Revali's Gale

Waking of Sunday, January 6, 2019 ~ 6

Revali’s Gale

Did I get all the chests? I thought I did....

But I wasn’t entirely sure, and so rocked Vah Medoh’s wings one last time to check, running up to the higher wingtip and leaping off in a paraglide toward the head, and—whope, chest on the tip of the nose.

It held a Giant Ancient Core.

“I’ll take that!” I triumphed.

After that it was another paraglide over to the lower wingtip, and then.... back to the dorsum. And the main control unit....

I righted the Beast one last time.

Still had that Rusty Shield on my back. I’d taken it all the way through this Divine Beast. Just thought I’d use it until it gave out. Trusty old thing....

Consistently.... quietly, stillingly, delicately and in small ways.... I was still amazed by the views. I could see everything from up here. Everywhere I’d been, everything I’d done. Vah Naboris. Vah Ruta. Vah Rudania. Rito Village and Totori Lake directly below.

This was the final Divine Beast.

Now.... for the main control unit.

It was sunset.

“Well I’ll be plucked,” Revali started. “You defeated him, eh?”

He walked elegantly toward me on Vah Medoh’s mossy back, a spirit free and unfettered, and haloed in flaming teal light.

“Well don’t preen yourself just for doing your job.”

Revali’s congratulations were.... Heh, he.... He hasn’t changed, I thought, Not a bit. He is still so pompous and arrogant.

And yet still he somehow found me worthy—me, this lowly, ground-crawling Hylian—to receive the sacred technique he had dubbed Revali’s Gale.

And he wound up.... that ball of holy light.... He even deigned to speed its conjuring with a forceful, “Hahhhh—!”

And then—fwooosh!—he speared the glowing sphere toward me where it entered my chest—and I was barely phased this time.

But its power manifested, and it caught me a bit off guard, as I was lifted off my feet! And that without the overpowering effect of the first time a Champion did this to me.... And the gale hurled me into the air, thrusting me into a backflip! But I came swiftly back down, released from Revali’s charm and left to the mercies of gravity, and landed firmly on two feet and one palm, and I looked up—

And LINK’S EYES.

The look on his face was just....

Revali enjoyed that, didn’t he? Tossing me up into the air like a sack of flour for a lark, just to see if I could land on my feet like a cat.

He was.... prideful to the last, as my form started to twinkle and sparkle away.... and as I could see it starting to happen....

I didn’t remember his words, just condescending words of encouragement, of direction. Of what I had to do. I had to defeat Calamity Ganon. I had to save Zelda.

And his last words.... “The Princess has been waiting an awfully long time.”

And I was gone.

And then that BOSS MUSIC—uh, music that is boss, not music for a boss.

That rugged, churning music started which heralded when a Divine Beast was on the move.... And Vah Medoh arced gracefully through the air and swooped down toward Rito Village. Its claws extended massively, and it clamped onto the jutting beak of the central rock spire, as if it had been a gigantic perch. Dust and rubble exploded from beneath the ponderous, clenching digits, but the Beak of the Crane held firm.

At rest from the air at last, Vah Medoh stood erect, its wings spread in enormous splendour, its head pointed toward the castle, and from the tip of its beak—the laser!

It blasted toward the castle with a fury that convincingly belied its intangibility.

All the same.... dreadful things waited on the other side of that beam....

Revali’s spirit stood high up on Vah Medoh’s form.

And here, only now, when he was alone, did Revali admit to himself that Link did get to the Divine Beast without his help. And he defeated Ganon’s demonic apparition. Link did do something he couldn’t.

And he brought himself to finally admit that.... “I was wrong about...”

—I just.... waited to hear this—

“... how lucky you would be.”

No credit!

Still he gives me no credit!

And.... a part of me laughed inside, in resignation.

That was all right.

He addressed Vah Medoh.

“This will be the perfect vantage point from which to deliver your final strike against Calamity Ganon.”

The laser’s gleam melted into the brilliant sunset sky.

“We have been artfully patient for the past 100 years,” he went on. And his voice simpered just the tiniest bit as he added, “You won’t suffer a feather to wait just a few more moments.”

I came back down on Revali’s Landing.

It was still sunset.

A muffled something sounded in my ears....

And then....

“Link... Link.”

I could hear it clearly. It was the Princess’ voice.

“Thanks to you, all of the Divine Beasts have returned to us and the spirits of the four Champions have been set free. We will all be awaiting your clash with Ganon at Hyrule Castle.”

So that was it, then. It was done.

“Free the Divine Beasts,” Impa had said so long ago....

It was done.

....

I took a pictograph.