Revali landed beside Urbosa without warning, his feathers brushing her skin, he was so close. "Let's go," he snapped.

"Now?" Urbosa felt her eyebrows raise.

"Now."

The Gerudo considered the Rito still standing far too close beside her. He was practically vibrating beside her, though whether from fear or some other emotion she could not immediately tell.

She met his eyes and shivered.

"I'm leaving," he said. "The rest of you can do what you want. I don't care."

"Okay," Urbosa said. Turning to the other Rito, she smiled and waved. "It was nice meeting all of you."

The three adult Rito bowed, but did not reply. All three of them were eyeing Revali with alarm.

Zelda looked from the three Rito to Urbosa. "But-" Seeing something in her long-time friend's green eyes, the girl nodded. "Very well," she too turned and said her goodbyes.

Again Quill and the others bowed, their movements tense and nervous.

Something had happened. Revali was livid. Barely in control of himself, he stood, still shaking with rage, barely waiting for his companions. Urbosa suspected that he was past the point of being able to talk through whatever had happened, and not too far from considering cold-blooded murder.

The other Rito were aware of all this as well, and possibly more. Being of the same race, it was likely they knew even better than she did just how upset their people's Champion currently were.

Ilari landed beside Revali and put a hand on his shoulder. "Take it easy, Sharpwing." He alone seemed oblivious as the other Rito turned to stone at his touch. "You never could take a joke."

Revali said nothing, turning his head away from Ilari.

Skett, Akoot, and Pashi caught up. Akoot looked angry, but the other two Rito were simply annoyed. Revali refused to look at any of them.

For a long moment no one moved. Then Revali spoke, his tone flat.

"Take your hand off me or I'll break it."

Ilari rolled his eyes, but he also removed his hand. "You are far too easy to tease," he said, his expression almost bored. Akoot rolled his shoulders while Pashi sighed. "There's really no challenge in it. You're just as touchy as you were when we were fledglings, Featherweight."

"Don't call me that!" Revali turned and lunged, striking the other Rito square in the chest. Ilari went down, gasping for breath, clutching at his chest.

Mipha darted forward, but Revali waved her off. "He's fine. Nothing's broken. He'll catch his breath in a minute. I'm out of here."

He turned away from the other Rito, who did not appear inclined to stop him. Akoot shook his head and knelt beside his fallen companion.

"Maybe we should go," Zelda said, unhappily.

"It might be best," Quill agreed reluctantly.

They caught up with Revali relatively quickly, oddly enough; he was walking instead of flying. He did not utter a word as they joined him, instead stalking silently back in the direction they had originally been headed before all this had happened. Urbosa found herself walking beside him, wondering whether it would be wiser to try talking to him or to wait until he had calmed down.

If he calmed down. The Rito only seemed to be growing angrier with every passing second. Whatever had happened between him and his alleged childhood friends-it occurred to her to wonder if they had actually been any such thing-had done more than simply set Revali off.

Abruptly he spread his wings, taking flight. Helpless to do anything, Urbosa watched him go.


The Gerudo woke in the night to the sense of something lurking nearby. Turning, she saw the Rito sitting not too far from her bedroll, his knees pulled up to his chest, hugging himself.

"Revali?" she asked, wondering how on earth he had managed to make it here without tripping over and waking the entire camp in the process. His shoulders hunched, but he did not answer.

Sitting up, Urbosa considered the possibilities. "Are you hurt?" A shake of the head. "Do you want to talk?" Another no. "What is it?"

"I don't know."

Yawning, the Gerudo climbed out of bed and came to sit beside him. "What don't you know?" she asked, trying for patience. The Rito was a completely different person now than he had been earlier. All the rage and fury from before had drained from him, leaving Revali looking tired and more than a little lost.

"Anything." Another completely unhelpful response. Urbosa looked around as Mipha stirred, but the Zora remained asleep.

"Do you trust me?" she asked, turning her attention back to the Rito.

