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Chapter Text

Aloy was sitting on a piece of concrete that had fallen down from one of the sykscrapers in Fleet’s End, watching the sunset and listening to the people below. They didn’t even know that their world had been about to end. She smiled at the thought of such a peaceful life. Maybe with Nemesis defeated, she could have a life like that now too. If she was honest that was probably one of the main reasons she had come to Fleet’s End after beating the latest threat. Aloy had contemplated just opening up a channel via her focus and contact Seyka to find out where she was and meet up with her, but for some reason the thought of that made her squeezier than standing in front of that Horus. So, she had opted for Fleet’s End instead in the hopes of running into her there.

Another reason for her coming to the shipwreck settlement at the Burning Shores was that Alva would arrive soon to further campaign for a changed belief system among the Quen and she had asked Aloy to join her. Aloy had her suspicions though that she had done that mainly to make sure Aloy didn’t dive right into her next adventure. With Fleet’s End now being one of two Quen settlements in the Forbidden West, Alva wanted to revolutionize the Quen’s society with all the new knowledge she had attained. And that would be a lot easier to achieve with Aloy by her side, the woman that had reunited the two halves of the Quen expedition and ended the Flare. Not really being a people person, Aloy wasn’t sure how much she could do, but Alva’s goals where reasonable and her bubbly personality was surely making up for what Aloy was missing.

“There you are.”

Aloy froze for a moment, not sure if she could trust what she was hearing. She turned around slowly and jumped clumsily to her feet when she spotted Seyka.

“Erend said, you might be on some roof around here”, Seyka said with a smile. Her dark eyes were twinkling in the light of the setting sun and for a moment, Aloy just stared at Seyka standing in the orange beam, the cape of her armor slightly bustling in the wind. Words. Aloy should say something.

“Hey”, she replied hoarsely, still rooted to the spot. She had dreamed about seeing Seyka again, but she was slightly overwhelmed now that it happened.

“Hey yourself”, Seyka said with a small chuckle, walking over towards her. “I hear, you saved the world – again.”

Seyka’s tone was light and playful and Aloy admired her confidence that she herself was absolutely lacking in that moment. She cleared her throat, shaking herself out of her stupor.

“Yeah well, I live in this world too, so it was really kinda selfish”, Aloy managed to say, sounding more like herself now. Good.

Seyka laughed. God, how she had missed that laugh. They hadn’t seen each other in months and even though the threat of the imminent end of the world had been hanging over Aloy for most of that time, what she usually fell asleep and woke up to were thoughts of the woman now finally standing in front of her.

Seyka closed the remaining distance between them and carefully took Aloy’s hands into hers. At the touch a lightning bolt shot through Aloy’s body, followed by a spreading warmth and butterflies in her stomach. Aloy looked down on their united hands, then back up into Seyka’s eyes and smiled at her shyly.

“I missed you”, Aloy whispered nearly inaudibly, her eyes darting between Seykas’.

“I missed you too”, Seyka replied with a wide smile, her gaze slipping down to Aloy’s lips. After a moment’s hesitation, Aloy leaned in further. Their faces were nearly touching now, and she could feel Seyka’s breath on her skin. Finally, their lips touched. The kiss was light and slow, but Aloy’s heart was hammering against her chest like she had just run 10 miles.

After a few seconds they broke apart, their foreheads leaning against each other.

“I’ve waited so long for this”, Seyka whispered and Aloy could hear the smile in her voice.

“Yeah, same”, Aloy managed to reply, her voice sounding hoarse again. She was nervous, but in a good kind of way now that Seyka was so close. Aloy let go of Seyka’s hands and buried her fingers in Seyka’s hair instead, leaning in for another kiss. This time, the kiss was deeper, it felt more urgent, the way their lips moved against each other. Aloy’s breath caught for a moment, when Seyka placed her hands on her hips, drawing her in closer, their bodies now pressed flush against one another. Aloy could feel a heat developing in her lower abdomen, her heartbeat speeding up even more. When they broke apart, she was panting more than she had anticipated, given the fact that she hadn’t really moved much for at least an hour.

“Wow”, said Seyka in a low voice, drawing Aloy into a hug.

“Yeah”, Aloy agreed with a chuckle, breathing in Seyka’s scent she had been missing. She had never felt like that about another person. She had never felt like that, period. It was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. One side of her wanted to run and another side wanted to never let go of Seyka ever again. The second side won and Aloy hugged Seyka even tighter.

“I’m here”, Seyka said reassuringly. “I’m not going anywhere, if you let me stay.”

“Yes please”, Aloy heard herself say without thinking for even a second. Many questions shot into her head. She had tried to somewhat keep track of Seyka’s movements over the last few months, usually with Alva’s help. From what she knew, Seyka was still a marine and had helped with the reuniting of the two halves of the fleet, creating a save passage between the two settlements via water. Surely that had to involve a lot of travelling.

Aloy felt selfish, she herself hadn’t had a permanent home for years now. She didn’t even know if she wanted one now. All she knew was that she wanted to be with Seyka wherever her path would take her. This was new territory and she felt very silly. Since Rost, she had never felt like she really needed anyone. She was very grateful for all the friends she had assembled over time and like Varl, she would miss them terribly if they were gone for good. But missing Seyka had been so different. And Seyka was still part of this world, she just hadn’t been within her reach. It made Aloy slightly uneasy that she seemed to become depending on another person again.

Seyka broke the embrace looking at Aloy intently. Aloy blinked away some unshed tears, but Seyka had noticed.

“What’s going on in that head of yours?”, she asked in a gentle voice, studying her face carefully.

“A lot”, Aloy replied vaguely with a small laugh, but she didn’t get rid of Seyka that easily. Not that she had expected anything else. Seyka sat down and gestured for Aloy to join her.

“Wanna tell me?”, she said with a reassuring smile, but Aloy could spot a little moment of insecurity in her features. Somehow that made her less afraid herself, so she sat down next to Seyka, hugging her own knees.

“This… us… is very new to me”, Aloy began, staring out onto the ocean. She could see Seyka looking at her out of the corner of her eyes. “I’ve never felt about… or been with someone… that way.” Aloy swallowed. “To be honest, it scares me more than that Horus.” She laughed and looked down at her hands, shaking her head slightly bemused with herself. “And I really don’t know… what to do… or how to… I don’t know… behave? I mean, I’m not exactly a people person, but I always manage to get along or even get what I want or need, but with you I feel…”

Aloy’s voice trailed away, she wasn’t sure what to say.

“And what do you want?”, Seyka asked, crouching a little closer, still not taking her eyes off Aloy.

Aloy hesitated for a moment.

“Well, you”, she finally replied in a quiet voice, plucking up the courage to look back at Seyka. She was met with a wide smile and happily twinkling eyes.

“Good, I want you too”, Seyka simply replied, bumping into Aloy’s shoulder with her own. Aloy laughed and averted her gaze again, feeling giddy. But still, she had so many questions.

“But…”, she began, then stopped again.

“But what?”, Seyka wanted to know, leaning into Aloy’s side. The pressure felt safe and reassuring.

“What… does this mean?”, Aloy asked, feeling unsure. “I mean, what do we do now?”

“Well, I for one hope that I will get some time with you alone before you have to run off to save the world again”, Seyka said with a chuckle.

“Maybe we can save the world together next time”, Aloy replied with a shy grin towards Seyka.

“I’d like that”, Seyka said, smiling back at her. “But until then… what do you wanna do?”

Aloy was silent for a moment. She had asked herself exactly the same thing ever since she had defeated Nemesis with the help of her friends at the Base.

“I don’t know”, she shrugged. “I know I want to be with you, but other than that… It feels strange. For the last few years, there has never been a moment where I didn’t have some sort of more or less urgent task. And now… there’s just… nothing ahead. And this thing with us is so new to me too. I know it sounds silly, but I feel a little lost… to be honest.”

“It’s not silly”, Seyka said, placing her hand on Aloy’s arm reassuringly. “I get it. I feel a little like that too now that I’m not officially a Marine anymore.”

Aloy’s head shot up at that news.

“You’re not? What happened?”, she wanted to know.

“Well, they wanted to promote me because apparently I did an amazing job and all”, Seyka said off-handedly. “But I just couldn’t see myself bellowing orders at sailors and practically living on ships for the rest of my life, so I declined. Next thing I know, they want to have me as a Consultant. Apparently, it’s a new position, they want to establish among the two new settlements. Sort of a scout and also a link between the Navy, the Imperials, the Diviners and the people here. It sounds really progressive, and I think Alva might have to do something with all that…”

“Yeah”, Aloy chuckled. “I think, people sometimes underestimate Alva.”

“No kidding”, Seyka agreed.

“So, what do you want to do?”, Aloy asked in a more serious manner.

“Well, I haven’t told them yes or no yet”, Seyka said with a sigh. “To be honest… I wanted to… see where we’re standing first and decide then. I guess you’re not the only one sort of new to this.”

Aloy looked at Seyka and was met with a small smile.

“What, you’ve never been…?”, Aloy asked in surprise, unable to finish the whole question.

“… in love before? No”, Seyka replied, fidgeting with her armband. “I mean, I’ve been with people before, but it was more fooling around than anything else…”

At the word love, the butterflies in Aloy’s stomach had exploded. She knew she felt the same way, but hearing it confirmed from Seyka was something else entirely.

“What about Kina?”, Aloy wanted to know, breaking the silence between them.

Seyka cleared her throat and then said: “Oh, she’s still a navigator. She will go back and forth between our homeland and the new settlements. So, I’ll get to see her now and again, which is nice. Until now, she has helped us clear the passage between Landfall and Fleet’s End.”

“How are things between you two?”, Aloy asked, knowing how strained their relationship had been after the whole Londra ordeal.

“Oh, better I guess”, Seyka replied with a shrug. “It’ll just take some time.”

Now it was Aloy who placed her hand on Seyka’s arm to comfort her. She was rewarded with a gentle smile. They were silent for a moment.

“So”, Aloy said, smiling back at Seyka.

“So”, Seyka repeated, her smile becoming a little cheeky.

“Now what?”, Aloy wanted to know, feeling lost again.

“Well, I don’t think we have to decide right now”, Seyka replied, still smiling at Aloy. “Let’s just be with each other for a few weeks, do what we feel like doing, enjoy our freedom. You’ve earned that, Aloy. And I can make sure you finally get the rest you need. Please don’t take that personally, but the bags under your eyes could be smaller for your age and I really think you could benefit from my cooking skills.”

Seyka squeezed Aloy’s side which made her squeak in surprise and laugh.

“Well, that’s a sound, I’m sure no one has heard the infamous Outlander make before”, Seyka laughed, bumping into Aloy again.

“You can be sure of that”, Aloy chuckled back, rubbing her side in mock annoyance.

“I hope, I will get a few other sounds out of you that no one’s ever heard before, but for now, I could do with a quiet dinner by the beach, what do you think?”, Seyka asked, getting to her feet, and holding out her hand to Aloy.

Aloy was glad, that it was nearly dark now, in the hopes Seyka couldn’t spot her hot red cheeks at that more than flirty comment.

“Sure, I’m in”, Aloy said, reaching for Seyka’s hand and letting herself be dragged to her feet. “And a few weeks off sound nice, I suppose.”

“Great”, Seyka replied with a wide smile. “I’m too tired to cook, let’s grab some stew and head to the beach.”

After they grabbed some stew from the local cook, they headed towards Aloy’s tent she had set up a little outside of Fleet’s end. They lit a fire and set next to each other, talking about what they had been up to and eating their meal. Aloy felt more and more comfortable as they were talking. It felt like the nights they had spent together hunting down Londra and looking for Kina. They had slept together in one tent then, but this now was completely different. Aloy wondered what the sleeping arrangements would be like now. Would Seyka go sleep in one of the Marine’s quarters? Or somewhere else now that she wasn’t in the Navy anymore? Or was it sort of implied that she would join Aloy in her tent? What would that entail?

“You look worried again”, Seyka commented. Her observation skills were brilliant during their adventures but a little annoying now.

“Well, I… I have a question, I think”, Aloy said after a short pause, feeling silly again.

“Sure, you can always ask me anything”, Seyka replied with an encouraging smile, leaning into Aloy’s side which wasn’t exactly making things easier.

“I was wondering where… you’ll spend the night”, Aloy breathed out, glancing over towards Seyka.

“Ah”, Seyka said with a nod and a little laugh. “You and me both to be honest, but can I ask you something first?”

Aloy nodded, looking at Seyka in interest. She seemed as nervous as she herself felt.

“You said you have never been with anyone before like you have with me”, Seyka began, hesitating a few seconds before continuing. “Did you mean the feeling side of things or also the… physical one?”

Aloy laughed nervously. Well, it was better to tell her the truth.

“Both”, she said in a small voice. “To be honest, until you I always thought that I just wasn’t interested in the physical part.”

“Huh, and that has changed now?”, Seyka asked quietly, looking at Aloy intently.

Aloy nodded, gazing into the fire.

“Well, actually a while ago”, Aloy specified. “I think it started when you first kissed me.” She smiled at the memory. “And then, well I was alone most nights while I was out and about trying to defeat Nemesis. You were on my mind a lot. And I thought about what it would be like if I finally saw you again… And then we kissed again earlier, so I’m pretty sure I’ll enjoy the physical part with you.”

She chuckled, feeling nervous. When she looked at Seyka she was met with a face that was a lot more serious than she had expected.

“Thanks for telling me”, Seyka said, taking one of Aloy’s hands into hers. “And just so you know, we can take things slow. I’m not planning on going anywhere without you. And even if we sleep in the same tent, I’m not expecting anything, okay? We’ll do this at your pace.”

