"Revali?"
"Go away."
For a moment, silence.
"Revali."
"Demise take you, Daruk, what do you want?" Revali shot up in his hammock, blinking in the near darkness as he tried to push back the anger that lately seemed to swamp him with so little provocation.
Not that being awakened so soon after falling into an utterly exhausted sleep was not reason to be at least annoyed, and never mind that Daruk would not have awakened him without good reason. Revali could barely see the Goron in the coming darkness, but he could at least make out enough of his fellow Champion's boulder like frame to recognize that particular stance. Only one thing the Rito knew of could make Daruk look so...
Bashful.
"What is it this time?" The Goron shifted, and must have decided that there was hope in spite of the obvious irritation behind the question, because he turned and motioned for Revali to follow.
The Rito swore under his breath and climbed awkwardly out of his hammock. With Revali following the Goron, it did not take long for the two to reach an old tree, dead by the look of it, with what looked like a crack in the trunk near the ground. Revali squinted, first at the tree, then at the crack in its trunk.
"I can't reach." Daruk admitted. "My arms are too big."
Revali sighed and crouched down, trying to make out in the dim light what creature the Goron had found this time.
He heard one tiny mew, followed by another, and realized exactly what the Goron had found.
"Their mother is probably somewhere close by," Revali snapped, turning to glare at Daruk. "They're hidden, they're safe. She'll be back."
Daruk shook his head. "They've been crying since we made camp," he said stubbornly. Revali swore again, this time loudly enough for his companion to hear him clearly.
Carefully reaching inside the trunk, Revali fished around inside until his hand found a tiny bundle of fur. Pulling it out, he examined the tiny mewling creature as best as he could in the fading light.
The Rito Champion frowned. The kitten's eyes were opened, and it stared up at him and mewed with a voice far too small for its current size. Feeling around gently, his fingers found its ribs sticking out prominently on either side.
Revali sat down, studying the tree itself as well as the surrounding area, looking for some sign of the mother and anything to suggest that she had been with her kittens recently. Nothing in the area suggested that she had been present within the last few days.
The Rito sighed. "We need something to put them in," he told Daruk, resigned to his fate. The Goron was gone almost before he had finished speaking.
Revali absently scratched the kitten's ears while he waited for the Goron to return. The sudden sound of purring startled him, and he stopped. The kitten butted its forehead against his hand.
He started scratching again, and the kitten resumed purring. Revali continued as he went through a mental list of everything they would likely need to care for a litter of kittens. He had not gotten a good look, but he thought there had been a second kitten nestled in the trunk of the tree.
Daruk returned with a basket. He had gotten a ragged old blanket from somewhere and stuffed it inside. Revali gently set the kitten down and returned his attention to the tree, reaching in and finding another kitten. This one went into the basket as well, and Revali reached his hand back inside the tree trunk. He had felt another kitten brush his arm as he grabbed what he had thought was the last one.
He pulled out a third kitten.
Then he pulled out another.
This fifth kitten joined its litter mates in the basket, and thankfully the tree was empty of kittens. Revali looked down at the basket full of fluffy creatures and resisted the urge to sigh.
"They need food," he said. "The miserable creatures are little more than skin and bone."
Revali tilted his head as he calculated their age. "They might be able to manage solid food, so long as it's soft," he finally decided. "Some goat's milk wouldn't hurt, if we had it."
They didn't. They would have to make do with what they had.
"Grab the box," Revali told the Goron. "Gently. You're going to have to carry them back to camp. I can't see a goddess-blessed thing."
It had gotten dark while Revali was pulling kittens out of the tree trunk.
Daruk accepted the basket and led the way back, pausing when Revali tripped on a fallen tree branch. He frowned, though the Rito did not see him do so.
The Goron reached for Revali, guiding a feathered hand to rest on his own arm in an attempt to lead him back to camp. He was nowhere near as good at it as Urbosa, but the Rito Champion supposed he should appreciate the attempt all the same.
They made it back only to find Link awake and seated by a dying fire. Revali blinked as if at a sudden change of light, grumbling under his breath as he tried to find his footing.
Link offered the Rito a bowl of some sort of thick, creamy substance that was not quite stew and not quite soup. Judging by the smell, it would do nicely for the creatures they had just rescued.
"Thank you," Daruk beamed at the Hylian. Link met his gaze evenly, then nodded before heading back to his own bedroll.
Revali shook his head, trying to banish his annoyance in the process. He turned his attention to trying to get the kittens fed. They were greedy and impatient and clumsy and wary all at once, and food was spilled and more than a few feathers swiped before they were done, but at last the five kittens snuggled down contently in their basket and went to sleep.
Revali set the basket near his hammock so he could keep an eye on them for the night, though he made sure to inform Daruk that starting tomorrow they were his responsibility. He sank back into his hammock expecting not to be able to sleep.
"So who is this Demise? I've heard you mention him twice now, but he never made it into your list of Hyrulian deities."
The Gerudo's voice carried through the darkness, clear but soft. Urbosa must have woken up at some point while they were trying to feed the kittens. Revali sighed.
"Demise was a demon king who tried to steal the Triforce and was sealed away by the goddess Hylia," he said, keeping his own voice low. The sooner she was satisfied, the sooner she would stop talking. "Supposedly he broke free and was defeated, but not before vowing that he would would be reborn again and again in a never ending cycle, cursing the descendants of the goddess Hylia throughout time. There are some who think that's where Calamity Ganon came from."
"And naturally invoking this demon king is the best way to deal with Daruk waking you up in the middle of the night?" Urbosa's voice was bone-dry. "Or with falling flat on your face?"
Revali shrugged, though he knew she could not see him. "I could've slept the night through. Do you know when the last time I got a good night's sleep was?"
She knew. Urbosa watched him, all of them, really, like a mother hen. He knew she was worried about him, and he wished he could figure out something to tell her. At the very least, he wished he could pretend nothing was wrong so she didn't have to worry so much. He would have told her not to bother, but he doubted she would listen.
Revali closed his eyes again, wishing for sleep to come.
He must have dozed off at some point, because Revali awoke abruptly. Straining in the darkness, he could just make out the sound of five tiny voices mewing beneath him. Moving just enough to drop a hand into the basket to gauge the situation, he felt several shivering bodies press against his hand.
Without giving it a second thought he raised the basket and gently poured its contents into the hammock with him. Five kittens nestled immediately into his feathers and started purring. Revali yawned and closed his eyes once more.
Urbosa looked down at Revali, hands on her hips, a smile on her face. The Rito was still fast asleep, five scrawny kittens curled up against him in various positions: one nestled in the crook of each elbow, on between his knees, one curled up against his cheek, and one on his chest, neatly tucked beneath his beak. All five were also asleep, and all five were purring loudly enough the Gerudo was surprised they had not awakened the Rito.
She turned to glare at Daruk before he could bother any of them, shooing him away. The Goron looked impatiently at what was now an empty basket, then at the hammock, then back at Urbosa.
She realized he was not aware of the kittens' change in sleeping arrangements yet. Putting a finger to her lips to motion for him to be quiet, she beckoned with her hand. Cautiously he obeyed, frowning until he caught sight of Revali sprawled comfortably under a blanket of kittens. Grinning, he turned to meet Urbosa's gaze.
Let them sleep. She mouthed the words silently, and Daruk nodded. The two backed away as soundlessly as they could, each quite certain that they could put off packing up camp until Revali woke up on his own. The Rito badly needed rest.
Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda Universe, Breath of the Wild in particular, does not belong to me.
