Full summary: Flurry. A light, brief shower of snow. A moment of unexpected commotion or excitement, a hurry of activity. A sudden gust of wind. To confuse or fluster someone. The moment in a pivotal counterattack upon a vulnerable foe when time seems to slow down.
The more time she spent with Revali, the more he came to exemplify that word in all its facets and definitions in her mind. As the hero with the sword that seals the darkness, Link had never really thought about love. She had certainly never expected to find herself thinking about it in regards to an infuriating, cocky, sharp-tongued Rito. But such, she would slowly discover, was the wild, exhilarating beauty of finding oneself caught in the midst of a flurry.
Chapter 1
Barrage
Under siege the entire road to Rito village, Link had hoped that now, on the threshold of its gates, she would have been greeted with an explanation at the very least. A chance to inform them that she, Zelda, and Impa meant no harm. Quite the opposite, in fact—seeking aid from their village, seeking one to pilot a Divine Beast. Instead, however, as she paraglided up to the landing leading to the village gates, Link was met with a gale so strong it would have knocked her backwards off the landing had she not dug her sword into the snow and hung on.
"An unusual assault indeed. Our forces have never been repelled to the very gates of Rito before." A voice carried all around as a figure circled so high above her she could scarcely detect it in the harsh winds and low visibility of the blizzard. "Hmph. No matter."
With a loud whoosh, the figure landed powerfully in front of Link, barring her access to the village gates.
"I am Revali, and Rito Village is my home." With a Prussian blue wing tipped white at the fingers, he drew a massive golden bow nearly the size of his own body.
"This is as far as you go."
Link had no time to protest, to dispel the confusion with an explanation. Her hands could not both speak and fight, and with the imposing Rito plucking arrows from his quiver and charging straight for her, it was all she could do to tear her sword from the earth and raise her shield. As she focused the entirety of her body and mind on the task before her, all other stimuli faded into obscurity—the sound of her wolf Cardinalis howling worriedly, the biting cold of the tundra that seeped even through her resistant clothes and gloves, the whipping sounds of the wind that tugged at strands of her hair and wrested them free from her bun. None of that mattered for the moment. In this moment, only he—Revali—mattered.
He slammed into her shield, but she pivoted and pushed into him with her left side to counteract the force straining to knock her off balance. With her right hand she slashed out with her bronze sword, but for how swiftly he dodged her she may as well have been aiming at empty space. Behind her in an instant, faster than she could turn around, but he gave himself away with a chuckle under his breath, and she dashed aside in time to see five arrows slaughter the ground where she had been standing.
Between his aerial advantage and his speed, Link knew she would never be able to land an attack on him without some sort of strategy to incapacitate him first. But what? He was relentless, shooting into the sky and then diving down at her with volleys of arrows over and over again, as though he would never tire, never slow down, never let up. Impossible speed and otherworldly precision characterized his every move. She had never seen any being move this fast before, not in all her days of training. He may be faster than even Urbosa, she thought.
Then, a smirk crossed her face. Faster than Urbosa? Perhaps. Faster than lightning? No.
Link waited until he dropped into a dive again, and at the last moment, pulled out an electric rod she had swiped off a wizzrobe and zapped him. With a grunt, he plummeted from the sky, momentarily paralyzed. As he fell, she ran toward him, leaped into a jump and bashed him with her shield, sending his body slamming into the village gate behind him.
If she could speak, she would have taken the brief seconds while he was down to do so, to potentially end this fight before anyone was seriously hurt. But she could not drop her guard to try to sign anything to him, not around so dangerous an enemy. She just hoped Zelda and Impa were safe and caught up to her soon. In the meantime, she stood a couple feet away from his prone body with her sword and shield still armed. Full glad was she that she had when he unexpectedly rocketed into the sky, and moments later, explosions began going off all around her. The smoke billowed and blew everywhere in the wind, quickly spreading to cover the whole area. I think I just made him mad.
"You flightless rodent have the audacity to attempt to ground me?" He moved so swiftly that she could not pinpoint his position based on the direction of his voice. It changed too quickly for her to follow. "Then it is time I stopped winging this and display for you a fraction of my true prowess."
A path in the smoke cleared as Revali flew toward her. "You may think you're good…"
Link raised her shield to defend her front, expecting another charge into her to knock her off balance, but her eyes widened as instead he flipped over her in the air.
"But I'm better."
Blue eyes locked with luminescent green ones, fierce and unflinching, holding her gaze like a cat. His arrow was aimed at her head, but his fingers held steady, not yet releasing it as though he wanted her to realize he had defeated her before he launched the finishing blow. As her sword came up to try to deflect the arrow and his fingers pulled back to release it, a voice that could not have come as more of a relief rang out.
