Chapter Text
Time was, Revali had realized somewhere around year 70 spent as a ghost stalking Vah Medoh's halls, not a steadily flowing stream. It was more like a punctured flask - one where the hole had a hand over it. Sometimes it did move as you would expect, like drops finding their way past the flimsy barrier of a fledgling's wing. Other times, though, the fledgling got distracted, lifted the wing and let the water out, years passing by in a blink. The problem with time, he had found, was that the flask never seemed to empty, no matter how much water spilled.
He thought he was out of time when he watched the Calamity start from Mount Lanayru. He thought he was out of time when he died to Windblight, a fight he had no business losing. He thought he was out of time when the war was over - finally, finally over.
Yet here he was, curled up in a hammock, skimming through a book in a house about as far away from Rito Village as you could get without stepping into Zora territory.
Living inside had been an adjustment. Revali didn't realize it, but he was actually quite claustrophobic. He suspected most Rito were. Roosts were designed for an open community, where everyone shared everything (except for frisky business, privacy blinds did exist for a reason, after all). Houses, by comparison, felt like vaults, places to hide your comforts away from a world that was after you. That kind of selfishness, that kind of life lived in fear, went against everything the Rito stood for as a people.
And yet, he'd spent the better part of the last few years indoors.
Revali felt his eye twitch, and blamed his annoyance on the terrible writing of whatever swill he was reading. The bookshelves in this house used to be empty. Actually, they used to be nonexistent, but his idiot, self-sacrificing roommate had cleared out his weapon displays to make space for them. One day, Revali had mentioned to Link that he'd enjoyed a novella that some Sheikah had written, and the next, there were three full bookshelves in the house.
How long ago had that been, now? It was hard to tell, which, he supposed, looped back around to the trouble with time.
He was snapped out of his circular train of thought by someone tapping his shoulder. Even so, he didn't bother to look away from his book. After all, this was the part where, ah, some kind of side character died heroically for the protagonist? Or maybe it was a pointless death. He wasn't invested enough to tell.
"What is it?" he sighed more than said.
"Headed out for a few days," Link said, "Probably just two, though, if things go well."
Link had started speaking not long after the Champions had come back to life. For a while, his voice was rough and hoarse from disuse, and it had been a shock for everyone involved. According to Mipha, he'd gone nonverbal around the time good old King Rhoam had started grooming him to become the Knight of Legend. He still didn't talk much, to most people, but around Revali, Zelda and the other Champions, he was like a different person.
Revali leaned back his head and closed his book, a finger between the pages to keep his place, "And if they don't?"
Link had the audacity to scoff, "I have it in my will that you're only getting this house if you speak at my funeral, so you'll probably have to do that. Whatever's down where I'm going could kill me. Probably will."
He ignored the theatrics, "Down where?"
"You interested?"
Whenever Revali expressed the tiniest hint of interest in anything, Link's eyes took on a particular glint. The very same glint they had right now.
He huffed instead of dignifying Link with a response.
"You're definitely interested," Link smirked, "And I'm not telling you a thing until you admit you are."
Hylia above, he was infuriating. Back before the Calamity, Link had been stoic (afraid) and sure of himself (distant), which Revali had interpreted as a discreet way of challenging his honor (pride). Then, when he met the Hylian for the second time, he looked more true to himself. His fear and unease were written in every wince and whimper, but even so he pressed on and won the day. It was incorrigible.
"Then leave," Revali shrugged, "I don't recall asking you to stay. In fact, please, do go on. I could use the peace and quiet."
Link's gaze faltered for a second too long, "Peace and quiet is all you get," he muttered.
"And that is the way I choose to live."
Link clearly knew better than to tackle that issue right now. They'd argued over Revali's absence from the rest of the world too many times to count.
"Whatever," Link turned and started down the stairs, "Guess I'll go off and die and you can find out about what happened when Hoz or some other high-ranking soldier lets you know."
"Fine," Revali groaned, "I concede that I might be slightly fascinated by whatever you're going off to do."
"I knew you were interested."
"Fascinated! Not interested!"
Link leaned against the railing, "Is there a difference?"
Revali shook his head, "Not one that a simpleton like you could grasp."
"Ooh, big words. Cool! Now do you wanna know or not?"
He inhaled deeply, "Yes."
Link gave a wolfish grin, "Zelda contacted me about an investigation into the catacombs under the castle. She thinks that's where the gloom is coming from."
"Gloom?"
Link furrowed his brow, "There's no way you're that out of touch."
Revali looked away from the Hylian, the heat of embarrassment in his cheeks hidden by dark plumage, "Gloom is the weaker version of the Malice you mentioned a while ago, I assume? My, what a joyous naming convention."
Link was silent for a while, "Yeah, that's exactly it. S'not so much weaker anymore, though. Don't know if it'll get stronger, either, so we're gonna try and cut it off at the source."
"What a revolutionary idea."
"Don't be like that."
"No, really, it's so inspired!"
"C'mon, man..."
Revali looked back at Link, and saw the ghost of a smile he was trying to suppress, "Link, I do mean this with all my heart. Not even I could have come up with something so original and genius as this."
Link gave in and cracked a grin, "You're the worst. Wanna come with?"
He froze. He wasn't opposed to going outside, necessarily, but the prospect of having to face Zelda or any of the other Champions again was unbearable. He didn't deserve to be counted among their ranks anymore. He was just a coward, running from responsibility.
