"

Adas looked up, an explanation already falling from his lips even before he realized was speaking to an Outlander. A strange Outlander at that, he'd never seen hair as red as the stones in the Sunring after a fresh sacrifice. But despite her Nora garb and her strange hair, her eyes were … kind, and Adas found himself telling the stranger about the plight of his little sister.

The stranger's head tilted, "Is there no one in Sunfall who can help?"

Ah. This Outlander was very new to Sunfall then. Probably a bounty hunter, here in search of work from the Priests. Though he'd never seen a bounty hunter that cared for the tent folk before, "We're refugees … we know our place. And there's only one healer in the territory. He's…" All the insults and curses the other refugees had ever said flitted through his mind, but that was no way to speak around an Outlander, or about the only healer in Sunfall's reach, so he settled on the mildest, "difficult." But that didn't even begin to cover it, let alone elaborate on what made him so difficult, so Adas added a little shyly, "His soul is in shadow."

The Outlander's forehead wrinkled for a moment, "His … soul is in shadow?" She seemed to be testing the words, weighing them on her tongue for a meaning she did not know. But of course she wouldn't, she was an Outlander, a Nora, how could she know of the bitter weight hidden behind Adas's words? Or the implications to a heart falling out of the Sun's light and into shadow's cruelty?

"Ghaliv," Adas explained with a sigh, "that's him. He's very clever, but he has … little care for people," beyond their money, anyway, "perhaps the desert scoured it away. Or perhaps he was always like that. Either way, I know he won't help us." And there was sour grief and bitterness on his tongue with those words. Venom watered down to despair by his fatigue.

The Outlander's gaze dropped down to Shianah, sleeping fitfully in the shade of the tent, and Adas wondered why the Outlander was bothering to still speak with him. Her weapons were far too high a quality, and her skin far too clean to have anything in common with a refugee and a slave like Adas. Yet still she lingered. She muttered something under her breath, something that sounded like, "Well I'll see about that." But before he could question if his ears were failing him, she asked, "Where would I find him?"

Adas almost told her not to bother. Ghaliv didn't treat Outlanders anymore than he treated refugees. But there was … something in his chest that kept him from saying so. Maybe there was still some tiny kernel of hope left in him, some shred of his mother's tales of hope and miracles that wanted to believe that his prayers for Shianah might be answered in this Outlander. So he told her about the border battle at Blazon Arch, the soldiers there would be under Ghaliv's care if the man hadn't left already for his next task.

The Outlander's eyes glinted in the setting sun, turning hazel eyes to tiny shards of fire as she spun on her heel and walked away without a word. Adas settled next to his sister, resolved to spend another night whispering soothing nothings to his sibling and then working hard under the taskmaster's whip without sleep the next day.

By evening of the next day, he'd forgotten all about the Outlander with the fire hair and her questions.

He remembered, sharp and disbelieving, two days after that when he saw hair as red as blood weaving through the tents toward him. The Outlander swept into view with a predatory stride as fluid as a Kestrel's and as smug as a thief's despite her disheveled appearance —by the Sun, she looked like she'd gone to war with a Sawtooth or three—. More importantly —impossibly—, Ghaliv was following on her heels, a bag tucked under one arm.

Adas stood up, half caught between tears of gratitude and the belief that he was dreaming somehow, "It's you." How-why-am-I-dreaming- "Hello there." He added past the spinning in his mind.

The Outlander jerked her head toward Ghaliv, no hint of mockery or trickery in her voice as she murmured, "I brought someone to see your sister."

It's … true? This Outlander —Sun, he didn't even know her name— had somehow convinced Ghaliv to treat his sister? The only family he had left in the world? His gaze bounced between them as he gasped, "How did you-. What did we do to deserve-?"

Her head tilted and her hair glinted like fire on the rusty stones of the citadel and Adas's words died in his mouth as his mother's words came back to him. The stories she had whispered in the hard times, of the Sun sending Messengers in mortal form to grant wishes to his devout children. Of miracles granted by people who were almost, but not quite human —eyes that burned molten gold, or hair like fire and oh if this was a dream let him never wake up—. But in the stories, if anyone questioned the miracle, that was a sign of disrespect to the Sun and the Messengers would flee, taking their miracle with them and so Adas heard himself babbling desperately that he would not ask, lest a shadow passed over and stole it away —he would drop to his face in thanks, but that would prove he knew she was a Messenger and then she would flee and take Shianah's chance with her—.

"Smart boy," cut in Ghaliv with a look that said he knew exactly what Adas was thinking —did Ghaliv believe it too? Was that why he had come?—.

The Messenger in Outlander skin leveled a steady, burning look on Ghaliv, "She'll have his full attention. Won't she?" The last part was a bite, a warning and a threat all in one and Adas wasn't sure how Ghaliv did not fall to his face in fear at a Messenger using such a tone toward him —Messengers were blessed by the Sun, Messengers carried power in them no human could withstand, even when the Messenger was cloaked in mortal skin and bone—.

Ghaliv just looked even more amused, "Once I'm freed of other distractions, yes."

The Messenger spared one last glance to Adas and Shianah —to the miracle she was giving them for reasons Adas could not begin to fathom because surely there were others more worthy? More devout?—, then turned and strode away without a word.

Adas spent the next hour in a daze, answering Ghaliv's questions on instinct and struggling with tears as the healer gave his sister the medicine she so desperately needed. It wasn't until Ghaliv had finished his task and given —given!— Adas more medicine and the instructions on how to use it that the healer finally commented, "Do make sure your sister doesn't hurt herself once she's recovered, I dare say she's more valuable than this entire camp put together."

That- wasn't something Adas expected to hear, even considering how his day had gone, "V-valuable?"

Ghaliv smirked as he stood up, almost … mischievous as he told Adas with utter sincerity, "Hm-hm, your little sister is worth I would say…" the man opened one of the pouches on his waist, revealing the contents within to Adas's disbelieving gaze, "a Thunderjaw heart."