Bonus - Rise and Shrine

Ravio takes over the family business for a brief time.

It had been many weeks now since the Calamity was sealed.

Ravio seemed to have established a routine. He spent some days in the Korok Forest, a lot of days with his Grandma, and other days traveling out with his sister. Aryll had been thrilled to discover she had a sibling and decided it meant she would be able to borrow the Hero's Slate without getting permission every time. Medilia liked making Aryll agree to take Ravio with her on errands and whatnot; there was the transport rune and Ravio did his best to drag Aryll away from dangerous things. He attracted trouble in the same way a lightning rod attracted lightning. He got injured a few times but Aryll came back in one piece every time.

There were problems with Ravio's upbringing which became apparent the more they got to know him. It was inevitable that when the father figure is a tree that sleeps for days at a time, a kid would probably pick up on a little of that. Medilia sighed as she looked in on the chair which Ravio had commandeered for a nap. She woke him up with a gentle prod.

"Hey! Hello?! It's getting a bit late in the morning to be sleeping. Up and at em." Ravio shifted to get more comfortable but showed no signs of waking up fully. Medilia raised her voice and swiped the blanket. He blearily moved to a sitting position.

"Can I just..." He yawned widely. Medilia rolled her eyes.

"Okay, so here's the deal. The usual shop girl is out today. She is taking care of her aunt for the next couple of days. Aryll is taking care of the cuccoos this morning so you are going to go out there and serve whoever walks in that door. Everything in there has a price tag or is listed in the books and I'll be back this evening, okay?" Ravio seemed a little more awake now.

"You're having me look after the shop?"

"Yeah. If you have questions remember to ask Aryll." Ravio's scarf moved a little bit of its own volition. "...What did you bring home this time?" That was another thing which annoyed Medilia about the kids. Every week a new critter seemed to be brought in. It was problematic. She didn't have time to give him the full lecture before leaving today. A tiny white fluffy thing peeped as Ravio looked incredibly guilty.

"It kind of followed me around and wouldn't go away. It's a good bird! It won't be any trouble at all. Really. I'll keep him away from the forges and stuff." He was doing the puppy dog eyes. Medilia examined the large red eyes and large beak-to-body ratio on the thing snuggled in Ravio's scarf.

"What is that thing?" It wasn't the normal small mammal nor was it like any bird she'd seen. It may have been cute but a smithy wasn't exactly a place for small pets.

"We thought it was a baby seagull or something at first but then we got close enough to get a good look at it. I didn't want him to be lonely. Just look at his cute little face." The blacksmith took her leave and decided that it was a problem to be dealt with later.

"Just watch the shop." She had a slight uneasy feeling as she left.

The Korok Forest was difficult to get into, so Osfala ruled that one out for approaching Ravio. Trying to interrogate him when he was visiting his Grandma wouldn't have worked too well. (It probably would have gotten them either delicious soup or an upset Grandma. They didn't want to risk it.) It was time to settle the bet once and for all. The Kakariko library/bookstore owned by the twins needed to be manned. Lana lost the coin flip and so it was Cia and Osfala who made the trek to the armory; Osfala went in first with Cia sauntering in behind him. He had practiced his intimidating look that said 'don't try anything funny because it's my job to stop people's funny business.'

He still couldn't get his eyebrow twitch quite right.

Ravio woke up immediately upon hearing the bell ring signaling a customer. He sat upright and greeted the two Sheikah which walked through the door.

"Good afternoon sir! How can we help you? We have high-quality armor and weapons for the discerning warrior!" Ravio grinned for customer service. "You want the best garden tools to work on flowerbeds? We've got those too!" Now Medilia didn't have many weapons in stock at the moment so Ravio felt no guilt setting out his wares in the empty holders with rental prices. She'd mostly focused on making shields recently to replenish the ones lost to the like-like blight and a weapons order. Osfala studied magic staffs as they tried to make light conversation and maybe bring the subject of conversation to Ravio himself.

Or, you know, skip a lot of dancing around the subject and just go for it.

