Chapter 15- a problem for Levi and Lapis Lazuli regarding the glaucous macaw tribe
Soon it was night time and pretty much all the diurnal (day time active) animals had gone to sleep, as had the humans still roaming the macaw tribe and clans' territories. In the glaucous macaws' makeshift 'home', all the glaucous macaws except for a few were sound asleep in their nests and in a few hollows. One glaucous macaw stood on a tree overlooking the sleeping glaucous tribe. Rudi's eyes slowly raked the sleeping forms of the macaws as they slept in their nests and hollows.
"Don't worry, my tribe," said the glaucous patriarch in a low and sympathetic voice, "We'll find someplace to move in and call our home one day. Hopefully our days as nomadic macaws will soon be over."
Sighing, Rudi returned to his temporary tree where his mate Valeria and his two sons Alberto and Lorenzo who were asleep in the tree. The air hanging over the sleeping glaucous macaws was calm and the sky was partly cloudy. The moon was nothing more than a thin strip of silver in the sky against a sea of glitter formed by the stars against a black canvas. The dark leaves of the trees rustled slightly as a gentle breeze blew threw them. Most of the glaucous macaws were sound asleep but a few were keeping watch for any predators. Each night, a group of watch-birds were stationed around the tribe to keep watch for any danger and if any danger was spotted, they would go and warn Rudi and Valeria and evacuate the tribe. Since they had been forced to abandon their home when the flying foxes had attacked, the glaucous macaw tribe had lived like this and Rudi had stationed a group of macaws each night to keep watch for any danger that should come during the night from then up until now, with a turnover of macaws to replace the tired ones who needed rest. While the watchers were keeping an eye on the night time jungle, in one hollow, a certain glaucous macaw was restless in her sleep. In Levi and his family's temporary hollow, Lapis Lazuli was writhing slightly under Levi's wing. Levi was asleep and was not moving much. Before Levi and Lapis Lazuli went to bed, they had finally managed to finish building the nest and Travis had flown back to the Lear's macaws' territory to join Sunset and his three chicks Eustace, Milo and Rosa. In the other rooms, Quincy, Tristan, Larimar and Trixie (also in constructed nests) were also asleep. The entire family but Lapis Lazuli were relatively still apart from their chests which moved as they breathed. Lapis Lazuli's breathing, meanwhile, was slightly out of control as though she was panicking, and she continued fidgeting under the calm Levi's wing. The rich blue glaucous macaw was dreaming.
In her dream, Lapis Lazuli was flying through the jungle. The trees and other plants were blurry as though they had been smudged like on a picture Lapis Lazuli had seen and learnt was called a painting by humans. The blurred leaves were wavering wildly and there was a violent breeze tearing at them. Lapis Lazuli was in a panic, her blue eyes flooded with fear and her grey and rich blue feathers flattened against her body. She was flapping madly through the jungle as maniacal laughter was heard. However, it wasn't just one voice, but many. Lapis Lazuli looked back and then around as she beat her wings furiously through the swishing blurred jungle. From every corner of the jungle Lapis Lazuli flew through, evil laughter erupted, piercing Lapis Lazuli's heart and flooding it with fear while at the same time sending impulses of terror coursing through Lapis Lazuli's spine and skin. Fear-struck, Lapis Lazuli accelerated on, breathing uncontrollably and flapping madly. She looked around to find the sources of the wicked laughter but could not find them in the blurry jungle. As she continued flying on, several shadowy figures emerged from one of the blurry trees. They were flying creatures but they did not have feathered wings or a beak and talons. The black shadow figures, marked by glowing eyes filled with malice and scorn accompanied with a wicked grin and something held in their feet, then flew out of the tree and pursued Lapis Lazuli. The terrified blue glaucous macaw looked back and when she saw the figures piercing her with their malice filled eyes, she screamed and accelerated all the more. Suddenly, more shadowy figures emerged from the trees in front of her, stopping Lapis Lazuli in her tracks. The terrified glaucous macaw slowed immediately to a hover and gazed with intense fright-filled eyes at the shadowy figures as they surrounded her completely. These figures were certainly not birds. On their head areas were two pointy ears, like that of certain breeds of dog Lapis Lazuli had seen during her and her friends' time in Rio, such as a husky or a German shepherd. The creatures' wings were shaped like a human object called an umbrella and their feet were clawed but not in the same manner as a bird's, and those feet carried lethal looking sticks. The creatures' heads were each decorated with a terrifying pair of glowing eyes and a wicked toothy grin and the glowing eyes were surrounded by blood-red eye rings. Drips trickled from those rings down the creatures' cheeks and their umbrella-like wings and chests also sported red streaks. The streaks on the chests resembled the anatomy of a ribcage while the streaks on the wings resembled the fingers that supported the wing. Laughter was emitting from the creatures' throats and their heads bobbed slightly with each 'hah' sound. Lapis Lazuli widened her eyes and opened her beak in utter horror as one of the black and red creatures began to speak.
