Chapter 18- Upsets, anger and disgust
D'Artagnan continued weeping on the edge of the stands. He was being approached by a family of green macaws, a family of four. Above the other side of the Pit, the green macaws including Alonso and Verde looked on in shock as did the Lear's macaws as they watched the family of four great green macaws approach the sobbing D'Artagnan. It was Aramis, Esmeralda, Chlorophyll and Petunia and they had faces filled with sympathy. From the Pit of Doom stadium, the Pit of Doom teams including Lewin, Luis, Coco and Amelia, watched with beaks dropped open as Aramis and his family touched down beside D'Artagnan. D'Artagnan then looked up at Aramis and his family with tears falling from his eyes. Then Sapphire, Miranda, Jasmine, Annette, Travis, Sunset, Eustace, Milo and Rosa flew in and joined the green macaw family. Aramis then reached out a wing and put it on D'Artagnan's shoulder with Esmeralda shortly following. Next, Sapphire walked in and put her wings around D'Artagnan to comfort him.
"We're ever so sorry, D'Artagnan," said Esmeralda in a low and sympathetic voice. D'Artagnan, at this, looked up at her with tear filled eyes. Around his feet, Chlorophyll and Petunia hugged him.
"You've tried your best in the game," said Aramis, "This wasn't supposed to happen."
D'Artagnan sighed and accepted his great green macaw friends' comfort, his sobbing lessening. Travis and his family looked on sympathetically.
"YOU TWO," Alonso called out to Aramis and Esmeralda, shooting a pointed wing at them, "Come away from that Lear's macaw at once, you and your two chicks."
Valentino and Rosalind and the other Lear's macaws also looked on with frowns at the spectacle. Aramis stood up and faced Alonso.
"Yes, Alonso," he said politely, "just as soon as we have finished comforting this poor Lear's macaw."
"We FORBID it!" shouted Verde, "Come away from that brat or you'll face the consequences."
"Absolutely," shouted Valentino, "We don't want green macaws comforting our tribe members and vice versa."
Aramis and Esmeralda, however, refused to budge. Then Sapphire walked in, a scowl on her face.
"Don't you all realise that this conflict is not getting us anywhere?" she shouted. Gasps were drawn in from many of the macaws as they reacted to Sapphire's boldness.
"Sapphire, DON'T you DARE!" shouted Rosalind. Then Alonso decided to take action by nodding to some green macaws nearby. "Go and separate that family of macaws and take them home. We've had enough trouble from the Lear's brats for one day."
The group of macaws nodded and made a beeline for Aramis and his family. Coco, Lewin, Luis and some of the other green macaw team members also flew in to help. Aramis and Esmeralda, seeing that they were outnumbered in addition to the disgusted looks on Valentino and Rosalind's faces, clearly indicating that they did not want them anywhere near D'Artagnan, admitted defeat. Looking back at D'Artagnan, Sapphire, Miranda, Jasmine and Annette, Aramis said, "We're sorry, you five. We'd better go."
Sapphire nodded while D'Artagnan looked on with fewer tears, having being comforted by Aramis and his family's comforting gestures. However, he was still upset and continued shedding tears. Miranda, Jasmine and Annette, Travis, Sunset, Eustace, Milo and Rosa also nodded in approval. Then Aramis and Esmeralda, together with Chlorophyll and Petunia, opened their wings and followed the other green macaws including those that had been about to force them away from D'Artagnan, out of the Pit of Doom as the entire green macaw tribe left the stadium stands.
As he left, Alonso shot Valentino and his tribe one last look mixed with scorn and smugness before turning his eyes in the direction of his flight. Then within moments, all the green macaws had disappeared into the trees. Valentino then flew over to D'Artagnan and perched before him, a seriously disgusted look on his face. D'Artagnan looked up at the tribe patriarch and shrank back at his angry gaze. Sapphire, Travis and Sunset looked at him in sympathy.
"Back to our ravine," growled Valentino, "NOW!"
And with that, he opened his wings and took off. Rosalind and the other Lear's tribe members followed. D'Artagnan shot a distressed look at Sapphire and left. Sapphire, her daughters and the cockatoo family also followed.
Soon, the entire Lear's macaw tribe was back in their ravine. D'Artagnan was put on trial before Valentino, Rosalind and their inner circle of birds. Around D'Artagnan, Lear's macaws stood in a crowd like a dark navy blue lake, eyes filled with bitter scorn on the poor macaw. Only Sapphire, Travis and his family had sympathetic faces. Valentino stomped a stone with a talon on the ground three times to call for silence amongst the tribe. Whenever a disgraced tribe member was put on trial, the leader always used a stone to call for silence amongst the gathering. The sound of the stone hitting the rock echoed around the area nearby, loud enough for all gathered to hear.
"Darcy, what do you have to say for yourself?" asked Valentino angrily.
"Look, I'm sorry, but I didn't know what happened," replied D'Artagnan sadly. Though he was still extremely upset, he had stopped crying enough to speak clearly. "I was trying to fly around that wall of green macaws but then something struck me in the back and made me kick the ball into the air and the next thing I knew, one of the green macaws had kicked it straight into our team's goal."
