"Is it true?" "Vah Rudania's alive again?" "What happened?" "How?"
The moment they step onto the main island of Rito Village, a swarm of feathers descends upon them. At least three Rito children are gripping Link's legs, and it's hard to count how many adults have surrounded them. At first Zelda thought they were glad to see Link, hoping he would fix their various problems, but it seems they only have one thing on their mind.
"Fyson flew in to tell us." "I thought you defeated Vah Rudania." "Is Vah Medoh going to come back to life too?" "You said we'd be safe."
"Whoa whoa whoa," Link says, holding up his hands, and trying to get the Rito to calm down and stop talking over him. "Everything's fine."
"How is everything fine?" "Vah Rudania's back!" "He said it's stomping all the way down the mountain." "Is it coming for us?"
"I'll explain everything if you just—"
"Did you make it come back to life?" "If Vah Medoh turns on again, we're banishing you." "You lied to us."
Link groans in frustration. To Zelda he says, "I'm just going to talk to Kaneli," and grabs her wrist before trying to push through the crowd. Zelda slips out of his grip, throws back her shoulders, and faces the crowd, who seem to notice her for the first time. Their surprise that Link isn't alone gives her a split second of silence in which to speak.
"About two months ago, I'm sure you saw Vah Medoh shoot an energy beam towards the castle, and then power down completely. That was Vah Medoh doing her part in sealing away Calamity Ganon, assisting Link—"
"—and Zelda," Link adds.
"—in defeating the evil for good. We've come here to confirm that the Calamity is finally over, and to see what assistance and resources you require for reconstruction."
"What does that mean for us?" asks a Rito with light purple feathers.
"It means that the guardians have deactivated. It means that there are no more blood moons, so when we kill monsters, they stay dead. It means we can reopen travel and trade. We can rebuild.
"As for Vah Rudania, the Divine Beasts powered down because, with their duty complete, the spirits of their pilots ascended to the spirit world. We reactivated Vah Rudania with a new Goron pilot. That's why she's traveling around Death Mountain. If you will allow us, we can reactivate Vah Medoh, connect her with a pilot, and then she can be a tool for the Rito."
The crowd stares at her for a long moment, during which Zelda doesn't dare to breathe.
Then they explode.
"What sort of tool?" "If the Gorons have a Divine Beast, we need one too!" "It just flies around and shoots things. That's not a tool. That's a weapon." "Why did the Gorons get theirs first?" "Who's going to pilot it?" "You mean a new Rito Champion?"
Link snags her wrist again, and this time she lets him pull her up the stairs.
#
The crowd obeys some unspoken rule and does not enter the elder's home while Zelda and Link are speaking with him. Instead, they hover on the landing outside the door. They can hear every word, but don't make a sound other than to whisper to one another. Unlike the Gorons, they are very good at whispering. The wing feathers held up to cover their words do an excellent job.
Link is back in his Champion's tunic today, and Zelda is back in her blue and white outfit. It's cooler here, and the long sleeves aren't so bad. They look like a proper delegation again.
Unlike the crowd, Kaneli is calm and slow to speak. He nods as he listens, then strokes his beard and thinks before responding.
"Of course, we must have our own Divine Beast," he decides. The crowd outside shifts in agitation or excitement. "The question is how we will select a Champion."
"You may want to see who would be interested," Zelda suggests. "People have feared the Divine Bests for so long, we've had trouble finding willing candidates."
"You think no one among the Rito would be interested in carrying on the legacy of the great Champion Revali, in being the next pride of the Rito? You think no one would be interested in honor and glory because they are afraid?"
Zelda bows her head. "I did not intend to imply cowardice. For that I apologize. I mean that, in our experience, people doubt the efficacy of the Divine Beasts."
Kaneli hums. Then he lifts his voice to address the crowd. "Who among you will be the next Rito Champion?"
There's a great shifting of air, and Zelda turns to look over her shoulder.
Every single Rito, including the three children, has a wing raised in the air.
#
When the crowd disperses—mostly to gossip about how the next Champion will be selected and who they will be—Zelda and Link decide that their first step is to get Zelda some cold weather clothes. It's too cold for her to even visit Vah Medoh as she is, and even though he insists they can make it work with the clothes he has, she insists that if they're going to stay here for any length of time, she wants her own clothes. His sleeves are too long for her, and his pants are too narrow. Besides, she doesn't want him to run off to Herba and take the pants she needs with him, effectively grounding her from the Divine Beast. Link seems content that at least she's willing to buy clothes.