"Look, flying foxes," it crooned sadistically, "It's one of the glaucous macaw slugs that had managed to escape."
"Let's get it and kill it," said another. And with that, the umbrella-shaped winged creatures began to close in on the hapless macaw, their sticks rising to their wings and their sharp point aimed at the macaw. Lapis Lazuli erupted into a scream and shielded herself from the creatures. Then suddenly, a familiar voice penetrated the atmosphere, shouting her name.
"Lapis Lazuli," it cried frantically, "Lapis Lazuli, wake up!"
Back in the real world, Lapis Lazuli felt her body get shaken by a pair of turquoise wings.
"Lapis Lazuli," shouted the voice, which belonged to Levi. Lapis Lazuli opened one eye and found herself gazing into the worried and concerned blue eyes of Levi. Levi held her in his wings and had shaken her awake. It took the frightened female glaucous macaw whose feather colour was the shade of her namesake gemstone to register her whereabouts until she finally relaxed with relief. Then she looked around, confused. It was a wonder that none of the chicks were disturbed by their mother's groaning and screaming during her nightmare.
"Where in the world am I?" Lapis Lazuli demanded timidly.
"You were writhing in your sleep beside me and whimpering," explained Levi, "which indicated you were in a nightmare. Do you want to talk about it?"
Lapis Lazuli looked at her mate with eyes still filled with shock from the nightmare she had just had.
"It was an awful dream," she murmured timidly, "I was being chased by these… shadowy figures with wings shaped like that human thing called an umbrella… and they were armed and... decorated with blood-red markings..."
"Umbrella like wings?" asked Levi. Then he realised what creature Lapis Lazuli was talking about.
"Oh, flying foxes?" he said, "It must have something to do with your being chased by those bats when you were younger, wasn't it?"
Lapis Lazuli, with a sad look and a tear falling from her eye, nodded. She then looked outside at the sleeping glaucous macaws.
"Our tribe cannot live like this any longer, Levi," Lapis Lazuli whispered, "They are vulnerable and open to a variety of threats such as logging and poaching and they are in a spot well hidden from those bird ecologists. They managed to escape being completely massacred by those bats once. I don't want them facing that threat again."
"Can't we see about that tomorrow?" asked Levi. Lapis Lazuli shot him a worried glare.
"We're going to have to talk about this with Rudi and Valeria tomorrow," she said firmly, "And see if we could come up with a solution."
Levi looked at her and then nodded. Then the pair went back to sleep.
Next morning
The sun rose into the sky above the Amazon rainforest to greet the morning. The sunrise decorated the eastern sky with various shades of yellows and pinks, giving it a beautiful and elaborate appearance. Diurnal animals in every level of the rainforest, from the treetops down to the forest floor were getting up to start their daily activities while the bird ecologist groups including Susan and Lucy's were waking up to continue their search for the Lear's macaws and including their habitat into the recently set up Amazon sanctuary which was currently unnamed. In the Spix macaws' territory, Aurora was flying through the Spix tribe's trees hauling a selection of fruit back to her tree for her family. She had woken up just before sunrise to have an early foraging trip. This time was also Eduardo and a number of the other tribe members' time to wake up, and most of the tribe also rose shortly after these early birds. As Aurora entered the ravine with her selection of fruit in a bag constructed from tough sticks and leaves in her talons, she was greeted by a few blue forms flying from a few of the trees. She looked around and picked out Eduardo and then Jewel as the two flew together, talking. However, Aurora had forgotten that Blu was not an early riser and that he often slept in until very late in the day. The pigtailed Spix mother of four then approached her family's tree and touched down outside the hollow. As she was about to enter the tree with her fruit bag, she was greeted by a hug and kiss from Zephyr.
"Morning, my precious star flower," crooned the male Spix macaw after he broke the kiss with Aurora. Aurora smiled and picked up the fruit bag.
"I've got breakfast," she said with a smile. Zephyr smiled and allowed her into the tree.
"Kids, breakfast time," called Aurora to the four chicks. Soon the tree was filled with the sounds of tiny flapping wings and squeals of excitement as Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil fluttered down from their four rooms and gathered around Aurora. Aurora then picked up a mango, chopped it up with her beak and distributed the pieces to her chicks who began eating. Zephyr looked on proudly.
