This story started out as a oneshot (story of my life), but will probably end up about three or four chapters. Updates will be every Friday until it's completed. My other stories are not abandoned or forgotten, I promise.
For all the hundreds of sunrises Revali had seen and admired in his too-short lifetime, it took one hundred years trapped in Vah Medoh's darkened depths to realize that he had not once given the daily event the solemn regard it deserved. Each ray of light bursting over the far distant Death Mountain pierced his weary soul like a Rito chorus, filling him with a relief so strong, he could not stop the reluctant tears that fell each morning at the sight of it. There was something in the sunrise that spoke to a newly remembered hope budding within him, a hope he had long thought withered and gone, and he clung to that hope for Hyrule even if he had little left for himself.
Some nights, when the moon was red in the sky and the darkness overwhelmed him, that fervent hope was all that kept him going.
Still, fruition of that hope, if it ever came, was a long time off. Medoh's sights were set, its aim on Calamity Ganon unerring, but it had been only the first Divine Beast to break free of Ganon's control. Link still had three others left to rescue, which meant that storming the castle for now was a far distant dream, still weeks or even months away. Until then, Revali had little to do but look out across the vast expanse of Hyrule, watching the Rito that circled the towering rock he perched on and talking to Medoh whenever his isolation became… a bit much.
His only brief glimpses into the world beyond came whenever Link used his Gale, and Revali's spirit was called to his side to lift him through the air, and that was a blessing with a barb that stung each time he thought about it. That Link could fly free while Revali was tethered to Medoh's side, his powerful wings clipped until he'd completed his promised duty, was nearly unbearable… but he reminded himself bitterly that he had earned this fate with his failure. Link's success was his only hope for averting Ganon's endless night, and so he aided where he could, carrying Link up icy cliffs when he called and trying not to sulk. For reasons unknown to Revali, the Hylian knight had been traveling through the frigid Hebra Mountains for days since freeing Vah Medoh. In the short glances he caught carrying Link from peak to peak, his frost-covered rival looked tired, determined, and cold.
It was a surprise, then, when Revali's solitude was shattered by liquid blue light forming at the base of Vah Medoh, swirling to coalesce into the very same knight he had seen at the furthest reaches of the Hebra tundra only hours before. Narrowing his eyes curiously, Revali watched as Link craned his neck to stare up at the Divine Beast, his braided hair swinging in the icy wind that must have felt almost balmy after the depths of cold he'd been traversing, and seated himself beside Medoh's stone talons without a word. It still felt odd to see him in anything other than Champion's blue, much less clothing approaching Rito garb, but odder still was seeing him here at all, with Medoh already freed. Long minutes passed like that, with Link staring off towards the darkened castle in the distance and blowing occasionally into his fingers, and finally Revali's curiosity could stand this no longer.
"You again?" he called out, sharp voice echoing down to the Hylian below, and was satisfied by the way Link jumped, staring around himself with unguarded surprise that did not at all match the blank-faced knight of Revali's memories. "I would never have guessed you missed me so much."
Link opened his mouth but said nothing, and Revali rolled his eyes, ready to dismiss his presence. If he felt like talking to someone who wouldn't talk back, Medoh's company was infinitely preferable.
"Can you hear me?" Link shouted suddenly, and this time it was Revali's turn to nearly fall over in shock, though thankfully Link could not see it.
"Surprisingly, yes," he managed in a feeble voice, clearing his throat. In all the time they had known each other, Revali had never heard the Hylian champion speak. He had started to wonder if he could, despite the rumors that said otherwise. "Am I finally to be graced with your thoughts? It certainly took you long enough."
"So I've heard," Link muttered, whatever that was supposed to mean. "Are you really… I mean… can you come down?"
"I prefer the view from up here," Revali said coolly, and Link's face fell.
"Oh," he mumbled, clearly disappointed, and Revali's eyebrows rose. Just what sort of reception had he expected? "Am I… would you rather I left? I really didn't expect to find you here. I kind of thought you'd…" His cheeks, already pink with the cold, reddened further, and he gestured vaguely. "...Moved on."
