"Come on." The Rito stalked past Zelda. The Princess turned to watch him go, her brow furrowed in confusion as she tried to determine the reason for the summons.

They had made camp for the night, and the group had just finished dinner and were settling down by the fire. Usually they allowed themselves this time to rest and relax a little. It also served as a chance to get to know one another better. Revali frequently wandered off during this time, and everyone had pretty much gotten used to it and no longer worried, but it was the first time he had ever shown any interest in taking someone along with him when he disappeared.

He must have realized she had not followed, because he paused. Without turning, he added, "While there's still daylight?"

Zelda looked toward Impa, who looked confused but did not seem to fear for her safety. Link did not look happy, but he also did not appear to be worried about whether or not she would be safe with the Rito Champion. Urbosa looked curious, but not overly alarmed.

Zelda headed in Revali's direction. She had almost caught up with him when he started walking again, leading her away from the camp. They walked in silence, only stopping when they found a place that was close enough to camp if danger should arise, but far enough away to offer them some privacy.

"Try this," he said. "The draw should be more suited to a Hylian." He held out a bow to her. It was brown in the center and yellow at the tips, decorated with what appeared to be colored strips of leather.

"Thank you?" Zelda reluctantly took the bow from him.

"The swallow bow has a fast draw speed, and is lightweight enough that you should be able to make effective use of it," he told her. Offering her a handful of what looked like practice arrows, he grinned. The smile, she realized, came from his eyes rather than his beak. "Now let's see what you can do."

He put up a target, setting it against a tree, and returned.

Not entirely sure why this was happening or what she had done to provoke him, the princess tried to ignore Revali as she took up her stance and set her first arrow on the string. Taking a deep breath, she aimed, releasing an arrow that hit midway between the center and the outside edge of the target. When the Rito did not comment, she drew another arrow, this time getting a little closer to the center. The third arrow was farther out than the first had been.

Revali was silent as she fired all five arrows and went to retrieve them. Returning, she realized he still had no intention of saying anything. Pushing back her frustration and wondering why she did not simply walk away, she readied her bow.

She felt a nudge against her foot as the Rito moved it with is own, adjusting her stance without a word. He did the same with her other foot, then stepped back. Guessing that he wanted her to continue, she drew and released each arrow again, trying to get used to this new way of placing her feet.

When she came back from retrieving her arrows this time, he checked her feet again as she raised her bow. Nodding in approval, he then placed a hand against her back, moving her into position, then moved her shoulders and adjusted her arms before stepping back once more.

After the next round he moved directly in front of her and adjusted her hold on the bow. After that he let her put an arrow to the string only to step in beside her and adjust her hold on it. After that he simply stood and watched her loose round after round of arrows, until it finally began to grow so dark that Zelda just make out the target by squinting.

Revali blinked and shook his head. "That's enough for tonight," he told her. Looking her over critically, he added, "It's better, at least."

The Princess was not entirely certain why his gruff appraisal made her happy. It had not been approval, exactly. He certainly had not told her she was doing a good job. Just that she was doing 'better.'

He was, however, a master of the bow and arrow. Even acknowledgment of improvement was something, as was the fact that he had felt she was worth taking the time to work with. Combining that with the fact that Revali's nature probably did not allow for open, warm praise, Zelda supposed she had every right to be pleased with her progress.

"Keep it," he said when she tried to return the bow. "You might need it again." He eyed her for a moment longer before offering her a quiver that held the same rainbow design that decorated the swallow bow. In it were more arrows. Zelda suspected these were not simply for practice.

"You'll notice the fletching on these arrows is different." Zelda looked; her practice arrows bore white feathers and ran parallel to the arrow itself while these bore smaller fletching of dark blue and were set at angle to the bow as well as with a slight curve. Her new arrows also seemed to be made of a different type of wood altogether. At a glance there seemed to be about twelve of them. "Should be easy enough to tell them apart even in battle, as long as you don't panic."

Zelda looked back up at the Rito. "Thank you," she managed, touched by the gift. She knew Revali took archery seriously, and she knew the amount of care that went into each and every bow and arrow. For him to take this time with her, and to offer her such a gift, meant a great deal more than words could properly convey.

"It's getting dark," Revali grumbled, squinting. "We need to get back to camp."

Zelda was surprised when he took her along with him again the next night. She was less so on the third. By the end of the week she had grown accustomed to it and was ready to go after dinner. He never spoke much, simply offering a nudge here and there to correct her posture or her grip, but the princess had studied the bow (and enjoyed it) for several years until her father had decided it was too much of a distraction and put an end to it. Past lessons learned came back to her, and past training allowed her to adjust to the Rito Champion's instruction quickly.

She barely noticed when began to pay her less strict attention, setting up his own target and drawing his own bow. She was briefly distracted by a flurry of arrows hitting the target in a neat cluster at the center, all in quick succession.

His arrows also bore dark blue feathers, though the pattern on the fletching seemed different from the ones he had given her. She watched as he loosed another cluster, this in the top-right area of the target. These also seemed to carry a different pattern. The Rito loosed three more flurries of arrows, one in the top-left, one in the bottom right, and one in the bottom left. Each cluster was equally spaced, each arrow tightly grouped.

He turned to stare at her, and Zelda remembered she was supposed to be practicing. Turning her attention back to her own target, she got to work.


Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda Universe, Breath of the Wild in particular, does not belong to me.