Four days had passed with the Champions finding refuge beneath the hollow stable that sat in the shadow of Death Mountain, an ominous sight, still, as the entire Eldin mountain range cast overtop their every sight. While much of the Company's wounds were slow healing, there was still Mipha, whose condition had remained as stagnant as the most still of waters. Time seemed to have been brought to a standstill for as long as she lay there, particularly in the case of Link, who remained vigilant in her care, while still taking care of his own matters.

So long as their stay was to be unusually lengthy in terms of the stable's usually nomadic clientele, Urbosa had made an adamant command for the troupe to do what they could in terms of assistance, resulting in Link being given a handful of chores to partake in, as well as the others. Gathering firewood for the endless flames of the campfire, catching fish for meals, and during one particularly blustery day, Revali was tasked with returning a few ornamental knick-knacks to the top of the stables massive equine centerpiece that loomed atop the entire plaza.

Trudging back to camp with a bag of stones dragging along behind him, Link ground his teeth as he noticed the encroaching sight of the stable, the soft glow of flames breaking through the dusky atmosphere like lanternlight within a cave. He heaved his shoulders along, making the final stretch of the day's journey before dropping his arms and relinquishing the bag as he entered the stable grounds. Stomping toward the campfire, he fell onto a cedar chair, sinking low as he growled.

"Tough day, eh?" Daruk chuckled teasingly, "I told you to leave the stone collecting to me."

Link shook his head, "And leave you to double duty? Like I could have removed that pileup of boulders down near the spring."

A snicker arose from Urbosa as she smirked, eying Daruk from a sidelong glance, "That was his fault, anyway."

Daruk returned a look of dismay, sighing, "It's not as if I- Link, I didn't-"

"Don't worry about it," Link grumbled, shaking his head, "You're only playing into a bored Gerudo's games."

Urbosa chuckled at the insinuation, though little else came from the conversation as Link slid deeper into his chair, feeling the weight of exhaustion tearing at every muscle. Along the way back, his mind had wandered toward those hot springs up in Lanayru- how he so wished to slip into one at this moment.

His eyes had fallen lazily at the thought, forcing Link to widen them in retaliation, hoping to keep his sleep schedule proper, though that was better said than done. His eyes wandered along the landscape before him, hoping his focus would keep him awake; he scanned Daruk's large frame, the campfire, counting the longs that had yet to fully incinerate. There was Urbosa patching up some of her equipment which had torn during their ascent.

His eyes narrowed, however, as they came upon Zelda. She remained upright in the same chair she'd been in when Link had departed in the morning, still clad in her pajamas, much to her own frustration, Urbosa having ordered her to remain as such, perhaps knowing that Zelda wouldn't dare scurry off in such attire. It wasn't her clothing that had caught Link's attention, but what she was working on; in her lap lay a bolt of cloth, her fingers diligently pulling at largely blue fabric before tearing it carefully, working together something of a project.

His eyes watched curiously for a moment before Daruk's voice broke the air, his boisterous attitude returning merely to spite the approaching Rito, "Well, hello there, friend!"

"Tch," Revali scoffed lightly, twisting his head in disgust, but otherwise remaining silent as he found a seat if his own.

"How'd it go?" Urbosa wondered sincerely, her head still buried in her work.

With a scoff came Revali's reply, his head shaking, "I now know why Rito who grow to become messengers are low on the hierarchy."

He wiped his face with a towel, "Stupid bugs. Flew through eight swarms of 'em during the route."

"Well, at least you learned something," Urbosa muttered instructively.

Revali eyed her critically, "What is this, a children's fairy tale?! All I've learned is that I would rather find myself without shelter than perform such grunt work ever again. Spare me the constructive feedback, please."

"At least," came a chuckle from Link, "The bug spatter on your face makes you more agreeable to the eyes."

Daruk laughed, leaving a wry glance on Revali's face as he seethed, "I assure you, my best work is done without my face being the focal point."

Link's body jolted forward in exaggerated surprise, his eyes meeting Daruk's as the Goron marveled as well, leaving Link, alone, to comment with wonderment, "Did you just make a joke?!"

Rolling his eyes, Revali sunk into his seat, "Have your fun, you two."

"No! No! This is big news!" Link goaded, "Urbosa! You heard, right?!"

The Gerudo screwed her eyes up toward him, "Quit while you're ahead boy."

Link groaned, but still gave a smug grin toward Daruk, the two of them equally surprised by Revali's sudden burst of humor that so often was devoid from him.