"Why, aren't you Ravio?" Cia asked him with a smile. "You should tell us about yourself. Is that the Master Sword on your back?" She tried to lean on the counter but Ravio was already pulling out the price book. He figured they would want some of Medilia's throwing knives. Cia also really had the strangest urge to give Ravio a carrot and watch to see if he twitched his nose.

"Yep! The one and only!" Ravio said. "I didn't want her to be lonely." Something squeaked somewhere but Osfala didn't notice. Nor did Cia. They were both wondering what the guy just said. Ravio glanced at the sword hilt briefly. ("I am incapable of feeling the emotion known as 'loneliness' Master.")

They regarded this cheerful guy behind the counter while wondering where the brooding and angst was. Osfala reasoned it probably wasn't going to be a regular thing to monologue to oneself when selling helmets. He hadn't ever done customer service. Cia had, but didn't get the internal-customer-service-rant vibe off Ravio. "If you are unsure about what sort of weapons you want, we rent weapons! I'll also recharge magic rods or elemental blades for a small fee."

"I know weapons, I doubt I'd make the mistake of buying the wrong one," Osfala said. "My skill and preparation were instrumental in slaying the Waterblight..." Cia rolled her eyes as Osfala bragged.

"Really!? I owe you guys then! I can't give you a discount on Mrs. Blacksmith Mom's creations but I'll give you a special deal on magic stuff. Heck, I'll throw in a magic rod recharge with any purchase of her stuff today. Want to see a sand rod in action?"

"Sand rod? What does that do?" Osfala asked without being aware he and Cia were about to participate in the grand system of capitalism. The squeak happened again and the white fluffy thing fluttered out as Ravio was telling Osfala all about uses for the sand rod. "Oh wh-Is that your familiar?" Osfala asked. He assumed this was some conjured creature made to assist in shady magics because it certainly wasn't anything he'd seen before.

"I'm not familiar with what it is either. I was going to ask grandpa what he is! I think I'm gonna call him Sheerow. You like that name little buddy?" It chirped and bounced in the most adorable manner. Cia suddenly wondered where she could get one. It was a truth, universally acknowledged: No matter how cute the boy, if there's a small fluffy animal, the boy loses.

"That's not what I- never mind." Osfala decided he didn't want to bother explaining.

"Soooo now the Sand Rod is a rental and you get to use it until it runs out of a charge. A recharge, if you do a purchase of the rod, will cost..." Osfala and Cia ended up with a lot more stuff and a lot fewer rupees within about five minutes.

As the receipt was being written up the door was slammed open. Strich had his hand on the doorknob and cared not for the purchase queue.

"RAVIO! Groose needs your help! Pronto!" Strich declared. Ravio hastily finished the last item as he asked,

"What's wrong?"

"Groose can't find a present for Ana!" Ravio thanked the customers and shooed them away. "She's been really down after the funeral for the late king and Groose really wants something that will help. She's just so depressed, you know? Can you get him to Castletown and back to Tarrey before tomorrow morning?" Ravio had a thoughtful look and then smiled.

"Could you go get Linkle? I have just the thing." Strich wondered if they'd made the right decision. He'd just intended for Ravio to go over to Tarrey and lend use of the slate to get Groose to Castletown but Ravio had the calculating look. He brought back a confused and worried-looking Groose with a quick teleport. Groose's wallet was still recovering from travel expenses and he suspected something was going to happen now. Ravio hung a sign indicating they would return within an hour and Aryll came along to greet her friends while Ravio dug out an empty box.

Fifteen minutes later, Groose and Strich were scooping up kittens from behind the woodshed. He was hard-pressed to choose just one. They eventually settled on the kittens being brought as a group and seeing which one Ana liked. It was also incredibly amusing to watch the kittens climbing all over Groose's immense frame. They adored this new climbing perch and plenty of photos were taken using the Sheikah slate. If this didn't cheer up Ana, they were fairly certain nothing would.

Unbeknownst to Osfala and Cia, Lana had found a Korok living in Kakariko. She did her information gathering by spending the evening playing a board game with the local Korok. Tracking one down was definitely worth the effort. She placed a tile on the board while the little guy spilled gossip.

