ATE: Hey, everyone! Along with A Fishy Situation, this story is also up on AO3. Similar to the aforementioned story, the OC in this story is human. Both stories will be somewhat similar to each other, but they won't tie in. The image used for this story is what I image the OC to look like. The title of the story (The Feathery Salt Is Real) was my friend's idea since I had trouble coming up with it at the time.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Legend of Zelda or Nintendo. I only own my OC

Summary: A girl wakes up to find herself on a snowy mountain wearing nothing but a hospital gown. Not knowing what to do she tries to find a way to any form of civilization (or somewhere warmer) before she ends up freezing to death (though she believes the latter is more likely). However, encountering a certain Rito Champion proves to complicate matters even more and things seem to go downhill from there.

The Feathery Salt Is Real

~*~Chapter 1~*~

Cold…

It was so cold…

She shivered, curling up in a ball in an attempt to seek some form of warmth.

She found none.

Hazel eyes cracked open, but what she found was the last thing she expected.

A vastness of white covered the ground as far as the eye could see, along with a flurry of snowflakes falling from a darken sky. Noticing how the ground would incline into a slope, she could only guess that she was on some sort of hill or mountain.

God, it was cold!

Picking herself up off the snowy ground, it was at that point she realized she was in nothing but a thin hospital gown, which did her no favors in the cold climate. She didn't even have any shoes to protect her feet! Her exposed skin was red due to laying in the snow (it was so cold that it seemed to burn), and she was surprised that she didn't have frostbite.

Not knowing where to go she picked a random direction and hoped for the best (anything was better than staying where she was). If she were lucky she'd be able to find somewhere warm. As she trudged through the snow she couldn't help but wonder why she was in a hospital gown in the first place (she hoped the back was tied up tight enough), but that was likely the least of her worries.

More importantly, how did she end up in such a place?

The last thing she remembered was being with her friends, and then—

She frowned.

…And then what?

Her mind seemed to be drawing a blank as to what happened next. Did something happened that caused her to wear a hospital gown? It was the only explanation she could think of that made any sort of sense.

Regardless of what happened, her main concern was finding someplace warm before she freezes to death.

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There were a few things she knew for certain.

1, she hated being lost.

2, she wasn't a big fan of snow.

3, she really, really, really hated the cold.

She had no clue as to how long she'd been wandering through the snow, but it certainly felt like she'd been doing so for hours (if the sky lighting up a bit was any indication). And she was baffled by the fact that she hadn't frozen yet.

How the hell was that even possible?!

The hospital gown was damp and frozen due to the snow, though it didn't stay in place for long due to her lethargic movement causing the frozen thing cloth to swift.

She must've been on a mountain due to the difficulty she had breathing and every breath she took seemed to sting her lungs. Her feet felt slightly numb as they shifted around the snow.

It was safe to say that she thoroughly miserable.

Her body felt like it was on auto-pilot as she no longer paid attention to where she was going, and she'd been asking herself the same question for what seemed to be the 100th time:

Why did she bothered wandering off?

At this rate, she'd get hypothermia and die from that. Or she'd find a way out.

Whichever came first.

Though she was betting on the hypothermia.

Knowing her luck, that was likely to be the case.

She yelped when she suddenly slipped on something and in her panicked state she grabbed hold of a rock to stop her fall. Seconds later she realized that not only had she slipped, she almost took a nice fall down a cliff. In the distance, she could see that there was hardly any snow as it receded the farther away it got from the mountain. Not only did this meant a warmer climate, it also meant that she could get out of the snow!

Now to figure out how to get down without dying…

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It must've been late into the day by the time she managed to get down from the mountain since the sun seemed to be at its peak. Thankfully nothing too bad happened to her…if you count some scrapped skin and a twisted ankle as 'nothing too bad.'

'Well,' She thought. 'It could be worse.'

At least she hadn't gotten herself killed.

Yet.

Despite the sprained ankle, she forced herself to keep moving, preferably AWAY from the mountain she'd been stuck on not that long ago.

Good news was that the area she was in wasn't as cold.

Bad news was that it wasn't by much.

If anything, it was a slight improvement. But again, not by much.

She continued to limp her way through the rocky terrain, wincing whenever her ankle occasionally throbbed in pain. Eventually she got to a point where she could no longer force herself to walk any further as her body practically begged for rest, and she soon found herself huddled on the ground with her knees drawn close to her chest (all the while being careful of her right ankle). And her stomach chose the worst time to protest.

She let out a pitiful whimper as she buried her head into her knees.

She was cold, tired, and hungry.

And she only knew how to take care of one of those three problems.