Revali snorted with dry amusement.
"Not quite yet, I'm afraid." He supposed there was no reason to send Link on his way just yet, not with entertainment atop Vah Medoh so difficult to come by. "Strange of you to come here, if that was your impression. Wouldn't your time be better spent freeing the others?" Revali still couldn't fathom why Link had decided to free him first. He would have bet his bow on Mipha.
"I will," Link said defensively. "It's… I just…" He sighed, his expression turned wistful. "I just wanted to feel close to you for a moment… before I left."
And that was so clearly the raw and simple truth that Revali instinctively scoffed.
"A touching sentiment, Hylian, but we were never all that close," he muttered, ruffling his feathers. "Has a hundred years degraded your memory so far, or—"
"It has," Link said, and Revali froze, his beak flapping wordlessly. Link couldn't really mean… but his face was like stone. "If I offended you a hundred years ago, then I'm sorry. I don't remember… any of it. I barely remember you, or the others, or even Zelda, really. I'm sorry," he added again uselessly as Revali stayed silent, his eyes narrowed to green slits. No memories. Revali's prowess in the skies, their ongoing rivalry… Link remembered none of it. For all Revali knew, Link thought of him as only a second-rate warrior—some sort of damsel in distress, even, he realized with growing dismay. Link had defeated the creature that killed him, after all, and saved him from that darkness. Why should he possibly think differently?
"Revali—"
Link gasped, stumbling back as Revali burst into being in front of him in a flash of green flames. His gaze darted desperately across Revali as if taking him all in, but the Rito paid him no heed, leaning forward to glare into his eyes. That this inept boy could still live while Revali's only hope was for death and revenge… it wasn't fair.
"This is all you need to remember about us," he hissed. "I was the pride of the Rito, a master of the wind and skies, and an experienced Rito warrior. You were an unproven amateur placed over me by virtue of the weapon you carried." Too late, Revali noticed that the darkness-sealing sword was missing, replaced by a Lizalfos blade of all things, and wondered where it had gone. He had never known Link to be without it. "You only stand here now instead of me because you were given a second chance that you didn't deserve, and if there is anything more than that between us, you certainly never told me otherwise."
Link said nothing for so long that Revali thought his words had pushed him into silence once more, but then his back straightened angrily, his wooden expression far more reminiscent of the one Revali remembered.
"I guess I probably didn't," he said at last, the blue of his eyes a surprisingly bitter storm. "Though I thought I remembered… If that's how it is, I won't disturb you with my presence anymore. Just… tell me who I should save next. I don't remember—" He cut off tiredly, as if finishing that sentence might exhaust him.
Revali glared for a moment longer, then relented.
"Mipha," he said, because she was who Link would have freed first. Daruk and Urbosa were both strong enough to withstand their prisons a bit longer, and though Mipha was far from weak… "Free Vah Ruta, and Mipha will provide you with all the sympathy I cannot." Irritated, Revali turned away. "I don't know why you came here first to begin with. The Tabantha region is beautiful, but it's on the way to nowhere."
"I don't know," Link muttered, though to Revali's surprise it had the sound of a lie about it. "Mipha. Vah Ruta. The Zora. Okay. Thanks… Revali."
Withdrawing a familiar tablet from his belt, Link tapped expertly at its screen and was gone as quickly as he had appeared, his form dissolving into blue light that vanished into the air. Yet another undeserved advantage on Link's end. Not long after, Revali felt a familiar tug, and shifted through space to raise Link up into the fingerlike mountains surrounding what must have been Kakariko Village, judging by the Sheikah-styled architecture. Link captured his eye briefly as they ascended, and Revali was grateful to slip back towards his perch over Medoh once more, far from that solemn blue gaze.
"Don't give me that look," he muttered to Medoh, though in truth he couldn't see Medoh's face. It was more a feeling of disapproval nudging at Revali's mind that he chose to pay no heed to. The boy had come to him first for a reason, whatever he claimed—a memory, perhaps? Something else?
