After two weeks of wandering around in the wild and sleeping outdoors, even the hardiest of their group were happy to reach the village. Already dreaming of a hot bath, a meal they didn't have to cook themselves, and a bed, most of them did not immediately notice the odd looks they were getting from some of the villagers as they made their way through the streets and toward the inn.
Mipha gradually became aware of the stares and found herself unconsciously moving closer to Link. Daruk simply shrugged the revelation off and kept walking. Even the Goron was getting tired of sleeping under the stars. Revali raised an eyebrow and stared back at anyone unlucky enough to make eye contact until they ducked their heads and found somewhere else to be.
Still, it was not the first time they had attracted attention. Rarely were the various races of Hyrule seen together in one place these days. All though all the races were considered to be on friendly terms, for the most part people tended to keep to their own parts of the country. A Rito, Gerudo, Zora, or Goron alone would have been a novelty in this part of the land. To see all four of them at once was a bit of a surprise.
The inkeeper met them almost at the door, regarding the company with suspicion. Even Zelda, who after two weeks in the wilderness admittedly did not look like anyone's idea of royalty (it had been a particularly rough two weeks), received a wary eye from the man.
She put on her best 'princess smile' and stepped forward. "Good evening, Master Inkeeper," she greeted him warmly, opting to try to make friends rather than to demand fealty. This far from Hyrule Castle, sometimes it paid to be more approachable. "My companions and I have been on the road for nearly a fortnight, and are looking for lodgings for at least the night."
The man looked the group over once again.
"We're full," he told her. Zelda felt her expression waver. Judging by the dining room, which was not even half full, they clearly were not any such thing.
Impa darted forward in a classic subservient maneuver, attracting the man's attention while informing the entire room that the woman she was with was important enough that at least one of her companions was her servant, if not more.
"The Princess was hoping not to attract any undue attention," the Sheikah's voice carried quite clearly through the room, attracting the very attention she claimed they were trying to avoid, "but she was hoping for a bath, and a hot meal, and a bed for the night for her and her companions. You will, of course, be more than appropriately compensated for such services, and remembered with fondness by the royal family themselves." The innkeeper wavered, and Impa shrugged, her gaze drifting sadly down to settle on the silver rupee that had appeared in the palm of her hand.
"I can probably find lodgings for the Princess, and her servants." He looked from Impa to Link, who stood silently beside the Princess. "I can probably manage a bed for the Gerudo, but the-ahem-the...that is, we aren't really equipped for...you see..." Revali started to step forward, but Mipha caught his arm. The innkeeper stared at him apprehensively for a moment until Urbosa stepped between them.
"It's just that, well, some of the, er, wilder...races, can be, can be a bit, ah..."
"Wild?" Urbosa offered, leaning forward to tower over the Hylian. The man nodded nervously. "It's policy, I'm afraid. We don't serve non-Hylians."
"I'm not Hylian," she reminded him far too patiently while Mipha blushed and Daruk found a point on the wall to stare at.
"I meant, I meant," his voice lowered to nearly a whisper. "Non-human races." Behind her three of her companions stiffened; she heard Revali's beak snap shut with an audible click. "It's been policy since my great-grandfather owned this inn," he explained, though there was no hint of apology in his voice. Urbosa stared down at the man, her displeasure obvious in her very stance, but the Hylian did not relent.
Around the room people were bracing themselves for trouble, and if their expressions were any indication, they would side with the innkeeper over any strangers. Urbosa looked to Zelda, knowing full well the princess wanted to avoid trouble if at all necessary.
They did not want a fight, but this-
This was wrong.
Mipha stared at the ground, humiliated. Daruk continued to study the wall. Revali-
Revali was gone.
"These are our companions." Zelda stepped forward and addressed the man firmly. "They are Champions of Hyrule and deserve to be treated with respect." The Hylian met her gaze evenly, unmoved by the speech.
"You're welcome to take your business elsewhere," he told her. The girl flushed, her face red with anger.
"There's no other inn in the village and you know that." Revali was back, with a bag hanging off his shoulder. Every feather bristled, and his eyes glinted with rage, but for once the Rito seemed in control of his temper. He moved past his fellow Champions easily and came to a stop behind Urbosa and Impa, both of whom had moved to block him without even thinking about it.
The Gerudo considered him for a moment before stepping out of his way. He passed her and approached the Hylian, looking down his beak at the man and somehow managing to look even taller than he actually was.
Wordlessly he opened the satchel he had brought it in with him and pulled out a handful of beautiful, blue feathers. The innkeeper's eyes widened as he took them in, and he reached out toward them without seeming to realize it.
"You want to reconsider your position on non-Hylians?" the Rito wanted to know, selecting one particularly bright feather and offering it to the man.
He accepted it greedily, holding it up to the light and running a finger along it critically before seeming to remember Revali was still there.
"They are beautiful."
"They're real," the Rito told him. "A gift. A token, if you will, of good will. From my race to yours."
