Link and Mipha stood almost silently as they awaited the return of the rest of the Company, an air of awkwardity covering, at least in Mipha's mind, the atmosphere surrounding the two of them. Her shoulders enclosed as she stood there, grappling her bag of supplies in front of her, as if in some subtle defensive stance, though she couldn't tell what exactly was causing her shell-like posture. Perhaps it had been the night before, she thought for only a brief moment, before shaking that memory from her head. The last thing she wanted was Link to bring it back up, forcing her to deal with the flurry of emotions that had swirled throughout her body, their light attempt at relaxation having gradually grown into something far more…strange.

She lifted her head, only barely, to peer at Link, who was standing nearby with a small booklet in his hand, writing in it with the other, perhaps taking stock of everything they'd purchased from the bazaar for the means of their continuing journey. Mipha couldn't help but smirk at such dutiful behavior coming from a man so quick to refute any and all involvement in this Company.

Slowly, she lowered her head once again, her brief show of brightness fading away as she stopped herself from offering to help. The quick thought of his reply, of hearing his voice, suddenly terrified her, if only because she hadn't a clue how her heart might react to such things. Her mind had been aswirl so fiercely, not only due to her upbringing all but preventing her from exploring such fascinations as the opposite sex, but because of… Her eyes fell at the thought. She allowed her bag to hit the sand quietly before allowing a hand to reach up, grasping her opposing arm as if to cover herself.

Mipha's face burned, not with embarrassment, but with shame. with anger. Anger that everything she felt now, about Link, was so inexorably tied with such heartache in her past. The very sort of thing she now so readily wished to indulge in was the very thing that prevented her mother from ever looking at Mipha the same way. and as much as it continued to confuse her, it broke her heart just the same.

"Hmm," Link suddenly mused under his breath, examining his booklet, "That should be it. I wouldn't expect Revali to return with anything to add."

Breaking Mipha from such a tumultuous reverie, she turned her attention toward him as he handed over the booklet, "Here."

"What's this?" she asked, taking the hand-sized pamphlet-like book.

Link shrugged, "Just an old exercise I picked up for organization's sake. Keep track of your junk, as my old commander put it; it just makes it easier when tracking down supplies, though, with Daruk in tow, I'm not exactly tracking food stores."

He grinned, watching as Mipha rotated the booklet as if trying to orient it properly, "Figured you might try and catch any words you might have come to recognize."

Mipha's eyes strained as she attempted to do so, her focus remaining steadfast as Revali's voice broke the air, the Rito having returned from a final perusing of the bazaar, "Hylian! Zora! You must examine the accouterments and trappings the have on display today! A caravan from the outskirts has brought a plethora of intriguing things!"

Link's lips turned in feigned interest, simply returning his attention to Mipha as he spoke up in reply, "Well, just so long as the Gerudo you bought from didn't see a foreigner and decide to take you for a ride."

Scowling distastefully, Revali shot Link a glare, "I'll have you know, nothing goes over my head, Hylian."

Shrugging, Link couldn't help himself, taking a quick glance toward Revali, "You know what they say, there's a sucker hatched every second."

"Pah. So clever, are we?" Revali shot back sarcastically while shaking his head, "The only fool I see here is you, Hylian; what, with your fettered garb keeping you so restrained in this heat."

Link rolled his eyes, "I'm a knight. There's an expectation of me. Such things cannot be said of you, however."

Recognizing Link's subtle hint toward further such jabs, Revali merely scoffed aloud in reply, instead turning his conversation toward Mipha, who'd turned up from the booklet, "Zora, I did ask for some of that gekari gel in order to repay you. Fortunately, she did have two jars among her impedimenta that I procured for you."

Surprised, Mipha's brow rose as Revali pulled a jar of gel from his pack, handing it back to her with a respectable air, "Thank you for such foresight, and for offering me the same advantages you sought for yourself."

"O-Oh! Well, it's not at all a problem," Mipha affirmed happily, accepting the jar and rummaging through her own rucksack to store it, "I'm just happy it seems to have given you some relief."

"Indeed! I must return home with such tidings of its usefulness!" Revali exclaimed suddenly while allowing a hand to run along his feathered mantle, "I'd have preened for days to achieve a similar effect! Well, it's lackluster in comparison to preening, but for convenience sake, it seems to be well suited for such occasions."

Once again unsure of how to accept the back-handed compliment, Mipha simply smiled while bowing her head, "Thank you. I'm sure we'd be more than happy to work out something of an arrangement between our people, should you find gekari gel useful."

"T'would be nice indeed," Revali noted with a nod, "Such distance separates our people; it would be advantageous to find reasons to extend ourselves so far."

His eyes fell to Link once again, "Though I dread the thought of crossing the lands of Hylians…"

"Were you not so obnoxious, you might find our hospitality to be rather agreeable," Link shrugged, "Mipha here, for example, would be treated to the finest spas away from Death Mountain, and offered only the finest waters and oils with which to bathe in. Had your people not been so antagonistic, we might have had reason to better learn what amenities best compliment the Rito."

Revali rolled his eyes, "I apologize for my ancestor's antagonism; we were only trying to stay alive, after all."

He turned to Mipha, "Watch them. It wouldn't surprise me if this entire enterprise is Princess Zelda's attempt to learn more about how best to invade."

"Yes, the girl who will drop to the ground at the very hint of some new flora or fauna is best equipped at invasion," Link muttered drolly, his head rolling along his shoulders, "You don't need my word to trust how stupid your bird-brained ideas are."

Revali scowled, taken aback by Link's brazen words just long enough for Mipha to interject, not wanted the others to return to such a confrontation, "H-Hey, let's just- What in the name of the goddess is that..?"