Aloy breathed out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding and smiled at Seyka.

“Thank you”, Aloy only said, resting her head on Seyka’s shoulder. “So, would you like to spend the night in my tent?”, she tread on carefully.

“I would”, Seyka answered and Aloy could hear the smile in her voice. “I’m exhausted. Still exhilarated to see you, but exhausted.”

“You and my both”, Aloy sighed and got to her feet, pulling Seyka up with her.

Chapter Text

The first half of the night, Aloy didn’t sleep very well. She felt giddy with happiness and though they were just lying next to each other without even touching, she was nervous having Seyka so close. She went through everything they had talked about over and over again in her head, trying not to move so she wouldn’t wake her up before finally falling into an uneasy slumber. When she woke up the next morning, it was already light outside and Seyka seemed to have left the tent. Aloy crouched out and blinked into the sun. She could smell baked fish and spotted Seyka by the newly alit fire, apparently preparing their breakfast.

“Morning sleepyhead”, Aloy was greeted by a smiling Seyka. “Sleep well?”

“Well, enough”, Aloy replied, her voice still low with tiredness. “Gotta get used to this free time thing, I guess.”

Seyka chuckled and made her way over towards her while Aloy got up and stretched. Seyka pressed a kiss onto Aloy’s lips, lingering for a moment before she handed her a steaming hot cup of tea.

“Thanks”, Aloy mumbled, the butterflies in her stomach still fluttering from the somewhat unexpected good morning kiss.

“How long have you been up?”, Aloy wanted to know, joining Seyka who was sitting on the tree stump by the fire.

“A few hours or so”, Seyka said with a shrug. “I already went for a swim to catch us breakfast and went to retrieve my stuff from the ship.”

“Huh”, Aloy huffed, feeling a little uneasy that she hadn’t even heard Seyka getting up. Usually, she woke up at the smallest crack of a bush. Apparently, she wasn’t as alert as usual with no immediate threat being present. She took a sip of the tea and gasped. It tasted like nothing she had ever had before, a little sharp and somewhat like peppermint, but not quite. It was accompanied by a faint sweetness too.

“I’ve never had anything like that, what is it?”, Aloy asked in interest.

“Aquatic mint with a little sweet flag”, Seyka replied, examining the fish in the frying pan on the fire closely. “Like it?”

“Yes, very much”, Aloy said, drinking several more gulps of the hot liquid. She felt her body waking up.

“Wait ‘til you taste this”, Seyka replied with a grin, positioning the pan between them in the sand and passing Aloy a fork. Aloy stuck it carefully into one of the fish filets presented to her and blew on it before putting it into her mouth.

“Mhmmm”, she hummed in pleasure, her eyes rolling into the back of her head. It tasted like no fish she had ever eaten. Then again, she didn’t know a lot of herbs and had mostly used salt and the same four to five plants to make her self-caught food a little more edible.

“Glad you like it”, Seyka said with a wide smile.

“Like? I love this, you weren’t kidding about your cooking skills”, Aloy replied enthusiastically. “Where did you learn to cook like this? I can’t imagine, it was the Navy?”

“Ha, no”, Seyka laughed. “My brother was a cook.”

Aloy sat down her fork and looked at Seyka. She had never mentioned a brother before. And the word ‘was’ bothered her.

“What happened?”, Aloy simply asked when she spotted the sad expression on Seyka’s face that told her what she had already feared.

“A snapmaw got him when he was collecting a rare seaweed for cooking”, Seyka replied in a low voice, full of emotion. “I killed that thing as soon as I heard him yell, but it was too late. He died before I had even dragged him back to shore.”

“Seyka, that’s awful, I’m so sorry”, Aloy said quietly, reaching over to put her hand on Seyka’s forearm. “How long ago was that?”

“About a year and a half, it was mainly why Kina and I joined the expedition”, Seyka said with a small smile towards Aloy. “Nothing much left back at home and a fresh start sounded promising.”

“I understand”, Aloy replied with a knowing nod. She had felt the same way when Rost had died. “Thanks for telling me.”

It made a lot of sense now, the way Seyka cared about Kina and had gone out of her way to find her. Seyka had never shared a lot of what it was like for her back in her homeland, so Aloy continued carefully: “Was he older than you?”

“Mhm”, Seyka hummed with a nod. “Two years. After our parents were gone, he looked out for us.”

“What happened to them?”, Aloy asked in a low voice, looking at Seyka who had her eyes on the ocean.

“Well, my mother was in the Navy too and just didn’t return from one of the expeditions”, Seyka replied. “They say she went overboard but if you ask me that’s a load of machine junk. She led the first expedition ever trying to cross the great sea. Mom was an awesome navigator and a very good technician. I haven’t found out yet what really happened. I guess, I was hoping to when I joined the third expedition myself.”

Seyka shook her head and grabbed a stick to fidget with in her fingers.

“And dad, well… He was murdered when we were very little”, Seyka sighed. “He used to work as a servant for one of the Imperials. They say, they never found who did it but stuff like that happens now and again. You know, employees of Imperials just ending up murdered somewhere, mostly women though. For some very unapparent reason those murders never get solved.”

Seyka laughed sarcastically.

“I’m really sorry”, Aloy said quietly, caressing Seyka’s arm with her hand that she had never removed.

“Thanks”, Seyka whispered. “I won’t stop trying to find out what really happened to them. But for now, a new beginning here feels right, you know.”

“I will help you find out, if you want me to”, Aloy said. She felt really angry and sad that Seyka and Kina had already endured so much.

“Yeah, that’ll be nice”, Seyka replied with a small smile towards Aloy who smiled back. “I hear you can be very persuasive.” She winked.

“But right now, I want us to enjoy the fish while it’s warm”, Seyka said, seeming to pull herself out of the dark thoughts in her head. “And while eating, we could decide what we want to do today.”

Aloy chuckled at the bright smile on Seyka’s face and went back to eating breakfast.

“Any ideas?”, Seyka wanted to know, looking at Aloy expectantly.

“Huh, I don’t know”, Aloy replied, thinking hard. At this time of day, she was usually already up and moving along whatever route she had to take. “I guess I could use a freshwater bath. Or we could go hunting. I’m really not that good with catching fish and you Quen seem to have that down to a fault. I could learn something from you.”

“Hmm, I already went fishing today, but if you don’t sleep as long tomorrow, we can go together”, Seyka said with a grin.

“I thought you said I should enjoy my freedom and rest”, Aloy answered with a laugh.

“I did. But I never said I wouldn’t tease you about it”, Seyka shot back, her grin growing even broader.

“Uh-huh”, Aloy said, amused. “I know a good spot for a bath in freshwater. Not a lot of machines, very secluded. But we’ll have to take my waterwing.”

Seyka’s grin faded slightly, and she said: “Well, I guess, I ran right into that one.”

So, they finished up their breakfast, picked up their gear and Aloy called her waterwing.

“Is it still the same one?”, Seyka asked while they observed its silhouette coming closer.

“Yup”, Aloy said. To be quite honest, she had been very careful to hold onto it because it had reminded her of Seyka.

“And you still haven’t named it?”, Seyka asked.

Aloy shook her head and then said: “I didn’t, but Alva did.”

“Oh, let’s hear it then”, Seyka said with raised eyebrows, looking at Aloy expectantly.

“Bubbles”, Aloy said with a grimace.

“Excuse me?”, Seyka asked dumbfoundedly.

“It’s called Bubbles”, Aloy repeated, now laughing at Seyka’s expression.

“Remind me never to take name suggestions from Alva”, Seyka said, beginning to laugh loudly.

Bubbles landed next to them, and they mounted the waterwing, both still chuckling. Aloy felt happy and strange. She had travelled with companions before, even with Seyka, but this felt different. And not only because Seyka had her arms tight around Aloy’s hips. It was different because their goal now wasn’t to go hunt down some machine, track an enemy or fight their way through an obstacle. Their goal now was to go take a bath. Which brought with it some new challenges, as Aloy realized after she had steadied her waterwing at a comfortable and safe height. Usually, she was naked during her baths. Not that she had minded a lot in the past, but now that could entail being naked in front of Seyka. She knew she would be at some point, but she hadn’t anticipated that to happen in such near future.

“Aloy, why is your heart hammering so fast against my hands?”, Seyka yelled in her ear, against the wind.

“I will tell you when we land”, Aloy yelled back after a moment’s hesitation.

Aloy steered Bubbles to land by a secluded waterfall that was bottled in by rocks and only barely accessible on one side. A quick check with her focus told her that there weren’t any machines or humans close, so they landed on a small clearing in front of the pond that the waterfall had formed.

“Very nice”, Seyka commented and hopped off the waterwing. Aloy followed her, dropping her gear beside a rock. Seyka mimicked her but began to rummage through hers and pulled out a piece of soap, a wooden comb and a bulge of interesting looking fabrics.

“What’s that?”, Aloy wanted to know when Seyka presented it to her.

“It’s a special bathing fabric us Quen developed after the Ancestors’ model”, Seyka explained. “It’s very thin and dries very fast. It’s also aquadynamic, but I’m not sure how much use that will be when we’re not trying to outswim a tideripper at the moment. The ancestors used to wear them to go swimming. So naturally, the Imperials do so as well.”

“Wow, where did you get them?”, Aloy asked, taking the clothing from Seyka to study it closer. It felt kind of slippery even though it was still dry.

“A friend of mine is the son of an Imperial”, she replied. “He’s…. different. So, I can get cool stuff like this from him.”

“Huh, it’s always good to have connections”, Aloy said with a smile, unfolding the cloth and looking at some sort of very tight suit with holes for arms and legs.

Seyka turned around and began undressing, another bathing cloth lying next to her. Aloy stared for a few seconds, then remembered she should probably change as well. Facing away from Seyka, she stripped out of the light linen gown of Utaru design, got rid of her underwear and stepped into the bathing suit. It was very tight, and she had a bit of trouble scooching into it. She still felt very exposed, but at least she wasn’t naked. She turned around when she heard a splash and saw Seyka diving right below the surface. She was an exceptionally good swimmer, Aloy had noticed that before. When Seyka’s head broke through the surface of the water, Aloy pulled herself out of her haze and jumped into the pond as well. The water was a slightly chilly, Aloy was panting a little when she came up for air again. When she opened her eyes, she was surprised to find Seyka’s face right in front of hers.

“Hey”, Seyka said with a smile that she had reserved just for Aloy.

“Hey”, Aloy breathed back, feeling a little nervous. They were looking at each other and Aloy studied Seyka’s dark brown eyes. She noticed that there were little golden dots in them that glittered in the sunlight.

“You’re so beautiful”, Aloy said in a low voice, her gaze flickering down to Seyka’s lips. She was greeted with a wide smile before Seyka moved in and kissed her. Aloy’s breath hitched for a moment, her body still not used to all the new sensations. When Seyka continued to move her lips against hers, Aloy placed her hands on Seyka’s hips and pulled her closer. This meant their bodies were touching with hardly any clothing between them. When Aloy felt Seyka’s hard nipples against her own breasts, she experienced a tugging feeling in her lower belly that made her break the kiss. She was panting slightly.

“Too much?”, Seyka asked quietly, taking Aloy’s face into her hands.

“No, it’s… I enjoy it very much”, Aloy said breathlessly, her eyes flickering between Seyka’s. “It’s just… new. But in a good way.”

Seyka smiled at her, then took her hand and pulled her towards the edge where they had placed their belongings.

“Come on, I’ll wash your hair”, Seyka offered as an explanation, so Aloy followed and waited for Seyka to collect the soap. It had been a long time since someone else had washed her hair. The last time must have been Rost when she had still been a little kid. It felt nice how Seyka’s fingers moved through her hair, opening her braids and soaping everything. When she started massaging her scalp, Aloy groaned in pleasure.

“Glad you like it”, Seyka chuckled from behind her. Aloy could feel herself relaxing and would have been ready to fall asleep if the cold water didn’t keep her awake. After a while, Aloy turned around and mimicked to Seyka that she wanted to return the favor. When Seyka opened her ponytail and let her hair fall onto her shoulders, Aloy was struck again by how beautiful she looked. Seyka who had probably caught her staring, smiled at her cheekily.

“Oh, turn around”, Aloy said with a chuckle, shoving at Seyka’s shoulder playfully.

“Whatever you command”, Seyka replied with a grin before turning around. Aloy felt that tugging feeling again. Oh no, she had liked that.

Aloy moved the soap through Seyka’s hair, enjoying the closeness. Her hair felt very different from her own. It was smoother and slicker, and her fingers slid through easily. When Seyka’s hair was all soaped up, Aloy tried her hand at a head massage herself. She wasn’t disappointed, the sounds Seyka let slip now and again made Aloy want to move closer and closer.

At some point, Seyka broke away and they moved over to the waterfall, to wash out the soap. The water pressure was enormous, and it stung on Aloy’s skin. She was glad when Seyka pulled her towards the wall behind the waterfall. She felt slightly disoriented and shook her head. When she opened her eyes, Seyka was there smiling again. It was too loud, so talking was out of the question. They looked at each other again, under the water Seyka took Aloy’s hands into hers and moved closer. Aloy noticed that Seyka let her initiate their kissing most of the time, hinting obviously what she wanted but leaving the decision to Aloy. Not that she needed a lot of persuasion.

