Large, white specks sped past him faster than he could track. Passing along beneath him was a thick white quilt with strange prints in it. When had he traded his talons for misshapen ovals? Who even had feet like that? Right. Almost all the races of Hyrule had feet that looked similar to that.
But that still didn't answer the question of why his feet were suddenly shaped like that. And why were his feet pointing one way but his head was facing the opposite?
What had he been doing again? Why did he feel as though he were being jostled?
Why was his head so fuzzy? It was rather aggravating, the feeling of being so close to the answers he sought, yet each one slipped through his feathered-fingertips. He let out an irritated grunt that sounded more like a despairing groan. For the love of… something, why did even his voice refuse to cooperate?
Feeling his eyes grow heavy, the perplexed and exhausted Rito closed his eyes. Certainly allowing them to rest for a few moments would be enough to clear his head.
When he opened his eyes a few seconds later, the scenery had changed. Above him, a wooden ceiling blocked his view of the open air. A warm, orange glow danced across the grainy, wooden planks, highlighting many knots residing above him. He stared up blearily, trying to make sense of the various sensations he felt across his body. Something heavy lay atop him, trapping him in a pocket of intolerable heat. With a dissatisfied groan, he freed a wing and gripped the offending object, and tossed it aside.
Though he couldn't feel the cool air rushing in, he could at least feel the heat draining away slowly. Leaning back into whatever surface he had chosen as a bed, Revali screwed his eyes shut as he tried to make sense of something. Where was he? How had he gotten there? Why was he so exhausted? Why had he chosen such an uncomfortable position to sleep in?
With an irritable clack of his beak, he tried to turn over. A loud yelp tore its way out of his beak as a wing, a leg, and even his ribs cried out in agony. The pain was a knife that cut through his exhaustion and clouded mind, finally bringing some clarity.
Revali sat up quickly, ignoring his wounded body's protest as he looked around desperately for the silver Lynel he'd chosen to engage in battle. As far as anyone knew, the creature had settled on the edge of the Hebra region. While Lynels were known to be among the most dangerous of monsters, the village hadn't worried overly much about it. Until it had started descending from its domain into Rito territory. While no serious injuries had occurred, it was only a matter of time before the monster started killing innocents.
Knowing that it fell to him to take out the beast, Revali had set out to engage the beast as soon as he could. While he knew Princess Zelda and her personal knight (he refused to acknowledge the boy as a fellow Champion) were supposed to be arriving any day to check on his progress with Medoh, he had been unwilling to risk the lives of any Rito. The thought that the boy might try to take it upon himself to "help" only added fuel to the fire.
While hunting the Lynel, Revali had felt small inklings of doubt creeping in. He was competent and the ablest of the Rito's warriors for sure; however, he still heard a small voice in the back of his head asking if even he could take on such a terror alone. Despite his best efforts, the nagging little voice had grown louder until his mind had become a warzone between his confidence and the voice of doubt.
And then he'd found the Lynel.
When the battle had started, the nagging voice had finally disappeared, allowing the Rito Champion to focus on the battle. That was where his memory grew foggy.
He remembered a roar to rival Daruk's, volleys and volleys of arrows, and quite a lot of pain. Everything else was simply gone.
As the rush of adrenaline subsided, Revali finally realized that it would not have made any sense for the Lynel to have dragged him to some sort of cabin.
Taking a more careful look around, the Rito Champion noticed that the shelter was sparsely furnished, with a rickety bed and a desk with a chair, both of which appeared to be about one day away from rotting. On the wall opposite of him, a fire crackled softly, generously spreading its warmth and light, not that there was much considering how close it was to dying. In a corner, several barrels were stacked haphazardly, as though their owner was entirely sure what was stored where and constantly needed to remind themselves.
Seeing that he was alone for the time being, the Rito Champion considered laying back down. He did feel as though he may have been trampled beneath a hefty set of hooves; however, he quickly shoved the thought aside. He wasn't sure who had found him, how they had escaped the Lynel with him in tow, and what their intentions toward him were. Far better to be awake in case he needed to defend himself. At least he could take solace in the fact that his Great Eagle bow had been propped up next to the bed.
Resigning himself to boredom for the moment, Revali hauled himself up, grunting as his body once again protested the movement. Standing unsteadily, he looked down, noticing a variety of bandages covering his feathered body. Many of them had been stained red. His injured leg was barely supporting his weight, and he was certain that his wing would be useless, even for grasping light objects.
Gritting his teeth, he looked around for any way to at least clean himself up but there wasn't even a hint of a washbasin. He cursed quietly as he questioned what sort of asinine housekeeper wouldn't even keep a simple basin for cleaning oneself nearby.
He had been miserable when he had finally grown lucid but now he was in a downright foul mood. Sitting around with nothing to do was one thing but forced to do so while filthy? That was something else entirely.