"...Soooo his poetry you say?"

"Oh yes! It was really nice of him to write his diary in code! It gave us some fun but it got annoying after a while." Lana felt the Korok probably utterly missed the point of a diary written in code.

"That was nice of him! Did you, uh, think maybe he didn't want you to read it?" The Korok stared blankly at the Sheikah girl sitting on the other side of the board.

"Why'd he write it down then?" Lana shrugged and moved on with a disregard for the privacy of Ravio.

"You might be careful who you tell stuff to 'cause someone bad might overhear. Could I maybe hear some of that poetry?"

"Ooh, yeah! So there's a song he wrote that goes like, um... ' Maybe by tomorrow, the sun is gonna glow!'..." She realized there wasn't a winner in the three-way bet as she scribbled down notes. Days later when sister and cousin returned with empty wallets, but a lot of cool new gear, she smiled and nodded. Throwing knives were great but Lana had some great gossip for future reference.

The end of winter was drawing nigh and Aryll's birthday was just before the equinox.

Ravio still called Aryll Linkle sometimes. Aryll stopped calling him Ravio after she realized she'd outgrown him by an inch. Ravio seemed to have inherited the height genes from Arn's family and Aryll took great pleasure in calling him Big Brother. She even switched her hairstyle from braids to the classic Gerudo ponytail to look taller. Ravio was not amused.

Aryll woke up right away with a good mood which would not falter. It was her sixteenth birthday and Ravio promised to let her take the lead on her first permitted adventure trip. Mom's rule about no adventuring no longer applied. She'd heard of a shrine which glowed orange instead of blue and intended to start there. It sat right in the middle of an island of flowers and looked unopened which made things a bit odder.

Sure there had been scrapes but they hadn't been adventuring on purpose. Ravio had kept her back from going into so many interestingly dangerous places for fear Medilia would skin him alive otherwise. Somehow things still happened. He'd found out Blupees dropped rupees and felt rather annoyed no one told him before. He felt guilty shooting the creatures he played with in the Korok forest, so they tried an experiment with offerings of salad. The Blupee was remarkably close to a Great Fairy Fountain and Mija came for a chat. Ravio accused her of lying since he'd found out about the weekly tributes given by local guards. She turned him into a bunny for a while to punish the impertinence. Aryll pulled a muscle laughing which made this one of the few outings where she sustained an injury. There were no rupees dropped by the salad munching creature either. Then there was the octorok ambush while wildberry gathering, the Yiga ambush by Zora's Domain... Also, a few sailors wrote a nasty letter about a large number of stowaways happening all of a sudden.

Aryll crossed Grandma's living room to get her brother and waved a muffin in his face.

"Guess what day it is Big Brother..."

"Mmrph." Ravio glared at the offering and traded it for the Sheikah slate. "Happy birthday." He muttered as he munched. He came dangerously close to just settling back down to sleep. Some crumbs were given as tribute to Sheerow and approved of. Aryll looked for the closest shrine to the flower field on the map while Ravio rolled off the cot. Grandma's present to Aryll was a beautiful compass with a locket in the back.

Aryll had received presents from the Zelda sisters and the Tarrey Town guards too; they'd bought a good deal of bolts for Aryll to use when slaying evil. Those had been delivered the day before. The traditional coming of age presents for a Gerudo were lovingly crafted by Medilia. The sword was made in a similar style to the Scimitar of the Seven with a couple of design differences. The shield Ravio helped with; He and Medilia heard of an ancient treasure of the Gerudo which reflected hostile magics and sought to replicate it. One highly polished mirror shield was tested and approved for reflecting magic after many long hours spent by the mom and half-brother messing with enchantments. Ravio sleepily strapped the Master Sword on and stumbled to the porridge Grandma had made for them while Aryll described her plans to her mom.

After they left, Medilia held her composure just long enough to make sure they were gone and then was handed a handkerchief by Grandma. "My little babies. Off to destroy people..." Grandma patted her on the back and wiped her own eyes too.

