"By the goddess…" Zelda breathed with intense reverence as she stepped aboard Vah Medoh, as if the slightest footfall might shatter its frame or might otherwise leave some unsightly stain, "This is incredible… We may very well be the first people to step aboard this ancient vehicle since the last of the Sheikah…"

Huffing with a half-shrug, Revali reminded, "I suppose that would be quite possible. No Rito has managed the feat, so far as we know."

His lips curled knowingly, awaiting the correction that was sure to arrive, though he was only met with Urbosa's critiquing groan, "Yes, yes, you can quit doing that. We know."

"Until me, anyway," Revali completed with a wry smirk.

Zelda tapped her chin with the pencil in her hand, "Yes, about that- I had questions, and those answers will probably have questions as well, but-"

Puffing up his mantle, Revali stretched his back as he forced his shoulders backward, "I suppose I would be the Rito to ask."

"Gaaah," Urbosa whined painfully.

Daruk, who had remained outside of the Beast to help lift Link up into the gigantic vehicle, crawled his way in once Link managed his way inside, Mipha tagging along by way of grabbing hold of the Goron's arm. Rolling his eyes upon overhearing Urbosa's complaining, Link made sure to confirm.

"You know, he's only doing that because you're so vehemently reacting to it," he grinned with a tease.

Urbosa shot his a stare, "Oh, and you're such an expert on this winged pain in the neck now?"

"This 'winged pain in the neck' just wrangled down a Divine Beast, thank you," Revali reminded hastily, earning him a look of utter lack toward amusement from Urbosa.

Zelda nodded, "About that. How did you- Okay, let's start from the top, actually; how did- No, you know what-"

"No wonder I'm always relegated to taking your notes," Link sighed, slipping free the small notepad from his pocket, "Best if you choose a lane of attack."

Taking a deep breath to ready herself, or rather to prepare her mind for what it was about to learn, Zelda asked the question at the forefront of her mind, "Alright. How on earth did you pilot this thing?!"

Revali's brow narrowed in deepening consideration, taking only a moment before muttering with a shrug, "I don't know."

"You don't-?!" Zelda shouted, sending Revali recoiling with revulsion at her insinuation that he might not know what he was talking about.

She composed herself, spreading her thumb and forefinger across her forehead, "Okay… How could you not know..? I mean, Vah Medoh broke from the same trajectory it has followed for millennia- it landed here- I mean, you must have done something, right?!"

"I suppose," Revali shrugged before crossing his arms with annoyance, "But I didn't do any such thing. If anything, I had a thought to show up here to do what I could to, once again, save you all, and I guess Vah Medoh understood or caught the gist- I don't know."

Daruk smirked, "And yet you so proudly took the chance to revel in whatever shock arose from such an event once it landed."

Tilting his head, Revali didn't immediately refute his words.

"Okay, okay-" Zelda sighed, tapping her lips in thought, "I suppose that explains the lack of any control panels or mechanisms of any kind that would facilitate such things… But that still doesn't explain much of anything- I mean, why weren't Urbosa and Mipha able to control the others while we were on board their respective Beasts?"

Urbosa shrugged, "Well, we've already experienced events that suggest these things do have minds, or at least consciousnesses, of their own. Perhaps they understand when they're needed, and when they're not, they don't bother. I mean, they were created for a very specific purpose. You can't ensure their perpetual existence if just anybody's climbing aboard and screwing around."

Nodding, Zelda frowned at the realization that, perhaps, they would never truly get to experiment with these Beasts the way she might have imagined.

"Plus, we know from the Master Sword-" Mipha spoke up, as though drawing upon her own dreary experience with the weapon, "These things may know who is or isn't worthy of directing them. Navo mentioned speaking to Vah Ruta when even other Zora don't hear a thing- that's why we dedicate whole lineages to her care in the first place."

Zelda nodded, "Perhaps, while they largely act on their own- I mean, Vah Rudania must have done so, right? but maybe there's a safeguard in place. They can only do so much without a pilot, and they have the divine wherewithal to know who best to allow that privilege. That's why Vah Medoh just circles about, why Vah Naboris just does what it does-"

She paced around, "We've already fiddled with the idea of these Beasts acting as protectors of the peoples who grew up around them; maybe the Sheikah knew enough about genetics that they created the Beasts with that in mind- only a Zora could pilot Vah Ruta, only a Goron could handle Vah Rudania. They knew that we would all have to band together in the darkest of times!"

