Hey guys! I wanted to give out a warning for this chapter, I usually use the metric system when I measure distance and weight. But I use the American customary system for temperature. So I might say in one paragraph kilometers or meters, of kilograms and then a few sentences down I will say Fahrenheit. I find Fahrenheit slightly easier to use but the metric system is better for distance and measure. Just bear with me okay. Also, I've never personally been to Canada (My uncle is Quebecois but that's a story for later) so if I get things wrong, my apologies.

Roberto, try as he might, could not find the three children. He was sure Jewel was going to kill him. And even if she didn't, it would seriously hinder their relationship.

Roberto was thinking about it, he had always wanted to get close to Jewel. After all, he promised Blu to take care of her and the kids if anything ever happened to him.

But if he can't find the kids, that he lost on top of, he would never be able to prove himself to Jewel.

Roberto flew faster, he flew through the Marshland, careful of the alligators and other predators that lurked in the brackish water. But no sign of the three kids, how was he going to live with himself if he let them die out here.

This was no place for any macaw. The different Macaw tribes all agreed to stay out of the Marsh. The amount of food in the area was plentiful, but the environment kept any attempt at making a permanent residence in the area from happening. Birds of prey, alligators, venomous snakes and spiders, killer wasps, the mucky and dense atmosphere. It was nobody's land.

Occasionally a band of Macaws would venture inside to find food, but it would have to be a group of five or more birds.

Even Roberto with his expertise in the forest, was in grave danger. He didn't even want to think about how much trouble the kids were in.

He searched everywhere, so one of three things have happened or are going to happen.

The kids are somewhere else

They already were eaten (worst scenario)

Jewel will kill him

The third was definitely going to happen no matter what. He tried to shrug it off, if he found the kids he would be able to play it off like he always knew where they were. It only motivated him to look even more.

Hours passed and he came up with nothing, besides that it was getting dark. It was hard enough to look for the three during the day. But the night. He would put his life in danger even more than it is by just staying here.

It didn't help that the air was so thick. Every time Roberto landed to take a breath it would take way longer than usual for his lungs to stop crying out. After about the one hundredth time of stopping to breath he decided enough was enough.

He flew out above the canopy and retreated back to the village. His head hung low as he flew.

Sorry Jewel. I didn't mean to kill your children. I know your Husband just died a few weeks ago, and your kids are the only people you have left. But look at the bright side, you still have me!

Roberto played the conversation between him and Jewel in his head.

He then imagined Jewel feeding him to a hungry boa. Probably what I deserve

While he was thinking, he was oblivious to the blue figure in front of him. He crashed into her, again, and they both crashed to the ground.

Roberto was hurt, but when he identified who he crashed into almost all his pain went away.

Jewel was still trying to get her bearings straight, so Roberto used to opportunity to try and sneak away.

But she saw him before he was able to disappear.

"Hey! Where are you going!" She was obviously angry. Roberto stopped. He did a silent prayer before he turned around. Maybe God could spare him from torture? Nah, what he did was unforgivable, God probably wouldn't care what Jewel did.

"I was just going…back home. Why?" Roberto said.

"Okay. But where are my kids?" Jewel said in softer, less angry, and a little more manipulative voice.

"Um, they are… at my nest. I was just about to bring them back to you."

"Really? So how come I found them, in the middle of the swamp?" Jewel's soft voice was starting to take an obvious harsh tone.

"And why is it, that Tiago was almost eaten by a Alligator?" Jewel was now letting her voice take a angry turn.

Before Roberto knew it, his neck was clutched in the talons of Jewel. About ready to kill him. He didn't even see her, she was so fast. Her talons were sharp, and precariously poking one his main blood vessels.

One movement from Jewel would be enough to kill him.

"Listen Jewel, I swear I didn't mean to lose them! I left to go find food for them just for one minute and when I came back they were gone! I swear!" Roberto told Jewel the honest truth.

