Chapter 4: Changes
Hey, v.t.7 here updating this story back from lovely, tropical Costa Rica! It was amazing there and I found some inspiration from the wildlife there for my story. I got to go to the ARA Project, a Costa Rican conservation organization focused on reintroducing the macaws into the wild, and got to see both the Scarlet macaws and Great Green macaws. It was an unforgettable experience.
So in this chapter, we're going back with Eduardo to the Spix tribe and Blu's family learns what's become of Blu.
Also, thanks to everyone who suggested names and genders for the two chicks. Thank you Jackson Beardsle for your idea in this chapter, Skyler the Elf Owl for your OC, and Alexriolover95 and HeadHuskey for the names for the two chicks. We'll get to meet them in this chapter as well.
Enjoy the chapter!
Eduardo skimmed over the leaf foliage, often squinting ahead to try and see his tribe's territory. Roberto and the other two had taken the quickest and easiest route there while he was taking the long way. He was anxious to get home, for he had news that he wanted to share with his family.
Family. Heh. He nearly laughed out bitterly at the thought. Some family member he turned out to be. First his parents, then his wife, then Jewel and now his son-in-law Blu. He sighed. He was terrible.
At a young age, when he and his sister, Mimi, were just beginning to fledge, their parents had died. His father had been flying through a rainstorm during the wet season and had been struck by lightning and plummeted to the ground. He died the next day. Her mother had lasted only a few weeks afterwards before her depression got the best of her and she died of a grief-stricken heart, leaving them in the care of their aunt and uncle.
He had started leading the clan early on. It was tough, but thank goodness he had his older sister with her positive attitude and multitude of ideas. He would had probably fallen into depression to if it weren't for her. So the years went by and they both grew up and he lead the tribe with farness. But he still felt as if he was missing something.
And then he met her.
Azule. His wife and later his mate and mother to their daughter, Jewel. She was his everything. Her feathers were the same color as her name. Her eyes had been a sparkling teal. Her beauty made him melt every time he saw her and her bright, positive attitude made him feel happy again. Her laughter was contagious. She was a walking ball of sunshine. She had loved him and their daughter. She looked so much like Jewel. Perhaps that's why he clung so close to his daughter. Because she reminded him of her mother. For a while, he was so happy with his family. He felt on top of the world, like nothing could bring him down or tear his family apart.
But that was before the loggers came. They came in masses, nothing could stop them. Like one single force, they took down the jungle, tree by tree. Their machines snapped through the bark like it was a twig. His tribe evacuated a little too late when it happened. His own family had caught in the crossfire. He didn't know why or how they did it, but they set fire to the rainforest. Red and orange flames licked up to the sky and devoured everything caught in its way. Mimi had gone before and made it out with the many others fleeing. His family was left behind. He had tried to escape with them, but the smoke became so thick, so unbreathable that he lost sight of them. He heard them screaming behind him and he tried to look, but he breathed in so much smoke that his world blacked out.
He didn't know long long he was out unconscious, but when he was, in the critical part of the infirmary hollow, his wife and daughter were gone. Lost to the fire and the loggers who set the fire. He screeched out in sorrow and broke down in sobs, mourning his two girl's lost lives. The tribe grieved the loss of their matriarch and heiress, but no one felt more pain from the grief than him.
Years passed, the tribe moved to a deeper part of the Amazon and, despite a few hardships and obstacles on the way, was thriving. And then... a miracle happened. His daughter came back to him. She had been alive all this time. His heart filled with joy as they were reunited. And to add to his happiness, he was now the grandfather of three, adorable chicks. He had never felt more joyful in his life. With his daughter back, along three grand-chicks, he eagerly searched among the group that had arrived for the macaw that had stole his little girl's heart.
But when his eyes fell on Blu, the klutzy, weird, shy bird that was his son-in-law, he was stunned. Nervous, uncoordinated, quite unskillful about the ways of the wild, he could not believe he was his daughter's mate and husband. And yet, in a way, Blu reminded him of himself when he was younger, sometime before he lost his parents. Unsure about leading, not the strongest, swiftest or smartest in the tribe. One that the others his age at the time called a weakling. An outcast. He knew right then, as he looked at Blu, that Blu wasn't going to repeat any of the mistakes that he had committed to his family.
