Chapter Text
"Okay. First thing's first," Link spoke as he handed Zelda a bowl, "We have to go and report to each race. Tell them we defeated Ganon and all that. We've had plenty of time to rest. I'm sure the others are concerned."
"Right," She nodded, "That's a good idea. They'll have no idea what's going on. My! Link, this is excellent!"
Link smiled as she spooned some of the soup into his own bowl, "Aweee! Thanks, that means a lot to me. I've spent *ages* trying to perfect my cooking skills."
"Of course," She smiled back as she finished off her soup in no time, "Well then. Who are we going to visit first?"
They thought for a moment before giving his response, "I think we should leave the Gorons for last. They'll be the least upset about being left in the dark for longer. Any of the others would kill me if I visited them last. That being said, we'll probably have to spend the most amount of time in Zora's domain, so they'll be third. Teba and Saki will be *really* worried so I'd like to visit them first, which leaves Gerudo Town in second. The girls know that I can handle myself so they'll be less upset about not being told first."
"That sounds like a good plan! When should we leave? How long do you think it will take to get there?"
"Now. And two seconds."
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Zelda gasped as the tingling feeling wore off. She fell to her knees, legs refusing to support her, "What was that!?"
Link laughed above her, not being affected as she was, "Teleportation, Princess. I do that a lot. It's how I get around. You're gonna have to get used to it!"
"I never want to do that again," She said as Link helped her get up. They walked through the village for a minute, fortunately, they weren't that far from the village head's hut. Zelda was able to take a seat there as Link spoke to him. They spoke about the calamity's defeat and what was to happen with Hyrule after. Although, there wasn't much to say about the second point as there wasn't a plan just yet.
"I'll make sure to gather the heads of every race some point soon so that we may discuss it all in detail," She said.
The elder laughed at their words, "Oh, I won't be much good for traveling. Teleportation or not. Would you mind if I sent Teba instead?"
"Of course," Link's eyes lit up just a little, "I'd be happy to treat Teba as your delegate. And on that note. Tulin! Good try but I still noticed you!"
"Dang it," A small voice shouted as a white Rito child fell from the roof, "I totally thought I had you!"
"Uh-huh," Link laughed, "You totally almost had me. Maybe train for a hundred years! Then you'll be close."
"You're so mean," Tulin shouted as Link ruffled his feathers, "But I'm getting good! Right?"
"Considering Zelda didn't seem to notice you, I think you're doing great!"
The Princess laughed, "I truly didn't! You caught me quite off guard. That's an amazing feat little one."
"Yeah! I'm awesome! Just like big sibling Link," He shouted then ran off, "Daaaaaad! Link and Princess Zelda said I'm doing good with my stealth training! Also, Link and Princess Zelda are here!"
There was a frantic flapping of wings and suddenly a taller white rito was leaning against the door, "Link!"
She laughed and waved at him, "Hey, Teba."
He sighed and walked forward to sit beside her, looking her over for injuries, "Honestly. You didn't think to come visit us earlier? Me and Saki were worried sick! Medoh fired off that canon she'd been charging for ages and suddenly the dark mass around the castle disappeared. I was so scared that you died to defeat the calamity. Especially since you didn't tell anyone you were going!"
Teba wrapped his wings around the young champion and they whispered to each other for a minute. Zelda watched the interaction, her gaze soft. She was so, so glad that Link had people to care for and about them on his journey. She was ecstatic that he wasn't truly alone as she feared they would be.
Eventually, the Rito had released her and they started talking about what to do now.
Link outside the hut as she spoke, "I'd like to check on Vah-Medoh. See if she's okay. Maybe she'll even let me in again."
"I would also like to check on the state of the divine beasts," Zelda nodded along, "Maybe see if we can find..."
"Well that's a morbid thought," Link laughed slightly, as he tried to lighten the air again. They all knew what Zelda was trying to say. She wanted to see if she could find any remnants of the Champions. It was a fair thing to ask for. No one had been able to check for those hundred years. If it could give her just the littlest bit of relief it was worth it.
Teba looked between the two and sighed, "Alright then. No time like the present. Come on you two. Let's go see if Medoh will let us in."
"You're gonna come?"
"Someone needs to supervise you."
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"Last time I visited she wouldn't even let me near," Link placed her hand on the Beast's talon as she perched on the spire, "I think we can go in."
"Okay... how," Zelda scanned the Beast for any sort of entrance, unable to find any.
"If I had to guess-"
"We have to get her up in the air!"
And boy was that a statement. First of all... How!? Vah-Medoh was piloted by Revali. Only Revali should be able to get her up in the air. Even if they were able to get *her* up, here comes the second of all, how would they get up *to* her!?
Zelda sighed and went to voice her concerns when suddenly Link was thirty feet up in the air. He landed on the Beast and... began talking to her. Zelda and Teba watched this interaction for a minute, debating on who should tell Link that this was kind of pointless. Again, Zelda went to call up to him but didn't get the chance to speak.
