Having thoughts about the Gauntlet Racing squad and I just. I love them so much. They are a reflection and an embodiment of different aspects that are present in both Aloy and Nil. They are so important to Aloy's journey of self discovery and finding her own community of people that she can just be herself with. They are so healing to Nil and his struggles with his own (presumed) military-childhood past, and especially so with his desire and search for close bonds with people he can and will trust.
They are community and camaraderie that both Nil and Aloy have been missing in their search for who they are beyond a legacy they didn't ask for. Names and status and deeds don't mean anything on the track, it's just you, your mount, and your weapons.
They are an example of freedom and wanderlust, free to go wherever they please and always searching for something new. Not being bound to one place because you've already seen so much of the world, it's hard to think that you would settle in just one place when there's so much more of the world to be seen and to experience.
They see past tribe and clan differences for the more raw, primal instinct and exhilarating joy of a good challenge and feeling alive, of truly being in the moment. Not caught up in the macro politics of tribal traditions and rituals, of laws and rules that are put in place by those with power that affect so many more without. The racers live for the moment, live IN the moment, and embody so wholeheartedly of being of the world.
Nil seeing Aloy interact with the kids, and the kids claiming her as "one of them" as she participates in more and more races. Of seeing the hardened mask of the Hunt drop away for the thrill and elation of crossing the finish line first. Of wanting more of that freedom for her, of making the Offer to her to join them, even though he knows that she won't stray from her path until she sees it through because he would have done (and did) the same.
Aloy seeing the not-really begruding-turned-respectful admiration that the kids have for Nil. Of seeing him have a weight lifted from his shoulders, to step out (even just a little bit) from the shadow of the Red Raids and the actions that bloodied his hands and his soul. And him doing so by going back to a tribe that was once the Carja's fiercest opponent, and lands that were the site for the inception and birth of his macabre and much-whispered reputation. And now, he's no longer doing penance by roundabout means of socially acceptable justice (bandit hunting), but in a healing, tactile way that his C-PTSD can process and transform into productive, healthy action and habits (racing).
And all of that could only be facilitated by this stray band of kids, racing in the desert: quote: "...the glint of steel at high speed and metal haunches splashed with blood...", and Nil and Aloy each seeing them upon crossing the threshold of the landscape in their own time, and each of them being equally intrigued.