His lack of response was answer enough, and it stung. Urbosa pushed the hurt away and stood. She set a hand on his shoulder, frowning in the darkness when he immediately flinched.

"You can trust me not to lead you into a brick wall. Or a tree," she told him. "Come on,"

Reluctantly he stood, and let her lead him away from the camp, one arm thrown casually over his shoulders. When they were far enough from camp that they did not have to worry about being overheard, she settled them both in the grass.

Revali remained silent.

Urbosa remained quiet as well, mentally replaying the events of the day, trying to figure out where she could start that wouldn't immediately cause some sort of blow-up from the Rito in front of her. She needed him talking, not angry all over again.

"So..." she finally ventured. "Nicknames are common?" She waited, wondering if he would answer.

Revali sighed. "Common enough among fledglings. Your parents might call you by your actual name, but nobody else does. Mostly people throw different nicknames around until something sticks. Inkfeather was because I'm the only Rito with feathers this dark, so they'd joke that somebody dipped me in ink. They called me Sharpwing sometimes because I couldn't always control my mouth when I was angry."

"Featherweight?" she ventured gently, when he fell silent.

"Because I was smaller than the others." Revali admitted, hunching forward. "A lot smaller. I still am, but most people are too busy being impressed with my archery or my flying to mention it anymore."

"Your old friends didn't seem to fall under that category," Urbosa noted. He was talking. That was good. As long as he was talking, there was a chance of figuring this out.

Revali snorted. "They aren't my friends," he said.

"No?"

"No."

"You knew each other, though."

"Our parents wanted us to play together, since we were the same age. We didn't get along."

"You are awfully fun to tease," Urbosa risked inserting a bit of humor into the conversation. It turned out to be a mistake.

"It was more than teasing, and it was only funny to them." Revali's voice was tight with repressed emotion. It worried the Gerudo; Revali was not one to hide his feelings.

"Oh?"

"I don't want to talk about it. It was a long time ago, and children can be cruel without meaning to be."

"And adults? Can they also be unkind without fully understanding the damage they're doing?" Urbosa asked. When he did not respond, she continued, hoping she was not pushing too far. "What about today?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"About what they did to make you angry, or about today in general?"

Revali did not respond.

Urbosa sighed. "I don't know how to help you, Revali. I don't know what you want me to say."

The Rito sighed. "I don't know either," he admitted.

They sat side by side in the darkness, neither speaking, as the moon traveled across the sky, at long last sinking below the horizon. As the night began to give way to the predawn light, Urbosa turned to study her fellow Champion as he stared out unseeingly across the distance.

"Would you really have broken his hand?" she asked, her voice loud in the stillness.

"Yes."

"What did you do, when you hit him?" she asked.

Revali shifted his weight. "I didn't break anything. If you hit in just the right spot with just the right amount of pressure, it causes the muscles in the chest to temporarily spasm, making it difficult to breath for roughly five minutes. If you do it right there's no lasting damage; they'll be sore for a day or two, but that's about it."

"What happens if you don't do it right?"

"You break something." Revali grinned, his expression almost feral. "Crushed ribs, collapsed lungs, you could kill someone if you aren't careful."

"No chance you could have messed it up, I take it?" Urbosa asked, her voice like sandpaper.

Revali shook his head. "I wanted to kill him," he admitted. "I've known him all my life. We're the same people. The same race. And I wanted to do far more than break his hand or hit him in the chest."

"But you didn't." Urbosa pointed out, only slightly reassured by the thought. "You left instead." A new thought occurred to her. "Is that why you storm off, when you get angry?"

The Rito rolled his shoulders. "I don't want to hurt anyone," he said, his voice dull. "I know I have a temper. Sometimes I get so angry I can't think straight, but I know I don't actually want to hurt anyone."

"Not physically, at any rate." Urbosa pointed out. "Your words are more than capable of cutting just as deeply as any sword.

Revali shrugged. He didn't have an answer for that.


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