Jewel was angry, but she still was understanding. She knew her kids were of the 'adventurous' type, blaming Roberto wouldn't change that. Slowly she got off of Roberto.

But it never happened when Blu was with her. One parent would go out to find food while the other tended to the kids. She knew Blu was more caring towards the triplets than Roberto could ever possibly be. And hence, he never let them out of his sight. But Roberto wasn't their father, he would never be able to replace him.

"You're forgiven. I know how… Ambitious, Tiago, Carla, and Bia are. Thank you for telling me the truth." Jewel sighed after she finished her sentence. She still needed to get back home before the triplets had any other wise ideas. With that Jewel took off towards her nest, Roberto thankful he wasn't murdered.

God really does care. Thank you!

Jewel was still angry at Roberto, how hard could it be to keep track of three children? She entered her hollow to her little ones, they were playing some sort of game and they didn't even notice their mother enter.

"Hello, I am back home!" Jewel called out as she waded inside.

"Hi mom!" The triplets called back.

Her kids stood up to hug her. Bia, Tiago, and Carla all hugged and received a kiss from their mother.

They were awfully quiet. Like they had something on their minds.

"What's the matter?" Jewel asked them, people have always described her children. And quiet was a word that was rarely used.

They looked at each other as if they were awaiting a answer. Then Carla went forth and spoke.

"Mom…," Carla hesitated making Jewel raise a eyebrow, "Mom we are sorry for… everything. We know that you are under a lot of strews right now. It was stupid for me to decide to go out into the jungle by ourselves."

Tiago and Bia put a wing over their sister. Seeing this warmed Jewel's heart.

"We didn't want to cause any harm. We just wanted to find where dad went." Tiago said.

He shouldn't have said that. All this time had passed and Jewel tried her hardest not to think about it. She tried to keep her schedule busy so never had time to relax and let the thoughts of sorrow and loneliness fill her mind. And she always kept priority number one, do not tell the children.

But they have as much love for their father as she does. If not, even more. They have every right to know what happened to him. But if they know what really happened, it will break their little hearts.

Jewel remembered when she was just a chick, she almost lost both her parents forever. She never saw her mother again and to this day it saddens her. She wanted to make sure that her kids never had that life , and never had that experience.

"Let me tell you a secret", Jewel sat down and the smallest of her children cuddled in her wings.

"Your father loves you all very much, and he would hold the world up just for you. But something has… happened to him." Jewel pondered how to say it. Maybe being honest and not changing anything would be the best. But could they handle it? Jewel could barely handle it herself, much less the three of them.

"Remember the night after the party?" The three all nodded their heads.

"Well, me and another bird got into a little disagreement. And your father stepped in to help me. But he and the other bird began fighting and each other and fell into the river. And Blu didn't make it out." Jewel saw the looks of their faces. The tears that welled up in their eyes signaled that she wasn't doing a good job.

I knew I should've just told them he went to Rio. I could have delayed it for longer, I guess there's no turning back now.

"I fear the worst for him. It is… unlikely that you will see him any time soon."

Even her eldest child was on the brink of crying.

"You mean, he died?" Tiago asked.

"No, I am just saying that he wont be here for a while. But have faith, we as a family have been through much worst and we have still remained together, right? We can get through this, together." It was a hopeful line from Jewel. But as of now there was absolutely nothing she could do.

The sun was beginning to set over the Amazon. Eduardo was particularly nervous. Tribal culture dictated that after one month if somebody's spouse was lost with no trace, they would be an official widow. Eduardo has seen it hundreds of times before. The widowhood ceremony was always a bleak one, and the living spouse would always be in tears, crying their heart out. The dangers of the jungle always meant that people died left and right.

In fact he was a widower. He had the ceremony attended for him once before, and there was nothing good about it.

But this was different. His own daughter was in danger of becoming a widow herself. And it is not a good experience. A widow, as per tribal culture, is usually allowed to remarry but it is frowned upon. This means that his daughter would be alone until her death, if she doesn't find somebody else. But Eduardo knew she would never find somebody else.