"Still," Urbosa murmured, eying the Rito, "Nice one."

Revali rolled his eyes as he shrugged, "So long as you all recognize my penchant for whimsy on top of all my other self-aggrandizement."

"Not even afraid to admit it," Daruk chuckled, "How're your wings coming along?"

Scoffing, Revali shot back, "Horrible. At this rate, I'll have no recourse but to regrow the lot of my plumage, matted as it is."

Link raised his hand, leaning forward in his seat before exuberant relating, "I volunteer to yank 'em all out."

The Rito displayed a sniveling smile as he stared toward Link, "Only if I get first dibs at your nails, Hylian."

"After everything up on that mountain-" Link began, returning to his sunken pose within the seat, "I doubt fingernails being stripped would be much of a chore."

His mind had centered upon that heartache at watching Mipha die within those same arms Link had touted to protection, though Daruk had a clearly different interpretation of Link's words.

"You're telling me!" Daruk roared, "Stick a pick axe in me; I doubt I'd experience much the same sensation as I felt with magma rolling down my body."

As they spoke of their injuries, Urbosa's eyes slowly crawled in the direction of Zelda. Where the Princess' hands had once been hard at work with the bolt of linen in her lap, her hands had gone still while her head fell, darkened by the topic at hand.

Urbosa grumbled in complaint, "Come on; you guys gonna talk about something else for once?"

Daruk turned toward her, brow furrowed, "Wha- We've only started dis-"

"Enough of that," Urbosa charged, her protective zeal causing Link to return his eyes toward Zelda, discovering what the Gerudo had.

Clearing her throat, Urbosa dropped her patchwork piece of clothing onto her lap before turning up toward the others, speaking up determinately, as though she had returned to a position of leadership, "Since we're all here for once, sans Mipha- We have Zelda with us, so I suppose now would be as good of a time to review the notes she compiled."

"Tch," Revali scoffed.

Urbosa rolled her eyes, "The notes she, and Revali, compiled."

The Rito crossed his arms with quiet pride as Urbosa continued, "Link. You have your notebook back?"

"Uh, yeah," Link muttered, breaking his attention aware from Zelda's downtrodden look, "Just- Yeah, here we go."

Having slipped the thin book of parchment paper from his pocket, Link began to flip through what had been compiled, what had been re-compiled from his memory after Captain Ruzoll's slight, before coming across Zelda's prim scrawl, indicative of the interminable number of hours she must've spent cooped up within those marble walls.

"Alright," he began, looking over the crudely drawn image of Vah Rudania, with Revali's points of interest that, once again, remained uniform with the rest of the Divine Beasts, "Let's see. We have the different panels that seem to match the others, just arranged differently, with, yet, another master panel of sorts."

Urbosa slid a hand across her face, "So, once again, they do appear to be similar in design."

Looking up toward Revali, she inquired, "Did you happen to see any power source?"

"No," Revali charged back grumpily, "And excuse me if you felt it necessary to risk roasting myself alive while exploring underneath the thing."

Urbosa's eyes meandered away in exasperation as Link took the chance, "Would've been nice to have some cuckoo for dinner."

Revali shot Link a glance while Urbosa leaned into herself, tugging at her chin in thought as she spoke up coolly, "There was something about this one, though…"

The others turned to her, with even Zelda's downcast eyes following the others, leaving Urbosa to explain simply, "What were the odds that the Beast was exactly where we needed it to be?"

Zelda's eyes shook as they watched Urbosa's face twist subtly in deepening thought, with Daruk supposing simply, "I mean, it never leaves the peak of the mountain. There's only so many places it could've been."

"But-" Zelda's voice broke through, nearly in a chill, sending the other Champions' face twisting back around to find her, leaving the young woman with an audience to entertain with a lowly tone, "-Vah Rudania was pressed against the cliffside. I thought it only did that to divert lava flow, but- Within the crater..?"

Daruk's brow curled.

"If that Beast doesn't act unnaturally- Urbosa could not have tossed Daruk onto it. We might have been toast, or at the very most, sitting within the magma of Death Mountain at this moment."

Link clasped his hand together as he slid forward in his seat, "There was- Did you all hear those four massive quakes while we were still within the mountain itself? They rang out like blistering clangs of the largest bells in the Temple of Time."

"I did," Urbosa nodded, muttering, "You think that was the Beast clamoring into position?"

Link turned to her, "Not me-"

He spun his hand around, revealing the open page of the notebook to the Gerudo, "But Zelda does."

