Hero by Heart

Chapter 51

Zelda was lost.
     She wasn't literally lost, for that was hard to achieve in a place like Rito Village, but she was at a loss for what to do.
     She had walked out of the elder's hut and followed the path back down, but now she stood staring at the sign that read 'Revali's Landing', completely unsure of what to do.
     Revali himself had quite frankly been a pain in the ass, but at least he had always been willing to fight.
     It wasn't that he had the great need to help anyone, but he would take any excuse to show the world how talented he was.
     Right now, to her own surprise, Zelda missed him a lot.
     She missed the carefree way that he would handle every situation, and how he would always boast that he would fix everything. He might have been hard on most people he met, but deep down he always had a good heart.
     Zelda stared out at the platform where she had often seen him jump off, soaring into the sky and handling his bow with impressive skill. Right now it was empty, a small landing that seemed lost and forgotten, just like the Rito it was named after.
     The thought of Revali in combination with her anger towards Kaneli made tears well up in Zelda's eyes, and she angrily blinked them away.
     She was not going to cry like a little girl because she couldn't get what she wanted.
     Still, she couldn't shake the anger that boiled in the pit of her stomach.
The fact that the Rito elder had blatantly refused her request wasn't even the main cause of her anger, but the way he had treated her.
He had accused her of not being a proper princess, of not fulfilling her duty to the kingdom, and that was simply unacceptable.
Part of her was afraid he was right, which made her anger only more intense.
She had not been around for a very long time, leaving the kingdom leaderless, falling into decay as the years passed.
The castle had stood empty, the lands were overrun by monsters and people had no form of protection.
Of course she blamed herself for all of that. Even after all this time, it still ate at her how her sealing powers had shown themselves too damn late.
And now that she was back she was not doing much better.
She had run around the kingdom, trying to investigate and fix things, but her efforts were too little and too slow.
A new threat had shown itself, and once again she proved useless against it.
She had tried to help the Gerudo, but ended up being a liability to their warriors, and had almost gotten herself killed.
Why did she always seem to fail at everything she did?
In helpless anger she smashed her fist against the wooden railing, and continued walking down.

Just as she was starting to descend a larger set of stairs, she heard someone call out.
She looked to her left, where at the end of a wooden bridge, on another landing platform, stood a large, blue-feathered Rito.
He waved at her, shouting something else that flew away on the wind.
For a moment Zelda contemplated walking on, not really in the mood to talk, but then she shrugged and walked closer. The Rito seemed friendly and clearly wanted her to come over, so she could at least do that. It wasn't like she was in a rush to head back and explain her failure to Link.
'Princess Zelda! Is it really you?' The Rito asked excitedly.
For a moment Zelda was confused, wondering if she had ever met him before, but she was quite certain that she did not recognize him.
She now stepped onto the platform and suddenly realized there were more Rito there.
A total of five children stared back at her with big eyes, all of them sporting differently coloured feathers, but other than that seemingly identical.
     'These are my daughters,' the male Rito said, grinning proudly. 'Notts, Kotts, Genli, Cree and Kheel.'
     Each of the little Rito chirped excitedly in greeting, and Zelda decided to try and remember their names as best she could.
     'My name is Kass,' their father continued, extending his feathery hand for Zelda to shake.
     She took it and smiled politely, still feeling a little confused.
     'I know we have never met, but you probably knew my teacher. He was a Sheikah poet often found at the court of the Royal Family.'
Zelda raised her eyebrows in surprise. She did have some recollection of the man, but it was all so long ago.
Thoughts of her days at court came back to her, and suddenly she didn't want to think about it anymore. Images of her father flashed before her eyes and she had to take a deep breath to prevent herself from crying.
Instead she smiled as best she could at the Rito and nodded. 'Link has mentioned you. I believe you have helped him a few times on his journey.'
Kass grinned excitedly. 'I have! How is he doing? I haven't seen him in some time.'
     Zelda smiled, trying to hide the pain that she felt at the thought of him. 'He is doing well. He is at Hyrule Castle at the moment.'
     Kass seemed to sense something in Zelda's voice, or maybe he saw it on her face, but his grin faded and he looked at her with concern.
     'Girls,' he said, looking over his shoulder, 'go home and help your mother, please. We are done singing for tonight.'
     The girls burst out in collective expressions of their disappointment, but a sharp look from their father silenced them.
     'Maybe mommy has made the Salmon Muenière!' Genli exclaimed, resulting in excited shouts as the girls pushed each other out of the way in their hurry to get home.
     Kass looked after them with a loving expression, softly chuckling as their shouts slowly faded.
     'They are lovely,' Zelda said appreciatively, smiling at the Rito.
     Kass nodded in thanks, but then his face turned serious again. He gently grabbed Zelda by her shoulder and led her to the edge of the landing, where he sat down with his legs dangling in empty air. He gestured for Zelda to join him and with a nervous flutter in her stomach she sat down beside him, carefully avoiding to look down.
     'Now tell me, what is going on?' He asked quietly, carefully watching her for a clue to her behaviour.
     Zelda sighed and pulled up her shoulders. 'We are in trouble.'
She then quickly explained the situation, and how she came to ask the Rito for help, including the part where Kaneli bluntly refused.
Kass sat listening intently, nodding now and then and quickly inquiring about her health when she told him about the battle in the desert.
Zelda was touched by his concern, and could clearly see why Link liked this man, with his kind eyes and friendly character. It was just easy to talk to him, and it felt like he really listened.