Chapter Text
The Great Master Revali was incredible at quite a number of things, though truth be told, in the eyes of history, his more well known accomplishments, such as his skill in archery, easily overshadowed his other various skills. Of course, during his life, his fellow Rito were well aware of his miscellaneous talents, but given their methods of spreading and teaching their history (mostly through song), there were often some details that got lost along the way.
The Great Master Revali was quite good with children.
The village fledglings often loved to follow him around, running up the wooden stairs to the top of the village structure, talons clicking as they followed him up to the landing.
It was a sound that caught the Hylian champion off guard as the children bustled on past he and his ward, the princess, on their way to talk to the elder. The king had sent the two to find pilots for each of the newly uncovered Divine Beasts, because if the princess’ powers weren’t going to reveal themselves, then they might as well try to find the rest of the missing pieces in the meantime (though truthfully, the king had taken much convincing to allow this journey).
Admittedly, there wasn’t much for the knight to do as he waited for the princess and the elder to finish (he was meant to guard her but really she was entirely safe at the moment), but the children from before had drawn his eye. Though they were quite a bit more feathery, they still had that spirited nature that cinched at the knight’s heart with thoughts of his own sister. So he couldn’t help but peer down at the landing, and if the children spoke loudly enough to be heard from his spot up above, it wasn’t exactly his fault for listening into their conversation.
“Revali! Revali! Revali!” shouted one of the young Rito, her feathers a much lighter blue than the older Rito she was nagging, who the Hylian assumed must have been Revali. “Show us your gale! You said you would! Show us!” She dragged out the last syllable, almost whining in the same way the Hylian’s sister would do when begging him to show her a new sword trick he had learned.
The older Rito sighed, waving his wing feathers as if scolding the girl.
“Tala, I said that I would show it to you when it was ready. It’s not nearly finished yet, and it is most definitely not safe enough for little hatchlings like yourself.” He crossed his arms (wings? the Hylian wasn’t quite sure about Rito terminology yet). “Besides, you have to master your flying before you can try anything more difficult.”
Another child, this one with maroon coloring, pushed his way in between Revali’s legs to get into the older Rito’s line of sight and to steal his attention away from the now pouting girl.
“Revali, I’ve been practicing my flying! Check it out, check it out!”
The maroon Rito abruptly leaped from the platform, wings stretched wide. Revali let out a startled noise, fluttering over to the landing’s railing to look at the fledgling who was now gliding a few meters below the platform, circling in the air.
“Milo, you shouldn’t be practicing without supervision!” Revali called down to the flying child, but his words were to no avail.
“But you’re here Revali,” the quite unbothered flier called back, as if it should have been clearly obvious.
“I- That is- That is entirely irrelevant! What would your mother say if you had fallen?”
“Ehh, you would have caught me anyway.” Milo landed on a small platform below and started his way back up to the others.
Revali, relieved, sat down at the edge of the landing, legs dangling off. He reached up to rub his temples or, what the Hylian assumed were his temples, but as he moved his wing, a small fledgling, black feathers still patchy across his skin as if he had only somewhat recently hatched slipped his way under and lightly pulled at the fringes of his scarf.
“Revali?” The kid’s voice was quiet, the knight almost had to strain to hear. “I don’t know what to do. Everyone says I should be flying already but I just…”
Revali’s features seemed to soften, looking at the kid, who couldn’t be older than a hatchling.
“But it’s scary, isn’t it?” The hatchling nodded. “Don’t worry. It’s scary for everyone at first. They’ve all just forgotten that because they’re used to flying now. It’s not so scary once you know what you’re doing. And you will know, you’re a Rito afterall.” The Hylian champion couldn’t see the older Rito’s face, but he thought he could detect a smile in the words.
“But what if...what if I fail? And then I fall?”
“We all fall. It’s a part of learning just like everything else. Here, you know what?” Revali leaned in closer. “Even I fell down when I was learning to fly. I fell a lot. And look at me now, huh? I mean, they don’t call me the greatest flier in Rito Village for no reason.” He nudged the little hatchling with a wing. “Besides, once you learn how to fly, you can tell your stories to all kinds of people, not just me. And perhaps you can even make some new stories about your own journeys, alright Koli?”
Those words in particular seemed to spur the boy’s excitement. He practically jumped up from his seat, turning to face Revali head on.
“You really mean it?”
“Of-”
“Revali, my boy! Can you come up here?” A voice called from above, probably from the elder’s roost, but honestly, the Hylian watching was too enraptured by the scene to really pay any attention.
“Of course I do.” Revali said to the boy. “Now hurry along before your parents worry. I’ve got to go see the elder.”
And then it was over. Or, well, the Hylian supposed it should have been, but the Rito, Revali, turned toward where the knight stood, watching and saw him. Saw him. Hylia those eyes. He felt like he couldn’t move, torn between the embarrassment of being caught staring and the fact that those eyes were now staring him down as well.
“Link.”
A voice? A girl’s voice?
“Link!”
The princess? Should he-
“Link?”
An entirely different voice, older, more mature, less attention-getting and more concerned.
“Link, are you alright?”
The voice was right next to him. He blinked. He gasped.
An adult Rito, stood next to him, looking down at his face in concern. Green feathers. Amali. Green, but not quite as green as…not quite as green as what?
He looked at her. Her eyes narrowed in concern. Ah. Right.
“Sorry. I’m fine," he signed.
“Oh thank Valoo, I was so worried. My daughters didn’t do anything to you, did they? They nearly ran into you on their way up the stairs and you just stopped and stood there for what felt like forever.” She picked over Link’s clothing, as if patting him down to fix anything out of place. “I swear, I tell them every day to be careful and everyday it’s the same! I knew something would happen sooner or later!”
“No, please, it’s alright. They didn’t do anything!” He paused, hands fidgeting as if not sure how to say what he wanted to. “I just, they just reminded me of something, that’s all.” He tried his best to give her a smile. He hoped he was right. He hoped that that was all. Just a passing memory, a weird passing moment. He would understand it all, remember it all, someday. Someday.