Thus the training had started for Blu the day after he had gotten here. He may have been weak to save and protect his family, but he was going to make sure that Blu wasn't to be the same way. For most of the day they trained, and he had realized one major thing. Blu was below average tribal standards. Period. He would fail protect his family out here. As bad as this was to know, it became so much worse when he discovered that his apparent son-in-law was raised by humans.
Humans. As in the same kind as the loggers. The same kind of specie that tore his family apart. It was a shocking blow for him. He lost so much hope for Blu then. It was apparent to him that his Jewel had chosen poorly for a mate. He would never amount to a victor in a fight for his family. He would lose and fail his family, like he himself had before in his earlier years. Yet instead of further teaching him about his past mistakes to allow Blu to avoid making them, he had stopped teaching him. Later when Blu had scored the final goal in the other team's net, he had lost all possible hope for Blu ever making into his tribe's society, and his standards of his daughter's mate. He just didn't amount enough to his standards.
Now... now he... he didn't know what to think of Blu now. Blu had flown off and joined the Scarlet macaw tribe now. He may have some admiration for him going against the loggers, but... he didn't know. He felt guilty for pushing Blu away so soon. True Blu didn't meet his expectations, but who's fault was that for setting them? His. Besides, Blu had honestly tried his best to try to make him proud. And all he did was compare him to someone better than him every time he tried to complete a task.
Blu wasn't the problem. The problem was him. He didn't want to accept him because he reminded him of a younger version of himself. He didn't want to accept him as his daughter's mate because he wanted someone more like he was now. And it was now because of his stubbornness that he lost a possible and great tribe member to the other side. His lack of acceptance costed him his son-in-law.
His emotions started welling behind his eyeballs, so he fought the urge to shed them in the form of tears. He knew what was going to happen when he returned home. His daughter and grand-chicks deserved, no, needed to know what happened to Blu and what had happened to him. They needed to know that he had driven him away from them.
"Mom, where's dad? I haven't seen him all day or after what happened yesterday," Bia inquired. Jewel looked at her second eldest, but then quickly turned away again. She was worried sick about her husband not returning by now. She thought he'd return right before night fall yesterday, but there was still no sign of him. She still held onto the belief that he had not abandoned them, but other thoughts of what could had happened to him kept popping up in her mind. What if he was attacked by the dangers out here? What if he was ambushed by some angry macaws that were furious at him for the incident yesterday? What if he had gotten lost and couldn't find his way back to them? Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard the voice of her dear aunt.
"Come now, dearies. You're father will be back real soon. I may not know him as well as your mother, but I know your father would come back even if he had to give away his wings and crawl his way back to you," Mimi said. Jewel sniffed and wiped away the tiny amount of moisture gathering under her eyes before turning back to them. She would stay strong for her chicks, she would not let them see her weak before them.
"Your aunt is right. I bet your father is flying home as we speak and will be arriving soon," she said. Her chicks perked up a bit at the prospect of having their entire family back under one hollow again. Suddenly, they all tensed up as they heard the flapping of wings outside and some bird panting for breath. Jewel immediately charged towards the hollow's entrance, hoping to see her mate there.
"Blu," she called out, hoping to see his face again. She skidded to a halt at the entrance hole and her smile disappeared as she saw her father catching his breath instead of Blu.
"Daddy," she whispered, trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice. "Are you okay? Have you've seen any sign of Blu," she asked. He stopped panting stared up at her and gave a saddened look at her.
"No, but I do have some news about him that you must hear about," he replied. His voice sounded saddened and instantly she began to feel dread building up inside of her.
"And it all came straight out of Felipe's beak," her father finished. She, her aunt and chicks had been quiet until he had finished, but now she was the first one to let out any words of protest to the story told by her father from the opposite side's chief.
"Just because he said them, doesn't mean they are true," she yelled, breaking the rest of the audience from their stunned stupor and their focus towards her.
"Jewel," her father replied calmly, "I think you're overreacting."
"And I think you're not reacting enough! My husband joined the other tribe and here you are not acting shocked at all by it. He saved the rainforest and you're not the least bit shocked by it," she responded back, her voice still higher than usual.
"Actually, that's not the entire reason why he joined," he answered. His eyes turned downcast and his shoulders slumped forward.
"What do you mean daddy," she asked him. His breath hitched like he was about to speak, but he remained quiet. "What do you mean," she said, this time more louder and desperately. He still was silent. Finally, aunt Mimi jerked forward and grasped him firmly by the shoulders and started shaking him.
