"Try it."
"No, thank you."
"Try it."
"Absolutely not!"
"Come on, trust me."
"Revali! I'm not putting that in my mouth!"
Impa looked up. Mipha was laughing as she pushed the Rito away, but her cheeks were also flushed as if she were embarrassed. Revali was grinning and incredibly pleased with himself even as the Zora kept batting his hand away. The Sheikah wondered idly if she should intervene, though she knew full well the princess was capable of handling herself.
She also knew any action she took would likely be unwelcome, at least as far as the Rito currently tormenting his fellow Champion was concerned.
Mipha, Impa had observed over the last several weeks, had a tendency to let her feathered 'cousin' take advantage of her sweet nature and kind heart. Maybe she should intervene.
The Zora shoved him away again, or tried to. Revali caught her arm and pulled her closer, the princess squirming the whole time as she tried to escape.
"I don't want to!" The Zora princess stood and shifted her weight, throwing herself toward Revali and catching him off guard as she also twisted her arm to break his hold and elbow him in the chest. The Rito went down, landing on his backside.
He stared up at the Zora, surprised, his eyes wide. Mipha immediately started apologizing, and Impa readied herself to put herself between remorseful princess and angry warrior if necessary.
Revali laughed, startling both women, and waved off Mipha's apology as he sprang lightly to his feet. Something glinted in his eye, and he offered her a hand.
"You have to now, you owe me," he told her. "You struck an ally outside of battle."
"It was an accident!" The princess protested weakly. "You wouldn't let go!"
Revali tilted his head slightly to the side, waiting. The Rito was stubborn, far more stubborn than just about anyone in the group, with the exception of Urbosa.
That woman could wear down a mountain.
"Fine!" Mipha gave in, reluctantly, and held out her own hand. Revali placed his over hers and opened it, dropping a large, still wriggling worm into her outstretched palm. The Zora's face scrunched up as she considered the creature. Looking up at Revali, she asked, "Are you sure about this?"
Revali rolled his eyes. "No, cousin. I'm intentionally bullying you into eating something disgusting because I'm a jerk."
He was a jerk. And a bit of a bully at times.
Impa watched in horror as Mipha gripped the worm between her fingers, letting it dangle slightly. Closing her eyes, she raised it to her open mouth and let it drop. The Sheikah tried not to gag as the princess chewed, then swallowed, her eyes opening back up suddenly.
Revali chuckled and shook his head. "I told you," he teased. Looking in Impa's direction, he called, "You want to try one?"
Impa shook her head and turned away, her stomach churning. She nearly ran into Urbosa as she tried to put some distance between herself and the Rito, just in case.
The Gerudo eyed her with interest. "Impa, you're looking a little...green."
Impa shook her head and kept walking, ignoring the worried expression on Princess Zelda's face. She did not want to be sick, and she definitely did not want to be sick with an audience.
Urbosa turned back to Mipha and Revali. "Care to explain?" she asked, one hand on her hip. Mipha smiled.
"It would seem that the lady Impa had little interest in participating in a cultural exchange of sorts," she offered, and Revali chuckled.
"I'm pretty sure she wouldn't like it anyway. Hylians usually don't, and I can't see a Sheikah being too different, at least not in this case."
Urbosa eyed the two Champions critically. "And which case, exactly, are we talking about here? The poor girl looked absolutely ill."
Mipha at least had the grace to look slightly abashed, but Revali seemed to think the whole thing was hilarious. Urbosa let out a long, slow breath and waited.
"Revali wanted me to try a worm," Mipha, predictably, was the first to crack. "I think watching me eat it may have made her uncomfortable."
"She didn't have to watch," Revali pointed out reasonably. "If she hadn't been so worried about whether you needed protecting, which you obviously don't, she wouldn't have had to."
Mipha smiled sweetly at him, causing the Gerudo to wonder what else she had missed.
More than just Mipha trying to eat a worm, she suspected. Urbosa shrugged the thought off. Mipha was fine, and the two were entitled to their own private jokes.
"So how was it?" The woman asked, raising an eyebrow. "I assumed you actually tried it, judging by Impa's expression as she left."
The Zora's eyes lit up. "Delicious, actually. You know, when I was growing up they taught us that in a survival situation there were all sorts of things we could find to eat-bugs, worms, other things-but they never said anything about how they taste."
Revali's eyes crinkled slightly in a smile. "Bugs are pretty good too, you know. Beetles, especially."
Out of the corner of her eye Urbosa saw Zelda repress a shiver. The Princess had enough trouble with some of the more exotic dishes served in Gerudo culture. Urbosa could sympathize; while her own people were not above featuring insects in a few of their dishes, live beetles and worms were a bit much for her, and she doubted very much the Rito had offered Mipha a lightly roasted worm fresh from the pan, especially given his insistence that fish was best eaten raw-cooking it apparently covered up a lot of its natural flavor.
She still had not decided whether they should feel grateful or guilty that he had yet to eat anything raw in front of them, and at the same time wondered how much longer that would last, especially now that he was feeding Mipha live worms.
Shaking her head, the Gerudo went to check on the missing member of their group. She doubted Impa had gotten into any trouble, but she was entirely uninterested in the answer to Daruk's curious inquiry as to what beetles tasted like and whether the Rito, like hawks or falcons, had ever considered lizards as a food source.
Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda Universe, Breath of the Wild in particular, does not belong to me.