Aloy closed the gap between them again, this time anticipating the tugging feeling in her lower belly when she pressed against Seyka’s body. Seyka lay her arms around Aloy’s neck and deepened the kiss, letting her tongue slip in for a second which made Aloy move her hips towards Seyka involuntarily. She could feel Seyka smile into the kiss while her heart was hammering against her chest. She was sure Seyka could feel it as well. Trying to breathe somewhat steady, Aloy moved her lips against Seyka’s more urgently, earning her a small moan that she couldn’t hear but feel against her mouth. It made the tugging feeling travel from her belly down between her legs and she broke the kiss, panting. Aloy studied Seyka’s face that was slightly flushed. She could have counted every single freckle if she had wanted to. She smiled at Seyka shyly and resumed their kissing.

Aloy lost track of time while they were making out below the waterfall. She couldn’t remember ever having been in such a blissful state. It felt very surreal. At some point, Seyka stopped them and dove beneath the waterfall, Aloy following close behind.

“You’re shivering so I thought we might continue this some place dry and sunny”, Seyka explained when they were far enough away from the waterfall that they could hear each other again. “I’m sure you’d have blue lips as well if I hadn’t made sure to keep them warm and occupied.”

Aloy chuckled, slightly flustered, and joined Seyka who had sat down in a patch of grass that felt nice and warm from the sun.

“Wouldn’t want you to get sick on your first day off in like forever”, Seyka continued her teasing, evidently enjoying Aloy’s flustered state.

“I guess not”, Aloy agreed, letting herself fall back into the grass, looking up into the blue sky. She felt around for Seyka’s hand and joined their fingers when she found it.

“How do you feel?”, Seyka wanted to know after a moment’s silence.

Aloy was taken aback for a moment. She couldn’t remember anyone ever asking her that. It was kind of a deep question, and she wasn’t sure she could or wanted to answer it honestly.

“Huh, I don’t know”, she stated vaguely. “But I enjoy our free time so far.”

“Glad to hear it”, Seyka chuckled and shortly pressed Aloy’s hand.

They lay there in the grass for a while until Aloy said: “I will have to do my hair now, otherwise it will be pure chaos and there will be no way I can comb through it.”

“Huh, I’d like to see your hair in chaos, but I guess I can achieve that some other way at some point”, Seyka replied with a grin. Aloy’s heart skipped a beat, and that tugging feeling was back. Feeling herself reddening, she turned around and reached for her bag to look for her comb. Seyka however was quicker and began combing through Aloy’s hair with her own. It felt weird being cared for like that. She had always had to be so resourceful and independent, that it made her uneasy to open up to someone in that way.

“Can I help braid it too?”, Seyka wanted to know when she was done trying to tame Aloy’s hair with her comb.

“Uhm, sure”, Aloy replied, still unsure about the whole situation.

“It’s okay, you can do it yourself if you want to”, Seyka said, evidently sensing her hesitation.

“No, it’s fine, you can help”, Aloy shot out quickly, turning around. She was met with a doubtful expression, so she explained: “I’m sorry, it’s just been a while since… someone has… cared for me like that. It’s kind of new territory too.”

“Okay, I get it”, Seyka answered with an understanding nod. “But… you will have to get used to me caring about you. Not necessarily through doing your hair, but I care about you. A lot actually.”

Aloy only managed to nod in return. Their conversation had become very deep very quickly and she felt very giddy about the promise Seyka’s words held.

“Anyway”, Seyka broke the silence in a cheery voice. “When you’re done, I have a surprise for you.”

She grinned broadly at Aloy and began to comb her own hair.

Chapter Text

When they neared the small island Seyka had told her to fly to for her surprise, Aloy tried to spot from the air what Seyka had in store for her. The island was around ten minutes by Waterwing or 20 minutes by Seyka’s boat away from Fleet’s End. The ocean around the island glittered peacefully and Aloy’s focus didn’t pick up any machines, so she steered Bubbles down towards the beach.

When Aloy’s feet hit the sand, she looked around for a clue to what Seyka was up to. Her focus picked up on an old bellowback cargo sac in the bushes but nothing else, so she looked over to Seyka expectantly.

“Ha, I made you curious”, Seyka laughed. “Who would have guessed…”

“Well, I haven’t received a lot of welcome surprises in my life, so let me have this one”, Aloy said with a slightly embarrassed smile. “I had enough of the unwelcome sort…”

“Oh, I enjoy this more than you can guess”, Seyka replied with a grin, walking over towards Aloy and taking her hand. “Come on then.” And she dragged Aloy towards the bushes that hid the bellowback sac.

“Turn around and don’t you dare use your focus”, Seyka commanded, so Aloy chuckled and with an eyeroll did how she was told. It took at least five minutes and from the sounds of it, Seyka was freeing the sac from the bushes but what in the world could she want with that as a surprise?

Finally, Aloy could hear Seyka coming back over to her. She was panting but sounded happy when she said: “Okay, all ready, you can look now.”

Aloy turned around and saw that the sac had indeed been freed of what obviously had been very good camouflage. But it wasn’t only a sac. Seyka had built the sac to some sort of little hut. It was fastened with timber beams that had been driven into the sandy ground all around its base. As it was transparent, Aloy could see that there were things inside it and there was some sort of entrance covered with curtains on each of the shorter sides of the sac.

“Wow”, Aloy breathed in amazement. She had never seen anything like it. Curious, she strode forwards to have a closer look.

“Can I…?”, she asked Seyka when they reached the nearer doorframe.

“Please”, Seyka replied with a smile that sounded slightly nervous.

Aloy stepped inside and looked around in awe. It had everything a cozy home needed: a bed, some storage, a table and chairs, a little kitchen, a bathroom corner, even carpets on the wooden floor.

“Wow”, Aloy repeated again and looked at Seyka. “Did you build all that by yourself?”

“Yep”, Seyka said with a proud grin. “Well, I had help with the bathroom, it has plumbing.”

“Very luxurious”, Aloy laughed. “Not quite what I’m used to, but I guess it’ll be a nice change to be able to go without having to worry about being attacked.”

Seyka burst out laughing and Aloy grinned stupidly.

“When did you do all that?”, she asked when Seyka had calmed down.

“Well…”, Seyka hesitated, shuffling her feet, looking towards the floor. It was very unlike her. “Actually, I started building it when we said goodbye after our first kiss. I hoped I would get to share it with you at some point.”

Aloy couldn’t breathe for a moment. Seyka had done all that months ago. She had decided she liked Aloy enough to live with her months ago.

“Too much?”, Seyka asked in a quiet voice, looking at Aloy in concern.

“No”, Aloy breathed out, shaking her head vehemently, closing the distance between them and hugging Seyka tightly. She hugged Aloy back and they stood there for a while, Aloy enjoying the closeness.

“That… is the best surprise anyone has ever given me”, Aloy whispered and kissed Seyka’s cheek.

“I’m glad”, Seyka replied still in a low voice, but sounding much more like herself again. “There are still a few things missing though.”

“Looks pretty perfect to me”, Aloy said with raised eyebrows, releasing Seyka.

“Well, I thought we could add some stuff outside”, Seyka explained, gesturing towards the front door. “A roofed fireplace for example? Also, it might be a good idea if you overwrote a burrower or watcher to protect the island while we’re gone.”

“Sure”, Aloy said with a wide smile. She couldn’t quite believe that this was what her life would look like now. The perfect lonely island with an actual partner, but with all the possibilities to go hunting, adventuring or for a drink close by.

“We might also wanna add some kind of leafy roof for shadow”, Seyka went on. “It gets pretty hot in there when the sun is blasting on the glass all day.”

“We can just use the bush material you hid the sac with before”, Aloy proposed with a shrug. “Very nice work with the camouflage by the way.”

Seyka made a mock bow, and they went outside to collect the bush material. While Aloy stashed them in the shadow of a few nearby palm trees, Seyka went to a chest a few feet away to retrieve some building materials and tools. They sat there, binding branches and palm leaves together for the rest of the day, chatting about what they had been up to the last few months until the sun vanished behind the horizon.

“Okay, now I’m going to show you another fancy feature our new home has”, Seyka said, her smile slightly fading when she continued quickly. “You know, only if you want to live here with me of course. Whatever you’re comfortable with.”

“I thought, we had settled that we want to be together”, Aloy replied giddily, unable to keep her face from smiling broadly. “I guessed that that would include living together. It’s not like we’re used to the ancestors’ lifestyle where everyone just lived alone.”

“You did live alone for most of your life though”, Seyka pointed out. “I don’t want you to feel like you’re trapped with me.”

“I’m not”, Aloy assured her, putting a hand on Seyka’s arm, looking at her earnestly. “To be honest, I feel more free than I ever have in my life, but I still have to get used to what that means.”

Seyka nodded slowly.

“So, what fancy feature were you talking about?”, Aloy asked after a moment.

“Right”, Seyka mumbled and got to her feet. “Come on.”

They went inside and Seyka opened a metal cupboard door next to the stove in the little kitchen.

“This is a fridge”, Seyka said proudly. “It’s cooled by sea water.”

Aloy took a look inside and spotted some meat, fruit and vegetables. She knew the Old Ones’ fridges had been run by electricity. It was quite ingenious to use the cold sea water as a cooling aid.

“That is very fancy”, Aloy stated, impressed. “And I was worried we would have to eat dry meat for dinner.”

“Ha, not with me, babe”, Seyka said with a grin. Aloy’s stomach did a summersault at this new pet name. It felt strange but good.

Aloy went about and lit all the torches around their new home so they would have some light and then carried their stuff inside while Seyka cooked them some dinner. It took only a few minutes and Aloy’s mouth began to water due to the delicious smells coming from the stove. When she wanted to help, Seyka pushed her into one of the chairs by the table and handed her a mug of coconut water.

The stew that Seyka put on the table about half an hour later tasted so good that Aloy moaned again in content.

“If you keep this up, I’m going to be too heavy for Bubbles in about a month”, Aloy said, her mouth full of stew. Seyka just laughed happily

They spend the next two weeks mostly alternating between continuing to build their new home, hunting, eating and relaxing. Now and again, they went on little outings to have a drink at Fleet’s End, to take a bath or hunt down some machines for fun and to earn some shards. Aloy slowly got used to this new way of life. If she was honest, her center of attention was usually Seyka. Once she had started to give in to the urge to be near her and touch her all the time, she felt like she couldn’t stop anymore. She felt very silly at times, but maybe this was what being happy was supposed to feel like. She enjoyed both the emotional and physical closeness to Seyka and they had progressed on both levels quite a lot.

One night, they ended up making out beside the fireplace outside which wasn’t too unusual for them. Aloy was lying on top of Seyka and their kissing became more heated, also nothing new. What was new was Aloy’s leg between Seyka’s and Aloy couldn’t help but press it against Seyka’s center which meant that she as well got some very pleasuring pressure from Seyka’s leg between hers. Aloy was rewarded with a deep moan, making her more daring, so she repeated the motion. This time she could feel Seyka pressing up into her. The next time Aloy moved, Seyka put her hands on Aloy’s ass, murmuring “This okay?” between both their heavy breaths. Aloy only nodded. She really didn’t want to stop what they were doing. The friction felt so good she had completely stopped thinking, letting her instincts take over.

Breathing became difficult, so Aloy nuzzled her face between Seyka’s neck and shoulder, not ceasing her motions. Seyka’s moans became more frequent and Aloy sucked at her pulse point which she had already found out, Seyka enjoyed a lot.

“Aloy”, Seyka said, her voice deeper than usual and a little hoarse.

“Hm?”, Aloy only hummed in reply not wanting to stop kissing Seyka’s neck.

“Aloy”, Seyka repeated, this time sounding a little more urgent, so Aloy stopped to look at her. It was the most beautiful sight: Seyka’s eyes were dark, the fire reflecting and dancing in them. They darted between Aloys’, and she licked her lip.

“You okay?”, Aloy asked, now feeling a little unsure of herself. Had she done anything wrong? She had done some research in the archives of the Old Ones and had a pretty good idea of how things between two women could work, but she was very new to all this.

“Yeah”, Seyka breathed back. “I just… I need to slow down a little or… I might lose control and I don’t want to overwhelm you.”

“Oh…”, Aloy said. “It sounds like I overwhelmed you. Sorry.”

She could feel a throbbing between her legs, her body missing the friction very much. She had never stopped to think about if anything was going too fast for Seyka. Maybe she had assumed wrong that Seyka was light years ahead of her in physical aspects.

“No, no, you’re fine”, Seyka quickly assured her with a smile. “Believe me, I was overwhelmed in the best kind of way. That was why I was scared I would lose myself in it and dive in too quickly. I really really enjoyed that, you don’t know how much… yet.”

She grinned at Aloy and it took her a moment to catch on, then she laughed, hiding in Seyka’s neck again.

She felt safe there, so she asked: “What were you afraid you would do?”

She could feel Seyka swallow.

“Well…”, she began slowly. “Run my hands all over your body for starters. Then they would probably have wandered beneath your clothes at some point.”

Aloy’s heartrate sped up. She was sure, Seyka could feel it too. Aloy tried to keep her breathing steady, when Seyka continued: “I really wanted to turn you over and start to undress you, see what everything I can feel against my body actually looks like. I would want to kiss and… touch you. Find out what you feel like and taste like.”

Okay now it was impossible to keep her breathing in check anymore. Seyka talking to her like that was doing things to her body she had never felt before, even though they weren’t even moving.

After a moment of quiet Seyka said with a little laugh: “But probably not out here with all the sand, that stuff tends to get in the way.”

Aloy chuckled and nuzzled deeper into Seyka’s neck. Seyka lay one of her hands on Aloy’s back and began to stroke through Aloy’s hair with the other.