Urbosa gave a skeptical utterance, "-and the Hylians were just left in the shade?"

Zelda's lips pursed in unwavering thought, but in a split second, they whirled with fascination, "Maybe there's another one…"

"Goddess!" Daruk exclaimed, shoving Link's shoulder, toppling the still-weakened Hylian to the ground, "My Brother will-! Gah, I'm sorry!"

Grumbling as he pushed himself up, accepting the Goron's help as Daruk quickly strode over, Link assured, "It's all good. I've taken harsher punishment today."

"Or-" Urbosa went on, reaching over to take hold of the Master Sword's sheath just over her shoulder, "Perhaps your divine weapon has been in sight this entire time."

Zelda cherished the thought for but a second before asserting plainly, "Okay, but wouldn't it be awesome if there were a giant, mechanical Beast to go alongside it?!"

Mipha giggled at the Princess' childish perspective, though Urbosa was left with a hand plastered across her face as she murmured quietly to herself, "Just when you think they're grown…"

Shrugging, Revali offered simply, "For what it's worth, you might have fallen, serendipitously, into the truth. I did catch something of language on the breath of wind when Vah Medoh began to alter its course. It's wasn't intelligible, but- I do recall it, wholly. Perhaps it will rest upon my mind until its meaning comes to me."

"That might be for the best," Zelda quizzically recommended, "For all we've learned about these things, it seems the best course of action might simply be for each of you to explore the Beasts on your own. That may just be the key to understanding them. But first-"

She aimed a finger toward Link, "I'm not about to be the only pair of Hylians to ever step foot on this thing and not get a map of those panels we found on all the others."

Link slowly returned his attention down to his notebook while Daruk vigorously assured in his place, "On his honor! Mipha and I will scout ahead while-"

He had turned to venture further into Vah Medoh when he immediately skidded to a stop, finding the silhouettes of two winged bodies surrounded by the cascading sunlight that poked through the Beasts' geometric extremities, the two newcomers unmistakably Rito themselves. Daruk's abrupt silence called the others to attention, a feeling of dread casting over Zelda as she quickly reflected on all the tumultuous events they had already gone through simply to reach this point.

She was ready for this journey to be over, and yet…

"What is the meaning of this?!" came a shrill voice, "What mockery of tradition have you wrought upon our-"

The voice stopped as the two bodies entered further into Vah Medoh, catching the face of the man responsible once the shimmering rays of light were quieted by further branches of metallic construction. His eyes went wide in surprise as he stumbled upon, not only a Rito, but a cadre of eclectic persons at their side.

"Revali?!" the stranger mused, aghast, nearly lost in the realization.

Shrugging with indifference, Revali answered easily, "Fozli. Kolmore."

"Revali…" one of the two men muttered with unwavering criticism, scrutinizing the whole of Revali's bedraggled body with tense eyes, "You look like shit."

"I've been described worse, even by you," Revali muttered in reply, almost indifferently, so used as he was to this sort of treatment.

Fozli scoffed, cricking his head to the side, "We were tasked to investigate this unprecedented act by Vah Medoh. When we heard you had been cast away to play cockerel games with a Hylian princess, of all things, we thought you had been sent off for good."

"Sorry to have disappointed you," Revali fired back with a crass tone.

Without much consideration of a reply, Fozli went on, "Never in my wildest, most insane, dreams would I have ever thought to find Vah Medoh beyond it's sky-strewn vigil, much less that I would find you here upon its unprecedented landing."

Kolmore glanced toward Zelda, "What trickery is this?"

At such an insinuation of underhanded repute, Zelda's expression flashed wide open in shock, "Trickery?! What, you think we're trying to steal the largest being in the world?!"

Shrugging, Kolmore confirmed, "Your family has embarked on the largest, and most stupid, series of excavations these last few years. If you did, indeed, find something to alter this Divine Beast's course-"

The Rito reached for the halberd at his back, though refrained from yanking it free from its harness outright, "-we'd have little choice but to pry it from your hands."

