Breath of Life
by Queenie Z

He had no idea when or if he would ever get used to the idea of waking up to a clear blue sky and the sound of chirping birds that weren't Sheerow; nevertheless, he relished the chance to try.

The morning was quiet and still, casting a much needed air of peace over Lorule Castle and its surrounding areas. No monsters or thieves roamed the roads - in fact, there didn't seem to be much of anything roaming the roads at this time of day, save for a chipper young man who was hard at work clearing junk out of his house a short distance from the castle gates. Whistling a happy little tune, he sat down a box of half-broken trinkets next to the weathervane before returning to the doorway. Then, his whistling stopped as he strained to push a barrel full of gods-know-what on its side and rolling it out of the way. Once he had sat the barrel upright once more, he sighed and wiped his brow. As he turned towards the east to admire the newly-risen sun, he stretched his arms upwards and inhaled deeply.

"Whew! What a morning!" said Ravio as he dropped his arms, letting them swing at his sides. "It's not even lunch yet, and I've already nearly cleaned this place out!" He turned his head and grinned. "That's pretty impressive, huh, Sheerow? Especially for me."

The tiny bird cocked his head at the sound of his name before flying over to land on the boy's shoulder. Ravio responded by patting his friend's head lightly with his finger.

"Yeah," he said, "pretty impressive if I do say so myself. I would've slept in, to be honest..." He adjusted his scarf slightly before motioning to the sprawling field and cloudless sky before him. "...But then I'd miss out on all this!" He snickered. "I'm telling you, friend, it's like a whole new world out here! A chance to start fresh!" He glanced back at the pile of junk, sheepishly scratching his chin. "...And I'm pretty sure Link would have it in for me if I didn't take advantage of that chance."

At that, Sheerow chirped, ruffling his feathers as if incredulous.

"What, you think he already has it in for me?" Ravio pouted indignantly and crossed his arms. "Okay, so maybe I went a little overboard with the signs on his house, but he seemed fine with it!" His pout, however, quickly gave way to a small smile. "I wonder how he's doing - hopefully he got that hero's welcome he deserved back in Hyrule. We'll definitely miss him for sure, won't we, Sheerow?"

Sheerow cooed in agreement and flapped his wings. As Ravio turned to give him another pat on the head, however, something strange on the ground caught his eye. For a brief second, he thought it could have been some fluff that he had brought out of his messy home, but upon closer inspection, his eyes widened. Then, in disbelief, he stumbled to his knees to get a closer look.

They were flowers. Bright white, blooming flowers - flowers that had not darkened and wilted in the shadow of death.

Ravio gasped, his eyes twinkling in delight as a huge smile creeped across his face. Wordlessly, he reached forward to touch one of the tiny blossoms; then, after determining that they were, in fact, real, he plucked it from the ground and gazed at it in awe.

"This... this is..." Suddenly, he was hit with a realization, and he quickly picked the remaining flowers, gathering them in his hands before enthusiastically jumping to his feet. "Come on, buddy, we've gotta show these to her...!"

Sheerow matched his enthusiasm by flying around in a small circle before following him as he dashed down the road and towards the gates of Lorule Castle.

"Hiiiiildaaaaaa! Hilda Hilda Hilda Hiiiildaaaa...!"

Though free of the presence of evil, Lorule Castle's halls were still in a state of disarray - tattered carpets lined the floors, and debris from years of neglect threatened to trip Ravio as he made his way to Hilda's chambers. After nearly stumbling several times, he somehow managed to make the ascent, his fists full of all the little white flowers he could find on his way. As he approached the chamber door, he called out to her again.

"Hilda! Hilda, you're never gonna believe this...!"

He screeched to a halt as the door cracked open, revealing a startled and somewhat worried Hilda staring at him.

"R-Ravio?" she said, concerned by her friend's shrill cries, "Is everything all right?"

"I'm fine! I'm fine! I'm better than fine!" With a broad smile, he held the flowers out to Hilda. "Look," he said breathlessly, "look at these!"

Hilda turned her attention to the flowers, staring at them for a moment. She blinked in confusion. "...Are these... flowers?"

"White flowers, Hilda! Just like the ones in Hyrule!" He held them out even closer to her. "And look - they're not wilted, either!"