It was official. This was the worst day of her life. Sure, she could be exaggerating but the lines seemed to blur between that and reality.

Maybe freezing to death on that mountain had been the better option.

It might've been better than hunger pains.

Who was she kidding? None of the above was remotely appealing.

"Now this is a rare sight, indeed!"

She weakly lifted her head upon hearing the voice in time to see a bird-like creature land before her. Normally something like this would startle someone, but for her it only came as a mild surprise to see this bird person…humanoid bird…? Whatever he was, she could care less when it came to this bizarre being by this point.

"I come all the way out here in search of a shrine, only I end up finding something most peculiar." He started. "I never expected to find a human, given the vast scarcity of your kind."

What was this bird-man going on about? Were humans really that hard to find?

"And that garb you're wearing. I've never seen anything so flimsy in my entire life. It's no wonder your race died off so easily."

Her eye twitched as this.

Why that condescending birdbrain! He actually thought humans wore hospital gowns on a daily basis!

"Believe me, this wasn't my first choice." She grumbled.

"Ah, so you do speak! And here I thought you were unable to comprehend my words. Either that or you were mute." She was really starting to dislike this guy. "Now tell me, what is someone such as yourself doing this far out?"

She wondered if she should tell him or not. Then again what did she have to lose?

"Honestly? I have no clue." She answered. "I just woke up on that snowy mountain."

"And yet you somehow survived the harsh climate of the Gerudo Highlands. I'm surprised you hadn't encountered any monsters so far, especially when you're so…ill equipped. It's nothing short of a miracle. Or maybe it's just dumb luck on your part."

Did…did he just give her a compliment, only to then throw an insult her way?

What was wrong with this guy?!

"Are you always like this?" She asked.

"Like what?" He questioned, a smirk somehow managing to form on his beak. How that was possible, she didn't know.

"Conceited?"

He stared at her for a few moments before chuckling.

"'Conceited'! I'll have you know that it isn't without reason. After all, I am the most skilled archer of all the Rito. My skill is unparalleled."

Greaaat! Not only was he conceited, but he just so happened to have an overly massive ego to boot!

What. A. Jerk!

"Look!" She let out an exasperated sigh. "I have no clue where I am, or how I even got here. Could you at least help me out?"

The bird-man mad a show of looking as if he were giving the idea some thought (though she had a feeling he was doing it on purpose). She heard him hum thoughtfully before he answered.

"I suppose I could, but what would be in it for me?" He leaned his head towards her, lowering it slightly. "What could I possibly gain that would be of any benefit?"

Why wasn't she surprised? If anything, she was annoyed. She had nothing but the clothes (hah, 'clothes'!) on her back. What could she even offer? She mentally groaned when an idea popped into her head, one that she really didn't want to do.

She had no other choice…

"I will…" She really had to put her pride aside for this. "…I will do anything you ask, within reason."

This seemed to catch the bird-man's attention, and she could practically see the wheels turning in his head.

"Anything?" He questioned.

"Within reason." She reminded.

"Very well." He stood up straight. "From now on you will do anything I request of you."

Her eyes widened at this. It was as she feared…

"So I'm basically your slave or servant?"

"'Slave' and 'servant' are such vile words." He crossed his arms—er, wings—behind his back. "I much prefer the term 'attendant,' if you will."

What had she gotten herself into?

"And what would be your name, human?"

"Evangeline." She answered automatically, only to mentally wince.

She should've given him a fake name…

"Splendid! You will refer to me as 'Master Revali' or 'Sir'. Now then, Erin—"

"Evangeline!"

"—we must be off." He continued as if he never heard her before starting to walk off. "Do try and keep up, would you?"

Evangeline struggled to her feet (her body protesting the very action), her sprained ankle making the task more difficult than it needed to be as she did her best to keep up with Revali. However, she was lagging behind so much and she highly doubted he notice her struggling.

Ugh, she could feel the stomach pain already. It didn't help that her bare feet were sore with cuts and scrapes littering the skin.

Maybe death would've been a better alternative than her current predicament as far as this birdbrain was involved—

She let out a cry of pain when she landed on the rocky ground and it was at that moment she realized she'd slipped.

That was it! She couldn't deal with this anymore! She was cold, tired, hungry, and in so much pain! Her body had been through enough abuse as it was (and as Revali had stated earlier, was 'nothing short of a miracle') and she was beginning to wish she'd be put out of her misery.

Screw her pride, she wanted to give up!

Evangeline was taken by surprise when she was suddenly pulled to her feet by a feathered grip (she wondered how that even worked, seeing as he didn't have any hands), only to then be forced to sit on a rock. Glancing at Revali's face showed that he didn't look too pleased about her current condition and she watched as he looked her over briefly. In turn, she took in his appearance.

