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In the wake of Calamity Ganon’s demise, Hyrule Field seemed totally at peace, now that the area was no longer permeated by roaming Guardians. Princess Zelda and her silent, loyal, protective knight Link setup camp under a lonesome tree, sprouting beside a ruined farmhouse and dilapidated stables. The ivy woven, partially collapsed fence posts were ideal for tying up their horses.
Link slept soundly, tangled in wild flowers and tree roots. His rest was well earned. Meanwhile, Zelda remained awake - keeping a watchful eye out, in case a group of Bokoblins or Lizalfos decided to launch an attack. Unfortunately, their numbers had not dwindled, and they continued to be a pesky nuisance.
On this quiet moonlit night, Link’s loud snores offered her much needed company. Tranquil, minute sounds produced by nature - such as their noble steeds nibbling on fresh, drizzle soaked grass, chirping restless crickets and a hooting owl - also soothed the Princess.
The beautiful silver moon disappeared behind a dull, grey, foreboding cloud. Without that large natural light source, a festering nightmarish void seized the opportunity and swallowed up the once picturesque landscape. In this warped environment, unknown threats possessed a tactical advantage. Zelda chewed anxiously on her inside cheek, successfully splitting a scab and filling her mouth with a warm copper taste. Her green eyes flickered across the monstrous looming darkness, before settling on the fire pit, where two meat and mushroom skewers roasted, while flames danced and lapped up the charred, blackened wood in a hypnotic fashion.
The orange glow would keep the creeping shadows at bay.
She checked on their meal, which was progressing rather nicely. Her ravenous stomach growled, and her mouth began salivating. Only meagre berries had passed her lips that day, and they did not satisfy her hunger.
Half an hour should do the trick, and then we can finally eat. She thought, her gaze briefly drifting over Link’s sleeping form. It’ll be a shame to wake him though. He looks so content.
Zelda collected a short stick off the muddy ground and prodded the burning logs. A few embers lurched from within, hoping to catch her arm and set her sky blue tunic ablaze. Alas, she pulled her hand away in the nick of time and those sparks missed, failing to spread the fire. Better luck next time.
Who knew playing the role of chef could be so exhilarating.
“How preposterous.” An oddly familiar voice uttered, shattering the hushed atmosphere.
The Princess stifled a yelp and whirled around, wide eyes scanning her surroundings for the source.
She saw nothing. However, Link’s hazel brown horse and her own pure snow white one were both restless, tugging at their restraints and yearning to flee. The air felt dense and colder, akin to a frost bitten wind blowing from the Hebra Mountains. Even her irregular breathing created foggy plumes upon leaving her lips.
“You’re cooking for him, shouldn’t it be the other way round?” The voice questioned. They were closer now, but also... Above her?
She craned her neck and squinted at the overhead tree branches. There, amongst the shimmering, healthy green leaves, perched a figure. This... being was surrounded by a pale ethereal light.
The stranger hopped down and gracefully landed next to Link, who did not stir. “I mean- honestly, someone of your royal status doing such a degrading task? He’s not even helping, just napping. So rude.”
“...Revali?” Zelda’s mouth fell agape and she froze in shock.
The Rito Champion stood prim and proper, with his large wings crossed behind his back. His head was elevated slightly and perfectly still, as if he was attempting to balance an object on his beak. “And what’s that sound he’s making? I mistook it for a wild boar caught in a hunter’s trap and screaming in pain. It’s enough racket to wake up those blasted machines.”
The Princess launched herself towards him, yearning to embrace her long lost friend in a tight hug. But she merely phased through Revali, as if he was never there at all.
She was startled at first, when she teetered and almost fell headfirst down the slippery slope. She had foolishly expected to make contact and be welcomed into his wings, but realisation hit hard and fast. She stared at the emptiness between her outstretched hands, and imagined clutching his indigo feathers in her balled fists. “Oh... You’re not really here.” Zelda whispered, her voice quaking whilst tears threatened to fall.
“Not entirely, no. But I am here in spirit.” He said, a pleased grin decorating his beak.
A chuckle escaped her, but that brief moment of rest bite did not banish the melancholy seeping into her heart. “Was that a joke?”