Teleportation to the closest point and the walk were uneventful until they reached the river. The two siblings shrugged and continued to the flowery field. The answer to the puzzle of why the Hila Rao shrine remained unopened had long since passed from this mortal coil. Ravio and Aryll examined the structure, figured out how to open it, and descended on the elevator. The monk inside left off meditating for the new arrival. He was a patient man but he somehow got the sense he'd overshot things by a few decades.

In the name of the Goddess Hylia, I offer this trial. Aryll and Ravio both looked around the unusual location with awe. Two heroes is a bit unorthodox.

"Oh yeah, can I go too? It's my birthday." Aryll said to the unseen speaker.

This trial was intended only for the Chosen Hero but I don't see why not as long as you go one at a time... No peeking before you go. Aryll happily took the slate and confidently skipped into the shrine to go first. Ravio listened to some distant splashing and heard an 'I'm okay' afterward. Then there was an explosion.

"So, buddy, This trial isn't dangerous is it? My stepmom will kill me if anything happens to my sister." Sheerow chirped in agreement.

It, um, not very? Ravio glared at a torch to use as a proxy for glaring at the unseen speaker. I mean she might drown if she doesn't know how to swim?

"I found treasure!" yelled Aryll. "This is awesome!"

Your turn. Let me just reset everything. Ravio made it through in no time at all after the slate was teleported to his hand. The two siblings looked at the monk surrounded by blue lines suspended in the air.

"Sooo... is that a redead?" Aryll finally whispered.

"I think I read something in Link's notes about a shrine monk? I think we just touch the symbol..." Ravio had somewhat skimmed a few things when he visited Gustaf but there were some worrying entries about escapades and pictures of shirtless selfies on Death Mountain. Ravio was uncertain he wanted to read all of it after he spotted the pictures involving the monster hats. He cautiously ascended the stairs and tapped the aforementioned symbol. He threw himself backward with a yelp when the blue lines exploded around him. Aryll threw herself facedown too on reflex and the monk awkwardly said.

Hey, it's not going to hurt you. Honestly. You are skittish. Anyways, your resourcefulness in overcoming this trial speaks to the promise of a Hero. They looked at the monk and figured it wasn't a redead. No screeching and probably no rotting. They had no intention of touching him to see if he was rotten. Wait, Oh you're of Sheikah descent are you not?

"Oh yeah, funny that. I defected from the Yiga Clan. Deku Tree adopted me."

About darn time some of our wayward descendants had some sense. It's good to see someone returned to their roots. Then it twitched ever so slightly and dust fell to the ground. Ravio and Aryll froze in place and stared wide-eyed at the not-dead mummy sitting on the pedestal. It stood and descended the stairs. Why you look like Vioh Rah! He was always such a good shadow-clone-stepper. *sniffle* Truly this day is a blessing from the Goddesses... Ravio was petrified as the monk patted him on the back and sniffed again. Aryll could see some of the dust left behind on Ravio's shirt but decided not to mention it. This was an emotional family reunion after all, even if the emotion on one side was terror. Ravio swallowed back a scream and Sheerow fluttered over to perch on Aryll's shoulder to watch.

"Nnnnnnn Errrr soooo it's, uh, niiiiiice to meet you too Mr. Ancestor?" Ravio managed through clenched teeth.

In the name of Goddess Hylia I bestow upon you these spirit orbs. May the Goddess smile upon you. Neither of them moved while the monk disintegrated and they took themselves outside. Aryll moved first and decided it would be nice to have a fire. They were damp and it was still the tail end of winter after all. She piled up wood from the adventurer's pouch and set things aflame with a light snap.

"Hey, Ravio? You okay there?"

He slowly nodded and leaned against the wall. Aryll shrugged.

"That was awesome! I wonder if there are other unfinished shrine trials. We should check them out." She said as she tested the edge on her new spear and hoped Ravio would not notice the dusty handprints on his shirt before he agreed to search for more shrines. The quest to convince Ravio that they needed to look for more unfinished trials continued as they dried off. He eventually relented and they decided to poke around the Badlands first since there were fewer things on the map.

