CHAPTER 11: The Goddess of the Forge

I remember when I was little, my older brother would tell me about the old gods who ruled the Aegean and its islands; at least before the Romans perverted everything with their conquests. The elder Olympians always made more sense to me as deities when the alternative was some all-knowing asshole that had total omnipotence. Capricious backstabbers who raped, tricked, and ruined the lives of mortals by other means felt more…human to me. It wasn't a good feeling, but they were clearly reflected in the heroics and evils of life all around me. Well, maybe I just preferred the gods of the Pantheon, they were more relatable and all; I never knew shit about actual faith either way.

Elisabet told me I'd be creating and programing the part of Gaia that would literally build all of the other servitors, I had to name him Hephaestus. It felt like destiny.

So 1000 years later, when Aloy led us to what she described as an independent village led by a genius smith named Petra…I was a little excited.

"Flame-Hair!" a loud cry rang out as we approached the gate. Aloy raised a hand in acknowledgement. An attractive woman built like a tank approached us, as we got closer. She was tall, but not giant. Not as tall as Talanah, but that girl was all legs anyway. The woman's face was smeared in machine oil and as I took her in, I noticed that she scars mapping her arms, most of which looked like the kinds of burns my brother got working in the shop before I bought him state of the art gloves with my Faro Automated Solutions salary. She didn't even spare a glance for us; she was looking at Aloy with the same look my mother gave me when I had misbehaved.

"Petra, hi! It's been a little while," Aloy said almost ashamedly.

"It's been weeks girl, with no word!" Petra responded as she levelled Aloy with a chastising look.

"I was busy," Aloy responded weakly. I looked to the others' reactions at Aloy being scolded like this. Ikrie was trying not to laugh, Talanah was rolling her eyes and Vanasha was actually laughing.

"Well, come in then. I've been working on another prototype for you to try. But I'll need you to gather a couple things for it to be in working order." Petra lights up as she discusses her work.

If there was such a thing as a literal Hephaestus; it was this Petra. She had all the trappings of the old god from my brother's stories, and my later research. She was a woman though, so she was even better than the Hephaestus from the myths.

"I will do that. But could we speak in private first, I have a couple of people to introduce to you." Aloy said as she regained some dignity from ghosting what seemed like her weapon supplier.

"New faces! I've briefly met you Carja lot," Petra said indicating Talanah and Vanasha who nodded in turn. "Ersa the Storm Chaser, it's good to see you back on your feet." She said as she beamed at Ersa, who looked shy at the attention. "Don't look so bashful, kid."

"You knew her growing up?" Ikrie spoke up as she looked between the two women.

"Fire and spit, Ikrie, this one used to cause half of the trouble in the Claim before the time she was ten! She once managed to tie down a rogue Storm Bird by herself. Would've been filled with lightning if our hunting parties hadn't intervened though. Then she led a coup against the Mad King Jiran! Always chasing storms of trouble this one is. You were one handful back then, and haven't slowed down that much EVEN NOW, if travelling with Flame-Hair here is any indication," Petra didn't hesitate to dish on Ersa's childhood.

I was still caught on the fact this woman as a child had thwarted that giant-ass bird we road.

"I wasn't that bad, and it was the weapons you made that forced the Kestrels back into the streets of Meridian," Ersa mumbled a little loudly. But the blush on her face was basic confirmation of Petra's words.

After waving away Ersa's half-hearted denial of credit, Petra gently petted Ersa's shoulder and gave her a motherly smile. "I'm glad you're back on your feet, you'll always be my Captain, kid." She pressed a quick kiss to Ersa's forehead and just as quickly turned on her heel, leading us back to her hut. Ersa just stood there for a moment with a soft smile on her face, and followed her tribeswoman, brushing tears of gratitude out of her eyes as she went.

Samina hadn't stopped looking around us, doubtlessly comparing the architecture and crafts to societies of our ancient past. "So, what do you think of this place?" I asked her discreetly.

Samina looked at me with a gleam in her eyes that had been entirely too long since I'd seen, "We really did it Margo. It wasn't in vain," even if she was smiling wider than I'd seen her do in years, she was still crying. I gave her a hug and wrapped an arm around her as we followed Ersa and Petra's quick pace a little more sedately.