She wasn't undesirable or anything. In fact she was one of the most beautiful females in the tribe, hundreds of men would jump at the chance to be with her.

But Jewel was loyal. She devoted her love, not for life, but eternally. Jewel was probably one of the most loyal and loving people Eduardo has ever met. And he was proud to call Jewel his daughter.

And, truth be told, he kind of liked Blu too. It was a shame to see the young man go. He knew he was a little harsh on Blu the first time they met, but his son in law really grew on him. He even saved the tribe and introduced him to the idea of 'friendly' Humans. Eduardo would still bite anybody who tried to pet him (he still thought Blu was a bit too much on a leash) but he can tolerate them now.

He talked it over with Mimi and she wasn't too ecstatic either.

"Listen, I know it doesn't seem like the right thing to do. But I know who Blu is personally, and he wouldn't survive a day in the forest alone." Eduardo said to her a few hours ago.

"I fear you might be right. But we should remain positive. Blu could still be alive." Mimi put a wing around her brother.

"You and I both know that the chance Blu even managed to get out of the river alive is close to zero. The way he fell, as Jewel said to me, he got hit in the head multiple times and passed out. He probably drowned."

"Even the smallest of things exist. The chance may be slim but that doesn't mean it is impossible. Nothing is impossible."

"So should I start the ceremony?"

"Wait a month, and if he doesn't show up, we can proceed."

Mimi acted like the assistant chief of the whole tribe. She advised Eduardo on almost all matters, and she had a heart of gold. A bit crazy, but that doesn't mean she was any more qualified.

Eduardo was now alone, able to think. That is what he needed. Time to think.

No, what he needed was a signal. Just the tiniest heads up from Blu, just to know that he is still alive. Then he could delay the ceremony.

He seriously doubted the possibility of Blu's survival. But he was still rooting for him.

So as he watched the sun set over the horizon, the sky turning a purple and gold color, he kept his head up high. What good was losing faith in Blu going to do? He had to cheer him on, he might not be the best at soccer, and not at survival, but damn it he had a heart bigger than the sun. It was love that drives people to do miraculous things right? Surely it would bring him home.

"Get home safe Blu." Eduardo said as he ducked into his hollow to sleep.

Aberdeen, Blu, Clyde, Diante and Julius (See how I listed them in ABC order? Clever) All gathered around a map of South America. It was expertly drawn by Blu into the dirt, it didn't look anything like the continent, more like a broken shoe. But it was good enough.

"Alright, here's the plan," Blu said, " We are here in Buenos Aires Argentina. We have to travel North, through Uruguay and crossing into southern Brazil. We will continue Northeast towards Rio, from there me and Diante will be able to navigate back to the tribe in the Amazon."

Blu drew lines in the dirt representing their route of travel.

"You guys sure you are up for it?" Diante asked, he finally overcame the effect that looking at Aberdeen gave him. It was something weird he never felt before. He tried to ignore it, but it was hard. His heart beat faster Everytime he was around her, and she just seemed so… stunning.

"It's a tall order. It may take us months until we get there. But it wouldn't change anything for us. It is up to you." Clyde chimed in. He was ecstatic about the whole idea. Julius was too, but Aberdeen was a little less sold.

"What if we get lost out there? And veer off course? What are we going to do about food, how will we escape predators?" Aberdeen had many valid objections.

"We are going to have to get a GPS." Blu said.

"What is that?" Both Julius and Diante asked.

"Global Positioning System."

Diante understood , on the contrary Julius never heard any of those words together in a sentence.

"It is a computer that connects to a satellite and then beams a signal back down to the computer to tell you your position." Blu explained further. Julius had no idea what he was talking about.

Blu would have to use his idiot talk

"A piece of glass that tells you where you are."

Julius understood that.

"But how are we supposed to get our paws…" Clyde looked at the other birds "Talons, on one of those?"

