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Part 3 of The World and All Its Lessons: A Song of Aloy and Nil
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2017-09-06
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2,408
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1/1
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What's Love Got To Do With It

Summary:

Six months after the Eclipse War, Erend spends some time with Aloy and Nil in Meridian, and worries privately about their relationship.

This one-shot is a direct sequel to Stormbirds and Stalkers, and also a prologue to my next Niloy longfic.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

Erend strolled through the market, his pace slow and casual but his senses alert for anything out of order. Twice a week he would walk the market, listening and watching for conspiracies or plotting against the Sun-King. This kind of intelligence-gathering was more Marad’s area of expertise, but Erend had suggested that an Oseram might pick up a different perspective from Marad’s primarily Carja spies. Marad had acknowledged this, and Avad had added that it would be good for the populace to know the Vanguard Captain as a helpful and protective face in the city. So two days a week, Erend proudly made his rounds in the market chatting with and listening to villagers, merchants, and nobles alike.

Just as he was finishing his afternoon rounds, he heard a familiar voice call his name, a voice belonging to one of his favourite people. “Erend! Hey!”

Erend was already grinning as he turned to see Aloy dashing towards him, resplendent in her favoured light Carja armour. “Hey there, girl!” he called out, and he and Aloy laughed as he swept her up in a hug.

It had been three months since Erend had last seen her, and she looked the same as ever: bursting with electric energy and confidence. “It’s great to see you,” Erend said sincerely. “What brings you back here?”

“We’re just passing through - I wanted to talk to Avad about a village in the northern Sundom that could use some extra protection from bandits,” Aloy said, and Erend registered the pronoun she’d used.

We…? Oh. And then, with a pang of disappointment, Erend spotted him following Aloy’s path through the market at a slower pace: Nil, the erstwhile Carja prince and Aloy’s constant companion. As Nil drew closer, Erend swallowed his reluctance and nodded politely to the Carja soldier, and Nil nodded back without smiling.

Erend couldn’t help his feelings; he did not like Nil. Nil’s presence always made Erend feel like there were snakes squirming in his stomach, and for the hundredth time, Erend wondered privately how the creepy guy had managed to capture Aloy’s heart.

But Erend said none of this. Such restraint was new for him; before he’d met Aloy, Erend had been prone to saying whatever was on his mind, heedless of the trouble his mouth would get him into later. But Aloy, being astonishingly mature for her age, had shown him the value in thinking before speaking, and he knew that questioning her choice of partner would only be a sure way get himself skewered by her sharp tongue. Or her spear. Or both.

Nil came to stand behind Aloy and slid his hand up her back and into her hair, his blank grey eyes still fixed unnervingly on Erend’s face. Aloy, heedless of Erend’s discomfort, smiled at him and asked, “Do you want to grab a drink with us? Are you busy right now?”

Erend smiled back at her, and it was only slightly forced. He was never one to turn down her company, even if it meant he had to suffer Nil’s as well. “Yeah, let’s do it.”

Nil sighed quietly, and Erend clenched his jaw. Aloy had told him before that Nil’s disdain wasn’t personal, that Nil really didn’t like anyone except her, but this information didn’t endear Nil to him at all. Didn’t Aloy think it was weird that her boyfriend only liked one single human being in the known world?

Not my problem, not my business, Erend reminded himself firmly as Aloy turned to Nil with a chiding smirk. Erend awkwardly pretended to wipe dust off of his armour as Aloy placed one hand on Nil’s chest and stood on tiptoe to whisper something in his ear. The Carja man’s face lit up with a smirk as Aloy leaned away from him. Erend looked up at Aloy and Nil again, and felt a jolt of wistfulness as he eyed them.

The look on Nil’s face as he gazed at Aloy was total, unequivocal adoration. His face was wreathed in a full smile that actually made him look like a nice person, and his usually-creepy pale eyes burned with warmth. Aloy, in turn, was smiling cheekily up at Nil, but her hazel eyes were tender, and her proud posture curved towards Nil’s body in a way that made Erend’s chest ache. The electric bond between them was enough to make Erend feel like he was intruding.

“Hey guys, I’m still here, remember?” he joked gruffly. It might not be his place to question Aloy’s relationship, but he could certainly point out when the heat between her and Nil was… a little too much to handle.

