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Although there were many incidents which could have led to war, the threat of the Calamity allowed cooler heads to prevail. – From The Legend of Link: A History of the Struggle Against Ganon by Leonis Hyrule, page 812. This is one of the few instances in which the book speaks about political affairs.
Link shivered. It had been an hour since his duel against Revali, and he had been escorted into Rito Village itself and asked to sit in an empty roost. Zelda and Revali had gone off to a landing together while Link had been waiting with only the blizzard outside to occupy him. Revali was waiting for his superior to return from overseeing some construction project, supposedly. He did not question his orders. The lack of physical activity combined with the cold temperatures had led to him quickly growing cold, however.
For what seemed to be the thousandth time, Link heard the click-click-click of talons on wood as a pair of Rito approached. Revali stood with a tall, gray-feathered Rito; Link noticed the extensive scars on his left wing immediately. The newcomer entered, clicking his black beak once, wings folded behind his back. He looked down at Link and scowled.
“This is him, then?” the gray-feathered Rito asked.
“The one and only,” Revali replied. “In truth, I fail to understand why we go through all this pomp and circumstance. You are First Warrior, yes, but I do not see why I could not have dealt with him myself.”
“You are the Princess’ sworn knight, are you not?” The First Warrior turned to face him.
Yes , Link signed.
After a few seconds, the First Warrior put a wing to his hip; Link noticed the sheathed blade held there. “Answer the question.”
Revali sighed. “He has, in the affirmative. Do you not know Hylian sign?”
“I have had no need for it. For what reason would you have learned it?”
“Sometimes, you may have to deal with them. You might know this if you ever did anything beyond brooding and planning for war with them.”
“Regardless, he is the Princess’ sworn knight. He will be allowed to go.”
Revali did a double take. “After what he did today?”
“Executing him would mean war. A war that we would lose, to be precise. I do not intend to allow the slaughter of my people to go unpunished, but neither do I intend to see more of them killed for a hopeless pursuit. He will have leave of the Village,” the First Warrior answered. He took a long look at Link. “Fetch him a set of Snowquill, as well. I will not have it be said that he froze to death here. He is halfway there already.”
At that, Revali and the First Warrior left. A few minutes later, Revali returned with a set of leather armor, Rito down visible inside. It looked like it would do well to keep him warm. Without a moment’s hesitation, Link snatched it from Revali’s wings and put it on over his existing clothes. It was warmer, but Link still shivered. Revali still held a headdress bearing a ruby and a pair of metal objects; he motioned for Link to sit.
“The ruby in the headdress will keep you warm. It’s been built for Rito and would be tied on to your braids. Considering that you Hylians do not practice this, it has fallen to me to do this for you.”
Ironic that we went from dueling to this in a few hours, Link signed.
Revali sighed. “You don’t know what that word means. Now, if you would please, I would not like to spend a moment longer on this than is necessary.”
At that, the Rito got to work, taking his hair and beginning to braid it. He had never felt a Rito’s touch before. Revali seemed to have a thumb of some sort on his wingtip that was surprisingly dexterous. Link had needed to keep himself from laughing; Revali’s feathers were soft enough to tickle when they came into contact with his skin. When Revali placed the first of the metal spheres at the base of the braid, not tugging as much as he thought it might have, Link paid note to Revali’s own braids.
They were, to put it simply, a mess. It was clear that he had not properly maintained them—or any of his feathers, really—for weeks. The braids were practically coming apart. Link had seen Revali’s technique and thought that he had some chance of being able to replicate it. Reaching out, he slipped one of the green ribbons off of his braid, it coming undone immediately. One of the plumes within fluttered to the ground.
“ You! ” Revali raged. “What in the Goddess' name do you think you are doing?”
Fixing your braid, Link signed. It looked like a disaster.
Revali reached up to fix it himself before noticing the blue feather on the floor, his crest raising. “You have no idea what you’ve done, do you? Thanks to your idiocy, I will have to abandon the braid until that feather grows back. Simply reprehensible.”
Link noticed something golden under Revali’s pteruge. Feeling it, it was what he expected; Revali had taken a few locks of his hair during their duel and had seen fit to keep them. Link took a length and began to braid it with the two remaining feathers as the Rito fumed, continuing to work on Link’s own braid. It was only after Revali had put the headdress on him that he realized what Link had done.
“ Do you have any idea what you have just done? ” he screeched.
Fixed your braid? Link signed sloppily.
“Well, my loyal husband , you have just married us. I must thank you for so generously providing the feather that will go in your braid,” Revali answered, venom dripping from his voice.
Link laughed, a deep belly laugh. It was one of the most hilarious things he’d ever heard. Marrying the Rito who had tried to kill him just a few hours before by accident? Absolutely absurd.
Revali wasn’t laughing.