"That's food."
Daruk met the Rito's gaze stubbornly, though his hands involuntarily closed over their contents at Revali's words.
"It's not worth the trouble, Daruk." He tried again, but the Goron remained planted in front of him, waiting. The Rito sighed. "I'm not sure even sure I can do anything. It might die anyway."
He had no idea why he was agreeing to this, but the sudden gratitude in his fellow Champion's eyes was both alarming and somehow strangely...well, gratifying . He wondered when he had started caring what Daruk-or any of them, really-thought of him.
He reluctantly accepted the injured squirrel and looked it over carefully. "These are from a bird of prey, maybe a hawk." He pointed at the slash marks. "Something went after him and missed, but barely. The wounds need to be cleaned. If infection sets in..." he trailed off. Sitting down, he began searching through his gear one handed. Daruk hovered over him like an anxious shadow.
"Sit down so you can see what I'm doing." The Goron's hands were far too big to be of any use on something as small as a squirrel, but at least it would serve as a distraction. Daruk obliged, and watched in silence as the Rito cleaned out the wounds and then bandaged them up. "He's a little too calm for a wild animal, and an injured one, at that." Revali admitted. "Squirrels can bite, you know, when they feel threatened." He frowned. "He shouldn't feel this cold. That may be part of the problem."
He carefully tucked the squirrel into his tunic. "Once he gets warmed up and starts moving around, we can feed him. I've got some seeds and dried fruit he'd probably like."
"Do you think he'll be okay?" The Goron asked, worried. The Rito shrugged.
"It's honestly too soon to tell," he admitted. "But if we can keep the wounds clean, and if we can get him to eat, then there's a good chance he'll recover." Revali considered his fellow Champion for a moment before adding, "And even if he doesn't, at least we tried."
"He'll have had a nice meal, and been warm, at least, I guess." Daruk did not seem particularly comforted.
He need not have worried. An hour later the animal popped its head out of the neck of Revali's tunic, startling both Mipha and Zelda. The two quickly recovered and were soon just as enamored of the squirrel as Daruk had been, watching with baited breath as the Rito offered it some dried fruit, and sighing with relief when it accepted.
They had to find something to carry it in afterwards; it showed no inclination towards returning to its previous hiding spot. Mipha found a basket for it and some spare cloth to function as some sort of nesting material. Revali supplied more fruit and seeds and insisted that since Daruk had found the creature, he could be responsible for it, though he did check on the injuries several times over the course of the day, cleaning them out each time.
"Bite wounds or scratches can be nasty," Revali told the Goron. "Especially when you're dealing with predators. The injuries are more likely to get infected, so you have to be extra careful."
"It's because they eat meat, isn't it?" Daruk asked, curious. "What about people? They eat meat, at least, non-Gorons do."
"People are even worse," Revali confided. "Don't ever let Urbosa bite you." The Goron chuckled.
"Thank you for helping."
The Rito shrugged, but did not seem particularly annoyed.
"Do you really eat squirrels?" Daruk asked. Again Revali shrugged.
"Sometimes. When we're out in the wild, the Rito kind of eat whatever they can hunt. I've eaten squirrel before, as well as mice, frogs..."
"Rabbits?"
"Yes."
"Rats?"
"Rats are basically just mice only bigger, so yes."
"Fish, of course."
"Of course."
"Worms." Daruk's eyes twinkled in amusement. "And grubs?"
"Moose, though they're more work to take down."
Daruk looked thoughtful. "Sometimes it seems odd, which animals are okay to eat, and which are not," he admitted.
"It varies from culture to culture. I'll eat just about anything, if I'm hungry enough. Most Hylians won't eat things like wolves. I think it's because they're too similar to cats and dogs, which the Rito don't eat, by the way. We're well aware that most races like to take them home and adopt them into the family."
"But Rito don't?" Revali shook his head.
"We don't really have the smaller ones back home. Wolves and foxes are about as close as it gets."
"We don't have a lot of wildlife back home," Daruk said. "Mostly birds; the Eldin ostrich can only be found in the canyon or mountain areas. They can't fly, though they are capable of running really fast."
"I've heard about them. It's weird to think of birds that can't fly."
"Cuccos can't fly." Daruk pointed out.
"They can, a little bit. Not very high, and not very far, and they tend to glide more than anything else." Revali frowned. "I think it has something to do with them being domesticated, though."
"You think they used to be able to fly?" Daruk wondered.
"I don't know," Revali admitted. "But they're primarily raised for meat, and for eggs, so they tend to be short and fat and bulky. Not really good for flying. It's possible that over the years the characteristics that would have made them better flyers were bred out of them."
Daruk spent the following week caring for his charge with Revali's help, watching it grow stronger each day, until at last Revali removed the bandaging to find the injuries had healed nicely. Daruk offered it some nuts-the Rito had transferred feeding duties over to him; the squirrel stuffed its mouth before taking off, darting into the trees.
The Goron watched it go, too surprised to do anything else.
"Wild animals tend not to be particularly grateful," Revali noted. "If you're going to make a habit of this, you might as well get that through your head right now."
Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda and its world does not belong to me