"Is this what flying is like?" It was Daruk who broke the silence.
Standing on the edge of the Great Plateau, Princess Zelda, Impa, Link, and three out of four champions stared across the land of Hyrule in awe. The Goron Chieftain particularly was impressed; Gorons were not well known for getting very far off the ground.
In the distance he could see Hyrule Castle. Here and there he could just make out signs of civilization. Looking down he could make out ridiculously tiny looking trees-that was a mistake, as it made him feel slightly dizzy.
Looking straight across, he found himself at eye level with the birds and for the first time in his life, found himself wondering what it would be like to take flight.
Revali scoffed. The Rito Champion was the only one not impressed by the view. "Hardly. It lacks the rush of wind, the constant defiance of gravity, the freedom-"
"We get it," Urbosa interrupted dryly. "It can't compare to the real thing. Still," she continued with a small sigh, "it's probably as close as the rest of us are ever going to get."
Revali cocked his head sideways as he considered her statement, though he remained unmoved by the view before them.
"Careful," Impa told the Princess, eyeing the edge critically. While the view was incredible, the woman found it difficult to ignore the sheer cliff face and the deadly drop below them. Zelda stood just a little too close to the edge for comfort.
"I always imagined flying was a bit like swimming," Mipha confided to the group, "except less wet, of course. Our Rito cousins dive through the air much as we do through the water."
Revali shook his head at the comparison. Wings folded behind his back, the Rito Champion waited impatiently for the others to finish admiring a view that paled considerably in comparison to that of actual flight.
"Princess, I really think you should come back this way, just a little." Impa said nervously. Revali spared a brief glance to confirm that the Hylian princess stood no closer to the edge than any of the others before turning away. Personally, he was more interested in the plateau itself than in staring at the surrounding scenery.
He frowned as a flash of gray caught his eye, and wondered why the feathers on the back of his neck suddenly stood on end. They were alone; or at least they had been when they first made camp. Now-
Revali braced himself as the ground beneath him trembled and found himself staring up at what he and the others had previously mistaken for a giant pile of rocks. A giant stone hand came crashing down, and the Rito threw himself out of the way just in time to avoid being crushed.
"What is that?" Behind Revali, the others had noticed the monster. The Rito dodged again. As much as he hated to admit it, his arrows were of little use against a creature made of rock and stone.
The stone talus slammed its body into the ground, and Revali staggered. In his peripheral vision he saw Mipha and Urbosa struggling to remain upright as well. Daruk rolled past as the Rito regained his balance, the Goron completely unfazed by the tremor.
Revali braced himself to take to the air.
"Princess!" Impa shouted. Behind him the Hylian screamed. The Rito turned just in time to see the girl stumble. Her guardian reached out to catch her and missed. Zelda's arms flailed frantically, and the girl disappeared over the edge.
Revali reacted automatically, his actions driven by instinctual knowledge held by a race of fliers living in a mountainous area. It was the same reaction anyone in his village would have had upon watching a fledgling fall from the nest, fueled by the same desperation.
He threw himself off the ledge, angling his body nearly straight toward the ground in a perfect dive. Flapping his wings once, twice, gave him the boost in speed he so dearly needed if he were to have a chance at reaching the princess before she hit the ground.
He flipped at the last moment, catching her in talons that most likely scratched her arms and tore her clothes. It was a completely unnecessary observation, but Revali noticed anyway as he tried to pull out of the dive before it was too late.
Their angle of descent was changing, but not quickly enough. The Rito tried to summon the winds that made up his 'gale,' though he had never attempted to do so from the air before. He was only partially successful-a slight gust of wind slowed them, but not enough.
The Princess screamed again as the ground came rushing up to meet them and Revali, in a last ditch effort to keep them both from slamming into it with deadly force, threw his wings out. They caught in the air, strained, and held, muscles and joints screaming in protest. Revali felt the world go out of focus for the briefest of moments as his entire body jerked and shuddered.
They were still about five feet off the ground when his wings gave out. Rito and Hylian dropped the rest of the way and landed still harder than either would have liked.
Zelda, who had fallen backwards as she landed, could only stare in silence at the distance she had just traveled while trying to come to terms with the fact that she was not dead. Panting, she tried to order her thoughts and regain whatever she could of her composure.
Revali, for his part, lay gasping on the ground, his world narrowing to the agony that currently flared through what felt like every inch of his body and the fact that he could not seem to catch his breath. For the moment nothing else existed.