Urbosa narrowed her eyes, examining the drawing of Vah Rudania constructed by Zelda herself. Where the four feet has been labeled, Zelda had ornately scribbled some jotting of notes there, most notably- 'four quakes? Waiting for us?'. The Gerudo watched the parchment paper with interest before turning toward Zelda with a distant glance.

"You aren't thinking-"

"But what if it's true?" Zelda uttered, "What if they are something of sentient beings? Navo knows it to be true and-"

"-and if we offered credence to any old kook yammering about how they can breed striped cuccoos with a striped branch, we'd be believing a litany of insane things," Revali suddenly noted aloud, which caught most everybody off guard.

Urbosa sighed, "I mean, he's right. I'm as perplexed as anyone, but- So far as we know, we were simply incredibly lucky. At the end of the day, those Beasts are machines- little more than works of construction. We know they draw power from some external source, and let's not forget that the ancient Sheikah required pilots, themselves. Even if we granted Vah Rudania that single moment- nothing much spectacular happens with Vah Naboris or Vah Ruta, correct?"

Zelda lowered her head, "I- suppose you're right…"

"Now, if Vah Medoh sees us coming and perches itself right smack-dab atop the plains to allow us passage," Urbosa went on, "There might be a point, but-"

She sighed, "We're going in blind to begin with. We shouldn't be jumping to conclusions, right?"

Zelda bit her lip. Despite her bruised ego that felt like roiling grease within her gut, she nodded her head, knowing better than that, herself, given her scholarly background. She took a deep breath to quell her nerves before replying to Urbosa.

"Correct."

With a maternal air, Urbosa nodded in agreement before pulling back into her seat, allowing Link back into his own, leaving with a heartfelt praise, "But keep up with those notes, child. You could very well be onto something, despite my pleas."

Zelda smirked weakly, "I thought you never pleaded."

"When it gets her what she wants," Link surmised with a grin, "She'll do whatever."

Rolling her eyes, Urbosa stuck her tongue out toward the two Hylians before returning to her patch work, muttering in reply, "Have your fun, children. We've an even more arduous leg of this journey ahead of us."

"Not when Vah Medoh lands atop the plains to allow us passage!," Daruk chuckled massively, leaving Urbosa with a frown.

She shrugged, "You know what? I cede the floor. You all, go about your prattling, please."

Daruk took the opportunity to interject his favorite topic of discussion while the air remained vacant, his booming voice rising like the tide as he spoke up, "Well, then! What's for dinner?!"

Noticing the Goron's expectant gaze, Link grumbled, "Don't look at me. I'm took tired. If we'd had some of that fried cuckoo, I might be more willing to, but-"

"Let it be known," Revali sneered, "That of the Rito who did hunt down and feast off Hylians, such an event was said to be akin, in taste, to eating roasted cuckoo."

"Well then, we nearly had three feather brains up there," Link sighed, "Instead of our usual two, anyway."

Zelda peeked up from her lowered head just enough for Link to catch her smirk, forcing Link to reach his leg over to give her a playful tap with his foot.

Urbosa nearly growled as she dropped her work once again, "It was not my intention to-!"

She caught the two Hylian's grins, leaving Urbosa to frown while biting her tongue, acknowledging, simply, Link's attempt at riling her up, "Well played…"

Daruk chuckled, "I suppose the score, now, is one to thirty-seven?"

"Making up ground," Link shrugged with a smirk, "As for dinner, I suppose if the stable hands aren't preparing a communal supper-"

"Oh!" Daruk quickly rose to his feet, "A feast and friends! A Goron's night could not shine any brighter!"

His fingers wiggling expectantly, Daruk pattered toward the stable like a hunger-crazed zombie, licking his lips as he did so, leaving the others taking glances at one another as if to see who, next, would succumb to their appetites.

"Well," Revali suddenly regaled, pushing himself to his feet, a pithy voice leaving him, "I suppose I could debase myself."

He strolled away. Zelda's brow curled with confusion as she turned toward Link and Urbosa, the Gerudo still ensconced with her patchwork.

"What, uh-" the Princess stammered, "What exactly happened while I was out..? Revali wouldn't ever-"

Shrugging, Urbosa surmised simply, "He's turning to new feathers. Perhaps he simply is turning a new leaf as well."

"I suppose so, but-" Zelda muttered in confusion as she turned to watch Revali sauntering toward the stable to sate his hunger, "That's a big leaf, isn't it?"