The sky was beginning to go amber as the sun began to sink in the evening. The sky, as it had been in the few days since the match, was clear and scarce of clouds. Today, activity in the tribe had been very lazy; most of the tribe had been relaxed the entire day, having lie-ins and staying close to home. It was really too hot to do much today. Even Eduardo, Jewel, Mimi, Roberto and Sophia, who often got up earliest, had been sleeping in and staying at home most of the day. Blu and Jewel were asleep in their room. In an adjacent tree, Rafael, Eva, Nico and Pedro were also napping. Bia looked outside, where she could see Roberto and Sophia in the shade of their tree. Roberto's wing was curled around Sophia, whose head was snuggled against his chest. Both of them were asleep, a few empty passion fruit shells sitting on the branch beside them. Bia looked down at her drawing pad, which had a drawing of them. She had been rather bored, and had drawn pretty much everyone she knew when they weren't looking. She had drawn herself, her mother and father, Carla and Tiago, her pop-pop and great-aunt, Rafael, Eva, Nico and Pedro, and now her uncle Beto and aunt Sophia. She actually a really good drawer; she could draw each of them with detail and accuracy. She got the size of Carla's eyes accurate, Blu's beak shape, the flattened feathers on Eduardo's head, the sweep of feathers on Roberto's and the shape of Sophia's slender figure. She had drawn Mimi when she was asleep in her familiar spot, the flowers over her eyes as she slept. It was awfully funny, really. Bia then closed the drawing pad, putting it on the floor, and went out in search of her siblings and friends. She hadn't seen them much today, and she felt restless.
Meanwhile
Carla fanned herself with her wings, her feathers slightly damp as she sweated a little. Some of the others - Andrea, Kai, Roberto and Sophia's brood, and Augustus - had fallen asleep in the shade of the tree they were in. Carla looked at Augustus. She still disliked him, and she knew that she didn't want to get back with him; but she could learn to be friends with him, maybe. They couldn't hate each other forever. Beside her, Tiago was snoring slightly. Carla looked at him, slightly annoyed, and pushed him so that he was on his side, his snoring ebbing away. On her other side, Bruno was starting to fall asleep, his head nodding up and down before jerking back up as he tried to stay awake. She put in her headphones, looking for a decent song. She eventually settled on 'Stay with Me'. Carla closed her eyes, hoping that the music would take her away from the heat.
She didn't remember it ever being hotter in the Amazon. Carla hoped that the heat wave would be over soon; she had been flying with Bruno, when they noticed that the river seemed thinner than usual. They had then spotted the dry riverbed on the sides, where water had once flowed. The dead water plants had been lying on the half-dried mud, pale and dead. The jungle plants seemed to be very dry, as well, as did the soil. It had been weeks since it had rained heavily. When they had been in Manaus, searching for birthday presents for their kids and finding Rafael, Nico, Pedro and Eva, Blu and Jewel had seen headlines warning of severe drought and heat waves. Carla looked down at her emerald necklace, feeling bored. She then noticed that Bromeliad was awake, looking around.
"Hey, Carla?" Bromelaid said, looking up to her. Bromeliad's voice was rather loud, so the others stirred, raising their heads sleepily.
"Yeah?" Carla paused her iPod, taking out the headphones to listen. On her right side, Tiago sat up, blinking. "What is it?"
"You know Bee?" Bromeliad said in a lazy voice. Carla and Tiago exchanged annoyed glances. Either Bromelaid had a mild hearing issue, or she was purposely insisting on calling their sister 'Bee'. Whichever it was, neither of them really liked it.
"Yes, Bia." Carla corrected. "What about her?" Carla asked, standing up. By now, the others were all awake. Azure's head had risen immediately at the mention of Bia, his eyes narrowed as he looked at Bromeliad. For some reason, they had seemed moody toward one another in the past few days. Isaac, Andrea, Kai, Augustus and Orchid looked over from where they sat. Bromeliad pushed herself onto her talons so that she was the same height as Carla.
"Don't you get annoyed when she says something about… say, books, or animals or plants?"