Zelda let out a relieved sigh and turned to face her rescuer.
"Thank you," she said. It was perhaps, not the most important issue at the moment, but it was the only thing she could immediately think of to say. Revali eyed her from where he still lay panting, but did not seem inclined to comment. "You saved my life. Are you-are you all right?"
Green eyes flickered closed briefly, and his beak worked as if the Rito were trying to speak. After a moment, he managed to croak, "I'm alive."
Zelda considered him for a moment, trying to decide how to proceed. "Is there anything I can do?" she asked, not liking the sudden uncertainty that plagued her voice.
But then, what could she do? She was no healer, like Mipha. She couldn't fly the two of them back up onto the plateau like Revali. Smaller than either the Gerudo or Goron Champion, she was unlikely to be of much assistance to the Rito at all.
"Give me a minute," Revali managed from where he lay sprawled. It did not look as if he intended to move anytime soon.
Zelda tried not to think about the fact that the others were currently facing off against a stone talus while she waited, safe and sound, for him to recover-or not. It occurred to her that it was the most vulnerable she had ever seen him, and that he was not even trying to hide it. He did not currently look as if he could move, even if he wanted to.
"Are you hurt?" she asked. She had no idea what she would do if he were.
Revali grunted. "Pretty sure I pulled a muscle with that stunt," he grumbled. Zelda worried he had done more than that, but his breathing did finally seem to be evening out. He startled her when he flopped around to lie on his back, staring up at the sky.
Zelda looked around, trying to give him time to recover. It could not have been easy, catching her like that and slowing their descent enough to prevent major injury when they landed. Her shoulders and arms were scratched from where he had grabbed her with his talons, and her back throbbed from the jolt she had received when he suddenly opened his wings, but overall, she had gotten off easy.
The Rito Champion's earlier comment about defying gravity came back to the princess, and she shuddered. "If that's what flying is like, I can't say I care for it," she admitted.
Revali remained silent for a long moment, his gaze still turned upward. "That wasn't flying," he finally said.
"I'm sorry," Zelda apologized. "What was it, then?"
"Plummeting."
The tiniest of laughs forced its way to the surface, and the Hylian smiled in spite of the fact that she had nearly fallen to her death just a few short moments ago. "I stand corrected," she managed, with false dignity.
Revali snorted. With a stifled groan, he pulled himself into an upright position, wrapping his wings around his knees as if to hold himself up. "Flying is completely different," he informed her haughtily, but this time Zelda thought she caught a note of humor in his tone.
She tilted her head back to study the cliff before them. "I have to admit, I do not enjoy the thought of climbing all those stairs again."
Revali turned his head slightly to eye the cliff as well. "Well, that would take hours," he pointed out. "Hours that your poor assistant and bodyguard would be forced to spend thinking you were dead. Hours that I would have to spend listening to you worry about everyone thinking you were dead." Zelda winced at the not-quite accusation, and his tone softened. "Flying would be far faster."
Zelda felt her shoulders drop. She had hoped that the Rito would stay with her rather than taking off on his own, even though she had known that flying was much faster, and, as a result of their earlier expedition, that Revali absolutely hated stairs.
Revali climbed somewhat stiffly to his feet. "Right," he said, brushing himself off. "I'm going to need my wings, so you're going to have to hold on tight. Not too tightly, mind you, and don't go pulling out any feathers while you're at it." He looked her over critically. "At least you're not wearing one of those ridiculous dresses this time."
Zelda stared at him. "I-I beg your pardon?"
Revali sighed. "You're going to have to climb on my back and hold on tight," he told her. "I have absolutely no interest in climbing all those stairs again, and it's not as if I can leave you here to fend for yourself. This is really the only option."
"Oh," Zelda climbed to her feet and looked up at the Rito. "If you're certain."
Climbing on to the Rito's back was not as awkward as it probably should have been. Revali dropped to one knee without prompting, making it easier for her to reach, and guided her arms and hands so she could hold on without choking him. It was odd, pressing her legs against his sides as if she were a child once more, riding 'piggyback' on one of her nursemaids, but Revali did not seem to think anything of it.
It was strange, as prickly as he was, the things that did not bother him. This, as undignified as it probably should have been for both of them, did not seem to agitate him in the slightest. He adjusted to her weight without complaint, his balance shifting to accommodate her presence on his back almost automatically.
