Urbosa looked up as Revali stormed back into camp way before sunset had even considered beginning its creeping journey across the land. She was less surprised by his sudden change in mood than she was by the way Zelda followed him, eyes bright, her cheeks flushed with pleasure.

This ought to be interesting.

Revali ignored the young Hylian in favor of setting up his hammock, which only served as further confirmation of the Rito's ire. Zelda watched him for a moment, her expression dimming slightly.

"Revali-"

"Absolutely not."

"But-"

"No."

"But you said-"

"No."

Zelda scowled at him, all prior cheer promptly dispersed. "Liar."

Revali stiffened. Turning to glare at the princess, he drew himself up to his full, not unimpressive height. "How dare you-"

"How dare you!" Zelda cut him off. "I hit the center each time. That was the agreement."

The Rito bristled. "I never meant-"

"Then you shouldn't have said it." The two stood glaring daggers at each other.

Urbosa, fairly certain that Zelda could do little actual harm to the Rito, and slightly more certain that Revali would never so much as lay a finger on the Hylian no matter how angry he got, remained where she was, content to simply watch while she tried to figure out what agreement Revali was being accused of going back on.

Daruk, on the other hand, decided to intervene. Coming to stand so that he could step between the two at a moment's notice if it became necessary, the Goron looked from Hylian to Rito.

"What agreement?" he asked.

Zelda looked at him. "I asked him about the Earth God's lyric."

They should have known the current disagreement had something to do with the song. Zelda had not let go of the idea the Revali knew some form of the song, and the Rito had stubbornly refused to discuss the subject any further. Both had been getting steadily more frustrated as the week progressed.

"I told her I'd sing it for her if she could hit the center of the target five times in a row." Revali did not sound pleased, but at least he was still there. He could have simply flown away.

"I didn't think she'd actually do it."

Zelda stared at him. "But you've been teaching me how to do exactly that!" Urbosa snorted. That explained what the two had been doing every day after dinner, though why Revali had taken an interest in the Princess was another question entirely.

The Rito leveled a glare in the Gerudo's direction. Unfazed, the woman grinned at him. "You shouldn't make promises you aren't willing to keep," she told him. "Especially if you want to keep your honor intact."

"She's right, you know." Daruk told his fellow Champion. "I was under the impression that honor meant a great deal to the Rito, just as it does the Goron.

Revali huffed, but they all knew he was caught.

"Might as well get it over with," Urbosa suggested. "While it's just the four of us here."

Revali scowled, first at Urbosa, then at Daruk. The look he favored the Princess with was particularly menacing, or was meant to be.

Zelda met his gaze evenly.

"Fine," the Rito snapped, walking a short distance away before turning back to face the young girl. "This time, and this time only, and you never ask me about it again."

"Agreed." Zelda nodded.

Revali shifted his weight, rolled his shoulders back, and began to sing. His tenor, while rough and unpolished from lack of use and training, was strangely compelling.

Guide and protect

Strengthen and honor

Surround and enfold.

Earth beneath me

Plant my feet

Wherever I go.

Knowledge, wisdom,

Justice, mercy,

Love and spirit.

Earth God hear me

Hear my cry

Plant my feet.

Revali finished. Clearing his throat and refusing to meet anyone's eye, he made his way to his gear, sorting through it as if he had not reorganized it just that morning.

Urbosa watched him for several minutes. "Are you embarrassed?" She finally asked. His shoulders hunched in reply. He did not turn around.

"Should I be?"

"No."

Revali paused. "Parents sing it to their fledglings. Fledglings sing it because it makes them feel safe. I'm not either."

"You're young enough yet." Urbosa eyed the Rito's nearly rigid back. "And what we plan to do is dangerous enough."

"A song isn't going to stop Calamity Ganon."

Urbosa shrugged. "So why would a race of fliers sing about planting their feet?" She asked, instead of pursuing the issue.

His back still to her, Revali shrugged as well. "I don't know."

"You never asked?"

"No."

"Any guesses?"

After a long moment, the Rito's shoulders drooped. "I suppose it doesn't really make sense from the perspective of either a water dwelling race or a race of flyers," he offered tersely, though he still did not turn around. "Medli was an earth sage, and was allegedly a descendant of Sage Laruto, a Zora. Stories about her are said to have taken place while the land of Hyrule was supposed to still have been covered in water after the Great Flood, so it's possible the idea of planting one's feet came about after the flood, when there was far less land. It was mostly islands then, and to get anywhere you had to either fly, swim, or travel by boat." He shrugged, setting his gear aside.

"It could also be that even though the Zora and Rito were swimmers and flyers respectively, they have not forsaken the land entirely. At the end of the day, we return home to roost. Zora's domain is above water, and some Rito prefer nesting closer to ground, especially when raising families." Revali turned to face her at last, and though there was obviously still a considerable amount of tension in his frame, he had calmed considerably.

Urbosa supposed it meant something that he had stuck around for this conversation instead of simply flying off.

"It's also very likely that the words themselves have changed over time, and that the common version is completely different from what the earth sages actually sang back then," he added. "That particular line may be closer to what they sang than anything else, though." The Rito looked thoughtful. "There's not really any reason the Rito would have added it in later. More likely, they would have put in something about the wind."

Urbosa arched an eyebrow at him. "You seem to have given this more thought than you initially let on," she pointed out.

"Actually," he admitted, "when I summon a gale? The first thing I do is plant my feet. Otherwise the wind knocks me off balance."

"Interesting." The Gerudo studied her fingers, pressing them together as if to summon her own ability. "Lightning is a sudden release of built up power. I mentally create a buildup of energy. The snap simply releases and directs it."

Revali eyed her fingers as she spoke, as if not entirely certain she would not summon lightning where she sat. The Gerudo chose not to take it personally. Most people who knew about her ability reacted the same way, as if worried she might forget and accidentally electrocute anyone too close.

At least the Rito seemed less frightened than wary; Revali would probably have kept an eye on the potential lightning strike no matter how much distance lay between them. Her fellow Champion had a habit of keeping an eye on any and all weapons readily visible within a given radius. Urbosa was pretty sure he could have rattled off a list of every weapon she and anyone else in their group currently carried. He was, after all, a Rito Warrior.

"You taught yourself how to do that? Summon a gale?" she asked, turning her hand and spreading her fingers to examine her nails.

Revali nodded. "I invented the technique. It's never been done before." He sounded proud, but the answer was not one of his usual obnoxious declarations. "As a people we tend to prefer taking flight from heights and using the currents in the air to our advantage. There's still, you know, 'wing flapping' involved, but the less effort we have to put into staying aloft, the longer we can maintain flight."

"There's a lot more that goes into flying than most non-Rito realize, isn't there?" Urbosa asked.

Revali shrugged, though they both knew she was right. He turned, and she suddenly felt a gust of wind. His knees bent slightly, and his center of balance seemed to shift lower to the ground as the gale grew around him. In the next second he seemed to fling himself into the air, spreading his wings and riding the air currents around him into the sky.

"Plant my feet," the Gerudo muttered absently, watching him go.


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