Chapter 22- Gathering food for the drought
After lunch, Jewel stood at the entrance to Mertle's tree with Zephyr, Roberto and Brisa. When Zephyr had returned home with Charlotte after the patrol job and had seen Bia in tears, Brisa had explained everything that had happened between her and Aguamarina to him and Aurora, and when Zephyr had heard what Aguamarina, Mertle's daughter, and Claudia and Benita had said to Bia, as well as how Aguamarina threw Bia's book of Amazonian animals into the ravine pool, he had reacted in shock and disgust. Roberto had also been told of the incident and had decided to accompany Jewel to Mertle's tree along with Zephyr and Brisa. The heat was unbearably uncomfortable, and all four macaws were trying to fight off the drowsiness, but they had a problem to sort out.
"Boy, the heat is sapping me of my energy," muttered Zephyr as he shook his head, "Flying around on that patrol in this has worn me out, and Charlotte was struggling to stay awake as well. After this, I'm going straight back to my family's tree."
"I can't believe that Mertle's daughter could be so spiteful," said Roberto disgustedly, "Especially to Bia. Mind you, Mertle herself had always been a problem with us: Ju-Ju because she is Eduardo's daughter and me because of my head feathers."
Besides Jewel, Mertle also looked down on Roberto and often laughed at him for his set of head feathers, often calling him 'mop-head'. And though Roberto liked to show off his singing talent to a number of the female macaws in the tribe at times, especially to Brisa, Roxie the scoremarker and sometimes Jewel (though he had learned to avoid charming Jewel too much for she already had a mate and had become aware of Blu's awareness of his behaviour around Jewel; before, Roberto hadn't noticed this, but he still called Jewel by her childhood nickname), Mertle and her clique of friends were some of the female macaws he didn't particularly like because of their attitude.
"I know," muttered Brisa, "Anyway, let's go."
"Right, I'm going in," said Jewel and with that, she stepped towards the tree. Mertle's tree was one of the smallest trees in the ravine. Because Mertle did not have a very big family, she had chosen this tree to live in. When Aguamarina had been a newborn chick, Metle's mate had died in a logging incident and Mertle had been raising her only daughter since. However, she still kept her foul attitude towards Jewel and some of her friends despite suffering bereavement over the loss of her mate, and it seemed that Aguamarina had picked up on this attitude. Jewel then knocked onto the wood near the rim of the hollow's entrance with a talon. She shook her head to shake away the tiredness from the heat.
"Who's there?" called a voice. It obviously didn't sound very welcoming and friendly. It was laced with feistiness and irritation and it was not just from the heat.
"It's Jewel," called Jewel, barely trying to restrain her temper. "I want to have a word with you."
Brisa, Zephyr and Roberto stood behind Jewel.
A few seconds later, the owner of the tree finally made her appearance. Mertle was a bright blue macaw and had green eyes like her daughter Aguamarina but they were a lighter green. Her head feathers were a short cluster behind her head just above the neck and Mertle's front and face were blue-white, similar to Roberto's divided face mask. The blue-white faded to cerulean down Mertle's neck and chest. When Mertle saw Jewel, her beak widened into a smile but it was not a friendly smile. It was a condescending smile.
"Well, hello, Jewelie," she crooned rather mockingly, "What brings you here? You know we're in the middle of a lunch."
She then got a glimpse of Roberto, Zephyr and Brisa behind Jewel and said, "and how are your friends Mop-Head, Zephie and Breezy doin'? I hope Mop-Head's not causin' a domino effect on his female friends with his awful singing, is he?"
Roberto's eyes flashed with slight irritation at the insult.
"None of your immature comments, Mertle," snapped Zephyr, "Let's cut straight to the chase. We're here to have a word with you about your daughter."
Brisa nodded in agreement. She clearly didn't like Mertle at all and was trying to fight the temptation to claw the condescending smile off of Mertle's face. Mertle, made a mocking face in reply to Zephyr's statement.
"Oh, you mean my lovely daughter Aguamarina?" she crooned.
"Yes," snapped Jewel, "We want to tell you what she and her two friends, Benita and Claudia, had done to Bia."
As Jewel mentioned Bia, a cerulean head with green eyes peered around a protrusion of root behind Mertle. Aguamarina timidly looked out from her room and saw Jewel. However, Jewel did not notice Aguamarina's form in the dark hollow.
"Oh, what do you think Aguamarina has done?" asked Mertle, an eyebrow raised above her head. Jewel rolled her eyes, clearly irritated by Mertle's attitude.
"Your daughter and her friends had said some nasty things about my daughter Bia," she explained, "Aguamarina threw Bia's Amazon animal book into the pool and then said some mean comments to her."
Mertle's face fell from a condescending look to one of surprise, before an irritated look masked the surprised one.
"Look, Aguamarina is never a very naughty girl," she said with a frown, "She was only teasing and playing. What she says and does doesn't matter. She was only joking and playing."
"Playing!?" retorted Zephyr, "Snatching a book off another chick and tossing it into the pool is NOT playing! That's bullying!"
"Not to mention making snide remarks," added Brisa, "Which aren't jokes at all, especially if they are hurtful."
