Chapter Text
Hebra was particularly cold that day. That he’d expect it to be warm at all, this was Hebra after all. But the day had brought a significant chill that he’d felt even through his thick layers of feathers.
The rito looked out towards the direction of Rito Village from the Flight Range. He’d probably be able to last about an hour out here before Kyllele came to drag him to the village. He looked up at the sky- make that twenty minutes max. That bird brain was getting more unbearable every day. Empty nest syndrome perhaps?
He stretched out his wings, hearing them pop. A few steps took him to the edge of the platform of the Flight Range, which overlooked the deep chasm. He spread his wings before jumping off, the wind rushing around him.
He threw the falcon bow from his talons into his wing, practice making the movement instinctual as he readied the arrow to aim.
The feeling that brief moment would fill him with would never grow old, as time narrowed and the winds would calm long enough to provide him the time he needed. It never lasted long, the updrafts provided by the Flight Range’s geographical location only able to provide him what they could.
If he could only figure out how the winds worked, then he could-
“REVALI!”
Well. Whatever he ‘could’ do would have to wait.
Revali rolled his eyes, his wings easily catching the updrafts to fly back over to the platform. He laid the falcon bow on the guard rail, using that moment to stretch his neck before he was dragged back to the village.
“Are you just going to stay staring at the sky or are you going to get your tail feathers over here?” Kyllele’s voice broke through the air.
Revali let out a drawn out sigh to which Kyllele said “Don’t you dare start. You can go and sulk off later.”
He turned his head to look at Kyllele, who stood in the entrance of the Flight Range’s hut. The old warrior feathers were still, with a permanent frown painting his face. He was in one of his moods then.
“I don’t sulk.” Revali grabbed his quiver, ignoring Kyllele’s face at that. Rude man. “What brings you here? The sun hasn’t even started to set.”
“It will soon enough. Let’s go.”
Revali wasn't able to add another complaint before Kyllele left the hut. De didn’t make any immediate movements to follow him though. He knew the old rito would wait for him. He always did, even if just to make sure Revali left the Flight Range.
His eyes went to the ledge in the Flight Range’s roof where the limb of a bow stuck out. As much as he’d like to push his luck, Kyllele’s hearing was sharp. Ridiculously so.
He knew better than to test Kyllele’s patience when he was like this, even if the origin as to why were currently unknown.
(He also didn’t want to give away one of his storing spots when the bow wasn’t even finished. It was his best prototype so far and if Kyllele knew this was one of the reasons he was avoiding sleep, he may as well say goodbye to the bow forever.)
Shouldering the quiver, Revali stepped out onto the platform overlooking the chasm of the Flight Range that nurtured its updrafts. Kyllele stood now at the entrance, tapping his foot on the ground impatiently.
Revali stepped off the platform, twisting in the air before landing a bit away from Kyllele. His face only spelled exasperation.
“You’ve been spending too much time with Tasli.” he muttered, handing Revali the falcon bow he’d been holding onto.
“Need I remind you what you always say? “A good warrior always learns from others?” I'm merely doing what you said.”
Revali started to make his way down the hill, Kyllele following behind. Revali walked at a slower pace to give the old man some time to catch up. Despite his insistence to hurry up, Kyllele took his sweet time.
“Yet you only do when you want to show off. What a humble student.” He muttered, looking towards the village.
“ Unofficial student. And I resent your sarcasm.”
Kyllele looked at the sun. “Come on. We’ve wasted enough time with your little trick.”
Revali raised a brow at that, biting the urge to snap something back at him.
“Why are you in such a hurry?” he chose to ask.
“I don’t want the night to catch up to us.”
There it was, the urge to roll his eyes. “You’re worrying for nothing. It is still a long time before night is here.”
“With the increase of bokoblins and moblins, I do not want to risk them getting a lucky shot,” the white rito would mutter.
Rolling his eyes, Revali glanced over at Rito village. The main pillars stood tall, with several houses already turning on their lights for dusk. The market place was visible but it would soon only be distinguishable from the several lights that were stringed around the place.
Kyllele’s gaze was on the east pillar, where his house remained. He always had this look on his face when he did that. Revali never quite knew why. Was the rito’s house really that interesting? Said rito must've had a sixth sense, turning his head to match Revali’s own glare with a raised brow.
“Well? Aren’t we heading back then?”