Aloy finally turned back to Erend with a self-deprecating laugh, her cheeks turning slightly pink as she punched his arm and suggested an Oseram inn that she knew he liked.

As they walked, Aloy caught him up on some of the things she and Nil had been doing. In true Aloy fashion, they’d been on the move almost non-stop since the Eclipse War, travelling from the Sundom to the Sacred Lands and back to help anyone in need. Nil followed a step behind them in unnerving silence.

Once they’d arrived at the inn and settled on a bench with their Scrappersap, Erend began to tell her a little bit of the goings-on around Meridian. “Crime’s still up in the city, unfortunately. A lot of desperate people, so a lot of theft going on, and also some assaults. People squabbling over resources, you know,” Erend told her regretfully. Many villagers and nobles alike had lost their homes and fortunes during the Eclipse War, and the Sundom and its people were still reeling from the sheer destruction.

Aloy’s face creased in a worried frown as Erend went on. “There’s also been an increase in bandit activity again. Those miserable slags, preying on us while we’re already down. The Vanguard have actually had to step in to help the Carja guard to deal with the problem.” Erend turned to Nil and politely added, “You’d be welcomed in the fight. Aloy always said you’re a dab hand at hunting bandits.”

Nil snorted and leaned close to Aloy. “Suntress, even the Vanguard are stealing my kills. Can’t we-?”

“All right, Nil, I got it,” Aloy snapped in irritation, and Erend recoiled slightly with surprise. Her sudden annoyance hinted at a recurrent disagreement, an impression that was reinforced when Nil immediately drew away from her in resignation.

Aloy placed a conciliatory hand on Nil’s thigh and murmured, “Give me two days. Then we’ll hunt bandits.” Nil nodded once, then looked away from her and Erend, his regal features painted with boredom.

Aloy smirked at Erend and jerked her head in Nil’s direction. “He has a one-track mind. Single-minded, this one is.”

Erend smiled uncertainly at her, then rubbed his hair uncomfortably as Nil turned back towards Aloy and suddenly crowded her with his body, his silver eyes focused like a hardpoint arrow on her face.

“Hmm, yes. Single-minded,” Nil rumbled, his lips curling in a feral smirk, and Aloy grinned as she turned to face him. Their lips were a mere inch apart, and Erend hastily gulped some Scrappersap, then cleared his throat loudly.

Aloy shoved Nil away with a laugh, and the Carja soldier subsided with a smug smirk and downed the rest of his Scrappersap in one gulp. Aloy finally turned back to Erend. “Sorry, Erend. Really,” she insisted, as Erend gave her a long-suffering look. “I really want to know what’s going on. Please, tell me everything.”

Erend glanced quickly at Nil; his face was blank again, his eerie grey eyes drifting around the inn idly as he people-watched. Reassured by Nil’s lack of attention, Erend continued filling Aloy in on current events, and gradually he relaxed as their conversation flowed as naturally as it always had when Nil wasn’t around.

Some time later, Erend was wrapping up his long-winded explanation of current events and finishing his second drink while Aloy nursed the end of her first. She leaned back on the bench, her arms folded and her eyebrows drawn in a stern frown. “I don’t like it,” she proclaimed. “It’s not enough to punish people after the crimes are committed. Especially since so many people are just… in need. They’re desperate. There has to be a way to prevent the crimes from happening in the first place.” She bit her lip thoughtfully and leaned against Nil, and Erend watched with another wistful pang as the Carja prince’s arm rose instinctively to wrap around Aloy’s shoulders, his fingers toying idly with one of her braids.

After a moment, she sighed and leaned forward with her elbows on the table. “I might have some ideas for Avad. I’m sure he’ll be willing to listen, but Marad might need some convincing.” Erend and Aloy smirked at each other; they both knew that Avad’s wily advisor was a brilliant strategist, but also very focused on the bottom line and how anything and everything would benefit the Sundom.

Then she sighed again. “Maybe I should stay in Meridian for a little while. Just to help settle things here.”

Nil threw her a long-suffering look and rubbed his hand over his mohawk: the first sign of agitation that Erend had ever seen from him. Naturally Aloy didn’t miss it, and she spun towards Nil with a glare. “I have a responsibility to help,” she snapped at him, the hardness of her voice hinting again that this was not the first time she was saying this to Nil. “You’re welcome to go hunting bandits on your own. I can meet back with you in a week.”