The Hylian regarded the rest of the feathers Revali held. "It is difficult, to go against a policy that has been in place for generations," he whined, licking his lips almost nervously. "They were wilder days, and perhaps things have changed, but memories of past troubles do not so quickly-"
He trailed off as Revali wordlessly emptied the satchel, causing a great number of feathers to drift lazily through the air to settle in a growing pile on the floor. His eyes grew to the size of dinner plates.
"To ease the pain of memories that clearly haunt you," Revali's words were sharp enough to draw blood. The Hylian neither cared nor noticed.
"In these modern times, of course, new friendships are always-" Urbosa cleared her throat, and the man fell silent.
"Four rooms, please," Revali told the man, his tone overly pleasant. "I absolutely loathe sleeping with Hylians."
The innkeeper shouted for a young girl to take them to their rooms while he started gathering up feathers. Urbosa had to give her credit; nothing in her manner suggested that she had witnessed the earlier discussion or that she had never had a Goron, Zora, or Rito as a guest in the inn before.
She showed them to their rooms, the four at the end of the hall. "I'm afraid these don't get as much use," she apologized briskly. "If you find anything lacking, please don't hesitate to let me know." The girl hesitated briefly, her gaze flicking from Daruk to Mipha to Revali, before she continued. "We aren't used to having...non-Hylian guests. I hope I'm not being rude, but are there any special accommodations your peoples require that I might not be aware of? Changes to your rooms, perhaps, or any dietary restrictions?"
Mipha finally looked up; the princess had refused to meet anyone's eye even after they had left the unpleasant innkeeper behind. She managed a weak smile that the young Hylian hesitantly returned.
"I'm sure it's fine," Revali said, and the girl tensed.
"Yes, sir," she eye him nervously, and the Rito rolled his eyes.
"We'll let you know if we need anything," he said, his voice suddenly weary.
The girl nodded. "I'll have hot water brought up, if all of you bathe?" She turned to look at Daruk, who offered her a reassuring smile.
"That won't be necessary, in my case," he told her kindly.
They quickly divvied up the rooms. Urbosa claimed Mipha as her roommate; the princess was still very upset, and she wanted to know what she could do to help. Daruk considered his options, looking from silent Hylian to irritable Rito and decided to room with Revali this time.
Urbosa was surprised, but perhaps it had something to do with the incident downstairs. One thing at a time, she told herself, but she knew that Mipha's mood was related as well. Still, she did not feel like calling a group council and trying to talk to all three of her fellow Champons at once when even the normally easygoing Daruk had not quite returned to his usual self.
"I don't suppose there's anything I can say to fix something like this..." Urbosa tried as she entered the room she was sharing with the Zora. Mipha sat on the bed farthest from the door, her hands folded neatly in her lap, her head bowed.
"There is little you can do to change that man's opinion of us," Mipha agreed sadly. "His greed has outweighed his hatred, but that is, in truth, little consolation."
"He's wrong," Urbosa told her. "Wrong about your people. And Revali's. And Daruk's."
"Of course he is." Revali entered without an invitation, Daruk close behind. The Goron closed the door carefully behind him and settled on the floor; he had admitted on more than one occasion that he found most non-Goron furniture alarmingly fragile.
Revali perched on the back of a chair in an imitation of some kind of vulture. It would have been amusing had it not been such an obvious giveaway. The Rito tended to sit and walk and move the same way his non-Rito companions did unless he was upset. Perching, like choosing hammock over bedroll or flying apart from the group rather than walking with them, tended to be a distancing behavior, intentional or no, that Revali reverted to when he was feeling particularly defensive.
Urbosa looked around. "The guy's a jerk," she told them. "And so is anyone down there who agreed with him. And ignorant. He obviously knows nothing about any of your people, and is clearly missing out."
"He knew enough to appreciate the value of a Rito feather." Mipha's voice was surprisingly bitter. "Or of a whole bag of them, rather."
Revali shifted his weight, and the chair threatened to tip. Grumbling under his breath, he readjusted himself so that he sat on the back of the chair with his feet on the seat, balancing easily. "It's not like it cost me anything," he pointed out.
Urbosa knew that the Rito often did trade in feathers; Rito-down pillows, blankets, and even coats were popular even among the Gerudo both for warmth and comfort, and the Rito themselves were known for making jewelry, headdresses, and other articles of clothing using the feathers for decoration as well. The amount of feathers Revali had dumped out downstairs would have cost a non-Rito a small fortune even in their raw form; the Gerudo was startled that he seemed to think nothing of giving them away.
He caught her expression and shrugged, some of the tension bleeding from his shoulders as he did so. "All I do is gather them when they fall," he explained, running a hand through the blue feathers on his opposing wing. He paused and his fingers closed around something; with a deft twist pulled a feather loose and held it out to her.
Urbosa was hit with a sudden flash of understanding.
