Chapter 28- a delayed return
Four days later
Sundown was approaching and in Alonso's tribe's home patch and grove, the green tribe, along with dozens and dozens of macaws and other birds from the other tribes and clans, had gathered around the meeting tree where their leaders had discussed about the flying fox situation and possible solutions to the problem. Dozens of Spix, scarlet, green-winged, blue-and-gold, glaucous, hyacinth, blue-throated and Lear's macaws, as well as the smaller group species such as golden conures, toucans, smaller macaw species, and dozens of archaeobirds from Eragon and Andromeda's clan were interspersed in the sea of great green and military macaws. Among the birds present were Spix macaws Zephyr, Aurora, Roberto, Brisa and Carla, Bia, Tiago, Kira, and Justin, Charlotte, Matilda, Virgil, Finnick, Felix, Lavender, Tyler and Ricardo and their close friends Annie, Músculo and Garrett and also Cassia, Tyler and Ricardo's mother; Blu and Jewel were back in their tribe's ravine keeping an eye on things. Of the red macaws present were Athos, Alexandre, Poinsttia, Spinel, Sheldon and Estelle and their parents, together with Benjamin, Felipe and Pearl. The inner circle birds of the red tribe had been put in charge of the leadership of said tribe once again until Felipe returned once the rescue mission has been completed, and Regina had opted to remain behind to help in these duties. D'Artagnan, Sapphire, Miranda, Jasmine, Annette, Finn and Monique stood with the other Lear's macaws; the leadership of the Lear's macaw tribe had been left with Rosalind and some inner circle birds back at the Lear's macaws' ravine, while Levi, Tristan, Quincy, Larimar, Trixie, Neytiri and Aiden, Phoebe, Cobalto, Zebedee, Indigo, Victor and Penelope stood with their green macaw friends Aramis, Chlorophyll, Petunia and Ashley and some of the other glaucous macaws including Rudi and hyacinth macaws from both the Navyfeather Clan and the scattered Bluewing Clan. Nearby stood Porthos, Azul, Wilbur, Brooke and Bastian and blue-throated macaw Eric and they were accompanied by their friends including Eustace, Milo, Rosa, Clemont, Serena, Orion and Velocity, and Diantha and also Mariposa and Kiawe and their parents from the blue-headed macaws, Citrine and Caspian from the golden conures and Alessandro and Rhiannon from the chestnut-fronted macaws. Among the archaeobirds present were Ophiuchus, Honeydew and their bat-birds. Eragon and Andromeda were back with their clan sorting things out.
Eric, Ariel's boyfriend had only been released from the hospital yesterday, their injuries having healed enough for them to return to the wild. However, Glimmergem, Gabby and Winona were expected to stay in the hospital for a week or more, their injuries being more serious and requiring more time to heal. As the male blue-throated macaw left the hospital (at his girlfriend Ariel's behest since he was now able to leave), taking off from a group of humans' hands, he had been met, picked up and escorted to the green tribe's territory by some of Alonso's patrollers to meet his friends. Eric had reunited with them, but when he had heard from them what had happened to Orquidea and Ruby, Eric had been utterly appalled, and he had seen the devastated an upset looks on Alexandre, Spinel, Poinsettia, Wilbur and Azul's faces. Speaking of devastation and upset, however, that was exactly how the entire crowd of birds felt about Augustus, Melissa, Sebastian, Stella and Luna who were supposed to have returned the following evening after their meeting of them.
The rescue was going to be a perilous one as it will involve a group of birds venturing deep into the territory of the flying fox colony to find and retrieve the kidnapped birds. Based on this, it had been carefully and thoroughly planned, discussed and made. The rescue group was to cover themselves with mud, as suggested by Blu and Jewel, in order to conceal their brightly coloured plumages, for a group of colourful birds would stick out as easily as a few bright white mushrooms would against a drabber black and green background of soil, grass and ferns and they'd be spotted by patrolling groups of flying foxes really easily. If that happened, the rescue group would be slaughtered on the spot, and that was something the rescue group wanted to avoid completely. During the discussion, Eragon and Andromeda, before they left for their clan, had suggested the use of torches (sticks with flames burning on their tips) but this had been turned down due to not only the risks involved but it might trigger fear in their allies for they despised fire, so the two archaeobird clan leaders had immediately placed that idea as out of the question.