"Good heavens, Eduardo! Stop stalling and start squawking! What was the other reason Blu joined the other side," she demanded. Jewel came over and gently pried her aunt's wings off her father's shoulders. She then looked at him with a pleading look in her eyes.
"Daddy," she asked quietly. Her three chicks joined her side and gave him their best begging puppy-eye look.
"Pop-pop," they said in sync. Eduardo finally caved in. He sighed and stuck his wings out and pulled them in and out in front of the sad-eyes quartet.
"Alright, alright. I'll tell you-," he sighed again, "-but you won't like what I have to tell you." The others grew quiet at his voice. "The other reason why Blu chose the other team instead of our tribe was..." he inhaled deeply, "because I drove him to defect to their side." A second of silence passed, but died as quickly as it came in.
"What," screamed all five beaks. Mimi was flabbergasted, the chicks looked like their minds had broken and Jewel looked shocked beyond belief. But her expression quickly melted away into anger.
"Daddy, you had better start explaining right now," Jewel said in a low voice.
"I drove him away because I wanted him to prove his worth to me, to you, to the tribe. I trained him yesterday to see how much he could endure out here. I was too hard on him. I wanted to make sure he didn't repeat the mistakes I did when I was younger. After we saw those two humans in the forest and he said he knew them, I had began to lose belief in him that he could ever amount to a well-taught tribe member, and after the Pit of Doom incident, I had lost all hope of him ever reaching to the tribe's standards," he paused, "and to my daughter's mate standards." Another moment of silence passed, but it died a quick death too.
"Well you could had at least been a bit more sensitive and encouraging to him," Jewel yelled. Her father finched back in surprise.
"Jewel, I-," he was cut off by his daughter's response.
"Quiet! Just.. just be quiet," she said. She was beginning to choke back on some sobs and some tears were already beginning to spill over her cheeks. Before he could reply to her, she darted towards the exit and flew away. Eduardo held out a wing to her fleeing form. He knew he was the one that had hurt his daughter's heart. He tensed up as he felt a wing smack him in the back of the head. Quickly turning around, his eyes met those of his glaring older sister.
"Well, now you've gone and done it. I hope you're satisfied with yourself little brother, 'cause you've just hurt your daughter's heart and may have broken your trust bond with her," she scolded before walking towards the exit and flying away as well. Eduardo watched as she left as well before turning towards his grand-chicks, the only ones left in the hollow with him. They stared at him like he was some heartless monster.
"You're awful, pop-pop," Carla finally said before the three of them retreated into another part of the hollow, leaving him all alone to contemplate his thoughts and feelings and the words said to him.
Worst of all, all the things they said to him, every word they said, was true. It was all true.
Jewel fought to hold back the tears gathering in her eyes as she flew. She could only think of what her father said and compared it to what Blu said yesterday after the game. All that he had said, every part of his rant had been confirmed by her father. And she had just told him off and disbelieved in him.
Forget her father, she was the horrible one in the family.
Pink, horn-shaped flowers adorned vines that hung like floral waterfalls off some tree branches. Jewel steered her direction towards them. She needed to find someone, someone she knew that she could still trust. She heard laughter coming from some lower branches beneath her and saw some macaws chatting away. She lowered her port wing and began circling down to the collection of birds below. Two males and one female were chatting with the very dark blue macaw she was searching for.
Roberto. She set down on a branch close by, just as the four birds began laughing on something funny. Soon the two males said their goodbyes and flew off, leaving just Roberto and the other macaw there. She walked over to them and Roberto waved when he saw her approaching them.
"Hey Ju-ju! C'mon. There's someone I want you to meet." He nodded to the female beside her and she stepped up by his side. She was about Jewel's age and had her coloring, but her feathers had a lighter tint to them. Her eyes were a lovely shade of brown, like the color of polished wood. She had some crest feathers tied with a vine on the back of her head like a ponytail. She waved slightly and gave a small smile.
"This is Lilly. She's new here and I've been going around introducing her to everyone," Roberto explained.
"Hi," Lilly meekly said. Already Jewel could tell that she was shy and nervous around other birds. Summoning up her hospitality, she managed to put on a convincing smile.
"Hello. Its nice to meet you. I hope you feel welcome into the tribe. It's always nice to receive new friendly faces around here," she replied. Lilly smile grew somewhat, but she flinched a bit when Roberto placed one of his wings on her shoulder.
