Chapter Text
Machine hunting. Fighting. Delving into ruins from the old ones. Scientific knowledge of how the world actually worked. Climbing. Herbalogy. Taming machines. Archery, of course. There were a lot of subjects that Aloy, the savior of Meridian, was better than him at. Better than anyone else he knew really.
Handwriting was apparently not one of those skills. The handwritten note in Carja script Avad had gotten from the hurried messenger was barely legible, but he still thought he might hold on to it.
Hi
The embassy wasn’t great…I am heading west still. I need to.
With this message is a focus, the same kind of device I wear. Put it next to your ear and press it.
Aloy
He had read the message a few times and was now alone in his chambers. Aloy hadn’t said anything about security and while Avad trusted her, he was not gonna put on a device from the old ones in the middle of the street. He knew that just him wearing it around Meridian would be the nobles gossip for days. At the moment he was holding onto the device and looking it over. It was triangular, slightly rounded on one side with a shining blue light coming from a gap in the middle. The light was similar to the light that came from machines, stable and consistent unlike the torchlight of the palace. The focus was a tiny thing and looked as brittle as glassware.
Really it wasn’t fear that had made Avad hesitate and study it, he trusted Aloy, he doubted she would give something dangerous. It was more nervousness, he had heard that the focus was apparently the source of her so-called “second sight”. If it only gave that it was a greater gift than any of the jewels the nobles Marad wanted him to marry had ever given him. And while Aloy didn't need to give him gifts, Avad wasn't going to deny them either. He cleared his head, and took a deep breath. After a moment's hesitation he pressed the focus on his temple next to his ear, as he had seen Aloy wear it. Then he gently tapped the focus.
Immediately there was a light in front of him. He almost jumped, startled but steadied himself and looked around. There was a shimmering image in front of him, floating in mid air in the palace room. It had a triangular icon similar to the focus. He waited for a moment, but nothing more seemed to happen so Avad reached out to touch it. He was a bit less surprised now when an image of Aloy appeared, looking at him. She looked similar to how he had seen last; stressed as the world would fall apart if she didn't act, but holding a determined expression that told him she would move mountains if she had to. Avad wished he could have helped her more, but sending Carja troops in Tenakth territory would just have complicated things. It could provoke a war and that was the last thing they needed. Both the Carja and the Tenakth. At least Erend was already in the area and Varl had followed her, hopefully they could help her. Part of Avad wished he could have gone too, but he couldn’t. Not yet.
“Avad?” The image moved. And spoke. Avad’s mind wanted to say that images shouldn't do that, but he was a bit distracted by the message. “Hope you got this far. This is a video, you can't interact with it. Hmm this is hard, Varl is the only one I've given a focus to and I could teach him in person. Gotta do this now though, I am heading out as soon as it's day. At least this is an easier way to leave messages on than writing with a quill. Those things are harder to use than they look.” Aloy scowled and moved on, giving Avad little time to digest what was going on. She pointed to her focus on her ear.
“This is a focus, it can do a lot of things. Helping you rule should be one of those things. It can highlight things in the world, particularly weak points on machines. Though I don't know how useful you will find that as you don’t hunt them yourself. It can also take pictures and record videos. Uh. You can hopefully figure out how and how to view them. I did it as a child. Most importantly I copied over a lot of recordings and texts I found in my travels. They relate to the old ones and the history of the world. I hope they can help you and the Carja.” Aloy paused, considering her next words. Avad still didn't really know what a video was. He also hoped he could watch this multiple times. There was a lot of information and Aloy spoke quickly as usual. He looked around for a quill, but it was hard to do without looking away from the image. And he wasn’t going to do that. Both to take in as much as possible, but also just to see her again.
Aloy seemed to have found what she wanted to say, but she still seemed more unsure of herself than before. ”It was nice to see you again Avad…And I would like to stay in Meridian. Someday.
But I have a purpose, a mission that only I can do. The embassy was attacked by Tenakth rebels. They seem to have a civil war going on, which only makes things harder. Still I will continue to head west.” Aloy still seemed a bit stressed, but she was becoming more determined as she went on. “I will find Sylens and find out what he plans to do with Hades. Then I will figure out how to solve the blight, and fulfill Elisabet's plan.” Then she paused again. “Hopefully I can return to Meridian someday. Still, don't put your life on hold because of me, Avad. Do what's best for your people.” Aloy seemed to be finished, she was thinking of something. Avad had found his quill and was hastily making some notes so he didn't forget anything. Sylens and Hades were people or things he knew of, but he had no idea who Elisabet was, the name didn't fit any of the tribes. Maybe it was another thing like Hades. But Aloy said she was going to fulfill Elisabet's plan, so clearly Elisabet wasn't hostile. The attack on the embassy was terrible, but at least he knew of that, he had gotten a (more detailed, if less exciting) report from the commander Nozar of Barren Light along with Aloys message.
Aloy, in the image, seemed to think of something and continued. “Oh and maybe we could talk via the focus. I still don't know how to initiate it really and I don't have time to figure it out. But Sylens called me from wherever he was in the Forbidden West. I think that had something to do with the spire, maybe you could try to climb it. It would be nice to talk again, even via focuses. Otherwise you could set up a focus network like the Eclipse did using tallnecks and then talk to Marad and some people in the Sundom or something. I know there are more focuses in Eluthiya. That's in Mother's embrace, the Nora Capital. Though I doubt they will let you in”. There was a sound in the background. ”Anyway. Take care Avad. Thanks for telling them not to make a golden statue of me.” Aloy smiled slightly. Then as suddenly as the image appeared, it vanished.