Ikrie ribbed Aloy with her elbow, "I told her you should've prepared two focuses for her, she probably took the one we gave her apart figuring out how it works."

Aloy just shrugged as she led us up the stairs. "If she can apply the solar panel tech to other things, that'll be a game changer. It's worth losing a Focus for. While they're certainly nice to have, they aren't essential anymore that GAIA is getting back on her feet."

As we got to the top of the spiral stairs leading to the zenith of the settlement, I couldn't help but suck in a breath as I laid eyes on the sprawling workshop area there. There were parts of all sorts of machines, and some mechanisms that looked like heavy artillery combined with some kind of magnetic propulsion mechanism? Samina had to drag me like a child who'd laid her eyes on a mountain of candy the rest of the way to the hut, to the amusement of Ersa who didn't hide her chuckle.

Once we were all settled in a rough circle in Petra's hut, she turned her attention to us, the obvious outlanders. Petra looked first to Aloy, who sighed a long breath, "I'd really appreciate if you'd keep what you're about to learn to just the people in this room."

"Sure thing, Aloy," Petra agreed easily.

Aloy decided to rip the Band-Aid off, "These two women are old ones we found at the GAIA Prime facility, the mountain that exploded on the day of my…creation." Aloy finished awkwardly.

Petra's eyes widened as she looked upon us with new light in her eyes. "Old ones? These two are younger than I am!"

"Cryogenic stasis," I said. Petra's blank look spurred me to explain, "GAIA used prototype technology to basically freeze us and stopped the passage of time from killing us." Petra tilted her head in calculation, probably wondering if she could do better; she had the mind of a smith indeed.

"We'll come back to that," Petra said with a look at Aloy who just face-palmed. It was funny, their dynamic. It was almost familial, but there was also a hint of something less than familial if Aloy's slight blushing was anything to go by. Ikrie didn't seem to bother by it. I was getting distracted.

"I'm Samina Ebadji," Samina said with a small smile.

"I'm Margo Shĕn, it's a real pleasure to meet you," I said with much more excitement holding out my hand in greeting. It only occurred to me once I had done it that handshakes were probably not the norm here, in these cultures.

A look of confusion flashed across Petra's face before she reached out and grasped my forearm rather than my hand. "Well met, Margo, Samina. I suppose I should properly introduce myself. I'm Petra Forgewoman, and this is Free Heap."

Aloy looked at me like she wanted me to say something, but I wasn't sure what her raised eyebrow meant. When Elisabet wore that expression it was because I was omitting a crucial detail or sentiment during one of our talks. It was weird to see that expression in a clone just out of her teenage years.

"They aren't just any old ones," Aloy said.

"Zero Dawn people?" Petra asked with a look of awe. Clearly Aloy had told Petra at least some things about the nature of the world we had built.

"Yes," Samina said quietly, sadly. Ersa noticed and put a large comforting hand on Samina's slight shoulder. "I'm the Alpha of Apollo. Though that no longer carries meaning since Apollo was cancelled by Faro." While Samina's voice verged into malice, Petra frowned.

"How much of it is in your head?" Petra asked. At Samina's baffled look, Petra elaborated, "Aloy told me the basics of the Zero Dawn, Apollo was the Education part right? Like, the history of humanity?" Petra asked.

"Yes. It was." Samina replied.

"How much of it do you have in your head? You can turn your histories into stories, songs, and myths. Not all of it has to die." Petra shrugged as she rose to her feet and passed out several cups of what smelled like beer.

"Oral history," I said to my friend.

"That's not a terrible idea," Vanasha spoke up. "Avad and Marad would certainly love to know more about the Old Ones."

Samina nodded to herself as she contemplated this new possibility. Ikrie spoke up, "The people of Ban-Ur are big on legacy and songs. I'm not sure how much they'd care about the Old Ones, but CYAN could probably record you telling stories to her if you'd let her."

"Thank you, this is something to certainly think on," Samina said softly as a small smile crept onto her face. I was glad, it seemed like the end of Apollo might not necessarily be the end of History.

"And what did you do?" Petra asked me. I was momentarily taken aback by her addressing me so bluntly, but I grinned.

"I designed Hephaestus. The part of GAIA that builds all of the machines," I say with smirk. I was damn right to be cocky if Petra's awed expression was anything to go by.