Chapter 7: The Days of Peace
Author´s note: Now would you look at that…as you can see, I am not dead. Enjoy this new chapter.
Peace is a beautiful thing. However, in times of peace, there is always someone seeking conflict. Only those, who enjoy days of peace, yet are always prepared for battle, can survive.
Several weeks later…
"Hey buddy, how are you feeling?" asked Marco with a friendly smile across his beak.
"Hi, Marco. I am feeling great. Mimi said that in a few days, I can get back to work. Thank you for asking." replied Blu, who was just getting ready to head out of his family´s treehouse.
"That is great. Eduardo sends his regards. He would come in person, but he has his duties, but you know that. Scarlets tried to breach our borders. Since I was there, they obviously failed." said Marco with a small chuckle.
Blu smiled and started to undo the bandages around his torso.
"What exactly are you doing?" asked Marco with a worried look.
"I am tired of lying there like a log of wood. I have to get out and do something. I already tried flying – I´ve got to tell you, not exactly easy after such a long pause." replied Blu.
"Absolutely not! Mimi might have said that you will be fine, but you still must rest…" said Marco and stepped in his way.
"Don´t try this on me. Jewel might be able to ground me by three simple sentences, but you are not Jewel." Blu took off and headed towards the center of their colony.
"Does he ever listen?" asked Marco himself and followed Blu.
Blu´s tempo was not very fast, so Marco had no difficulty catching up with him. As they flew together through the colony, they met Eduardo. He was sitting on a tree branch and talking to one of the border's guards.
"Good morning Eduardo." greeted Marco as the other macaw, Eduardo was talking to, left.
"To you as well Marco." said Eduardo with a simple smile.
"Good morning Sir." said Blu as soon as he joined them on the branch.
"Blu, I already told you to address me Eduardo, not Sir." said Eduardo with a wider smile than before.
"Yes, you did, but I just can´t just get used to it." said Blu with a warm smile.
"Anyway, what are you doing outside? Did Mimi approve this?" Eduardo asked with concerns.
"Well…of course she did. Why else would I be here? Heh." said Blu nervously.
"Yeah, sure." Eduardo chuckled a bit, knowing, that Blu is lying.
"Marco mentioned that every wing is needed, so here I am." said Blu.
"Well, he wasn´t lying about that. We need supplies more than ever. Also, our enemies are trying to breach our borders now and then. These are hard times for us." smile disappeared from Eduardo´s beak.
"That is, why I am here. I want to help." said Blu fearlessly.
"Are you sure you can handle it?" asked Eduardo, a little worried about Blu´s well-being.
"I assure you, sir, I can." Blu replied fearlessly.
"Well then welcome back to the greatest of the great, my friend." said Eduardo warmly.
"I will do my best for the tribe and my family." Blu´s courage shone brightly.
"And you think I forgot about you, Marco. I didn´t see you rest for a while since Blu got injured. You earned your rest so go take some days off." ordered Eduardo to Marco.
"But Eduardo, you know that every wing is needed, and you still want me to take a vacation?" said Marco with mild resistance.
"Well, if you´d rather spent some time outside with good company than sitting in your tree home…I might have a solution. Before we met and everyone was still mad at me, I was thinking about taking Jewel and the kids on a trip around the Amazon. There are a few places I wanted to show them, so if you´d be interested…" offered Blu.
"Actually, that is not a bad idea at all. It would allow me to get closer to your family. You know what? Why not, let´s do it…" replied Marco with courage.
"Nice, that solves one of the problems, and now Eduardo, I am all yours." said Blu with a warm and friendly face.
"Excellent! We are preparing a scouting and supply expedition. We should head out in a few days. Our targets are mostly food, then seeds and herbs. So, you get ready for that, because you are coming with us." Eduardo´s authoritative voice resonated throughout the colony.
"Sound nice. I will be ready, don´t you worry about that! I am full of energy. I need to do something. Any ideas?" asked Blu courageously.
"Well, you can stop by at Roberto´s. He will tell you more details about the expedition and might have some work for you as well." replied Eduardo.