Blu never thought it would come to this. But desperate times called for desperate measures.

"We steal one."

"What!" everybody nearly yelled out.

"How else are we supposed to find our way around?" Blu asked.

"You have to understand this Blu. We are animals, Humans don't let animals into those big stores of theirs. How are we going to get inside?" Clyde said.

Blu had to think about it for a while.

"Perhaps we could sneak in through the door?" Blu knew it was a weak idea.

"Or we wait until the store closes, sneak into the ventilation system, tie a rope around Clyde and lower him into the store. Since he has paws, he will have a better grip of the GPS. Then we pull him up once he retrieves it and make our getaway!"

Everybody looked at Julius like he was a alien.

"Um, did he just say that?" Diante tried to figure out if this was real.

"Wait, what are we doing again?" Julius slipped back into his normal self.

"Thank goodness, I thought you were hurt!" Aberdeen hugged Julius.

"Well, we use his idea. For once." Clyde never saw Julius say anything remotely smart.

So along went the five animals to stakeout by the nearest technology store. They waited until sundown and made their dastardly theft.

The birds flew up to the roof (save for Diante, his wing was still broken) and lowered the longest rope they could find. Clyde grabbed onto the rope and attempted to climb up. First grabbing it with his jaws, then using his paws to walk up the wall. But once his whole weight was on the rope there was a problem. He was too heavy.

"Okay, we will try something else." Blu called down to Clyde, who fell for the 5th time.

"You better, I will be sore upset at you if I break something!" Clyde warned.

"Okay, what are we going to do?" Blu said to Aberdeen and Julius.

"I don't know. Even if Diante could fly up here it wouldn't be enough." Aberdeen said. They tried to bring Diante up anyway, a much easier venture.

Once Diante was on the roof they all tried to pull Clyde up, but still failed.

"Hey, lets tie the rope around this!" Diante said, tying the rope around the leg of a air-conditioner system.

They tied the rope to it and let Clyde climb up, and he finally did. They sneaked inside the building using the ventilation systems open outflow pipe. Hot air rising from it.

Once inside they crawled over to a shaft that was (By a wild guess) right over the Electrónica de consumo

(Consumer Electronics) Section.

As quietly as they could, which was actually pretty loud, they removed the ventilation cover and devised a plan on how to lower Clyde down and then bring him back up.

"There isn't anything we can tie the rope to. How will we let Clyde go down?" Diante said.

"Maybe one of us birds go down instead, wouldn't that be much easier?" Blu said.

"Oh come on now! Where's the excitement in that?" Clyde protested.

"They don't call us 'Cat Burglars' for no reason. Listen if you could just lower me down I will find a way to get back up. I promise."

With that, Clyde was lowered into the store. Barely, the other birds had to put their talons onto something like the wall so they wouldn't be dragged in.

Once on the floor Clyde quickly found the most fancy GPS he could find. The "Where Are You 9000".

He grabbed it, but now he had to find his way back up. Time to use his cat ninja techniques.

He put the GPS in his mouth and leapt to the highest shelf he could find. Then he jumped from there onto a light that was hanging from a roof, and finally he jumped onto another light, used his front paws to grab onto it and swung himself under and then over, releasing himself he was sent flying through the air just grabbing onto the vent entrance.

Applause followed from the birds as Clyde raise himself up, with the GPS in his hand.

"That was amazing!"

"Can you teach me how to do that!"

Clyde took a bow.

"Thank you, I do all my own stunts. Now lets find out where we have to go." Clyde pointed to the computer. Blu was one step ahead of him, he had already turned it on and was placing their destination.

"Calculating… Calculating… still calculating… Calculating some more… Calculating…" The GPS droned on.

It took few minutes but it finally finished.

"Walking distance from Buenos Aires to Rio De Janeiro is 1966 Kilometers. Time expected for travel… 21 days." The GPS finished.

"Oh, well that's not as bad as thought!" Clyde and Aberdeen both agreed.