Chapter Text

Now that Aloy knew what it felt like to have Seyka pressed up against her like that, it was nearly impossible for her to think about much else. The following days Aloy found herself initiating physical contact a lot more than before. Sometimes she asked herself if she was even in full control of her own body anymore. She was rarely someone who lost herself in her own emotions. She had never had the time or space for that. But now it was different. She couldn’t get enough of Seyka’s skin against hers, of her kisses, her embrace, the sounds she made when things became more heated between them…

Now, Aloy was sure what she wanted but she still had difficulties expressing it in words. This was all very new territory. She felt like the little girl back when Ross showed and explained the world to her. The risk of opening up to someone not only emotionally but also physically frightened her nearly as much as the end of the world. Maybe even more. She hoped Seyka would understand that Aloy wanted her without having to tell her, but she also knew that Seyka would never initiate anything more without a clear confirmation from Aloy first.

They didn’t get a lot of things done the following days, their plans usually being interrupted with make-out sessions that left Aloy increasingly desperate – pushing her nervousness aside. One evening, they were standing in the ocean together. Originally, they had wanted to catch their dinner. Aloy was still learning how to spear fish under water. But seeing Seyka’s strong body glistening in the setting sun, her muscular arm holding her spear expertly, Aloy hadn’t been able to withstand the temptation to hug her from behind and kiss her neck. They were only wearing their bathing suits and soon Aloy’s hands were caressing Seyka’s stomach, wandering a little higher and a little lower with every stroke.

“God, Aloy, you’re killing me here”, Seyka moaned in a low voice. Aloy could barely hear it over the sound of the waves.

“Want me to stop?”, Aloy whispered in Seyka’s ear, feeling her partner shiver.

“That… that depends”, Seyka replied, her voice still hoarse. She cleared her throat.

“On what?”, Aloy asked while Seyka turned around, throwing her spear on to the beach.

“Well… it really depends on whether you want to stop or not, Aloy”, Seyka looked into her eyes, her expression open and honest. Aloy swallowed.

“So, the question really is: What do you want, Aloy?”, Seyka asked softly, putting her hands on Aloy’s hips and pulling her in a little so their stomachs were touching. Aloy tried to keep her breathing steady. She knew exactly what she wanted. Why was it so hard to say it?

“I want…” she began, then closed her eyes, drawing a deep breath. “…you.”

Seyka looked at her questioningly, her eyebrows raised, an understanding smile on her face. She nodded encouragingly as if to egg Aloy on.

“All of you”, Aloy added nervously, hoping the meaning of what she was trying to say became finally clear.

A wide smile spread across Seyka’s face, and she kissed Aloy slowly.

“Okay, let’s get out of the water first though”, Seyka said, taking Aloy by one hand and dragging her towards the beach. “This is the wrong kind of wet.”

Aloy laughed nervously, shaking her head. She had become somewhat used to Seyka’s blunt flirting, but it still left her flustered. She had the suspicion that Seyka enjoyed it.

They dried themselves off and Seyka lit a fire in their bellowback hut while Aloy changed into her light linen clothes. Then, Aloy poured them some water to give Seyka the possibility to change as well. It almost seemed a little silly, seeing as they would probably undress again soon. Aloy felt nervous, a little light-headed even. She could feel herself shiver when Seyka joined her in the kitchen and her arm touched Aloy’s while reaching for her drink.

Seyka seemed to sense her nervousness. She was far too good at reading people, especially when it came to Aloy.

“It’s okay if we just go to sleep, babe”, Seyka said, now hugging her from behind.

Aloy swallowed again but shook her head.

“No, I want this”, she replied, trying to keep her voice steady.

“Okay”, Seyka said after a short pause. “But we can stop at any time, no questions asked.”

Aloy nodded again, she could feel her muscles tense and tried to relax.

“Tell you what, why don’t we just start off as usual and see where it leads…?”, Seyka proposed, turning Aloy around to be able to look at her. She smiled at Aloy in such a soft way that Aloy couldn’t help but smile back, feeling herself soften into Seyka.

“Sounds good”, Aloy said with a nervous chuckle. Seyka nodded, still smiling but taking the cup of water in Aloy’s hand and putting it back on the kitchen counter. She drew Aloy into a hug and whispered into her ear: “I really enjoyed your hands on me earlier.”

Aloy shivered again, her breath hitching.

“I’ve wanted your hands all over me since we first kissed”, Seyka continued in a soft voice, slowly stroking her hands along Aloy’s spine, barely touching her. “Well, even before that, really…”

Aloy’s breathing had picked up considerably. Her hands were clutching the fabric of Seyka’s Quen night gowns. Seyka began kissing Aloys neck right behind her ear and continued: “And I want to know what sounds you make when I have my hands all over your body…”

Seyka really had that talking dirty thing down. Aloy put her head aside to offer Seyka all of her neck to kiss and drew in a sharp breath when Seyka pulled her closer by the hips.

“This okay?”, Seyka asked.

“Oh yeah”, Aloy breathed, taking Seyka’s face into her hands to kiss her. It wasn’t long before she slipped the tip of her tongue between Seyka’s lips and was rewarded with a low moan.

Aloy was a lot less nervous now. This was all she had wanted to do the last few days. Weeks really. Feeling her body respond to Seyka and hearing Seyka’s respond to hers helped Aloy to get out of her head and let instinct take over. She was even bold enough to slide her right hand under Seyka’s shirt, moving it over her hip further up her side. Seyka crossed her arms behind Aloy’s head to give her free reign, so Aloy added her other hand and explored Seyka’s soft skin. With Seyka’s arms on Aloy’s shoulders, Aloy could feel the small dips besides Seyka’s breasts while stroking her sides. Seyka bit into Aloy’s lips when her thumbs grazed those dips for the first time. She pressed Aloy against the kitchen counter, moaning into their kiss.

“Bed?”, Seyka panted, taking a moment to look at Aloy and make sure everything was okay.

“Yeah”, Aloy breathed back, losing no time to resume their kissing. Without a warning, Seyka lifted her up, putting her hands under her thighs. Aloy crossed her legs behind Seyka’s back which provided her with blissful pressure right where she wanted it the most. She held onto Seyka’s shoulders while she was carried the few steps towards the bed. Seyka put her down gently and lay down on top of her. Aloy lost no time in opening her legs, so that Seyka’s thigh was resting between them and pulled her down closer. Seyka chuckled into their kiss, pressing her leg down into Aloy’s center. Aloy drew in a sharp breath when she felt the familiar burning sensation and grabbed Seyka’s back for support.

“This okay?”, Seyka checked in again. Aloy breathed out a quick “Yeah” and was rewarded with Seyka starting a slow rhythm of grinding her thigh down into her. At first it felt as if she finally got the friction she had craved, but that only lasted for a bit before she wanted more. Aloy slid her hands beneath Seyka’s shirt, feeling her back and shoulder muscles move. Then she moved them to graze her side, like she had done earlier. Seyka broke the kiss and stopped her movements for a moment, so Aloy’s eyes flickered open. Seyka was looking at her intently, slowly sitting up straight and pulling the top of her nightgown over her head. Aloy stopped breathing while she watched Seyka’s stomach muscles flex. Her breasts bounced slightly when she threw away the piece of clothing. Aloy didn’t think she had ever seen anything more beautiful.

“Breathe”, she heard Seyka say and snapped her eyes back up to her face.

“Sorry”, Aloy murmured, averting her eyes for a moment, but Seyka was just smiling at her softly.

“Don’t ever apologize for that, babe”, Seyka assured her, leaning down to bump her nose into Aloy’s playfully. “I want you to enjoy yourself. Even better if I’m the reason for it.”

Aloy chuckled nervously and pulled Seyka back down to kiss her. It was slow and soft at first, but became sloppier again as soon as Seyka resumed moving her thigh against Aloy. Aloy put up the leg that was resting between Seyka’s to provide her with some friction as well, which was rewarded with Seyka speeding up her movements, moaning into Aloy’s mouth. The sound caused a lightning bolt shooting through Aloy’s whole body and she started moving up into Seyka, mimicking her rhythm. Aloy felt amazing, but she wanted Seyka to be much closer still. She was so lost in the feeling that she actually heard herself moan when Seyka leaned slightly to one side, slowing down their movements but running her hand up Aloy’s stomach beneath her linen shirt.

“Still good?”, Aloy heard her ask, so she nodded, her eyes still closed, feeling slightly self-conscious. Seyka had stopped her hand, evidently unsure if Aloy was okay, so Aloy forced herself to look at her and was met with a slightly concerned expression. Seyka looked amazing. Her hair was hanging messily out of her ponytail and her eyes were so dark that Aloy nearly couldn’t see the golden spots in her irises. She was panting, her lips swollen from all their kissing and she looked so open and vulnerable that Aloy couldn’t help but smile at her. Aloy gripped the hem of her linen shirt and drew it over her head a little clumsily as she was still lying under Seyka. When her face reemerged and she had brushed her auburn hair out of her view, she saw Seyka’s gaze flickering down to her chest.

“God, you’re so beautiful”, Seyka breathed, looking back up at Aloy. “Can I touch you?”

Aloy nodded, swallowing. She wanted to feel Seyka all over her body, but she couldn’t fully shake her nervousness. Seyka leaned down to kiss her reassuringly, letting her hand wander up Aloy’s stomach again, her thumbs grazing the underside of Aloy’s breast, then back down again sliding it just a little beneath the waistband of Aloy’s pants. A small moan escaped Aloy’s lips when the burning sensation shot down from her belly to between her legs and she pushed her hips up into Seyka.

Seyka moved her hand back up, this time brushing Aloy’s nipple. At this, Aloy had to break the kiss to be able to breathe, so Seyka moved her lips down to her neck, repeating the caressing of Aloy’s stomach and breast. At some point, Seyka’s lips began to travel from Aloy’s neck over her collarbone further down until she could feel Seyka’s hot breath on her nipple. Waiting for a few seconds in anticipation, breathing heavily, Aloy finally buried her hand in Seyka’s hair and pressed her head down to signal what she wanted, foregoing another check-in. She did not want Seyka to stop. When she felt Seyka’s warm mouth around her nipple, she drew in another sharp breath, pressing her hips up. Seyka kept caressing Aloy’s stomach, her hand moving down the outside of her thigh as she was left with less space to maneuver, her head now occupying the space her hand had held earlier.

Seyka was nibbling Aloy’s nipple expertly and Aloy didn’t know what to do with herself anymore. Somehow, she had become this needy, restless mess beneath her partner.

“Seyka”, she whispered, trying desperately to communicate what she wanted without actually saying it. “Please…”

Aloy could feel Seyka smile against her breast. She moved her head back up to kiss Aloy and for a moment Aloy thought, Seyka hadn’t gotten what she had been trying to say. But then, she could feel Seyka’s hand traveling up the inside of her thigh until finally her fingers grazed over Aloy’s center ever so slightly. Even if there was still at least one layer of fabric in between, it felt amazing and Aloy pushed up into Seyka, trapping her hand just where she needed it.

Seyka hummed approvingly into their kiss, biting Aloy’s lip – if by accident or not, Aloy couldn’t say. She wanted to feel Seyka’s skin on hers, so she boldly grabbed the waistband of Seyka’s nightgown, drawing back her head to be able to look at her. Seyka answered Aloy’s questioning look by unceremoniously pulling the pants down herself and throwing them away. This left Seyka completely naked. Aloy couldn’t help herself, her eyes took in every inch of Seyka’s body hungrily.

“You’re so…”, Aloy’s voice trailed away, in awe. She was met with a genuine but slightly nervous smile when she looked back up at Seyka. For a moment, they just looked at each other before Seyka leaned back down to kiss Aloy slowly and deeply. Aloy placed her hands on Seyka’s back to press her down gently. She could feel Seyka’s hot and moist center on her thigh even through her clothing. Slowly, Aloy let her hands wander further down, feeling the curve of her back and then sliding them over Seyka’s tight ass. At this, Seyka began moving against Aloy again, but still, there was too much fabric there. Aloy decided to try and get rid of her pants herself, but Seyka caught on. She sat up, hooking her fingers in the waistband, looking at Aloy for confirmation. Aloy nodded slowly and watched Seyka pull down the rest of her clothes. Aloy felt self-conscious again and was glad that Seyka didn’t linger to look at her this time, but came straight back up to resume kissing her. Aloy opened her legs and finally got to feel Seyka’s bare thigh on her center. It wasn’t long before they were both moving against each other desperately.

“God, you’re so wet”, Seyka mumbled against Aloy’s neck. She certainly was. But Aloy could feel against her own thigh just how wet Seyka was herself. The friction was blissful but barely not enough. Aloy knew, Seyka probably wanted to take things slow for her sake, but she didn’t want to wait anymore. She supposed it was possible to just keep going and eventually get to orgasm, but she really really wanted to have Seyka touch her. And touch Seyka. Aloy contemplated for a moment which she wanted more, but Seyka seemed to have read her mind. She slowed down, sliding her right hand between their stomachs, pausing to look at Aloy.

Aloy’s heart was hammering so strong and fast against her chest that she was sure Seyka would feel it too.

“Can I touch you?”, Seyka breathed, studying Aloy’s face carefully for a reaction.

“Yeah”, Aloy whispered back, nodding to make sure Seyka understood just how much she wanted this. Seyka smiled down at her.

“Just tap me on the back when you want to stop or something doesn’t feel good”, Seyka said. Aloy was glad for these specific instructions. Seyka seemed to know her well enough to anticipate that this form of communication came much more natural to her. Aloy was still a little afraid, but at the same time she felt so safe with Seyka.

So, she nodded again, smiling back up at her. Seyka leaned down to kiss her deeply, beginning to move her hand down. Aloy could feel Seyka’s fingers brush her curls until finally they slid through her folds. Aloy heard herself make a sound that was somewhere between a moan and a squeak but she didn’t care because Seyka actually growled in pleasure, her center pressing down into Aloy’s thigh.