"Well, Darcy," said Rosalind who stood beside Valentino, "You have not only trespassed on Alonso's side but cost us our side of the camu-camu fruit grove as well. You really have made us look bad in front of our green macaw neighbours as a result."
Valentino and the inner circle birds nodded in agreement. Then Valentino moved on. Sapphire tried to talk but some macaws interrupted her with 'Shh' noises to tell her to be quiet.
"Darcy, I now declare your fate. YOU are exiled from our tribe," said Valentino with no sympathy, "Not only for landing us in trouble with the green macaws over the camu-camu fruit grove resulting in the loss of our precious supply of the fruit to them but also for bringing human ties into our tribe as well."
At this, a sharp gasp was drawn in by Sapphire while Travis and Sunset exchanged shocked glances, bright yellow and red, yellow and pinkish crests raised. D'Artagnan then shot Valentino a glare.
"What!?" he shouted.
"You heard me, you're EVICTED!" yelled the patriarch in retort, "You are to leave our territory and never return. If my tribe members ever see you anywhere on our territory, they have my permission to chase you out, even if it means injuring you but we will NOT kill you for I have mercy. When my father led the tribe before me, he did the same but if that banished macaw was found on the territory, he always ordered they be killed without hesitation."
Nodding to Sapphire, Miranda, Jasmine and Annette, Valentino continued, "As for Sapphire and her daughters, they can stay since Sapphire is a relative of Rosalind and has returned after so long away from us since the fire."
This made Sapphire draw in a second gasp and Miranda, Jasmine and Annette break down in tears. As D'Artagnan's family was hit with devastation at Valentino's decision, Travis, Sunset, Eustace, Milo and Rosa looked on in appal. The other Lear's macaws, however, uttered cheering noises as they watched D'Artagnan look down in shame. However, several, among them Waldo, looked on with saddened and uncertain eyes. Rosalind then nodded to a group of four Lear's macaws and gestured with a wave of her wing. Then she extended the same wing in a point toward D'Artagnan.
"Get that macaw outa here," she commanded, "and make sure that he doesn't return!"
The four Lear's macaws nodded in obedience and flew towards D'Artagnan. D'Artagnan, not wanting to face a vicious chase out, opened his wings and rocketed off towards the ravine entrance. As he left, boos and hisses were uttered from most of the Lear's macaws, not to mention some scathing comments that stung D'Artagnan like a swarm of bees. Sapphire winced and flinched as she heard the poisonous words fire from her tribe-mates' beaks:
"You're useless, human's pet!"
"Traitor!"
"Get out of here and take your human connections with you, you blot!"
"This tribe has NO place for human's pets!"
These painful words propelled D'Artagnan to fly faster towards the entrance. Behind him, some macaws flew after him to chase him out. As D'Artagnan neared the entrance, Valentino turned to Travis, Sunset, Eustace, Milo and Rosa.
"You take your pink and white mate and your three chicks and get out of here as well," he growled. This was met by a confused look from the five mixed species cockatoo family's faces.
"What?" asked Travis in disbelief.
"You heard my mate, yellow crest;" snapped Rosalind, "Get your family out of our ravine this minute. Based on your unnatural appearances, you seem to be from a human's place as well."
Travis, at first, stood there in shock at this command for his family had done nothing wrong. But when he saw the bitter looks on the faces of Valentino, Rosalind and their inner circle birds clarifying their statement, Travis told Sunset, Eustace, Rosa and Milo and within moments, the five cockatoos had lofted into flight. They followed D'Artagnan's path through the crowd of jeering Lear's macaws. However, as Travis led his family through the crowd, his face slowly morphed from a look of shock and disbelief to a look of disapproval edged with anger and disgust as Valentino's comments toward D'Artagnan echoed in his head. As Sapphire watched her cockatoo friends approach the entrance to the Lear's macaws' ravine, tears welled in her eyes and began running down her cheeks. Turning to Valentino who looked on with a smug face, she began to tearfully protest. Miranda, Jasmine and Annette then began to wail for D'Artagnan, Travis and his family.
"Please, Valentino," Sapphire cried, "D'Artagnan and the cockatoos have done nothing wrong."
Valentino's smug look, however, did not leave his face as Rosalind smiled as she saw the white, pink yellow and mixed coloured forms of Travis and his family disappear through the ravine's entrance, some Lear's macaws having seen them off.
"Good riddance," she mulled. Sapphire then became angry. She did not notice a particularly smug look on the face of Archie somewhere nearby. He appeared to be particularly glad that D'Artagnan had been exiled.
"Don't you realise you're being prejudicial!?" Sapphire shouted to Valentino and Rosalind as they began to call for the patroller macaws to gather around them and as the Lear's macaw inhabitants returned to their usual business, "That macaw D'Artagnan had lost his entire family as a chick, having been captured by POACHERS, smuggled out of Brazil to the United Kingdom…"
As she battered Valentino with her protests, one of the inner circle macaws ran towards Sapphire and grabbed her wings.