Kyllele opened his beak to answer when the thunder of hooves on snow sounded. The two snapped to attention, both sliding out their bows. Revali loaded an arrow while Kyllelle held his wing out in a hold motion.
Two red bokoblins had managed to get onto the horses that hung around the Flight Range. The black one on the side was giving its bokoblin trouble though; it kept trying to buck the monster off. The red spotted one just looked bored.
Revali groaned, clacking his beak “Ugh. I thought I’d gotten rid of them yesterday.”
Kyllele’s glare turned to him,his voice low “You didn’t alert me of monsters near the Flight Range?”
“I told Rizu like I’m supposed to. If he chose not to mention it, I was not aware of it.” he said plainly. He should’ve known Rizu wouldn’t alert Kyllele of this. Well, now it was Rizu who was going to get chewed out. It was no longer his problem.
Kyllele gritted his beak in exasperation, motioning for Revali to make the shot. The two bokoblins fell from their horses, who quickly spooked at the sudden limp bodies that had fallen into the snow.
The red one hurried after the black horse as it ran away, deeper into the forested area. Both Revali and Kylelle watched as they ran off before turning over to the downed monsters.
“The numbers are increasing aren’t they?” Revali asked, his bow resting again as they went closer to the bodies.
“Patrols have been noticing a certain increase in these beasts. It’s starting to become too much a nuisance to just ignore it.” the chief muttered, crouching down to move the body with a wing. Revali resisted the urge to gag at the thing’s still slobbering mouth.
“Off to alert the Elder then? The daily chiefs meeting is soon, if I’m not mistaken, which is a perfect opportunity to alert the others of this,” he asked, his wings innocently “Seeing that they were found near my Flight Range then-”
“It isn’t me you should be asking to get into the warrior’s meeting. It’s Rizu who gets that final call.” Kyllele interrupted him, walking past him to the ledge that faced Rito Village.
“It’s not like that rito even trains me!” Revali would rush on over to Kyellele who merely sighed “And are you not the warrior chief? You quite literally have the ability to tell Rizu to shove his pride up his-”
“Revali, we go through this every single day,” Kyellele wouldn’t even face Revali anymore, his voice dripping with pure exasperation. “Rizu is still your designated teacher. The elder made that choice and no matter how vocal you are against it, Imani will not budge. You know that.”
“Well, it is just asinine!”
“...Did you pick up a thesaurus just to use that word?” Revali’s feathers puffed up at the accusation.
“Just because you refuse to actually culture your mind with literature does not make my word choice peculiar. And don't you dare change the subject.”
Kyllele stood now right on the very edge, raising a tired wing as a halt. Revali only stopped out of pure pity for the old bird. He was lucky his feathers were white, if not who knew how many would’ve gone grey merely by being near him.
“Revali, can we please continue this another time? It’s late. I have an early meeting to attend.”
It wasn’t even that late in Revali’s wise opinion.
“Fine.” He crossed his wings, glaring at Kyllele’s head before stepping off the ledge. He opened his wings, using the light but strong breeze that ran through the chasm to fly. He was not waiting for Kyllele this time, not if the chief was going to be stubborn again.
He didn’t add any burst of speed to the flight like he normally would. Kyllele truly had looked tired this time. Tired, in that sense that hollowed a Rito out. Had it been Revali’s arguing that had caused it? Or was it merely the looming question of the increase in monsters, only strengthened by Revali’s prodding?
Tullou would know best. She was also the only one who would tell Revali the ongoing events of the village. He’d need some bribery if he didn’t catch her in a nice mood- they did sell rather nice, fine wine every now and then at Tabantha Stable.
He’d land on the highest landing platform of the central pillar, giving the sky a thoughtful glance. The rito merchant with the wine should be passing sometime during the week. If not, that meant he’d have to find another source. Tasli flitted by for a moment in his mind but he threw the stray thought with a shudder. Tasli was as reliable as the sunny weather in Hebra. Which was not at all.
A soft thud on the wooden boards alerted him to Kyllele landing.
“Promised Goss I’d help him out with something,” The rito would answer Revali’s questioning glare “Go to sleep Revali. No sneaking off into the Flight Range, I will know.”
Kyllele didn’t wait for any sort of acknowledgement from Revali, already heading down the stairs circling the pillar.