"You know I'm very impressed with how quickly you have adapted to the wild despite spending the first fifteen years as a human's pet, my pretty star flower," he said, "Looks like our idea of living in the forest rather than in a manmade birdhouse has really paid off."
"Living in the wild seems to suit me well even though I'm sometimes startled by the unexpected appearance of certain creepy-crawlies like spiders," said Aurora as she picked up a fig from the bag to give to Zephyr. As Zephyr took the fig and ate it, there was a knock outside the tree.
"Come," said Zephyr. The knocker, which was an azure blue macaw with a blue-white head, entered once granted permission. Zephyr smiled and walked over to him.
"Hi, cousin Nuvem," he said as he hugged his cousin.
"Morning, Zephyr," said Nuvem as he broke the hug with Zephyr, "Sleep well?"
"We sure did," said Zephyr.
"So did I," said Nuvem. He then looked at Aurora as she looked over Justin and his three siblings as they continued eating the mango.
"I've come here to let you know that Dad wants to take your four chicks out on a tour of the area," said Nuvem, "and also give them a few lessons on specific fruit. In addition, I would like to take them out on a tour with the other chicks including Carla, Bia and Tiago and introduce them to more of our area and perhaps our neighbours, so as soon as they have had their breakfast and are ready…"
As he said this, Charlotte finished her mango piece and ate a few berries Aurora had also picked. Then she excitedly skittered over to Nuvem and said, "I'm ready, cousin Nuvem."
Seconds later, Matilda skittered over and stood by Charlotte.
"Me too," she said. Then Justin and Virgil hurried over to Nuvem, Virgil still eating his piece of mango.
"Okay, okay, don't cause a little accident, you lot," said Zephyr. Then his green eyes landed on the piece of mango in Virgil's wings.
"Oh, Virgil, son," he said with a smile, "You're still eating. Can you finish your mango first please before meeting Nuvem?"
Virgil shot is father a curious look and then walked back to where he was to finish eating his mango upon realising that he had left it half-eaten in his excitement. Then after finishing the mango completely, the youngest son of Zephyr and Aurora walked over to Nuvem and joined his brother and two sisters. Aurora breathed a sigh.
"Tell you something, raising four chicks is not easy, I can tell you," she said.
"Tell me about it," said Zephyr, "As much as a pleasure parenthood is, the first few weeks of our chicks' lives was absolutely riddled with hurdles. Sometimes we had to be up for much of the night to get our baby chicks to sleep and had to sleep in to rest ourselves."
He then breathed and continued. "It's a good job we had Brisa with us as well as our non-Spix friends to help out. I reckon Levi and Lapis Lazuli would have had to deal with the same burden of raising four chicks, especially the unusually small Trixie, when they had been very young."
"When I saw how small Trixie was compared to her siblings, I was surprised at how she had managed to survive," said Nuvem, "But unusually small chicks in a clutch do sometimes hatch, especially if you've had a large clutch."
"Levi and Lapis Lazuli initially had five eggs in their nest," said Aurora, "But sadly, the fifth egg didn't hatch and had to be eventually discarded. It was hard for the parents, I know..."
"Unfertilised eggs are an occurrence sometimes as well, even if the rest of the clutch is fertile," said Nuvem, not directly mentioning the process that makes the fertilised eggs that hatch into chicks due to Justin and his three siblings still being too young to know and understand the process yet, "I know it's hard to deal with."
"And yet in city chickens, unfertilised eggs are what humans eat," said Zephyr, "Thankfully they don't eat macaw eggs. I don't think I'd like the idea of Aurora's human companions doing just that..."
Aurora nodded in agreement. Then as soon as Nuvem was ready, he prepared to leave the hollow with Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil.
"Alright then, are we ready, my cousins once-removed?" asked Nuvem.
"Yeah," cheered Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil excitedly and in unison.
"Then let's meet the other chicks for the tour," said Nuvem. But just before the four chicks could leave, they received hugs from Zephyr and Aurora in addition to kisses on the head from the latter.
"You lot have a great time," said Zephyr as he broke the hug with Justin and Charlotte, "Let us know how it goes, okay?"
"Be good," said Aurora as she released Virgil and Matilda, "And make sure you stay with your group. You could get lost even on the Spix tribe's territory, so be careful, and look out for each other and your friends."
"We will, Mom," said Justin.
"See you, Mom and Dad," said Charlotte. Matilda and Virgil also said the same thing and as soon as they were ready, the four chicks followed Nuvem out of the tree.
