"Allow me to introduce the Rising Sun Company," Kass said. "They were responsible for saving both the Zora and Goron peoples from their respective Divine Beasts."
Kaneli and Teba both eyed the members of the Rising Sun Company, both critically, but seemingly for different reasons. After several seconds of silence, Teba stood up. "Is that true? You stopped the other Divine Beasts?"
"Well, we haven't stopped Vah Naboris yet either," Edelgard said. "But Vah Ruta and Vah Rudania, yes."
"How? What did you do? How did you get past their defenses?" Teba demanded.
Edelgard looked at Link. "The two of them had different defenses," Link said. "But once we disabled the defenses, we boarded them and destroyed the creatures controlling them."
The only reaction that Teba gave was a slight widening of his eyes. "Do they have a weakness? Something that I need to look out for on my next attack run?"
"Teba!" Elder Kaneli's voice pierced the air, and Teba stiffened, expression growing dark. "That is enough. As I told you, you are not to attack the Divine Beast again. It's too dangerous. If it decides to attack the village in retaliation, then we will be helpless against it."
"Kaneli—"
"That is my final word! We will figure out a way to deal with the Divine Beast without resorting to brazen attacks."
Teba stared at the Elder for several tense seconds, hands clenched into fists. Finally, he whirled, fixing Link again with his glare. "Meet me when you are finished here. I want to know more about how you stopped the other Divine Beasts." He glanced up at Kass, nodding curtly, and then shoved past several members of the Company.
"Teba!" Kaneli called angrily, but the other Rito ignored him, storming away. He sighed, noticeably deflating some as he leaned back against his rocking chair. He looked at Kass. "Do you see what your tales of Revali have done to him, Kass? All he wants is to be like him."
Kass frowned slightly at that but spoke patiently. "Elder, I believe that he merely wishes to protect the village."
"And I do not?" the Elder said, tone growing fierce again. "No, he wishes to have glory. He wants to be the next great Rito Legend, just like Revali. Where Revali once rode the winds upon the back of the Divine Beast, Teba wants to be the one to tame it." He returned his gaze to the humans. "My apologies to you for having come all this way for nothing, but I do not want strangers to attack the beast any more than I want my own warriors to do so. I feel that, in time, the Divine Beast will eventually calm again and retreat to the mountains to rest, as it has done repeatedly over the last one hundred years."
Dimitri scowled. "With all due respect, Elder, we don't care whether you want us to attack the Divine Beast or not. We didn't come here to ask for permission to attack it. We came to tell you that we will be attacking it."
Felix turned to him. "Boar..." he said warningly.
"Am I wrong, Felix?" Dimitri asked.
"No, but there's no reason to pick a fight with Elder Kaneli," Felix said.
Ferdinand addressed the Elder next. "He is not wrong, though. We have to attack the Divine Beast. Particularly because, should the pattern established by the other two Divine Beasts we have encountered hold true, the Divine Beast is not going to calm down this time. Both Ruta and Rudania, while they had proven difficult for the Zora and the Gorons to live with in the past, had by the point of our arrival escalated to actively attempting to destroy the Zora and Goron civilizations. It is likely that Medoh will similarly escalate its aggression toward the Rito soon. You have noted that it has been flying closer to Rito Village recently than it has in the past, have you not?"
"And what if your attack is repulsed, and Vah Medoh decides to attack Rito Village in retaliation?" the Elder asked angrily.
"If we can't free the Divine Beast, it won't matter whether Rito Village is attacked by Vah Medoh or not, because when Calamity Ganon escapes Hyrule Castle, it will kill us all," Cyril said.
"If you intend to kill yourselves fighting Vah Medoh, that's your business, but I will not allow you to jeopardize the safety of Rito Village," Elder Kaneli said angrily. "Continue with this foolhardy line of inquiry, and I will have you all arrested."
"Okay, okay, we get it. We weren't planning on fighting Vah Medoh today anyway," Claude said. "If it leaves, we can attack it from a fair distance away from Rito Village, and it won't associate the attack with Rito Village." Unsaid was that Medoh might get closer instead of further away, but if that happened, attacking Medoh would be the only available option.
Marianne spoke up. "Regarding the Rito who was injured fighting Medoh this morning, and any other injured the village might have, some of us are healers. We can help."
"We already have healers attending to them," the Elder said.
"She means some of us know healing magic," Mercedes said.
"Oh," the Elder realized. "Yes, yes, that could be helpful. Kass knows where the medical center is, he can take you there."
With that, the Company left the Elder.
As they left, they passed a platform, likely one where the Rito would take flight from and land on. It looked familiar to Link...of course a flashback was going to happen now...