“I couldn’t possibly say.” Revali answered, his smile growing wider. He glided effortlessly through the fire, without so much as catching alight, and stood mere inches away. “It’s good to see you again, Princess.” He said, his voice soft and delicate, like a wistful tune played on an ocarina. Although the sickly green glow dulled his once vibrant, majestic plumage, his emerald eyes still shone brighter than the moon, and sparkled with warm sincerity.
Zelda clasped her hand against her thundering chest. “It’s good to see you too.” She replied. After they parted ways under the shadow of Mount Lanayru... For the longest time, she believed that was their last meeting. Was this a gift from Hylia? A chance to say all the things she should have said many, many years ago?
His eyes flickered up and down her outline, before settling on her face, where he could absorb her wonderful features. “You haven’t aged a day.”
Was that an observation or a compliment?
The Princess curled a golden ringlet around her finger. “Neither have you.” She pointed out, hoping to distract him from the red flush overwhelming her cheeks.
The Champion clicked his tongue and walked towards the encompassing darkness, beyond the reaches of their campfire. “Comes with the territory of being dead.”
Zelda’s heart crashed against the floor, shattering into tiny, fragmented pieces. How could he be so nonchalant about such a grim, existential nightmare?
That is when the doubts began to plague her mind. “Revali, I thought once Calamity Ganon was defeated, you and the other Champions would be set free. Are you not allowed to move on to the Spirit Realm? Did I do something wrong?” She asked, anxiously cupping her hands together and digging her finger nails deep under the skin of her palm.
Revali’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. “What? No! Nothing like that.” He swiftly reassured. “I just decided to stay.”
Her jaw dropped, forming a perfect ‘O’ shape. “You... What?”
“The Spirit Realm looked awfully boring when I first arrived. There was nothing to do, apart from stand around in a white void. Imagine spending an eternity in a place like that! It would drive anyone insane. So I left.” He explained, his gaze flighty and unfocused. Apparently a wriggling earthworm was far more interesting to stare at.
Zelda’s confused expression morphed into a frown. That doesn’t sound right at all. “But, if the myths are to be believed, anyone who enters the Spirit Realm cannot return. The door which bridges this world and the next is a one-way system.” She rattled off her basic knowledge on this particular subject. Information was scarce and the books in her mother’s study lacked factual proof, since researchers had never been able to converse with ghosts. “Those that remain are restless spirits... With unfinished business.”
Revali went deathly silent. She could practically see the cogs whirling inside his head, sputtering and spitting smoke. After what felt like hours, he threw his wings up in surrender. “You caught me. I underestimated your vast intellect.”
“So why are you here? And don’t lie to me this time.” She warned.
“Why, to guarantee that insufferable knight of yours stays humble, of course! I have an endless list of grievances and remarks, which means my work will never be complete. You’re stuck with me forever.”
The Princess was not satisfied nor convinced by that purely fabricated answer. “Are you physically incapable of telling the truth, Revali?”
He exhaled a long, heavy, frustrated sigh and his perfect posture dipped ever so slightly. “It’s nothing for you to be concerned about, Princess. Besides, I didn’t come here to talk about myself.”
“There’s a first.” Zelda teased.
“What can I say, Revali the Rito Legend is a fascinating topic, and one I’m an expert on.” He said, flashing his signature smirk. “Would you accompany me for a little stroll? Preferably far far away from this infernal noise.” He then requested, shooting Link an annoyed glare.
“Of course.” She accepted without a moment's thought.
“Excellent!” Revali clapped his wings together, before performing an elegant one hundred and eighty degree spin and marching off into the night. “Do try to keep up.”
Zelda jogged the initial distance, but slowed her pace once she reached him, in order to match his stride. As they walked in silence, a fond memory resurfaced from the deepest depths within her mind. She remembered strolling in the palace gardens, weaving through a hedge maze, her arm hooked around Revali’s wing. Her fingers brushed his soft feathers, while the midday sun kissed her pale skin. The Champion paused alongside a flower bush, plucked a white rose from its stalk, and carefully tucked it behind her ear.
If only she could hold him like that once more.