"Look, you have absolutely NO right to accuse my daughter of being a bully!" snarled Mertle, who was angry now, "Neither do you have any right to accuse me of being a bad mother."
She then put her wings on her hips. "You know something; I think your kids are being oversensitive."
"Oh, why is your skull so thick!?" snapped Jewel in frustration, her head thrown back and her wings in the air, "Do you want Daddy to come and speak to you!?"
"The chick that your daughter has upset is one of Eduardo's granddaughters, you know," put in Zephyr, "We want Aguamarina to apologise to Bia for what she did to and said about her."
Mertle shot the four macaws an angry glare.
"Look, we're in the middle of lunch and I don't want any further interruptions," she retorted harshly, "If you're gonna be so accusing toward my daughter who has done absolutely nothing wrong, I suggest you all leave, or I'll be tellin' Eduardo about this. And if there is anyone who needs to apologise, it's Bia for being oversensitive!"
"But Mertle," began Roberto but Mertle retorted, "Good day!"
And with that, the feisty macaw drew the moss curtains and sealed off the hollow, leaving a dumbfounded Jewel, Roberto, Zephyr and Brisa to stand there.
"That went well," said Zephyr flatly.
"I can't believe she did that," muttered Brisa, "She is so insensitive and nonchalant about her daughter's attitude towards Bia and other chicks."
"Let's just go," said Jewel, seeing that arguing with that feisty macaw was not going to get anywhere. With that, the four macaws opened their wings and took off. Roberto looked back at Mertle's hollow with an angry glare and his head feathers slightly spiked out.
"Mertle's always been such a problem," he muttered, "She's no better than her parents."
"Tell us about it," muttered Jewel. Zephyr and Brisa just sighed and said nothing as the four continued flying on.
Around four days later, the heat wave continued. The sun continued mercilessly beating the Brazilian landscape down with its furious blades of heated light, and the temperatures remained in the high thirties, low forties. In Rio, both people and animals continued their usual activities but at a slower rate. The majority of buildings had fans or some sort of air conditioning devices set up to cool the places down and people tried desperately to remain hydrated while at the same time conserve water. To make matters worse, there had been no rain over the past few days since the heat wave hit, and conditions were very uncomfortable. At night it was hard to sleep because of the heat still lingering in the air even with the sun absent from the sky. Because there had been no rain, plants and bodies of water in the Amazon rainforest such as rivers and lakes had begun to suffer the effects of the heat wave, which was now revealed to be a drought. As plants lost lots of water, their leaves drooped and the width and diameter of any pools and rivers shrank. In the Spix macaws' ravine, the ravine waterfall had begun to contract due to a reduced volume of water. The ravine pool at the bottom was smaller as it lost water via evaporation from the heat and as the water level dropped, the roots of the Spix macaws' trees began to become visible. The trees themselves in the Spix macaws' territory, as well as the Spix macaws' home trees, had also been wilting. Eduardo and a few patrollers had been examining the conditions.
"I hope this drought ends, Eduardo," said Roberto, worried for the heat wave's effect on the water and the trees, "Because if it doesn't, we could end up with a food shortage."
As he said this, a group of six macaws, two of them being Zephyr and Aurora, flew over the group in the direction of the waterfall, a hoard of fruit of various types (Brazil nuts, berries, etc.) in their beaks and talons. Eduardo had sent out macaws to gather some food upon realising that the heat wave had lasted more than two days.
Whenever a drought struck, macaw and other bird tribes and clans would gather food and store it away until the drought ceased, for fruit grew on trees and a lot of the animals in the rainforest fed from the food provided by the plants, and plants needed water. With a water shortage, plants withered and their productivity was affected. The bird tribes and clans had faced droughts before in the past, so they were prepared for this one. As the group of fruit-carrying macaws passed by the waterfall and into a cave, they touched down onto the rocky ground and walked over to a large ridge in the side of the cave where more collected fruit was stored. The waterfall cave was massive, able to house the entire Spix macaw tribe with a LOT of room to spare. The cave was very long; extending WELL back from the waterfall for a few tens of metres, and at the end of the cave, smaller branches leading to other caverns began. Ledges were present along the walls and there was a trench running along one side. This was where the Spix macaw tribe took shelter in an event of a fire, thus this cave was their evacuation point. As the macaws placed their collected fruit with the rest, Aurora relished the cooler air in the cave.
"It sure is cooler in her than it is out there, I can tell you," she said. She then examined the massive cave. Some of the macaws with chicks and eggs had moved into here to escape the heat, and Aurora saw blue forms dotting the grey and brown background of stone in simple makeshift nests.
"I think I should consider moving our chicks into here as well," said Aurora, "It's just too hot in our tree."
"We'll see to that in the evening, Aurora," said Zephyr, "But at the moment, we have a job to do."
Aurora sighed and prepared to fly back out into the blistering heat with her mate and four companions.
Across from the waterfall, Jewel was flying along when she saw six turquoise or blue forms with grey heads perched on a tree under a large cluster of leaves of an above branch out of the sun, a sombre look on their faces. Seeing the glaucous macaw family with those looks, she flew over to them.