"We'll see you guys this afternoon or perhaps earlier if you decide to go out into the territory," shouted Nuvem as he left with the four chicks.
"Okay, see you, cousin," shouted Zephyr as Nuvem flew out of earshot across the ravine, the four chicks in tow.
"And today is the first day of our chicks' lesson in surviving in the Amazon," said Zephyr with a smile. Aurora sighed before moving on to pack the rest of the fruit she had gathered into a storage compartment just near her and Zephyr's sleeping spot for later meals in the day.
Midmorning
The sun overhead was now half-way between the horizon and the midday point. It beamed down its golden rays onto the Amazon and the animals' activities were now at their peak. The Spix macaw tribe was by now all up to its usual business. However, there was one macaw who was yet to rise despite how late into the morning it was. While the blue forms of the Spix macaws continued decorating the air of the ravine as they went to and from different destinations, Aurora was flying back after a tour of the Spix macaws' territory with Eduardo. It would be a long while until she knew where everything was on the territory for she was completely new to the Spix macaw tribe and an outsider much like Blu. As Aurora entered the ravine and relished the clean air filled with the fresh smell of flowers and fresh plants, she almost bumped into a light blue plump female macaw. Alarmed at the sudden and unexpected appearance of the macaw, Aurora stopped herself in time.
"Oh, sorry, Mimi," said she apologetically.
"It's okay, um… Aurora isn't it?" asked Mimi with a slight confused look on her face. Aurora nodded to confirm that that was the correct name.
"So, how did your tour of our area with my younger brother go?" asked Mimi.
"Oh, fine thanks, ma'am," said Aurora. Then she shot Mimi a surprised look.
"Wait, did you just call Eduardo your younger brother?" she asked.
"Eduardo and I are brother and sister," said Mimi as she and Aurora progressed further into the ravine, "Born in a clutch of three. I'm the oldest of the brood and Eduardo is the second oldest."
"Who was the other sibling?" asked Aurora.
"Our younger sister was called Lea but she died when we were young adults," said Mimi, "She was killed when she accidentally strayed into flying fox territory."
Aurora flinched when she heard this. "So those flying foxes have been your enemies even when you were young and before you found this ravine?"
Mimi gave her a dark look. "Those membrane-winged furballs have always been every Amazonian bird's sworn enemies for as long as we know," she said, "Always after land owned by bird tribes and clans and driving out their inhabitants in the most violent way to grab it. They also have a burning hatred for us birds and see us as nothing more than filthy vermin."
"I heard that Eduardo was almost attacked by those bats at some point," said Aurora.
"Oh, yeah that was when he was on an outing with some of the green macaws when my little wildflower Jewel was a chick and we were searching for a place to live with the green macaws' help," said Mimi, "Thankfully Eduardo managed to return unscathed but it had left him quite shaken. Unfortunately, three of the green macaws that accompanied him weren't as fortunate and had been badly injured with one of them passing away. They're barbaric, those bats, and they're still as barbaric as they were back then, especially with that psychotic oldest son of Bruto and Sombra, Cicatriz and his equally psychotic mate Iracebeth as leaders of the colony now."
Aurora shuddered but then Mimi moved onto something else.
"Oh, have you tried clay yet?" she asked as she saw a few blue forms on the clay licks of the ravine pool.
"Clay?" asked Aurora.
"Yes," said Mimi, "It's good for digestion, useful in neutralising the acidic juices released from the fruit that we eat."
"I remember trying some clay back in Tujica Forest outside Rio but I must tell you, it didn't taste very nice," said Aurora slightly repulsively.
"Well, it's beneficial despite the foul taste," said Mimi, "You should ingest some. It's good for dealing with stomach upsets resulting from the acidic juices from the fruit."
Aurora then looked at the clay and made up her mind, but reluctantly.
"I'll give it a try," she said and with that, she broke away from Mimi and made a beeline for the clay lick.
"Be prepared to make it a regular part of your survival skills, young lady," called Mimi, "It's all part of adapting to life in the wild."
Aurora then touched down and walked over to the edge of the ravine pool lapping against the clay licks.
As she approached the pool's edge, she looked at three blue macaws talking away and ingesting clay. Tipping her head to one side and then looking down at the clay in front of her, Aurora scooped up a ball of the stuff with one talon. She then stared at the grey and brown gloop in her foot. Then closing her eyes, Aurora opened her beak and snapped it back over the clay ball. The moment her tongue came into contact with the grey and brown material, Aurora twisted her face to one of revulsion and an almost irresistible urge to spit it out swamped her. Barely resisting that urge, Aurora swallowed the lump with difficulty. After the lump disappeared down her throat, Aurora clapped her beak and tongue, the unpleasant aftertaste of the clay still in her mouth.
