Autumn in Akkala

Ch. 49 South Gate: Teba

"Witness the gales of Vah Medoh's fury!"

Teba's ashen brows were pointed downward with precision, like arrows aiming at the mandible of his beak. His primary feathers curled around the clutch of Vah Medoh's central control lever, wiggling it as if it were a gear shaft.

With a not-so-surreptitious sigh, his focused hazel eyes scoured you with a gust of vexation from over his shoulder. He grunted, "Speak, Hylian. I cannot concentrate with the feeling of beady eyes on my spine."

But before you could respond, your hand jutted toward your mouth as he yanked the lever with a quick left, causing Vah Medoh to drift back around in a turbulent circle to the starting point of the south gate. The insistent chatter between your queasy gut and vertigo-ridden brain only seemed to grow louder as you began to ascend above yet another layer of clouds.

"Um, how high up are we..."

From another terminal tucked in Vah Medoh's ventral location, Tulin chirped ecstatically. "Not that high! About 30,000 ft.!"

"T-Tulin? What are you doing here?"

"Why does it matter? If the moon should fall and kill us, it would happen just the same in Rito Village," Teba snapped.

"T-Teba!" You located Tulin's little dots for eardrums, clasping your hands over them. As if the innocent chick thought the giant, inflamed moon was merely a bouncy ball Earth could ricochet out to space. "Don't you think that's a little macabre for a child—er, fledgling?"

Teba pushed the lever forward, dispelling the guardians back with a pulverizing gale. "We Rito don't believe in coddling our young. You'll see. You'll be a parent one day. Perhaps to Link's offspring."

"T-Tebaaaaa!" You floundered, your cheeks brighter than a Hebra mountain sunrise.

Tulin laughed. "Haha! Father, her cheeks are redder than a bushel of spicy peppers!" He flapped around you, "Are you afraid to lay eggs, Y/N?"

Something told you you didn't like where this conversation was headed. "Lay eggs?"

"Tulin—" Teba rumbled in warning. But the caution issued from the proud patriarch of the Rito fell on deaf ears. "Is it not the same for Hylians? Won't Link assist you as you lay his eggs?"

"Assist me...? Are you talking about...?"

Tulin clapped his wings. "Of course, making fledglings with Link!"

You weren't sure which was more vertigo-inducing, the turbulence from Teba's abrasive piloting or the absolute embarrassment of a baby bird schooling you on mating. You should have gone with Sidon, though the Zora noble came with his own set of challenges.

"Hylian!" Teba barked, "Quit pouting and make yourself useful. Come guide Vah Medoh."

"You've got to be kidding! I can't even stand up straight, and you want me to pilot this thing?!"

"This 'thing' is Vah Medoh, the pride of the Rito and royal aid of the queen to vanquish the evil throes of Calamity Ganon."

You immediately regretted your whining and walked toward Teba as he yet again shifted the mechanical bird, this time to the right, causing you to lose your footing as Tulin came up behind you to anchor you in place.

As you peered into his inquisitive, googly eyes, a feeling of déjà vu overtook you. What was it about this baby bird that was ravishingly cute yet somehow shamefully judgmental at the same time? "Chicken," he jeered.