Champions of a Fallen Age

In Pursuit of a Champion

She had watched the whole thing through a spyglass that her brother had gifted her with during a lull in his travels. A Rito she had never seen before had assaulted the Divine Beast by himself. At first, the battle had excited her as she watched shots and maneuvers that would have made Teba, the best archer she knew of, jealous.

While he had been doing brilliantly in the beginning, he had become overwhelmed by the Divine Beast and had been knocked out of the sky. Even as the archer was still falling, she had taken off, flapping furiously to catch up to him despite her comparatively poor mastery of flight.

It hadn't even occurred to her that she could have and should have found one of the village's stronger fliers. Teba, even though he was still recovering from his latest bout with Vah Medoh, likely could have carried the archer back by himself. She would be lucky if she could maintain flight long enough to find him.

After hours of searching, she finally spotted specks of blue and gold in a small clearing of a forest. The young woman could just make out the archer lying on the ground with an unfamiliar golden Rito standing just above him. She touched down, nearly tripping over her talons as she tried to find purchase on the snowy ground. The golden Rito didn't seem to notice her noisy and ungraceful landing.

"How is he?" she asked quickly as she ran over to them, trying to trip again.

"Hello, young lady," the golden Rito replied, turning to address her.

"How is he?" she repeated, panic beginning to creep through her. Even with the Rito woman standing between her and the archer, she could make out several severe gashes as well as a destroyed wing. She didn't have to have any knowledge of medicine to know that he'd be lucky to fly again, that was if he survived his injuries.

"He'll be fine," the woman replied. "Help is on the way."

"We should get him back to the Village –"

"And how do you plan to accomplish this?" the woman asked with a raised brow. "You struggled to make it here carrying yourself alone. Do you really think you can carry him and his equipment as well?"

"You could help me," she suggested weakly.

"Unfortunately, I have other matters to attend to, but as I said, help is on the way. When he gets here, then you may take him to the village."

"You can't just leave him here!" she spluttered.

"I am not just leaving him here. I am leaving him in your capable hands, yes? Besides, I would think I am one of the people he would rather not see."

"You know him?"

"Indeed."

"Who is he?"

"I will leave his introduction to him," the woman replied, mischief playing at the edges of her expression.

"But –"

"No buts," she said firmly, all traces of humor gone. "As I said, I have urgent matters to attend to. In the meantime, you will stay here with him until his friends arrive."

"O-okay."

"Good." The golden Rito walked to the edge of the clearing as she turned her eyes back to the unconscious archer at her feet. "Oh, and Medli?"

She turned as her name was called.

"Do be patient with him," the woman said as she gave her a pointed look. "He hasn't really been himself of late. He'll need encouragement when he awakens." Before Medli could ask how the woman knew her name, the golden Rito took off, disappearing seconds later.