Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“You’re too slow, Link. I don’t understand how you could be the hero of Hyrule, but can’t shoot a simple target while airborne.” Revali remarks to Link, coming back to the dock of the Flight Range.

Link huffed out a breath of cold air, clearly in annoyance of Revali’s words. He walked over to the cooking pot, placing his hands above the fire in attempts to regain some feeling in his fingers.

Link was trying his hardest, trying to pull back the string of the bow, while aiming at the far away, small read-and-white target. He was also trying to pay attention to how much stamina he had left, before he’d start falling, and he’d have to swiftly pull out his paraglide to regain some altitude.

He knew that Revali kept taking Link to the Flight Range to help his skills and abilities, but sometimes it really does feel like Revali just wants to show off his flight abilities to Link.

“Ah, cold? Want to take a short break, just until your delicate Hylian body warms up?” Revali asked,  or missing the opportunity to make fun of Link.

Link suppressed the great urge to roll his eyes, nodded his head at RevLi, though his eyes never left the wooden floor.

After so much nonstop training, Link was totally annoyed with Revali’s boasting, fed up with the fact that he couldn’t fly or stay warm in extreme weather.

“Hah, it's a good thing that I’m here, your skills while your somewhat-airborne would never have been fruitful if it weren’t for me.” Revali said, inspecting the soft feathers along the edge of his wing.

That was it.

Link was totally and completely fed up with how arrogant Revali was being. He had a great urge to call Revali, “Ravioli,” but suppressed it.

Instead, Link got up, stuffed his remaining arrows in his quiver, quite aggressively and started walking back to Rito Village, despite the cold nipping at his exposed skin.

“Oh, so now you decide to give up?” Revali called out to Link, in an attempt to get Link to walk back towards him to argue back.

Link didn’t even spare a glance behind him, too depressed, too defeated to look back, making Revali feel hella guilty.

Revali let out a frustrated growl, throwing his arms down forcefully, upset with himself for making Link walk away.

Revali won’t lie.

He likes making fun of Link.

No.

He loves making fun of Link.

It would make Link so embarrassed and the slightest tinge of pink would be dusted onto Link’s cheeks, a contrast to his usual stoic facial expression.

With Link being the hero of Hyrule, Princess Zelda’s appointed knight, there is a lot of burden put on him, and Revali knows that he should probably try not to stress the poor boy out, the burden of being a hero was one of the main reasons that Link went mute in the first place.

But Revali can’t help it. It’s so fun to see Link get all pink and flustered, and it only proves Revali’s point to himself that he, too, could be as great a hero as Link.

Revali has trained himself so much, his skills only helping him, as he is faster, stronger, and has the power to create an updraft anytime he pleases. 

He wishes that people would respect him as much as they respect Link, but he knows that he couldn’t possibly travel throughout Hyrule like Link can, some of the weather is too harsh for him, as well Revali having to protect Rito Village and the surrounding stables as best as he can. He’ll have to leave trying to travel outside of his domains for another day, another time.

Sometimes, Revali got too arrogant, too boastful, too much for Link to handle. Revali forgets that Link has so much on his plate to deal with: helping Zelda in her studies, keeping her safe, watching out for the few remains of the Yiga Clan, talking to King Rhoam about things needed to be done in Hyrule, as well as train with the other Champions. 

Revali should have known better than to push Link too far.

But what was done, was done.

Revali knew that he won’t stop feeling this self-hatred and guilt if he doesn’t seek Link out, apologize, and explain himself. 

With another heavy sigh, Revali flew straight up into the sky, towards the Divine Beast Vah Medoh to get a (dare I say) bird’s-eye-view to seek Link out.

Link found himself at the highest point in Rito Village, looking up at the sky where Divine Beast Vah Medoh was stationary in the air, it’s turbines working furiously to keep the mechanical being airborne.

Link knew it was dumb, childish , and immature of himself for walking out on Revali. He’d known him for so long, he felt as if he should’ve gotten used to Revali’s teasing, accepting the fact that Revali’s nature was arrogant and boasty.

Giving a heavy sigh of defeat, Link looked up to the sky from where he was sitting down and looked at all the birds gracefully soaring with Vah Medoh.

Although, one of the birds looked quite a bit larger than the others.