"Are you six alright?" she asked the glaucous macaws which were Lapis Lazuli, Levi, Tristan, Quincy, Larimar and Trixie. She perched on the left of Levi who had his wing slung around Lapis Lazuli's back. The four chicks were on Lapis Lazuli's right and Lapis Lazuli was sat next to Levi to his right.
"You have been very quiet for the past few days," said Jewel, her face creased with concern, "Is it the heat?"
"It's not just the drought, Jewel," said Levi in a low voice, a sad look on his face, "It's the glaucous macaw tribe and Lapis Lazuli's cousin. We just cannot stop thinking about them."
Jewel sighed. "Well, if they don't want our help, then it's their problem, not ours. You must remember that it's not your fault that they won't listen."
Lapis Lazuli looked up at her. "You ought to have seen how they are living and where, Jewel. They're sitting bugs. If they don't move over here onto the sanctuary, either they'll be captured by poachers or decimated by loggers or what's worse, slaughtered by those flying foxes should they attack again. But the thing is Rudi is too arrogant to realise he dangers his tribe is in. That's what's bothering us."
"And since we are the only family of glaucous macaws known to the humans," added Levi, glancing briefly at the four chicks, "and that tribe of glaucous macaws hasn't been found yet, that flock of glaucous macaws is going to risk dying out without the humans' knowledge."
"And with this ongoing drought," added Lapis Lazuli, gesturing to the air with a wing, "Those macaws are seriously going to struggle to find food."
Jewel sighed. She did not know what to reply or how.
"I'm sorry, you two," she said sadly after a pause, "I just don't know what I can do. I sympathise for your situation but after hearing of your report on the glaucous macaw tribe's stubbornness when you went to confront them with Daddy, Blu, Aurora and Athos to point out that they are vulnerable, I don't think there is anything that we can do at all."
"That's Rudi's serious problem," muttered Lapis Lazuli, "He's just too stubborn."
"Rudi?" repeated Jewel confused.
"He's Lapis Lazuli's cousin and the new leader of the glaucous macaws," said Levi, "His father died so Rudi took him over. His mate's called Valeria."
"You know, I'm still surprised that those glaucous macaws are still alive," said Jewel, "I always thought they had been slaughtered by those flying foxes."
She then sighed and stared into space. "Huh, savage furballs, those bats. Roberto lost his entire family to a scout group of some who attacked them without provocation. It was just before he was captured by a poacher."
"You ought not to meet them face to face," said Lapis Lazuli darkly, shivering as she remembered the terrifying furry faces full of scorn, the enormous membranous wings and the weapons of her attackers who had chased her through the jungle after Rodrigo had abandoned her. "Honestly, they are horrible, especially with that frightening black and red body decor."
Jewel nodded in agreement when a cerulean form flashed out the corner of her eye. She turned and when she saw who it was, she made a bitter scowl on her face with her feathers raised. Levi and Lapis Lazuli followed Jewel's gaze and when they saw a slender female Spix macaw with lime green eyes glare back at Jewel as she flew past, Levi asked, "Who's that over there?"
"That's Mertle," growled Jewel bitterly, "One of my rivals and enemies and the mother of Aguamarina."
"Aguamarina?" repeated Levi confused.
"Oh, isn't she the chick that upset your daughter Bia?" asked Lapis Lazuli, "We heard what had happened from Roberto."
"Yes," replied Jewel, anger and bitterness burning in her teal eyes, "And Mertle had refused to discipline her daughter and hasn't done since that day. We got into a heated argument yesterday about it and when she insulted my mate Blu and also Aurora and Zephyr, especially Aurora for her pigtails, and also when she allowed her daughter Aguamarina to snatch a Brazil nut off of one of Athos's daughters Spinel. We were at the Spix/red border at the time in the Brazil nut grove and Athos and his family were with us. Then when Mertle made an insensitive remark toward Ruby, I snapped and slapped that brat hard across the face and yelled at her that I would be bringing Daddy along to deal with her if she didn't stop that, and then she left in a huff. I will NOT have anyone insulting my friends and family, especially Blu and Ruby. Since then, we just give each other bitter glares."
Jewel then shot Mertle a glare as she disappeared into some trees. "Since that argument she has left us alone, especially after I warned her that I would bring Daddy along. You ought not to mix with her. She has a bad reputation among most macaws."
"Wow," said Levi, "Why does Mertle have an attitude problem."
"Her parents used to spoil her outright when we were chicks," said Jewel, "And she developed a snobbish and spoilt attitude."
"She must be jealous of you for being the daughter of a tribe leader," said Levi, "But after what happened at the Spix/red border when you slapped her across the face; it seemed that Mertle hasn't bothered you lately."
Jewel smiled smugly and said, "I'm glad to have done actually. It had appeared to have knocked some sense into her head, and I hope it has."
Levi and Lapis Lazuli looked at Jewel in awe. She was very fierce just like her father Eduardo, and certainly not a macaw to mess with. And though Mertle disliked Jewel, she was always wary of her because of her fierceness and fiery temper. Jewel was like a porcupine. Mess with her and you'd get jabbed by one of her spines of fury or worse, slashed and bitten if you provoked her to outright anger enough, such as terrorising her chicks for example. Thankfully, Mertle and Aguamarina knew better than to overstep that mark.