Seyka moved her fingers through Aloy’s wet folds slowly and steadily, pecking her neck and collarbone with slightly stinging kisses. Aloy couldn’t help herself, she began to move her hips against Seyka’s hand, speeding along the rhythm. One of Aloy’s hands was buried in Seyka’s hair while the other clung to her back for support. A tingling burning sensation was developing and growing in Aloy’s lower belly and she began to lose control over her body. Her motions became slightly arhythmic, she wanted more. More of this, more of Seyka.

“Seyka”, Aloy pressed out nearly inaudibly between their heavy breaths. Seyka seemed to know what she was doing because she adapted the angle of her fingers just a little, so that it grazed the small hard bundle of nerves between Aloy’s legs. It just took three more slides and Aloy could feel the burning feeling travelling further down until it finally erupted. Aloy tensed up before shaking through her orgasm.

“I got you”, Seyka whispered, gently holding her with one arm while her other hand kept carefully stroking through Aloy’s folds. When Aloy began to settle down somewhat, Seyka just cupped Aloy’s center with her hand. Aloy lost track of things for a moment, enjoying the feeling of Seyka against her, her own body still shaking with aftershocks now and again. After a while Aloy came back to her senses. She felt a little dizzy and disoriented for a moment, panting heavily, her body tingling all over.

“You okay?”, Aloy heard Seyka ask tenderly. She opened her eyes and was greeted with a warm smile.

“Yeah”, she laughed back breathily. “That was… wow.”

“No kidding”, Seyka grinned back broadly. Aloy laughed again, snuggling into Seyka’s side, smiling stupidly. She wasn’t sure she had ever felt this happy in her entire life. She was so exhausted but at the same time wide awake and exhilarated.

“I love you”, Aloy whispered, her face still hidden in Seyka’s neck.

“That good, huh?”, Seyka replied, chuckling and stroking through Aloy’s hair. Aloy pulled back from her safe spot, leaned up on one elbow and looked at Seyka earnestly.

“No, I mean it”, she said, her voice a little unsteady. She wanted to make sure, Seyka knew she hadn’t just said that because she was good in bed. “I love you.”

Seyka’s grin faltered a little and she swallowed.

“I love you too, Aloy”, Seyka replied, a shy smile slowly spreading all over her face. Her eyes were sparkling with happiness and Aloy smiled back at her. They just looked at each other for a while. Aloy noticed that it didn’t bother her as much as before that she was naked. She felt safe and connected to Seyka. She wondered if it was the same for her. Aloy let her free hand graze over Seyka’s arm down to her hips and back up over her stomach. When her hand brushed against Seyka’s breast, Seyka’s eyes fluttered shut and she bit her lip. Aloy could feel the burning sensation in her stomach coming back. She resumed her motion, this time sliding her hand a little lower into the short curly hair below Seyka’s belly. On her way back up she cupped one of Seyka’s breasts. It felt so soft and fitted perfectly into her hand.

“You don’t have to”, Aloy heard Seyka say, so she looked back up at her. She could tell Seyka was very aroused and admired her self-control.

“I know I don’t have to”, Aloy said, shaking her head slightly bemused. “I want to.”

“Okay”, Seyka said, letting herself fall back into the cushions, giving Aloy easier access. Aloy leaned over her to kiss her and then whispered into Seyka’s ear. “I’ve been wanting to do this for a very long time now.” She could feel Seyka shiver beneath her. “Tell me, if I do something wrong.”

“I don’t think you can do anything wrong, Aloy”, Seyka replied, smiling up at her. “But I promise, I’ll guide you if needed.”

Aloy nodded, feeling reassured. Still lying next to Seyka, propped up on her elbow, she let her free hand roam over Seyka’s body, relishing in the sounds her partner made. She loved watching her stomach muscles flex while she was caressing her arms, breasts and belly. She could see and feel Seyka growing restless, on occasion pressing her hips up into thin air ever so slightly.

She couldn’t believe that her actions were causing this beautiful person to make those increasingly desperate sounds. Feeling a little unsure as to what to do next, she leaned over Seyka to kiss her. She was met with such enthusiasm, that she rolled over to lay on top of Seyka who lost no time in grabbing her ass and maneuvering Aloy’s thigh between her own legs.

“This okay?”, Seyka managed to breathe out while pushing up into Aloy.

“Oh yeah”, Aloy assured her and pressed her leg back into Seyka’s center. She made this growling noise again and Aloy’s breath caught in her throat when she felt a strong tugging feeling between her legs. How could she be this worked up again?

She contemplated for a moment how long she should wait before it was appropriate to touch Seyka but judging by the woman all but writhing beneath her, she felt safe enough to let her hand wander down.

“Can I…?”, Aloy asked, letting the rest of the question just hang there.

“God, yes, please”, Seyka replied in a hoarse voice, pulling Aloy down into a searing and sloppy kiss. “I want you, Aloy.”

Aloy tried to ignore the strong tugging feeling and let her hand slide further down. Seyka opened up her legs willingly and Aloy felt her wetness for the first time. Seyka had moaned very loudly at this first touch, throwing her head back into the pillow, so Aloy continued to kiss her neck instead. She let her fingers brush through Seyka’s folds, exploring which motion got which physical or verbal feedback.

“God, you feel so good”, Seyka breathed out, her hips moving with the rhythm Aloy’s fingers were setting. Seyka’s moans became louder and more frequent now and Aloy thought she had never heard a better sound in her life.

“Aloy”, Seyka said between heavy breaths. “If you want to… I’d really like you… inside…”

Aloy knew what she meant of course but didn’t want to hurt her.

“Okay”, Aloy replied, probably sounding a little unsure because Seyka opened her eyes to check on her, then took Aloy’s fingers into one of her own hands and pushed them inside carefully. It felt amazing, warm and tight and wet. Seyka’s eyes had flown shut the moment Aloy’s fingers had slid inside. For a moment, they just remained there, then Seyka removed her hand and pushed up into Aloy’s fingers slowly. Aloy let Seyka set the rhythm for a few times then joined in. It felt amazing, to have Seyka move desperately into her own fingers. Faster and deeper with every move.

Out of the blue, Seyka turned them around in one quick motion, so she was sitting on top of Aloy, Aloy’s fingers still buried inside of her. Aloy had been caught by surprise but watched in awe when Seyka began to move on top of her, her expression one of slightly tortured bliss, her breasts bouncing with every motion, her stomach muscles flexing while she was rocking up and down. With her free hand, Aloy reached for Seyka’s and they intertwined their fingers. Remembering something she had read in the Old Ones’ archives, Aloy put out her thumb, so it was brushing against Seyka’s center with every move. Seyka’s breathing began to hitch, her moans becoming louder before her whole body shuddered and she threw her head back into a nearly silent scream. Aloy did her best to continue moving her hand until Seyka stopped her. Aloy could feel Seyka pulsate around her own fingers. Seyka was still sitting on top of her, panting heavily, her eyes closed but with a big smile on her face. Aloy just enjoyed the feeling and the view of a sweaty, worked-up Seyka on top of her. Finally, Seyka carefully took Aloy’s hand to remove her fingers and collapsed down onto Aloy. Her head was lying on Aloy’s chest, Aloy could feel both their hearts beating strongly.

“I got a little carried away there”, Seyka said, still sounding out of breath. “You okay?”

“Oh, I’m a lot better than okay”, Aloy replied, still in awe. She hoped what she had just seen would forever be edged into her memory. Seyka chuckled, stroking Aloy’s hand that was still intertwined with hers.

“You can’t imagine how much I’ve been wanting this”, Seyka said and Aloy could hear the smile in her voice. “I was more than happy to wait until you were ready. But you have been absolutely killing me those last few days.”

“Sorry”, Aloy laughed. “Well not really…”

Seyka laughed out loud and shoved Aloy playfully.

“You know you’ll pay for that”, Seyka said propping up on her elbow to look at Aloy, a mischievous grin on her face. Aloy only raised her eyebrows in question.

“I will make the famous Outlander beg for it, you mark my words”, Seyka explained. Aloy laughed again, pretty sure that it would not take a lot to achieve Seyka’s goal. “But for now, let’s just cuddle and sleep. You got me spent”, Seyka added.

“Didn’t know that was even possible”, Aloy replied with a chuckle while Seyka fished around their bed for their blanket. When Seyka had thrown it over the both of them, she leaned over Aloy to give her a slow and deep kiss.

“I love you”, Seyka said against Aloy’s lips.

“That good, huh?”, Aloy repeated her words from earlier.

“You bet”, Seyka replied laughing, snuggling into Aloy’s side.

Chapter Text

When Aloy woke up the next morning her body felt heavy. A wide smile swept over her face when she remembered the events of last night. She remained where she was for a few more minutes, relishing in the memory of Seyka before thirst drove her out of bed. She tried to move as quietly as possible so she wouldn’t wake up the beautiful woman lying in her bed. Well, their bed. When she had drained a whole cup of water and refilled it, she just stood there, watching Seyka. She was lying on her back with the blanket wrapped around her waist. Aloy admired her body moving with even breaths in the light of the rising sun. Seyka’s features were calm, her mouth slightly open. Aloy smiled again. Or had she ever stopped since she had gotten up? She shook her head with a silent chuckle, drained the second cup and grabbed her bathing suite before heading out. She was determined to catch their breakfast this time.

She found Seyka’s fishing spear still lying in the sand where she had thrown it to the previous day. Aloy stretched with a wide yawn, picked it up and walked into the cool water. It woke her up immediately. She waded out until the waves tickled her stomach and goose bumps erupted all over her body, then she dove in and swam a few feet to a rock, rising out of the ocean close to the beach. She wasn’t as good with underwater spear fishing yet and the higher position on the rock provided a good view of the water surrounding it. This early in the morning, there were still plenty of fish around. She stood totally still, the spear slightly raised in her right hand, angled towards the water. Just when she had spotted a big enough fish, she heard a strange sound, like something big making its way through the water. Her hand flew to her temple instinctively, but her focus wasn’t there. She had been so distracted that she had forgotten to put it on. Shit.

She could see a wave forming below the surface until the head of a tideripper burst through. That wasn’t good. The spear in her hand was a simple one, meant for fishing not for huge machines. She looked around, hoping Bubbles was in sight and she would be able to call him without her focus, but no luck. She could try to swim back to the beach and run for her gear but the tideripper was already too close and her chances below water were a lot worse without her usual weapons and her diving mask.

Losing all hope that the machine hadn’t spotted her yet, she yelled as loud as possible: “Seyka! I could use your help out here.”

Aloy gripped her spear nervously while watching the tideripper speeding towards her. Her best bet would be to aim for its head, ideally destroying its ability to spot her and aim properly.

“Seyka”, she shouted again before she rammed the spear into the machine’s head with as much force as she could muster. The impact threw her several feet through the air until she hit the water. The rock seemed to have prevented the tideripper from just moving right over her, but her elbow grazed a rock underwater and a searing pain shot through her arm. She scrambled until her feet finally found hold in the muddy sand and she could push herself out of the water. She looked over her shoulder while running towards the beach and saw the tideripper turning around for another attack.

“Shit”, she mumbled as she tried to remember where she had put down her gear.

“Aloy, catch”, she heard Seyka yell at her from somewhere above. She looked up just in time to see Seyka who was riding Bubbles throw down her spear and bow. She slid to a halt in the sand and caught her gear while watching Seyka trying to draw the tideripper’s attention away from Aloy. Aloy threw the quiver over her shoulders, stuck her spear into the sand and aimed the arrow in her bow towards the machine. It had been a while since she had used her weapons without her focus but the tideripper presented a big enough target. Expertly, she shot down one part of its tail in the hopes of weakening its ability to navigate in the water. Seyka had targeted its head cannons from above which was a far harder thing to do while sitting on the back of a waterwing. Aloy was glad, Seka was such a good shot. While Aloy let her second arrow hit the tidal disc on its back, she watched in horror when the machine’s tail whipped around and grazed Bubbles left wing. Seyka stayed firm on its back, but the waterwing came crashing down on the beach and propelled its rider through the air on impact.

Aloy only had time to make sure that Seyka was moving before she had to turn around to stop the nearing tideripper from wreaking havoc on their little island. Fortunately, the tideripper’s heart was exposed while it dragging itself heavily through the shallow water. Aloy aimed two quick shots: one crashing away the protective plate and the other making its way right through the heart. The tideripper fell down with a loud crash and Aloy was sure the whole island had shaken.

She checked if the machine had really stopped moving and only turned around when she saw its lights flicker and die out. Seyka came jogging towards her and Aloy leaned over panting, her hands on her knees for support.

“Just like the good old days, huh”, she greeted Seyka with a breathy laugh.

“What were you thinking?”, Seyka yelled at her and Aloy straightened up, her brows furrowed. Never in all the difficult situations the two of them had found themselves in had she seen Seyka lose her cool like that. She was panting heavily, anger on her face. And there was something else, Aloy couldn’t quite place. Was it fear?

“Why did you leave your focus?”, Seyka wanted to know, her voice still sharp, thrusting the little triangle into Aloy’s hand. Aloy was still confused, this reaction was very unlike Seyka.

“Sorry”, Aloy mumbled while trying to figure out what she was missing. Then it hit her. This was nearly exactly like when Seyka’s brother had died. Seyka had been asleep, hearing Aloy yell for help only to find her battling a machine in the ocean. This had to be the worst kind of flashback.

Aloy threw her gear into the sand, tucking her focus onto her ear before slowly making her way over to Seyka.

