Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

So… maybe walking off hadn’t been the best idea he’d had. It was probably among those that would revoke his exploring privileges. Likely on the same level like when he tried to eat a rock. Probably a lot worse, he had to admit as he stared at the unfamiliar trees around him. 

The small creature he’d been following (more like chasing) had disappeared and by the time he realized, he was already well into the forest with no clue where he was.

He wasn’t sure whether to call out or stay where he was. His voice didn’t always work and it would be surprising if anyone managed to find him. He let out a sigh, crouching down to sit on the balls of his heels. After this stunt, he was going to be lucky if his parents even considered leaving him out of their sight. At least it couldn’t be as bad as the time near the other forest, they nearly had a full on heart attack when they couldn’t find him, cutting that trip short. Something told him they would never let him out of their sights if that event repeated itself.

He hadn’t bothered explaining why he had wandered. Link didn’t know why himself.

Soft thuds echoed quietly ahead of him, raising his head. The weird rabbit looking creature was back, a soft blue glow the only sign it was present behind some bushes. It walked across the clearing slowly, its paws elegantly taking one step after the other. 

He took care to stand up slowly, his steps light as he followed the creature with care. He was so close, he probably would’ve been able to bop the creature with a stick if he’d had one. It raised his head and he stopped like a deer in headlights as its eyes met his (At least what he thought were his eyes). Not even a heartbeat later, the creature bolted through the trees. And so did he, relishing in the feeling of the chase. He narrowed his eyes in determination, skidding on the ground as it made a sharp turn towards a bush. 

There are few moments during which he would take a brief moment to regret his recklessness at his young, tender age of nine years old. For example, the time he jumped off a waterfall trying to copy Mipha’s graceful slender movements as she dived towards veiled Falls’s lake. Another notable mention would be the time he jumped off a roof, trying to mimic the messenger Rito that visited Hateno Village. Another that he would try to forget the trauma of would be the infamous cucco incident.

Right now, with the sudden realization that the bush was actually hiding the fact that there was no ground after the bush, he would definitely hold this moment in his future reflections. He didn’t even have a moment to register the ground as the cliff sloped, yelping as he rolled down the cliff.

Two things quickly followed. 

One, the realization that he was definitely grounded if he managed to survive. 

And two, the ground suddenly let out a startled squawk not even a second later as he crashed into it. After a few seconds, as he gained his bearings, he realized the grass he’d fallen on didn’t feel much like grass usually did. It was soft and rather fluffy, like the young cuccos Aryll loved to carry around. 

“WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU” 

 A forceful shove led to him nearly smashing his nose on the ground. He turned his head around, his mind struggling to catch up as he found himself looking at a small, black and white feathered Rito, who’s feathers stood on edge. 

-----

This was definitely not shaping up to be a good day at all. First he’d been sent off to entertain himself with picking up branches, and to explore the beautiful wild, and now, he had been used as a landing pad by a hylian who had the stupidest look on his face. Had he never seen a Rito? He blamed this all on Kyllele. If he hadn’t been sent off like an annoying child, his feathers wouldn’t be all dirtied up by the dust.

Though he, allegedly, had snuck along in one of the travel barrels when he was told he couldn’t join them. The older warriors had cited his inability to fly for long periods of time as a reason, which was incredibly unfair of them. No one said he couldn’t hitch a hike though. Really, they should’ve been more specific. That was on them. 

And this problem was the hylian’s fault. Who had by now gotten up and was dusting off his pants. Revali noticed several small nicks, and a particularly nasty scrape on his knee, that was still oozing blood slowly. The other knee hadn’t suffered as badly, but the fabric had torn. He ignored the hand that was given to him, getting up roughly to glare at the hylian. The hylian was slightly taller than him, that was annoying.

“Aren’t you going to say sorry?” he snipped, as the hylian just stared at him wordlessly.

The hylian boy opened his mouth but quickly closed it, almost as if he was deep in thought. Revali’s eyes drifted to his hands at the sign of movement, his glare quickly refocusing on the hylian’s eyes. Just as Revali was about to huff and return to his archery practice, a soft but strong voice spoke up.

“Sorry about that…” He said awkwardly, bending down to pick something up. Revali’s feathers stood up straight in pure horror as he grabbed the swallow bow he’d been practicing with. He had grabbed it by the string, oh Hylia. “I wasn’t watching where I was going..” His poor, poor bow, did the idiot even realize what he was doing? “I should probably be heading back, my dad’s gonna be-”

“Give that back! For Hylia’s sake have you ever even seen a bow?” he grabbed the bow out of his hands roughly, looking over it for possible damage. It had luckily avoided the fate Revali had.