Curiosity dug at Revali, but he stifled it. The fewer connections he formed with this new world, the less he would regret it when he left—and he would leave soon enough, assuming Link achieved the impossible.
A generous assumption, but one could always hope.
Fortunately—or not? Revali couldn't decide—it seemed for a long while that he had managed to drive Link away. That was not to say that Link didn't call on his aid, of course. Revali's Gale carried him over fields and swamps, up jungle cliffs and ancient towers, until the increasingly annoyed Rito was finally certain of two things: first, that Link had no respect for the power he had been given (mountains and towers were one thing, but surely he could have scaled that stable unaided), and second, that the hero they all relied on had become hopelessly sidetracked. Revali was admittedly not well-traveled in life, having had little time for such things while devoting each spare moment to improving his skills with a bow, but he knew enough to know that this densely forested jungle was nowhere near Zora's Domain, or Death Mountain or Gerudo Town, or anywhere Link had any reason to be. The old Hylian Champion had certainly had his flaws—so, so many flaws—but he would have been driven beyond reason to help a friend in need. Was the plight of the other Champions really so incidental to this newly forgetful Link?
The breaking point came when Revali appeared at Link's side to find what looked like ten shock arrows aimed in his direction, and could not repress a squawk. Link's concentration broke as he spared him a sharp, surprised glance, but Revali was already gone, his spirit returned to the top of Vah Medoh to pace across it furiously. That Link would face dangers in his mission to defeat Ganon, Revali already knew, but as far as he could tell that quest had been frustratingly sidelined. What sort of foolishness was he risking his life over now? Didn't he realize how many people depended on his success?
To Revali's surprise, Link appeared not one hour later, pocketing his slate as he glared at the top of Vah Medoh.
"Have you been watching me all this time?" he demanded, and Revali did not bother to hold back a snicker at the very… odd hat the Hylian wore. Glowering at Revali the way he was, Link looked like an angry fish.
"Interesting choice in headgear," he said, and Link flushed, yanking the thing off his head. To Revali's surprise, Link still wore his Rito braids beneath it, though the ends were frizzled with static like the bristling tail of a wolf. Revali felt the oddest impulse to smooth them down, and was grateful for once that his current form made such a thing impossible. "I have not been spying on you, if that's what you're implying. You may treat my power like a toy, but it is a part of my spirit, and it is my spirit that comes to your aid each time you call upon it. How did you think it worked?"
"...Oh." The anger had already faded from Link's face, making Revali wonder why it had burned so suddenly in the first place. Shivering as if he'd just noticed the cold, he dug through his pouch to withdraw a winged ruby earpiece, his mouth twisted in a stubborn knot as he set it in place. "You still could have mentioned—"
"Does it make you uncomfortable to know that somebody bears witness to your dallying?" Revali interrupted him shrewdly, and Link stiffened. "I know I would not want anyone to know if I had neglected my duties so thoroughly. Do your fellow Champions mean so little to you now?"
"I'm not—" Link started to snap, then stopped, breathing deeply. "I'm going to Zora's Domain next, I promise. I'm just… training. Looking for shrines, trying to remember… I can't defeat Ganon the way I am. Windblight alone almost killed me."
That was true enough. For one heart-stopping moment during the windswept chaos of Windblight's attack, Revali had thought the battle lost, before a fluttering pink fairy brought Link gasping back to life. Small comfort to know that Link would have otherwise fallen before the oozing beast just as Revali had, not when there was a much greater foe in his future. Still…
"Do you know what it is like to be trapped within one of these Divine Beasts?" he asked, and Link frowned warily, shaking his head.
"How could I?"