Revali merely glowered at the rito’s back as he left, turning around to head to the opposite way to head to Tullou’s house. Call it his own form of rebellion, but he wasn’t going to go to sleep just yet.
Tullou, exactly as he expected, was still awake, whittling away at one of the many bows she was working on. The light of the candle outlined the purple rito, the sun’s last rays already disappearing.
He waited near the outside as Tullou stubbornly refused to acknowledge his presence. He wasn’t inventing things either. There was a reason Tullou was as highly regarded as she was, not only because she was the best (and only) bowyer in the village.
A beat passed when Tullou finally decided to acknowledge the young rito standing by the entrance.
“Kid, just get your tail feathers over here and get what you are looking for. I’m busy.” Finally,
He’d enter the hut, a wide array of bows of different sizes and models hanging on the stands. There were small wood chips littering the ground along with feathers.
Tullou didn’t look back around to stare at him, her attention fully on the newest project laying over the scarf covering her left wing. Or where the wing would be.
Revali saw Tullou’s crest twitch. Typical giveaway to his presence being annoying.
Tullou didn’t stop working on the bow as she asked “What did Kyllele do this time?”
“I am glad that you asked! He first forced me out of the flight range and would not-”
“Ah, so the same as always. Can you pass me the small draw knife? Tass wanted his bow with details.” Revali scowled at Tullou but still looked over her desk and cabinets to find the tiny thing.
“Since when does Tass of all rito want details on his bow?” he’d mutter loud enough for Tullou to hear, still looking through the mess the rito had in her hut. He’d crouch down to look under her desk, moving apart the several boxes of material and broken limbs she had.
“Since when were you so nosy about Tass?”
The small knife was wedged in between the back of the desk and one of the boxes. He reached out for it, grabbing it by the handle before going to sit next to Tullow. The purple rito didn’t look up, only swapping the knife in Revali’s hold for the one she’s been holding prior.
“Can’t I be curious about my flockmates?”
“No. Not when you gossip more than a parakeet.” She said it so plainly and monotone without a hint of hesitation. Revali felt that he ought to be offended.
Tullou would look the bow over before flipping it over to correct some stray splinters. A few moments of silence passed as Revali sat there, watching Tullou slowly correct the issues present. The sun was already gone, the firefly lights and candles the only thing preventing the village from entering eternal darkness. It wouldn't be long before the lights were turned off completely. That brought a whole new issue to the table, he remembered after a moment.
“...I left my hammock in the flight range.”
“And here I thought you were here to provide this old rito some company. Just take the spare one, it should be in the second box as always.”
That was the best he was going to get. He would get up, shaking off the dust that clung to his feathers before moving over to where the path to the second area of Tullou's hut.
A soft tired sigh echoed through, “If you really want to know, there’s something going on. The elder is worried about something and it’s spreading to Kyllele. It’s spreading to everyone frankly. Not that you would realize, being cooped up in the Flight Range.”
Revali would turn his head back to stare at Tullou. She didn’t elaborate much more so he’d prod, “Why is Imani worried about it? If it’s just the beasts then it isn’t anything new. Our warriors can handle it.”
“Rumors like to fly faster than the truth. But Imani’s worried the truth won’t change anything.” she’d murmur, plucking at the string she’d connected just moments prior to the bow’s limbs.
That was certainly ominous of her. What was it with the older rito and dancing around the subject rather than just talking? He thought Tullou wasn't as bad as the others but this just proved him wrong. All of the rito had something against telling him what was going on, and he said exactly that to Tullou with an annoyed tone.
“Don’t worry about kid. Leave it to Kylelle to fret over it.”
“I am not a kid!” his feathers puffed up at that. He was nearly 18 thank you very much.
Tullou would respond with a snort, finally turning to look at Revali with a raised brow. The bright red paint around her eyes stood made her green eyes stand out more, highlighting the teasing glint that shone in them “The day those cheek spots of yours disappear I’ll ditch the nickname. Until then, your bedtime stays the same.”
“You are infuriating.”
She merely hummed in response, returning to work on the bow. A beat passed as Revali turned around, moving up to the second raft where he knew the spare was.
Rumors. He knew what she meant by that (he did actually interact with others contrary to what Tullou thought). Rumors of legends that were meant to just be legends had been spreading everyday like wildfire. If these rumors hadn’t yet been killed off by Imani, these weren’t merely rumors.
…Hopefully Imani was just being lazy.