Zelda's jaw dropped at how the thought of Revali's abilities hadn't even been considered by the two, though her silence was only met by Fozli biting his teeth before coolly advancing, "Those Beasts are the only things assuring balance between the peoples of this land. We're not about to part with our divine Watcher and allow the armies of Hyrule to encroach further toward our home."

Throwing her arms up in a sarcastic shrug, Zelda retorted, "Did it occur to either one of you that, perhaps, this was Revali's doing?!"

Fozli's eyes arose in confused thought while Kolmore's brow twisted, as though the Princess had spoken in a foreign tongue, leaving the latter Rito to crack a smirk as he chuckled, "Revali? The bastard spawn of some mongrel?"

He threw an elbow into Kolmore's arm, "You hear that?!"

His stare immediately went serious whole his comrade continued giggling, "Do not patronize us. Only the goodness within our elder's heart even allowed this thing the chance to reach beyond the confines of his rudiment."

Link frowned, raising a brow in observation, "Different feathers, same talk."

"Hey!" Fozli barked, aiming a finger toward Link, "What gives you the privilege to speak?"

Lowering his head cryptically, Link muttered as he gestured toward Revali, "Because he's our brother. and because it's how she put it. He's the one who commandeered this Beast."

Despite Link's familial language, Revali remained indomitable in the eyes of the two Rito, as though any movement might incite further vicious slurs lobbed toward him. Even as the two Rito bit their tongues, twisting to glare daggers into Revali, he remained steadfast in his detached state.

"Is that true..?" Fozli spat with a wiry tone.

Revali nodded, "As true as the fact of me beating you when we were mere fledglings."

At that, Kolmore buried a laugh behind his hand, leaving Fozli to whip his head around to aim his vengeful eyes toward his counterpart, though Kolmore only interjected coughing into his erratic voice, nervous eyes peering up to continue gauging the man's reaction.

"You two are the liaison, then, for your elder?" Zelda inquired, stealing Fozli's attention, "Could we, at the very least, seek an audience with him to explain this?"

Daruk frowned, stroking his lips with unwavering fingers, "I quite doubt the impartiality of these two, myself…"

"Pah!" Fozli scoffed, "This mongrel hadn't even been born before his mother decided to abandon him. Perhaps your people, born from rock as they are, fail to recognize the importance of such a thing, but our entire culture relies on that earliest preening- and for you assert this man to be your brother-!"

Fozli visibly shook with disgust, "Your tongue is made of sterner stuff for that word to be uttered in reference to him."

"We'll take that as a compliment, then," Link shrugged, "Now, you've got three dignitaries among us requesting an audience with your elder. Would you deny him even the mention of such a request?"

Kolmore shuddered while leaning closer to his comrade, "Perhaps we best relay this to Elder Olen…"

"Of course we are; he's the one who had us investigate!" Fozli griped in response, crossing his arms as he returned to Zelda's Company, "Our elder will sort this out. I'm not about to risk inciting conflict for this one…"

The Rito spat as he turned around to begin his exit, as though visibly disgusted by even the verbal reference to Revali, leaving Kolmore alone to size up the Company, waving them along slowly before finally speaking up.

"Come along, I suppose," he meandered toward command, turning to follow his superior, allowing the Champions a few brief moments to converse before following in turn.

Daruk shrugged, "Well that was easy."

"I hope your sarcasm is simply lost on me," Urbosa groaned, wiping the back of her hand along her brow, "Easy as octorok pie, maybe. I still feel a bit strange being on the side so vehemently in Revali's favor."

The Rito turned toward her with a crooked glance, speaking matter of factly, "Plenty of delicacies hold a taste that is acquired."

"Gah," Urbosa winced, leaving Daruk chuckling.

"You may have finally met your match, Urbosa!" he gleefully noted with a boisterous humor about him, leaving the Gerudo with shoulders twisted inward with disgust.

Revali's lips curled with seeping delight peering through his dour demeanor with only great effort, "She may have proved her physical prowess, true, but she dare not challenge my wit. Nor my now-assured position atop this divine pedestal."

"Oh, goddess; he's full of more than Rito organs, now," Urbosa sighed in defeat.

Only shrugging in reply, Revali held his plumage out proudly, puffed up in a haughty air while strolling toward the exit. Urbosa frowned at the sight even as Zelda turned toward the Company with considering eyes, her own brow spun with dismay.

