hylians liked their pleasantries. minced words, rituals of formality, anything conceived as modest⸺ all of which revali actively challenges. most acknowledge he has the talent to afford to, with the immediate repercussion of rolled-eyes or huffs. the soldiers aren’t blind to his talent, but it certainly highlights a lack of their own, enough to feel slighted, leading them to overlook the years of work behind his seemingly effortless talent. there is a fine line between feeling inspired and discouraged by skill, one she has come to know intimately; she rolls her shoulders as if to straighten her curated posture and perish that thought, as if to shrug off the phantom residue of link’s presence.
maybe revali reads the meaning in her stiffness as clear as an arrow’s direction.
naturally, his little act proves successful: she nearly flinches at his pointed question, lips gaping in polite protest, yet closing as soon as she hears what follows. she smothers the instinct to look over her shoulder, keeping her sight stubbornly forward, and relating sorely to the target that took his arrow’s blow; revali had a similar way of making his words strike true. “ . . . not intimidating, no, ” she returns to his question instead, rhetorical as it is. “ i find you quite familiar, in fact. ” her gaze returns to him, eyes round and watchful, as if visualizing how frankness sits on his father, and how it’s not so different to how revali wears it. she, too, forgoes the need of elaborating, merely humming, “ where others may hesitate to bring any shortcomings to my attention, ” shortcomings of my own or otherwise, she thinks with a personal frustration, yet does not indulge it longer than a thought. “ i trust you to offer sound remarks to our war effort. ”
before she realizes it, he has smoothed the touchier subjects by way of derailing into another provokation. victims ? those who willingly—one should take that word lightly—aid in her bouts of research ? the very thought of it ! “ on second thought, you speak less plainly than i thought, ” she says with clear amusement, half-contradicting herself, “ that is certainly a roundabout way of inquiring about my research, master revali. fortunately for you, i can spot curiosity when i see it, ” her hands clasp behind her, her strides taking her towards the nearest training target, inspecting the arrow within an arrow. “ at the castle, there is a book on the royal daughters of the past, you see. in it are described the weapons through which their powers were channeled into. ” she felt the ancient mark atop her gloved hand itch uselessly, but continued. “ it is said that one of those weapons survived the test of time⸺ a bow, coincidentally. ” her finger trailed the arrow’s shaft down to the fletching, “ the twilight bow, known for its powerful light arrows, said to be swift and quick as the breeze. i wonder, with our current situation . . . would it not be a worthwhile search ? and⸺ ! we have talent such as yourself to test it ! ” she pauses, well aware she’s getting ahead of herself. still, she opts to say, in a voice passing off as more innocent than it had the right to, “ . . . i suppose that, were you to decline, our only other option may be link. ” @gloryfall + cont.