Fighting back the prickles of fatigue that were irate that not only had he spent most of the day flying out here but now, almost all night up and about waiting for this floundering fellow, he waited as calmly and as awkwardly as possible for them to calm down enough to talk.
Cyclonus watched nervously, shuffling on the spot until the Zora had in-turn stopped.
Back to the silence as the two stared at each other.
Now it was Cyclonus's turn to get a good look.
They were shorter than he was, noticeably so, their stocky figure said chubby but the glances of how they looked when moving said that was just cover for some impressive muscle-work underneath.
Their primary colour was a purple that would no doubt be quite vivid by the time the sun rose, and surprisingly jarring whites covering their face, arms and lower body.
With some slight amusement, Cyclonus could compare it a little to looking like the Zora was wearing a purple shirt.
The other thing that screamed out to Cyclonus and all his military training, betraying the Zora's strength from under its outwardly soft appearance was all the scars across its body.
Common for regular travellers as many pathways were not safe but they were definitely from the claws of beasts and warriors.
Even if he did not slay them, surviving was proof enough of strength.
Glaring red eyes were focused intently on Cyclonus, the Zora remained tense, looking ready to spring at any moment, yet continued to sit and do nothing.
"Look, no weapons" Cyclonus immediately tried to defuse the tension, he held out his arms, showing that he was wearing nothing but the most basic of Rito clothing and no scabbard or other weapon was attached to his belt or back.
The Zora gave a quick squint before glancing away, and Cyclonus doubted he believed he had any weapons on him in the first place and he knew immediately he had found what he was looking for.
"Hello, you're the one that saved me, right?" He went to confirm it anyway.
Cyclonus noticed a fresh cut along the Zora's jaw as it nodded silently pulling it's webbed feet up under itself and slowly standing up.
Yes, definitely shorter.
But still tense and ready to jump.
"I just wanted to thank you, in person I mean, for saving me. Normally Kargarocs aren't too much of a trouble but it became so with the one cutting my back up…" Cyclonus offered a friendly smile and the Zora just looked plain awkward, "I was… beginning to wonder if you'd ever show yourself… I'd figured out you were likely a Zora and given how things are… right now… with our kinds, I understood why you wouldn't want to show yourself outright" They looked a bit shocked to hear the last part.
"You knew?" They finally hissed, sounding more guarded than angry and somehow that made Cyclonus feel more on edge.
"Yes," Cyclonus felt his plumicorns raise as he spoke, "You didn't exactly… cover your tracks as you went back and forth from the lake, there were still obvious, webbed, footprints about" they then folded back down again, slightly sheepish as he admitted to his findings, quietly leaving out the part where he himself never bothered to act out on said 'clue' just continued to hope he'd show himself willingly.
"Oh," The Zora looked equally sheepish realising he was absolutely correct and he had made little attempt to actually hide evidence of himself, only trying to keep his actual self out of sight.
"Look, my name's Cyclonus, what's yours?" he perked up a little, offering a feathered hand out to the Zora who looked a little taken aback by the gesture and if anything drew his own arms back tighter still clinging tightly to the opal.
"Mmmm" The Zora mumbled under his breath a little, eyes darting away as if looking for some kind of sign to continue the interaction and how to do so, "Uh" His voice remained quiet and almost hoarse, no doubt from his earlier shriek, "It's… Galvatron"
"Well, Galvatron, thank you"
Geoblitz…
Damn it he should've said Geoblitz!
Galvatron gently bit at his own lip, remembering the false name he'd made in order to avoid giving out his real one.
Admittedly only picked out because he liked saying the '-litz' part and it also began with a G so he was less likely to forget it.
At least now he knew the Rito's name.
He could now vocally blame the Rito who would no doubt sell him out as if any decent Rito soldier would just let some Zora stroll off without a care in the world.
The opal was heavy and tough in his hand as he squeezed it tightly, using its weight and tangibility to 'anchor' himself in the situation better. At the very least it could also make a decent bludgeoning weapon should this Rito try anything funny.
He just looked soft.
Except now the Rito was smiling at him as if he was expecting him to think he was genuinely grateful for having his life saved by a sad sack of blubber.
Smug git even pointing out that he'd given himself away by leaving footprints too, maybe he should've just dumped him on the shore and left.
Made him want to fight.
Was it a fight to get out of the actual social interaction, or a fight to pretend he wasn't uselessly staring at them with zero ideas what to do?
He must've defaulted back to his basic-scowling angry-face at some point because Cyclonus was beginning to look a little nervous and it took a conscious effort to pull the scowl off his own face.
"I just" His voice was as deep and smooth as his singing suggested, "By my honour I am eternally grateful to you for saving my life after I made such mind-bogglingly thoughtless actions" The Rito bowed quite suddenly and Galvatron barely held back the urge to flinch at the movement, "How could I ever repay you?"