Squinting up to the sky, and bringing one hand up to his face to shield his eyes from the warm sun. He realized it was Revali. It looked like he was surveilling the area below him, surely looking for a particular Hylian.

Link gave a heavy sigh, knowing that Revali would have come to look for him, but he wondered how long it would take before Revali spotted him.

It seemed like it only took Revali, about a minute, until his head turned to Link’s direction, and he tucked in his wings under his body, diving down to Link’s direction.

Link stood up, knowing that Revali would want to talk, and he should probably be ready to say a short couple of words, though it’d make him step way out of his comfort zone.

Anything to make Revali and I good again, Link thought to himself.

“Link, I had a feeling that I’d find you up here.” Revali said to Link, after gracefully landing on the rock, a few feet from where Link stood.

Link gave a curt nod to Revali, not really meeting his eyes, but staring at the blue cloth wrapped around him, one that resembled the Champion’s tunic that Link and Zelda wore, as well as the cloth that the other Champion’s wore as well.

“Well, let me say this,” Revali started. “I’m so-”

“I’m sorry.” Link said, cutting Revali off, making Revali’s eyes open wide in surprise, as it is a rare event that Link would actually speak.

“No. No. It is not you that has to apologize. It’s me. I’m sorry. I pushed you so far today during the training, even after you had done so well. After all, not every Hylian had the strength, agility, and intelligence that you have. I should try to remind myself that you are not, in fact, a Rito, but a Hylian and the work that you have done here in Hyrule is better than any other Hylian, Rito, Gerudo, Goron, or Zora could have done. I would like to tell you that I’m proud of the impact you’ve had on everyone here, Rito Village and outside Rito Village. I should cut back on my teasing and boasting, knowing that everyone can’t be as good as me,” Revali paused for a moment to smirk at Link, in which Link had to shoot a small smile back at him. “But trust me when I say this, I am grateful for all we have been through, and I hope we could continue our training sessions as per usual. That is, if you agree.”

Link made a face to show that he was thinking it over in his brain, although he already knew what his answer was. He looked up at Revali’s towering stance and nodded his head with a small smile.

“Ah, splendid!” Revali exclaimed, walking over to take one of Link’s hands in the ends of his two wings. “I am glad that I could continue helping you become as great as I, the Rito Champion.” 

Link didn’t suppress the urge to roll his eyes this time, he actually did, causing Revali to start laughing and to pull Link into a quick hug, feeling how cold Link was, though he did a good job not to show any discomfort.

“Thank you, Revali.” Link whispered, ending the hug, and started to run towards the edge of the cliff, jumping off and pulling out his paraglider, in attempts to glide down to the stable just outside the village, wanting to see Kass, his old friend, and possibly listen to a song from him, because Link was just that happy, an emotion he hadn’t felt in a while.

Revali chuckled to himself as he saw Link run and jump off the rock. He looked up to the beast floating in the air, and said to no one in particular, “Come at us, whoever dares to challenge the Champions and the Hero of Hyrule, because you will have your ass handed to you.”

After chilling up on the rock for a couple of minutes, Revali went down into the village, going to the clothing/armour store in search of some lightweight, warm armour that would surely keep Link warm and safe during his time here at Rito Village.

Chapter Text

“Alright, now, I’m going to set an updraft right here, so you could use your paraglider and get up onto Vah Medoh.” Revali said, looking down at Link.

Revali had kept his word and got Link some proper clothing, fit perfectly for him. His clothes were made with soft feathers, warm enough that even in the coldest, snowiest, and highest places, Link would not freeze. He’d be warm, but also with enough armour in case any monsters would decide to hurt Link. It seemed like Link liked his Champion’s tunic and old trousers better, so he only wore the headdress, with the feather braided into his golden hair. Also, Revali was sure that Link was pretty much as good as one could be with a bow and arrow, so there was really no point in training him any further.

It was towards the end of Link’s time here in Rito Village. He’d have to travel back to Hyrule castle really soon to check in with King Rhoam and Princess Zelda, to get his task. He’d probably have to go train with another Champion next. 

Revali thought back to when he had first met Link, and how young he was, yet he was heavily skilled, as if he had spent all his years training nonstop. Revali was quite skeptical of Link back then, not really trusting him. It wasn’t until about a year after he met Link that Link said his first word to Revali.

And Revali always keeps that memory in the back of his head, as it really changed his opinion of Link.

