Chapter Text
Revali was falling in every direction at once.
He tumbled beak over talon, flailing his wings in a futile attempt to stabilize. The forces buffeting him were stronger than his any he'd ever felt, stronger than his gale had ever been. And yet, no sensations touched his feathers. No wind, no water, no hot or cold.
An empty maelstrom, filled with blinding blue light.
- – — + — – -
A scream, a crash, and Link was already running.
This area had seemed empty when he scouted a few hours ago, but the hill beside his campsite hid much of the nearby terrain from view. Setting up camp had distracted him from patrolling nearby, and now the sun had nearly set. Anyone, anything, could have wandered over.
Link crested the hill, and for the first time since leaving Termina he gasped.
A giant blue bird was sprawled out on the ground, surrounded by arrows scattered all over the ground. No, not a bird, a…bird person, like he'd never seen before.
Link rushed down the hill. Navi would have seen one of these before. Tatl would have too and called him an idiot for asking.
The bird was wearing armor in a style he'd never seen before, and he could see a bow under their back. Strapped there, perhaps? If they had crashed, and crashed right onto it, landing was probably even more painful than it sounded. At least it wasn't rocky ground.
There was nothing in the air, nothing else nearby. Where had they come from?
Suddenly, the bird let out a pained sounding whistle and started clutching at their head. Those wings were hands! Enormous hands, bigger than a goron's! Slowly, they sat up, propping themselves up with their other hand. The whistling changed into lower pitched chirping sounds, sounding just as pained as the whistling.
Peering between their fingers, they opened an eye and and looked at-
"Link?" Immediately, Link's hand was at the sword on his back. "Link?" The bird – a man, judging from his voice – immediately got to his feet, or as immediately as he seemed able. He was obviously unsteady and barely able to keep his balance. "Whuterr…whuterryoo…thought…with Zelda…"
Link drew his sword. The bird dropped his hand from his face and looked around, eyes unfocused.
"Why…wait, is…is there…" He stared at Link for a long moment, silently swaying. Then faster than Link would have thought possible, he grabbed the bow off his back, an arrow from his quiver, and loosed a shot directly at Link.
Just as fast, Link pulled his sword out and rushed forward. The arrow whizzed past his ear a split second before he pressed his blade against the bird's neck.
They stared at each other a moment, and something fell to the ground behind Link. He glanced behind just in time to see a tektite disintegrating into purple mist, the bird's arrow perfectly shot through the monster's eye.
"Link…pluck me, Link, why are you…" For a moment, the bird was sharp, alert. Then the sharpness passed and he suddenly slumped over. His bow clattered on the ground as he started falling forward. Link dropped his own sword to catch him. The bird was…unexpectedly light. "Why would you…"
Link tried to put the bird's weight on his shoulder, but the bird feebly pushed him away and immediately fell to the ground.
"I don't need your help. I..." He chirped again, closing his eyes for a moment. "My bow. Need my bow. Just get…" he stared down at Link's broadsword. "That's not your sword. Master Sword."
Link froze, but unconsciousness had finally claimed the bird. With a sign, Link hoisted him over his shoulder and began to carry him back to camp.
He should have brought a second bedroll. Now he'd have to sleep on the ground.
- – — + — – -
That's not your sword.
The words echoed in Link's head as he carefully undressed the bird (he was so stress he was barely even embarrassed about it) and checked him for wounds. A few scrapes, as best he could tell through the feathers, but no obvious major wounds and nothing seemed broken. Any internal injuries would have to wait for a better healer to figure out.
That's not your sword.
The bird was about his height, but had a crest on his head that added a few inches. His feathers were blue and white, with red markings around his eyes and on his cheeks. It was a poor match for any regular bird Link had ever seen, but then, he hadn't learned much about them since leaving the forest.
That's not your sword.
He had met talking birds before. Kaepora Gaebora, and his Terminan counterpart. A gossip stone had suggested the owl was a sage, but…well, maybe gossiping rocks aren't reliable sources of information after all. Maybe this was one of the owl's people.
Did they all know so much about him?
That's not your sword.
How could he know about that? Nobody else except Princess Zelda, King Barris Harkinian Hyrule, and Impa knew he had any connection whatsoever to the Master Sword. Ganondorf didn't know.
That's not your sword.
Of course it wasn't. His broadsword was too heavy by half a pound, and too short by a hand's width. The sound it made when it hit another blade was a grating clang, not a nearly musical ringing. It was comfortable in his hand, but never perfect, an extension of his body, but not a part of it.