She used to have a beautiful snowquill coat, and she asks the shop keeper if making something similar would be possible. It is. But it will take a month. She doesn't that kind of time. Link puts in an order for it anyway, then buys her a snowquill tunic with red lining. It's so wonderfully soft that it makes her want to rub her face against it. When she puts it on, it's warm like a soothing hearth. She makes a note of how much it costs in the back of her journal, where she's keeping track of how much money she owes Link.
He rolls his eyes at her, just as he does every time she makes such a note. He knows better than to argue with her, most likely saving his energy for the moment she shoves a wheelbarrow of rupees at him.
"With the coat and the circlet, you should be good to go."
"The circlet is yours."
"You can have it."
"It's yours."
"I've got the snowquill headpiece. I don't need the circlet."
She stares at him, because that sounds an awful lot like her borrowing his clothes.
"It's a gift," he says. "Do you want me to wrap it for you?"
"That's not necessary."
"I haven't upgraded it as much as I should have," he says. "Because I never use it." Then to himself, he says, "I could probably take care of that tonight and you can have it tomorrow morning."
There's a pair of Rito clearly waiting for them outside the store, although they're both doing a poor job of pretending they're not. Zelda takes the opportunity to end her current conversation, and nudges Link to get his attention.
"Hey, Teba," Link says to a fierce looking Rito with a high crest of white feathers. He greets the green feathered Rito with, "Hey, Amali." She holds her shoulders back and proud, and she has hoops like earrings that frame her face. "We saw your husband at the stable. Did he come home?"
She rolls her eyes, and says tersely, "No. Can you make an announcement saying there's an age limit for the Champion Trials? My daughters all want to do the trials, and they're already fighting each other over it."
Link startles. "Champion Trials?"
"Or whatever you call them. Whatever test you're coming up with to pick the Rito Champion."
Link doesn't respond. He seems so taken aback that he can't move, and the only way Zelda knows he's not having a memory is that every few seconds he blinks.
"Well," Zelda says, "it does make sense that Vah Medoh's pilot must be an adult. But, although we can restore power to the Divine Beast and help the new pilot bond with Vah Medoh, the final decisions on how the pilot is chosen should be left to the Rito."
Teba sounds frustrated as he cuts in. "But surely you have ideas. If you're the expert, you know what trials Revali went through to prove himself. And you know what kind of skills are needed to pilot it."
It seems this is why he's been waiting for them. He wants to know what the trials are. Zelda didn't know there would be trials until a few seconds ago.
"We will think on it and discuss it with Kaneli over dinner," Zelda says. She bows her head in respect and dismissal, takes Link's hand, and moves past the two Rito.
"You have an idea," she hisses as they head down the stairs.
"I have an idea. What time do we have to meet with Kaneli?"
"Sunset."
He narrows his eyes at the sun and calculates. "I think we can make it, but we have to hurry."
Once they're off the main island, they stop and warp to a a shrine just south of the village on the other side of the lake. He rushes through clearing a moblin camp. Then he runs back past the shrine, slowing to squeeze her arm and wipe sweat from his forehead, and then charging off in the other direction to dispatch a hinox more quickly than she thought possible. Zelda stays out of sight near the shrine, but also takes some photos of the nearby ruins.
When he's done, he reappears, handing her a bandana that's supposed to help her climb faster. She stares at him, but he's half turned away from her to strip off his tunic and his undershirt, and so now she's staring in appreciation instead of bafflement. He pulls on a loose-fitting shirt with even shorter sleeves than her red shirt and a baldric covered in carabiners. He brushes his hands over his front to make sure everything's lying flat, then looks up at her, clearly surprised that she's still standing there, stupidly holding his bandana.
"Yes! Yes, of course. Why wouldn't I—Wait. No. We're climbing something? Why are we climbing? Why am I climbing?"
He reaches for her, holds her head in both hands to hold her still, then reaches back, his knuckles brushing the back of her neck as he unknotts her sky blue kerchief. "We need to check the obelisk. It's going to give us the next trials, and then we can adjust those to pick a Rito Champion."
The kerchief comes loose, and he switches with her, and before she can tie up Link's climbing bandana herself, he's fixing it in place. He knots it behind her head instead of under her hair, but she doesn't make a move to stop him. She's enjoying the closeness, even if Link does smell like hinox and boy sweat. She's enjoying the attention, even if it's more attentive to the back of her head than to her.
"Do you think that's appropriate? Giving them your trials?" she asks.
"I'd do them first. And we wouldn't include the shrines." He steps back and turns toward the rise to the south. "But it's more than appropriate. I think it's destiny. I think I'm an idiot for not seeing that this is what we should have done from the beginning."