"Well we walk only half as fast as a Human so for us that would be… nearly three months." Blu informed.

"Why do you have to be such a killjoy?" Clyde taunted Blu.

They followed the instructions and left for Brazil.

The aircraft banked to the left as it circled around Toronto Pearson International Airport. Fernando looked outside the window and saw all of Toronto from the air. It was a first for him, having never been outside of Brazil. He always begged his mother to let him come to Minnesota but his passport didn't arrive until now.

The aircraft descended down through the air and made contact with the runway, running to a smooth stop. The passengers disembarked and filtered out into the depths of the Airport.

"Welcome to Canada!" A sign read. Under it in French, "Bienvenue au Canada. »

Tulio and Fernando walked through the airport terminal until they found her. Linda threw her arms up and waded through the crowds of other passengers, finally reaching her family.

"Fernando! Tulio! You guys finally made it!" Linda hugged the two.

"We're okay. The plane ride hurt my neck though!" Tulio felt the soreness of his back and neck. And uncomfortable ride, but he was thankful it was over.

"Fernando, make sure you put your coat on, I looked on my phone and its below 20 degrees." Linda said after hugging Fernando.

Fernando didn't believe her, he begrudgingly put on his big coat. It restricted his movement, a lot, and he felt so limited. Nearly claustrophobic inside. But he was thankful for it once they stepped outside.

The city was in heavy winter, the snowfall stopped but it was still scattered all over the ground. Walking on the sidewalk was a nightmare for Tulio and Fernando. But Linda was more experienced with the cold, guiding their steps through the snow packed ground and scores of people strewn about the airport.

They hailed a cab and instructed him to drive to a large assembly building, on the coast of Lake Ontario.

After paying the driver they entered the building, to a room full of environmentalists, hippies, computer geeks, bureaucrats and politicians. And they do not mix well.

"Guys you're finally here!" Mauri nearly crawled up to the family. He looked exhausted, as if his soul was taken from his body.

"Mauri? What happened to you?" Linda asked him.

"What happened to me? WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?", Mauri was about to go on a rant, "I have been here for nearly a day and a half. And all these people do is argue, fight each other, blame for it, ask questions I don't know the answers to, and expect me to have everything down packed. All because of a stupid bird!" Mauri calmed himself down.

He was a rather skinny man, pale skin and had a receding hairline. Somewhere around 40 years old.

Soon the group where approached boa group of other people.

"You must be the founders of the wildlife sanctuary in Brazil. I'm Evan Lopez, head of the World Wildlife Fund." Evan introduced himself.

The family introduced themselves.

"Why is this place so busy?" Linda asked.

"We thought you would know." Evan chuckled a bit, "That macaw of yours, Blu, has caught the eye of everybody interested in animal intelligence."

"Well I know Blu is smart. But this is crazy!"

"If you think this is crazy, then you haven't seen when they start bringing up climate change! This whole building becomes a boxing arena over politics." Mauri whispered into Linda's ear.

"Blu isn't just smart. He is borderline Human intelligence. Never have we seen an animal use a GPS , or communicate with other animals for mutual benefit." Evan continued.

"What happened to Blu?" Tulio asked.

Evan, instead of answering, led them to a small room with a big computer screen. He inserted a CD into it and it began playing a surveillance video.

"Now watch closely. To the top left of the screen." Evan led their gaze towards a cat, a rope attached around it, being lowered into view. It landed on the floor, grabbed a GPS and did some pretty impressive parkour, to get back into the ventilation system from which it came.

"Okay, so?" Linda was confused. What did this have to do with Blu?

Evan held up his hand as if to say, wait and see.

The video film changed to a outdoors setting, a group of birds and the same cat were gathered around the GPS watching it. Then they pointed with their wings and paws the direction they needed to go and started walking in that direction. In the midst of this animals was the one and only, Blu. She recognized him from the shape of his feathers, but there was another that looked similar too him. Almost exactly alike, just green and red.

