The second time Daruk showed up with a bird, it was considerably larger than the fledgling sparrow had been, and in considerably worse shape. It took both Urbosa and Mipha a moment to realize that the blood on the Goron's hands was not his own.
It did, however, raise the question of whether Gorons bled in the same way other races did, though Urbosa took one look at the unfortunately familiar distressed expression he wore and decided now was not the time to ask.
The Goron was trying to restrain the creature without hurting it; being held while injured only seemed to make it wilder. Urbosa watched from a distance; she knew from harsh experience that getting savaged by an injured animal was an unpleasant experience, and one she had no interest in repeating any time soon.
Mipha frowned at the bird struggling in Daruk's arms; she too kept to a safe distance. "I can't heal wild animals," she confessed. "I'm so sorry, Daruk. I can only heal people."
"But you can heal Revali," Urbosa was more curious than disappointed. Everyone had their limits, after all. "He's basically a giant bird, isn't he?"
"Only in the same way that the Zora are giant fish," she replied, but her answer was without anger or annoyance. "I don't know why, but it's different, somehow. I truly am sorry."
"Is there anything you can do that doesn't involve using your healing magic?" Urbosa wanted to know, though she was fully aware that the attempt would likely leave anyone involved with more than a few scratches.
Mipha eyed the injured bird warily. "I'm not certain. I suppose it depends on how badly it's been hurt."
"What are you two up to now?" The question was a weary one, and based on the way the Rito was eyeing both Daruk and Urbosa, directed entirely at them rather than Mipha.
Daruk wordlessly offered the injured animal up for inspection. Revali sighed and reached out, not even flinching as it got its beak loose and struck. Blood welled up instantly, staining feathers in a highly unsettling manner.
Revali clicked his beak in irritation, taking the animal from Daruk and maneuvering it so that while it could not quite get at him with either its beak or talons, he was free to examine it at his leisure.
"It's had a run in with some sort of cat. Maybe a wolf," Revali eyed the scratches across its back. "Probably a cat, though larger than your average domesticated feline. Wing's broken, too." He frowned. "It's badly hurt. I take it you can't do anything?" This was directed at Mipha, who hung her head.
"I wish I could," she said.
Revali turned his attention back to Daruk. "You know this kind of thing happens all the time, right? Wild animals hunt other wild animals. It's just part of life." The words could have been harsh, but for once the Rito left the edge off his normally sharp tone. The effect this time was more like a parent trying to explain one of the more difficult aspects of life to a child.
Daruk shrugged. "It usually doesn't happen right in front of me," he admitted. "But the cat was nowhere around. If it had been killed immediately, that would be one thing. I couldn't just leave it there to suffer."
"You could have put it out of its misery," Revali pointed out. Catching the look the other three Champions gave him, he added, "Or not. You do realize how much of a bother this is going to be?"
Daruk remained stubbornly silent, waiting to see if the Rito could do anything and, more importantly, whether he would. After a moment, Revali sighed.
"Gonna need hot water and something to clean the wounds. And something to use as a splint to hold the bones in place while the wing heals. And something to bind the wing so he can't try to use it while it's broken. And some way to carry it. And someone's going to have to take care of it. And feed it." Revali glared at him. "I'm not babysitting a hawk with a broken wing."
Urbosa was willing enough to help Daruk find what they needed so Revali could tend the hawk's injuries, and Mipha just as quickly offered to heat some water. It did not take long to find everything they needed.
Revali started with the scratches on its back first, collecting a few more gouges from the hawk's beak in spite of the care he took. Injured or not, the creature was both fast and mobile; it managed to twist around and get in a few strikes with its talons as well.
The Rito grumbled under his breath as he started on the wing. With a grimace he ran his hands along the injured wing, setting the broken bone and quickly splinting the injury. His hands and arms were a mess as he secured the wing so the hawk couldn't move it, and at some point the desperate animal had somehow lunged for his eye, barely missing, though Revali did not seem to have noticed the blood trickling down his face.
"You found something to carry it in?" The Rito asked, and Daruk offered him a basket he had lined with strips of rags and old cloth. It was the sort of basket that had a lid on top; the lid could be fastened so the bird could not escape.