"Anyways, is there anything you need Ju-ju," he asked. She smiled a little more at his polite question. He always had good manners, a not very common trait in the tribe's quest for survival.
"Actually yes. I was wondering if you could please watch my chicks today. I know its on short notice, but my mate has been gone for too long and I need to go find him," she pleaded. Roberto's eyebrows furrowed, as if he was trying to concentrate really hard on something or not.
"Did Eduardo tell you...?"
"Yes he did. So could you please watch my chicks while I go find their father," she asks again. He hesitated for a moment before sighing and then perking up again.
"Sure. I'll do it," he replied. Jewel have a genuine smile his way.
"Thank you so much. You don't know how much this means to me," she responded. He shook his head.
"Believe me, I do. Oh, could Lilly also babysit. I know she's new here, but she already seems to have this way with the chicks here," he asked, bringing her closer with his wing. She smiled sheepishly and scratched her head.
"I had siblings back home that I would watch when my parents were away," she admitted.
"Sure. More the merrier. Thanks again you two. I'll be back as quickly as I can," Jewel replied before spreading out her wings and flying away towards the tribe's boundaries. The two other macaws watched as she left.
"My, my, my. She sure is in a hurry to find her husband," Lilly commented. Roberto nodded.
"Sure is. I'm just glad she's happy with him. Now c'mon. Leeloo. The kids are staying in my hollow, so I know where it is," he responded before the two took up into flight.
Meanwhile, back at the Scarlet macaw tribe, Blu was having some issues of his own. He knew he promised Mara he would spend time with her daughter, but he was nervous. He couldn't shake the thoughts of his own chicks, still back in Roberto's hollow with their mother. He couldn't shake the feeling that he had just up and left them behind and that he was going to use Aqua as a substitute for them.
Still, Felipe said he could go back and visit them whenever he liked, but he just didn't feel prepared yet for going back to the tribe that might still have a grudge for taking away the nut grove from them. Speaking of which, he wondered if Felipe had already told Eduardo about the deal yet.
An earsplitting screech suddenly reached his ear slits. He nearly jumped in surprise out the hollow when he heard it, but calmed down when he remembered that Mara was with her chicks. All three had now hatched out and given names. There were two boys and one girl. The girl hatched out last and was given the name Lorena, after her maternal grandmother's name. The second oldest was a boy and he was given the name Dominic, after his father's middle name.
The oldest chick, the one that had hatched out when Blu had saved it and his family from the tree, was given the name Tyler, after his savior's first name. Blu had told them that using the first part of his full name, Tyler Blu Gunderson*, was unnecessary and that they had already done enough to thank him already, but they had insisted they name him after him.
The chicks were all healthy, much to the relief of their parents who had this point had just adopted their chicks until now. Mara kept them incubated in the nest. She and Felipe couldn't had been more prouder of their brood, and Blu and the tribe was happy for them. Perhaps he could be happy for their family and not think about his for a bit.
Giving a little sigh and then a deep breath in for courage, Blu spread out his wings and took off to go find Aqua. It didn't take too long till he found her, she usually stayed by her parent's hollow, near the bottom trunk in a grove nearby on a stump. He found her all by herself and kicking a rock around on the stump's top. The rock soon fell down and he heard her sigh as she went to go pick it up. He then saw a good chance to try and talk to her. He flew down softly so she wouldn't get startled when he spoke.
"Um, hey Aqua," he started, but soon regretted speaking when she suddenly turned around and screamed before losing her balance off the edge of the stump and falling headfirst to the ground below. He rushed over to help her up, but thankfully the stump was only about half a foot off the ground and she was still holding onto the stump with one foot. He sighed in relief at seeing her unharmed and extended a foot to help her up. She looked at it for a moment before slowly extending her free foot to grasp it.
"Please. Don't ever do that again. I get spooked easily," she admitted softly as he helped her back upright.
"Sorry, I didn't know you would you react to that," he replied softly. She nodded and then looked down at her feet. A moment of silence passed between them and you could faintly hear crickets chirping in the distance. Blu decided to try speaking again. He cleared his voice to begin.
"Ahem, well, um, y-your mother asked me to watch over you today and so well I, um, thought maybe we could do something you would like to do," he said. Still silence from the chick.
"So, um, w-what do you like to do for fun? I mean, uh, what would you like to do right now," he asked. Aqua then began mumbling something, but it was too quiet for him to understand.
"Hmm? I'm sorry, but what did you say," he asked, leaning in closer to try to hear her better.