"Hey, don't you dare speak to your tribe patriarch like that!" he growled, "Show some respect."
"B-b-but he needs to know D'Artagnan's backstory," snapped Sapphire, followed by a bolt of her wings to release herself from the macaw's grasp. Then Valentino came in, an angry scowl on his face.
"Look, I am NOT interested in that human's pet and his backstory involving his time as a pet of those two-legged menaces, young lady," he growled. That did it; an enraged screech erupted from Sapphire's beak. She had her head thrown back and her wings flung up as frustration flared within her.
"Are you so ARROGANT as you are PREJUDICIAL about that macaw!?" she screeched, "It's not his time as a human's pet that is important, it's HOW he ended up as a pet in the first place!"
"Sapphire," snapped Rosalind's voice, making the long head feathered macaw turn in the voice owner's direction. Rosalind marched in and stood by Valentino, "That macaw Darcy has caused us a LOT of trouble. He has trespassed into Alonso's side, cost us our side of the camu-camu fruit grove and has brought in ties with the most hated and troublesome creature on the planet. He deserves to be exiled, so accept it!"
Sapphire glared at her first-cousin-once-removed with bitter blue eyes as she swept on.
"Now, I want you to do yourself and us a favour," continued Rosalind, "I want you to stop throwing a temper tantrum like a chick and grow up, set an example to your three daughters…"
Sapphire, at this, glanced at Miranda, Jasmine and Annette and returned her gaze to Rosalind.
"… go back to your hole and start adapting to life without that human's pet," added Rosalind, "He's gone now. He's not coming back. I want you to forget about him. Is that clear?"
Sapphire did not answer.
"Sapphire," shouted Valentino, making her flinch, "Rosalind asked you a question, now answer it: is THAT CLEAR!?"
"Yes, perfectly," growled Sapphire reluctantly. Tears welled in her eyes again as Valentino and Rosalind smiled.
"Good," said Valentino, "Now I want you to take your three daughters and return to your hole and think about what we've said. We've got a job to set up for the patrollers."
Sapphire, without another second opened her wings and took off like a rocket in the direction of her and her family's hole. Miranda, Jasmine and Annette, distraught over the eviction of their father, followed. Valentino and Rosalind then nonchalantly returned to face the group of gathered patrollers to prepare to divide them into smaller groups to send out a few at a time.
Sapphire continued flapping like mad towards the entrance of her hole, tears falling from her face like two mini waterfalls. As she crashed-landed on the ledge of her hollow's entrance, Waldo flew past. Waldo's face was flooded with sympathy as he watched his half-sister then scramble into the hollow with her three daughters closely behind. Then all movement outside D'Artagnan and Sapphire's hollow ceased but the atmosphere was then filled by the sobbing of an adult female Lear's macaw and three baby Lear's macaw girls. Waldo then slowed his flight into a hover and began glancing from Sapphire and D'Artagnan's hollow to the gathered patrol group around Rosalind and Valentino and back again several times. He wanted to visit Sapphire but he did not want to anger Valentino by not turning up for the patrol job for Valentino hated lateness. With a sigh escaping his beak, Waldo decided to check on Sapphire later and headed off to join the other patrol birds as the tribe leaders placed them into groups and sent them out. At this moment, D'Artagnan was whizzing through the Lear's macaws' territory like a goshawk. Like Sapphire, tears were also falling down his face in large quantities. D'Artagnan's feelings were deeply lacerated by Valentino and Rosalind's lack of consideration of his history, especially of how he ended up as a human's pet in the UK in the first place. As the male Lear's macaw continued zooming through the trees at breakneck speed, Travis and Sunset were trying to catch up to him. They had Eustace, Rosa and Milo in their talons once again for they were too small to fly at such high speed. However, the gap between the two adult cockatoos and D'Artagnan up ahead was widening for the macaw was flying much, much faster than the cockatoos. Furthermore, the cockatoos were struggling to dodge the obstacles of the cluttered jungle and once, Travis had to tackle Sunset in the side to help her dodge a branch.
"D'Artagnan," called Travis as he panted for breath and tried beating his wings harder to increase his speed. His talons kept a firm grip on Rosa and Eustace while Sunset who flew alongside Travis's left carried Milo. Sunset was also panting for breath as she beat her wings at a high pace as well. The two adult cockatoos then dodge another branch protruding into the air.
"D'Artagnan, wait up!" cried the Major Mitchell's cockatoo in the split-second space she had before her demand for oxygen overtook her again. D'Artagnan up ahead, however, did not slow down and continued flying through the trees like a rocket. Travis and Sunset couldn't believe it. D'Artagnan had the speed and agility similar to a tree-living bird of prey. He was the fastest flyer of Athos's group and also the most agile, more so than Aramis though the lithe great green macaw was not too far behind. However D'Artagnan's speed and agility exceeded that of Jewel as well, and it was possible that his agility had been sharpened during his, Travis and Sunset's time as pets in the UK from years of flying in a cluttered environment. Shaking off these thoughts, Sunset and Travis continued chasing D'Artagnan through the jungle in a futile attempt to catch up to him.