Revali had seen Link climb effortlessly to the top of one of the pillars surrounding Rito Village. Revali watched Link with untrusting eyes, but also amazement, as it looks like it barely took Link any effort to climb to the top, something any normal Hylian could never have done.

But then again, Link wasn’t your everyday normal Hylian.

Revali decided to just wait to see what Link climbed up there to do in the first place, and then he’d fly up there to confront him.

It looked like Link was looking all around, searching for something.

Then it looked like Link found what he was looking for. He walked towards the edge of the pillar, careful not to fall, but he pulled out his bow and arrow.

Revali’s raised one of his eyebrows, confused to what Link was going to shoot at, but after squinting in the direction of where Link was looking at, he saw a couple of Bokoblin, jumping around, with a treasure chest on top of a little platform, a ladder leading up to it. There was also a red barrel, in which Revali knew that that was a bomb. 

He knew Link had two options, take out the Bokoblins with his arrows, something easy to do, especially if he had a bomb arrow with him. Or he could use a regular arrow and shoot the barrel, easily killing all of the monsters.

It seemed like Link was trying to go with the latter, as he looked through all the arrows in his quiver, and opted for a regular arrow instead of a bomb one.

Link put the arrow in his bow and pulled back the string, aiming at the barrel. Revali took this moment to look at Link’s stance. He should have put his feet shoulder width apart, should have straightened his right arm a little bit more, but so far, it seemed like Link was doing alright.

He shot the first arrow, which fell a little bit short, right in the center of all the monsters, alerting them that there was someone shooting at them. Link quickly took another arrow out of his quiver and aimed a bit higher, and shot it, which it, thankfully, hit the bomb, sending the Bokoblin flying back a few feet, killing them in the process.

Revali saw Link stand up straighter, a small slime on his face.

‘He failed the first time, why is he smiling like he just single handedly killed a Lynel with one shot?’ Revali thought to himself, before flying up into the sky and towards the pillar.

Link heard the swoosh of the air behind him, and snapped around to see Revali fly towards him.

Link was always a little bit intimidated by Revali, he seemed so powerful, so good with a bow and arrow, and he didn’t always look so approachable. So Link rarely ever approached him.

Link hung his bow around his back and waited for Revali to land.

He tried not to show his fear on his face, and swallowed it back, keeping a stoic face that he practiced many times in the mirror.

Link always thought that during a battle, it would be wise to not show emotions, so no strengths or weaknesses could be given to the enemy.

Revali landed right in front of Link, tucking his wings behind his back, and pushing out his blue Champion’s cloth a little bit more.

“I saw how you killed those Bokoblin over there.” Revali said to Link, nodding his head in the direction of the monster camp that was now unoccupied and had the treasure chest right there, free for Link to go and grab.

Link just nodded his head at Revali, not saying a word.

“You didn’t really have the right stance when you were shooting that arrow.” Revali said to Link.

Link just looked to the floor, shame running through his body, and he felt his face heat up with embarrassment.

‘So much for keeping my emotions hidden away.’ Link thought to himself.

‘Hah, he was blushing a bit. That’s kinda cute.’ Revali thought to himself, but quickly pushed that thought away.

“You didn’t take in consideration that with the distance you are from the camp, with gravity pulling the arrow down, and air resistance, that the arrow would fall short and wouldn't hit the bomb.”

Link just scowled at the ground as his face grew hotter and redder.

“I’ll give you a little tip: When you’re aiming, pull your right arm straight, make sure to stand shoulder width apart, and don’t hesitate, don’t second guess, just shoot. I'll leave you to collect your reward, but make sure that my advice doesn’t leave your head, you’ll never be a great archer if you don’t do what I told you.” Revali told him, and then turned around to set off back to the Village. 

As Revali was going to fly up into the air, he heard Link say something, thought it was quiet and soft, it was definitely there.

“Thank you.” Link had said, in a barely there whisper.

When Revali looked back, Link had already jumped off the pillar, holding his paraglider over his head, making his way down to the monster camp.

Revali chuckled a little bit to himself, shook his head, then flew back to the village.

“Okay, I’m setting the updraft in 3… 2… 1… ” Revali counted down the seconds, and created the updraft, and Link pulled his paraglider over his head, sending him gliding up into the sky, as Revali flew alongside him. 