"I...," she trailed off into inaudible mumbling.
"I'm sorry, but could you please repeat that a bit louder, please," he asked again. She didn't reply and actually whimpered a little bit. Realizing she was really shy and they weren't on that level of interaction yet, he decided to try a different approach. He cleared his throat again and began talking.
"Well... I.. don't know about you, but I'm a bit hungry." He smiled down at the still head-hung chick. "How about you and I go and grab a small bite to eat. I could teach you some recipes I learned back home. Doesn't that sound a bit fun?" She was silent for a second, but slowly lifted up her head and nodded.
"Okay," she whispered. His smile grew a bit wider.
"Well alright then. C'mon, I know a fun and easy recipe that we can make, but I'm gonna need a few fruits and your help to make it." She perked up a bit more and even the faint traces of a smile tugged at the corners of her beak. Soon, both Spix macaws flew out of the grove and back towards the hollow for a little project in the kitchen.
Felipe flew home with his two guards, soon separating from them as he headed in the direction of his hollow while the guards went to rest and possibly have something to eat. His chest felt heavy as he soon spotted a large hollow up ahead. Meeting with Eduardo and giving him the news could have gone way better, but at least, he thought, it could had ended worst. At least nobody was hurt during the brief interaction with each other.
It was a blessing, he supposed. Scarlet and Spix macaws usually broke out into arguments or fights in minutes, or seconds, of being in each other's' presence. It was like two magnets, each with the same charge. Opposites attract, but same repelled. He supposed he could come up with a better analogy, considering they were both different species of the same macaw family, but right now his own hunger and fatigue was affecting him. He just needed to rest and relax a bit and maybe get some fruit or nuts to eat and he'd feel much better.
He landed on the perch outside his home and stepped in. His hollow wasn't as grand as say compared to Roberto's, but it was still home and it did have its perks. The tree had a big hollow with two holes, one was the entrance while the other lead to a hollowed-out, dead tree that that been placed and connected to it. From there connected to another tree with a hollow. It was where he stashed a small but of food for he and his mate. Holes had been punctured into the log and the second tree, allowing enough light to see in as you walked through and in-and-out between them.
He saw his mate the second he stepped in, still on the nest with their three chicks, happily snoozing while reveling in the warmth of her body heat. She lifted her head up and smiled as he came in and walked quietly towards her. Their beaks touched when he got closed enough.
"Hola miel. ¿Cómo te fue?**," she fondly asked, yet quietly, trying not to wake up their chicks. He sighed and held one of his wings up to his brow.
"Well, it went. Just could had gone a bit better," he admitted. She frowned, but it quickly disappeared as she reached out one her wings and gently cupped his face.
"Hey, it's okay. As long as you got the message across, then that's all that matters," she reassured. He shut his eyes and leaned into her soft touch as he listened to her words. She was right, he completed his task. What else was there? His emerald orbs opened again once his wife's wing retreated back ton her side again.
"By the way. Have you've seen either Blu or Aqua lately. I'm famished and I was thinking of asking either or both of them if they would like to join me for lunch in the grove," he explained. His mate suddenly gave a wide smile and she turned her head down to her chest to partially hide it. He grinned and dipped his head down to try and see her eyes.
"What? Why are you grinning," he asked playfully. She looked up and nodded her head at the log connecting the hollow and the food supply.
"Go and see for yourself," she said before scooting herself a bit more comfortably on the nest while trying not to disturb her chicks' sleep. He straightened up and peered into the entrance of the hollow. It wasn't that long, but you couldn't see what was at the other end till you were about halfway across it. He turned back to his wife and gave her a quick kiss on the head as she settled down for a nap while he went to see what was going on on the other side of the log.
One thing he first heard when he began walking through the log tunnel was giggling. And by the sound of it, it was both Aqua and Blu laughing together. Curious to see what they were up to in the food supply stash/kitchen, he walked a bit faster.
When he got to the other end and stepped into the hollow he watched in amazement of what was happening.
Blu and Aqua were talking with one another casually, yet the mere sight of it nearly caused him to faint. They were both standing over some sliced fruits, a leaf filled with fruit pulp and juice and a... a strange, red, cylindrical object with an opening at the top. Looked kinda like a cup of some sort. He had no idea what they were doing, but he decided not to interrupt until they were done or took a break or something.