Revali turned around sharply, gasping as a sharp pain reverberated through every part of his body. Fortunately, all of it was forgotten as he recognized the Hylian that entered the small cabin. "You!?" Revali hissed.
Link said nothing, showed nothing, did nothing. He just stood there, staring at Revali from the hood of a thick cloak with a bundle of wood on his shoulder and a few rabbits in his other hand. Setting the bundle down, Link pointed toward the bed that he had been laying on minutes before.
"I think I'll pass."
The Hylian stared at him, less expressive than one of the planks of wood that had built the shelter. After a long, tense silence, Link dragged the bundle of wood to the fire and tended to the flames. After throwing in a few branches and stoking it for good measure, he stood up, pulling back his hood, and once again pointed toward the bed.
"I said -"
The Rito Champion was cut off as Link advanced, taking a hold of his good wing and strong-arming him toward the mattress.
Despite how battered his body was, Revali was still able to put up a fight. That was until his leg gave out and nearly sent him sprawling across the floor. Link must have suspected that it was going to happen, as he lunged forward, catching the Rito Champion with his other arm and lowering with him. Though he refused to admit it, Revali was grateful that he hadn't tried to stop his fall immediately, otherwise, he probably would have been seeing stars.
"Fine." Knowing that there was nothing he could do, the Rito Champion straightened himself up, and, salvaging what was left of his dignity, he waved Link away before limping toward the bed with as straight a back as he could manage. He wasn't some young chick that needed to be escorted to the nest and watched.
Under Link's silent direction, he sat, doing his best to remain silent as Link methodically removed every bandage, checked the wound beneath, then rebandaged it with a fresh cloth. The entire process was excruciating, with Link gently prodding many of the bruises. Though the logical side of him argued that Link was simply doing so to assess the damage, his ego was certain that the boy was purposefully trying to cause him discomfort.
Once finished, the Hylian Champion stepped back and removed a vial containing a pink liquid from a pouch on his hip. Link held it out to him.
"What's this?"
Again, there was no response.
"Do you really expect me to drink a potion without knowing what it is?"
Nothing.
"I'm not going to drink it unless you tell me what it is."
Silence.
"Can't you say one bloody thing?!"
A blank stare was all he got.
"Tch." Revali reached over, taking the potion and downing it quickly. "I don't know how that Princess puts up with you." Revali regretted the words as soon as they left his beak. While he was willing to admit that he could be snide and sometimes unpleasant, he didn't mean to be malicious.
It certainly didn't help that a shadow crossed Link's face, the only sign of expression he had ever seen on the boy's face. Just as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone, leaving the Rito Champion to feel incredibly uncomfortable.
The Hylian moved to the other end of the room, picking up the rabbits that he apparently intended to cook. The silence was almost unbearable, with only Revali's aches and pains to distract him and keep him angry enough to not focus on what he had just seen and what it could mean. Unfortunately for the Rito Champion, whatever potion Link had given him was acting quickly, as his pain was dulling by the second.
Whatever it had been, it must have been a rarity. Why had the Hylian given that to him?
"Why did you even come?" Link paused, still not facing Revali. "We're not friends, barely even allies. And I…" Revali looked up toward the ceiling as he lay back, "...admit that I have been rather curt with you. So, why come?" He looked down, angling his head to focus on the Hylian with a single eye.
A charged silence filled the room as Link remained still as a statue for several long seconds. "We need you."
Revali stared at him, dumbfounded. He wasn't sure what surprised him more, the fact that Link had spoken or the words he had chosen. The Rito Champion had heard many things in his life from what friends and family he had but not a single one had ever said that to him.
"We need you."
To think that the first person he would hear that from was the one he saw as his greatest rival. The very person he was determined to surpass no matter what it took.
Unsure of how to respond, Revali simply chuckled, which continued to evolve until he was struggling to breathe through the pain of a full-blown laugh. "'We need you," he says." He paused to catch his breath. "Can I get that in writing?" the Rito Champion asked snidely. It was simply too ludicrous to believe.
Link eyed him over his shoulder, giving nothing away. Wordlessly, he turned back to the task of preparing dinner.
Silence once again filled the room, separating the two Champions by what felt like an insurmountable distance. With the shock of Link's words gone, Revali suddenly remembered what it was to be a hatchling: small, vulnerable, and unsure of what to do.
Leaning back, he stared up at the ceiling thoughtfully. Even as his exhaustion crept back in, he couldn't get the words Link had spoken out of his head. Though he hated it and wished that he wasn't forced to admit it to himself, the words had filled a void he hadn't even known he had. As he drifted off, he couldn't help but wonder why it had to be him.
In the morning, after waking, he would find a small rolled slip bound neatly with a small ribbon waiting next to his pillow. It read:
"We need you.
- Link, Princess Zelda's appointed knight and Hylian Champion"
A/N: He then proceeds to copy it on another sheet of paper, crumple up the copy and toss it on the floor and stuff the real in his tunic. Unfortunately, I was a bit limited on time.
