Title: and we makes some mistakes
Fandom: Horizon Zero Dawn
Rating: General Audiences
Pairing: Aloy/Talanah (if you squint)
Length: 905
Author's note: This is in part inspired by Setepa-i's lush descriptions of the Royal Baths.
Summary: More than differing tribes, the Sundom is not the Embrace, from clothes to language to customs and architecture.


The idea of water that isn't freezing (or so nearly so that it makes little difference) is something of a revelation that Aloy discovers late, about half a day's travel down from Daytower. Not that she has any complaints about the water in Sacred lands. She is long used, after all, to breaking away a crust of ice in winter, and feeling as if she is burned twice once she returns to the welcome embrace of the fire's warmth. But, despite the resilience of acclimatization that long practice brings, the absence of any bite is appreciated by her battered body. Even if the taste does seem rather lacking in comparison to the freshness of snowmelt. Were it not for the urgency of her task - reaching Meridian, and the killers she tracks - she might have stopped and set up camp for the day early, to fully explore the novelty.

That is the extent of it, then: a vague pleasure taken while washing away accumulated dust and grime, and one she makes no progress in for weeks flowing into weeks as she hunts bandits, helps anyone who asks (and a few who don't, when aggressive machines are involved, because Rost's voice is in her ears, and his training guides every blow of her spear) and tracks any hint she can find of why she was targeted at the Proving. She dips in and out of Meridian. The markets hold everything she could imagine, and more besides, but the sheer noise of the people pounds at her like a glinthawks weaponized scream.

Then Talanah, fresh off a hunt clearing scrappers (and then, more annoyingly, the band of glinthawks draw to the remains) from encroaching on the road near the settlement springing up at a former bandit camp Aloy had cleared out on her first journey east and now really needs to learn its name, shows her the true wonders of the Sun King's Palace. Apparently, as a Khane Padish, she is in someway distantly related to Avad, and thus has access near the level of Aloy herself, who isn't at all related. To anyone, really. Even if people keep offering. At least, she thinks that's what the trinkets she keeps getting offered mean. She could do without the overt stares every time she goes through the markets. (The food stalls are slightly more tolerable, but then most are run by people old enough to be Matriarchs, who all seem to think she'll starve if left to her own devices. Which she won't. But it makes no differnce, even if she argues the point. And their food is delicious.)

Aloy has full, unrestricted access to the palace - or at least no one's ever stopped her from walking in, ever since the first of her meetings with Avad - but she hadn't taken him up on his offer to do more than rest overnight in the overlarge, overly decorated room set aside for her use before setting out again. Most of the elaborate, mazelike structure of hallways and balconies is as much a mystery to her as the relic of the Old Ones sealed behind the door in All Mother. She follows with interest as Talanah leads her down past the clamour of kitchens - she had wondered where Avad was getting his food, stuck on his sunthrone all day - and their smell of spices, a twisting staircase and finally, through the heavy drape of a curtain that holds back a fog of heavy, damp air.

...

Aloy is definitely going to be spending a lot more time in the Sun Palace in the future. It's not the smooth stone, or gilded columns, or basins full of vibrant plant life that catches her interest- although she thinks the greenery does - or even the steaming pools that Talanah pulls her towards. Bathing is bathing, after all, and why the Carja would want to subject themselves to more heat is beyond her. Still, her Hawk had wanted her to try this. So she will try it. Once.

She takes a single step in, is tugged under with a yelp of protest, and finds her opinions undergoing remarkably sudden shift.

Walking into the room, into the air, had been like swimming. Sinking underneath the water is a dull, pleasant shock, like the burn of spices and sweet balm of jelly combined. Talanah grins back at her.

In the end, it's simple, really, almost overly so, although the Carja must have had an unbelievable amount of time on their hands to come up with the idea of something as elaborate as this. Or not. Perhaps the Nora too have these bathhouses hidden away behind the walls of their settlements. It's not like Aloy would know the difference.

Take water, and heat it. Pour that water over yourself to wash away the dust. Pour more hot water into pools, and sit in them until the skin shrivels like dried leaf and muscles turn soft as the thick broth that she uses to make health potions. Aloy could stay forever, but Talanah pulls her out before more than an hour has passed. And then she shows her the next alcove, with pots of seed oils already set out.

The baths almost make her reconsider Avad's advances, stand in for Ersa's absentee or not. But only almost. She has access to these wonderful constructs regardless, and her Hawk to share them with.