"So now we add the mango juice to the mixture...," Blu coached as he assisted Aqua in pouring some juice from the mashed fruit pulp in the leaf into the cup, "That's it. Get it right in there. Perfect. Now we swirl the juice in the cup to mix, though right now I'd wish I brought a spoon or something," he mumbled as he swirled the contents of the cup as carefully as he could, "And walla! Done. Just let me add a straw from my fanny pack. We'll put it in and enjoy our hard work. Here Aqua. You may have the first sip of the juice we made," he offered.
Aqua smiled at him before turning to the juice in the cup with the straw. She frowned and then turned back to Blu for help. He stared confusedly at her for a moment, but then realized that she had never drunk anything out of a straw before. He gave her a little, understanding smile before using one of his talons to push the straw in the cup towards her beak.
"Just put the tip of the straw in your mouth and suck on it. The juice comes up and so you can drink it through the straw," he explained. She nodded and tried it out. She did as she was instructed, biting on to the edge of the straw and sucking. All of a sudden, she stopped drinking and opened her beak up, revealing the tip of her tongue had gotten stuck in the tube of the straw. Blu chuckled.
"It's okay. It's happened to me before. Kinda fun to keep it there for awhile," he said as he playfully whacked the straw, still poking out from her mouth.
"Well, looks like you both are having fun," suddenly came a voice from behind. Both turned to see Felipe, standing patiently at the hollow's entrance. Aqua smiled and ran toward him.
"Daddy" she cried out, her tongue still stuck in the straw as she hugged him, "Blu and I made fruit juice today," she said, though the straw in her mouth made it sound like, 'Boo and ah maid froot jooce toodayy.' He chuckled and tapped the strange contraption sticking out of his adopted daughter's beak.
"Oh, you can just pull that off. It doesn't hurt," Blu clarified. Felipe nodded and with one small pull, the straw came off of Aqua's tongue. He gave her back the straw to play with it. Instantly, Aqua placed the front end of the straw into her mouth again, sucking on it until it caught back on her tongue. She stuck it out happily and watched the straw move when he tongue did. She giggled and the two adults laughed.
"Very funny, Aqua," Felipe said as he patted his daughter fondly on the head. "So, you've made fruit juice, huh. May I have a sip," he asked. Both nodded. Aqua took her father's wing and dragged him over to the plastic cup with the juice inside. "It tastes really good, daddy, she said, still through the straw. He peered in over the rim and looked at the golden-orange liquid inside with a few bubbles at the surface. He pondered what types of fruits they used as he dipped his beak in over the rim and took a sip. He savored the taste before setting the cup down and smacking his beak.
"You're right. It is really good. I noticed you added some mango in it," he commented. They both grinned and nodded.
"Mmm hmm. And passion fruit and camu camu and papaya and...," Aqua started listing off some other fruits until Felipe quieted her down.
"That's fascinating sweetheart. I think you and Blu did a wonderful job. How about you share some juice with your mother, but please be quiet. Your siblings are sleeping," he suggested. Aqua lit up and grasped the cup with both wings.
"Okay daddy. Mom sure is going to love this," she exclaimed before walking wit the juice into the tunnel. Blu and Felipe chuckled as she left.
"She's quite enthusiastic, isn't she," Blu commented. Felipe nodded.
"Yep, she sure is." He then suddenly placed a wing on Blu's shoulder. "Thank you Blu," he said. Blu turned his head to him and gave a friendly smile.
"No problem," he replied. Felipe shook his head.
"No, thank you for Aqua. I don't think you know this, but she's pretty lonely most days. She's not very social with the other chicks her age. She usually spends most days playing by herself, but thanks to you, just spending time with her today, this is the happiest I've seen her been in weeks. So thank you," he explained. Blu looked startled at this revelation, but gave a small smile at the end.
"You're welcome," he whispered quietly. Felipe returned the smile and shook him gently with his one wing.
"Right. You're my bird, Blu. My wingman. You the bird, bro. Now c'mon. It be a shame if the girls drank up all that juice," Felipe said as he started making his way back to the first hollow. Blu joined him after a moment's hesitation. For a second there, it was almost like Eduardo had said those things to him, rather than Felipe. He felt a bit sad at what had happened between them, between him and Eduardo, but then shrugged it off and followed after Felipe.
He helped make that juice and he was going to get at least a sip of it.
