Diary of the Lost [RevalixOc/BotwxOc]

Journal entry 7

Today was the day. The day of the Rito annual competition or at least, the first part of the competition.

The news of the upcoming contest has been spreading throughout the village and the Tabantha region for days now. Stores started decorating their taverns, the three Rito bards were preparing to play their songs and tales and a few travelers met at the inn waiting to see the spectacle with their own eyes. Even the Rito children have been excited head over heels over the past couple of days. They would play and pretend as if they were the archers for the upcoming contest and kept bugging the poor warriors. Some of the chicklings even sneak out of the village to spy on the warriors train, but most of them get caught and sent back home.

Last week actually, Revali (after he had left in the morning most likely to train in the Hebra) came back not less than 5 minutes later with a young Rito chickling clamped under his wing. Grumpily, he scolded the young child and left him with me and Turaco at the court and disappeared into the woods again. But not 10 seconds gone he came back, with yet another pair of guilty looking chicklings.

And instead of exiting through the main gate again, he instead took one of the fly landings of the village, so none of the chicklings could follow him.

With each day I visit, the village becomes more colorful and decorations, banners and various intriguing smells fill the town. It seemed as if the entire village was constantly moving and never resting, never sleeping. On top of that, new tiny concessions opened close towards the entrance, most likely for the travelers from around the area who come to Rito Village just to see the spectacle with their own eyes.

When I entered the village this morning on the day of the competition, I was bombarded with all kinds of smells emerging from the tavern and the small stands at the court. Some of these scents were strongly unfamiliar to me but others I recognized in an instant. The smell of baked butter bread, honey caramelized baked apples, roasted honey cones, cinnamon cider and all kinds of sugarish delights filled the air. I couldn't help but to please the tickling sensation on my taste buds by purchasing some of the dainties together with a warm cinnamon apple cider. The warm beverage compared to the rather cool climate of the Hebra was just right for my tummy. And...I do admit, I couldn't help but get a couple of others during my stay.

When I was starting to head more towards the center of the village to meet up with Falla, all Rito archers, female and male were going on and about the village looking for their friends to wish them luck. Most of the warriors I walked past had their face and wings painted to showcase their pride.

While the Rito and Hylian in the court's movement were more fluid and light, the Rito within the village were tense in their gestures, strong in their intonation and generally on edge. I never thought that I'd ever even seen the mightiest of the Rito warriors tense their shoulders and muscles the way they did that day - So full of excitement.

As I was making my way through the chattering and busy crowd towards Fallas home, I noticed a tall obcenen figure lurking in front of her hut. Upon getting closer I recognized that figure to be Harp, the broad-stemmed white Rito who'd been with Revali the first day of my visit to Elder Jika's hut. He was seemingly adjusting the string of his falcon bow, his giant wing fidgeting with the ends of it in such a fluent manner as if he'd done this a thousand times. Titling his weapon he ever so often checked the cleanliness of his work, to then readjust the string over again as if he weren't happy how he'd done it beforehand. I didn't think much of it until he repeated this for another 5 times nonstop. There was a certain tension in his movements and the longer I examined his behavior the more I noticed that his eyes would occasionally drift away from the bow and inside Falla's hut. His actions would halt for a moment before he quickly turned his gaze back at his weapon as if he was trying to avoid suspicion.