It was never heavier than its own weight.
That's not your sword.
- – — + — – -
It was the smell of breakfast that finally woke the bird up. Nothing fancy – Link wasn't much of a cook – but he could boil oats, and a few minutes after starting the boil the bird stirred. Stirred, then in a repeat of the night before, clutched his head and chirped.
After a minute he pushed himself upright and peered at Link. This time his gaze was focused and clear, a far cry from the pseudo-consciousness of before.
They sat in silence a moment, until Link poured out a bowl of oats and handed it over. The bird silently accepted, but as he looked down at the bowl his eyes widened and he clutched at his exposed body. With a squawk, he dropped the bowl and scrambled for his armor, which Link had set next to the bedroll.
"Link." Link stirred the pot, pointedly not looking as the bird pulled on the chestplate. "Why am I…never mind. How did I get here?"
That got Link's attention. "You don't know? I heard a scream and you were on the ground."
The bird stared. "You're talking?" He almost squawked.
"I...yes?" This trend of uncomfortable knowledge continued. Link used to be almost nonverbal; life as a knight had forced him to get over himself.
And yet the bird seemed...insofar as Link could read his expressions, dumbfounded. "This is the most I've ever heard you speak." That expression shifted into a...sneer? "You're not just doing it because of pity, are you? I didn't need your help, and I will accept it only because Zelda would have my feathers. I certainly don't need your pity."
Link nodded. "Understood." He took out a bowl , poured in some porridge, and handed it to the bird. A dozen questions to ask. One a time, then. "You know Princess Zelda?"
"Yes? What about her?"
"I mean, how?"
There was a long, tense, silent moment. Then suddenly, the bird relaxed and smiled. "Oh. I apologize, I'm sure I've been confusing you this whole time. Especially the way I've been calling you Link. You simply look...well, it's a remarkable resemblance to my colleague, but I suppose that's just a common way for you Hylians to look, hmm? All...minuscule and gold-plumaged." He put a hand to his chest, which he puffed out proudly. "I am Revali, Champion of the Rito and pilot of divine beast Vah Medoh."
"I'm Link." said Link.
The smile froze. "Is Link perhaps a strangely common name amongst Hylians? One that I've somehow managed to avoid encountering more than once?"
"I've only met one other Link. A goron."
"Well, obviously I confused you with him!" Revali snapped. "Is this some sort of prank? Are you pretending to have amnesia? If you want to dodge your responsibilities fine, hero, but at least have the courtesy not to play dumb about it." He poured the porridge into his beak, swallowing without chewing. Making eye contact with Link again, he asked in a forced pleasant tone, "Where's the sword, Link? Your special little sword?"
Uncomfortable as it was, Link forced himself to match the eye contact. "What sword?"
"The Master Sword! The sword that seals the darkness! The only reason anyone thinks you're special!"
The vitriol only made his Revali's knowledge more baffling. Link almost lied, but he couldn't think of anything believable. He'd never needed a cover story. "Safe."
"Safe? Is that all? What, suddenly you can't trust me? Me, the Legend of the Rito?" He started to angrily chirp before throwing the bowl to the ground. "Go back to signing! All this time I tried to make you talk and I'm already tired of your voice." Revali stood in a rush, almost losing his balance again. He kept glaring at Link, but it was obvious how much pain he was in.
Link was immediately at his side, putting a hand on Revali's arm. "Are you okay? You should probably lay down and keep resting. I don't know-"
"Oh, you don't know! I know I don't need your pity!" He swatted Link's hand away and started putting on the rest of his armor, only to pause again when the time came to strap on his nearly empty quiver. "You don't know what happened to my arrows either, do you?"
"A lot of them were scattered near your…crash site." If possible, Revali glared even harder at that. "It was too dark to retrieve them."
"No matter, hero. I'll do it. After all, they're mine." His voice was the least happy sort of neutral as tied on the last of his armor. He'd done it remarkably quickly, far faster than most people Link had ever worked with. Grabbing his bow, Revali turned around, only to pause and start looking around.
"On the other side of the hill." Link said.
Revali shot him another glare before silently stomping up the hill. His legs were so short it was almost comical.
Link almost wanted to laugh at how bizarre the whole conversation had been, but now that Revali was gone he couldn't muster that kind of emotion.
He always knew it would happen again.