"Hang on, kids," cried Travis as he and Sunset began to dodge some more tree branches. The three sulfur-crested/Major Mitchell's hybrids did so as their parents began to weave in and out of any obstructing branches.
Meanwhile
The entire camu-camu fruit grove, including the side that was now formerly the Lear's tribe's section over the stream, was swarmed with green shapes with red foreheads, green, blue and yellow wings and blue, red and yellow tails. The green plumages were almost invisible against the ocean of green leaves of the bushes but the red and blue parts of the great green and military macaws stuck out brilliantly like the brightly coloured skins of poison dart frogs, or the bright red and yellow skins of the camu-camu fruit. The green macaw tribe had gathered at the camu-camu fruit grove to feast on the camu-camu as a celebration of their victory against the Lear's macaws in the Pit of Doom. In one area, Lewin, Luis and Amelia and some of their friends were chomping through some of the bright red and yellow-green fruit and gossiping about the Lear's macaws.
"Did you see the look on Valentino and Rosalind's faces, guys?" laughed Lewin as he took a bite out of the flesh of one camu-camu, "Honestly, the two looked like they had seen a monstrous predator when their tribe lost!"
As he finished this sentence, the group burst out laughing, some rolling onto their backs. Amelia flailed her legs in the air before rolling back onto her feet, taking a moment to breathe after that bolt of laughter.
"You should have also seen the look on Monique's face as I picked up the final dragonfruit for the final goal," she said, "She looked as though she had been struck by lightning; she was in total shock... and devastated."
"Well, I'm glad those Lear's brats ARE devastated," tittered Luis, "We did an excellent job in defeating them for the entire camu-camu fruit grove. Too bad those Lear's brats have lost their side of it."
He then leaned back against a tree trunk and crossed his talons, a camu-camu fruit in one wing. "I wouldn't be surprised if those dark blue and teal macaws are in their cliff-face hollows and few trees sulking."
The others in the group nodded with wide smiles of smug looks on their faces. Throughout the camu-camu fruit grove, dozens more great green and military macaws were feasting and chatting, also mostly about the Lear's macaw tribe and their reaction to losing their side of the camu-camu fruit grove.
The green macaw tribe was the only flock of green macaws to have great green macaws live in Brazil as great green macaws were normally found in Central America. It was believed that the green macaw tribe had entirely consisted of military macaws until some of the great green macaws had migrated south east from Central America, presumably driven by some disaster caused by poaching and habitat loss and had settled in the Amazon where they mixed with the militaries who kindly took them in. Since then, the green macaw tribe had always been a mixture of great green and military macaws with the two species sometimes interbreeding, giving rise to hybrid individuals similar to how the scarlet and green-winged macaws sometimes did in the red tribe. However, amongst the jubilant flock of green macaws, some were not at all happy. While Luis and Lewin continued feasting on some camu-camu with their friends, Drake, a male great green macaw and a friend of Lewin, Luis and Amelia, heard the sounds of an argument a few metres away. At this, he stopped eating and listened.
"What is it, Drake?" asked Amelia.
"That's Alonso in the distance," replied Drake, "He sounds very upset with someone."
As he said this, the argument sounds became louder and soon, the arguers came into view. Drake, the twin brothers and Amelia then looked in their direction. To their surprise, it was Alonso and he was arguing with a family of great green macaws, a family of seven. Luis then recognised the adult female macaw.
"It's Esmeralda and her family," he said with a gasp. Drake frowned.
"Oh, I think Alonso is very cross with her and her mate, Aaron or whatever his name is," He muttered, "For comforting one of those Lear's macaws in the Pit after we had won the match."
Lewin, Luis and Amelia looked at him and then back at the argument between Alonso and the family of macaws which were indeed Esmeralda, Aramis and their two chicks Chlorophyll and Petunia. Alonso did indeed look very upset. His blue eyes were flooded with disapproval and rage, especially when they saw Esmeralda and Aramis console D'Artagnan, a Lear's macaw.
During the green macaw tribe's journey back to their home patch and then to the camu-camu fruit grove, Esmeralda had told Alonso and Verde everything. She had told Alonso that she was now Sapphire's best friend and how she had met Aramis, besides Aramis's domestic background his being raised in another country across the Atlantic Ocean. However, Esmeralda's explanation was not received very positively by the green tribe patriarch and his mate.
"I can't believe that you're now friends with one of our enemy neighbours, young lady," snarled Alonso, "You should know BETTER!"
"Look, it's true we were enemies but during our adventure in Rio," snapped Esmeralda angrily, "we HAD to put aside our enmity to help defend each other and our friends from those smugglers and their cats!"
"It's true that we sometimes helped our Lear's enemies when they're in danger such as during that fire when you were younger, OR when they were threatened by those winged furballs, the flying foxes," snapped Alonso, "But hanging out with any of them is forbidden! Get this into your head, Esmeralda, that Sapphire is a brat."
Esmeralda flinched at this remark before Aramis stepped in. Chlorophyll and Petunia kept quiet. They were too young to take part in an argument over a big and complicated matter like this.