"Stop! Please!"
Link jumped away from the Rito and watched as the arrow soared into the sky but fell straight back down and landed uselessly on the ground. She didn't realize she had been holding her breath until she coughed and her chest heaved for air.
"Link, are you all right?" Zelda inquired as she collapsed on one knee, still breathing heavily.
She could feel Revali looking smugly down at her. Pushing herself to her feet, and sweeping strands of hair that had come loose from her bun out of her face, she signed to Zelda, "Fine. The thinner atmosphere and harsh temperatures have taken a toll."
This was her first time traveling to Rito Village. Of course she had been in cold climes before, but never this tundra, and the high altitudes preferred by the Rito certainly weren't doing her any favors. This will make a good place to train, she thought.
"She's mute." Revali said, looking straight at her. He sounded somewhat surprised.
Zelda nodded, the polite and impassive smile of a princess now hiding whatever emotions she may have actually felt. "Yes. I believe this has all been an unfortunate misunderstanding. Might we speak inside the village?"
Link whistled for Cardinalis, who came treading to her side. The russet red wolf nuzzled her leg with his face, and she smiled softly.
"But of course." Revali swept a wing in front of his chest and bowed, but all the while his keen eyes remained trained on Link.
So that was the famed warrior of the Rito, the one they had come to ask to pilot the Divine Beast Vah Medoh. He had certainly been a formidable opponent. Sighing, Link peered out the window from her bed at the guest hut that had been arranged for them. For every champion they sought the audience of, Zelda always stayed in their village for a fortnight to get to know them, their people, their culture. "To forge stronger bonds among the people of Hyrule," as she had nobly put it.
Staying with Mipha and the Zora had been like a vacation and a return to her childhood. Those amicable two weeks had gone by too fast, in everyone's estimation. With Urbosa, Zelda seemed to enjoy the time with her mother's friend, even though much of it passed dealing with the irritating and dangerous tricks of the Yiga clan. And Daruk had been an excellent and welcoming host, or, at least, as gracious a host one could be for a home built on Death Mountain. Link snorted fondly as she thought back on all their eating contests with Zelda and Impa looking on at the two of them in frank alarm.
What kind of host would Revali prove to be, she wondered. It was clear that he cared deeply and passionately for his village and his people, and she could not fault him for that. His arrogance and generally bristly personality, however, were another matter entirely.
Link was just drifting to sleep in her hammock, Cardinalis curled up beside her with his head resting on her stomach, when the sound of quiet laughter roused her. Impa and Zelda entered their shared hut.
"Oh, sorry Link. We didn't mean to wake you," Impa said.
Normally Link would have accompanied the two of them on the tour of Rito Village, as she followed Zelda everywhere, but the princess had insisted she rest after all of the fighting she had done today.
"After all, I am far more capable of protecting the princess than you," Revali had sneered.
Link shrugged with a yawn, and was going to roll over and close her eyes again when she heard a knock followed by a familiar inflammatory voice.
"Might I poach your flightless rodent for a bit of time, princess?"
Zelda stood in the doorway of the hut, blocking her view of Revali, but she could hear their conversation just fine.
"I assure you on my honor as a Rito warrior, you are quite safe here princess."
Zelda's uncomfortable laugh, which Link had gotten to know well in her time as her guard. "Oh, no, it isn't that. She just may still be tired, is all."
A chuckle from Revali. "Ah, yes, well losing to one of my caliber is indeed physically taxing." He said this loudly, probably intending for Link to hear.
With a pat to Cardinalis, Link dropped down from her low hammock, grabbed her sword and shield, and strode to the door. Beside Zelda, she signed, "If anything tired me out, it would be beating back all of your army captains on my way up the mountain."
Link smirked as Zelda genuinely giggled and Revali squawked, "What? What did she say?"
Zelda covered her mouth with her hand to try to keep from laughing. "Oh, nothing…"
"I want to spar," Link signed to Zelda.
Instead of telling Revali, however, Zelda whispered to her, "Is that such a wise idea?"
Respectfully moving past Zelda, Link pointed to her sword in its sheath and then to the bow Revali wore upon his back.
"Oh? You want to lose again?"
Zelda sighed and Impa called behind them as they left, "Don't hurt each other!"
As they walked down from the village back to their previous arena, Link looking up and admiring the rising night sky and all its stars, Revali said darkly, "There will be no princess here to save you this time."