Galvatron baulked and made some kind of stunned noise as Cyclonus suddenly stood upright again, looking at him, genuinely meaning his statement.
"Uh. Uuuuhhhh" The weight, the weight in his hands, of course, "But you… left… these?"
Galvatron found he was uselessly presenting the opal back to its original giver.
"Oh… yes, um, admittedly they were more to try and get you to show up, I mean there's plenty about, not that I mean that in a bragging… sort of way… I mean a lot Rito tend to like getting some bright, flashy, visually pleasing items so it wasn't hard to find a collection of things that would… y'know, get your attention?" His voice raised in pitch a little as he spoke a little unsure of what to say himself and accidentally made it out as a question.
"Oh," Galvatron drew the opal back to his chest.
Silence quickly fell on the both of them and Galvatron desperately raked his mind for something to do or say, why had it been so long since he'd had any social interaction that wasn't formal or business related?
Not that he could've used that sort of thing for a reference anyway.
With the one friend he did have they tended to trade a few insults as a means of communication and this overly honest and a bit-too-genuine Rito probably wouldn't take to that.
Especially not right now.
Galvatron ran his tongue across the back of his teeth and rubbed his face as he felt his skin prickle a little as a slowly building heat rose as the sun's rays began peeking over the horizon like a set of worms squirming from the soil as the rains came.
A claw ran over the cut he gave himself and he flinched a little more at the memory of doing it rather than actually touching it.
"I'm sorry are you alright?" Cyclonus seemed to be looking at him, concerned.
"Yes!" Galvatron snapped with more force than he intended, "I just cut it on a rock, I wasn't… paying attention when I tried to avoid detection… earlier" he lied.
"Oh… Sorry" The Rito apologised and Galvatron once again had to stop himself from uttering some kind of stunned, confused noise.
"You're… apologising a lot" Galvatron uttered instead, a little stunned.
"Ah, So- I mean, I'm just grateful to you! I really am! You saved me!" Cyclonus beamed at him in that ridiculous genuine way again and Galvatron wondered if he should've just sat back and let creeping loneliness settle back in, it was his oldest friend after all.
Galvatron sighed, they weren't gonna come back anyway.
This was just a fleeting encounter.
It felt… nice to have some gratitude expressed for his actions for once.
Better than watching some 'captain of the guard' get the credit for the actions you took that saved lives.
It didn't feel so bitter.
Maybe he was losing his touch?
Galvatron pondered if he'd have to go trample a flower or kick some traveller's mule to try and return 'balance' to himself.
Oh well, one last time before he left.
He whispered and the Rito frowned.
"I'm sorry, what?" Cyclonus didn't hear what he said but then his plumicorns stood on end as he had some kind of realisation and Galvatron found himself watching the cranial adornments fascinated, "The water! Has it been too long for you? The sun is rising, come on the lake isn't too far"
The Rito's tail feathers flicked upwards as Cyclonus stood to the side no longer 'blocking' the way to the lake, a wing outstretched as if to allow him passage.
Deciding he at least felt more at home closer to his actual home and nearer to some snacks Galvatron sighed and headed to the lake.
Wasn't like he'd planned to do much today other than sleep and act like life was 'okay' anyway.
The rising sun was speckling the pathway with warm shafts of light, the occasional beam glinting brightly off the opal, still held tightly in Galvatron's webbed hands.
At the lake's edge, he went in until he was waist deep, feeling the wet sands and smooth rocks beneath his feet as the waters touch soothed him on instinct.
Cyclonus only came in to his ankles.
"Do you mind… singing for me again?" Galvatron had to pause midway as he worked up the nerve to look at Cyclonus to ask this.
Eye contact, his greatest social enemy.
"Sing for you?" Cyclonus cocked his head.
"Yes, to repay me, I won't ask for more, just one more song" Galvatron clarified.
"Oh…" Cyclonus smiled softly the edges of his beak turning upwards like he'd just thought of the perfect song, turns out he'd just thought of the 'perfect' answer, "On one condition, you sing with me"
The sputtering laugh of derision at the mere remark escaped him before any other thought could pass his mind.
"What!?" Galvatron rocked with laughter, toes gripping the rock he was on tightly as his opal-free hand splashed about, he could practically feel his gills open wide with the need for more oxygen as he couldn't stop laughing, "Me? Sing!?"
He snorted, once, twice and his hands snapped to his face to try and halt the embarrassing noise.
What was this stupid, slightly upset and vaguely offended looking Rito thinking?
Glancing from side to side with a droopy expression on his face and…
"Oh god… You're serious aren't you?" Galvatron had to wobble to right himself in order to get one last word out before his world was filled with water.