"It is not sleep, if that's what you were envisioning," Revali said, ignoring the bite to Link's tone. "There is nothing restful about it. It is blindness, and it is fear, knowing that the princess's power holds back Ganon for now, but not knowing what destruction your own Divine Beast has wrought. For a hundred years, I thought that Rito Village was no more, wiped from the land by Medoh itself. If the others do not think the same of their own homes, I would be surprised." Link's breathing almost ceased at that, his round eyes widening with horror, but Revali continued ruthlessly, pushing aside his own painful reaction as he dredged those memories up. "Day after day, year after year, there is only the endless growling of Malice for company as the Divine Beast you once called partner moves beneath its alien touch, and you know that slumbering somewhere in its depths is the monster that killed you so many years ago, just waiting to attack whoever might attempt to rescue you… assuming anyone is even capable of such a thing. Far more likely that your spirit will rot within its depths for eternity, trapped within the corrupted confines of your own Divine Beast." If possible, Revali's voice grew harder. "So tell me, Link, how much longer would you put Daruk and Urbosa through that? What about Mipha? It was obvious to anyone watching what she felt for you."
Link jerked in surprise, mouthing her name.
"Wait, you're saying she…" His face twisted regretfully. "I don't… remember that."
"Must you, in order to save her?" Revali demanded. "Is it required for you to love someone before you will help them? I don't even like you, yet I lent you my aid." Link's shoulders slumped forward bonelessly, and Revali knew he had made his point. He could not regret it, either, not when he was the only one left to keep Link in line… but he did wish that Link's forlorn expression didn't tug so strangely at his heart. Sympathy, that's all it was. Pity for someone so clearly out of their depth.
Revali's gaze strayed past Link to the sloped wooden buildings clustering the rock below, so close to Medoh's perch, yet to Revali, as distant as the sun.
"Since you're here," he said abruptly, "tell me… how is Rito Village faring? Everyone seems to be doing well, as far as I can tell."
Link said nothing, staring dejectedly at the stone beneath his feet, and Revali sighed. None of the Rito circling the air could fly far enough up to see his spirit atop Vah Medoh—the updrafts surrounding Rito Village only rose so far, and from what he could see, no warrior among them had yet managed to replicate his special feat—but he thought he preferred it that way. These Rito were not the same ones he'd known in life. Even if one of them managed to spot him and climb their way up here, what would he say?
"I can't fathom that it's been a hundred years," he mused, watching them fly wistfully. "There's no one left who would even know me." Not that he had formed many close friendships in life—there were sacrifices that came with the life he had chosen. Still…
"I'll be right back." Revali glanced at Link in surprise. Something had flickered to life in his eyes now, and he looked… nervous?… but offered no further explanation.
"I'll just wait here then, shall I?" he said sarcastically as Link jumped off the cliff's edge. His paraglider unfolded above him soon after, the symbol of the Rito emblazoned on its canvas growing smaller as he fell, and Revali tried sullenly not to feel jealous as he lost sight of it among the slanted tops of Rito Village. He had already known that Link must have walked the paths of his home more recently than he, but that didn't mean he had to rub it in.
True to his word, though, Link returned only an hour later, shouting up at Revali almost before the blue light had finished forming him.
"Can you come down?" he called, more than half a question after Revali's earlier refusal. This time Revali obliged, appearing beside Link in a rush of green flames.
"What is it?" he asked, eying the slate clutched in Link's hands with reluctant curiosity. Link had yet to put it away, gripping it in front of him like a shield. "Just because I have ample spare time these days does not mean I enjoy it being wasted."
"I…" Staring up at his face, Link seemed for a moment to have lost his nerve, though he gathered it up soon enough. "Um, I know this is no replacement for—for what you must really want, but I still thought—it's better than nothing, right? So—I mean, if you'd like to—"
Revali raised an eyebrow at the disjointed explanation, and Link took a deep breath.
"Look?" he asked simply, holding the Sheikah Slate out so Revali could see the screen. Rolling his eyes, Revali looked. And froze.
He remembered the strange device's camera function from so many years ago, along with the unfortunate image it had captured then, but these were pictures Link had taken himself, all over the past hour if the lighting was any indication. All of Rito Village.
Revali didn't take the slate from Link's hands, worried that it might fall straight through. Instead, Link flipped slowly through the images one by one, pausing whenever Revali lifted a finger. One hundred years had left their mark on the village, of course. Some platforms were more worn than he remembered, while other dwellings had been rebuilt entirely, and all of the Rito faces were unfamiliar… but it was his home and his people, not just surviving but thriving after the Calamity.