Link did not plan on losing this time. Before, she had fought her way all the way to the village before she reached him. She had been concerned foremost for Zelda's safety, and about how to communicate that they were not a threat. This time, she was well-rested and not distracted by practical worries and concerns. She would win. This was the child who had beaten Hylian swordsmen at the age of 4. She was phenomenal at what she did. It was who she was. The defeat, the losing, did not matter to her. Didn't bother her. Rather, it was the way that he looked down on her as though she were inept or a fool. She wondered how he would respond to Urbosa and Mipha, wondered if his contempt and belittling of her abilities was because she was a woman, or if he simply was that arrogant and rude to everyone.
As they arrived at the field just outside the village, Zelda pulled the stray strands of hair back into a bun before drawing her sword and shield. Now that no one was in danger, she watched him draw his bow, watched the lithe and fluid movements of his wing as he reached for it without taking his eyes off her. She knew the feeling, when you had done something so many times, used a weapon so many times that it began to feel like merely an extension of yourself.
Revali was a rather interesting Rito, personality aside. Even when she first saw him, it had struck her that his body was quite thin. Not small, per se, but streamlined, very like an arrow. His form betrayed no hint of his strength and endurance she had seen on the battlefield. That bow he wielded was over half his body size, and she would not have been surprised if it weighed more than half what he did either. It would take no small amount of power to use that. The requisite upper body strength to hold it, even while aloft, to aim it, to send barrage after barrage of arrows flying down without ever appearing to grow tired. And for him to propel himself into the air from a self-created gale, his legs would have to be strong too. Then, there was his stern face. The only thing that was not harsh about his appearance was the beige scarf draped around his neck.
"Are you ready?" Revali asked, one eyebrow raising. "Or have you realized your mistake and thought better of challenging me to a rematch?"
Link's only answer was the raising of her sword skyward before taking her battle position.
The Rito counted them down from three, and then they were at it, just as fiercely as that morning, if not more. He took to the air immediately, and Link knew she would have to work her best to prevent him from going airborne if she wanted to have a hope of an even match. Climbing rapidly up a nearby tree, she ran out on its thick limbs and jumped, opening her paraglider and sailing toward him. He fired a volley of arrows in her direction, but she deflected them away with her sword. When she came close enough to strike him, he simply flew above her and rained arrows down upon her from all directions.
"A Hylian attempting an aerial attack on a Rito? Tsk, tsk," he clicked.
With his wings he whipped up a massive gale that caught Link and spun her around, disorienting her. Taking advantage of this, he slammed into her with his body before she could raise his shield, and she hurtled into the ground.
As she struggled to her feet, she realized neither of her strategies to ground him had worked very well. Even if she did manage to get him out of the air, he recovered quickly and would soar straight back up again. How am I supposed to beat him? He was fast, he was precise, and he kept his distance. This combination of facts made him difficult to both defend against and to attack. But if she could lure him close, then perhaps she could open an opportunity to strike him before he flew away.
Link knew that if she tried to lash out with his sword, he would dodge her and put space between them. Therefore, she had to let him come to her, let him think that he had her on the backfoot with his attacks. That would make him confident and hopefully, careless. Then, she would have a split second to attack before he could realize her trap. Yes, that was her best chance.
Right now, he was hovering low above the ground. He would never drop his guard in such a position, so Link charged at him with her shield. She never expected to hit him, and as planned, he took to the skies and began firing off arrows behind her. With a pivot she used her shield to defend, but as before he began circling and firing from every direction. She sidestepped and backflipped and deflected, all according to plan. He never let up, swooping closer and closer to her with each attack.
Just a little closer…Now!
Link lunged forward with her sword, and she smiled as it grazed him, nicking one of his feathers and setting it adrift in the wind. However, before she could celebrate, she felt the wind knocked out of her as a knee to the stomach from Revali sent her stumbling back against the tree behind her. She doubled over, and before she could recover, she felt fingers squeezing her pressure points on her wrists, causing her sword and shield to clatter from her hands.
A low voice whispered near hear ear, "I have you now."
Revali released her and straightened to his full height. "Two losses to me in one day. Tragic."
Kneeling to pick up his feather that had fallen nearby, Link smirked at him as she waved it in his face as though to say, I got you first.
With a disgusted sigh he snapped, "Stop looking so pleased with yourself you flightless rodent."
As she picked up her things and they started on their way back to the village together, his words only caused Link to smile even wider. Every so often, when she thought he wasn't looking, she stole a peek at his face. While it had been all focus and fire in battle, his eyes appeared surprisingly…calm now. Not calculating, not mocking, not domineering. And she thought about how his feathers had felt, much softer than her hammock and blanket back in the village. She wondered if there was anything in his personality that was as soft and pleasant as his feathers, or if this champion was as slicing and merciless as his barrage of arrows through and through. Either way, with the way this Rito had swooped down from the skies and overwhelmed her with his biting quips as strong as his show of force, her curiosity had certainly been piqued.