Vah-Medoh began to creek and you could hear her gears whizzing. She took off into the air and began circling Rito Village just as she had been before. Link dove down to the ground and looked up at her with Zelda and Teba.
"That's great Link," Zelda sighed, "You managed to get her up in the air. Now how do *we* get there?"
Link gave her a smirk and pulled out the slate, grabbing onto both of his companions, "Teleportation!"
Zelda was shivering on the ground again in seconds. Teba looked as if he was barely standing as well, "I will never get used to that."
"Hey, We're here, aren't we? This was probably the easiest, fastest, and most efficient way," She shrugged as she put the slate away, "Anyways! We're here now! We should start exploring."
Zelda slowly got up and steadied herself, "If I fall off this thing and die it's your fault."
"I'd catch you," Link elbowed her in the side, as if he had made a joke. Zelda didn't quite get it, but whatever.
Teba walked behind the two as they all entered the Beast. Vah-Medoh was as steady as she'd ever been. Link showed Zelda all the mechanisms, demonstrating to her how they worked. It took her a minute to get used to the ground constantly tilting every which way, but she was able to keep her footing eventually. Teba was sitting and watching them from a higher point, wondering why Medoh needed all these elaborate puzzles.
"Then there's the top," Link said, as they shifted the Beast once more, this time to a purely upright position, "It's where I fought the Blight. Up there."
They pointed to a wind current that blew up into a hole in the ceiling. Zelda looked at it in shock, "How the hell did I not notice that before?!"
Link shrugged and equipped her paraglider, leaving Zelda and Teba in the lower room. They both sighed. Teba picked Zelda up and flew the both of them to the top where Link was waiting for them.
He waved them over to the large structure they were standing by, "Over here! I think this is the control panel?"
"It shouldn't be," Zelda grabbed the Sheika Slate and started photographing it, "This... structure. Yes, we'll call it that. This structure wasn't there before. It reminds me of the bulb of a flower."
"Well, The Blight manifested out of it. Maybe it's a Ganon thing," Link shrugged, pressing their hand to it, "Damn. I know we're real high, but that's *cold*!"
Zelda gave her a weird look but pressed her own hand to the structure. She jumped and pulled it away upon realizing just how cold it was, "Oh! ...That's freezing!"
"It's as cold as the water in the shrine of resurrection," Link said, prompting Teba to touch the structure.
"That is cold," He looked confused, "Rito tend to be very good in the cold, but even I have to admit that that's *too* cold. Especially since there's no frost."
Zelda put her hand to the structure once again and began feeling around it. Inspecting it, hoping to find something that would tell them what it was, "It's... hollow?"
"There's also a gap between the petals over here," Link responded nonchalantly, "It's glowing blue!"
"What," The Princess shouted as she ran over to the side of the structure Link was at. She ran her fingers along the gap and took a couple of pictures. She observed it the best she could, but didn't try to pry it open, "How strange. Link, what do you think could be inside here?"
She shrugged again and took the Slate from Zelda, "Dunno, but there are a couple things I could try to find out!"
"Don't," Teba put a hand on his shoulder, "If it's something important you could damage it. It's better to find the natural way to open it, or at least a non-destructive way."
"Damn. Researching sucks," He sighed. He handed the Slate back to Zelda, "I just wanna pry it open."
"No. Now, come help us look around to find a way to open it."
The three walked all around Medoh, looking everywhere they could think of. Eventually, they met back up at the structure. None of them had found anything at all and they just wasted an hour.
"It'll be dark soon," Teba observed, "It's probably best to head back and try more tomorrow."
Zelda sighed, "I suppose. Damn! I was really hoping to figure this out quickly. There's no way I'll be able to sleep with this on my mind."
"Still. It's better to actually rest than spend your waking hours exhausting yourself," Teba started walking to the edge, hoping they would follow him.
"Lemme try one more thing," Link shouted after him. They walked up to the control panel once more, this time with the Slate. He tapped the slate against the main control panel, just to see what would happen. He wasn't expecting anything, so of course something did happen.
She yelped and jumped back as the structure began to creak and open. The three stared in shock as it unfurled and then retracted into the floor. Teba quickly made his way back, shoving the Hylians behind him.
Water spilled out all over the ground as the petals fully retracted and left a wet lump on the ground. Teba told the two to stay put as he crept forward to inspect it. Grabbing his bow, he prepared to knock an arrow as he approached.
He quickly dropped it upon reaching the lump, "Link. Zelda. Come here. Now."
They looked between each other, but approached nonetheless. They peered around either side of the Rito, hiding their bodies behind him. The lump was a mass of feathers and cloth. The blue liquid soaked it and they could tell it was faintly moving. It was...
Breathing.
Zelda quickly gave up her cover and surged forward. She kneeled on the ground next to him and rolled him into a more comfortable position. She checked his pulse and made sure he didn't have any injuries.
Link handed her a hearty elixer as he spoke once more, "I don't think this is what you quite meant when you said you were looking for remnants of the Champions."