Her eyes had peered off into the distance, her shaky tone catching the two boys' attention as they turned to find Urbosa strolling into town, beneath a ghastly-looking ornamental pillar of gold that sat atop her head, with six green, beady eyes staring right back at them. Link's eyes went wide in shock at the sight, leaving Revali to grab hold of his bag, shaking his head.

"I'm done," he muttered, raising his free hand as if to wash it clean of his involvement with anything to do with these people.

Link reached out absently to hold him back, causing the Rito to spew back in a retaliatory voice, "I'm not about to be seen carrying on alongside such a ridiculous trinket!"

"Hey!" Urbosa shouted, pushing the Thunder Helm up over her head so that she may see, "This trinket has protected my people for millenia! Since the time Vah Naboris came to be, even."

She pulled the helm from her head, examining it in her arm for a moment in monumental awe, "For all the pillaging, warfare, and hatred we've been subjected to across the ages, this helm remains the single possession of ours untouched by anybody beyond the Gerudo."

Zelda and Daruk weren't far behind, the former taking the initiative as she peeked around Urbosa's side to view the helm once again, "Queen Seorake even died as a result of ensuring this helm remained purely Gerudo, correct?"

Urbosa nodded proudly, "Indeed! A Hylian general was all but prepared to slide it onto his head when Seorake charged at his royal guard, splintering their troupe and slicing off the man's head! Needless to say, they put her to death, but such ferocity was so respected, they left the Thunder Helm in place after occupying Gerudo Town for a while."

Scoffing at such a trifling tale, Revali turned away with crossed arms, leaving Link to lean to the side to find what had caused Daruk to go without such a boisterous entrance, finding the Goron with armfuls of food, even some sausage links dangling from his neck and biceps. Noticing Link's inquiring glance, the Goron lifted his arms in presentation, gleefully murmuring from within a mouthful of food.

"Wink! 'heck it owt!"

Link's brow curled in worry as Zelda quickly attempted to regain control over the rapidly meandering attention of the Company, "Did you three sleep well? I apologize; we sort of tarried along a bit."

"Oh, not at all," Mipha replied with a shake of her head, hiding a grin with her hand, "I mean, it seems Daruk enjoyed himself."

The Goron raised a handful of food as though in offering, leaving Zelda to continue, "Alright then. We're off into the desert, then. To the west lies the plateau where Vah Naboris often strides. Urbosa and I were speaking about it and concluded that the best course of action would be to ascend to the peak and hop on."

"Pshaw!" Revali scoffed, "How do you expect such trudging beings as you all to ascend such grandiose heights?! It would be nothing short of immense hubris to claim victory over such-"

He paused, noticing Zelda's almost hopeful stare toward him. Quickly turning toward Urbosa and finding her with something of defeat lining her face, Revali was left questioning.

"…wait," he muttered drolly.

Zelda sighed, "Well, Urbosa can make quick work of the cliffs, but the rest of us may need some, uh…assistance."

Revali scowled, "I beg your pardon?!"

"I mean," Zelda paused, taking a second to better prepare her argument, though Urbosa interjected all the same.

"We need you to be a carrier pigeon," she spoke with ease.

Revali sputtered with both anger and confusion, "By the-! I've never heard of something so…revolting!"

Link offered simply, "Seems fitting."

The Rito spun around to shoot Link the fiercest of stares before returning toward Zelda, "Surely this was not what you meant by bringing us all together. Running us all ashame with such indignities!"

"I-I mean, that was just one idea!" Zelda clarified with a hasty tone.

Smirking, Urbosa shrugged, "A pretty good one."

Revali's face curled up angrily, his arms shooting to his chest as they crossed, "With the great god Witwa as my witness, no such degradation will ever befall my talons, I can certainly assure you."

Sighing lightly with some relief, perhaps that Revali hadn't immediately soared off, Zelda simply retorted, "Alright, we'll come up with something else on the way. As I said, just an idea. Daruk constructed an idea regarding a slingshot."

"OWH WEAH!" Daruk exclaimed through a mouthful of buzzard, "Sohmt'ng like dat."

Revali cackled, turning toward Link expectantly, "Now that's a solid idea! I'd love for this Hylian to be the first to test it!"

"We're not testing anything that's not safe for us all," Urbosa confirmed with a low tone, "That's what this Company is about. Either all of us, or none of us. If we cannot remain united, how can we expect the whole of Hyrule to follow our example, should the inevitable occur?"

Revali shrugged, cocking his head to the side with indifference while Zelda returned to the fore, "Alright everybody, prepare to get a move on. We haven't much time if we're to meet Vah Naboris as she makes her rounds along the Great Cliffs; regardless of whatever method we decide upon when it comes to getting up there, that is where we strike."

Perhaps more of fatigue settling in than anything else, the Company gave a collective, unenthusiastic series of nods to answer Zelda, much to her dismay. Her brow furrowed in worry, her mind suddenly awash with doubt, worry about morale, the Company's perceptions of her, of-

"Understood?!" Urbosa shouted with a fierce air.

The crew immediately perked up.

"Y-Yesh!" came from Daruk.

"Of course, Lady Zelda!" from Mipha.

"On my honor," Link nodded.

Lastly from Revali, the Rito gave a heated snort before shrugging, "Aye aye."

Not long after, the Company of Champions headed off into the desert, leaving nothing behind after the trails of footsteps in their wake. Upon the horizon, the giant mechanical beast, Vah Naboris could be seen, the powerful stomping of ground beginning to reverberate even unto the Company's feet as it approached. As Zelda peered off toward its darkening silhouette, she couldn't help but fathom the many Sheikah footsteps that had traversed these very lands where she stood. How many Sheikah minds had come together to build such a spectacular invention. How many Sheikah had given so much so that Hyrule might prevail against this dark, imposing threat.

How Zelda so hoped she would not fail.