“No no,” Nil said immediately, but his long-suffering look remained. “I’ll go where you go.”

She exhaled loudly and stared hard at Nil, who returned her stare unflinchingly. Erend spun his empty tumbler in his hands as worms of discomfort burrowed into his belly at the sudden tension between them. He really wished he hadn’t finished his second drink already.

He was about to excuse himself and get a third when Aloy finally sighed and her posture relaxed. “Okay. Five days in the city, then we’ll go,” she told Nil in a low voice. “And I’m sure Avad will let us stay in one of the palace rooms with a westward-facing view.”

Her tone of voice was suspiciously bland at her last statement, and Nil’s sudden wicked grin made Erend wish he could wash his ears out. And his eyes. His whole brain, really. “Guys! Come on,” he blurted, and waved his hands vaguely at them. “I know you’re all, you know… in the honeymoon period or whatever. But go easy, hey?”

She burst out laughing, and even Nil looked amused. “All right, all right. I’m sorry, Erend,” she apologized. “We’ll behave, I promise. Let me buy you another drink to make it up. Okay?”

Erend nodded resignedly, and then Nil spoke. “You have to finish yours first, Suntress. You’re falling behind.” Then he grabbed Aloy’s tumbler and finished her drink in one gulp.

She laughed again and shoved Nil. “Hey! Fine then, Nil’s buying. Another triple, Erend?”

Erend nodded again, then watched them as they rose from the bench and went over to the bar: Aloy striding through the crowd with confident purpose, Nil a mere step behind her, his broad shoulders looming over her like a sunflower curving towards the sun. Aloy smiled warmly and greeted many of the people that she passed, whereas Nil’s unsmiling face and blank grey eyes cleared a chilly path around her, whether she knew it or not.

As Erend watched Aloy lean over the bar with Nil at her shoulder, he was struck again with a sense of disbelief at how opposite they seemed to be. Nil was like the shadow to her sun: inseparable from her, but casting darkness in the wake of her brilliant light. Didn’t Aloy feel the creepy vibes that Nil gave off, like some kind of spectre of death that dampened the joy of her presence?

Erend shook his head slightly at himself. When did I become some kind of Carja poet, thinking stupid stuff about sun and shadow? he thought with wry amusement. Clearly he’d been spending too much time in the palace. Ersa would surely have laughed in his face. But in all seriousness, he couldn’t help but feel concerned. He’d never been in a serious relationship himself, but Nil and Aloy’s mild squabbling made him uncomfortable. Was that normal, for couples to bicker like that?

He sighed, and in a moment of total honesty, he wondered if maybe he was just jealous. Erend had once told Aloy she was like a sister to him, and in many ways he'd meant it: he had as much respect for her as he did for Ersa, and he would truly do anything for her. But maybe… maybe he hadn't been totally honest with himself about his fondness for her being not entirely platonic.

She doesn't need to know, he told himself firmly. He had seen the way Aloy acted around Avad, whose ongoing unrequited feelings for her weren’t exactly subtle: she treated the Sun-King with friendliness and respect but clear reserve, and Erend didn't want that kind of distance from the woman he considered his best friend.

Up at the bar, Nil handed some shards over to the bartender as Aloy reached for two of the three tumblers on the bar. Then Nil penned her against the bar with his arms on both sides of her and lowered his mouth to her ear. Aloy smiled slowly as he murmured in her ear, then made some saucy reply, her lips curled in a mischievous smirk. Nil tipped her chin up with one hand, and Erend swallowed another unwelcome pang of longing as Aloy lifted her hand to cradle Nil’s cheek before kissing him.

Anyone with half a brain could see how much the Carja killer and the Nora huntress loved each other. But while Aloy’s passions would propel her upwards and onwards in the world, Nil’s seemed to start and end with her.

Erend sighed. He considered himself a happy-go-lucky kind of guy; it wasn’t like him to spend this much time on introspection. But Aloy was his best friend, and he only wanted her to be happy. And he couldn’t help but worry that maybe, for Aloy and Nil, love wasn’t enough.

Notes:

Hey guys!!! Oh wait did I not say the next longfic is gonna be angsty

My bad. ALL ABOARD THE NILOY ANGST TRAIN XD