"Ugh, I may be used to getting out of traps, building a nest and foraging for food in the wild," muttered the pigtailed macaw to herself as she glared at the lump of clay in her talon, now with a large chunk taken out of it, "But eating clay, that's as bad as coating myself in mud…"
Just then, a voice called out from behind her, making Aurora turn in the direction of the voice's owner, which was Brisa, and she was accompanied by Roberto.
"Aurora," said Brisa as she and her handsome companion touched down, "Have you seen Blu anywhere? He's supposed to be having another training session with his father-in-law Eduardo."
She then saw the lump of clay in Aurora's talon.
"Ah, you've been trying some clay?" she asked delighted, "That's brilliant."
"Yeah, it's an essential part of helping us to digest our food," said Roberto. Aurora then thought over Brisa's question regarding Blu.
"Maybe he's still in his and Jewel's tree?" she replied but then a frown formed on her face. "Come to think of it he should be up by now. It's past midmorning."
Brisa and Roberto then exchanged frowned glances.
"Don't tell me he's still asleep in his tree, isn't he?" asked the former.
"This is the umpteenth time since he's moved in with our tribe except for the one morning where he went to get a Brazil nut for Ju-Ju but accidentally strayed into Felipe's side," muttered the latter. Aurora then dropped the clay piece and glared at the pair, the answer to Brisa's question popping into her head.
"I think you could be right, Brisa," she said. Brisa and Roberto glared back at her, an agreeing look taking over their faces.
True to Aurora, Brisa and Roberto's assumption, Blu was indeed asleep in his and Jewel's tree, and was snoring loudly in his and his mate's sleeping compartment. Shortly after the Amazon Untamed celebrations, Eduardo had helped Blu, Jewel, Carla, Bia and Tiago to find a tree of their own and the tree the family had chosen was a four bedroom tree. Blu and Jewel slept in the ground floor compartment while their three chicks Carla, Bia and Tiago slept in the other three rooms up the hollow. Carla's was the topmost, Bia's was second topmost and Tiago's was the third topmost. But even after moving into a tree of his and his family's own from Roberto's one, Blu had sunk back into the habit of getting up late and here he was, snoring on his back. However, he was in for a nasty surprise. As the brown-eyed Spix macaw continued snoring and swimming in slumber land, something descended from above and approached his face. As the thing closed in on his cheek, three appendages wiggled over it, tickling the sleeping macaw. Blu laughed in his sleep in response to the tickling sensation but then he returned to snoring as the thing rose above him an inch. The thing was a furry creature with a segmented body and eight legs and it was suspended on a string of silk. However, the arachnid wasn't suspended by itself over Blu's face. The spider's silk was stuck to a twig held by a slender blue male chick with brown eyes standing from the entrance to his room, but he wasn't alone. With him was another chick, an electric blue female with pigtails and who bore a striking resemblance to Aurora but had Zephyr's green eyes and she had her talon on the stick held by the male chick. Both chicks wore mischievous looks on their faces as they gleefully manipulated the spider's position over the sleeping Blu's face. Tiago then daintily lowered the spider carefully over his dad's face and had the spider tickle his cheek again with its legs. Matilda smiled widely as she watched the spider do this and as Blu giggled again.
"Hah, hah, hah," he tittered, "Stop it, Jewel, that tickles!"
He then opened his eyes to see who was tickling him but that was when the real shock took hold.
As soon as Blu had opened his eyes, he found himself gazing face to face with an enormous furry thing with long hairy legs and four grotesque berry-like balls gazing at him… UP CLOSE! An ear-piercing scream erupted from Blu and Jewel's tree as the male brown-eyed Spix macaw screeched in utter terror. Blu then sat bolt upright and swatted the spider away in the direction of the hollow entrance, frightened. He then glared at the arachnid as it crept away from the rim of the entrance and to outside, his brown eyes wide and blue feathers flattened.
"Where in the world did THAT come from?" he demanded. The moment the word 'from' escaped his beak, two mini comets, one dark blue and the other electric blue, shot in from above and flew around him.
"Wha- Tiago, Matilda!?" shouted Blu angrily as the two young chicks gleefully flew around him with laughter escaping their beaks.
"Nice one, Tiago," squeaked Matilda as she made a beeline for the hollow's entrance to make her escape.
"Yeah, that one really scared Dad awake," laughed Tiago as he followed Matilda to outside. Blu opened his wings to chase after the two young chicks but changed his mind by halting. Settling down, he let loose a yawn and then turned to his fanny pack. After fumbling through the belt bag and removing a cup, Blu prepared to make his way to outside. However, he was greeted by three macaws, all of them adults this time.
