They were in the middle of a song when Revali held up a feather. "Listen!" he said.
Everyone fell silent. Across Zora's Domain, bells tolled. Four chimes… Six… eight… ten… twelve.
"It is officially your wedding day, loverboy," Revali said to Link.
Link blushed. A cheer went up from the partygoers. It was Link's stag night and he had invited friends from all over Hyrule - fellow Hylian knights, Zora musicians, Sheikah scientists, Goron geologists, and, of course, his fellow Champions, Daruk and Revali.
Daruk clapped Link on the back, and picked up the song right where they had left off - which happened to be the last verse.
"They rode away with the morning sun,
Nayru like a queen, Farore like a nun,
And Din was singing with scarlet joy,
And I'll have to get a new stableboy."
There were cheers and more drinking. A Hylian in the back tried to start up a round of "I Bless the Rains down in Necluda" but no one else was feeling it. They hiccuped and grinned at each other, perhaps feeling that it was kind of late, and there was a pretty big event happening tomorrow. Maybe they should go to bed.
Daruk sensed this - he was good at reading crowds - and got to his feet.
"Before we all turn in," he said, "How about a speech?"
Cheers.
"But I'm too drunk," he added, to general laughter. Whatever Daruk had brought in his massive stone jug, he allowed no one else to touch it - for their own safety. "Revali!" he boomed. "How about you say a few words?"
"Aaah," was Revali's eloquent response. "Why not have the groom say something for himself?"
"He's gathering his courage for the wedding night," Daruk replied with a wink.
Link raised a glass and grinned. He didn't look ready to speak - he rarely did. He'd gotten better about talking since they'd defeated Calamity Ganon, but maybe Daruk was right - wedding jitters were a force unto themselves.
"Well. If you insist." Revali got to his talons, dusted off the front of his scarf, and raised a glass. He cleared his throat, and began.
"When I think of Lady Mipha…"
Cheers went up from the Zora guests. Revali paused.
When he thought of Lady Mipha, two very clear memories came to mind. One was the day, years ago - before Calamity Ganon had been defeated - when Mipha had approached him, alone. They were at Hyrule Castle. Mipha had looked Revali in the eyes, and said, "I know how you feel. I know what you're hiding."
And Revali had bluffed and puffed up and tried to pretend he didn't know what she was talking about. But she had continued, in that same serious, low voice. "I see how you look at her when you think no one else sees. How you hate it when she sees you fail. You're very hard on yourself, you know."
Revali had turned away, all protests dying on his beak. And Mipha had said, "You don't have to be ashamed. I'll keep your secret. I understand. I love Link… and I don't think he loves me back. I think he loves her. Just like you do." Then, "It's funny, isn't it?" she'd said, in the saddest little voice he'd ever heard.
Back to the present day. "When I think of Lady Mipha, I think of how unnervingly empathetic she is." Revali saw nods among the assembled crowd. "And I think of how she has an understanding heart… sometimes a little too understanding."
The second memory flashed behind his eyes. It had been just a few months ago, when Mipha - wrapped in sealskin against the cold - had journeyed to Rito Village with light in her eyes. She found Revali, and said to him, "I asked Link to marry me. He accepted."
"I'm so happy for you," Revali had told her. She had tried to look into his eyes.
"So you see, maybe you also -"
"I don't have a chance," he had said, cutting her off.
"Well." Mipha had taken his wing in her hands. "I can only wish that you will be as happy as I am. One day. Somehow."
Revali, in the present day, cleared his throat. "She always wishes the best for other people - and usually sees the best in them, too. Time was, I thought Link didn't deserve her." Revali looked straight at Link. "I'm still not sure." General laughter.
Link gave Revali a "Really, dude?" kind of look.
"But Link makes her happy. And if anyone deserves happiness, it's Lady Mipha. So, cheers, Link." He held up his glass. "May you treat her like the queen she is."
"Hear, hear!" crowed the Zoras in the crowd. There was more drinking and laughter. Link smiled, and mouthed "thank you" to Revali.
After that, the crowd gradually headed towards bed. Link paused on a stairwell, a longing look towards the eastern side of Zora's Domain, where Mipha was. Revali rather envied how open Link could be about love. He looked away - and ran straight into Daruk.
"A good night, if I do say so myself," Daruk said, as he and Revali climbed the stairwell towards bed. "Nothing like a good stag night - the perfect opening to a perfect day! When can I plan one for you, hmm?"
"Not in the near future," Revali said shortly. Daruk didn't seem to get the hint.
"What, why not? I'm sure you could have your pick of partners. Why not build up a nest of your own?"
"Haven't found the right person."
"You've been all over Hyrule!"
"And I haven't found the right person."