The black void that encompassed Hyrule Field was punctuated by a cluster of sunset fireflies, dancing amongst the thick vegetation. As soon as Zelda approached the tiny insects, they swarmed around her, eager to examine this large, foreign creature. She giggled as their buzzing wings tickled her arms and combed through her blonde locks. However, they completely ignored Revali - in fact, even the grass below his talons did not react. Only then did she notice that, besides a whistling gale - which magically followed him everywhere he ventured - he was entirely soundless. The colourful beads woven into his perfect, intricate braids no longer produced pleasant jingles or gentle taps when they clashed together. Meanwhile, his non-corporeal form seemed to shift, like sea foam breaking on a sandy beach. The miniature eternal flames orbiting him rivalled that of her new friends.
The Rito swivelled round and admired the joyous sight. The adoring smile he wore soon faded, allowing sadness to dominate his features, and... Were those tears in his eyes or a trick of the light?
He averted his gaze before Zelda could properly discern the truth.
The sunset fireflies drifted away and vanished into the night. Her eyes darted from left to right, as she tried to watch them go, but it was surprisingly easy to lose track. Where were they going? To become one with the stars?
The Rito Champion cleared his throat, loud and deliberately. “Princess, I’d like to ask you something, but you don’t have to answer if it makes you feel uncomfortable.”
She laughed nervously. “Alright.”
Revali’s sharp, piercing eyes lingered on Hyrule Castle. The smouldering ruin that was once her home, where Guardian corpses lay scattered and forgotten. “When you were holding back Ganon and waiting for Link to awaken, were you... conscious?”
Zelda hugged her own chest, whilst a hundred years of pain and suffering became etched into the haunted expression on her youthful face. “I was... and I wasn’t.” She began. The circumstances of her self-imprisonment and endless torment were difficult to explain, namely from a theoretical standpoint, but also... an emotional one. “I gave up my physical form and latched myself to Ganon. I became part of him. My hopes and dreams, my regrets and my mistakes - they were all burned away, until I was nothing but a single thought. Stop him. Every second was a battle for survival, there were moments where I struggled to remember who I was and what I was fighting for. It became increasingly impossible to keep myself grounded in reality, when wave after wave of malice kept crashing over me. He was relentless. It was like a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from. I felt like I was dying in a thousand different ways, each one more excruciating than the last.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to open up old wounds.” He apologised immediately for acting so oblivious towards her trauma. He outstretched a wing, hoping to provide a small level of comfort, only to remember that mere touch was impossible. His wing fell limp and uselessly next to his hip.
“No, no- it’s fine. It’s good to talk about it with someone.” The Princess reassured, despite recounting the events deeply unsettling her. “What about you? Were you conscious during your one hundred years of solitude?”
“I was. But my experience wasn’t as torturous as yours. Medoh’s anguished screams were upsetting for the first week or so, but I eventually tuned them out. After that, I was... Lonely.” Revali’s voice grew quieter and wavered off towards the end of his sentence. His gaze shifted away from Hyrule Castle and stared off into the distance. “Look, you can see her from here.” He said, awkwardly switching the painful topic. He elevated his indigo wing and pointed a single feather at something beyond her line of sight. His aim was so precise, he almost seemed prepared to loosen an arrow at his target.
Zelda squinted, but saw nothing aside from rolling hills and pine trees. “What am I meant to be looking at?”
“Oh, right. I forgot your eyesight isn’t as sharp as mine.” He muttered, his wing briefly grazing his beak and clamping it shut, to prevent anymore stupidity from spewing out. The last one hundred years had certainly stunted both their social skills. Although, they were never graceful when conversing with each other to begin with. Why could that be? Zelda was so lost in thought, she almost did not hear Revali’s next admission. “As much as I adore Medoh and Rito Village, it’s good to get away for a little while.”
The Princess’s jaw hit the floor. “But that’s your home!”
“It is. And it always will be. But there’s no one left who even knows me. I’ve become a myth. A story to tell hatchlings before their first flying or archery lesson. What will happen after another hundred years? Will I fade into obscurity? Will they even remember my name?” He wondered aloud, his carefully constructed mask slipping and revealing a petrified soul underneath the surface.
“Are you afraid of being forgotten, Revali?” Zelda dared to ask.
“Very much so. But isn’t everyone?”
