ATLA - Horizon Zero Dawn Fanfiction

Watch out for that Metal Fauna

"Kïma, stop. You're going to hurt yourself."

"It feels funny !", she chuckled, stabbing the impenetrable membrane on her own abdomen once more. 

Aloy and her had managed to buy some pieces of Hatmehit skin to equip themselves with. It ended up being pretty expensive so they could only buy pieces to cover the exposed parts of their bodies, where there was no machine pieces to protect them. 
Aloy was afraid it would be scorching hot under the Sun but turned out, it blocked the heat pretty effectively. Maybe it was even fireproof... Maybe. 
The Ceteskaelos had agreed to bring their brother Eligah with them. They first had to get to their house and grab some of their weapons. Eligah and Leshi had brought their long magnetic blades with them, but Jadirel preferred something looking like a sling. 

"So... You're Shaw's sister ?", Eligah asked shyly when they stopped next to the river, to fill their bottles.

The Nora looked at Kïma. Perhaps she should have kept the information for herself. Hard to tell if they could fully trust the people here for now... Sure, they were being nice, but she learnt not to trust people too much after some Sun priestess almost killed her and her friend.
She fortunately took the time to tell the collector to stay vague if someone asked her about it. 
Kïma shrugged, splashing her face with the water : 

"I don't know, that's what I've been told. We'll see once I meet him, I guess."

"And you told us you made a whole settlement... New Dawn ? Who's governing it now that you left it ? I mean, is your husband still there, making sure everything's going well ?"

Kïma scratched her chin, sneaking a look at Aloy. Amused, she was just filling her bottle and smiling, waiting to see what she would tell them. 

"No, my husband left New Dawn too", Kïma replied, pretending to be sad and scrunching her nose. 

"Oh, where is he ?"

"Right here, laughing at me", she said, pointing at Aloy. 

"Are you two... Oh... Okay...", Jadirel gasped, confused. 

"Come on, Jadirel ! It was obvious !", Leshi laughed, slapping the back of his head.

"In a region of our lands, some people asked us if we were sisters... So I'd say we've seen worse", Aloy admitted, remembering several Noras reactions. 

"By the Abyss, that must have been so awkward !"

Aloy was about to ask about their potential partners for small talk, when she picked up a noise. 
It sounded a lot like a Tallneck, maybe a bit smaller... 

"What's that sound ?", she asked, standing up. 

"Lurbbles !"

"Do we have to hide ?", Kïma asked, approaching Aloy. 

Leshi shook her head : 

"Just make sure you don't get stepped on and don't attack them."

Squinting her eyes, Aloy finally saw the four machines. The smallest was roughly the size of a Frostclaw standing on its hind legs while the tallest was twice as big. Their metal was stained in different colors, blurred from grey to brown. They reminded Aloy of Striders, because of their long necks and quite pointy legs. However, they had numerous differences, making them a totally different machine. 
They had a crest on the back of their neck through which the Sun beams could pass. Their lenses were vertically placed on their face and were moving independently from each other, allowing them to have a full view of what was in front of them without having to move their heads. The most striking feature was, however, the opening in their neck and abdomen, revealing a mesh of transparent tubes. The Lurbbles had a tube hanging from their long 'beaks', sipping the water they were walking in. From what Aloy could see, the liquid was pulsating through the tubes, circulating at high speed inside their bodies, only to be spitted out by another tube, also hanging from their beaks. 
As the Ceteskaelos said, they were not attacking. Their lights turned yellow but did not become red even if they were standing right next to them.