Link left the cylinder path of the updraft, and slowly drifted down to the edge of Vah Medoh, Revali right there by his side.

“Easy enough, right?” Revali said to Link as they landed on the mechanical being.

Link nodded his head and looked around Vah Medoh, seeing if anything had changed from the last time he was here with Revali. Though, back then, they weren’t as close as they are now.

“Ah, Vah Medoh, it’s been quite some time hasn’t it?” Revali spoke to the machine.

Link walked around the edge, looking down from this new height. 

He thought back to the gifts of the clothing that Revali had given him. He contemplated wearing it, but he was more comfortable with his usual Champion’s Tunic, as well as his old trousers, which gave him a feel of safety and comfort. He did like the headpiece a lot though, the soft feathers braided into his hair keeping his ears and his head mostly warm. As for the rest of his body, Link was slowly getting colder and colder, but decided to ignore it, so he wouldn’t seem dumb for not wearing better clothing.

Revali led the way to the control port of the beast, in which he could control the movements of Vah Medoh, though it was incredibly difficult, and required a lot of patience and knowledge. Revali was sure that with Link here with him, he could easily control Vah Medoh.

“So, last time we were here, you moved this piece over here, and that made Medoh tilt itself, right?” Revali said, reaching out for the control piece, and moved it to the side a little bit, and waited.

Link and Revali both felt the beast tilt itself a little bit to the right and heard the creaking of the beast, which made the two of them widen their stance a little bit to get some traction so they both don’t slide all the way to the right.

“Well at least we know that we could still tilt ol’ Medoh.” Revali said to no one in particular, though Link nodded his head at Revali.

At that time, Link felt a little bit of a chill crawl up his body, but tried his best not to shiver, so he wouldn’t alert Revali.

“Well, let’s test the other side, shall we?” Revali didn’t wait for an answer and moved the control piece to the left a little bit.

Once again, the creaking noise of the beast returned, and it tilted to the left so that it was level, but then it tilted more to the left, so that the beast was stationary and tilted to the left.

“Alrighty then, that part still works. I guess we could spend some time walking around Vah Medoh, and checking to see that everything is in tip-top shape around here, no?” Revali said, returning the control piece to the center, making Vah Medoh balance out, and Link let a little breath he didn’t know he was holding out.

Link saw his breath come out as a little puff of cold air, and knew that he was getting colder and colder, but he didn’t want to draw attention to it, so he just carried himself out as normally as possible. Though it was quite hard, the cold reached his face a little bit now, making his nose turn the slightest tinge of pink. He hoped that Revali wouldn’t notice it.

The two of them walked around the beast, Revali making a few comments about the architecture of Vah Medoh, and Link listened and nodded his head in understandment.

After seeing that everything was the way they left it, nothing but a few stray birds inside the beast, Revali and Link made their way outside, where Revali walked over to the ledge, and sat down, his legs dangling off the beast, and his hands behind him, propping himself up.

Link saw that as an invitation to sit down next to him, so he walked over to Revali, ignoring the blistering numbness in his toes and fingers, as well as the growing color of his cheeks and nose due to the cold. The wind from the turbine of the beast was definitely not helping at all, but Link told himself that he needed to ignore it and be strong.

He sat down next to the Rito, who was looking down at his village below.

“Link, I have seen major improvement in you since the first time we met. You have gotten amazingly good with your bow and arrow, as well as pushing away your doubts and just doing. I know that I do tease you a lot, and as fun as that is for me, just know that I’m proud of you, and I'm glad that I could have you here to help me control the beast. I hope the next time that you get to come to Rito Village, that we could possibly travel a little ways out and test out your skills, as well as mine.” Revali said.

It was a bit of a challenge for Revali to be so open with Link, but he realized that it was well overdue and the hero deserves some praise for all his hard work. After all, Link had done a great job, he might have even been a better archer than some of the Rito, but Revali would never tell Link that to Link. He has way too much pride in his people and his village.

Revali looked over at Link, and was appalled with himself how he didn’t notice earlier, Link’s skin had turned a bright color of pink, his nose a red color, and not due to Revali’s words, but due to the cold.

He knew that he should have told Link to change into something more appropriate before coming up here, but he didn’t really think that much about it.