“True, but not as much as you.” She pointed out. The Princess waited for a witty remark, which would brush off that keen observation and sweep it under the rug. But no comeback emerged from his beak. There was only silence. Thick, suffocating. She could feel herself drowning in it. “What’s the real reason you came here?”
“Is it so hard to believe that I just wanted to see you?” Revali questioned in a rather hushed tone.
“Yes! I mean- come on, it is so obvious that you’re lying!” She cried. “Your unfinished business, does it have something to do with me?”
“No- it’s not that-“ He stammered, quickly avoiding her unwavering stare.
“What is it then?” She pried, whilst moving into his line of sight and forcing him to make eye contact.
In retaliation, he fully turned his back on her. “I can’t tell you.”
“Revali, you can tell me anything.” Zelda attempted to console him. She yearned to reach out and touch his shoulder.
A brief pause followed. The Champion exhaled heavily and his shoulders sank, causing his broad frame to shrink. “I never should have come here.” He whispered, a slight tremor in his once loud boisterous voice.
“Why did you?”
Revali whirled around, shame and regret swirling in his emerald green eyes. “Because I couldn’t help myself. Because I thought I was ready to share my well kept secret. But I’m a foolish believer. I couldn’t speak truthfully when I was alive, why would death change anything?”
“So you’re content to wander Hyrule for eternity as a restless spirit?”
“Oh, that doesn’t sound too bad. Being stuck here forever has its advantages. As a ghost, there aren’t any limitations. I can go anywhere I desire, explore the furthest reaches of Hyrule and beyond.” He deflected her concerns.
“If you intend to act as our guardian angel for a few more decades, then what happens after Link and I pass away? You’ll be all alone. You won’t find solace at Rito Village, you said so yourself, no one there knows you. Not the real you. You wonder what will happen after another hundred years - how about a thousand? Ten thousand? There will be nothing left for you here.” She firmly stated. He needs a hard dose of reality. “Is that what you want, Revali? Do you want to spend eons in complete and utter isolation?”
“If it’s to spare you from the pain that I’ve had to endure - then yes. I'd be more than happy to suffer.” He nobly declared, sentencing himself to an afterlife of torment and misery.
Zelda clasped her hand to her chest and stepped closer to him. “Revali... From now until my dying day, I will feel nothing but sorrow and guilt, knowing that you’re trapped in the mortal realm. And I will always be haunted by the notion that I could have done something to prevent that. So please... Share this burden with me.” She pleaded, ready to drop to her knees and beg him for answers.
“Alright, if I must.” The Champion admitted defeat. His overall mood then shifted into a somewhat more upbeat, positive attitude. “Princess, could you try something for me?”
The Princess cocked her head, curiosity and confusion knitted into her furrowed brow. “Try what?”
“Close your eyes.” Revali instructed.
“Is this a trick? While my eyes are closed, you’ll disappear and never return?” She quizzed, narrowing her eyes in suspicion.
“Of course not. I would never run away from you, Princess.” He responded, hurt and somewhat appalled that she would accuse him of such cowardice.
Revali had been lying through his teeth for the entire night. But… She would trust him, on this occasion. Zelda squeezed her eyelids shut and embraced the darkness that awaited.
“Now hold out your hand.” He said, and the Princess did exactly what she was told. “I want you to picture me, not as I am now, but how I once was all those years ago.”
Zelda recalled their last meeting at Mount Lanayru. The minuscule glance they shared. When Revali’s beak parted but no words rolled off his tongue. Where he took to the sky and disappeared amongst the clouds, never to be seen again.
“Can you feel that?”
There was a… tingling sensation rippling across her hand. It was freezing cold, and yet oddly comforting.
“I’m holding your hand.” The Champion clarified, understanding that she could not rely on visual clues.
Her face lit up with glee. “Yes! That’s incredible!” She replied, astonished by this strange turn of events. “But how?”
“Honestly, I have no idea.” He revealed, a small chuckle peppered into his sentence.
The Rito needed a few seconds to inhale deep cleansing breaths and mentally prepare. Opening up and letting himself be vulnerable was a foreign concept, but given enough time, she believed he could accomplish a major breakthrough.