“I’m okay”, Aloy said in a calming voice, holding her hands out in front of her like when she would try to appease a scared animal. Seyka rammed her spear into the sand angrily before her features softened and she fell onto her knees, looking at Aloy with a hollow expression for a moment. Then Seyka hid her face in her hands and her posture crumbled. Aloy’s heart broke at the sight of a sobbing Seyka in the sand and she quickly crouched down next to her. She carefully laid her right arm around her, not sure if Seyka would allow it or not. She was glad when she could feel Seyka leaning into her side.

“I’m sorry Seyka, I’m here, I’m okay”, Aloy kept repeating over and over again until Seyka seemed to settle down. Only then became she aware that her injured arm was dripping blood all over Seyka’s bare back. Evidently she had only taken the time to throw on some pants before coming to Aloy’s rescue. Aloy removed her bloody arm and sat down in front of Seyka instead. Aloy’s legs were cradling Seyka in a what she hoped would feel protective kind of way and she used her left, blood free hand to softly stroke through Seyka’s hair.

“Sorry”, Seyka mumbled at some point, removing her hands from her swollen face, wiping it in an attempt to dry it off.

“No, you’re okay”, Aloy assured her. “I’m sorry. That wasn’t exactly how I had planned the morning to go either.”

Seyka chuckled, throwing a glance at Aloy. That had to be a good sign, right?

“Whoa, what happened to your arm?”, Seyka burst out when she looked back at Aloy, evidently having spotted her injury. She jumped to her feet, ripping off a piece of her pants and using it to carefully wipe away the blood.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry”, Aloy said, trying to wrench her arm away.

“Will you let me take care of you?”, Seyka burst out, sounding slightly angry again. As this was the last thing Aloy had intended, she held still and let herself be steered back to their hut. On their way, they passed Bubbles who was sitting under a palm tree, one of his wings in a strange angle.

“I will fix him later”, Aloy assured Seyka who looked at Bubbles with a worried expression. “He’s seen a lot worse.”

Sekya only threw her a look that she was unable to read, so she followed her obediently into the hut where Seyka pressed her into a chair and began rummaging in a cupboard. She came back with alcohol and some bandages. Aloy felt very uncomfortable just sitting there and letting Seyka take care of her but she didn’t want her to be more upset than necessary so she remained still in her seat until Seyka was done.

Seyka put the alcohol back to where it had come from and kneeled down in front of Aloy. Aloy looked down and was met with an expression so serious and vulnerable that she stopped breathing for a second.

“Never ever do this to me again”, Seyka said lowly, her voice breaking slightly.

“I won’t”, Aloy replied. “I’m sorry, I was distracted.” Which wasn’t like her. At all.

They looked at each other for a moment longer, the silence between them weighing heavy on Aloy’s shoulders.

“Well, at least we won’t have to go hunting machines for at least a month now”, Seyka finally said. “Those tideripper parts will bring in some serious shards.”

Aloy said nothing. The deliberately light tone of Seyka’s voice bothered her.

“Let’s get cleaned up and eat some breakfast”, Seyka added and pulled Aloy to her feet.

They washed off the blood, dirt and sand in the ocean and Seyka collected a few fish that had fallen victim to the battle with the tideripper to make them breakfast. Seyka was a lot quieter than usual and Aloy didn’t push for conversation. It felt like Seyka needed the space, but it made Aloy feel very uneasy. They spend the rest of the day harvesting the tideripper and fixing Bubbles’ wing. When he was back to normal, Aloy used him to throw the remaining useless parts into the ocean for other machines to scrap them while Seyka stacked the sellable parts in their little shelter to store until they would travel to Fleet’s End the next time.

The sun was already setting when they had finished their dinner and they were sitting out by the fire.

“I didn’t mean to yell at you like that”, Seyka finally broke the silence. “I’m sorry.”

“I know”, Aloy only replied, waiting to give her some space to elaborate.

“I woke up this morning when you shouted. At first I thought, you just needed help with some project. Your nerves of steel don’t help with your tone you know. Only when I heard you call the second time, I realized it might be serious. And I ran outside to see that thing ramming you with its head. And for a moment, I saw you floating dead in the ocean, just like Tako. And I lost it”, Seyka went on. “I’m not really angry with you.”

“Maybe a little”, Aloy said with a chuckle.

“Okay, maybe”, Seyka replied with a small smile but moved over to sit closer to Aloy, so their arms were touching. Then she added in a low voice: “I was terrified to lose you too.”

Aloy turned her head and just looked at Seyka staring into the fire. She couldn’t blame her. Had the roles been reversed, she would have felt the exact same way. That alone terrified Aloy and she swallowed.

“This world has tried to get rid of me very often. So far, my track record speaks for me being around a while longer”, Aloy said, trying to sound more confident than she felt. She had made her peace with the fact that her missions could mean the end of her life. And until Seyka that had been okay. But now it was different. Seeing her like that and feeling how much pain her absence would cause – not only because of a saving the world mission – left Aloy with yet more emotions she wasn’t used to. She was still learning what it meant to have a partner. What it meant to be a partner.

“A very long while longer please”, Seyka said, finally turning her head to look at Aloy. Aloy nodded with a reassuring smile.

“How’s your arm?”, Seyka wanted to know, looking down onto Aloy’s bandaged elbow.

“Fine”, Aloy replied with a shrug. She had had far worse injuries. Seyka rolled her eyes.

“You know, you would probably say that with an organ hanging out your side”, she said exasperated.

“Very graphic”, Aloy laughed.

“Thanks for letting me take care of you earlier”, Seyka added in a more serious tone. “I really needed it. I know it’s not always easy for you.”

Aloy just nodded.

“How do you know?”, she asked after a short pause. Although they had talked a lot about their different adventures, friends and family, Aloy had never told Seyka where she came from or how she grew up. Seyka had always respected her dancing around the subject and Aloy often wondered if she somehow knew more than she was letting on. Maybe Alva had told her some things?

Seyka looked at her for a while, seemingly trying to decide how to answer the question.

“I don’t know exactly, to be honest”, she said. “I don’t know why, but I get you in a way I never have with other people.”

“You practically read other people”, Aloy replied with a laugh. She had always admired how Seyka was able to see through others seemingly on instinct.

Seyka chuckled.

“Well yeah, I’m good with reading people but still, it’s different with you. I feel so connected to you. I’ve never felt like this with any other person before”, Seyka insisted.

“So, you can just tell that I have trouble with… letting people help me?”, Aloy wanted to know. “Without having or needing a reason?”

“Well, sure I would like to know why, but just because I want to know you better, not because I need a reason”, Seyka said with a smile. Now it was Aloy who looked into the fire. It still made her uneasy that Seyka saw through her seemingly without effort. But if she was honest, she could feel this connection she was talking about too. Maybe this connection would be put to a test with what Aloy had just decided to tell Seyka.

“I don’t have a family”, Aloy began, and she could see Seyka looking at her intently out of the corner of her eye. “And it’s not because they’re dead. Well, the only person I had that resembled family is, but… Um, this will be strange to explain.”

“Okay”, Seyka said. “I’m not going anywhere. No matter what you tell me.”

Aloy smiled. There it was again, Seyka’s ability to know exactly what she thought.

“I was made, not born”, Aloy went on. “I don’t have parents. A metal door presented me to my tribe when I was a baby.” It felt strange to call the Nora her tribe after all this time and never really having been part of them. “I was grown inside a bunker of the Old Ones. The Nora are a matriarchy. Having no mother was an offence. It’s difficult to explain. But they made me an outcast.”

Seyka gasped and Aloy could tell she was holding back an angry outburst on her behalf to not interrupt.

“I was given to Rost, who was cast out for leaving our homeland to hunt down the murderers of his family and having the audacity to survive it”, Aloy continued. “He was my family. He was all I had. He taught me how to hunt, how to be a good person, how to never waver in my beliefs. That last part blew up in his face more times than he liked, I think.” Aloy laughed. She could hear Seyka chuckle.

“He did an amazing job with you”, Seyka said quietly and Aloy finally looked at her. A loving smile greeted her. There was no trace of doubt or fear or disgust after what Aloy had just told her. So, she kept on going and told Seyka everything. About the proving. How she had lost Rost. How she had woken up inside the mountain. How the Matriarchs had made her a Seeker. How she had found out who she was. How she had saved the world the first time around. Then she filled in the blanks for the second time. How Beta was something like her twin sister. How the Zeniths had held her like a pet to slaughter. When she finally finished, there was a long pause. It had been a lot to take in.

“So, just to make sure, I’m getting this right”, Seyka said. “I’m dating an exact copy of the practically only sane person of the Old Ones?”

Aloy laughed. This was so like Seyka. She had just loaded a ton of complicated and at times even disturbing information on her and she just took it in stride and made a joke to make Aloy feel better.

“Thank you for telling me all this”, Seyka added, taking Aloy’s hand and brushing her thumb over it gently. Aloy leaned against her and put her head on Seyka’s shoulder. She relaxed into her, feeling like a huge weight had been lifted off her. Seyka was still there. After hearing all that, she wasn’t treating her differently. Still, it felt a little scary to have opened up like this. But Aloy wasn’t the only one. Seyka had opened up to her as well. Aloy sighed.

“Bed?”, Seyka asked, getting up and offering Aloy her hand to pull her to her feet.

“Bed”, Aloy replied with a smile. Images of the night before flooded her inner eye and she reddened slightly.

“I meant to sleep”, Seyka clarified. Aloy couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. It must have shown on her face because Seyka chuckled and added: “It probably won’t take a lot to convince me of something else.”

Chapter Text

Aloy snug into bed behind Seyka, spooning her. She began to caress her stomach very lightly, just because she enjoyed it so much. It wasn’t long before her hands were making their way under Seyka’s shirt and a little lower than strictly necessary for sleeping purposes.

“Is this where the convincing of other activities starts?”, Seyka chuckled, turning her head to look at Aloy.

“Maybe”, Aloy replied vaguely, still feeling nervous. Seyka just smiled at her and turned back around. Aloy continued stroking her stomach. She could feel Seyka’s muscles flex under her touch and hear her breathing pick up. This was all the encouragement she needed at that moment, so she let her hand wander further up and started to carefully knead one of Seyka’s breasts, teasing her nipple now and again. She listened to Seyka’s breaths becoming heavier and brushed her hand back down, over the waistband of Seyka’s pants to the inside of her thighs. At this Seyka growled, turned around and kissed Aloy hungrily. Aloy smiled into the kiss which made Seyka lie on top of her, straddling Aloy. Aloy could feel something in Seyka shift. Her kisses became sloppier as she buried her hands in Aloy’s hair. Aloy didn’t complain, her body was greeting the attention happily. Then, Seyka put her thigh in between Aloy’s legs and began grinding into her, leaning on one hand while the other slid under Aloy’s lower back to press her up against her. It felt a lot more urgent and passionate than the night before and Aloy wondered how much Seyka had held back until then for Aloy’s sake. She enjoyed this side of her more than she would like to admit. It only took a minute and Aloy was so worked up that she whispered Seyka’s name needily. When she did, Seyka took both of Aloy’s hands into her own and pinned her to the bed. Aloy moaned and arched up into her while Seyka’s mouth made her way to Aloy’s neck.

Suddenly Seyka pulled away with a frustrated groan.

“What’s wrong?”, Aloy panted, leaning up on her elbows and looking at Seyka, confused. Her body was already missing the contact. Seyka climbed over Aloy and sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing her eyes with her palms.

“Sorry, I can’t do this tonight”, Seyka said in a low voice, her head resting in her hands. Aloy crouched over to sit next to her. She was a little worried now.

“Are you still angry with me?”, she wanted to know tentatively. Seyka’s head snapped back around, looking at her with wide eyes.

“No!”, Seyka said quickly and took one of Aloy’s hands into hers reassuringly. “No, I promise”, she added, when Aloy didn’t look convinced.

“Okay”, Aloy replied, unsure how to continue. “Do you want to talk about it? I’m here, if you want to.” She felt very insecure which Seyka noticed at once – of course.

Seyka looked at her for several moments, seemingly trying to make up her mind about something.

“It’s not you, Aloy”, she tried to reassure her. “This is a little difficult to explain.” She sighed, then turned to sit facing Aloy, her legs crossed. Aloy mimicked her, looking at her expectantly.

“That’s not usually something I like to talk about one day after your first time sleeping with someone”, Seyka said, evidently still unsure how to address the issue. Aloy’s brow furrowed. Hadn’t she just said, this wasn’t about her?

“There can be different… dynamics while having sex”, Seyka began. “It doesn’t have anything to do with how the relationship dynamics themselves are.”

It dawned on Aloy in which direction this was going.

“I know, I read something in the archives”, Aloy replied, nodding.

“The Old Ones had sex stuff in the archives?”, she said with a surprised laugh. “Figures…”

But Seyka seemed to relax a little and went on: “Good, then you probably know that in some contexts one partner can sort of take control over the other. It doesn’t always have to be like that. And I for one enjoy being on both sides of it.”

Aloy nodded to convey she knew what Seyka was talking about.

“The thing is, with almost losing you today…”, Seyka continued cautiously. “I kind of have the urge to control the situation because I felt totally lost this morning.”

She sighed heavily again seeming frustrated.

“Does that make any sense to you at all?”, Seyka asked in a small voice. Her posture was unnaturally crunched, and she looked very unsure of herself.

Aloy considered her words for a moment before slowly nodding.

“I think so”, she said after a moment. Then she hesitated slightly before adding: “Can I tell you a secret?”

Seyka nodded, her expression lighting up with interest.

“Anything”, she replied.