"For your information, Alonso," growled Aramis in defence of Sapphire, "She's now no longer a brat towards Esmeralda here…"
"You, human's pet," shouted Alonso, interrupting Aramis's sentence, "Have NO right to speak to your tribe patriarch like that!"
Aramis tried to protest but Alonso swept on. "And you certainly have NO right to speak for our pesky Lear's macaw neighbours. What you and your mate have done in the Pit of Doom was an absolute disgrace. You both ought to be ashamed of yourselves."
Esmeralda, however, kept her angered look. She then stole a glance at the camu-camu fruit grove dotted with dozens and dozens and dozens of green birds with blue, red and yellow feathers and markings. She then began to address the most difficult situation of all: the conflict between the green tribe and the Lear's.
"As for the feud between our tribe and Valentino's," Esmeralda said, "Don't you realise that it is getting both of our tribes nowhere? Why can't we just make peace rather than continue the feud like how the Spix and the red tribes did?"
"That's right," agreed Aramis.
Alonso's face, at this, changed from anger to brief shock before anger then returned to his face.
"What did you just say, you two?" he growled disgustedly.
"Our tribes need to stop this conflict," replied Esmeralda more angrily, "Especially over food and space such as the camu-camu fruit grove…"
"We've won the entire grove, fair and square," snapped Alonso angrily. He was starting to become infuriated now. "The Lear's macaws are gonna have to find alternative food sources to make up for the camu-camu they had lost. It's a consequence they are gonna suffer for allowing one of their members to cross the boundary and into our side."
He then perched on a tree nearby with Esmeralda, Aramis and their two chicks just over the flowing stream that formerly marked the boundary between the territories of the Lear's and green tribes.
"Now I will have no more of this immature behaviour, you two," continued Alonso, a pointed wing to Esmeralda and Aramis, "And certainly no more associations with those navy blue birds. If I EVER hear ANY report of you two or your two chicks associating with any of the Lear's macaws, you are gonna be evicted. Is that understood?"
Aramis and Esmeralda said nothing.
"I said is THAT UNDERSTOOD!?" yelled Alonso in a louder voice. Esmeralda then narrowed her eyes.
"We're not gonna live here unless you resolve the conflict between your tribe and the Lear's macaws!" she hissed. This made Alonso flinch and throw on an appalled look. Behind him, his mate Verde was flying in. Then Esmeralda took Aramis's wing and scooped up her two chicks.
"Let's go, Aramis and my daughter and son," she said and with that, she took off, followed by Aramis, Chlorophyll and Petunia, leaving a shocked Alonso to look on. Verde then perched beside her mate and looked on as Esmeralda and her family flew off through the trees.
"I can't believe the change of attitude Esmeralda seemed to have developed since we lost her in that fire all those years ago," Verde said, a frowned look gazing after the family of four as they disappeared into the trees. Alonso just looked at her, his beak hung open and totally stuck in the mud of speechlessness.
Esmeralda continued flying through the trees with her family in tow. She had a quizzical look on her face but it was not over pondering how to unite the green and Lear's tribes. It was over something else.
"What is it, Es?" asked Aramis upon seeing that look. Then Esmeralda's talon rose to her chin while in flight.
"I'm thinking about D'Artagnan's crossing into our side, Aramis," she said. Aramis stopped into a hover with the two chicks hovering around him.
"Are you saying that he didn't wander into our side deliberately or out of plain curiosity?" he asked. Esmeralda then stopped and shot Aramis a frown.
"I don't think he did," she replied. She then perched onto a nearby branch to ponder over D'Artagnan's incident more. Aramis and the two chicks flew in and perched around her.
"When I found that D'Artagnan was on our side," said Esmeralda, suspicion glinting in her eyes, "He appeared to have been following a trail of Lear's feathers. Now I'm wondering… what if someone else had lured D'Artagnan into crossing over to our side by planting that trail of feathers just to get him into trouble with us?"
"Is that so!?" Aramis snapped in disbelief. Esmeralda gave him a confirmatory look, implying that the statement was true. Aramis glared back at her in surprise.
Meanwhile
Back in the Lear's macaws' ravine, Sapphire was still in her hollow, crying her eyes out over D'Artagnan's unfair eviction. Annette, Miranda and Jasmine had snuggled around her to comfort her and Sapphire had her wings around them, her eyes streaming with tears. They had just lost their father and Sapphire had lost her mate. There was no way D'Artagnan was able to return now since Valentino had stationed sentry macaws outside the ravine and had sent patrollers out to make sure that he had left the territory entirely. While the four macaws continued crying, a burly Lear's macaw with green eyes flew by. His attention was caught by the sounds of Sapphire and her daughters' sobbing, so he stopped into a hover and perched on the ledge leading to the entrance of Sapphire's hollow. When Archie saw the sobbing Sapphire, he knocked on the wall near the entrance's rim.
"Go away," wailed Sapphire.
"It's me, Archie," said Archie sympathetically. He did not like seeing her cry and wanted to comfort her. "You've been sobbing for a while now and I just wanted to make sure you are alright."
He then slowly walked into the hollow towards the sobbing Sapphire and her daughters and gently put a comforting wing on her shoulder.
