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As Royalty, Not Lovers (miphvali)

He adjusted his leather chestplate before he knelt into position. "Of course I am."

"Excellent. Nabho!" She called to the guard. "Will you do a count for us?"

"Of course, Your Highness," Nabho straightened. "On 3...2...1...begin!"

Revali managed to hear Mipha diving into the waterfall over the wind kicked up by his gale. He shot skyward, the wind taking him up higher and higher. He was sure he had Mipha beat--

--but she erupted from the waterfall at the same time he reached its top.

They locked eyes as he went to land on the stone top of the waterfall. She pulled herself into a back flip, feet landing on the very edge.

He hadn't expected her to slip.

One foot went further back than the other and she fell backwards with a shriek. Without even thinking, he lunged after her, the guards giving an alarmed shout. He tucked his wings in close to himself, diving faster than he ever had before and caught up with her, grabbing her and stretching his wings. The sudden increase in weight threw him off, sending him wobbling to the right and with a determined grunt, he straightened himself out.

He was dropping far faster than he wanted and in a desperate attempt to protect her, he curled his body around her, turning backwards. They landed roughly on the rock, Revali hissing as it scraped through his shirt and stripped skin off his back.

They lay there for a second, Mipha breathing hard and Revali wincing. "Mipha, are you--"

"Highness!" Nabho swam over to them, climbing up onto the rock. "Are you alright?"

Mipha carefully sat up slightly, Revali still gripping her. "I'm fine."

Revali slowly sat up with her, cautiously releasing his grip. His green eyes seemed to blaze as he turned to the guard. "Listen here. Had I not been there, your princess would've fallen and smashed open on the rocks. So next time one of you scorns me, keep that in mind."

He ignored the wide-eyed look on the guard's face, turning his attention back to Mipha. "Are you alright?"

"I'm shaken up, but I'm fine. Thanks to you," she swallowed hard, looking him over. "Are you okay? You landed really hard and jumping after me like that must have caused strain."

He said nothing for a moment, staring into her gold eyes. "I'm fine. Trust me, I'm completely fine."

To his surprise, she dropped her head onto his chest and wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you."

Despite the guard standing and staring, Revali lightly rested his cheek on her wet hair, putting his hand on the base of her neck. They sat like that for a long moment before Revali reluctantly let her go and stood, suppressing the grimace of pain from his scraping. It burned.

"Princess Mipha," Nabho breached. "Prince Revali took a rather rough landing and slid somewhat across the stone. Perhaps you should check for injury."

Revali shot the guard a dirty look but Mipha nodded. "Yes. Come on, we should address that before we have to go meet with Sidon. You can fly, I presume?"

"Of course I can," he flared his wings to prove the point. "They didn't even suffer a scratch. Honestly, this isn't the first time I've taken a tumble like that and my back is fine. You are overreacting."

She simply smiled. "Meet me in my room in five minutes."

Without letting him argue, she began walking away. Revali scoffed, watching her retreating back for a moment before launching skyward. He looped overhead once or twice before lazily gliding above, watching Mipha make her way back to the palace. He knew damn well he could easily get there before her but with what had just happened...he didn't want to let her out of his sight.