While checking to make sure the sensor was set to 'shrine' instead of 'treasure chest,' a telltale stereotypical Yiga-Ambush-Laugh hit their ears and Linkle was ready with bolts of both kinds. Ravio nervously held up a rod but instead of the usual screams of 'traitor' they were both surprised by conversation.

"Sorry! Wait! Hold on a moment please I'm just here to talk. No tricks. We're not fighting you today. Swear it in Ganon's name. Or the Goddesses if you prefer." Both Aryll and Ravio turned to suspiciously glare at the red and black-robed old man standing in their way flanked by two other soldiers. (They were Bertram and Earnest, but there's no real importance to Earnest being here.) "Sooooo a lot of the clan seems to have left in the wake of recent events and we are having a succession crisis..." Malthus said.

"That's good news?" Ravio said as he wondered if he could convince Aryll they should make use of the transport rune instead of messing with this obvious trap. Sheerow had emerged from his favorite spot in the scarf to look at the people.

"There were many problems introduced by Veran's leadership-"

"Well, she was pretty evil. Have you considered not doing evil stuff?" Aryll asked. Malthus glared and coughed.

"-A number of perplexing problems which the council was fairly split on how to resolve. She named no clear successor and revisions made for an interesting loophole. Now then..." Ravio looked around while planning a battle strategy or an escape route. "There were two different methods which were favored in the way of solving this. First, and most popular with a few was to have whoever kills you be named leader. This hasn't exactly been working, per se." Malthus was verbose in the extreme. Aryll wondered if the man actually needed to breathe or was secretly undead.

"Forgive me for not being very sympathetic about that." Ravio interrupted.

"Just wait a little longer. A little more time, please, if I may have your ear. Many of the people loyal to Ganon were purged by Veran's ire and felled in leadership duels. Many of the bolder members were arrested by the knights so there really aren't that many clan members eligible for leadership." Aryll nodded sarcastically with upheld fingers. "Now the second option is one I have actually obtained some support for and have since, with your cooperation, arranged for a considerable benefit to all parties involved and possibly a new golden age of the Yiga Clan with your assistance and-" Ravio grabbed Sheerow to keep it from flitting over and pecking the enemy. He didn't want Sheerow in electrocution range for the inevitable lightning. He tucked the bird in with his magic casting arm and pointed the Master Sword at the two nervous and one rambling Yiga.

"Get to the point. I have places to be." Aryll said as she tensed her hand.

"There is a loophole and Ravio is technically Yiga Clan Master, should he accept. He did challenge, and then slay, the previous Master after all." There was a silence before both siblings broke their composure. Malthus continued gamely despite not being taken at his word. "You see she removed the clause for loyalty to Ganon and when she burned the scroll, it also contained the clause about enmity towards the Legendary hero and-"

"That-hahahahaha! You expect us to fall for that?! Oh, that is the worst planned attempt on trying to kill Big Brother you have ever-" Aryll couldn't help it. Malthus kept yammering about technicalities as the Blademaster and Footsoldier with him facepalmed.

"Oh man, what would I even want with that?!" Ravio knew he should be fighting or running but this was just the most outrageous lie he'd heard in a long time. He accidentally let go of Sheerow, who flapped around in confusion.

"-You'd need to name officers of course and fill positions," Malthus said before waiting with bated breath. Aryll should have snapped but she was still laughing. "I mean, I am a prime candidate for several leadership positions and have long experience which would make me an ideal spymaster or second in command."

"Oh yeah, Hilda would totally still be my spymaster. Linkle, you're my second-in-command." Ravio said with a snicker. Malthus went into yes-man mode and got out a blank scroll. The Yiga councilman wrote a note to find out who and where Hilda was.

"The position of Public Relations head is vacant of course..." Malthus intoned hopefully.

"The only person who would possibly ever be able to sway public opinion in Yiga Clan favor would be Prince Sidon." Ravio said sarcastically. "Really, you shouldn't murder and rob. It really helps buddy. Really."

"Oh, that's genius!" Malthus declared with a scribble on paper.