“Princess... Or should I say, Zelda... From the moment we met, I’ve always felt a fondness for you. You saw me at my worst, and yet, you never once mocked me for that brief display of weakness. Over time, I began to develop... feelings for you.” Revali finally confessed, causing her heart to grow wings and soar. “When Windblight Ganon managed to land a lucky finishing blow, my last thought was not of Hyrule, nor my people, but in fact of you. I was more worried about your fate than my own. After my unfortunate demise, I thought perhaps those feelings would fade. But they only grew. During my one hundred years of solitude, you were the only thing on my mind. I... I wanted to accomplish so much more during my brief lifetime. I had hoped to... ask for your hand in marriage and grow old together. But now I’ll never get that chance.”
“Oh, Revali...” Zelda murmured. The moment she opened her eyes, the enchanted spiritual connection was severed, causing her hand to phase through Revali’s wings, which had been cupping it ever so delicately. “I felt the same way. When I latched myself to Ganon, my individuality wasn’t entirely removed. I managed to hold onto something, near and dear to my heart. It was my memories of you. Of us. They kept me sane during that never ending struggle for survival. They gave me strength, when Ganon’s constant assaults were almost impossible to bear. They kept me alive.” She confessed her own feelings. “I would have loved nothing more than to grow old with you.”
The heartbreak was visible on Revali’s distraught face. He was seconds away from bursting into tears. “Perhaps we simply weren’t meant to be.” He grimly remarked.
“Not in this life, but maybe in another.” Zelda offered a hopeful reply.
The eternal green flames orbiting around Revali began to twinkle like stars. The Champion studied his ghostly form, perplexed by this sudden change. “Is this...?” His voice wavered off, as the realisation dawned on him. “No, wait! I can’t go, not yet!”
“Revali.” The Princess addressed him in a soothing tone. “You’re free now. Let go.”
The Rito frantically shook his head in protest. “But what about you? I can’t leave you alone.”
“I won’t be. I have Link, remember? Besides, I’ll sleep soundly knowing you’re in a better place.” She stated. “For once, think of yourself and not of me.”
With every passing second, Revali’s spirit was becoming more translucent and faded. “This isn’t goodbye, you know.” He huffed.
Zelda’s lips twitched and formed a weak smile. “It’s a ‘see you soon’.”
Revali treated her to a smile of his own. “Till we meet again, Zelda.” He whispered softly. And with those final parting words, he transformed into tiny specks of dazzling white light, that were carried off by a mysterious wind.
A stillness returned to Hyrule Field, but in Revali’s absence, it felt far more empty than before. Zelda’s legs trembled, before completely buckling under her own weight. She collapsed to her knees, as her brave facade crumbled, allowing grief and anguish to hit her like a tidal wave. Her chest burned and a sob threatened to burst from her screaming lungs. “Goodbye, my love.” She whimpered, hot tears breaking free and rushing down her face like a raging river. Deep in her heart, she knew this was the last time they would ever meet. And Revali knew it too.
Zelda heard rustling in the grass nearby. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Link approaching, steaming skewers in hand. One had almost been stripped bare, and his cheeks were round and puffy, like a squirrel stashing acorns in its mouth. She was partly surprised he had not wolfed both down his gullet. Once in close proximity, he silently offered the Princess her share, which she accepted gratefully.
Link continued scoffing his meal, like a malnourished rabid dog. Meanwhile, Zelda picked at a scorched mushroom. Some of the meat was charred, but thankfully it had not been entirely cremated during her absence. Her appetite had vanished, and her stomach groaned in protest at the mere idea of eating.
The knight noticed the tense, suffocating aura draped around her. It was so palpable, he could reach out and touch it. His arm would likely be covered by a slick, black, oily substance. Just like liquid malice.
Link gritted the skewer between his teeth, freeing his hands from the burden of carrying it. “Are you alright?” He signed.
A sunset firefly floated effortlessly through that torrential wave of sadness - thereby breaking the barrier - and landed on her hand. The light emanating from the insect’s body reflected in Zelda’s eyes, as she delicately stroked its fragile wings. She then took a bite of food and offered Link the best smile she could muster, teeth glazed with venison and Hylian shrooms. Her cheeks wrinkled, but the creases around her eyes did not. “I will be.”