"This place…" Link paused on an image of the village's main landing, where a violet hued Rito woman looked out over the edge. "They call it Revali's Landing now, in memory of the warrior who gave his life all those years ago. Your name is mentioned constantly, especially among the warriors. They all look up to the feats that Master Revali accomplished."
Master Revali. Revali opened his mouth to respond, and found that he couldn't speak. It seemed the title that he had not had time to earn in life had been awarded him after death. The feathers of his chest puffed out a bit no matter how he tried to contain them, and he hoped Link didn't notice.
"This is Harth—he makes the bows, I think—and the Elder… and…" Link stopped, smiling fondly as he held the slate closer, and Revali realized with a pang that he was looking at his old Flight Range. A white-plumed Rito sat by the fire, his shadowed eyes watching Link in confusion as a smaller, white Rito chick peered from behind him.
"This is Teba," Link explained. "He was the one who drew Medoh's fire so I could disable the cannons and board it, though I think he was ready to take it on himself when I got here. He talks about following in your footsteps all the time, and his greatest hope is that Tulin becomes a great warrior like you." That must have been the fledgling, because Link laughed under his breath, adding, "To his wife's dismay, I think. She thinks he's still too young for all that."
Staring at the image of that tiny little Rito, something in Revali went cold.
"The wife is the wiser of the two," he muttered, and Link's laughter cut short, the altered mood between them palpable.
"Was this a bad idea?" he asked quietly after a moment, withdrawing the Sheikah Slate. "I didn't mean to upset you."
"No, it's…" Revali sighed, already regretting his words. "You were fine. You gave me something precious today, something I never expected to receive. Thank you."
Link's eyebrows shot up past his bangs, as if he hadn't expected that. To be honest, Revali hadn't really meant to say it, but the words had slipped out of him. All those pictures must have put him in a sentimental mood.
"Do you… regret it?" Link asked cautiously, as if he saw something fragile in Revali. Was there? "All the work that you put in to achieve…" He spread his hands wide as if to encompass Revali's life within.
"If you're asking me if I regret the entirety of my life's work, then the answer is no," Revali said dryly. "It was not a bad life that I chose, but it required a dedication that not just anyone is capable of. Teba has a wife and a child to care for, and Tulin… he has a family. I do not think either will be matching my achievements anytime soon."
Too late, Revali realized he'd left an opening as wide as the heart-shaped hole in the pillar they perched on for Link to ask about his own past, about the sullen Rito chick who had decided early on that if others did not like him for who he was, they would at least respect him for what he could do. He tensed, fully expecting Link to ask—the way his mouth kept running without his consent, Revali might have even answered him—but to his eternal relief, Link let it go.
"Do you really think that's the only way to achieve anything?" he asked instead, and rather than sounding skeptical as the words implied, his expression was serious. "By pushing off all personal… attachments?"
"If it isn't, then I guess I do have regrets," Revali said with a dry laugh. "I could never find another way." Eying Link sideways, he added, "What about you, Link? What do you regret?"
Link's eyes strayed past him to the castle, where swirling dark clouds of Malice gathered.
"Everything," he said softly, and Revali nodded in understanding.
A sort of melancholy silence fell between them, almost pleasant to Revali even in its sadness. It felt better than such silence experienced alone, at least. Revali stared at the back of Link's head and wondered absently if he even owned a comb.
"I'll leave for Zora's Domain tomorrow," Link promised suddenly, as if the weight of his own thoughts had grown too much for him. "Maybe sooner."
"A wise decision," Revali said dryly. Link swelled a bit at the faint praise, and he could not resist pricking him back down. "Much wiser than I've come to expect from you, at least." He tilted his head. "Where were you when you last called on me, anyway? I did not recognize it."
