Chapter 1- prologue
Hi, everyone. Here I am for the fifth instalment of my Rio series and the one I have been looking forward to do. In this story, Carla and her generation are now young adults and had left the nest while their parents had had a new clutch of one or two eggs and chicks. However, those chicks will have only a small role in this story. The majority of Carla's group had paired up with each other or with some other macaws, and everything is peaceful in the Sanctuary de Amazon. However, a big threat hangs in the distance, a threat that will threaten to tear things apart and cause serious problems for our feathered friends including Andromeda's clan. The clue is in the title of the story and you will have met a few of them in some parts of my previous stories. Now, those creatures are back with a very big and important appearance in this story and we'll also see why and how as the story progresses. Anyway, off we set.
It had been three years since Carla and company had been to Guyana to save the Sanctuary de Amazon from losing its protected reserve status due to debt problems. Now Carla's generation were all young adults, though the young hyacinth macaws, such as Triton and Indigo, the first-brood son and daughter of Neptune and Ultramarine were still adolescents, coming close to adulthood. Carla's generation had all left the nest now and had settled down into hollows of their own though none of them planned on having chicks just yet. Carla, Bia and Tiago, together with their cousin Kira, and friends Justin, Charlotte, Matilda, Virgil and their cousins Jojo, Felix and Lavender, second cousins Tyler and Ricardo, and Garrett, Músculo and Turquesa had all left the nests and had moved into hollows of their own. Some of them had become boyfriend/girlfriend couples. Justin and Carla had become a couple, as had Bia and Virgil, Tiago and Matilda, Charlotte and Músculo, Jojo and Kira, Felix and Turquesa and Lavender and Garrett. Tyler had become the boyfriend of Aurora, a beautiful female Spix macaw who had an elaborate singing voice much like Carla, Roberto, Brisa, Jojo, Felix and Lavender while Ricardo had chosen to remain single. These Spix macaw couples have been dating for over three years now and their friendships had evolved into romance with the possibility of them becoming mates not too far away.
The first-brood offspring of Mars and Chiquitita, Phobos, Deimos and Alexandre, and Jupiter and Ruby's first-brood offspring, Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto in the red tribe had also grown up into young adult green-winged and scarlet macaws. Phobos and Deimos, though they are now young adults, were unusually small; like how Chiquitita, their mother, had been with she had been their age. The two had opted against finding girlfriends and eventually mates and having chicks for they felt that they might pass on their small size, which was actually genetic, to their offspring. However, their brother Alexandre, and Io and her siblings had each paired up with another macaw. Alexandre had become a couple with Estelle, a female green-winged macaw who went with Alexandre, Carla and the others to Guyana to find the legendary treasure to save the sanctuary, while Io had paired up with Sheldon, a young male ruby macaw or half-scarlet, half green-winged hybrid macaw and the son of Ramon the scarlet macaw and Dani the green-winged macaw; Europa had paired up with a male scarlet macaw named Byron, Ganymede had paired up with Mimas, the eldest daughter of Saturn and Orquidea and Callisto had paired up with Athos, a former domesticated green-winged macaw and the leader of a quartet of birds brought back from Guyana, the other three being Porthos, a muscular male great green macaw, Aramis, a slender blue-and-gold macaw and Squaw'taganan, a male Lear's macaw.
While Mimas had become the girlfriend of Ganymede, the rest of her siblings had either paired up or had chosen to remain single. Enceladus was dating a female hyacinth macaw from the Bluewing Clan named Trixie while Tethys was the girlfriend of Oberon, the only first-brood son of Uranus and Esmeralda. Dione and Porthos were a couple as were Titan and Brooke, a female blue-and-gold macaw who had also been on the Guyana treasure-searching trip a few years ago. Only Iapetus and Rhea had chosen to remain single for they were not keen on dating. Oberon's sisters, Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel and Titania had also paired up or had chosen to remain single as well. Miranda was dating Aramis while Umbriel dated Benjamin, the oldest son of Felipe and Pearl. Titania was the girlfriend of a male military macaw named Ash while Ariel had chosen to remain single.
Mercury and Sapphire's first-brood daughters, Phoebe, Jasmine and Annette and Ceres and Cobalto's first-brood sons, Aurelio, Azul and Wilbur had also left the nest like everyone else. Of these six, only Azul and Phoebe had paired up with another macaw. Azul was a couple with a female blue-throated macaw and Fernanda while Phoebe dated Squaw'tagnan, the Lear's macaw who had been sought after by Tulio and his assistant from Guyana a few years back. Meanwhile, Pluto and Lapis Lazuli's four first-brood offspring, Charon, Blueberry, Quincy and Flor, and Neptune and Ultramarine's two first-brood offspring, Triton and Indigo, continued living with their parents. Charon and Blueberry had paired up with Neytiri and Aiden respectively. Like Brooke and Estelle and also Sheldon, Neytiri had been on the Guyana treasure-hunting trip and had been the first one to discover the treasure in the Jurassic Jungle. She had grown into a more sensible macaw with a tough streak. Her cousin Juan, together with Quincy and Flor, the younger brother and sister of Charon and Blueberry, had chosen to remain single. Indigo and Triton were both dating Victor and Penelope, another friend of Carla's circle of friends, respectively and their relationships had grown strong.
As their first brood offspring had either left or were close to leaving the nests, the main cast couples had had another brood of chicks. Blu and Jewel's second brood were a son named Luke and a daughter named Linda whom Blu had named after his human companion. Luke had cerulean feathers like his mother but his eyes were brown like his father's. He had a stocky build like Blu but his crest was similar to Jewel and Bia's but like Bia's crest, it fell straight down. Linda had teal eyes like Jewel but blue feathers like Blu. She was slender and had a crest like Blu's. Both macaws bore blue-white eye patches similar to Blu but Linda's patches were bordered by dark blue band. The two young macaws were mischievous, much like Tiago had been, and loved to play pranks on other macaws though Linda liked art as well. The two chicks were around two years old but still kids, as were the other second-brood chicks.