"You could totally make Groose and Strich generals or trainers or something," Aryll added as she repositioned her hand and focused her attention on aiming the magic.

"Oh definitely. Well, how about th-" Aryll was done humoring this guy. She snapped.

"Now get lost." The Yiga fled immediately upon electrocution.

Both siblings forgot about this conversation until a few days later when they got some furious letters...

Prince Sidon was having a pretty nice day. A lot of stuff got done that morning and the meeting with the rest of parliament managed to finish writing up the new trade agreement. He paddled along the moat while thinking fondly of home. Tula and the kids were waiting. Someone was yelling at him from the shore around the river bend. He swam over to check what the Hylian needed.

"HEY! Are you in distress?" Sidon walked over to the waving gentleman in generic traveler garb.

"Why, the great Prince Sidon! I was looking for you, good sir! I've got a letter for you, you may want to read it in private." Sidon was handed a letter with the Sheikah eye on it. Or what he thought was the Sheikah eye symbol.

"Hey, thanks! Why didn't Paya just say..." The guy was gone in the moment Sidon had looked away to examine the letter. Maybe something just happened? He opened the letter as the guard Dunma came ashore to join him. Dunma did not often see Prince Sidon look so simultaneously flummoxed and enraged as he did when he flipped the paper over to read in the correct direction.

Hazelda hadn't decided if she liked her natural hair color or the dark purple and using magic was much easier than using chemicals. Heck, it meant fewer people came over to introduce themselves and gush in the presence of a celebrity. She'd spent all morning hunched over the latest window commission and took a break from piecing together Farore's eyebrows. It was just too beautiful of a winter day to not enjoy a little fresh air and if people recognized her, they seemed to be leaving her alone anyway.

She listened to the wind in the branches.

"Pssst."

The wind sounded a little different today.

"Psssssssst. Hey."

Hazel looked over to the woman hiding behind the tree and wondered if she should fall for the bait or just blast the person with holy power. It might not be a Yiga.

"Hilda right? I need to discuss an urgent matter in which Master Ravio could really use your help." Hazel raised an eyebrow. She'd heard this voice somewhere before. "It was so hard to find you, wow! We need to finish talking quick, one of the Royal family might see us so act natural, okay?"

Okay, she hadn't been expecting that.

Groose and Strich were on patrol and were wondering why there'd been so many Yiga ambushes over the past couple days. They had a different pattern than normal. The people would poof into sight, the knights would stab and slice, and the people would disappear with various phrases. They were using different phrases than normal.

"Hey, come on we just wanted to-"

"OW. Jerk! We're making a great offer!"

"For the love of Ganon! Stop and listen for just five seconds!"

Stuff like that. Groose and Strich were complaining to Captain Darbus and another off duty guard about how annoying this stuff was when Strich found a letter taped to Groose's back. When Groose made an expression of simultaneous bewilderment and outrage, curiosity got the better of the others and they took a look at the note too.

The Elder of Kakariko village listened to her people whenever they came to her with worries. Most of it was routine and Paya contemplated the upcoming meeting with Hateno's mayor while listening.

"...Lady Paya, there is one more unusual matter. The leader of the Yiga Clan wishes to discuss terms of surrender." This was not unusual in Paya's opinion. New Yiga Clan leaders liked to offer friendship and reunification of the tribe on conditions like swearing loyalty to Ganon. The offers tended towards the most insultingly condescending tones imaginable.

"The answer is always no. Send the usual arrow."

"Um, well, it's THEIR unconditional surrender he wishes to discuss. Says there was a very peculiar error of some kind and stuff?" Paya looked up sharply and recomposed herself.

"Well, that is unusual. Let me see."

The messenger wordlessly handed over the parchment. The titles listed in the signature were longer than the message itself.

Lady Paya,

As leader of the Yiga Clan, I hereby surrender and offer up apologies on behalf of everyone for everything.

Sincerely,

Legendary Hero, Child of the Deku Tree, Link's Successor, Hero Chosen By the Gods, Wielder of the Sword, Honorary Korok, Spiderblight Slayer, Protector of Hyrule, Leader of the Yiga Clan

Master Ravio