"Sure will do. I´ll just have a few words with Marco and I´ll head out." said Blu, looking at Eduardo as he took off, leaving him with only Marco.
"Well, I would say, it is high time we start our training, don´t you agree?" asked Blu addressing Marco.
"Yeah, I was thinking about the same thing. Since you will be gone for a few weeks, we need to get to work." said Marco with a determined expression.
"Actually, I was thinking you could take Jewel and the kinds in the same route as our group would be taking. Every night, I could sneak out and we could train a bit." proposed Blu.
"Wow, that is not a bad idea. At least, you could train your body physique every day during scavenging, and then train the art of combat during the night. Great!" replied Marco, pleased with Blu´s idea.
"That settles it then. Pleasure doing business with you Marco. Jewel said that she would be taking kids to the waterfalls, so go see them and tell them about your trip. See you soon Buddy." Blu said his goodbyes and left. Marco just smiled and went in the direction of local waterfalls.
Blu´s thoughts were furious again. That one moment was played in his mind repeatedly. The moment when all he could do was to take a deadly blow and hope for a miracle. His thoughts were so locked on this moment that he didn´t pay enough attention to where he was flying, and he dumped into another blue ara.
"I am so sorry, I was deep in my thoughts and didn´t pay attention." apologized Blu.
"It´s all right, don´t worry about it Blu." replied the ara and took off again.
Blu stopped for a moment. He heard that voice once before, but couldn´t figure out where or to whom did it belong.
Marco was getting closer to his destination and even from that nonnegligible distance, he was able to hear the happy shrieks and shouts of the three children. He finally arrived at his destination and landed on a tree branch, staying hidden from the family. Bia was playing with Carla under the waterfall while Tiago flew up high and then let his body fall back to the water below him. Jewel was just relaxing in the shade of high and mighty trees.
"She is so beautiful, kind, and…just perfect. She is so much like Judy. And those three…haha, Bia and her clever mind, Carla and her inventive mind and Tiago with his crazy yet brave mind…they are all like Nick…I miss you so much." thought Marco to himself while staring at a family of his dear friend.
"Oh hey Marco, why are you hiding here?" asked Tiago, revealing his cover.
"WAH! Oh man, you scared me! I wasn´t hiding, I was just…never mind." replied Marco.
Marco and Tiago flew down to the base of the waterfall where they met up with Jewel and Tiago´s two sisters.
"Hello everyone. I have some great news for you. First, Blu is now officially healed, and he joined work right away. Second, he asked me to take you on a trip around the Amazon, which he was planning for a long time. But since he will be attending Eduardo´s scouting mission, he asked me to go with you and make sure, nothing happens to you." announced Marco with a pleasured smile.
"THAT IS AWESOME!" three voices echoed throughout the surrounding area.
"I hope you won´t mind my presence." addressed Marco towards Jewel.
"Not in the slightest." Jewel softly smiled and hugged Marco. "Come on kids, let´s go see your father."
"YAY!" echoed once more and Blu´s family left towards the center of the colony. Marco was left alone. Alone with his twisted feelings.
The next day
Even though Blu was tired due to his weakened condition, he wanted to start his training of fight. The day of the expedition was closing in and Blu was starting to feel nervous and under huge pressure. His thoughts were disturbed by an image of Marco, slowly approaching him.
"Oh, here you are. I was looking for you all morning." greeted Blu his friend.
"Good morning to you too, buddy." replied Marco with a small grin.
"Yes, of course, sorry. Good morning Marco. Jewel told me about your announcement yesterday. Kids are pretty excited, so I wanted to thank you once again for doing this for us." said Blu gratefully.
"You know that there is no need for thanking me. I would lay my life for you. I think I can handle babysitting." laughed Marco.
"And I am more than sure, that you can. I spoke with Eduardo and Roberto earlier they are planning to start the expedition a few days from today. Jewel is with Mimi and the kids are somewhere playing. I am free all day, so I was thinking about starting our training." stated Blu.