"Oh, hi, Roberto, Brisa and Aurora," said Blu sheepishly, "Sleep well?"
"Ah, Blu, you're awake at last," muttered a very bemused Brisa.
"At last?" asked Blu confused, "Is it morning?"
"Morning?" snapped Aurora in shock, "It's after midmorning."
"Yeah, it'll soon by afternoon," put in Brisa. Roberto just looked on with an expressionless face and said nothing. Blu then glared at the first macaw.
"I have a bone to pick with you, pigtails," he muttered.
"Oh yeah, and what's that?" Aurora rhetorically asked. Just then Carla, Bia, Justin, Charlotte and Virgil appeared.
"Hey, Uncle Beto, Aunt Aurora," said Carla, "That outing with Mr Nuvem was great."
"Yeah," said Virgil in agreement. Then Bia shot Blu a surprised look.
"Dad?" she asked. Justin, Carla, Virgil and Charlotte replicated Bia's face as they gazed at Blu. However, Aurora smiled and gently pushed the five chicks aside. Behind the group, Tiago and Matilda peered out from behind a fern.
"I was scared awake by a spider," muttered Blu. Brisa just folded her wings and made an amused look.
"Oh, really?" she said, "Your son Tiago playing that wakeup call spider prank on you again?"
Aurora and Roberto just exchanged looks and shrugged.
"Yeah, but he wasn't alone," said Blu. He then shot Aurora a glare in addition to a talon point. "HER daughter Matilda accompanied him."
Aurora changed her confused expression to one of surprise.
"Are you meaning to say that Matilda played the spider prank on you with Tiago?" she asked. Blu nodded hard while Carla, Bia, Virgil, Justin and Charlotte exchanged glances.
"By my calculations," said Bia, "It's been the third time Dad was scared awake by a spider held by my little brother now."
"Yeah but only this time, our sister Matilda got involved," muttered Justin. Then Charlotte turned to look in Tiago and Matilda's direction but saw nothing but the fern for the two chicks had mischievously ducked behind it. Then Brisa made an akimbo stance. "Well, it's time you were up, Blu. Eduardo is waiting for you by the waterfall. It's time for your next session of jungle survival training."
Blu then rolled his eyes with reluctance and trudged out of the tree, dropping the cup on the go. Aurora, Roberto and Brisa parted as he sauntered past but as he did so, her shot Aurora the stink eye.
"And Aurora, can you discipline your daughter please?" he asked, "I don't want her playing that spider trick on me again. As for Tiago, leave him to me."
And with that, Blu opened his wings and flew off, leaving Aurora, Brisa and Roberto to stand there with surprised looks on their faces.
Meanwhile
Back in the area where the glaucous macaws had taken refuge, dozens and dozens of turquoise, azure blue and sea green birds with grey heads and necks and yellow facial features were up to their usual business. Parents were foraging for food to feed their chicks and the other macaws were checking on each other to make sure that they were fine. While the surrounding glaucous macaws were up to their activities, Levi, Lapis Lazuli, Tristan, Quincy, Larimar and Trixie were eating a pineapple lunch on a large branch in a tree. Lapis Lazuli was still shaken after the nightmare last night and she wore a worried look on her face as she examined her tribe-mates, her friends whom she was separated from by the flying foxes around four years after the fire. Not too far away, Rudi and Valeria were talking to a group of patrollers in another tree. Levi gazed at him.
"Looks like your cousin's about to send out another patrol group, Lapis," he said as he munched on a piece of pineapple. Lapis Lazuli didn't reply and continued gazing at her cousin and cousin-in-law as they continued talking with the patrol group.
"I'm afraid we cannot find any decent place to settle down and call home, Rudi," said one of the patrol macaws, a male, "We've searched and searched for months now and all we've reaped is no success."
"We daren't risk flying into the flying foxes' territory in case those bats might spot us and kill us," added another macaw of the group, a female, "And that's the last thing we need especially after so many of us died during their siege on us to take our home."
"Have you tried south?" asked Rudi. The patrol group nodded.
"It's no good, Rudi," said the first patroller, "There just isn't a suitable spot to settle down. We did spot a cluster of trees with hollows several times but either that cluster is not big enough to house the entire tribe or another bird tribe or clan already lives there…"
"We'll just have to keep trying," said Rudi with a disappointed sigh. He then turned to another group of macaws sat in another branch diagonally from the patrol group, unaware that Lapis Lazuli was watching him.