Revali settled the hawk inside, receiving one last peck on the hands for his trouble. "Ungrateful little monster, aren't you?" he asked without malice. "Bet you're hungry. I've got some nice, smoked fish packed away, not that you deserve it, the way you've been carrying on."
Urbosa grinned at the sight of the feathered Rito scolding the hawk as if it could understand him. Mipha was more diplomatic and hid her own smile behind her hand as Revali rifled through his pack, looking for food.
"You don't have to hand feed him," he told Daruk. "He's not a nestling. And don't worry about overfeeding him. He'll stop when he's full." He gently tossed a piece of smoked fish at the hawk, who snatched it greedily out of the air and devoured it in almost one bite. "You do want to make sure you don't give him pieces that are too big, if he's going to be like that." He offered the Goron the smoked fish. "Raw would be better for him, if we get the chance to catch some, but this will do for now. Go ahead, then."
Daruk took the fish carefully, as if afraid it might bite, and offered a piece to the hawk. The bit of fish was quickly devoured, as was the next. After about five minutes of feeding, the wounded bird started to slow down.
"He'll let you know when he's hungry, too," Revali told the Goron, smirking. "I'd warn you to watch out for his beak, but you don't seem to have that problem." He looked over his own battered hands absently, as if neither the stained feathers nor the injuries themselves were worth getting upset over.
Mipha looked them over as well. "My turn," she told the Rito. "I can, at least, help with this."
He let her examine the wounds without protest. "The staining on the feathers makes it look worse than it is," he suggested, and the Zora sighed.
"Your pretty feathers," she complained. "There's no way of getting it out?"
"At least they aren't white," Revali pointed out. "White feathers are rare among the Rito, but not unheard of. You get blood on those, and you end up looking like a walking corpse, or some sort of ghost, doomed to wander Hyrule for eternity.
"Do Rito believe in ghosts?" Urbosa wanted to know. She knew a few Gerudo who did, and certainly her people had more than their share of ghost stories.
Revali shrugged. "I think just about every race has their own ghost stories, and I've met a few Rito who are thoroughly convinced that they've talked with their dearly departed mother or brother or cousin after they passed, but I've never met one personally."
"So you feel the same way about ghosts as you do about gods, then, is that about right?"
The Rito grinned at her. "I'm not gonna tell one it doesn't exist while it's standing right in front of me, if that's what you mean."
Urbosa returned the grin.
Revali was already up and packed by the time the rest of the group started to rise the next morning. He was also nowhere in sight. Urbosa wondered briefly if she should be worried, but he and Daruk had been too preoccupied with the wounded hawk yesterday for him to pay much attention to anyone else, and therefore it was unlikely he had gotten into some sort of disagreement with anyone.
He had shouted at Zelda for the first time, as far as Urbosa knew, the previous evening, when the princess had accepted a piece of smoked fish to feed to the injured hawk and foolishly put her hand in the basket right within reach of the predatory animal's sharp beak.
No one else had noticed the danger until he snapped at her and jerked her hand back, but by the time Impa and Link were both on her feet and the princess was staring up at him with wide eyes, the rest of the party had realized the mistake. Mipha would have been able to heal the injury easily enough, but Urbosa had still been relieved that the girl had not been mauled.
Revali may not have made a big deal about it, but Mipha had mentioned to the Gerudo that some of the peck marks on his hands and wings had been deep.
As if summoned by thought, the Rito touched down too close beside her in that infuriating way of his, this time hovering just long enough to drop a suspiciously wet bundle he had been gripping in one talon as he flew. Bending to retrieve it, he flashed her a threatening smile.
"Hungry?" he asked.
"Not for whatever you have in that bag, I suspect." Revali shrugged.
"Suit yourself." Catching sight of Mipha as she finished putting away her bedroll, he called out to her. "Hey, Cousin! Breakfast!" Quickly as he would have loosed and arrow, he removed something from his bag and launched it in her direction.
It flashed silver in the air. The Zora turned and caught the projectile right before it hit her in the face. Considering it briefly, she looked around for her companions.
"You know it's not polite to eat like wild animals in front of other races," she scolded. Revali snorted.
"It's for the hawk, which happens to be exactly that," he retorted. "There is extra, if Link feels like frying fish for breakfast."
