Daruk held the yowling creature in his arms, apparently impervious to the cat's attempts to claw and bite him in an attempt to escape the Goron's grasp.

Zelda gasped and looked away from the badly injured animal. Her face pale, the girl excused herself. Urbosa stared at the thing, not feeling much better. In this case it might have been a kindness to put the creature out of its misery.

"What happened?" She was not sure she actually wanted to know.

"It was half buried in a rockslide." Daruk replied, looking around. "Where's Revali?"

"Are you sure he'll help?" Impa asked. "I didn't think he cared for cats." The Rito had been almost hilariously wary of the large, lazy tabby cat that had dominated the main room of the last inn they had stayed in. Urbosa had considered teasing him about it, but the tightness around his eyes as he watched the animal had made her reconsider. In the end, no one had mentioned the behavior, and Revali had not gotten into any sort of altercation with the tabby or its owner.

"Are you certain he'll be able to help?" That was Mipha. She examined the miserable animal from a safe distance; the severity of its injuries did not make the healer uncomfortable. "It looks as if it lost a fight with a larger animal before it had the misfortune of being trapped under fallen rocks."

Revali appeared, his expression already annoyed. "The Princess said you found a cat this time?" He looked around for Daruk, then caught sight of the creature. "Levias have mercy, that thing is hideous."

"Can you do anything for it?" Mipha asked before the Goron could. The Zora princess hated to see anything suffer.

"Maybe," Revali eyed the creature critically. "Daruk, hold it still. Not like that." The Goron nearly panicked, and the Rito sighed. "This would be so much easier if it were unconscious." Ignoring their audience, he risked moving in closer. The cat got a paw loose and swiped at him, managing to pull loose a couple of feathers. Revali scowled.

"Something's wrong with its other paw," Daruk pointed out unnecessarily. The Rito had already noticed.

"I need a blanket." Revali announced. Retrieving one from his gear, he tossed it gently over the injured animal, wrapping the cat until nothing showed but the injured paw. The cat made a yowling sound, but could not get free as Revali inspected the injury.

He shook his head. "The bones have been crushed. The paw is mangled. There's nothing I can do to fix that." He told the Goron. When Daruk simply stared at him, Revali snapped. "The bones aren't going to heal. This bad of an injury, infection will set in. It'll travel up the leg and eventually kill the cat. You can't just slap a bandage on it and expect everything to be all right."

"There's nothing you can do?" Impa asked. Urbosa wondered if the girl was aware of the pleading tone that had leaked into her voice.

Revali looked from her to Daruk, then to Mipha. The Zora looked grim, but met his gaze evenly. "Fine," the Rito snapped. "Daruk, give the cat to Mipha and leave. The rest of you can go to."

Daruk hesitated, about to protest, but Mipha shook his head. "We can't save the paw," she said gently. "But we may be able to save the animal. You don't want to watch that, Daruk. I promise we'll do everything we can." The Zora looked thoughtful. "You might as Link if he can make some sort of elixir to help the cat sleep, or to help with the pain. I don't know if he can, but it's worth a try."

The Goron reluctantly did as he was told. Impa left with far less regret. Urbosa wavered for a moment. She knew what they were about to do, and certainly did not want to witness it.

"Do you need help?" she asked. Revali shook his head.

"Just...keep them away."

"Link will keep the others busy searching for ingredients, even if the attempt doesn't work out." Mipha assured him. She did not look happy about the situation, but the Gerudo could hardly blame her. She excused herself and found something else to do.


Link managed something to help the cat sleep after all. He also helped Daruk build a wooden box for the convalescing animal to sleep in, the end of its leg bandaged and now shorter than the other three.

"Couldn't save the eye either," Revali grumbled, pacing. He and Mipha had done what they could for the creature, but now that it was over, the Rito was worked up to the point that he had so far refused to let Mipha deal with either the scratch the cat had left on his cheek or the gash it had somehow managed to open in his wing. This, in turn, left the Zora almost as agitated as her fellow Champion.

"Let your face rot off, for all I care!" she snapped after her third attempt to reach out to him ended in the Rito jerking back and swatting her hand away. "And when your wing gets infected and you end up with a fever you can just suffer through it, and I'll keep reminding you that I tried to prevent all of it and you wouldn't let me."

Revali turned; for a long moment the two glared at each other. With an angry huff, the Rito sat down where he was and waited. Mipha joined him and reached out to touch his face. Both were still both clearly upset.

"Should I be concerned?" Urbosa asked, watching the two.

"No," they both replied in unison.

"Care to explain?"

Revali sighed. "Not a fun activity," he conceded. Urbosa could guess what he was referring to. "She'll be fine."

"You'll be fine." Mipha retorted. "If you let me look at your wing. I watched that poor thing sink its teeth into you."

"Can you blame it?" Revali wanted to know.

"No."


Daruk kept the cat in a special-made box for the next several weeks. Revali kept an eye on the injury to make sure it was healing properly and took care of changing bandages, but insisted that feeding her was the Goron's responsibility. In spite of this, he still helped Daruk figure out what and when to feed the recuperating feline.

"You know you can't keep it," Revali pointed out.

"I can't just release it back into the wild, either." Daruk fretted. "It's missing a paw. And an eye. It won't make it on its own."

The Rito shook his head. "You'd better figure something else out, then. The bandages should be able to come off for good in about a week.


They had stopped for the evening at one of the many stables across Hyrule. Each stable generally had an inn attached to it, and this one was no exception. The stable owner had eyed the wooden box Daruk carried curiously when they arrived, but had not gotten otherwise involved.

The Goron watched with baited breath as Revali removed the bandaging to reveal that the leg had healed. The paw was gone-there had been no way to save it-but the cat, far from being the wild and savage creature they had first been introduced to several weeks ago, rolled on its back to expose its stomach to Daruk. It did not seem to mind that one of its legs ended in a stump.

It also did not appear bothered by its missing eye as it rolled to its feet and decided to investigate its surroundings. They watched it roam around, taking in the room with interest, before settling down to give itself a bath.

The stable owner spared the animal a glance as he came over. "Ugly creature," he commented pleasantly enough. "Yours?"

"Daruk has a soft spot for injured animals," Revali grumbled. "We managed to save it, but we can't keep dragging a cat with us all over Hyrule."

"Seems capable enough," the Hylian observed as the cat jumped easily into a chair and curled up. "We've had a bit of a mouse problem lately, if you're looking for a home for it."

The Rito turned to his companion. "It's your call. You found the thing."

Daruk watched the cat, his eyes worried. "What if she can't catch mice?" he asked. "She's only got one good eye..."

The stable owner shrugged. "She'd be fed and cared for either way," he offered. "I've a soft spot for cats myself. And she seems comfortable here. She didn't try to leave as soon as you let her loose."

Daruk looked doubtful. Revali chuckled. "You know you can't keep it," he told the Goron. "And I doubt you're going to find a better option. This poor sap already has his heart set on taking in the monster."

"You're just saying that because she kept biting you." Daruk pointed out.

"You got that right," Revali agreed. "Let him keep the cat. She'll be happy here. I warned you about getting attached."

"I know," the Goron said heavily. Crossing the room, he went to say his goodbyes, petting the scarred animal one last time.

"If I ever find out you've been cruel to that animal..." Revali muttered under his breath, softly enough that his fellow Champion could not hear. He did not finish the threat.

He did not need to.

The stable owner was not the sort of person to ever be cruel to any animal, but the Rito's warning still sent a shiver down his spine.


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