"We ought to head on out ourselves; we didn't mention there were Lowlanders outside…"

Daruk roared in exuberant answer, "A Champion's job is never finished! Brother, would you like a hand?"

"I got it," Link assured as he hobbled along, even as Mipha offered him help with her hands grasping his arm.

Frowning, Daruk observed, "You're about as bad as he is."

Screwing his eyes up toward the man from his hunched over posture, Link only took a brief moment before raising up his arm for Daruk to take hold of, "Well if you're gonna put it like that…"

Before Daruk could happily offer his assistance, Link yanked his arm back in recoil before sternly noting, "Just don't get used to doing that."

"Pah! I'm helpful, not manipulative!" Daruk asserted while taking his Brother's arm, leaving the Hylian more or less help up on either side by him and Mipha, "Next stop, the Rito Village!"

The Champions sauntered along to leave, prompting Mipha to wonder aloud as she gazed around her at the sandstone-like face that lined Vah Medoh's metallic structure, "Couldn't we try flying Vah Medoh back over there?"

"Tch," Revali flinched as though facing a question he had hoped he wouldn't have to answer, "Maybe if you have a death wish. I don't even know how I got this thing this far. If it just remained perched here until the end of time, it sure wouldn't shock me at this point."

Mipha wryly grinned, "I was just thinking- Even if we were able to somehow learn more about these Beasts, I don't exactly have anywhere to go with Vah Ruto."

"You just need to learn how to aim that trunk to shoot this thing down," Urbosa brought up with amusement.

"Like a game! Divine Beast versus Divine Beast! Two giants enter, one giant, er-" Daruk quickly paused, scratching his beard, "I suppose that sort of defeats the purpose, huh?"

Urbosa bit back a scathing remark while Revali shot a scolding stare toward the Goron, the sort of glance Zelda could imagine him making without having to turn around to watch. She lowered her head, thinking of the humor being brought to this quest- one that had begun in earnest with Zelda thinking it to be an adventure important enough to save the entire world. The entire collection of Hyrule's greatest warriors had been battered, bruised, and covered, by her hands. Yet, here they stood, not merely alive, but despite the odds, with that same lighthearted attitude she had once felt so unaccustomed to, having been friends, largely, with books her entire life. Beyond Urbosa, this collection of Champions had been an assortment of strangers at one time.

Now, it felt only like family to her.

The thought to bring some ease to their humor quickly left her as the Company slowly exited Vah Medoh, Zelda burying her head as she led the way, hiding a smile.

A hand fell upon her shoulder, causing her to jump in place as her head flew to the side, finding Revali there with his brow unkempt at her apparent distaste of his attention-seeking.

"I apologize if my grasp is so-"

Zelda smiled as she interrupted him, "Revali."

The Rito's lips curled at her sudden correction toward his behavior, turning back toward the others, still lost in their boisterous mood, "A word?"

Zelda watched him with a moment's thought before nodding with a smile, "Of course."

She nodded toward the others, gesturing their continued exit while she came to a stop along with Revali, the Rito frowning almost defiantly as he waited for solitude to return to him. The Champion's words echoed distantly as they pressed on, fading gently into the wind until, like a switch, they had suddenly become lost, leaving Revali alone with Zelda. She waited there patiently as Revali's eyes traveled the perimeter of the area, avoiding any direction that might even be remotely interpreted as toward her, forming what must have been thoughts in his head as he did so.

He fidgeting in place, running a hand vacantly along his opposing arm, sending his feathers fluttering in tepid movements as the smoothing motion left their ends. Zelda even caught his eyes tensing, wondering what exactly might be so tormenting his mind at this moment.

She offered in reminder, "You wanted to ta-"

"I'm getting to that!" Revali screamed in fierce reply, finally aiming his eyes square upon her, though only for a brief moment before turning away, "I-! I just-!"

His face winced as he chewed his lip, "I'm not-"

Lowering in soft moment, his head began to fall, arms still hung at his sides, "Kindness is not, uh- I'm not accustomed to such a language, so-"

Zelda recalled having heard something of the sort from Mipha in passing, though she didn't bother to advance her counterpart's ease of divulging such things, instead allowing Revali to continue in his online time.