“Dear Link, you’re freezing! You should have worn my gift to you, it would have been perfect for this occasion.” Revali said, standing up from where he was sitting, as Link scrambled up too, thought it was hard, the feeling in his body slowly being taken away from him by the blistering cold.

“Follow me here, Link, the wind shouldn’t be much of a problem.” Revali walked behind a wall, where it was blocking the wind from hitting them. 

It was quite a small wall, so it’d be a tight fit for Link to fit behind it with Revali, but a challenge is a challenge.

Link jogged over to where Revali was, the small amount of energy he used there got Link to regain some, not a lot, but some warmth back in him, but it wasn’t enough to warm him up completely.

Link sat down behind the wall where Revali was also sitting. 

Neither of them said anything, but Link started to visibly shiver more and more, the cold becoming a bit too much for him.

Now, Revali had two options that he was thinking over in his mind. He could tell Link that they could go back down to the Village, and go by the fire to get warm and call it a day. He could also put his wing around Link, and hug the little Hylian close to his body to warm him up with his own warmth.

He thought it over in his head, the latter would push him way out of his comfort zone, but it didn’t mean that he didn’t want to hug Link before he left. And this would give a good excuse to hug him, without it seeming too weird.

He chose that option and sighed a deep sigh. 

Slowly, he lifted his wing, and moved it behind Link’s head and around Link’s shoulder. He wrapped the edge of his wing around Link, slowly pulling him closer. Link looked up at Revali, confused, but also content with the warmth that was filling his body. Revali didn’t look at Link and kept his head looking straight.

Link felt the warmth radiate throughout his body and he could wiggle his fingertips and his toes again.

They sat there together in silence for a little bit, until Revali decided to speak up.

“You know, oftentimes, I find myself thinking about how I could never be the hero of Hyrule, and how you are a better fit for the job.” 

Link looked up at Revali in complete surprise, his words putting confusion in Link’s brain after he had heard him talk about how much better Revali would be as the hero. Now to hear him say the complete opposite, it took Link off-guard.

“Yes, I have raved and ranted about how I would like the position, but as I think about it, you are clearly the better choice.”

Link wanted to say something, but it seemed like Revali wasn’t done speaking, so he patiently waited for Revali to finish.

“I am a Rito, built to fly, and to thrive in the extreme cold. Although we are in a village surrounded by water, we are truly terrible swimmers, and it would ruin our delicate feathers, so I couldn’t possibly travel and fight at Zora’s Domain. Obviously, you could see the problem with Goron City, as it would be so hot, my feathers would be wilting off in seconds. Gerudo desert, well, it would give me any problem to get there, but you do know that the Gerudo only let females enter, where as you can tell, I am no female.”

Link gave a little chuckle at that.

“Although, you are no female, either, so I don’t really know how King Rhoam would have you travel and train there, but I’m sure you must have some trick up your sleeve or something.” Revali said.

Link thought back to one of Princess Zelda’s suggestions to get him into Gerudo Town. She suggested that he would dress up in traditional female Gerudo attire, in which Link was not willing to do so. He was a bit curious as to how he would look in the outfit he has seen a few Gerudo wear during his travels, but he felt as if he’d suffer from too much embarrassment if Princess Zelda, or even any of the other Champions were to see him. He made sure that Zelda knew the outfit was a last resort.

“It seems like you only have strengths and little to no weaknesses, Link, while I have clear strengths and weaknesses. It would be impossible for me to fulfill my duty if I were the hero. It was a smart decision from the King to make you the hero, as well as the Princess’s appointed knight.” He said, finally moving his head to look at Link.

The pair sat in silence for a couple of moments, letting the special moment simmer and develop. Finally, Link spoke up.

“I appreciate you telling me, Revali, and I’m sure that your people love and respect your work.” Link said, hoping that all his thoughts he was trying to get out was said in that one small sentence.

Now, it was Revali’s time to be surprised. He really wasn’t expecting Link to say anything, he just wanted to get his feelings off his chest.

“And I’m sure that all of Hyrule respects and loves their hero.” Revali said.

The two of them stayed cuddled up for a little while longer, reveling in the little time they had before Link had to take Epona and go back to the Hyrule Castle for his next task.

The two had definitely grown closer during this time, though they made sure that it wouldn’t change too much between them, as they were both caught in small periods of vulnerability.