The Hylian’s ears reddened, pointing down. Anger? What right did he have to be angry, he wasn’t the one who was squashed by a bumbling oaf. 

“Of course I’ve seen a bow! Yeesh, are you always this cranky?” the Hylian boy scrunched his nose- like those hylian retrievers when they were just about to sneeze. The dogs were cute when they did it though.

“Cranky?!” his features ruffled angrily, he stumbled through at last chirping “I have- I can’t- Go scram back to where you came from!”

The young rito bent down, grabbing the discarded arrows that had rolled away in the tussle. He harrumphed, returning to the tree he had been using as target practice. Few arrows had managed to get to the designated bullseye, much to his frustration. Most of them had already snapped when he tried to pull them out, slowly making his supply run out. He refused to go back to the adults to ask for help. 

He drew the bowstrong, aligning it to where he knew it would land well. He breathed out, smiling smugly as he prepared to let go to see his arrow fly true into the scratched out circles.

“What’cha doing?” 

He nearly jumped out of his feathers at the sudden presence of the Hylian boy next to him, the arrow completely missing the mark and flying meters above through a branch into a distance away. He hissed at him, smacking the boy in the face with his wing. 

“I am practicing my archery. What I was doing before you decided to use me as a trampoline.” he sniped. He reached into the quiver with his last arrows, trying to shoo away the nosy child “If you are going to watch, at least give me some space”

The boy looked at the tree and broken arrows. Revali took this brief moment of silence (something told him these would be a lot rarer in the future) to shoot a quick arrow. He ,admittedly, rarely had an audience, so when the hylian let out a gasp of wonder and Revali’s eyes drifted to see the boy’s eyes on his arrow? 

The arrow had landed well enough, wedging itself well into the tree. It was nothing special, a bit off from the designated circle that had been scratched out with a rock. The other fledgelings always found him to be a try hard, making fun of when he didn’t make the easy shots.  But seeing someone his age, eyes wide in admiration for something he did, it felt… nice to be acknowledged for something he gave his heart to.

His feathers puffed out with pride, nearly preening. He felt slightly embarrassed at the same time, unsure of how to act, but the hylian had turned to look at him and he couldn’t make it seem like he was self-conscious!

He raised his head, ignoring his puffed out feathers. “Us rito take great pride in our skills with the bow. We start from a young age to truly be able to master this weapon.”

He was smiling smugly as he emphasized his point with an arrow to the tree. That shot was even better than the last! 

Revali reached into his quiver, ready to grab another and absolutely blow the mind of the boy. His hand closed around empty air. He’d run out of arrows. He felt his cheeks go warm in embarrassment, a small snort from the hylian next to him. Just his luck the boy had noticed his confidence.

He ignored it, going to pick up the salvageable arrows on the ground. There weren’t many left… he’d probably have to go back to the camp soon, even if he wanted to continue. He had been picking up the last one when a non feathered hand suddenly appeared, holding out the very arrows he didn’t try to force out of the trees. He raised his head, grabbing the feathers after the boy nodded for him to take the arrows. 

“Ah. How did you manage to get them out?”

“The benefits of having featherless... hands? They don’t look much like hands… what do you call them?” 

Revali blinked a few times “We just call them hands. I don't think there’s a special term for it.”

“What is it like?” Revali stared at him and the hylian added “Having wings. And feathers too.”

“It’s normal. It’s even better than what you Hylians have.” He slung the now full quiver over his shoulder, walking over back to where he’d been shooting. The hylian followed him, his eyes curious “The feathers stop us from freezing to death and we can fly. Which is amazing by the way and pretty sad that you hylians can’t do that.”

Time passed by in a manner that it hadn’t done when he’d been alone. The silence was suddenly broken every now and then by questions from the hylian (“Can you talk with cuccos?”) which would usually be followed by some annoyed- but not really response (“Of course. They say you stink.”). 

It wasn’t something he was used to but, after the first ten questions, he eventually started adding his own (“I don’t understand why you hylians keep those large, violent , smelly beasts. How do you stand them?” “Wait, are you talking about horses?”). Eventually moments of silence were few and far in between. When they went to pick up the arrows, those moments were full of playful shoving and races to pick up the most (much to his annoyance, the hylian always won). 

The sun was close to setting, finding the two well into their new dynamic. Revali was preparing to nock another arrow when he let his arm fall, his gaze on the bow. The other boy, Link he’d learned at some point in their questions in order to properly format his retorts, tilted his head in a silent question.