The Rito's thumb spun in circles along his index finger as he further mulled his words, concluding in wary tones, "I am familiar with bartering and negotiation. I know that actions deserve like re-actions. I was given such a petty start to life, so its ending must be equally opposite on the spectrum."

His eyes twisted to the side of his face, glancing sidelong toward Zelda, "And yet- You had no reason to treat me so kindly. I was a fool who did everything I could to remain impartial to this expedition- It was nothing more than a business decision; to etch my name in history, even by unorthodox means, given my lack of access to traditional ones. But despite that-"

Lowering his eyes in regret, he went on, "You extended kindness to me. Time after time. Even though I never offered my own."

His eyes narrowed, "I didn't deserve it."

Taking a moment to allow his words to settle, perhaps to decompress some before continuing, Revali returned to circling his fingers, his lips tensing in place of his biting lips, "Despite my words- despite my overbearing shows of confidence- Never did I imagine this to be possible. Not for a pitiful being such as I."

Turning his eyes toward Zelda, he continued, "But you- You saw something in me. Trusted me. Brought me into the fold. And instead of being worn down by my interactions with the others- your faith in me was calcified."

He took a breath, "In many ways, you've trusted me even when I haven't trusted myself. You had faith in me when nobody else did. When the entire world seemed to have left me behind, you never wavered from pulling me along, even when I might have done all I could to resist."

"As much as I hate to admit it," he scathed in recap, "I can't help but feel something of comradery with your bunch of buffoons. I doubt I would be saying that, now, without your influence, so- What I'm attempting to say-"

He charged his words behind spinning lips, "Th- Thank you. For believing me, when nobody else would."

Zelda smiled as he turned away, ashamed, spouting angrily, "And-! D- Don't you dare reiterate this to anyone! I'm not about to-"

"Revali," Zelda repeated with a wry voice, her smile nearly beaming, "I'm not gonna tell anyone."

"Good!" he spoke up, still in a charged voice, while he smoothed out his mantle, "I do have appearances to keep up…"

Zelda assured him lightly, "Hopefully that won't always be the case. Everybody else, save for Mipha, I suppose, pretty much avails themselves in whichever fashion they prefer, so-"

She smiled, "You don't have to be as guarded as you think around us."

Now rolling his eyes at the mere suggestion, Revali returned easily, "Pshaw! To think I might lay myself bare in front of that raucous bunch! The lot of them would quite prefer I relinquish my guard that easi- GAH!"

Revali tensed while recoiling in abject terror, desperately prepared to tear the foreign body away from his own, yet-

"Release me from your death grip at once!" he cried out, his better judgment stalling his natural reflex to fight off this unwelcome presence.

Zelda grinned, "Just a few more seconds."

His arms spread out wide to prevent any violent swings, Revali could only stand there frozen in shock as Zelda buried herself against his plumage in a hug, smiling sweetly at the faintly ticklish sensation of his feathers brushing against her face.

"What degradation has befallen me?!" the Rito complained in strained voice, "All this in reward for my pittance of mind?!"

Zelda assured happily, "Your words were no trifling thing, Revali! This is just my way of thanking you!"

"Thanking me?!" he shivered.

"You spoke of kindness as though it were a language, so I suppose I ought to translate," Zelda smiled, finally releasing the man from her embrace, "That was a hug. an embrace. It's a show of affection between good friends."

Revali's beak curled upward in disgust while he brushed himself off, "Seems more like an attack, more than anything!"

Smirking, Zelda retorted, "Like I would dare challenge the pilot of Vah Medoh."

"I-!" Revali quickly shot back, only to be thwarted by his own mind's recognition of those worlds left for him, causing him to turn away in mute reflection and leaving Zelda with a hearty grin.

"Thank you," she began again, her voice deep in recognition, "For not abandoning us. For not making me wrong."

Revali turned his head only a miniscule amount, hiding his sidelong stare well from Zelda's own wayward appearance. Her smile remained as she turned to leave, allowing Revali a moment's respite to gather his wits without anything else from her. The Rito chewed his tongue, reaching up to continue brushing off his chest, where his feathers had no doubt been soiled by whatever oils and dirt had been on that woman's face.

Still, as he brushed, finding nothing upon him but the faintly lingering breadth of warmth left within his plumage by such familial contact, he couldn't help but shoot a heavy breath through his nose.

He had found it rather nice. that warmth of friendship.