"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked. Sapphire looked up at him with tear-stained eyes. However, the tears continued to flow.
"Is it about the loss of our side of the camu-camu fruit grove?" asked Archie, "I know a lot of the Lear's macaws are very upset about that, especially Valentino. He's just been sending out patrol groups to look for any food sources to replace them."
He then sat down and placed a wing on his forehead. "It's going to be difficult adapting to life with a diet excluding the camu-camu. We've had that grove side for years only for that human's pet to cost us of it."
With a sigh, Archie then flopped a wing down and looked once again at the tearful eyed Sapphire and her daughters. Sapphire sighed and decided to talk to Archie about what was upsetting her and her daughters.
"It's nothing to do with the loss of our side of the camu-camu fruit grove," she said in a strangled voice. Archie looked at her in surprise.
"What do you mean it's nothing to do with the loss of our side of the camu-camu grove?" he asked, "You SHOULD be upset it. That camu-camu grove was the only source of that fruit rich in vitamin C. It's all because of that moron Darcy who stepped into Alonso's side that we are in this utter mess."
Sapphire just looked at Archie and said nothing, before bowing her head and shedding more tears. Annette, Miranda and Jasmine also continued to weep. Archie then grinned as he thought about D'Artagnan's eviction.
"Well, I'm glad that Darcy has gone," he said smugly, "He was a right menace with his ties with those humans."
However, Archie was also smug for another reason. Turning to Sapphire again, he said, "And you should be glad that Darcy's gone as well. He's no good for you with his background as a human's pet. Why not do yourself a favour and find another male to be your mate? There are plenty of male macaws in the tribe who are suitable for taking that pet's place. And they're wild-born and had lived all their lives as wild macaws as well so you won't have to worry about being the mate of a macaw with a history with humans."
Sapphire did not reply as Archie then smiled as his blue eyes fell on the upset Miranda, Jasmine and Annette.
"But if you feel that none of the other male macaws are suitable for you, I'm more than happy to take that former mate's place of yours," he said, "After all, your three daughters could do with a father figure in your family now that Darcy NEVER gonna come back."
Sapphire, at this suggestion, shot Archie a look of disbelief and distaste.
"If you think you're gonna take D'Artagnan's place as my mate, Archie, you've got another thing coming," she growled, anger boiling through the heartbreak. She then stole a glance at Miranda, Jasmine and Annette and continued, "And besides that, D'Artagnan is the father of these three girls."
Looking back at Archie, Sapphire continued. "But finding another mate to replace D'Artagnan is an option but ONLY if D'Artagnan has died, but I'm not gonna throw away my bond with D'Artagnan just because he's a pet, especially after knowing his tragic backstory of how he became a pet in the first place. I've chosen him as my lifelong mate and he has chosen me!"
Archie glared at Sapphire before raising an eyebrow in curiosity. "Okay, so tell me, how did you and that pet meet?"
Sapphire then glared at Archie bitterly before relenting. "We met in Rio de Janeiro, a human city."
"A human city!?" repeated Archie in shock and disgust.
"We were the only known pair of Lear's macaws in that part of Brazil," said Sapphire, "Humans over there who study birds, called ornithologists, and conservationists had set up a sanctuary near that city and were trying to help start a population of Lear's macaws on it to help preserve the Lear's macaw's species."
Archie reacted in distaste. "So those humans over there were trying to breed some Lear's macaws there?"
"When I had been found by some of those humans, I was the only female Lear's macaw known in that area," continued Sapphire, "So I was taken in alongside Zephyr and Brisa from the Spix macaw tribe and a female glaucous macaw named Lapis Lazuli."
"I remember how Jewel, Zephyr and Brisa and the latter two's parents Tornado and Gael had been torn from the Spix macaw tribe," said Archie, "Just like how you were from our tribe and Esmeralda from the green macaws…"
"So we were taken to a breeding chamber and held there for a while," said Sapphire, "and then later, D'Artagnan, Aurora and Levi were imported. Aurora is a Spix macaw with a similar backstory to D'Artagnan and Levi is another glaucous macaw who was smuggled out of Brazil along with Aurora as a chick. D'Artagnan and I didn't get along at all at first but we eventually became friends and eventually mates."
"Let me get this straight," said Archie, "You met this Darcy character because of those humans?"
"Yes," snapped Sapphire angrily, "And because we were the only two Lear's macaws living near Rio, and I had doubts that you and the rest of the Lear's tribe was still alive. During our friendship time before we fell in love and became mates, I learned of D'Artagnan's backstory…"
"Well, you still shouldn't have fallen in love with a pet, Sapphire," said Archie angrily, "Pets have a bad reputation because of their ties with humans, the creatures that destroy the environment and steal animals just to sell."
"D'Artagnan was one of those animals taken out of his home by poachers as a chick," snapped Sapphire, "Just like Levi and Aurora who were smuggled out together from the patch of rainforest near the city of Rio."
Tears then welled in Sapphire's eyes as heartbreak began to manifest itself once again.