With her mouth slightly agape, Hilda finally realized that, indeed, these were unlike any of the flowers she had seen in Lorule before. After staring a moment longer, she reached out, taking one in her fingers and inspecting it closely.

"It's..." she said in a hushed, almost reverent voice, "...it's so bright... so full of life..."

Ravio nodded. "That's right!" he said, his emotion bubbling up in his voice as he spoke. "You see? They've come back to life... our whole world is coming back to life, right before our very eyes...!"

Hilda continued to admire the flower in her hands, tears beading at the corners of her eyes at his words. "Coming back to life..." She returned her attention to Ravio. "...It really is happening... oh, Gods, I was - I had almost thought it to be a dream... that I would wake up one day and...!"

She was interrupted by a small sob, and she clenched her eyes shut, clutching the flower to her chest as she began to weep.

"...Your Highness?"

"Oh, Princess Zelda," she choked, "it's so beautiful... I'm so sorry... to think I nearly took all of this away from you...!"

Ravio's brow furrowed in worry, and he opened his mouth to say something. However, he soon changed his mind, opting instead to gently open her hands and place most of the flowers in her palms. Then, he gingerly tucked the remaining blossoms behind her left ear and smoothed her hair with his fingertips.

"She knows, Hilda," he said gently, "she knows you're sorry. They both do." He placed his hands on her shoulders and smiled at her. "But I don't think they gave us this second chance to remind us of what we did wrong."

As her sobs began to die down, Hilda lifted her gaze to him once more. Then, with a shaky smile, she bunched the flowers up neatly in one hand and wiped her tears with the other. "Yes... perhaps you're right." She continued to admire the flowers lovingly. "I cannot undo the hurt I've caused, but I can make the most of what came out of it."

"We can make the most out of it," corrected Ravio. He lowered his hands to her upper arms. "I said I'd help you, remember? I might have run away once, but I never wanted to go back on my oaths of fealty."

Hilda nodded, sniffling as her smile grew. "I know, Ravio. I'm grateful for everything you've done."

Ravio chuckled bashfully to himself at her gratitude and removed his hands from her arms. "Ah, well, it wasn't much, but..." He began to scratch his cheek. "...You know, Princess, I happened to come across a rather large sum of money in Hyrule, and I've been thinking of ways I could spend it - well, the portion I didn't leave with Link as a parting gift, anyway..."

The princess listened attentively to him. "Go on."

"I mean, I told him I was going to use it to kick back and retire," he balled his hand into a fist and frowned in determination, "but retiring isn't going to help you at all, is it? And it's definitely not going to help our kingdom!" His smile returned, however, as he continued. "...Remember when you told me that you wanted build a school in the village one day?"

Hilda's eyes widened again as she realized what he was offering. "You want to..." she shook her head. "No, I couldn't possibly ask that of you, you've done so much already - "

"I've already made up my mind," he said, "so don't try to change it! Every last rupee I brought back is going into your dream school!" His grin grew wider, and he took Hilda's hands in his. "Think about it - a Lorule where every child can read, where they can learn to avoid the mistakes our ancestors made! That was your dream, right?"

"Ravio...!"

"I just - " Suddenly, noticing how wound up he was getting, Ravio froze, glancing away from her as a bright pink blush formed on his cheeks. "...I just want to help make your dream come true. That's all I've ever wanted, really."

Hilda inhaled sharply, and she could feel her own face growing warm. Then, after a moment of awkward silence, she allowed herself to draw close to him, embracing him with the flowers he'd given her still clutched in her hand.

"All this time you've only ever thought of me," she said, sniffling into his shoulder and wrapping her arms more tightly around him. "I'm so blessed... thank you - thank you...!"

Ravio's eyes widened at her uncharacteristic display of affection, this outpouring of emotion he hadn't seen from her in a long, long time. However, though her words made his blush even brighter and her touch caused a swarm of butterflies in his stomach, he lifted his arms to nervously return her embrace. "...It's nothing," he muttered, clenching his eyes shut and silently thanking his friends - his two heroes from another world - for the small spark of life they had breathed into their kingdom, for the chance that he could make his beloved princess smile once more.

From his perch on the nearby windowsill, Sheerow cooed, ruffling his feathers slightly before fluttering off to give the two their privacy.