"You'll feel the pull of the winds as they try to lift us up off the ground." Revali warned her as a breeze began to ruffle his feathers and caress her hair. "When we actually lift, it will briefly feel a little like falling upwards. Do not let go, or you'll be at the mercy of the gale. After that it gets easier. Just try not to fidget or move around to much, and try not to pull any feathers."
Zelda nodded, then realized he could not see her. "I understand."
She felt her grip tighten as the breeze grew stronger, whipping through her hair and tearing at her clothes. She felt Revali tense, his muscles hardening as he coiled himself against the wind. Abruptly he sprang, shoving the ground away from them as Hylian and Rito were thrown, and for a terrifying several seconds the princess felt the same rushing through the air as she had when she had fallen from the edge. Burying her face in Revali's back, Zelda closed her eyes.
"Not so tight," the admonishment was soft but plainly audible, and the girl realized they were no longer fighting against the wind. For a moment longer she remained as she was before forcing herself to relax just a little, then opened her eyes.
She almost forgot to hold on as she realized they were higher even than they had been on the plateau. The trees beneath them were specks; the ones on the plateau looked like children's toys. Roads and rivers were reduced to trails and streams. Daring to look around, the princess could see for what felt like miles.
The air was cooler this high up, but not yet cold. Zelda watched the landscape change as Revali shifted and wheeled about, making a loose circle. She realized his wings were spread out to catch what air they could, but were not working to maintain their current altitude. They were gliding through the air, descending almost lazily toward the Great Plateau.
Zelda became abruptly aware that a slight but steady tremble ran through the Rito's frame as they drifted. "You must have been exhausted already," she gasped, tightening her grip in sudden realization. Revali grunted, and she forced herself to relax once more. "We are safe, though, aren't we?"
A short huff of air was his immediate reply. "We're fine," he said shortly. The Princess wondered whether she had offended him, or whether he were simply trying to conserve his strength.
They continued to glide in loose circles, the ground growing closer with each pass. Revali was breathing hard as they narrowed in on the other companions, and without warning he dropped, landing gracelessly next to Link and Impa, who stared at the two of them as they arrived, Impa with her mouth open.
Zelda climbed down clumsily, nearly tripping as her feet once more touched solid ground. She was almost immediately crushed in the arms of the Sheikah. A moment later the even stronger arms of a Gerudo threatened to finish the job.
"We thought you were dead!" Impa pulled back, but was not quite ready to relinquish her grip on the girl's hands. "We saw Revali go after you, but we weren't sure whether he would get to you in time."
Zelda looked from the red eyes of her assistant and friend to the green eyes of the woman who had been there for her after her mother died. "I'm all right," she assured them both. Pulling away, she looked around for her rescuer, catching sight of the Rito as he stood staring wearily at a pile of rubble that she could only assume had once been a stone talus.
He was shaking badly; she could see it from where she stood. She opened her mouth to ask Mipha to look over him in the hopes that he would be too tired to argue, but never got the chance to speak.
Without warning, Revali's knees buckled and he collapsed.
After that everything became a bit of a blur. Mipha rushed to the Rito's side and after careful examination insisted that he had simply exhausted himself and needed to rest. She then began throwing out orders, insisting they set up camp. She directed Link to start a fire, Urbosa to set out Revali's bedroll, and Daruk to help her get the nearly unresponsive Rito settled. Link and the other Champions got to work, and Zelda and Impa quickly found themselves involved in setting up camp for the evening.
Once everything settled, Zelda found the Zora Princess seated beside Revali. "How is he?" she asked. "He mentioned that he might have pulled a muscle when he caught me."
Mipha frowned. "More than one," she admitted. "I'm surprised he was able to fly the two of you back up here. But he's fine now. He just needs rest." She turned to study the other girl. "Were you hurt? I should have asked earlier..."
Zelda waved her off. "A little sore. My back hurts a little bit. Otherwise I'm fine." She considered the sleeping Rito. "He saved my life."
Mipha smiled. "He didn't even hesitate. The second he saw you had fallen he threw himself over the edge after you. I don't think I've ever seen him move that fast."
"Couldn't let the fledgling fall out of the nest without going after it, now could I?" Revali's voice floated up from where he lay, but it lacked its usual focus. "It's the village's responsibility as a whole to look after the fledglings until they're able to fly for themselves," he continued drowsily before closing his eyes once more.
Mipha and Zelda exchanged a glance. Neither knew what to say.
Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda Universe, Breath of the Wild in particular, does not belong to me.