"Actually, I was thinking about the same thing. Go get rid of that fanny pack and meet me at that meadow we first met. Don´t let your guard down…" said Marco mysteriously and left.
"I´ve survived far worse than your training. Bring it on!" thought Blu to himself with courage and headed towards his treehouse.
Sun was already at top of the sky when Blu arrived at the destined meadow where he met his dear friend. He landed and waited. The bird, he was expecting, was nowhere to be found. It was at this very place, where Marco defeated his two Scarlet foes. The first thought that came to Blu´s mind was that Marco got stuck somewhere and was late for their meeting. What a stupid idea. Marco would never be late for something like this. A pair of calm yet savage eyes watched his every move. His every breath was felt by his foe.
"He knows, I am here. It seems like I underestimated him a bit. He can feel my presence." said Marco quietly, not to be heard.
"Where are you…where are you?" asked Blu quietly, only to be heard by himself.
One small mistake, that was all Blu needed to find his enemy. Marco made this mistake and stepped on a dried twig which made a cracking sound.
"OVER THERE!" yelled Blu and threw a rock, which he has prepared when he arrived.
Rock flew towards it´s target like a bullet shot from a pistol – accurate yet fast. Marco cursed his incorrect move, which gave away his position, and dodged a flying projectile. He spread his wings and flew towards his target.
"Are done hiding…?" said Blu courageously and entered a tentative battle stance.
"Like I would hide from you." replied Marco and prepared his first move.
As Marco was closing the distance between them, Blu prepared his attack as well. Marco was so confident in hitting Blu, that he didn´t pay enough attention and underestimated his foe. Blu grabbed a full talon of dirt and dust and threw it into Marco's face. Dust in his eyes forced Marco to abandon his original move and land as fast as possible. Blu didn´t waste a second and charged towards Marco, prepared to strike him with all his might. Unfortunately, Marco had clear sight again, and with little ease blocked Blu´s attack. He immediately used counterattack, and with a single kick to his belly, sent Blu to the ground.
"That´s enough! Stop." said Marco, trying to catch his breath.
Blu slowly got up from the ground and looked him in the eyes.
"I bet you didn´t see that coming." teased Blu his friend.
"I am not going to lie…I didn´t. With just the right training, one day, you will become even stronger than me." complimented Marco Blu´s fighting skills.
"Well, I think you overestimate me a bit. No one can be as strong as you." replied Blu, who was still gasping for air.
"I don´t think I do. You predicted that I would attack you from behind. You knew that I was present, even though your eyes didn´t see me. You even revealed my location and forced me to cancel my first attack. I think you got to know way too much over those past few weeks. So, are you ready to start?" asked Marco with a mild smile over his beak.
"Sure thing bring it on…" replied Blu with courage and proudly stood face to face with Marco.
"Excellent! Let´s start with some basic theory. So, this fighting style I use is based on a combination of many confronting and non-confronting martial arts. It has it´s very offensive side in Muay Thai and many others, while it´s defensive side in Tai Chi and Bagua Zhang. Those many martial arts are essential to this fighting style. However…it´s true strength lies in it´s variability, changeability, and uniqueness. Every fighter, that uses this style, develops his own personal fighting style. He then adds new moves, pairs them into combos and counters. Every new move makes it stronger and more reliable. For example, that move with that huge dive from the sky was developed by my modest persona. It is my special move, that fits me perfectly, and is also very hard to dodge or counter. Once you master the basics, the rest will just come to you.
"I must say, I am very impressed. When you said training, I pictured doing the same moves over and over again. This is a really pleasant surprise." said Blu with his eyes burning with excitement.
"Don´t get the wrong idea. You have to master those basic moves first, remember? so if you are done talking, let´s get down to business." replied Marco and entered his battle stance.
Blu just smiled and tried to copy Marco´s moves. It wasn´t easy, but Blu was getting better with every swing of the wing or talon. It didn´t take long, and Blu already memorized one of the move sets.
"Not bad. That is one down and 24 to go." said Marco with humor and continued while Blu proudly copied him.
Next chapter: Moments Before the Expedition