"What, facts?" Tiago tipped his head to side. "No, it's not annoying. That's just how she is…" it was true. Tiago remembered New Year's Eve, how mischievous they had all been. Blu's tail had caught fire, and Bia had commented that it had been his '27th no today' when he had began saying 'no' many times.
"Well, I think it's annoying." Bromeliad rolled her eyes. "I don't understand half of what she says, it's all factual. Why doesn't she do something normal for once? Put down those stupid books and talk about normal stuff?" Carla and Tiago's feathers suddenly rose. It suddenly felt unbearably hot. Bromeliad was pushing it now, and they were trying to think of what to say.
"Bromeliad…" Azure began, warning in his voice, but Bromeliad ignored him.
"I hate it when she begins blabbing away about all the stuff about the Amazon. What the scientific-name of so-and-so is, the lifecycle of a butterfly, what happens in those books she read, Different or something. I don't like her hanging out with us! She's a stuck-up little know-it all!" Bromeliad spat. Rage burned through the brother and sister's veins. Azure threw himself to his feet, opened his beak to say something, but then there was silence among them all. From a nearby branch heavy with leaves, there was a hiccup-like sound. Dread hit Carla and Tiago, and everyone looked at the branch. Through the leaves, there was an enormous pair of hazel-gold eyes.
The leaves moved aside, and Bia stepped out from the leaves, tears streaming down her cheeks. The whites of her eyes were bloodshot, her feathers on end, her wings lying limply at her sides. Bromeliad gasped, guilt taking over her face. She shuffled her talons with discomfort. "It's true." She muttered. Bia said nothing. Instead, she threw her wings over her face, sobbing loudly. She was trying to not make a scene, but she couldn't. Bia's wings pried away from her face, and she spun round, flying away while crying endlessly. Azure whirled round to Bromeliad, the rage on his face unconcealed.
"You little…" his wings were curled into fists, and he quivered slightly. He raised his wings, and for a moment they thought he was going to punch Bromeliad, but then he flew off, shouting after Bia. "Bia, wait! Please!" he cried. At this, heads poked out of nearby trees. At Bia's name, Eduardo, Mimi, Rafael, Eva, Nico, Pedro, Blu and Jewel's heads poked out from their trees. Roberto and Sophia rose their heads from where they slept, blinking at the sound of their son's voice. Beside Carla, Tiago surged forward, scowling at Bromeliad.
"How could you?" he demanded, and Isaac gasped, trying to hold Tiago back as he attempted to fly at Bromeliad. "How could you say that about my sister? To my face!" Tiago wasn't attempting to keep quiet; he was shouting, attracting attention. His family were looking on, stretching their wings to go over there. Bromeliad cowered, backing away, fear in her eyes.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know she was listening…" that was what Augustus had said when Carla had eavesdropped on his, Cruz and Cassandra's conversation. But this situation was worse. Much worse; Carla's emotions were more controlled than Bia's. Bia was more effected and vulnerable to hearing horrible things about her. By now, Roberto and Sophia were flying over; they reached the branch first, as their tree was closest.
"What's going on?" asked Sophia, blinking away her tiredness. Concern replaced the tiredness in Roberto and Sophia's faces.
"Bromeliad?" Roberto called. Carla spun round to look at Bromeliad, but she was gone, flying away into some nearby trees. She crossed her wings, turning back to Roberto and Sophia.
"Come on, Tiago…" she whispered. "We've gotta tell mom, dad and the others what happened." By now, Blu, Jewel, Mimi, Eduardo, Rafael, Eva, Nico and Pedro had arrived, lighting down beside Roberto and Sophia. Carla closed her green eyes, and turned around.
"What happened?" asked Jewel, clutching Blu's talon with her own. Blu frowned down at his two kids, wondering where the third one was. But deep down, he knew that something was wrong.
"You're not gonna like this, at all. Okay." Carla inhaled sharply. She looked at Tiago and the others, who were still there, other than Bromeliad, Azure and Bia. Kai, Augustus, Isaac, Orchid and Andrea were biting their lower beaks and exchanging uncomfortable looks. "Here's what happened…"