Avad looked around. He was still alone in personal chambers in the palace, holding a parchment with some scribbled notes. He was still wearing the focus. There were symbols and texts displayed in front of him, shimmering in translucent purple. There were a lot of texts written in a style that reminded him of some old Carja scrolls he had read. It was less stylized than the current Carja script, and lacked the decorations nobles loved to add to their texts. Next to them were small symbols, most of which he had never seen before. Perhaps they were some sort of iconography.
Images
Documents
Notes
Camera
Videos
Scanner
Contacts (1)
Messages (0)
Calls (0)
Maps
As he looked over the texts, he heard a few light knocks on his door and a voice. “Your Radiance. You planned to hold court in 10 minutes. Shall I tell them it's delayed?” It was Kandav, he thought. Avad liked knowing the names of the servants, he just wished it didn't frighten them as much. He considered delaying or canceling today's court. It was mostly solving petty disputes between nobles anyway. But his head was swimming with information from the device and he wanted some time to collect his thoughts. Plus it wasn't only nobles that came, sometimes someone there had a decent idea or request. He gently tapped his focus device again. The images in front of him vanished. He activated the device again and they reappeared. Sadly the image of Aloy didn't. Content with knowing the absolute basics of how to use the device, he carefully put it in his pouch and headed out. Court first, focus after that.
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Avad had learned a few things after trying to understand the focus for a day or two. First of all, the focus was an absurdly complex device. Avad knew that the old ones were capable of incredible things and that their devices could be very complex, but he had never had a chance to go into any ruins. It hadn't been proper for a young prince, and then Jiran had gone mad and there had been other things occupying his time. Now he was busy rebuilding Meridian, trying to keep the nobles happy while trying to change the Carjan culture and government. Still he thought if he ever got time off he would like to try exploring one of the ruins. Maybe with Aloy.
Anyway, the focus was complex. There was just so much information stored within such a tiny device. And Avad could not dedicate the entirety of his time to understanding it. Especially since using it for too long seemed to give him a mild headache. Still he had figured out some things. He knew what Images, Documents and Notes were and that the focus held a few of them. There were a few images that must have come from Aloy herself. Stunning mountaintops, lush jungles, clearly dangerous machines, some images that must come from some ruin and one great view of Meridian from a distance. There was a painting with a similar view somewhere in the palace. The documents on the other hand contained a treasure trove of material that Avad had only begun to read. Texts from the old ones. They were all written in the same script that focus itself operated in, which reminded him of older Carjan script. That made it a bit tricky to read, but the real challenge was all of the terms, places, people and concepts Avad had no idea about. He thought he could spend months trying to make sense of it all. And he would, though definitely with the help of some of Meridians archivists and librarians. Maybe some Osreram tinkers and delvers too, they might understand a bit more of the technical material. After spending a few hours trying to parse the texts Avad had checked out the Notes and cursed the sun for not checking it earlier. Aloy had written some notes in there, seemingly reminders for herself on how to use a focus. The notes were brisk and not very descriptive but had still helped him in trying to use the focus and some of the terms the old ones used. Since he didn't want to miss anything else he had checked out all the other functions, and immediately fallen in love with the camera. Painting was one of the noble hobbies Avad enjoyed, but he had limited time to do so recently and the camera on the focus just captured scenes instantly. It was strange to use at first but now he was taking multiple pictures a day. Various rooms in the palace, the city in the morning rush, a glinthawk he spotted in the distance and a beautiful sunset over the Meridian.
Videos were another concept entirely. They were like pictures but they moved somehow, and Avad marveled at the applications in arts and culture. The few videos in the focus were of Aloys own experience and from her perspective. It was a bit strange viewing the world from her point of view. Sadly there were only five videos on the focus. There was also something called a “compressed folder” with the title “ZeroDawnStuff” which he had no idea what it was. The scanner seemed to be the source of Aloys second sight, but Avad was nowhere near as adept at using it as she was. It seemed to highlight certain things in his vision, but it had a lot of options and settings. He decided to leave it be for a while after it highlighted everything he saw and he was nearly blinded. Luckily it went away when he restarted the focus.
The Messages and Calls were empty, displaying only “Cannot connect to network”. They did show one contact called Aloy, but when Avad had tried to contact her it just displayed “Can't reach that focus, no connection”
Avad was quite sure he could not climb the spire. He appreciated Aloys climbing prowess, but it was another area she had unrealistic expectations of what most people were capable of. Or maybe all Nora were excellent climbers. The great part of being the sun-king however, was that Avad did not have to do things alone. Finding a team of competent and discreet Oseram climbers and tinkerers and getting them to build a ladder up along the spire was tricky. Especially since many Carja would probably see any changes made to it, as “desecrating the Spire” and Avad knew he still had enemies who rejected his reforms. But with Marad’s help he managed to start the project. It would take a few days so he wasn't working at Aloy’s pace, but he would get there. And Avad was convinced that long distance communication was worth the effort. It had only taken a brief showcase of its features to convince Marad of the value of the focus. So while the tinkerers worked on adding a ladder to his tribe's holiest place, Avad worked on a different project.