"Anyway, moving on," said Levi, "Is the red tribe also gathering food?"
"They are, yes," said Jewel, "Athos told us that Felipe was sending out macaws to stock up on food. So are the blue-and-gold macaw tribe, the Bluewing hyacinth Clan, the blue-throated clan and the Navyfeather Clan. I think the green and Lear's macaw tribes will be doing the same."
"Oh, hasn't D'Artagnan and Travis told you the news?" asked Levi with a smile. Jewel looked at him.
"The green and Lear's tribes' territories have been added to the Sanctuary de Amazon," said Lapis Lazuli, "Our ornithologist friends have managed to find them."
"Well that's good," said Jewel, "At least those tribes will now be safe from logging and poaching."
"Those two tribes are still in conflict with each other though," said Levi, "D'Artagnan told me that one of Valentino's macaws Archie had cost the Lear's macaw tribe their side of the camu-camu fruit grove during the Lear's tribe's match against the greens in the Pit of Doom by making D'Artagnan kick the ball upward for a green macaw to shoot."
"Oh, that's terrible," gasped Jewel in shock. Levi and Lapis Lazuli nodded. Lapis Lazuli then looked down at Tristan, Quincy, Larimar and Trixie as they lazed around, too hot to do anything.
"But at least D'Artagnan and his family have a place to stay until Valentino changes his mind and brings him back into his tribe," said Levi, "He evicted him because he is a pet."
"Oh yeah, D'Artagnan, Sapphire and their daughters Miranda, Jasmine and Annette and Travis, Sunset, Eustace, Milo and Rosa are staying with us in Roberto's tree, aren't they?" said Lapis Lazuli. Jewel sighed.
"I know, D'Artagnan told me," she said, "It's so unfair and prejudicial. Mind you Daddy would have done the same to Blu but he didn't."
She then heard her name get called. She looked up and saw Blu shout for her.
"Oh aye, Blu wants my help in gathering some food," said Jewel, "I'll see you later."
And with that, she left, leaving the glaucous macaw family alone.
"I hope the glaucous macaws are alright," said Lapis Lazuli, "In droughts like these, finding food and storing it is going to be a seriously difficult task for them."
"I know," murmured Levi.
The red tribe's territory
Scarlet and green-winged macaws were bringing food into their evacuation point, a large cave. Like the Spix macaws, the red macaws had a cave in which to take refuge but their cave was not behind a waterfall. Nearby in a tree, Athos was taking a break with Ruby, Alexandre, Spinel and Poinsettia. They were very hot so they were fanning themselves and had taken shelter in a shade under a large cluster of leaves.
"Hey, guys, didn't you know that plants lose water via transpiration?" asked Poinsettia, "That's why those trees and plants are drooping. Their cells are losing turgidity, which is the reason why they are wilting."
"She should have this conversation with Bia from the Spix macaws," said Ruby with a smile as she fanned herself with a wing.
"Definitely," gasped Athos as he slumped against the tree trunk from the heat. Alexandre, Spinel and Poinsettia were socialising with two other red macaw chicks. It was clear that the three scarlet chicks had made some friends with other scarlet and green-winged chicks, much to the gladness of Athos and Ruby. The two main and already close friends of Alexandre and his sisters were a female green-winged macaw named Estelle and a male scarlet/green-winged hybrid named Sheldon.
Like every other macaw in the tribe, Sheldon was red and had blue coloured wing feathers and parts of his tail; his were a shade of azure. The band of coverts between the blue and red on his wings were yellow fading to green towards where the blue flight feathers started in addition to some splashes of orange between the yellow band and the red coverts, indicative that Sheldon was a hybrid. Poinsettia had pointed out that he was a 'ruby macaw', a cross between a scarlet and a green-winged which was true since Sheldon's mother, named Dani, was a green-winged and his father named Ramon was a scarlet. These two main friends were discussing with Alexandre and his sisters about their past and how their parents met.
"Dad told us that he met Mom in Tulio's Aviary," explained Alexandre when Sheldon had asked the question, "A human's building where humans care for birds. The rest of our uncles and aunts such as Uncle Porthos and Aunt Orquidea the blue-and-gold macaws, also met there."
"However, Auntie Aurora, Uncle Levi and Uncle D'Artagnan met Uncle Zephyr and Aunts Lapis Lazuli and Sapphire in a separate compartment," said Poinsettia.
"Were you all born on the same day?" asked Estelle as she ate a piece of fig.
"No," said Spinel with a shake of her head. "We were all born on different days but within a small range. Aunt Aurora and Uncle Zephyr's chicks, Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil hatched a day after us while Uncle Levi and Aunt Lapis Lazuli's chicks hatched on the same day as us."
"Uncle Levi and Aunt Lapis Lazuli had had a clutch of five eggs," said Alexandre, "But one of them didn't hatch and had to be removed after a good number of days. Trixie was born unusually small and needed a lot of attention. Thankfully, Aunt Phoebe and Uncle Cobalto the hyacinth macaws helped raising her."