“I’m going to show you how to shoot an arrow.” Link straightened a bit “Well, get up! I'm not going to wait forever for you.”

Link got up, slightly stumbling. Revali handed the bow over to him, correcting his grip to avoid any harm to his swallow bow. 

His eyes narrowed critically at Link’s grip.

“Are you sure you know how to hold a bow?”

“I’ve seen the soldiers do it. And Korrah’s taught me a bit.” He drew the string- and his posture was… well it wasn’t the best but not the worst. 

“Who?” 

“My neighbour! She has the nicest horses ever.”

Revali was about to give a scatching retort, he refused to believe those vermin could be nice, when Link aimed the bow higher up rather than straight ahead like he was supposed to do. He didn’t have a moment to correct that before the arrow went flying . He stared at the direction where the arrow had flown to. He wasn’t well versed in reading hylian faces, but Link’s face was redder than a wildberry.

“I- Um… I guess hylian bows work differently?” he said meekly.

“I have never seen someone fail that badly at shooting. You should get a record for that” Revali sniped, slightly impressed at that. Link didn’t appreciate his humor much.

“I thought it would work like a regular bow!”

“Why would a bow work like that? Bows aren’t supposed to work like that!”

“Maybe yours don’t!” 

“They shouldn't! That’s just stupid- why do they make them like that!?”

Link waved the bow around “Well I don’t know. Pardon me for not being a bow-maker.”

Neither of them noticed the tall grass beyond the tree shaking, too ingrained in their argument. Link’s ears suddenly pricked, words deviating into silence. Revali stopped for a moment, his feathers standing in pure confusement at the sudden pause. 

“RUN” Revali barely had a moment to understand what was happening before the hylian grabbed his arm, pulling him into a run as a bokoblin jumped at the empty space where he’d been, the club sinking into the ground. 

He spared a glance back, seeing two more bokoblins appear. This area was supposed to be clear of monsters. That was the only reason he was out there without meaningful supervision (the small detail that he’d gone father than he was supposed to was not important. Link liked to explore, his father wouldn't let him run off wild if it wasn’t safe). It didn’t make any sense. 

He let Link drag him- ritos were useless on the ground, without wind to push them up. He took that moment to glance behind him, watching a red one run ahead of the others. 

That moment cost him his coordination- once again ritos were not made to be grounded. His hand slid out of the hylian’s grip. 

He twisted around, his blood pounding in his ears. He closed his eyes, his wing flying up to cover his face. He was too young to die, he was going to die, and stupid Kyllele was going to be right

A sudden squeal of pain and the sound of a stick breaking snapped made him open his eyes, his beak gaping at the bokoblin holding its head in pain, a broken stick in front.

And right in front of him was Link, crouching down to grab the tree branch that he’d tripped on and holding it defensively.

It let out a snarl, its poor excuse of a club abandoned. The other two bokoblins were coming closer, riled up from seeing the first nursing a bruise.

The creature snarled, its eyes wild in anger. The other two were close to catching up but the hylian boy didn’t flinch. He stood his ground. Revali’s mind thought for a moment about the legends they told the fledglings, with the hero.

The soft swish of arrows cutting through air was the only warning they had before the bokoblins from the back dropped dead. The one that’d been about to eat him looked back to see its comrades limp bodies. A third arrow quickly took care of it, not giving the creature a moment to retaliate against the two boys. The sudden flinch from Link was rather funny considering he’d been preparing to take three bokoblins with a stick. 

Revali didn’t bother glancing at where the arrows came from- he was already preparing himself mentally for the incoming lecture. Link did. He took a double take at the rito warriors while Revali stood up, dusting the dust off his feathers. 

He heard the light thud, signaling the three warriors had landed, one after the other. He opened his beak to let out a suffering sigh, which Link let out a confused snort at. Not a minute later there were the heavy sounds of metal and clomping of horses.

A hylian with heavy metal armor rushed forward, immediately checking over Link for wounds. The feather on his helmet was a far brighter color than that of the others- possibly a sign of rank? He wasn’t able to ask Link for he caught sight of who he was dreading having to talk to the moment this was over.

Kyllele stood as imposing as ever, carrying that air of authority that had gained him the position that he held. A tall, soft grey rito who’s thick feathers covered scars Revali only knew were there from stories. The black markings on his face only accentuated the bright red paint around his eyes. Revali didn’t dare to meet his eyes, rather readjusting the quiver he held. Link had been dragged by the older hylian to treat the scrape on his knee away, their words hushed.