"You know," Daruk mused, "maybe you have found the right person… and you're still working up the nerve. That's it! Ha-ha! You fought Calamity Ganon from midair, but a matter of the heart has you weak in the knees! Do Rito have knees?"
"I'm leaving," Revali marched faster up the stairwell, leaving Daruk behind. He reconsidered when he reached the upper platform. Turning to Link, Revali said, "I'm going for a quick flight. Be back soon. Don't wait up." He summoned his Gale, and was off and in the sky before Daruk could ask any more impertinent questions.
Flight.
The air whistling around him, the world below growing smaller, easier to understand - or at least easier to see. The lights of Gapango in the distance. Revali squinted, to see if he could spot Link and Mipha's new house there. No, it was too dark.
Revali turned his eyes back to Zora's Domain. It was very quiet and still. There were still torches burning, and a few lights in the eastern wing. There were two Royal Guards standing to attention there.
She was there.
The right person, as Daruk might have said.
Except, no. The right person loved you back. Anyone knew that.
Suddenly there was no joy in the flight. Revali descended, and landed carefully on the platform.
"How do they kno-o-o-w you love her? How do they kno-o-o-w they're yours?"
Revali looked around the platform and saw Link, with a big grin on his face, and his arms in a gesture he'd seen on a hundred minstrels. He lifted his eyebrows.
"Okay," Revali said, "Link, you've had a little too much to drink. We're going to get you inside and never speak of this again."
Then the drums started.
"How do they know that you love 'em?"
Oh, no.
Daruk had a gift for percussion. "How do you show them you love 'em? How do they know that you really, really, true love them…" Drums ringed his torso, and he beat them with a deft hand.
"I'm leaving," Revali said. Then Link caught him by the wing.
"It's not enough to take the one you love for granted," Link sang. "You must remind them or they'll be inclined to sa-a-ay…"
"How much did you drink? And what?" Revali demanded.
A Zora guitarist - Revali thought it was Bazz - showed up around the corner, harmonizing.
"How do I know, he loves me? How do I know he's mine?"
"How do you even know the words?" Revali asked. "You are going to be so hungover," he warned. Nobody listened to him.
"You could at least help us out," Daruk said, during an instrumental interlude. "Give us a pronoun."
"No."
"Suit yourself." Daruk started on the chorus.
"Why are you doing this to me, and not Link?"
"It was Link's idea."
Right around the second verse, a female Zora - Gaddison - ran onto the scene, ambushed Link, and tied a blindfold over his eyes. As she did, the entire bachelorette party burst onto the platform, some carrying their own instruments, others leading a blindfolded Mipha onto the scene, all of them singing:
"Everybody wants to live happily ever after, everybody wants to know their true love is true-"
"How do you all know the-" Revali's question was cut off as someone collided with him. He looked right and found himself right next to a flustered Princess Zelda.
"Princess?" he asked. Then he mentally smacked himself, 'Idiot.'
"Hello, Revali." Zelda tucked a lock of hair behind an ear, and gestured to the crowd. "We heard the singing, and thought we'd join in. I'm afraid I'm the one who said the bride and groom couldn't see each other…"
"Ahh." Now the blindfolded Link and Mipha were pushed together. There was a moment of confusion, then they recognized each other, clasped hands, and began to dance, wearing huge smiles. There were cheers from the crowd, and the song started back at the first verse again.
"And here I thought the party was winding down," Zelda observed.
"I'm afraid this is somewhat my fault…" Revali muttered.
"What?"
Revali clammed up. "Nevermind," he mumbled.
When Mipha sagged against Link - whether out of exhaustion or because she lost her footing, Revali couldn't tell - Urbosa stepped up and said to the crowd, "Maybe we should all call it a night, folks. It's a big day tomorrow."
Mipha and Link kissed each other one last time before being led off by their supporting cast.
Zelda was among the last to leave. She waved goodnight to Daruk, who was supporting a still-grinning Link, and to Revali she said, "Goodnight," with a nod.
"Goodnight, Princess," Revali said, sketching a bow.
"You don't have to call me that," she said over her shoulder as she joined the rest of the group.
'But I do,' Revali thought. He tore his eyes away from her departing form to look at Link and Daruk again. Link was finally taking off his blindfold, laughing. "What actually happened?" he asked.
"Our party got hijacked," Daruk admitted.
"I love it!" Link declared.
So the bachelor party ended, with arms flung over shoulders and a final question of "Where did you even learn that song?" Meanwhile, on the other side of Zora's Domain, the bachelorette party sort of continued, in that Mipha went to bed, but a few partygoers stayed up, sharing secrets and gossip.
And Princess Zelda sat at the window, watching the stars, and did not sleep.