"We sometimes have unusually small scarlet and green-winged macaws in our tribe," said Sheldon, "Mom's friend is one of them. Her height is smaller than an average green-winged macaw's. But since her father is also unusually small, it's possible it's genetic."
"Trixie's condition, however, is believed to be the result of her development before her egg was laid," said Alexandre, "Aunt Lapis Lazuli had explained to us that possible cause of Trixie's unusual smallness. Her first flight had been later than her three older siblings, Quincy, Tristan and Larimar and she had had plenty of examination by our human friends and we are assured that she should grow into a healthy glaucous macaw as she ages, even though she may be smaller than the average macaw's height."
Then Estelle examined the unusual plumage colours of Alexandre and Spinel, the colours of orange-tinted vermillion and pinkish-red respectively. "And you two certainly have quite odd colours for your plumages. Such colours are quite rare in our tribe."
"Mom explained to us that the pinkish-red colour is from her side of the family," said Spinel, "Her and Aunt Pearl's mother had this unusual pink-red plumage colour."
"As for my vermillion feather colour," said Alexandre, his gaze on Athos as he leaned against the tree, tired from the immense heat, "Dad told me that this colour must have come from his side as he vaguely remembers a relative of his, possibly a sibling, sporting this colour. As I grew, the orange tint has become more pronounced."
"And Poinsettia is the 'usual' red shade," said Estelle, commenting on Poinsettia's feather colour, "But she looks so much like her mom..."
"I suppose I do," said Poinsettia as she gazed at her deep red feathers and then at her mother Ruby's, "Although my wing and tail flight feathers are teal like Dad's rather than blue like Mom's."
Sheldon then looked at the green, yellow and orange bands on his wings.
"I may look a lot like Dad but I certainly do have some of Mom's features including her blue eyes," he said, "I have inherited her species' green wing bands as you can see here."
Alexandre, Spinel and Poinsettia examined Sheldon's wing bands closely. Ruby macaws were not very common in the red macaw tribe but scarlet/green-winged pairings were uncommon. Pairings of two similar species were likely to happen amongst bird tribes and clans consisting of one or more very similar species. Estelle then gave the three offspring of Athos and Ruby an inquisitive look; keenly curious to know more about their history and their adventures in Rio.
"You know, I would love to meet your non-scarlet 'cousins'," said the female green-winged macaw chick but then a disappointed look formed on her face. "But Mommy and Daddy won't let me visit the territories of the other tribes and clans…"
"Maybe when you become a little older?" asked Alexandre. Estelle just let loose a sigh. Some parents were overprotective of their chicks and preferred that they stay in their tribe's home patch (except for teaching trips out into the rest of the territory) until they were old enough to leave the nest, and Estelle's parents appeared to be one pair. But now that most of the bird flocks had made peace, visits to other territories were now allowed, but still.
Then Alexandre disappeared into thought. He had been awed and amazed by the stories of his parents and his 'aunts' and 'uncles' and how they met. Athos and Ruby had told them the 'how I met your mother' story to him and his sisters shortly after their first flight back in Rio. Alexandre, along with Poinsettia and Spinel, had been amazed with what Athos and company had to deal with, such as a group of smugglers assisted by cats led by the violent tempered cat named Brutus who, when he lost his temper, behaved like a feral jungle beast, especially when birds didn't obey his commands and when (sometimes) things didn't go as planned, yet at the same time he was taunting and sadistic much like Nigel. Alexandre and his sisters had also been amazed at how Athos and company had handled such difficult situations such as escaping from the smugglers' den with half of the group grounded, including Athos himself when Brutus tore out some of the primary flight feathers of his left wing, and with Levi and Lapis Lazuli chained together, like how Blu and Jewel had been which the couple had also told them about. The three scarlet chicks had also been horrified at some parts of the stories of both Blu and Jewel, and of Athos and company, such as how Brutus had brutally injured both Zephyr and Ruby, both suffering fractured wings at his wrathful paws, and how that savage cat had rendered Blu unconscious. On top of that, how that savage cat had almost brutally killed Levi and Lapis Lazuli during the climactic fight between the birds and the cats. Blu and Jewel's story of their dealing with Nigel, though it was not as action packed as Athos and company's dealing with Brutus along with Blu and Jewel, did have its amazing and frightening parts as well. One of the frightening parts was when Nigel had broken Jewel's wing when she tried to help Blu deal with the cockatoo. But the best bits about THAT story, the three scarlet chicks believed, was when Blu managed to find the bravado to fall after Jewel when she fell out of the plane despite him not being able to fly, and the couple had their first kiss in mid-air.
The same first kiss story applied to Levi and Lapis Lazuli as well. Levi had been cowering in the sidelines during the climactic fight to begin with, watching his friends get attacked by Brutus and the other cats until he saw Brutus brutally attacking Lapis Lazuli. THAT was when he managed to cook up the courage to launch into battle. The fight between him and Brutus had been particularly violent, more so than Jewel's fight with Nigel resulting in her suffering a broken wing, but the climactic moment was when Brutus was in a killing leap at the glaucous macaws, overtaken by his violent, feral and rabid temper. Levi had refused to back down and had begged Lapis Lazuli to flee but Lapis Lazuli didn't. That was when the couple had their first kiss. During this, Athos had tackled Brutus away in the nick of time. Alexandre thought that that was one of the bravest things his father had EVER done, and he believed that he wouldn't have been able to do that. Smiling, the only son of Athos and Ruby gazed at his father and thought, 'Dad sure is AWESOME!' Just then a voice snapped the male scarlet chick out of his thoughts.
