Author's note: A companion piece, of sorts, to the previous chapter, taking place much later.
Urbosa squinted in the dark of the moonless night as she picked her way along the dimly lit path, her ears straining to hear something-anything-over the muffled sounds of her own footsteps. At any moment she was certain they would be caught, heard or seen by one of the many monsters currently making their way through the trees. She crouched as low as her body would allow, placing each foot carefully.
Out of the corner of her eye a dark blur lurched forward on a collision course with the ground. A shadow lunged in her direction, and a feathered appendage found her forearm and latched on painfully.
She braced herself as Revali's weight nearly brought her down with him, and swallowed back several choice words-she couldn't risk them being overheard. More than enough time for that later, if they survived.
He stumbled again, his breath catching as he reached out once more, and again Urbosa resisted the urge to swear, this time for a different reason entirely.
How could she have forgotten the Rito was practically blind in the dark?
She paused, waiting for Revali to steady himself. When he had regained his balance she closed the distanced between them, throwing one arm across his back.
He nearly jumped out of his skin. The muscles in his back and shoulders were knotted and tense, his feathers ruffled. His eyes narrowed to little more than slits as he tried to make out something-anything-in the looming darkness.
Urbosa nudged him forward and reluctantly he obeyed. Slowly they made their way together through the woods. Moving was a risk. Staying in one place meant certain discovery.
She almost walked them both right into a giant rock.
Coming almost face to face with a gray rock nearly twice their height and three times as wide as it was tall, Urbosa allowed herself to start breathing again only when Revali stopped before crashing into it. Gingerly he put a hand out, making contact with stone.
Urbosa looked around desperately; they needed shelter. They would be highly visible against the stone if they remained where they were.
A tree had fallen, leaving shadow between it and the giant rock. Urbosa darted toward the space between rock and fallen log, pulling Revali along with her. The Rito nearly fell again before recovering; she had caught him by surprise.
She pulled him to the ground with her. It was a tight fit, with no room for personal space, but they were nestled safely between the stone and fallen tree, hidden well within the shadow of the latter.
Urbosa was abruptly reminded, as she found herself with a face full of feathers, of sharing a bedroll out on the Tabantha Frontier during some of the worst weather of the season.
She was close enough to see the fear in his eyes. The Rito did not like being helpless, but in the current darkness he was completely blind, and completely at the mercy of whoever found him. Urbosa did not miss the slight tremble that ran through his frame, though whether that was from alarm or simply because he was so tense, she could not have said.
He stared unseeingly into the darkness, waiting, not daring to speak, not daring to move. Urbosa put a reassuring hand on his arm and felt him jerk as she startled him yet again.
He didn't relax this time.
Together they waited in the darkness.
At long last the first gray of predawn began to filter through the trees, and Urbosa realized they had survived the night. The forest was still. Quiet. The monsters that had been crawling through the underbrush the night before were gone.
Were they looking for something? What were they doing here? Urbosa winced and slowly began to sit up, stiff muscles grumbling in protest after long hours of tense inactivity.
Beside her Revali's breath caught for less than a second before evening out.
"We need to find the others." Urbosa's voice was loud in the silence, and they both flinched.
Revali nodded wearily, sitting up. The two Champions climbed to their feet. Urbosa began looking around.
Revali made as if to follow her and immediately stumbled. Squinting at the ground, he scowled. "I can barely see a brooding thing," he rasped.
Urbosa frowned at her companion and quickly revised her plans. "It's safe enough now," she pointed out. "We can wait till sunrise, then head back to camp. Hopefully the others will have the same idea."
Revali's shoulders hunched. "Fine," he said without looking up.
The Gerudo settled down on the fallen log, making herself comfortable. Revali remained where he was for a moment before sighing and sinking into a crossed legged position on the ground. The silence that fell between them was deafening.
"So are you ever going to tell me what a ground-kisser is?" Urbosa asked, for lack of anything better to do and yes, if she were being completely honest with herself, to distract the Rito sitting before her. He looked as if he needed the distraction.
Revali took a long, deep breath. "It's someone who can't fly. Sort of." She waited, certain there was more to it than that. "It's difficult to explain, really. It's a lot of different ideas tied into one over-arching theme." Leave it to Revali to wax eloquent about what amounted to a curse word in Rito culture.
He rubbed the bottom of his beak absently before continuing. "It's someone who should be able to fly, but can't," he elaborated. "It could be they're too weak, or too small, or there's something physically wrong with them that's literally preventing them from flying. Or they've spent so much time on the ground that they've forgotten how to fly. But it also means someone who's useless, and worthless, and both an embarrassment and a burden on society. Someone who can't or won't contribute."
Urbosa felt an eyebrow lift. "That's quite a lot of meaning for just two words," she observed.
Revali shrugged. "It's an older expression, a carryover from more violent times. We're far more civilized now." She wasn't completely sure, but thought there was a note of bitterness to the claim.
He turned to look straight at the Gerudo woman. "They used to cull hatchlings, if they thought they wouldn't be able to fly. If they thought they wouldn't be able to contribute. If they were too small or weak, or they were deformed."
Urbosa shivered. "Before you became civilized?" she ventured. She was familiar with the idea that wild animals would kill off their weaker offspring that was unlikely to survive anyway, but this was something else. Sometimes the Rito Champion could open up in a way that made you wish he'd stuck with the thinly veiled insults and constant bragging.
Revali laughed. It wasn't a very nice laugh. "Right," he said, but she wasn't entirely sure he was agreeing with her. Rolling his shoulders, he got to his feet. "We should probably get moving."
Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda Universe, Breath of the Wild in particular, does not belong to me.
