Tempore Regis- 10: Ain't No Birdbrain
(Wind gets closure! YEAH! @link-posting post-hospital-visit reading?)
There was somethin’ familiar about the stairs.
Wind wasn’t sayin’ he had seen stairs that large and potentially unsafe before, no. But something about the entire setup was just right— right in a way that said raise the sails, boys, there’s a squall incomin’!— Right in a way that set the north star in the sky— Right in a way that felt personal.
So much wood, strewn ‘round the rock form— Vah Medoh’s Perch, Link-a’-many-titles had said— rafters and solid steps, little creches like hammocks swingin’ about in the wind. The wind. He hadn’ tasted an air this delicious an’ sweet since ‘afore he’d set off!
He was leagues ahead of the others, all tarryin’ down the odd lil’ pillary islands. He was standin’ atop the bannister, a-swingin’ from a support beam, laughin’ his fool head off. Oh, he hadn’t laughed this hard in a full year, not since Niko’d fallen off the mainsail while slushin’ it, an’ landed in a bucket full o’ shark chum!~
Bird
The reaction was just a flinch, this time. An’ a good thing, too, for Wind wasn’t sure if he woulda’ kept his grip if it wasn’t, experience be keel-hauled. But he kept his smile as he swung down off the guardrail, the Rito towerin’ above him.
“Welcome,” she peered down, then over at Link-a’-many-titles. “It’s unlike you to bring such a crowd along when you come. Has anything happened?”
“And hello to you too, Laissa,” Link replied. “Have the caves been safe recently? You’re still getting enough food for the chicks?”
“We’re doing well.” The Rito crossed her arms, pensive look dissolving into a contented smile. “Bedoli and I have started taking paying visitors up to the Sky Islands, too— it’s a beautiful place to see the sunset!”
The pieces clicked inta’ place. Laissa’s dark feathers, the charms on the sides of her head, and most of all, the name Bedoli. Her sister, Wind bet.
“You’re Relita’s chick,” he gasped.
She looked down agin, observin’ him with a more critical eye. For a moment he was frozen under the dark gaze, but memories o’ a bubbly little fledgeling kept him from choking up— or made him choke up in the first place? He didn’ know…
“Oh, you look jus’ like she would’a,” he gushed, hands flutterin’ about. “Lass was always jumpin’ around, tryna’ get some air under her wings— oh,” he exclaimed again, glancing up to where Medoh would have been, and smiling when it wasn’t there, “it’s top notch ta’ see her chick flyin’ free, after all that mess with tha’ Champion Revali’s death...”
“You’re… one of them,” she finally said. “My mother told me stories about you… You and your brothers.” She looked on down the path agin, takin’ in their group. “I… We can’t thank you enough for the help you granted during that time. I don’t even think we recall everything you did.”
“Na’ much,” he managed, biting back a grin at the thought o’ havin’ his own stories. “Na’ much, Laissa.” He gazed up at the Perch, the rafters, the steps, the creches— all filled with a light o’ life. A light that he an’ his brothers had helped create. “And I’m happy ta help you remember.”