"Estelle!" called the voice. Estelle popped her head up and looked in the direction of the voice's owner. To her dismay, it was her mother and she looked utterly stern.
"Come on, Estelle, back home please," said the mother firmly. Estelle let loose a disappointed groan.
"Oh aye, sorry, I've gotta go," she told the other four and with that, she took off and flew after her mother. Sheldon watched the female green-winged macaw chick leave and emitted a frustrated sigh.
"Estelle's mom and dad never allow her out for very long," the scarlet/green-winged hybrid muttered to Alexandre and his sisters, "Because of that, she never has much time to hang out with us."
"Why's that?" asked Spinel.
"Estelle was almost caught by a jaguar when her parents took her to the forest floor a month ago. She wandered away through curiosity," Sheldon explained, "But luckily, her parents had managed to snatch her clear from that predator. Since then, her parents had become overprotective of her."
"Has she been allowed to hang out with other chicks since then?" asked Poinsettia.
"Very rarely," said Sheldon, "Her parents fear that Estelle might give in to peer pressure and end up being led into danger. Estelle has also been forbidden from being taken out on territory tours with class groups, or simply went with her."
"That's frustrating," said Poinsettia, before the science-minded chick turned to Ruby and Athos. "I know Mom and Dad sometimes get overprotective too but by my calculations, that likelihood seems lower for them with us than for Estelle's parents with her."
Sheldon, Alexandre and Spinel nodded in agreement and Sheldon flashed a smile at Poinsettia's scientific tendencies. He had been told by Poinsettia's brother and sister that she, along with Bia from the Spix macaw tribe, were quite science-minded.
The Lear's macaws' ravine
Valentino stood on a rock overlooking the growing pile of food placed at the entrance to the cavern where the Lear's macaws took refuge during a raging fire. Like the red and the Spix macaws, the Lear's macaws were gathering food and were suffering discomfort from the intense heat of the drought. The streams and waterfalls emptying into the ravine had shrunk so the water streams were more of a trickle than the usual flow rate the Lear's macaws were more familiar with. As the Lear's macaws continued bringing in more collected food, Valentino was still in a sad mood over the loss of the camu-camu fruit grove. Beside him, Rosalind was examining the shrinking streams.
"I don't believe that Archie would do this," Valentino growled, the feeling of betrayal at what that macaw had done boiling within him, "First he crosses into the green macaws' side and then costs us our side of the camu-camu fruit grove in the Pit of Doom. Even if it is to evict that human's pet, it was still not acceptable. Now we're going to have to adapt to a diet without those fruit."
"I know how you feel, Valentino, dear," said Rosalind as she continued observing the streams, fanning herself with her wing feathers, "This drought's not helping the mood either."
Valentino sighed. The mood in the Lear's tribe had been rather low since their loss to the green macaws in the Pit of Doom. Since then, and the additional loss of their side of the camu-camu grove, no Lear's macaws had ventured anywhere near those bushes. This was likely to avoid confrontation and scornful mockery from the green macaws.
While Valentino and Rosalind continued lamenting about the loss of the Lear's macaws' camu-camu fruit supply, Waldo came in with some mangoes in his talons. As he placed the mangoes into the fruit pile, he looked up at Valentino as he continued sulking and walked over to him. It had been a few days since the Lear's and the green macaws' territories had been added to the sanctuary and Waldo had told Valentino all that he had observed with D'Artagnan, Sapphire, Miranda, Jasmine, Annette, and Travis, Sunset, Eustace, Milo and Rosa the cockatoos, as well as how D'Artagnan ended up as a pet when he was a chick. Valentino had been in disbelief that a group of humans would include the Lear's tribe's home into some sort of reserve to protect it and the macaws themselves from logging and poaching and for the next few days had been thinking about and questioning his and his tribe's view of humans. 'Maybe not all humans are destructive menaces after all', Valentino thought. He had also considered in bringing D'Artagnan and his family back to the tribe. After hearing of his past and what he had been through before being taken to England, as well as his desire in finding other Lear's macaws in the Amazon and his innocence throughout the situation with the green tribe and the camu-camu fruit grove, Valentino had changed his attitude towards D'Artagnan from a prejudicial one to one of sympathy. However, sending some Lear's macaws to bring D'Artagnan and his family back would have to wait. What was more important was preparing for the drought should it last for a few more days, perhaps weeks. Valentino had hoped that D'Artagnan, Sapphire and their three daughters, and their cockatoo friends, had been taken in by any other macaw tribe or clan than the green macaws for they were still hostile towards the Lear's macaws. Waldo then prepared to fly back into the Lear's macaws' territory to gather more fruit. Before doing this, he gazed out into the air of the ravine, thoughts about D'Artagnan, Sapphire, Travis, Sunset and their chicks flooding his mind.