“I have noticed that for the first time in my life… after Rost, it’s okay for me to let someone else handle the situation”, she tried to explain. “I trust you. And I know it’s still very hard for me and I don’t make your life easy at times, but you’re the first person ever where I feel comfortable enough, where I don’t always need to be in control.”

Seyka just looked at her. It was new that she was lost for words. Then she smiled shily and took both of Aloy’s hands into hers.

“Thank you for telling me this”, Seyka said, her voice breaking slightly. Aloy just smiled nervously.

“Also, I have noticed…”, Aloy continued, this time having more difficulties trying to express what she wanted to say. “…that I enjoy you being more… dominant when we’re… together.” This really wasn’t inside her comfort zone.

“When you turned us around yesterday”, she pressed on boldly even though she could feel herself reddening. “…and just now… I enjoyed that a lot.”

Seyka grinned cheekily and Aloy laughed nervously.

“I’m pretty sure I’ll enjoy the other side as well”, she added, throwing cautions to the wind. “Remember when I told you to turn around at the waterfall and you said ‘Whatever you command’?”

Seyka nodded, her grin growing wider. “You liked that?”, she asked.

“Oh yeah”, Aloy chuckled, scratching the back of her head in embarrassment.

“Noted”, Seyka said, still grinning. Then the grin vanished from her face, and she continued earnestly: “Still, that’s usually not something I want to do so soon or normally even discuss. I’m sorry. I just needed to stop, I didn’t want to overwhelm or hurt you.”

“I understand”, Aloy replied with a reassuring smile.

“Okay, I’m glad”, Seyka just said. There was an awkward pause.

“Can I ask what you wanted to do to me?”, Aloy wanted to know after battling with herself for several moments, but curiosity had gotten the better of her. “I mean there must be a lot of things between what we did yesterday and tying me blindfolded to a tree to hit me.”

Seyka’s eyes widened in shock.

“What the hell have you been reading in those archives?”, she burst out with a dry laugh, her brows furrowing. She looked a little concerned. “That was not what was on my mind at all.”

“I know, that’s not what I meant”, Aloy stuttered. She wasn’t good at talking about this stuff.

“I know, don’t worry”, Seyka tried to calm her down, placing one hand on Aloy’s cheek with a smile. “Still, you’ll have to show me those archives someday.”

Aloy laughed.

“There are moving images too”, she added with a small grin.

“Huh, I’ve heard rumors about those”, Seyka said. “Fitting that the Diviners would sit on those. They’ll have all the fun.”

Aloy laughed again, a little nervous. She admired Seyka’s countenance and openness about the whole thing. She hoped she could get more comfortable with time too.

“Comes back to the question what you’ve been reading and evidently watching in those archives”, Seyka circled back, unfortunately. “And when did you find the time? I thought you were out there saving the world.” She grinned at Aloy. Aloy knew she was teasing her on purpose, still she couldn’t help but get flustered.

“I’d rather go back to my question”, Aloy mumbled, avoiding Seyka’s gaze sheepishly. Seyka chuckled and lay back down into bed, opening her arms to signal for Aloy to cuddle in with her. Aloy followed and was glad she could hide her face in Seyka’s neck while Seyka placed her arms around her. Aloy breathed in her scent and could feel herself relax at once.

“I really wanted to mark you as mine”, Seyka said in a low voice. “Not in a you’re my slave kind of way, but in a I’m the only person that is allowed to have you kind of way – all of you.”

Aloy felt goosebumps erupt all over her skin. Seyka must have felt them too.

“Coming so close to losing you today made…”, Seyka went on then hesitated. “Well it makes me want to pin you down to make sure you’re not going anywhere. It makes me want to worship every inch of your body and soul. It makes me want to show you that you’re not allowed to leave this world, that I need you to stay with me.”

Aloy swallowed, her breath hitching. It did things to her, hearing Seyka talk like that. It was intense in a more than physical way.

“That sounded a little possessive, I’m sorry”, Seyka whispered after a short pause. “I didn’t mean it like that, I love your independence.”

“I know what you meant”, Aloy replied reassuringly, feeling around for Seyka’s hand and crossing their fingers when finding it.

“Actually, it sounds very good”, Aloy added, her voice a little breathy. “I’m sorry, I missed it.”

Seyka chuckled.

“Don’t get ideas to pull stuff like this morning more often just to get me on top of you”, Seyka growled in mock-annoyance.

“Huh”, Aloy only replied, earning her a tickle attack from Seyka. Unfortunately, Seyka had found out that Aloy was overly ticklish. Aloy shrieked and writhed helplessly under Seyka who had her weight as her advantage – it also helped that she wasn’t ringing for air for laughing so hard. Finally, Aloy got enough control over her own body that she was able to wrap one of her legs around Seyka and turn them around. Now sitting on top of Seyka, it was easier to get a grip of both her hands to stop the attack. Aloy panted, still laughing while Seyka grinned up at her.

“Not fair”, Aloy said with a mock glare. “Why aren’t you as ticklish as me?”

“I grew up with siblings”, Seyka explained with a grin. “After enough tickle fights, you get used to it at some point.”

Aloy only huffed, releasing her grip on Seyka slightly. This had been a mistake. Before she knew what was happening, Seyka had rolled them back around, pinning Aloy’s hands to the bed while straddling her. Images from earlier shot into Aloy’s head which must have shown on her face because Seyka grinned at her knowingly.

“We could continue where we left off…”, Aloy whispered after a moment’s hesitation. “But only if you feel comfortable with it.”

Seyka just looked at her for several seconds. Aloy could tell she was battling with herself. Seyka’s eyes told Aloy that she really wanted to, but she still seemed to consider if it might get too much for Aloy. Aloy just waited, studying Seyka closely. Finally, she nodded slowly and leaned down to whisper into Aloy’s ear: “Tap me with your fingers if you need a break or it gets too overwhelming or if you have questions or if…”

“I will”, Aloy cut her off. “I promise.”

Aloy could feel Seyka relax and smiled in anticipation.

“Where were we?”, Seyka mumbled in a low voice. “Ah, I know…”

Seyka shifted her weight and placed one of her thighs between Aloy’s legs, her hands still pinned to the bed. Seyka started to slowly grind down into Aloy, sucking on her pulse point. Aloy put her head aside willingly to offer her more skin. Seyka’s deliberately slow movements were sweet torture and Aloy pushed up into Seyka’s leg, willing her to speed up, but to no avail. Instead, Seyka intensified the sucking on Aloy’s neck so much that it stung a little. Aloy drew in a sharp breath while a strange bolt of pleasure shot through her and she arched up into Seyka.

“Liked that?”, Seyka breathed in her ear.

“Uh-huh”, Aloy only managed to press out before Seyka nibbled her ear lobe and Aloy shuddered.

“That too?”, Seyka asked again and Aloy just nodded her head, biting her lip.

“How about this?”, Seyka wanted to know and Aloy waited in anticipation, her eyes squeezed shut until she felt a small bite where her neck and shoulder met. She moaned at the slight sting while Seyka already kissed over the spot she had just teased with her teeth.

“I take that as a yes”, Seyka commented with a little laugh. Aloy looked up when she felt Seyka letting go of her hands and straightening up. She was met with the breathtaking view of Seyka taking off her shirt and throwing it into the room. Aloy reached out to touch her, but Seyka interfered by gripping Aloy’s shirt and looking at her questioningly. Aloy nodded, put up her arms and let Seyka draw the piece of clothing over her head. The cool night air brushed over Aloy’s nipples and she could feel them harden.

Seyka took Aloy’s forearms and pressed them down onto the bed again, losing no time to let her mouth make its way from Aloy’s neck over her collarbone to her breast stopping to suck on her skin every few inches – always just enough that it began to sting a little. Aloy became a little nervous when Seyka’s mouth had reached her nipple which she knew would be terribly sensitive. Maybe Seyka had noticed it or she just knew because she toned it down a little and only nibbled at it like she had done the night before. This left Aloy breathless and she arched up into Seyka – not being able to use her hands, she didn’t have a lot of other options.

Seyka made her way over to the other breast to give it the same attention. While doing so, she pressed her knee into Aloy’s center and Aloy gasped.

“You okay?”, Seyka quickly checked in, lifting her head slightly to look at her.

“Yeah, don’t stop”, Aloy replied breathlessly, not bothering to open her eyes.

“As you command”, Seyka said and even though Aloy could hear the grin in her voice and knew exactly what she had intended, she whimpered as a strong tugging feeling shot from her belly down to between her legs.

“Huh, look at that, you do like that”, Seyka teased, evidently pleased with the result. Aloy just huffed out a laugh, considering for a moment to roll them over, but Seyka had moved her hands to let them rest at Aloy’s waistband, so Aloy discarded that idea and lifted her hips willingly. Seyka pulled down Aloy’s pants and got rid of her own so fast that Aloy was a little surprised when she felt Seyka’s weight back on top of her. The contrast of Seyka’s hot skin on hers and the cool night air was oddly appealing.

Finally, Seyka kissed her and Aloy responded with so much enthusiasm that she could feel Seyka smile into the kiss. Aloy even felt bold enough to let her tongue slip out which got her a moan and a very pleasant grinding motion. Seyka rested on one arm and slipped the other beneath the small of Aloy’s back, beginning a grinding rhythm and Aloy had to whimper again.

“You like that?”, Seyka wanted to know, sounding a little out of breath. In her blissfulness, Aloy just nodded.

“Let me hear you”, Seyka said in a husky voice, so Aloy pressed out an obedient “Yes”, not wanting her to stop.

Aloy was rewarded with a “Good girl” in reply which to her own surprise made her arch up and groan in pleasure.

“Oh, you like that too? Good to know”, Seyka chuckled. For a moment, Aloy felt a little weird because of this unexpected comment and reaction, but Seyka had sounded so pleased that she took it as a positive sign. In any way, Seyka got her distracted because she moved the hand from Aloy’s back down to the outside of her thigh. While doing so, her thumb had grazed over her curls. This made Aloy bury her hand into Seyka’s hair, pulling her down for a needy kiss. On the way up, Seyka let her hand take a path on the inside of Aloy’s thigh and though Aloy spread her legs willingly, Seyka just brushed over her outer folds. She repeated that several times and Aloy began to get restless, writhing slightly under her.

“You want something?”, Seyka hummed into Aloy’s ear.

“Yeah”, Aloy breathed back, arching up into Seyka to let her know what she needed.

“Tell me”, Seyka said in a husky voice, nipping on Aloy’s ear lobe again.

“I want… you”, Aloy pressed out between heavy breaths, digging her fingers into Seyka’s back and scalp. She hoped this would be enough, she wasn’t sure if she felt comfortable or was even able for more extensive dirty talk. Seyka however seemed satisfied because she growled in pleasure, finally cupping Aloy's center with her hand. Aloy could feel how incredibly wet she was, Seyka’s fingers easily making their way through her folds. That burning sensation in Aloy’s stomach was already building up way too fast.

“Seyka, I…”, she tried to warn her somehow, not sure if this was supposed to happen this fast.

“It’s okay Aloy, I got you”, Seyka replied lowly, suckling on her pulse point and accelerating her movements just slightly but it was all it took. Aloy stopped breathing when she could feel the burning feeling build up to the point of torture. Somehow this time it felt even more intense than the day before. Every muscle in her body tensed up, waiting for the release to happen. Finally, she arched up into Seyka and shook heavily while wave after wave of pleasure hit her. She gripped at Seyka for support, so Seyka repeated her “I got you”, but sounding gentler this time. Aloy tried to relax her body, but wasn’t in full control of it yet because she could still feel several more after shocks running through her when Seyka had replaced her hand with her thigh, just kissing Aloy’s jaw lightly.

“You okay?”, Seyka wanted to know, sounding a little concerned, so Aloy opened her eyes to meet her gaze. Seyka’s eyes were dark, her hair hanging down – Aloy thought Seyka looked amazing most of the time but this was probably her favorite view.

“Yeah”, she mumbled back and smiled. “I’m okay. Just more intense than I expected. More than yesterday, anyway.”

Seyka nodded with an understanding smile and kissed her gently.

“But I’m glad we did this”, Aloy added when they broke apart and Seyka still looked a little worried. “I just need a moment to catch me breath”, Aloy chuckled. Her whole body was still tingling, her heartrate finally slowing down.

Seyka laughed, kissing her again.

“Take all the time you need, I’m not going anywhere”, Seyka said and Aloy could tell, she wasn’t just talking about this moment.

Chapter Text

Aloy took the cup of water gladly that Seyka handed her. She gulped down the cool liquid hungrily and sighed happily when she watched Seyka do the same, standing naked in their little bellowback hut, the moonlight illuminating her body.

“You’re so beautiful”, Aloy whispered. She wasn’t even sure Seyka had heard her until she spotted her smile. Seyka put their cups onto the nightstand and climbed back into bed with Aloy. Feeling refreshed, Aloy lost no time in bending over her to kiss her deeply. Seyka responded with a low moan, wrapping her arms around her, so Aloy deepened the kiss and threw her tongue into the mix. This made Seyka shift beneath her so Aloy’s thigh slipped in between her legs. Seyka arched up into her and Aloy could feel Seyka’s wetness spreading over her thigh. She smiled into the kiss.

“All because of you”, Seyka said, breaking their kiss for a moment. Aloy felt the tugging in her lower belly again, so she resumed their kissing, more urgent now. Seyka responded with rubbing herself on Aloy’s thigh and Aloy was only too happy to provide. Seyka began to moan lowly with every grind, and they had to stop kissing to be able to breathe. Growing impatient with the noises Seyka was making under her, Aloy moved to rest her weight on her elbow, but winced when she tried to lean on it fully. It wasn’t a dangerous injury, but it stung pretty badly, and the bandage wasn’t allowing the usual angle of movement. Seyka had stopped to move when she had heard Aloy’s groan of pain and looked up at her in concern.

