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Link didn’t stay more than a day after the Colgera was defeated. Long enough to ensure that the storm would stay cleared, and that the Rito didn’t need any additional support, then gone practically before Tulin could flap goodbye. For as much as Link claimed to enjoy the slow life on the road, he sure did run around a lot. Though, perhaps it was understandable, given the rumors of dire happenings all over Hyrule. If Link helped the Zora, Gorons, and Gerudo as effectively as he helped the Rito, they were in good hands.
That, truly, was the problem though. Link was just too good at what he did. It made Tulin, Sage of Wind or not, feel like he just couldn’t compare. Sure, Tulin’s gales had gotten Link out of harm's way more than once, and he took down his fair share of enemies with his bow, but Link literally skydived through the Colgera’s body and fired arrows while upside down! Tulin’s contributions looked like potshots and a light breeze in comparison. Don’t get him wrong, he’s incredibly happy that the village was saved, and fighting the Colgera was the most exhilarating experience of his life, but some childish, selfish part of Tulin wanted it to be him that did it all. He wanted to be the fearless champion of the Rito, strong enough to defend his own village, like Revali.
And yet, if Link hadn’t been there, Tulin didn’t think he could have managed to defeat the Colgera on his own. That part hurt him the most. He simply didn’t have the power, the instincts, the courage that Link had. His wind calling abilities paled in comparison to the stories told of Revali. Tulin knew, without a doubt, that he was the best warrior the Rito had seen in a hundred years, had been told just that by dozens of his elders, and yet a few days with Link proved just how inadequate he truly was once a real challenge appeared. Not just him, but all of the Rito. The whole village had come together to solve the problem, and Link does more than any of them in hardly any time at all.
Tulin hated that he had these thoughts. They weren’t fair to Link, who Tulin knew had no interest in glory or accolades, he simply helped because he was able. Tulin kept all these thoughts buried behind his typical mask of confidence. The firm nod Link gave him before heading off, the great eagle bow on his back, and the secret stone around his leg were marks of his success, and the respect he had earned. Tulin was good, there was no denying it, but he wasn’t the best, not by a long shot. He would need to train harder, be better, so that next time something dangerous came around, he would be ready.
———
After Link left, Tulin threw himself into training harder than ever before. He spent a great deal of time at the flight range, and always ended his day with a patrol above the wilderness around Rito village. On one such patrol, Tulin felt it. A strange, ethereal pulling sensation, like his spirit was trying to move on its own. He knew exactly where it was coming from, but he had never felt the sensation as a pull, rather than a push. He had tried on many occasions before to enter the divine beast Vah Medoh perched above the Village, but could never find an entrance and was always repelled by the inverse of the same strange sensation he felt now. Tulin immediately changed course for Medoh’s perch, filled with excitement, and just a touch of trepidation at the thought that Medoh seemed to be inviting him in. What had changed?
Although the Beast was clearly still dormant, Tulin saw faint blue lines, tracing a path up Medoh’s forehead. Straining himself to angle his summoned wind gust slightly upward, he soared above the Beast, able to see the blue lines congregating at a small hatch, open to the inside. Yes! Finally! He thought to himself, tucking his wings in tight to fall towards the hatch at high speed. Barrelling through the hatch, he failed to anticipate that the inside of the Beast would be much darker, and thus was blinded as his eyes tried to adjust to the sudden gloom. Panicking, he threw his wings out to catch himself, and was surprised to catch a strong updraft, slowing his descent enough to regain control and drift slowly to the ground.
“Careful, Fledgeling, the winds might not be so fortunate next time.” A distant, echoey voice called out in a mirthful tone. Tulin blinked rapidly and looked around, the dim lighting just enough to make out the complex patterns on the far wall of the large chamber. A moment later, the ghostly blue form of a Rito materialized out of thin air. Tulin made a rather undignified squawk.
“You’re… you’re Revali! Oh, you have no idea how badly I’ve wanted to meet you, you’re, I mean… You’re a legend! Oh Hylia, I'm talking to Revali!” This last bit was mumbled to himself, but based on the slightly judgemental ruffle of Revali’s feathers, he had heard it anyway.