Linda knew Blu could do all of this. But she never told a research organization before. Frankly she was scared they would take Blu away and conduct some horrible experiment on him. But she was relieved they found Blu at the same time. Linda knew Blu wasn't ready to survive in the wild by himself, he nearly died when he got locked out of the house some years ago. But at least when he was in the tribe he had other macaws, here is a horror fest .

"They are traveling North East, soon they will cross the Rio Del Blanca into Montevideo, Uruguay. We suspect they are heading north to Brazil." Evan said pointing to a map of the North and South America.

Everybody in the room was silent.

"Never before, have we ever documented a species of animal Co-operating with another for a means of travel. And never before has a Macaw made a journey like this. Even among domesticated animals. This is a breakthrough in research."

"I'm sorry to interrupt but, I am a professional Ornithologist. My team and I have made records of animals using Human technology for advancement. This isn't new information." Tulio stated.

"That may be true, but did your team 'test' this knowledge outside of Human realms such as a city?" Evan rebutted.

Tulio shook his head.

"Even subway rats use have been documented to use Humans as a way to survive. But once you put the rats into the wild, they perish. This is a first. Every agency interested in animal research has made a specific contribution to help keep track of the location of Blu." Evan continued.

"So you plan on rescuing him?" Linda asked.

Evan fell silent for a minute, closing his eyes and covering his mouth with his hand. He took a big breath of air, then spoke.

"No."

"What!" Everybody (Fernando and Mauri included) yelled at him at once.

"Listen, I know it seems bad. But there are many factors for the reasons why we will not attempt to rescue him."

"Then what's the point of tracking him down like this? If you can't rescue him when he needs it why bother?" Tulio yelled at Evan.

"And how exactly are we supposed to do that? We can't just grab a bird in the out in the middle of the forest. That kind of operation would cost so much money, we don't exactly have the funding of NASA here!"

"So then what are you going to do when he gets to the tribe? Pick up each and every bird there and check for Blu?" Linda said.

"We don't have to find him. He has a GPS remember? I got a few of our technical guys to hack and tap into the GPS signal so we know where he is, every second of the day!"

"If you could do that then you could rescue him!"

"Look", Evan stood up frustrated, "I don't have time for this! I have already explained to you that we cannot intervene because this is a study on how intelligent animals survive outside of Human society secluded from members of their own species. What you guys are for is to tell us everything you know about Blu so we have some context for our research. And you are needed to run a test for our reference."

"What kind of test?" Tulio asked.

"I can't tell you know but you will find out once you get the info. I already booked a nice hotel room for you and your family. I would advise going there so I didn't waste any of our funds."

Evan wasn't lying when he said the hotel was nice. It was clean, had free breakfast, free high speed Wifi, hot water (and cold water if you need it), and a great view of Lake Ontario. Linda could almost make out the land mass on the other side of the lake, but it would have been almost impossible. Lake Ontario was too big.

Tulio read through emails on his computer. Hundreds of organizations he never had any contribution in filled his inbox. Including a peculiar one.

NASA

Topic: Blue Macaw

Dear Mr. Monteiro .

We have been watching the situation closely and decided to give you a helping hand. This includes the opening of the worlds only NASA Department of Animal Research. This Blue macaw in interest is one that could possibly lead to the first communication between Humans and animals. Please reply as soon as possible.

Dr. Richard Venkat, NASA

"So Evan lied to us about not having the funding of NASA." Tulio called his wife over to the computer.

"All of this just to track him down. But they refuse to rescue him! It would be the right thing to do after all!" Linda complained.

"Listen, Linda. I am a scientist myself and I can assure you that these people do not care about what is or what isn't morally wrong. But all we can do now is just sit back and watch I guess." Tulio switched the page to a satellite map of South America showing Blue's position on it. A blue dot highlighted his location.

"Let's just pray that he makes it." Linda said.

"For now that's all we can do!"