"And there's another thing," she snarled in a strangled voice, "D'Artagnan had that desire to find other Lear's macaws like himself out here in the Amazon and that desire was made reality! That same desire was had by Aurora and Levi and their families regarding finding more Spix and glaucous macaws though that desire had been cut short when those poachers attacked, destroyed their families and smuggled those two birds out of their home. However, Blu and his family had already done the former for Aurora and I'm wondering how Levi and his family are dealing with those glaucous macaws but..." Sapphire breathed a sad sigh and continued with the main subject, "If D'Artagnan had a family and had lived in an isolated forest with no other Lear's macaws present, I'm sure his parents would have had that same dream of finding other Lear's macaws like themselves only for that dream to be cut short by poachers. But now that we have found the tribe, his parents wouldn't have wanted him evicted because of his backstory as a domestic macaw. And besides, it wasn't his fault that he ended up as a pet in the first place..."
Sapphire then made a guilty look. "I know I have scorned him for being a pet as well but now I know better, especially after learning about his backstory…"
She then broke down into another bout of sobbing. Annette, Miranda and Jasmine wept nearby.
"Daddy," moaned Miranda.
"I wish he was here," moaned Jasmine.
"Where is Dad?" moaned Annette. Then the four macaws sobbed again. Archie then tried to place a comforting wing on Sapphire's shoulder but Sapphire flinched, not wanting his comfort in any way, shape or form. Then after finishing this bout of sobbing and wiping her eyes, which were now red from crying so much, of tears, Sapphire sniffled.
"But I'm wondering," she murmured in a broken voice, "How did those navy blue feathers appear that led D'Artagnan into crossing over into Alonso's side."
Archie's eyes blinked with curiosity and confusion. However, the mentioning of the navy blue feathers had pricked him slightly.
"Navy blue feathers?" he asked, "What navy blue feathers?"
"D'Artagnan said that he had found a trail of navy blue feathers mysteriously appearing out of nowhere with no other Lear's macaws about," said Sapphire, "This was shortly after the incident."
Archie just smiled. "Well, that's not important. Darcy has cost us our side of the camu-camu fruit grove and has received his lifelong punishment of eviction. Let's not worry about that, shall we?"
Archie then prepared to make his way toward the entrance to Sapphire's hollow to leave. However, as he left, he wore a smug look on his face and muttered something to himself in a quiet whisper. However, that whisper must have carried for Sapphire had quite sharp hearing. Sapphire shot Archie a frowned look.
"What did you just say?" she asked suspiciously. Archie, at this, turned and faced Sapphire and when he saw the suspicious look on her face, he flinched.
"Oh, um… nothing, Sapphire," he said with a smile on his face, hoping that this look of innocence would disguise the guilt. Sapphire, however, wasn't fooled. She felt something was amiss. Then it dawned upon Sapphire. She had sometimes seen Archie glare distastefully at D'Artagnan whenever he flew past them, and she had sensed that these glares had more than just distaste thrown in them. Then Sapphire began to question Archie.
"I don't suppose you had something to do with that incident involving D'Artagnan crossing into the green tribe's territory, did you?" she asked in a low and suspicious voice. Archie began to look around as though he wanted to escape, but Sapphire could clearly see the guilt emanating from his behaviour, particularly in his body language.
"Oh, I-I-I-I had nothing to d-d-d-do with that," he said timidly. Sapphire then began to deduce how that trail of navy blue feathers had appeared at the Lear's/green border.
"Someone else must have followed D'Artagnan to the camu-camu fruit grove and had planted those navy blue feathers just to lure him into Alonso's side," she said, her blue eyes gazing down at the floor, "And must have deliberately crossed into Alonso's side first and remained hidden so that D'Artagnan could end up caught by Alonso and some of the other green macaws."
Archie began to quiver.
"H-h-honestly, that wasn't me," he said, "Darcy was the one who crossed the border, not me…"
However, guilt was emanating so much from his behaviour that it penetrated through the ruse, like a jaguar's sudden movement in the bush and the shifting of vegetation nearby resulting in its cover being blown. Sapphire then glared at Archie once again, a suspicious eyebrow raised.
"It's not like you to collect moulted Lear's macaw feathers and making that trail to lure a fellow tribe member over the Lear's/green border which would involve going over that border…"
"I-I-I would never do such a thing," Archie said, trying to deny it but Sapphire knew from his body language that he was lying. The shaking of his wings and look on his face clearly indicated this.
"And apparently," added Sapphire in a harsher voice tone, "during the Pit of Doom match, a member of our team ploughed into D'Artagnan from behind while he was trying to dribble the ball past Paolo the goalie to make him kick the ball upward for one of the green macaws to shoot it into our goal and make the final score for the green macaws, costing us our side of the camu-camu grove in the process…"
"Oh, that was an accident," protested Archie but his body language suggested otherwise. During the closing moments of the match, a fellow team member had rammed into D'Artagnan from behind while he was trying to dribble the ball past Paolo to get around some green macaws. The force was so great that it had made D'Artagnan unintentionally kick the ball vertically into the air for one of the green macaws to shoot into the Lear's macaws' goal. Some of the Lear's macaws watching had reported that the foul was caused by a burly macaw. Realisation on who made D'Artagnan kick the ball into the air, as well as get him into trouble with the green macaws at the camu-camu grove, then dawned upon Sapphire and she shot Archie a furious glare.