A Scarlet macaw beat his wings like mad as he zoomed over the trees and past the other macaws. He had come from the border where something had just popped up and needed to be reported to his chief. He hadn't expected anything to happen on a day like this, he was rather hoping nothing would, but suddenly, out of nowhere, a Spix macaw had flown over to him and the other guard there and demanded to see their new tribe member.
What was his name again? Teal? No. Sky? No. Blue? Blu? He sighed. Well, whatever his name was, he's better come along with the chief to see this.
He took a sharp right and he dunked under some branches till he could see his chief's hollow coming up ahead, and some red and blue feathers inside the hollow. Applying less on propelling himself forward, he reversed the thrust of his wings to moving backwards in order to slow his stop down. He stopped just i time and alighted down on the branch acting as a perch outside the hollow.
"Felipe, Felipe," he called out as he knocked on the wood and poked his head in. Felipe turned and his expression turned serious.
"Carlos. What's wrong," he asked.
"At the border sir. A Spix macaw has arrived, asking for Blu, sir," he panted out, still a bit winded from his flight.
"Anything else to report," he asked.
"No, but she seemed very desperate to see Blu, sir," he answered. Blu froze like a statue when he heard him mention she was desperate to see him. Could it really be...?
"Alright. I'll go a see to this. Blu, would you like to come along or stay back with the girls," Felipe asked. Blu snapped out of his thoughts and took a look at the two other macaws. Mara smiled and gently placed her wing on Aqua's back and stroked it. Aqua shuddered and closed her eyes at the gentle movement.
"Go ahead Blu. Don't mind us. We'll be fine," she reassured.
"Well okay then. I'll come along too, if it's okay with you," Blu said. Felipe gave a friendly smack to Blu's wings.
"Perfect. You'll get some experience dealing with defending tribe territory first hand. Now let's go. Lead the way, Carlos," Felipe declared. Said macaw gave a crisp salute.
"Right away sir," he responded before flying away. Right before they left though, Blu stuck his head in the hollow one last time.
"Oh, and Aqua, leave some juice till I get back." The chick grinned and hugged the cup tighter.
"I will make no such promises," she answered. She giggled and Blu chuckled before flying off after the others.
"Let me through! Let me through! I have to see him," a female Spix macaw cried out as she tried to move past the barricade of three Scarlet macaws on the edge of their territory. One stepped forward, forcing her to move back a bit.
"You're not going anywhere, missy. This is prime Scarlet territory and you're a Spix, so you ain't going in," he said. She didn't take lightly to that. Hr head lowered down as she stared angrily up at him while her wings spread out in a menacing way and her talons spread more wider apart. This was the classic threatening posture that macaws, parrots and birds of prey use when they're scared or trying to intimidate an opponent. The female let out a hissing noise at the male, who backed off a little while along with his two other companions.
Suddenly, Felipe flew down from the tree tops and in-between the intimidating female and his own tribe members. He spread out his own wings to separate each side from attacking or getting attacked.
"Alright, alright. Break it up. You," he pointed to one of his guards, "What's this about?" The designated guard gulped and slowly stepped towards his leader, trying to avoid making eye contact with the female's eyes.
"Well s-sir," he stammered, till Felipe slapped his back to straighten his posture and speech out, "Ahh, thank you sir. Um, so it appears this female wants into our homeland. Says she wants to meet one of our members."
"I need to see Blu! I need to see my my husband! Where is he," she yelled. Both Felipe and the guard were surprised at her sudden outburst, but then the rustling of leaves overhead and the sound of a bird's feet grasping onto a branch. Everyone looked up and saw Blu perched above him. His eyes were widened as they focused on the female.
"Jewel," he asked. She smiled at seeing him.
"Blu," she whispered.
*Mentioned in the first Rio film when Linda tries to give Blu his vitamin supplements.
** For those not in the know, Mara said, "Hi honey. How'd it go?"
Sorry this was posted sooner, but my trip back from Costa Rica was stressful, then there was Thanksgiving and the thing was, when we were driving home, the roads were icy and we skidded and the front end got smashed. We're all fine, so don't worry, but for those who are Christians out there, I'd appreciate it if you prayed that our car can be fixed.
So Jewel appears in the story now. Let's see what happens in the next chapter. Please review and tell me how I did. Thanks for those who gave the chicks' names and genders, OC's, and suggestions. If any of you guys have any suggestions or requests for an OC to be in the story, please tell me and I'll do my best to add them in. Till next time, have a wonderful day. Sincerely, v.t.7