"Report on the activities of the loggers, Rodrigo," said Rudi. Then the macaw named Rodrigo stepped forward. When Lapis Lazuli's eyes landed on this macaw, shock and disgust exploded within her and she made a sour face as she gazed at the macaw. Her feathers then stood on end and she began to tremble. Levi came over to her.
"Lapis, what is it?" he asked. When he saw Lapis Lazuli shake, he was alarmed.
"Lapis, you're trembling!" he said. Lapis Lazuli looked back at him with a disgusted frown.
"I'm fine, Levi, I'm not cold but the reason why I'm trembling is because I've spotted Rodrigo down there," she growled with disgust, her eyes on a specific macaw, "He's the macaw who I told you about abandoned me when we were chased by the flying foxes when we were adolescents."
Levi then turned his eyes and scanned Rodrigo as he continued talking with Rudi. Rodrigo was a fairly well built male macaw. His feathers were turquoise with no teal tint and his head and neck feathers were a light grey. A rather messy ruffle of feathers emanated from the back of his head and curled inward and his eyes were a shade of green. Then Levi and Lapis Lazuli saw Rodrigo shake his head and then ask something to Rudi. Levi cupped his ear to listen.
"Oh, where is Lapis Lazuli? Is she around here?" asked Rodrigo hopefully, "I was meant to come and greet her yesterday but was too distracted by a group of chicks I was teaching and completely forgot."
Lapis Lazuli then glared fiercely and bitterly at the turquoise and grey bird as a flashback appeared in her mind. In the flashback Lapis Lazuli saw a group of massive flying furred creatures towering over her and cackling maniacally. When she turned in one direction, she saw Rodrigo hovering there with none of the furry creatures holding him, eyes filled with flight before fleeing. Back to present, Lapis Lazuli felt disgust and dislike bubble within her. Then suddenly, Valeria pointed in Levi and Lapis Lazuli's direction.
"She's over there," said the matriarch of the glaucous macaw tribe. However, the moment Rodrigo started flying in the pair's direction, Lapis Lazuli whipped round and stormed off, clearly not wanting to meet Rodrigo. Moments after the rich blue and grey macaw had disappeared; Rodrigo appeared and perched beside Levi, a surprised look on his face. Near Levi, Tristan, Larimar, Quincy and Trixie looked on in curiosity as they continued eating their pineapple. Then Rodrigo gazed at Levi. "Have you seen Lapis Lazuli, pal?"
Levi replied with a confused gaze.
"W-w-why do you want to see her?" he asked hesitantly. An irritated 'tut' escaped from Rodrigo's beak.
"I haven't seen Lapis Lazuli since we were adolescents and that flying fox incident," snapped the fairly well built macaw irritably, "I would like to see her. Is she alright? Oh, and my name's Rodrigo, by the way."
Levi then looked around for Lapis Lazuli, unaware that she had flown into a cluster of leaves and vines. From this green hiding spot, the sour-faced macaw glared at Rodrigo with tears spilling down her cheeks as he continued asking Levi where she was.
"You see," added Rodrigo, "When Lapis Lazuli and I had been separated from the other glaucous macaws during the violent siege by those bats, I was unable to save Lapis from a group of those flying furballs for those bats were too powerful and armed with deadly weapons such as sharp-sticks..."
Levi said nothing at first. He then looked around for Lapis Lazuli but when his eyes couldn't find her, he turned back to Rodrigo nervously.
"I'm sorry, but I don't think she's in the mood to see you at the moment," said he, "Can't it wait until she's ready to meet you?"
This was met with a disappointed look from Rodrigo.
"I was one of her closest friends when we were young," he said, "In fact we were a couple: boyfriend and girlfriend and we were on our way to becoming mates had we kept that relationship up and we became adults. Lapis Lazuli and I were very much in love back then. However, that had been cut short when I was unable to save Lapis Lazuli from those bats."
Levi, at first, glared at Rodrigo but then a frown crept onto his face. Then Tristan, Quincy, Larimar and Trixie walked in. Rodrigo then took notice of the four chicks just as Rudi landed next to Levi, a sombre frown on his face. Valeria was left to continue talking with the patrollers.
"What is it, Rudi?" asked Rodrigo.
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to tell you this, Rodrigo," said the cousin of Lapis Lazuli sadly, "If you're thinking about rekindling your relationship with my cousin, I'm afraid it's not going to happen."
"Why?" asked Rodrigo. As he asked this question, a wave of disappointment splashed over him. Rudi then gazed at Levi and then at the four chicks standing near him. From her hiding spot, Lapis Lazuli continued watching.