"Oh, D'Artagnan and Sapphire," he moaned, getting D'Artagnan's name right this time, "I hope you and your daughters are okay out there."
Then Waldo flapped his wings and took off.
The green macaws' territory
The green macaw tribe was also gathering food and piling it into one of the caves where the green macaws took refuge during a fire. Some of the military and great green macaws carried camu-camu fruit and many of them still wore smug faces as they thought about the Lear's macaws and their sulking. However, the waves of jubilation over winning the entire camu-camu grove had pretty much died down and the activities of the green tribe had resumed. As green macaws flew into the home patch with the fruit, Alonso and Verde sat on the branch watching. They were taking a break and were sitting under a shade cast by an overhead cluster of leaves out of the blistering sun.
"Boy, it's been like this for several days now," groaned Alonso as he gazed out into the covering of sunlight, "I hope it subsides. The plants are wilting and the lakes and streams are contracting from the heat."
"You should have seen the stream flowing through the camu-camu fruit grove, dear," said Verde as she fanned herself, "It's lost quite a lot of water and is narrower than normal."
Alonso nodded. Just then a green, cerulean, yellow and red form with green eyes appeared and perched beside the couple, eyes drooping from tiredness caused by the heat. Unlike D'Artagnan who had been evicted by Valentino for his past association with humans and despite their interaction with that Lear's macaw, Aramis, Esmeralda, Chlorophyll and Petunia had been allowed to stay as persuaded by Alonso and some other green macaws though Esmeralda had issued the green tribe an ultimatum: either they change their attitude towards the Lear's macaws or they'll leave the tribe for good. This ultimatum had prompted some of the green macaws to consider changing their attitude towards the Lear's macaws but that will likely be a slow process. Further, that was not the most important thing at the moment. What was more important was gathering the food for the drought.
"What's the report on the fruit gathering, Aramis?" asked Alonso.
"It's going fine but some of us are taking more and more breaks," replied Aramis, barely able to keep awake, "It's just so hot. I think I'm in need of a break."
"I suggest you return to your tree and get Esmeralda to take you over for a bit," said Verde. Aramis nodded and then took off. Alonso then turned his eyes back to the group of green macaws as they flew back and forth from where the fruit was being stocked.
"I hope we have enough food to see us through the drought, Verde," he said concerned, "Because if this drought continues for a long time, we could risk facing starvation as the trees and bushes would be too wilted to produce the fruit that we eat."
"I'm sure the other macaw tribes and clans would be able to help us," said Verde. She then felt a flash of sympathy for the Lear's macaws despite having a rotten attitude towards them. "I hope the Lear's macaws are okay even though they have lost their side of the camu-camu fruit grove."
"They've got enough food to sustain them," said Alonso unworried, "I hope they're looking for alternative food sources to make up for the camu-camu anyway as they won't be getting their side of the grove back after what one of their members did."
Verde nodded in agreement.
The Bluewing hyacinth Clan and the blue-throated macaw clan's territory
At this moment in said macaws' home patch, the hyacinth and blue-throated macaws were also gathering food and hoarding it into a storage tree just outside the blue-throated macaw clans' home patch. On the edge of the territory, Violeta, the matriarch of the hyacinth clan, the Bluewings, was on an outing with a family of blue-throated macaws that had two chicks, both daughters. The name of the mother was Carolina and one of her daughters was named Ariel. Ariel had become friends with the chicks of Blu and company when some blue-throated and Bluewing hyacinth macaws, including her and her family, had dropped by into the other tribes and clans' territory including the Lear's and green macaws to meet those that had returned, including Jewel and her family. The blue-throated macaws bore a strong resemblance to the blue-and-gold macaw in that they had blue backs and yellow fronts, but some key and big differences distinguished the two species. Unlike the blue-and-gold macaw whose foreheads were green, the blue-throated macaws' foreheads were completely blue like the rest of their back. A blue bib extended from under their beaks, unlike in the blue-and-gold macaws whose bib was often black though some individuals lacked this feature. This bib was what gave this macaw species its name. The ranges of blues for the blue-throated macaws varied from deep blue to aqua or teal while their front parts varied from vivid yellow-orange to pale yellow or cream.
The blue-throated macaw clan were descended from a small population of blue-throated macaws that had migrated north from Central America to seek new places to live. They had found this cluster of trees and also the Bluewing hyacinth macaws who gladly took them in, and since then the blue-throated macaws had settled here. Like a number of other birds including the Spix and glaucous macaws, the blue-throated macaw species was very rare and critically endangered. Based on this, the blue-throated macaw and Bluewing Clans' territory had been included into the Sanctuary de Amazon. The leaders of the blue-throated macaw clan were named Reynaldo and Anita and they had a chick named Edson while the leaders of the Bluewing Clan were Demetrio and his mate Violeta. They were parents of two sons, Arlo and Vincente. The dance of these two clans was named 'We Love the Wildlife and the body decor of both the hyacinth and blue-throated macaws involved fruit shell and flower vine necklaces and fruit paint on the faces. Males wore red fruit paint while the females wore pink flower pollen and an additional flower on their heads.