"You're not eating yours raw," Mipha insisted. Revali's eyebrows lifted.
"Of course not, Princess." There was an edge to the teasing. "What kind of barbarian do you take me for? I'm not even going to make Daruk watch his new pet tear its breakfast to pieces, that's how civilized I am."
Without further fanfare he dropped the still dripping bag of fish near Link on his way to reclaim the fish he had thrown at Mipha. "I've already eaten," he grumbled at the Hylian as he passed. "There should be enough for the rest of you."
He busied himself with feeding the hawk while Link started on breakfast. Urbosa had to admit that the freshly fried fish smelled amazing. She was also glad to avoid watching Revali feed the hawk pieces of cut up fish.
"So if Revali already had breakfast," she asked Mipha as the princess settled beside her, "does that imply that he has, in fact, already feasted like a barbarian?"
"It's only bad manners if other races are around to witness it," Mipha answered primly, her back straightening.
"For Rito and Zora?" Urbosa pressed. Mipha blushed slightly.
"It's uncouth, and messy, and most of the other races find it more than a little unsettling," the Zora explained. "We don't like to make our guests-or companions-uncomfortable, so we refrain when members of other races are present. On the other hand, the taste is so much better, as a people I suppose we are unwilling to give it up entirely, even if it is barbaric. So we compromise."
"Are you speaking for just the Zora, or for the Rito as well?" Daruk was not particularly perturbed by the thought of eating fish alive. It did not seem any different from anything else non-Goron races tended to eat, though he would have been the first to admit he was no expert on the subject.
"We try to be understanding of dietary restrictions of other races," Revali said as he joined them, holding a blood drenched bit of cloth pressed against his other hand.
"The monster get you again?" Urbosa asked, nodding toward the injury.
"Took a bite out of my hand when I though he was busy with his breakfast," he replied, allowing Mipha to remove the rag and examine the injury. "Sneaky little-devil."
Urbosa had the distinct feeling he had meant to say something else initially, catching himself and sparing Princess Zelda a glance as he changed his wording at the last second.
Three weeks passed before Revali finally removed the splint and reexamined the wing, sustaining a few pecks to the hand for his trouble. The hawk had grown less aggressive with both the Rito and Goron over the past weeks, most likely as a result of repeated contact and familiarity, but still generally managed to land a blow or two on the avian each time they interacted.
Daruk watched with baited breath as the bird stretched its wings, raising and lowering them experimentally. It snapped at Revali as the Rito carefully maneuvered it to perch on his wing near the wrist, then settled. Revali looked the hawk over once more, then raised his own wing in an odd motion that jostled the bird and made it spread its wings again. It flapped once as Revali lowered his wing, and again as the Rito repeated the action.
"What's the matter with it?" Daruk asked, worried all over again. He had spent more energy worrying over this tiny feathered creature than he had anything else in his life.
"Just warming up," Revali reassured the Goron. "He hasn't been able to fly for about three weeks now. Let him stretch a bit."
Up the bird went, his wings spreading instinctively to catch the wind as he came back down. Daruk-and the rest of their company-watched as little by little the hawk seemed to relax into the motion, until at last he flung his wings wide and seemed to leap from his perch, taking to the air.
They watched it climb into the air, wings flapping majestically as the hawk raised itself higher and higher until it was no more than a speck against the blue sky. Daruk felt a sense of loss well up in his throat, for all that he had known that one day the hawk would have to leave.
I'm gonna miss the little guy, he thought.
Revali turned, and must have caught some of what the Goron was feeling in his expression, because he came to stand beside Daruk as he continued staring up at the now empty sky.
Daruk was not prepared when the Rito slapped him on the back in the most inefficient attempt at Goron-style comfort ever witnessed in Hyrule, but the Rito was trying. The fact that he grimaced even as he left his hand resting on his fellow Champion's shoulder only made the offering mean that much more to the Goron.
"Thanks, brother," he whispered quietly. The others had already begun to wander off. This moment was for the two of them alone.
"He wouldn't have made it without you, you know," Revali pointed out.
"I know," Daruk agreed. Easy silence fell between them as they watched the skies, neither in any particular hurry to end the moment.
Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda Universe, Breath of the Wild in particular, does not belong to me.