"Lapis Lazuli already has a mate and four chicks," said Rudi sadly. And with that, he nodded to Levi to clarify his statement. Rodrigo glared at Levi in disbelief.
"I'm really sorry but when Lapis Lazuli turned up yesterday," explained Rudi, "She had this guy and those four chicks with her, which clearly indicated that she is already coupled with a family."
Rodrigo's face then fell into a further look of disappointment.
"But… I wanted to be Lapis Lazuli's future mate," he muttered, his eyes threatening to well tears, "H-how did she find a glaucous macaw outside the tribe when the chances of finding another glaucous macaw not originally one of us are extremely slim due to our rarity?"
"I don't know but it is obvious that Lapis Lazuli has met this guy during her time away from us," said Rudi. Levi just said nothing and just shrugged.
"Well, that's disappointing," growled Rodrigo. He then looked around for Lapis Lazuli but could not find her.
"And I wanted to apologise for being unable to save her from those bats as well. I'll do that when I find her," said Rodrigo and with that, he turned, opened his wings and took off. Levi looked on confused.
"Being unable to save her from those bats?" he repeated.
"That's what he told us, Levi," said Rudi, "Anyway, I'm going to return to the patrol group and help Valeria with discussing our problems with finding a new home for us to settle in while you find Lapis Lazuli."
And with that the glaucous macaw patriarch took off from the perch and returned to Valeria and the patrol groups. The moment Rudi left and making sure that Rodrigo had flown enough distance from her family, Lapis Lazuli emerged from her hiding place, flew in and perched beside Levi and the four chicks, the latter who wore confused look on their faces. Lapis Lazuli's face was still laced with resentment and sourness glared at Rodrigo as he flew into the trees filled with other glaucous macaws, searching for her.
"I'm confused," said Levi to Lapis Lazuli, "That ex-boyfriend of yours told me that he was unable to save you from those bats. Is that true?"
"He just abandoned me to fend for myself when we were chased by those armed flying foxes, Levi," growled his mate. Levi whipped round in disbelief.
"B-but if you were both pursued by those massive bats too powerful and dangerously armed to fight back against," he said, "then I'm pretty sure Rodrigo would have tried to rescue you but had been unable to."
Lapis Lazuli, however, replied with a bitter and extremely offended lour, making Levi tremble all the more in confusion.
"I-I-I don't understand," stammered he, "Y-y-you've told me that Rodrigo had just abandoned you to save his own skin and he told me that he was unable to save you due to so many of those powerful and armed bats. I don't know which is true."
"Oh, that idiotic ex-boyfriend of mine is trying to confuse you," snapped Lapis Lazuli angrily, "I've just told you that he just abandoned me as a coward would, forcing me to escape those flying foxes BY MYSELF."
Levi flinched at his mate's shout of the last two sentences. He then moved to another topic.
"So, are we going to speak to Rudi and Valeria about this macaw tribe being put under the protection from poaching and logging or what?" asked he. Lapis Lazuli then slowly allowed her disgust for Rodrigo and feelings of betrayal to melt away.
"I think it's best if we don't actually," she replied. Levi flinched again and threw on a surprised and disbelieving face.
"B-b-but they need to know and understand that their tribe is vulnerable out here," he protested.
"Rudi and Valeria do NOT and will NOT tolerate us talking about humans, Levi," replied Lapis Lazuli, "In fact, they're EXTRE-E-E-EMLY anti-human and don't trust any human whatsoever, whether they are well-meaning or not. And if you tried to convince them that they need to reveal their tribe to any human groups, Rudi would probably kick you out of the tribe and I don't want that."
Lapis Lazuli then looked at Rudi and Valeria as they continued talking with the patrol group.
"Wait until the time's right and then we'll take it from there," said the blue and grey glaucous macaw, "I know how urgent you want Rudi and Valeria to know about their tribe's vulnerability but not at the moment."
"As you wish," sighed Levi reluctantly. He clearly wanted the glaucous macaws to be discovered by the visiting bird ecologist groups so that they could be included in the wildlife sanctuary set up by Tulio and Linda which was to include the green and Lear's macaw tribes eventually should they be discovered. However, there was one huge boulder in the way, and that was Rudi and Valeria's, as well as the other glaucous macaws', CAUSTIC rancour of ALL humans and refusal to have anything to do with them, not to mention Levi's own secret: his past life as a domesticated macaw. But Levi knew he would eventually have to tell Rudi and Valeria that their tribe will need to reveal themselves to a group of bird ecologists eventually; they cannot stay out here forever due to their status as critically endangered and vulnerable and the glaucous macaw is an extremely rare species of macaw.