“Don’t worry, I will just lean on the other side”, Aloy said quickly.

“Oh tides, I forgot about your arm, I’m so sorry”, Seyka gasped in shock, her eyes studying Aloy’s arm for any visible damage. She sat up, cupping Aloy’s face.

“This means sleeping after all”, Seyka said resolutely.

“Are you serious?”, Aloy growled in dismay, scowling at Seyka.

“You’re hurt, Aloy”, Seyka said with a warm smile on her face. “Yes, my body is literally screaming for your attention right now, but this doesn’t mean I can’t stop. One jump into the ocean and I’m good as new. Wouldn’t be the worst idea anyway, we made quite the mess”, Seyka added with a laugh.

Aloy was still disappointed and a little annoyed at herself for making her discomfort known. She really wanted to keep going, so she grabbed Seyka who was already moving to get up by the arm.

“I…”, Aloy began, then stopped, looking sheepish. Seyka sat back down, looking at her intently.

“Yeah?”, Seyka asked in a soft tone, stroking her thumb over Aloy’s arm in encouragement.

“There is something I would like to try…”, Aloy continued, not sure how to best describe what she wanted. “I read about it in the archives.”

Seyka just looked at her expectantly, smiling in such a warm way that Aloy reddened even more.

“And I wouldn’t need my arms. Or hands”, Aloy finished. It took a moment until Seyka caught on. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“Ah, you wanna go down on me?”, Seyka said with an understanding grin.

“I guess, if that’s the term”, Aloy replied, scratching the back of her head in embarrassment. How was Seyka not bothered talking about stuff like this? Then again, Aloy had never really talked about things like that. Or even given them a lot of thought. Until Seyka.

Seyka considered her for a moment, then nodded with a smile and said: “If you really want to. It can take some getting used to though. And it can be very intense. So same rules apply: Just stop or tap me, okay?”

Aloy nodded, a nervous smile spreading over her face. Seyka laid back down and Aloy positioned herself over her, starting with simply kissing to get back into her comfort zone. Seyka didn’t seem to mind, she let her fingers graze Aloy’s back in a comforting way. When she felt Seyka grow restless under her, Aloy let her lips make their way over her neck. Remembering what Seyka had done earlier, she tried herself at a little bite there and was rewarded with a low growl. Aloy revered the feeling of Seyka pressing up into her and let her teeth repeat the motion a little lower, towards Seyka’s shoulder. Seyka gasped, sinking her fingernails into Aloy’s back. This also stung a little, but in the best of ways. Encouraged by the responses of Seyka’s body, Aloy kissed, sucked and nibbled her way further down over Seyka’s breasts and stomach, further down. When her lips brushed over the skin just above Seyka’s curls, Seyka curled up her fingers in Aloy’s hair, breathing heavily in anticipation. Aloy repositioned her arms below Seyka’s legs and slid her body further down the bed, so her head was hovering over her center. Aloy watched in awe when Seyka opened her legs, revealing her core that was glistening with wetness. Until now, Aloy had just stolen glances at Seyka’s nether regions, it was the first time she really looked at them. She felt honored and as if she was caught in a naughty act at the same time.

Aloy could smell Seyka’s scent that she had picked up a few times before, but it was more intense now. Trying to remember what she had read, Aloy slowly lowered her head and cupped Seyka’s mound with her open mouth. The moment she did, Seyka moved her hands away from Aloy’s hair, burying them in the bedsheets and moaning loudly, evidently trying not to arch up into her too much. Aloy flicked her tongue a little up and down. It tasted saltier than she had expected, but not bad.

Aloy settled on a steady vertical licking motion through Seyka’s folds for starters and immersed in the sounds Seyka was making. Aloy could tell that Seyka was trying hard to keep control over her own body. She was shaking, her fingers still gripping the bed sheets for support. Aloy decided to try something else and moved her mouth up until her tongue could make out a harder knob. She sucked it carefully.

“Ancestors”, Seyka moaned loudly, unable to restrain herself from arching up into Aloy. Aloy pressed her center into the bed herself, hearing Seyka lose control like that. As she had liked Seyka’s reaction a lot, she repeated what had caused it: She slid her tongue through Seyka’s folds a few times then went further up to suck on the swollen bundle of nerves. Seyka began to move her hips up into her mouth, evidently losing the battle against her own self-control. Aloy didn’t mind in the slightest and kept on going. Seyka’s moans grew more frequent and louder, her motions became shakier.

“Don’t stop, please don’t stop”, Seyka murmured, putting one of her hands back on Aloy’s head as if to make sure she stayed right where she was. Aloy couldn’t help but smile. She had suspected that Seyka might be verbal and definitely louder than herself, but this was exhilarating. Aloy never wanted to stop coaxing these sounds out of her. But she also wanted to know what would happen if she took this even further. So, she changed pace: after the next time sucking Seyka’s clit, she remained where she was and only moved her tongue downwards. This way she was able to speed up her rhythm more and more. It was worth it. Seyka’s hips began to stutter, and her moans turned into actual cries that carried out into the night, mixing with the steady sounds of the waves.

Aloy moved her hand to reach for the one Seyka had buried in the sheets. She wanted to hold her, feel somehow connected, though there probably wasn’t a more intimate connection possible than the one they were having right this moment. Seyka’s whole body tightened, her back arching up until she came crashing down with a muffled scream, shuddering all over. Aloy could feel a new flush of wetness pool out of Seyka, so she slowed down her movements, letting Seyka ride out her orgasm on her tongue. When she had finally settled down, lying motionless in the sheets, only breathing heavily, Aloy could feel her tug at her hand.

Aloy obliged, making her way up, wiping her face on her bandage while doing so. She laid down carefully on top of Seyka and grinned happily, when Seyka shuddered once more because Aloy’s stomach had come down between her legs. Seyka still had her eyes closed, smiling blissfully. Aloy just stared at her, letting the mix of awe, arousal and love wash over her, feeling like the luckiest person in the world.

“Be with you in a minute”, Seyka panted with a laugh, throwing a glance at Aloy. Aloy giggled in amusement.

“Take all the time you need, I’m just enjoying the view”, she replied, chuckling.

Seyka laughed again, opening her eyes to look at Aloy.

“I don’t think I have ever seen you smug”, Seyka said with a grin, still sounding a little out of breath. Aloy shook her head and chuckled again. “Don’t get me wrong, you have every reason to be smug. But what in the world was in those archives?!”

Aloy rolled over laughing, lightly slapping Seyka’s stomach. They just lay there a few more moments enjoying each other’s company, sharing a chuckle now and again.

“Okay, but now we really do have to go clean up in the ocean”, Seyka finally said, lifting herself up. “And I’m afraid we destroyed the sheets as well.”

Aloy sat up to check what Seyka was talking about and spotted a wet patch.

“Looks like it”, Aloy just commented, feeling a little embarrassed.

“Oh no babe, don’t be embarrassed”, Seyka said at once, drawing her in for a light kiss. “Believe you me, you don’t have anything to be embarrassed about. I knew you might be a quick study, but phew.”

Seyka got out of bed, laughing, offering Aloy her hand to pull her up with her. Aloy took it and they made their way over to the kitchen for more water. While Seyka poured herself a second cup, Aloy rummaged at the bottom of a cupboard for fresh sheets. She stripped the bed, then threw on the fresh cloth, tucking it in under the mattress. When she was done and turned around, she saw Seyka leaning at the table, looking at her with dark eyes. Aloy raised her eyebrows in question while making her way over to her.

“I see you enjoyed going down on me?”, Seyka said, her voice sounding husky, her gaze flickering down to Aloy’s thighs where she could still feel her wetness. Aloy just nodded with a shy grin and let herself be pulled into a hug. She hid her face in Seyka’s neck and enjoyed the warm closeness. Seyka let her hands graze Aloy’s back lightly and Aloy shivered a little.

“Are you cold?”, Seyka wanted to know, her voice gentle. Aloy just shook her head.

“Today was a lot to process”, Seyka said, putting her arms around Aloy protectively. Aloy snuggled further into Seyka, breathing in her scent, and feeling herself calm down.

“Maybe a little”, Aloy said with a chuckle. “I’m okay though. Are you?”

Aloy could feel Seyka nod and relaxed. It had been a long day. Still, Aloy couldn’t shake the persistent ache between her legs that had returned with the sounds Seyka had made. She noticed too late that she had groaned a little in frustration.

“You don’t sound okay”, Seyka said, pulling away a little to look at her.

“No, I’m fine, I promise”, Aloy replied quickly. Seyka looked at her questioningly. Aloy looked away with a nervous laugh. “I’m okay, really”, she repeated. “My body just needs to calm down a little. The cold ocean will help.”

Aloy could see comprehension dawning on Seyka’s face which then spread into a satisfied grin. She averted her eyes once more, beginning to make her way over to the door, but Seyka held her back by her wrist, pulling her back gently. She hugged Aloy from behind, slinging her arms around her and pressed a light kiss onto Aloy’s shoulder.

“There are things we can do about that”, Seyka whispered into Aloy’s ear, and she shuddered again. She could feel her body arching back into Seyka involuntarily.

“Ugh, I just changed the sheets”, Aloy replied weakly, her breathing picking up because Seyka had begun to knead one of her nipples between her fingers.

“No matter, I can hold you”, Seyka said in a low voice. Aloy leaned her head back into Seyka, closing her eyes.

“Want me to stop?”, Seyka asked while she began to move her other hand over Aloy’s stomach further south.

“No”, Aloy rasped, already anticipating Seyka’s touch between her legs. She bit her lip when Seyka’s fingers made their way over her center. Her breathing became ragged far too quickly, Seyka was keeping her strokes slow and deliberate and Aloy could feel her legs become shaky. She gripped Seyka’s arm that was wrapped around her chest with her hands for support. She wanted more, but she didn’t know how or what. She moaned lowly in frustration. Seyka responded by placing one of her knees between Aloy’s legs, pushing her feet apart a little so she could reach further down. Aloy felt Seyka’s fingers wandering lower, playing around her entrance and it hit her. This was what she wanted. She arched into Seyka’s hand in confirmation.

“You want me inside?”, Seyka murmured into her ear, biting her ear lobe a little.

Aloy nodded, squeezing her eyes shut tightly when she shuddered with pleasure.

“Stop me when it hurts”, Seyka said, taking only one finger and sliding it in carefully. Aloy spread her legs a little wider, leaning into Seyka, feeling her arm around her chest holding her up. Seyka had no problem pushing in, Aloy was too wet. The initial push had stung for a second, but it had passed quickly. It felt a little weird at first, Seyka’s finger just resting inside her. After a moment though, it felt oddly satisfying, like Seyka’s finger had always been supposed to be right there.

“You okay?”, Seyka checked in, her voice gentle. Only when Aloy nodded, did Seyka push a little further in and hit a spot that sent a strange burst of pleasure from inside through Aloy’s whole body. She gasped, throwing her head back into Seyka’s shoulder. Seyka slowly moved her finger back and just when Aloy wanted to protest because she thought Seyka had misunderstood and wanted to pull out, she felt her finger push slowly back inside. Right when she hid that sweet spot deep inside of Aloy, Seyka pressed her palm onto the hard bundle of nerves on Aloy’s center and Aloy struggled for air for a moment, her legs threatening to give out.

“Good?”, Seyka made sure once more.

“God yeah”, Aloy rasped, trying to keep her breathing steady, holding onto Seyka’s arm when she pushed in a third time. She set a slow, careful rhythm and Aloy could feel herself opening up with every thrust, letting her in deeper.

Aloy was making all sorts of embarrassing sounds now, alternating between whimpering, moaning and saying Seyka’s name, but she didn’t care. Seyka sped up her rhythm a little with each push and Aloy moved with her, not sure how much longer she would be able to stay on her feet like this. Seyka tightened her grip around her chest and murmured: “I’ll hold you, let go babe”.

She would have to because those words sent Aloy right over the edge with a muffled moan. Aloy was shaking, her vision becoming black for a second, her legs refusing to hold her weight. She held onto Seyka tightly, feeling herself pulsate around her finger. She heard Seyka growl in pleasure and felt her bite into her shoulder which just sent another shock of pleasure through her, and she had to tap Seyka’s arm to make sure she would let her come back down. Seyka stopped all movements at once, whispering gently into Aloy’s ear: “I got you, you’re safe, you’re okay.”

Aloy just nodded, finally settling down, enough oxygen back in her lungs though she was still panting heavily. Seyka navigated them towards a chair, sat down and let Aloy collapse into her lap, embracing her with her strong arms. Aloy just leaned against her, trying to catch her breath. She could feel Seyka placing little kisses onto her head.

“You okay, baby girl?”, Seyka asked gently when Aloy’s breathing had finally settled and she had stopped shaking. This new nickname sent a strange warmness through Aloy’s body and she smiled.

“Yeah”, she breathed back. “For a moment I thought I might faint.” She laughed.

“Sorry”, Seyka replied, placing a lingering kiss on Aloy’s head.

“No, don’t be”, Aloy protested. “I feel amazing.”

Seyka chuckled, shaking her head a little bemused. They just sat there for some time, until Seyka slid her arm under Aloy’s knees and lifted her up. Aloy huffed in surprise, then laughed when Seyka made their way over towards the beach.

“Wasn’t sure if you could walk”, Seyka said with a grin. Aloy shoved her shoulder playfully but made no sign to wriggle out of Seyka’s arms. Why should she, a little moonlight splash before crashing into bed together sounded perfect.