"The Spring of Courage," Link said, laughing softly as if at a private joke while shrugging his arm subconsciously, and Revali realized with a start that one of those shock arrows he'd seen must have nicked him after all, the sleeve of his shirt torn where it had brushed past to reveal a small patch of blackened, blistering skin. It looked painful, but Link gave it no heed, as if such an injury was beneath his notice. "Aptly named, I guess, though I can't think those monsters were always camped there. A Rito bard told me that the journey would be worth my time, but I still think he could have warned me. Maybe he didn't know."
"Really?" Revali said, eyebrows raised. A male Rito bard was almost as much a rarity as a Rito who had traveled so far. "And was he right?"
Link's expression twisted to something he couldn't decipher. Hylians had such strange faces.
"Maybe not in the way he expected," he murmured, "though I still wish I'd gone prepared." Tapping away at the Sheikah Slate again, Link paused. "I, um, hope you didn't mind me bothering you. See you… see you soon, I guess."
His mouth had a funny quirk to it as he dissolved, and Revali was unsurprised when moments later he was called to Link's side, lifting him over a river towards a glowing blue bridge that looked decidedly Zora in design.
"Heal your arm," he hissed as he circled him, that blackened skin—or Link's apathy towards it—making him bristle uncomfortably, and the ghost of a smirk touched Link's lips.
"Didn't think you c—"
Revali knew what Link meant to say though he was cut off before he could say it, and to his utter chagrin he could not think up a proper retort. He didn't care. Link was obviously correct in that assumption… wasn't he?
Revali had to give the Hylian Champion credit for one thing, at least—once he'd made up his mind to do something, he pursued it like an arrow. The next time Link used Revali's Gale, he was in the aquamarine halls of Zora's Domain itself.
"See?" Link said as Revali brushed past him, and the Rito's brief satisfaction turned to outrage as he realized that Link had brought him there for no other reason than to demonstrate this fact, grinning broadly as he floated pointlessly through the sky.
"You can't just—" Revali seethed as he was torn away before he could finish the sentence, growling his frustration to the heavens above Vah Medoh. Link was clearly determined to drag the power that was Revali's legacy through new depths of indignity… though once he'd had a moment to calm down, he admitted reluctantly that it was good to know what was happening in the world outside of Rito Village. Those brief visits were the only windows he had into Link's progress, and even if he only escaped the top of Vah Medoh once or twice a day, it was still a break from the gentle monotony that now defined his existence.
...Which was the only reason why, five days later when Link hadn't called on him at all, Revali was ready to chew rocks like a Goron.
Pacing until he should have worn a path through the ancient stone beneath him, Revali jumped from thought to furious thought with little care for how they contradicted each other.
"He's with the Zora now," he told Medoh firmly. "Probably swimming around like a fish." He'd never been to Zora's Domain, but the place was surrounded with water. What good would flying do him there?
How could he go for so long without contact, when he'd made such a habit of it before? Was he trying to kill Revali again?
Finally, as the sun set on the fifth day, a familiar pull at his chest brought him eagerly across the vast distance to its origin, though what he found on the other end cut him unexpectedly to the core. He may have only ever entered Vah Medoh, but he knew a corrupted Divine Beast when he saw one, and Revali shuddered as he carried Link up and fled to his familiar perch, remembering too well that sticky suffocation. The low rumble of Malice stayed with him long after it should have left, and he knelt to stroke Medoh's head in reassurance, though which if them he was attempting to comfort Revali didn't dare guess. Medoh was his now. His. Ganon would never… not again. And Link would free Ruta just as he had Medoh. It was within the realm of possibility, at least.
Still, he kept his gaze fixed on Hyrule Castle as the sun set and the night sky grew darker, until hours later a red beam of light split that sky, bursting from Ruta at the other edge of the continent to meet Medoh's in preparation for their eventual assault. Revali let out a slow, relieved breath. Link had managed to free another one, it seemed. Incredible. Perhaps his luck would hold out for long enough after all.
Revali offered no congratulations when Link called on his Gale not long after, though he did smile grimly as he realized where they were: the outside of Vah Ruta, finally returned to Mipha's control. Link had wasted no time in touching base with the Zora Champion now that he knew it could be done. No doubt Link would find Mipha to be far more pleasant company, which meant his visits with Revali were almost certainly at an end.