"Archie, what DID YOU DO!? WHY DID YOU DO SUCH A THING!?" she bellowed. Miranda, Jasmine and Annette backed away as they saw their mother beginning to boil in anger. Archie, seeing that there was no way to further disguise his guilt, finally admitted to the furious Sapphire.
"O-o-o-oh, well you see," he timidly replied, fearful that Sapphire was going to lunge at him, "I-I-I did not like that human's p-p-p-pet being your mate and… I wanted to get rid of him so that I could be with you like how we had been when we were chicks…"
"You mean you got D'Artagnan into trouble with the green macaws so that he could be evicted!?" snarled Sapphire. Archie timidly nodded. Sapphire's eyes then began to erupt like blue volcanoes and her anger finally flared up like a fireball in a flammable gas.
"Don't you realise that you have JUST DONE!? YOU have cost us OUR side of the camu-camu fruit grove by getting an innocent macaw who is new to the tribe into TROUBLE!" shouted the enraged macaw, her hair-like feathers rose near their base. If they were shorter, like Roberto's, Sapphire would look more terrifying.
"He's a PET!" retorted Archie angrily, "He does not deserve to be in this tribe; certainly not with YOU!"
"It all makes sense now," said Sapphire with confirmation, "It wasn't D'Artagnan who crossed into the green tribe's territory first…" she then glared furiously at Archie, "…it was YOU!"
Archie flinched as Sapphire began to lambast him, a torrent of furious words spitting from her beak. Miranda, Jasmine and Annette shrank back, frightened as their mother finally let her anger loose.
"YOU had been the one to get D'Artagnan into so much trouble, luring him over the Lear's/green border into the green tribe's side, and deliberately tackling him to make him kick the ball into the air for one of the green macaws to kick and score the final tiebreaking goal, resulting in our side of the camu-camu grove being lost to the green macaws! You INCONSIDERATE, FOOLISH…"
As Sapphire began to call Archie every word she could think of, Miranda, Jasmine and Annette covered their ears to block out the music. Archie then fell to the floor backwards. He tried to protest but Sapphire towered over him and swept on.
"YOU should have been the one to have been evicted, not D'Artagnan," snarled Sapphire, a pointed talon shooting at Archie's beak like a dragonfly, "I can't believe what DAMAGE you have done to my family! You have not only broken my heart, but also cost my three daughters their FATHER…"
She gestured to Miranda, Jasmine and Annette, who continued watching the scene. Archie looked at the three chicks and said nothing. Outside the hollow entrance, another Lear's macaw was standing by the rim of the hole, listening. The Lear's macaw had a slender build, a feather flick on his head and teal eyes. Waldo had come to listen in on Archie and Sapphire's conversation after hearing Sapphire confirm her suspicions of Archie being the guilty one. When he heard what Sapphire had said and what Archie had confessed, he reacted in utter shock. Then after giving Archie a piece of her mind in the form of words, Sapphire finished the heated confrontation by ordering Miranda, Jasmine and Annette to gather around her.
"But Sapphire," protested Archie but the only response he got was silence. Sapphire then took her three daughters towards the hollow entrance.
"Where are you going?" asked Archie. Sapphire glared back at the burly macaw and her former friend.
"To FIND D'ARTAGNAN, REGARDLESS OF WHAT VALENTINO SAYS!" she screeched. Then without another second's hesitation, Sapphire wrapped her talons around her three daughters and spread her wings on the ledge.
"Hold on, you three," Sapphire commanded her three daughters. Miranda, Jasmine and Annette obeyed. They were too young to fly at high speeds and Sapphire had planned to fly like mad to find D'Artagnan out in the expanses of the Lear's macaws' territory. As Sapphire then lofted into flight, she did not see Waldo who had pressed his back against the wall bordering the rim of the hole to prevent Sapphire from seeing him. Then with a flap of her wings, Sapphire lofted into flight and made a beeline for the ravine entrance. Then Archie's form appeared.
"Sapphire," he called, "You know Valentino won't tolerate disobedience!"
However, Sapphire was soon out of earshot. Archie looked on in shock as he watched Sapphire's form disappear out of the ravine's main entrance hole.
"Rosalind's not gonna like this," murmured Archie in a low voice.
"She and Valentino aren't gonna like what you've done, Archie," snarled a male voice behind him. Archie turned and found himself greeted by a furious look on Waldo's face.
"Oh, Waldo," said Archie in surprise, "I did not see you."
"I've heard everything," said Waldo, fury burning in his teal eyes, "Including that deliberate foul that caused Darcy to kick the ball up into the air. You don't realise what trouble you've caused us… and for Sapphire's family especially."
Archie tried to protest but Waldo opened his wings.
"I'm gonna tell Valentino and Rosalind what you've done," he snarled and with that, he lofted into flight, leaving Archie to stand there on the ledge, flooded with guilt and shock.