"My bad," Link added swiftly, his face pale, "You don't have to come, or anything. You alright?"
Revali dropped his gaze, "I am not so fragile as to break at words alone. But... could you give Zelda my regards?"
Link brightened at that, "You sure? She still doesn't know you're here."
"I've been doing a lot of thinking as of late."
"Yeah?" the Hylian looked unbearably hopeful.
"I want to start trying again. Last time didn't go as well as I'd have liked, but Teba and I have been corresponding. I might try to go back to Rito Village soon."
There was something unidentifiable in Link's eyes, "To stay?"
"No," Revali assured him, "I still do not think I can bear to live like that as I am. Once you get back from this excursion, maybe I'll depart."
"Why only then?"
He rolled his eyes, "Someone needs to take care of the plants and hold down the fort."
Link shook his head and laughed, "Right, yeah. I'm gonna get going, then. See you later."
Revali hummed, "If you're not back within a week, I'll start killing off your plants one by one."
"Can't have that," Link said lightly as he opened the door, "I'll bring back another book for you. Any requests?"
He held up the one he had been very, very passively reading, "Not one from this series, preferably."
"Got it. Don't forget to feed yourself."
"You're more of a mother hen than Saki. Go! Now!"
With another singsong laugh, Link was out, the door closing softly behind him.
This time, Revali had only been half-lying. In the years since Link had offered him a place to stay when he fled Rito Village with his tailfeathers between his talons, he'd become something of a shut-in. Link kept the fact that he and Revali were living together a secret for the Rito's benefit, but somehow Urbosa had found out and came by for a surprise visit. Between what Revali had overheard frim his place upstairs and the state he was in afterwards, it had not been a very good night.
It was as though Hylia was conspiring against Revali. It was so much easier to stay like this. So much easier to stay hidden away and live under a pseudonym than it was to return to a world that was no longer his. 100 years and some change had come and gone, but he remained. His friends and rivals and enemies had all passed, and now their children, if they'd had any, were grown. That was too much for him. And then Kaneli had suggested that he take the mantle of Elder, since he was the Rito Champion and all.
What a joke.
But he couldn't find it in himself to be mad at Link and Zelda for reviving him and the others. Link had spent days and nights camped out in Vah Medoh, looking for something Purah had mentioned to him. He'd almost starved or froze to death more than once. Eventually, he found some kind of pod that housed Revali's wounded body. It turned out that the Divine Beasts had the same functionality as the Shrine of Resurrection, but they needed to be manually reawakened. If Link hadn't found them, the Champions would have rotted inside a mechanical tomb.
So really, even Revali, as easy as it was for him to hate and bear grudges and hold things against people, couldn't begrudge his second life.
He did wonder, on occasion, though. Wondered why Link had stayed at Vah Medoh instead of a more habitable Beast like Ruta or even Naboris. Wondered why Link took him in without reservation, defended his choice to all but retire without a second thought. It was more than he deserved.
He couldn't not doubt Link's authenticity when he'd failed to go as far as Kakariko Village without breaking down on three separate occasions. So, out of fear that Link would hate him if he stopped trying, he deluded himself into thinking that things could eventually be different. Thinking he could make it to Rito Village was a lie, more to himself than anyone else.
The part that was true was his correspondence with Teba, though. For whatever reason, he was willing to speak to Revali through letters, and had agreed to keep his circumstances secret. Somehow, it seemed like Teba didn't bear a grudge. The older (biologically, but not spiritually, some part of his mind corrected) Rito was a better person than Revali, though, that much was a given.
He'd taken well to the role of Elder, but complained to Revali that his son was becoming eerily similar to how the Champion of the Rito was at that age. He wished he could see how Tulin was. Wished he wasn't so pathetically weak.
He caught himself. This train of thought would lead nowhere good. He banished it. Tried to, at least. For the first time that day, he got up from his hammock and ignored the way his body protested even the slightest movement. He walked downstairs to the kitchen as he stretched.
Link had stocked up on Hearty Salmon before he left, probably because he knew it was the closest thing to comfort food Revali had. He pulled out one of the fish from a small Cryonis-chamber that Robbie was trying to get Purah to help him mass-produce, and started gutting it. With a practiced grace, he de-boned and filleted it, then began cooking. He wasn't in the mood to put in much effort, since he was just cooking for himself, but the end result was good enough. He ate, read some more, and when the sun went dim, decided to return to the welcoming embrace of sleep early.
The next day passed by in a haze, and half of the one after that. He was out when it happened. Naturally, he'd applied some dye to the red spots under his eyes that could never fully fade due to his unique circumstances, being reborn and all, and was in clothes that Champion Revali wouldn't be caught dead in. Cryllium, the Hateno Rito that lived with the savior of Hyrule, for whatever reason, did like the way this top framed his shoulders, though.
He was going through the same song and dance of haggling down the price of some butter and lavender that he'd done a thousand times before, when he felt the ground shift in a way that made alarm bells ring out in his head.
He'd felt this before. Mount Lanayru.
Before his brain could catch up to his body and tell it how stupid it was being, he'd conjured a gale and taken to the skies. Not as high as he used to be able to, but high enough to see that Hyrule Castle was being lifted from the ground.
High enough to see a blizzard suddenly form around Rito Village.
High enough to know that something had gone terribly, terribly wrong with Link.