The thought left a surprisingly bitter taste in his mouth, and he disappeared in a huff, missing the sidelong glance Link sent his way. Really, it was for the best. He had Medoh for company, and detested the Hylian's presence anyway. His brief incursions into Link's life through the power of flight he'd lent him were more than enough to stave off boredom, and—
"I did it."
Revali nearly screeched in surprise as he whirled around, furious at being caught off guard. There Link stood at the base of Vah Medoh, grinning foolishly up at him, and Revali responded without thinking.
"Are you looking for applause?" he retorted, his ire increasing when Link's stupid smile did not diminish in the slightest. "A pat on the head, perhaps? Do something truly worthy of praise and then maybe we'll see."
"Oh really?" Link challenged, tilting his head, and Revali noticed that despite the clearly Zora armor Link now wore, those Rito braids remained the same, his ruby earpiece tucked beneath them. "What would I have to do, then? What does the mighty Rito legend consider praiseworthy?"
Revali stared. Link was teasing him.
"Do you think we're playing a game?" he growled. "For five days you failed to call on me, after pestering me almost nonstop! Do you understand what it's like to be stuck up here, not knowing anything about what's happening to you? For five days?"
Finally, Link's smile flickered, and faded.
"I didn't think you'd be counting them," he said, and something in his tone made Revali bristle. Was everything Link said and did calculated to infuriate him?
"I wasn't," Revali said, unable to decide whether it bothered him more or not when Link failed to point out his obvious lie. Instead, the Hylian knight stared up at him, braided hair swaying in breeze, his breath puffing out in tiny clouds before him.
"Can you come dow—"
Revali materialized before him in a gust of wind before he could even finish the question, folding his wings in irritation. It was more satisfying to glare where he could be seen, anyway.
"Why are you here, Link?" he asked stiffly, staring past him to the brightening horizon over Death Mountain. The sun would be rising soon, which meant he needed Link gone. "Shouldn't you still be catching up with Mipha, or tying up loose ends?" Or sleeping, he supposed, though he hadn't done such a thing himself in a long, long time.
Link's hand inched up to twist his braids in what Revali was surprised to realize was a nervous gesture, and he licked his lips before suddenly erupting with speech.
"I… I must have stared at Mipha's statue for hours, trying to remember anything else about her. I wandered around Zora's Domain so many times hoping to trigger a memory that Prince Sidon tried to give me a map." Link laughed, his voice strangely high. "I say 'tried.' He really did give me a map, even after I showed him that I already had one. I think he believes I have no navigational skills after how many times I got turned around trying to follow the path up to… that doesn't matter." Wincing, Link shook his head, gesturing towards his chest. "Mipha made me this armor. As an engagement present, the way Hylians might give each other a ring, I think. And I have no idea whether I would have accepted it." The line of his mouth grew steadily grimmer. "The Zora there remember me, and the ones who don't hate me make it sound like I spent half my childhood playing with them, but I don't remember any of them. I don't…" His gaze turned on Revali, pleading. "I don't remember loving… Mipha."
"I cannot imagine why you are telling me this," Revali said uncomfortably, mildly alarmed by the sheer volume of words Link had managed to say at once. "Don't you have friends you can talk to?"
Link laughed, rubbing the heels of his hands across his eyes.
"You think I've had time to make friends? You are the closest thing I have to a friend, and that..." Link's hands lowered, and he looked at Revali grimly. "I think I'm almost as happy about that as you are."
"Hmm." Something about that comment pricked at him, though he knew he had no right. He would swear up and down that he disliked the Hylian knight, which meant he could not reasonably be upset that Link would feel the same, but still… "I don't know whether you returned Mipha's feelings or not, though the way you speak makes it sound as if there was someone else. Who was it? The princess, I suppose?" Tragic, if so. Zelda had clearly despised him, but perhaps Link was just enough of a masochist to love her anyway.