“Revali, what were you thinking?”

“I was doing what you told me to, to entertain myself. ”

Kyllele brows went up in a face that spelled pure disappointment “You disobeyed clear orders that specifically said that you were to stay nearby the camp while we dealt with the hylians. And before that, you snuck along on an extremely important diplomatic mission that we told you, you could not come! So far you have done everything that I’ve told you not to!” Revali fought the urge to shrink back  “You’re lucky that the hylian captain noticed something was wrong, if not you would be that bokoblin’s lunch right now!” 

“I would’ve been fine!” Revali hissed, his wings crossed over one another defensively. 

Kyllele gave him a sharp glare. By then the hylian soldier had stood up, with Link trailing behind him sheepishly.

“We will talk about this later, Revali.” Kyllele turned around to face the hylian properly.

The hylian soldier nodded curtly “Thank you Warrior Kyllele, for taking down those bokoblins. I apologize that our meeting was cut short.” 

The warrior waved a wing dismissively with a sigh “Captain Arn, if anything we should be thanking you for hearing that something was wrong. We thought the area was safe but apparently not so.”

Arn looked back at the corpses “We thought the same as well. Alas, Diras, scout the area out. Keep an eye out and report back once the area is clean.”

The two hylian soldiers nodded curtly, quickly going to complete what was ordered of them. Kyllele’s eyes were narrowed as he watched them go. 

The hylian captain readjusted his helmet “We will continue the discussion tomorrow then?”

Kyllele nodded, his pale feathers painted orange with the setting sun. Captain Arn nodded stiffly, rounding up his men.

“But I want to hang out with Revali!” Revali’s feathers pricked up at the voice, turning to look at the hylian boy. Link had his arms crossed,with a face that might be described as pouting.

Kyllele’s own feathers had reacted similarly to Revali’s, but he smoothed them out quickly before they could betray his shock to the hylians. Revali wasn’t sure they would’ve noticed it in the first place.

The captain looked extremely out of his depth as the other soldiers snickered behind them. He pinched the bridge of his nose “Link. After the stunt you pulled-”

“And I don’t want to say goodbye to my friend!”

Okay, he was just offended at Kyllele’s gaping beak. The other ritos he knew would be shocked at that but of Kyllele? He expected better of the warrior. He was able to make friends with other kids his age!

The hylian captain waved his hand, bowing to Kyllele. Link was still pouting at being ignored “I apologize for this. I will make sure he remains in our camp to avoid causing any more problems.”

“It wouldn’t actually be too much of an issue.” Kyllele said a bit too quickly at first. He cleared his throat “The two hanging out while we talk. Seeing that the area isn’t safe anymore, the two of them can entertain each other while we deal with the more pressing matters.”

The warrior continued “Obviously the two will get bored without any other fledge- children, my apologies, around. This could be a chance to further better the relations of the younglings.’

Captain Arn’s eyes didn’t betray much emotion but Link’s did. His eyes practically sparkled and he gave Revali a toothy grin. The young rito stuck his tongue out in retaliation and the hylian let out a laugh at that. 

Obviously the Captain saw that Kyllele was right- and correctly so, they must’ve shared the same thought.

“You have a point. Should we meet up at my camp then?” Arn asked.

Kyllele nodded, motioning for his soldiers to follow them. He crouched down for Revali to climb onto his back after remembering that the small rito couldn’t yet join them in the skies. Revali crossed his wings with an annoyed puff, to which he heard a small giggle from Link who was climbing onto a horse.

He climbed on, grabbing on to Kyllele’s armor as the warrior took advantage of the sharp ledge to start flying.

Goss and Tasli, the two rito warriors who had tagged along, were flying ahead of them.

“We should just bring children along to every diplomatic meeting. That was probably the best meeting we’ve had the hylians so far” 

“A true budding friendship to last through the edges!” Tasli snorted, twisting around in the air like the show off they were “Kinda makes you glad the brat decided to sneak along, am I right Kyllele?”

Kyllele only responded with a snort, taking the lead. 

Revali turned his gaze back towards the hylians who were already starting to return to their own camp.  They were already becoming smaller and smaller as Kyllele flew farther. The setting sun made it harder to make them out as the distance grew, but he could still make out Link’s small form on a horse, waving his hand like a mad man as a goodbye.

He made sure that the two chatter parakeets were distracted with their own gossip, and by extension Kyllele. Link would probably barely even see what he was doing but when Revali waved his wing back at Link, he couldn't help but feel excited for tomorrow.

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.