Ariel's family sported deep blue bibs and backs and their fronts were vivid yellow-orange. The brown eye colour and its related shades was the feature for all the four macaws in this family and Ariel and her mother Carolina had deep brown eyes, darker than Blu's coconut eye colour. The father had lighter brown eyes while Ariel's sister had pale brown eyes. This family was searching for some ripe fruit on the edge of the territory with Violeta, flying through the canopy to avoid the blistering blanket of heated sunlight as much as possible.
"Boy, the lakes and streams have lost quite a lot of water, Violeta," said Carolina as she browsed the trees, "And the fish and frogs seemed to be suffering."
"Drought always causes water to evaporate from rivers and streams and to be lost from plants," said Violeta, "It's just one of those things."
Her voice was fairly deep and welcoming while her mate Demetro sometimes had a booming voice which he always applied to call for a crowd's attention, deliver urgent warnings and to bark at intruders to leave the territory. Carolina breathed a sigh and continued looking for some fruit. Soon the blue-throated macaw family and Violeta entered a clearing through a gap in the trees and as they did so, Ariel flitted off in a certain direction. When Carolina saw her daughter fly that way, she quickly rocketed after her, propelled by immense alarm.
"ARIEL!" she squawked, "GET BACK HERE!"
Ariel looked back when a dark blue and bright yellow comet flew around and stopped in front of her. Ariel's father flew in and helped his mate seize their daughter and pull her back.
"What is it, Mother?" Ariel asked. Violeta then flew in, a stern look on her face.
"Fly back in the opposite direction please," she commanded. Ariel was about to ask a question but Violeta gave her a firm glare, so she obeyed.
"Why did you pull me back like that?" the chick asked as the five including her father and sister began to make their journey back into the blue-throated macaws and Blueings' territory. Violeta answered this question by leading Ariel through the canopy and out above the trees. Carolina, her mate and other daughter followed. As the five hovered in the hot air, Violeta pointed a talon in the direction Ariel had been flying in.
"Over there is the land of those deadly bats, the flying foxes," she explained, "It's where those bats live. You must NEVER go into that land."
"Yes, absolutely," said Ariel's father in agreement. Ariel then squinted into the distance. To her surprise, the territory of the infamous flying foxes was green like every other part of the Amazon. But then Carolina explained how the bats' territory was different to the birds'.
"In a land of a bird tribe or clan or a free area, my daughters," she said to Ariel and her sister who was also curious, "There are bird calls in the trees but in the bats' land, there are no bird calls, none at all."
"Those bats hate and I do mean HATE us birds," said Ariel's father, before his face turned more serious, "and will deal with any of them on their land on the spot. That is why there are no birds that live in that over there."
"That is why you stopped me from, flying in that direction, Father?" asked Ariel.
"Yes," said Violeta, "That land is dangerous to us birds. Any bird, even chicks, caught by those bats on that land which is theirs, even if they had accidentally wandered there, is dealt with in ways you and your sister are currently too young to know about. That is why you must never ever fly into that land. We, in fact, have a marker to let you know where the line you must never cross is."
"And what's that?" asked Ariel's sister while Ariel shuddered at the age-appropriate description of the consequences of flying into the bats' land.
"We tie feathers to the trees on the line," said Carolina, "In this case, we use hyacinth and blue-throated, (that is, our species) feathers to mark the end of our land. The green macaws also mark their land's edge nearest to the edge of the bats' so that any green macaws that fly over there will know not to cross that line."
"I see," said Ariel, "I'll have to remember that the next time I come here."
"Good," said Violeta seriously, "And you also MUST stay with your elders and groups AT ALL TIMES while you are here. The last thing we want is chicks wandering over to that land where they may land in danger that you can't get out of."
Then she felt shivers course down her spine, especially for the safety of Ariel and her sister. "Let's get out of here before any of those bats show up. I don't want them to think we're planning on entering their land when we're not. Also let's get out of this heat."
And with that, the five macaws hurried back down into the canopy and in the direction of the two macaw clans' home patches.
"Those flying foxes must be suffering the effects of the drought as well," said Carolina.
"They will be doing," said Violeta, "But let's not talk about them. What's more important is gathering food in preparation for the coming days."
"You look a bit on edge," said Carolina's mate and Ariel and her sister's father when he saw how agitated the hyacinth clan matriarch looked.
"I sometimes worry that those flying foxes might start planning to attack us any day," said Violeta timidly, her silky voice slightly broken from fear, "You see, we, along with the other bird groups living here (and I hope those newcomers and returners including Jewel will have been told all this for their safety), have made a truce with Bruto and Sombra, Cicatriz and Augustus' parents who used to lead the colony that we won't trespass into their territory and they wouldn't do the same to ours but now that those two had passed away with Cicatriz and his mate Iracebeth taking over, we don't know how long that'll last."
"We don't trust those flying foxes one bit, do we?" said Carolina with a frown, "And though we have had no suspicious activity from those bats, which we're glad for, we've still gotta keep a close eye on that border to make sure that they stay that way."
Ariel and her sister then shuddered with worried looks forming on their faces. The two female chicks exchanged glances before following Violeta and their parents back into the Bluewing Clan and blue-throated macaws' territory.