“Well, good to know my legend lives on, even in death.” The crest on Revali’s head was standing tall, indicating his genuine pleasure at the knowledge. “And what do they say about me, little Fledgling?” Now that Revali had a body, or at least a ghost body, his voice was much clearer, but still had the faintest bit of distortion.
“Well, they, uh, I mean…” Tulin stammered, “They say your mastery of the wind was like no other, a vertical gale, a hundred meters high, and your accuracy with a bow, you could split an arrow in two even if you took the shot upside down and half a mile away!”
“One hundred meters on an updraft? How preposterous.” Revali shook his head, putting a wing up to his forehead. “I worked day and night at it for years and never got above 50 meters, and naturally, if my maximum was fifty, then that’s simply as high as one could ever go. The arrow shot…well, that one’s more or less true.” Revali said.
“Even 50 meters straight up is wicked though!” Tulin replied, nodding enthusiastically.
“Hmm, I suppose it is, yes.” Revali said. “And what of yourself, Fledgeling? Vah Medoh calls me to you, and I am unsure as to why. Do you require the services of the great Revali?” WIth this, he flared his wings dramatically, ruffled by a small gust of wind.
“I… don’t know,” Tulin replied. “I mean, I felt called to you, but… you also felt called to me?” Tulin tilted his head, trying to work out the puzzle.
“Indeed, Fledgeling. There must be something important about you that old Medoh felt compelled to wake me for.” Revali said.
“Well, maybe it's that we’ve both fought alongside Link? I’m the Sage of Wind, and you’re the Divine Champion of the Rito?” Tulin said, tilting his head the other direction.
“Ho ho, you’ve fought with Link, have you? Tell me, is he still as insufferably competent as ever?” Revali leaned in, clearly interested in gossip about his old rival, without knowing he was hitting an insecurity.
“You wouldn’t even believe it.” Tulin said. “We fought a huge monster in the sky and he stayed airborne the entire time with just his glider to catch updrafts! A Hylian, airborne for at least ten minutes, all while shooting arrows with insane accuracy in the middle of a windstorm! I could barely keep up with him, and I have wings! To be honest, he did most of the work, I was mostly just following his lead.”
“Yes, that does rather sound like something he would do.” Revali replied, shaking his head. “The things I’ve seen that man do… Did you know, I once taunted him, telling him to meet me for a duel on Vah Medoh, knowing he had no way of making it up to the airborne Beast, and yet minutes later he was flying towards it at a frankly alarming speed with his paraglider. To this day I have no idea how he managed that, and I almost don’t want to know. Link is… truly unique, in his capabilities. But, wait a minute, you were out there fighting with him? You’re just a fledgeling, and Sage of Wind? What in Hyrule is that?”
“Well, it’s kinda complicated but… A long time ago, there were six sages who allied with the first king of Hyrule to stop Ganondorf, and I guess I’m the descendant of the Sage of Wind? Either way, I’m one of the best warriors of the Rito, and with so many of the adults preoccupied with the blizzard, only I was available to help Link. I feel… strangely connected to Link now too, like if he was in danger I could somehow appear and help him.” Tulin explained.
“Oh my, it would seem we are quite similar indeed, and if Link is working with you, then you must not be half bad. Just how good is your mastery of wind to be called sage?”
“I… it’s…” Tulin sighed. “I’m the only one in the village who can call upon it, but compared to what you could do… can do?... it’s not that impressive.”
“Bah, nobody could ever be as impressive as me.” Revali waved a wing dismissively. “Well, except maybe Link, but that hardly means your skills are worthless. The air in here was getting stuffy anyway, so show me what you can do!” Revali spread his wings out once more, then stepped out of the way.
Tulin nodded, determined not to make a fool of himself in front of Revali. “Alright, here goes!” Tulin pulled his wings back and thrust them forward with a powerful exhale, pulling the wind forward as they traveled. The channel of high speed wind threw up a cloud of dust for which Revali was grateful he couldn’t inhale in his ghostly form. Tulin leapt into the wind channel, angling his wings slightly upwards so that he still got some height as he flew out of the horizontal gust, then, spinning around and drawing his bow, fired three arrows at the apex of his ascent before landing. Each of the arrows had landed in the dead center of the spiral designs on the far wall.