A breeze began to blow past Link, and he resisted the urge to shiver. He should have brought his cloak. The wind continued to pick up, and after a few seconds, he frowned. The wind was… swirling around him almost like a whirlwind. It grew stronger, and he took several steps back. Suddenly, a spinning form burst up from underneath the landing, carried by the gale. The figure threw open his wings, ceasing his upward motion, and to Link's surprise, the wind ceased immediately as well.
Revali, the Rito Champion, wore clothing that was similar, though noticeably more ostentatious than the typical clothing worn by Rito. Rather than just colored fabric stretched over his breast, he wore a thin piece of metal with swirling designs etched into it. His midsection was covered by a deep red cloth, and the skirt that he had around his waist had gold trim that matched the expertly crafted bow on his back. His Champion's garment wrapped around his neck like a scarf, hanging down in front in just such a way as to show the stylized image of the Rito Divine Beast to anyone looking at him, somehow still immaculately placed, despite his flight.
He landed on the rail, his long talons gripping the wood with ease, as he gazed down at Link, smirking. "Impressive, I know. Very few can achieve a true mastery of the sky, yet I have made an art of creating an updraft that allows me to soar."
Revali paused, fixing Link with his green eyes, waiting. Link, not wanting to risk humiliating himself, said nothing.
"It is considered to be quite the masterpiece of aerial techniques, even among the Rito. With the proper utilization of my superior skills, why, I really see no reason why we couldn't easily dispense of this Ganon creature."
Still, Link said nothing. He stood still, watching Revali, yet trying to feign a nonchalant posture. The truth was that he did not care for the Rito Champion. He thought that Revali had his head so far up in the clouds that he couldn't see the fields beneath him, as Link's mother often said. He was arrogant and smug, and often built himself up by pushing others down.
Revali was, in short, an ass.
The Rito also didn't seem to care much for Link either, considering the barely veiled insults and snide comments that he continually flung at Link during their brief time together at the castle several weeks prior.
He hopped down from the rail, folding his wings behind his back in a strangely formal matter, walking forward as if he were a military commander conducting an inspection of his soldiers. "Now then, my ability to explore the firmament is certainly of note…"
He stopped, his eyes and the muscular of his face still forming that smirk as before. He turned and placed a wing across Link's shoulders, pulling closer. "But let's not—pardon me for being so blunt—let's not forget that I am the most skilled archer among all the Rito."
He removed his wing from Link's shoulder, and Link tried to force himself to remain relaxed.
Revali's smirk faded some, and he stepped around behind Link, slowly circling him. He continued speaking as he rounded back into view. "Yet despite these…truths, it seems that I have been tapped to merely assist you." He held one finger out, pointing it at Link's face. Link felt his teeth clench in irritation.
"All because you happen to have that little darkness-sealing sword strapped to your back." Revali withdrew his hand, gazing at his blue feathers thoughtfully. "I mean, it's just… asinine."
Link's fingers twitched, and his expression must have shown something of his dark thoughts, because Revali's eyes narrowed, all traces of his earlier smugness gone.
"Unless you think you can prove me wrong?" He stepped closer, leaning down and thrusting his face forward so that his beak was mere inches from Link's nose. Link refused to give any ground, meeting Revali's eyes with a glare of his own.
"Maybe we should just settle this one-on-one?" His eyes remained fixed on Link's for another moment, daring him to act. Finally, he pulled away, reaching up and stroking his long, hooked beak with a feathered hand. "But where?"
Link knew that punching Revali would likely cause a diplomatic incident. That didn't mean he wasn't sorely tempted.
"Oh, I know! How about up there?" Revali spun around, thrusting a wing up to the air to point at the flying Divine Beast Vah Medoh, flying overhead with the help of its spinning propellers.
Revali turned back, eyes widening. "Oh, you must pardon me." His smirk returned, and Link set his jaw. His teeth began to ache. "I forgot that you have no way of making it up to that Divine Beast on your own."
Link remained resolute in his silence. He wouldn't give Revali the satisfaction of knowing just how irritating he was. The Rito likely knew, though, based on his smug expression.
Finally, he turned his back to Link again and spread his wings. He bent his knees, wings hovering just over the wooden floor, and the whirlwind began to swirl around him as before. The sudden gale forced Link to step back as dust and debris sprayed his face.
He looked at Link over his shoulder, voice dripping with disdain, just barely audible over the wind. "Good luck sealing the darkness." And, with a mighty flap of his wings, he rose with the whirlwind, spinning briefly before shooting out the top of the column of air and flying into the sky to reach the Divine Beast.
Link watched as the Rito departed, clenching his fist tightly by his side. Eventually, the gale died, and he was left in silence.
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