The blue feathers in the bag had been his. So had the tiny feathers on the necklace he had given her. His bedroll, his cloak, even the fletching on his arrows all sported the same deep blue feathering, and while the Gerudo had noticed it, she had not given it much thought. Now she realized exactly where the feathers had come from, and exactly what Rito-down meant.
She should not have been as surprised as she was. Urbosa felt her jaw drop and her eyes widen as she stared at the Rito in the midst of her revelation.
Revali snorted, and the moment passed. "Finally figure that one out, did you?" he asked.
Urbosa had the grace to feel sheepish. "I'm an idiot?" she tried, and the Rito laughed outright.
"You aren't the first person to struggle with the concept," he admitted, and if Urbosa felt exceptionally slow-witted at the moment, at least it seemed to be helping the general mood, because Revali had all but forgotten to be angry, and now Mipha was trying to hide a grin behind her fin.
Perplexed, Daruk frowned at the two of them. Revali took pity on the Goron and explained. "Urbosa just figured out that the Rito save their feathers and use them for clothing, jewelry, bedding..."
Daruk's frown deepened, and he spared the Gerudo a concerned glance. "You didn't know that?" he asked.
Mipha giggled. "Most people don't really think about it that much. They know the stuff is Rito-made, but beyond that..."
Daruk still seemed slightly mystified. "But Rito-down...it's in the name?"
Revali shrugged. The three of them were relaxing now, but Urbosa wondered how long that would last if they had to go back downstairs. She also wondered if they were intentionally avoiding talking about whatever had upset them enough for two of them to invade her room without being invited first.
Revali was still balancing on that chair as if he carried a death wish.
He caught her studying him and glared back, his feathers ruffling. "I'm not going to fall," he snapped.
"I know." Urbosa felt one eyebrow raise of its own accord.
"Just because you have all the balance of a Tabantha moose-" Daruk cleared his throat, and the Rito fell silent, though he also abandoned his perch on the chair.
Urbosa watched him start to pace and realize the room was both too small and too crowded. Giving that up, he relocated to the window, hopping up to sit on the sill, his back against the window frame, one leg hanging over the ledge. The Gerudo watched him, not so worried that he would fall, but concerned at how suddenly he had grown agitated all over again.
She turned her attention to Daruk. The Goron was also watching Revali. Whatever had him so upset, Daruk understood.
Mipha apparently understood as well. Her face fell as she too watched the Rito, and for once she had nothing in the way of comfort to offer.
Urbosa studied the three of them. "If somebody wants to share, I'm more than willing to listen. If there's something I can do..." she trailed off.
For a long moment they remained quiet, and Urbosa was certain she would receive no answer. That was fine. If they simply needed the reassurance of each other's company, she could keep her mouth shut. That worked too.
Revali shifted. "I'd heard the term, but I've never actually been called it before," he admitted, looking at the floor.
"Non-human," Daruk offered before Urbosa could ask. Both Rito and Zora flinched. "The implication, of course, is that since we aren't human, we must be something else. Something other."
"Animal. Monster." Revali shrugged. "Take your pick. Some of the village elders used to talk about when they were younger. Things weren't as good between the Rito and Hylians back then. The Rito rarely left the Tabantha Frontier back then."
"The Zora have not always been on good terms with the rest of Hylia either," Mipha admitted sadly. "I am ashamed to say my former tutor severely dislikes Hylians to this day, though my father says that it is better for both parties to forgive and forget the misunderstandings of the past."
Daruk did not offer an opinion on Goron/Hylian relations, but Urbosa figured he could have outlined a similar story. Hylians did not always get along with the neighbors, even when those neighbors were technically a part of their own land.
She also suspected the other two had left a lot unsaid, though she was not about to force the issue. They owed her nothing in the way of explanation, and she appreciated that they had opened up as much as they had.
A knock on the door startled them; a voice on the other side announced the arrival of hot water.
Mipha looked greatly cheered at the prospect of a hot bath. Urbosa, too, had been looking forward to a nice long soak. She considered Daruk as he opened the door. She knew that the Gorons were famous for their hot springs, which meant they could and did bathe when at home. She wondered if his reticence were simply because he did not want to put anyone to the trouble of trying to find a tub that would fit him. She would find out, Urbosa decided, and then figure out if anything could be done about it.
Revali watched them bring the water in from his perch in the window, and Urbosa suddenly found herself wondering about him. Rain didn't bother the Rito, thanks to the waterproofing in his feathers, but a dunk in a lake had left him drenched, sputtering, and complaining about how long it would take to get dry. The Rito had not declined the offer of water for a bath, either.
The Rito caught her staring. Raising an eyebrow, he slipped his other leg over the ledge, turned his body, and slipped out the window as if their rooms were on the first floor rather than the third.
Urbosa shook her head. She would worry about that later. Right now she was long overdue for a nice, warm bath.
Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda Universe, Breath of the Wild in particular, does not belong to me.