“Hey, not bad, Fledgeling, not bad at all.” Revali said, slowly nodding his head. “You’re what, 10 years old? Much as I am loath to admit it, even I wasn’t that good at that age. Excellent air control, stable wind current, pinpoint accuracy, and that bow, even many full grown Rito can't use it effectively.” Revali paused, casting an appraising look at Tulin. “You're actually pretty good.”
Tulin’s feathers stood straight out with shock. He stammered, “Really? You think I’m good? I can only do a horizontal wind current though…”
“And yet you still found a way to get height from it. Little Gale, can I tell you a secret?”
Tulin’s eyes widened at both the nickname and the thought that Revali, Revali!, would share a secret with him. He nodded for Revali to continue.
“I didn't learn how to channel an updraft until just a few years before my death. The fact that you can channel the wind at all at your age is truly impressive.”
Tulin was about to pass out from the praise. He knew he was decent, at least compared to the other Rito of the village, but to be called impressive by Revali himself?
“I’ll even give you some advice,” Revali continued. “Stop thinking. The updraft isn’t a technique you can master by learning any specific moves. It’s really more a matter of intuition. You feel it, deep inside of you, and you have to trust it. There is a moment, when the wind first catches your wings, where every instinct in your body will tell you to fight it, to adjust, to do anything but let yourself be carried upwards, but you must not listen to it. Don’t think, just let it happen, and I’m sure you’ll be soaring upwards in no time. Say, why don’t you shoot for 51 meters, break my record. I know you can do it.”
“I don’t know about that but…Thank you, Revali. I’m honored.” Tulin said earnestly.
“Bah, you’ve earned it.” Revali paused, looking distant for a moment. “Tch, I feel myself fading, I guess we’ve done whatever Medoh wanted us to do.”
“Wait, what? You’re… fading? Will you be alright? There’s still so much I want to say, so much more I could learn!” Tulin was frantic, almost shouting. Without thinking, he ran forward and threw his wings around Revali’s ghostly form in a tight hug.
Revali froze for just a moment, before gently wrapping his wings around Tulin in kind.
“Hey, it’s alright, Little Gale. You carry my legacy, the legacy of the Rito, well. You hold yourself to a high standard, and that’s good, that’s very good. But, you are still a child. The fate of the Rito does not rest on you alone.” Revali sighed, looking down at the top of Tulin’s head, still pressed into his stomach. “Over a hundred years of being dead has given me a lot of time to think, about what I could have done differently, about the things that went wrong. So listen to me when I tell you this, Little Gale; Do not be afraid to ask for help. My story as Champion of the Rito is really a tragedy, of a Rito who thought he could do it all better on his own, of a Rito who paid the price for that assumption in blood. I don’t want that to happen to you, I want you to be better than I ever was. Excellence roosts within you, Little Gale, and I have no doubt it will hatch something magnificent.”
Revali’s form continued to fade, the lower part of his body becoming wisps of spectral energy that slipped out of Tulin’s embrace. Tulin could only watch in stunned, horrified, awed, joyous silence, rendered speechless by the complexity of emotion, and depth of praise.
“Oh, and don’t worry too much about Link.” Revali continued. “That man is so frustratingly good at what he does, and he hardly realizes it. It's… utterly asinine, but I know he has nothing but good intentions.” Revali was little more than a colorful wisp at this point, yet his voice still spoke. “You are worthy, Little Gale, Sage of Wind, Pride of Rito Village. You are worthy…” This last line was barely a whisper on the wind as Revali’s form fully dissipated and the soft blue lights of Vah Medoh faded to darkness.
Tulin stood in shocked, reverent silence for several minutes, then whispered into the dark, musty air, “Thank you, Revali, Champion of the Rito, Tamer of Vah Medoh, Pride of Rito Village. Thank you.”
The insanity of the situation finally hit Tulin, and he burst into confused laughter as he exited the divine beast and flew straight to the flight range to practice the updraft. Did I just get adopted by Revali!?