Zelda frowns, but follows him to the base of the cliff, where he looks up with his hands planted on his hips. "Want to paraglide up?"
"Um..."
He drops to one knee, squeezes his eyes closed, and a burst of wind shoots up around him. It whips at her hair, at the cuffs of her sleeves, and Link grins at her, then pops his paraglider open. He's yanked into the air to hover high over her head. "Come on," he shouts. "It won't last long."
Zelda fumbles open her glider, then shrieks as it's nearly torn from her hand. But she holds on, and when she opens her eyes, they're in the air, Link hovering near her, checking on her, before sailing to the cliffside and finding a handhold. She slams too hard into the cliff face, but manages to get a handhold and haul herself up the last five feet. When they reach a flat surface, she plants her hands on her knees and catches her breath.
Instead of pointing out how much she does not want to climb a mountain, she rubs her forearm where she hit the cliff and asks, "What do you mean destiny?"
"Remember the Goron Blood Brothers? The manly ones? They talked about how Daruk used to train in the lava. And paragliding out into the ocean with just the sun and faith to guide you, that was something Mipha did. These are trials the Champions did."
She shakes her head. "But they didn't. The castle didn't...arrange elaborate trials for Champion contestants. No one told Daruk he had to stand in lava to pilot Vah Rudania. I was involved in the decision making process regarding the Champions. I would know about something like that."
He frowns. "You said there was a selection process."
"There was. But it wasn't this."
"Maybe these are just...things they did that make everyone see them as Champions?"
She studies him a moment. "You're convinced of this."
"Very."
"Well." She straightens, not looking forward to the rest of the climb. "I suppose there wouldn't be anything wrong with using them as a template."
He sighs and smiles at her.
"Within reason," she hurries to add. "I don't know how several Champion candidates could all fight an enormous talus."
"We can find several taluses! Everybody gets one. Points for speed and style. You ready?"
She nods and readies her paraglider once more.
#
There's a wizrobe atop the mountain, and while Link hurries to take care of it, Zelda approaches the obelisk and the Rito troubadour standing nearby.
"Oh! I wasn't expecting to see you there...Zelda."
She doesn't acknowledge the odd emphasis he placed on her name. "I'm surprised to see you here. I would think you'd be with your family." She thinks she's seen Kass' children. She only saw three children at a time, but they kept changing color. She wants to guess there are...seven? Perhaps not all of those were Kass and Amali's. "I think they miss you."
He sighs. "As I miss them. But, sadly, my task is not complete. I must finish my teacher's song."
Link comes up beside her, smelling a bit like ozone.
"I'm working on a song to honor the Champions. My teacher left it unfinished. So I'm here, near my home, to see if I can understand the Champion Revali. Would you like to hear it?"
Link nods, and Kass sings of the three trials towards which the obelisk will point them.
One, shoot the flame dragon's horn. Two, race down a peak rings adorn. Three, shoot four targets to win. Champion, the trials begin!
She can picture all three of the trials. Link is, yet again, right. This is how they're going to choose the next Rito Champion.
#
They barely make it on time for dinner. The sun sets as they explain their plan and receive Kaneli's blessing. By the time the reach the inn, Zelda's arms and shoulders are aching and her eyes itch with exhaustion. She collapses into bed and rubs at a knot in her neck. The bed beside her sags as Link takes a seat beside her.
"Thanks," he says.
"For what?"
"For going along with this plan. I know it doesn't make sense. It just...feels right."
He's staring out the windows a the night sky, his eyes troubled. She reaches up to stroke his cheek. "Something's bothering you."
He shakes his head. "Just not looking forward to Windblight Ganon again."
She hums in sympathy and guides him closer. When he looks down at her, his eyes soften, and he braces a hand over her shoulder to lean down—
a wildberry hits the side of his head.
He blinks in surprise, and looks up at the inn keeper, who is rearranging things on her desk as if she didn't just hurl a fruit at one of her customers.
He raises his eyebrows at the inn keeper, then down at Zelda, who has both hands clamped over her mouth in an attempt to contain her flaming embarrassment.
"I suppose I should go to bed," he says.
She nods, unable to speak. He gives her a soft smile and leans down to press a soft, lingering kiss to her forehead. He receives another wildberry to the head, but it bounces off and doesn't bother him. He murmurs, "Sweet dreams," and it's so warm that her fist clenches in his shirt. She has to take a deep breath before letting him go.
Zelda hates wildberries now. And inns.
She wakes in the morning to a parcel beside her face on her pillow. It's tied with gold ribbon and wrapped in a kerchief of warm Rito fabric with a red patterned edge. Inside is the ruby circlet. It glows brighter than it did yesterday.