Naturally, Revali was bird-like in appearance (if she recalled correctly, he was called a Rito), with long wings that also served as arms (she noticed how the four large feathers at the end seemed to serve as fingers, especially when he had grabbed her a few seconds ago). The majority of his feathers were almost a bluish-black color with some white scattered in a few spots. His appearance was similar to a pheasant, but the features she found out of place were the four braids coming out of the back of his head, the strangely shaped yellow eyebrows (that seemed to give off a sense of intimidation when coupled with his piercing green eyes), and the red markings on his cheeks that made it look like he was blushing.

She found it interesting to see that he wore armor, let alone some clothes (but at this rate, not much seemed to come as a surprise), some parts of the armor having a wing motif. What caught her attention was the long blue scarf he wore around his neck that had a white pattern she couldn't really make out at that time. She noticed the quiver of arrows resting against his right hip as well as the elaborate looking bow strung across his back, a small blue cloth or ribbon the same color as his scarf dangling at the bottom end.

"You look abysmal." He suddenly said, his tone dull as he frowned.

"Yeah, because that's what every girl wants to hear." She retorted.

"Putting your quip aside, when were you planning on telling me about your ankle?"

Evangeline averted her eyes at this, not having an answer. If anything, she believed that he wouldn't care if she'd bothered to tell him at all (he seemed to give off that impression, anyway; at this point, her opinion of him wasn't exactly positive). She heard Revali sigh before he spoke.

"This will not do…" He said, though it sounded as if he were talking to himself. She could hear the sound of his talons against the rocky ground as he paced back and forth. "If we were to continue at we are, we wouldn't reach Rito Village until well into the night. Unless…"

He trailed off and soon his pacing came to a halt. Evangeline lifted her gaze in time to see him turn to her.

"Seeing as you are in no condition to walk, we will have to resort to an alternative method."

"And what would that be?" She asked.

"I'm surprise you ask, Erin!" Evangeline, she mentally yelled. "As you can see, I have wings, and with wings comes the ability to fly. You should feel honored that I am providing such assistance."

'I should feel honored to shove my foot up your a—'

"Well, climb on! I haven't got all day."

It was at that moment Evangeline realized Revali had knelt in front of her with his back facing her and she connected the dots as to what he wanted her to do. She carefully managed to maneuver herself off the rock (even going as far as to hop on her left foot) in order to get close to the Rito before climbing on his back. She made sure to wrap her arms around his neck, and she couldn't help but notice how soft his feathers were as her arms brushed against them. Hanging on Revali's back wasn't exactly comfortable due to the bow on his back, but she'd have to make do.

Without warning Revali shot into the air with the help of an updraft that came out of nowhere and out of reflex she wrapped her legs around his waist.

"Holy shit! Give me a warning next time!" She cried.

"Sadly, there won't be a next time. You should feel grateful that I'm even doing this at all." He said, his wings flapping as he flew. "Also, you might want to be mindful of your words. Such language is unbecoming of a lady."

"Oh, fuck you!"

"I would, but I have standards. Although, if you're offering, I'd suggest after your ankle is healed."

Her face went entirely red at this (she could practically hear him smirking) and buried her face as a result. She had NOT expected him to take that phrase seriously, but then he had to say something like that!

'There's no winning with this guy.' She thought.

Though the wind was blowing around her dark hair, she surprisingly found the sensation soothing. At least she would've if it weren't so damn cold! But despite this, Evangeline was still exhausted from the day's events.

Maybe taking a nap wouldn't be such a bad idea.

ATE: Explanation time!

(1) To give you an idea as to the location of where Revali found Evangeline, it's close to where the Kah Okeo Shrine is (the one that's hidden underneath the large rock slab that blocks the way).

(2) Now, I know what you're thinking: "What is this business with humans being extinct? There aren't any humans in Zelda."

Believe it or not, there are actually humans. One good example is from Twilight Princess (as well as Wind Waker), with the people living in Ordon Village having round ears (Link's the only one with pointed ears).

Seeing as there aren't any characters or NPCs in Breath of the Wild that have round ears (not even the Gerudos), I was left under the impression that pointed ears of the Hylians would be a dominant trait while round ears would be a recessive (which would explain Gerudos having pointed ears over the years leading up to Breath of the Wild).

So for the sake of my story, I'm having it that the human race either went extinct and/or got lost after years of breeding with either Hylians or Gerudos. I think it's safer to go with the first option.

I hope you've enjoyed the story, and please let me know what you think!