Mercury and Sapphire's second brood consisted of just one chick, a son named Ozzy while Venus and Zephyr had two second brood chicks, a son named Azurite and a daughter named Aquamarine. The two were both named after blue minerals based on the colour of their feathers. Mars and Chiquitita's only daughter and chick of their second brood, Gabrielle had hatched before and during the events of Carla and company's trip to Guyana and thus was one of the oldest of the second-brood chicks. Jupiter and Ruby's second brood consisted of a daughter named Amalthea (named after a minor moon of Jupiter) and a son named Oliver. Saturn and Orquidea's two second-brood chicks were both sons. They were both named Hyperion (named after a moon of Saturn) and Gordon while Uranus and Esmeralda's only second brood chick was a son named Edmund (whom Uranus had named after a character from the Chronicles of Narnia series. Neptune and Ultramarine also had just one chick for their second brood, another daughter named Violet (not to be confused with Violeta, the matriarch of the Bluewing Clan and Demetrio's mate). Violet had a rather unusually strong purple tint to her feathers, giving her plumage the appearance of being dark purple instead of navy blue. Ceres and Cobalto had two daughters for their second brood named Lucy (named after one of Ceres and the others' former owners) and Desdemona while Pluto and Lapis Lazuli had a single son in their second brood, a son named Charlie. Brisa and Roberto also had another brood of two chicks. They were a daughter named Ophelia and a son named Chilro (whose name was Portuguese for 'chirp'). These new additions to their families was like a new start of being parents for these couples, especially for Zephyr and Venus as they were reminded of raising Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil when they had Azurite and Aquamarine and then older siblings were proud to have new, younger siblings to their families as well.
While the larger macaw tribes and clans were enjoying life, many with new chicks and adolescents going out with their other halves, the smaller groups on the sanctuary, such as the blue-headed macaws and the chestnut-fronted macaws, were also continuing their usual daily routines. Mariposa, the daughter of club owner Skyla and her mate Jairo was dating Kiawe, a young male blue-headed macaw with a tough personality while Alessandro, the son of Murphy and Abigail, and a female chestnut-fronted macaw from his group, Rhiannon went out on nature trips to admire the colourful animals, flowers and sometimes even the stars. Andromeda and Eragon's clan of archaoebirds were also thriving in their own patch of territory. Chicks were being born and raised, parents hunted, the small species of bat-birds continued to be bred, trained and raised to be mounts for many clan members and the customs of the clan continued to flow. The archaeobirds continued to use their mastery of fire but they were very careful to keep it confined. After being told by the macaw tribe and clan leaders of the bad history they had had with fire, especially the two previous times, the archaeobirds had kept their use of fire entirely restricted to their territory. The archaeobirds loved their new home and were a peace-loving group of bizarre birds who got on very well with all the other avian residents around them, especially the Navyfeather Clan and the glaucous macaw tribe who were their nearest neighbours with the Spix macaw tribe.
The macaw tribes and clans themselves; much seemed to have changed within these bird flocks. In the Spix macaw tribe, Eduardo had stepped down as leader and passed it onto his daughter Jewel and her mate Blu. Roberto, Brisa, Zephyr and Venus had become part of the inner circle of birds with the former two being seconds-in-command for Roberto had been Jewel's closest childhood friend. Eduardo and Mimi, however, continued to stand by as advisors. In the red tribe, Felipe and Pearl were still leaders though Jupiter and Ruby were now seconds-in-command of the tribe since Ruby was Pear's sister. As for Mars and Chiquitita, they had become part of the inner circle of birds in the tribe. In the Lear's macaw tribe, Valentino and Rosalind had stepped down as leaders and had handed the role to Waldo and his mate Monique. Sapphire and Mercury had become seconds-in-commands as Sapphire was Waldo's half-sister. In the green and blue-and-gold macaw tribes, Alonso, Verde, Soleado and Zoie were still the leaders though Uranus, Esmeralda, Saturn and Orquidea had been initiated into the inner circle of birds as well, much like Jupiter, Ruby, Mars and Chiquitita in the red tribe, while in the glaucous macaw tribe, Lapis Lazuli and Pluto had also been given the roles as seconds-in-command by Rudi (Lapis Lazuli's cousin) and his mate Valeria. Marinho, the older brother of Ultramarine and Neptune's brother-in-law, was being trained by Flavio ready for becoming leader of the clan when Flavio retired, while Ultramarine and Neptune were to become the seconds-in-command. In the blue-throated macaw clan, Ceres and Cobalto continued to live as regular members of the clan with no initiation into the inner circle birds of the clan for they were not leader material, Cobalto had told Reynaldo and Anita.
Alongside the macaw and archaeobird tribes and clans, other small groups of birds had also been established on the sanctuary. One was a group of red-fronted macaws, the survivors of their clan when the flying foxes had driven them out to grab their land, and some others included a group of toco toucans and golden parakeets. Like the blue-headed and chestnut-fronted macaws, these groups consisted of close-knit groups of families who lived either in an unowned patch of the Sanctuary de Amazon or shared their space with a tribe or clan. Everyone indeed was living harmoniously and had been freed from the worry and threat of poaching and logging, which had not occurred for around six years since the previous poacher threat. Security of the sanctuary had been tightened such that only a few poachers got through but even then, those poachers were found out and caught. Peace really did reign in the Sanctuary de Amazon. However, that peace was soon to be threatened by every Amazon bird's worst enemy, alongside the territories on which the bird tribes and clans and other residents dwelt on, but it was not going to be from loggers…