Link stared at him for a long moment before his blue eyes dulled, a shadow falling over his face. If Link had been wearing his Champion's tunic with his hair pulled back as he'd once worn it, he would have looked the image of his former self.
"It doesn't matter, does it?" he said dully. "They died a hundred years ago, and I'm certain that they didn't feel the same. The smart thing would be to forget about it, right?"
"If it means that you stop coming to me for relationship advice, then yes," Revali snapped, exasperated suddenly for reasons he could not express. "Perhaps you should free Urbosa next if you need a shoulder to cry on and Mipha's won't do." More likely the Gerudo would meet his tears with tough love, but that might be exactly what Link needed. Revali himself could only offer the "tough" part of that equation.
"Urbosa," Link repeated wearily, nodding. "Vah Naboris. The Gerudo. Got it."
"...Yes." There was something in his recitation that made the fine feathers on Revali's neck rise. Link really did not remember them. The Champions were nothing more than names on a list to him now, little boxes waiting to be filled with checkmarks as he freed them one by one. "Travel south of Rito Village and eventually—"
"I can find it," Link interrupted, rolling his eyes. "I do know how to read a map."
"So you've mentioned." There could be no possible reason for Link to linger now, but still he did not leave, twirling at his braids even more anxiously. Again, Revali resisted the urge to smooth them out, stronger now that Link stood within wing's reach. All of his worrying had started to unravel them… but Revali had no guarantee that his feathers wouldn't slip right through if he tried. Could a spirit interact with the living like that?
"I told Mipha," Link said, and Revali nearly choked.
"That you don't love her?" That was one way to do things, he supposed, though the timing left something to be desired… but Link was furiously shaking his head.
"No! No, that I don't… remember her."
"Oh." Then, more grimly, "Oh. How did she take it?"
Link shrugged, kicking at Medoh's talon.
"Outwardly? Better than you did, but I still think it hit her harder."
"I didn't…" Looking back, Revali supposed he hadn't taken the news very well, at that. "I'm certain she doesn't hold it against you," he said instead. "You are safe, and she is free. No doubt she is overjoyed for so much, after all she's been through."
Link stared up at him, his round face softly illuminated as the horizon brightened further.
"Thank you."
"Hmph." Revali growled in disgust, Link's sincerity rubbing his feathers the wrong way. He was not accustomed to playing the role of comforter, especially for somebody he despised, but he had to get Link off his doorstep somehow… so to speak.
"Revali," Link said abruptly, his hands falling from his tangled hair into fists. "I—I wanted to tell you—"
Behind him, Revali saw the first rays of the sun shining over Death Mountain. Time was up.
"Go," he said sharply, and Link stopped, staring up at him bewildered.
"But…"
"Go!" he repeated, scowling. "Leave, now! Come back later if you must, but I need you gone! Please," he added, voice softening inexplicably, and Link's eyes softened in turn.
Not wasting time with the Sheikah Slate, Link left, leaping from the edge and catching himself on his paraglider to float gently towards the twinkling village below. Revali watched him meld into the darkness, then turned his attention back to the sun, the first tears already gathering in his eyes. Sunrise. Hope. He wondered if Mipha was as struck by the event as he was, if Urbosa and Daruk would be once they were free. Either way, no one could be allowed to see him like this, the mighty Rito warrior reduced to tears by the rising sun. Link would not have judged him for it, he was certain. Those perceptive blue eyes would have looked at Revali with understanding, and that was the worst possibility he could imagine.
Revali sighed, shaking his head so his braids rustled behind him as the tears finally fell, twinkling into nothing before they could hit the ground. Like it or not, the Hylian Champion was the one person who could save this world from the brink of darkness, and the only bright point of anticipation in his otherwise unvarying days. Link, his final, flimsy little hope for release from this world.
"The goddess must not like me very much," he told Medoh, who had no response.
The twin beams of red splitting the sky faded in the growing light of day, though they did not vanish completely. Two Divine Beasts down, two to go. Revali stared at the risen sun, and saw Link's face.