The birds who had volunteered to go on the mission included Zephyr, Brisa and Cassia from the Spix macaws, Athos and Felipe from the red macaws, Sapphire and Monique from the Lear's macaws, Porthos from the blue-and-gold macaws, Aramis from the green macaws, Cobalto from the hyacinth macaws, Levi, along with Rodrigo, from the glaucous macaws and Eriko, Ariel and Fernanda's father, from the blue-throated macaws. Their relatives wanted to come with them but they had been told to stay behind for their safety. Of course, this has not been easily received by some of them. Aurora and Roberto kept arguing with Zephyr and Brisa to change their minds but the two macaws were adamant, and the same applied to D'Artagnan with Sapphire and Phoebe with Cobalto. The younger adult macaws like Carla, Bia and Tiago had also been commanded to stay behind for the mission was going to be an extremely dangerous one. Despite protests, the rescue group had remained adamant in their decision. Then as soon as the rescue group was ready and the plans completed at the deadline Augustus had told them (the sundown of the following day of his meeting with them), the birds had turned to waiting for the return of Augustus and his family.
However, that sundown, the birds had waited, and waited and waited and continued to wait right into the night but there was no sign of the five bats. Another day passed and still no sign. This continued until now. During the time, feelings of anger, disappointment, rage, betrayal and other negative emotions had formed as a dark cloud above the flock. This cloud grew bigger and bigger as time went by and by now, it was massive. Moods and tempers had become more and more volatile and agitation became more and more obvious. Alonso had become more and more worried and the rescue group, who had yet to coat themselves with mud once Augustus turned up, sat by Alonso's meeting tree waiting and waiting, their impatience clearly showing through their behaviour and snappiness. Thrown within the boiling and churning black cloud of negative emotions, some of the birds had begun to believe that something may have happened to Augustus and his family. Could they have been caught? Could they be busy? On the other hand, other birds believed that this was simply a trick to stall them for precious time and had begun to question their trust in those five flying foxes. After all, every flying fox in that colony were devious pretenders who always made fake promises, and impatience continued to grow and grow.
Not too far away from the rescue group, Carla and company gazed worriedly at the macaws as they continued loitering around, shifty due to agitation and very snappy. None of the macaws daren't approach this group, through Tyler and Ricardo did with their mother Cassia only to receive a harsh snap from her which sent them bolting and backing away, the snap being like that of a piranha. As the group continued watching the agitated rescue group, agitation also bubbled within them and they were also moody and snappy. Chlorophyll and Petunia were especially sour-faced and short-tempered. The brother and sister were not usually like this but Augustus and his family's apparently delayed arrival has escalated the tension of their mood.
"I knew we shouldn't have trusted those five dog-faced pretenders from the start!" growled Chlorophyll impatiently, a talon strike against a stone and sending it rolling, "It's been almost FOUR days!"
"Hey, quit your whining, Chlorophyll," said Alexandre as he sat with Poinsettia, Spinel, Sheldon and Estelle, "We're all on the same perch."
"As is everyone else," said Spinel and with that, the pink-red macaw slid her gaze over the crowd of macaws, archaeobirds and various other bird species and sighed.
"I wonder if something awful has happened to those five," suggested Ashley. Hearing this, Chlorophyll snapped his gaze at his military macaw girlfriend and glared at her.
"And I'm wondering when you're gonna stop saying that ANNOYING thing over and over again, Ashley," he snapped, "That's the millionth time you've said that!"
"It's ONLY a suggestion!" retorted Ashley angrily.
"You're just saying it to assure us over nothing," snapped Chlorophyll. That did it. With a stomp of her talon, Ashley snapped back even more harshly and soon, the great green/military couple then began to break out into yet another argument, another thing that had been common over the past few days. Petunia could only look on as her brother and his military girlfriend argued back and forth. However, she just grumpily rolled their eyes and looked away, sulking and sour gazes on their faces.
"Here we go again," muttered she.
"They've been at it since yesterday," said Alexandre.
"So have some of the other couples," said Poinsettia and with that, she gazed at Finnick, Felix and Lavender as their respective other halves Kira, Turquesa and Garrett, their backs turned to them. They had had a heated falling out quite a while ago as well and now they were refusing to speak to one another.
Nearby, Carla, Bia and Tiago sat with Miranda, Jasmine, Annette, Finn and Eric while Justin, Charlotte, Matilda, Virgil, Tyler and Ricardo sat in a group of their own nearby. Nearby them, Trixie, Tristan, Quincy and Larimar sat with Neytiri, Aiden, Zebedee, Indigo, Penelope and Victor. Casper and Gloria were somewhere else, talking with some of the birds from the smaller groups. Some of the birds of Carla and company's groups lay on their backs on the floor dozing while some silently talked. However, most of them shed tears as they fretted about the wellbeing of the kidnapped macaws, such as Tristan and his siblings with their mother Lapis Lazuli. Miranda, Jasmine, Finn and Annette felt a pang of pity pricking at them as they gazed at the depressed macaws. Nearby, Ashley had taken off to somewhere else in a huff while Chlorophyll was left to sulk, their argument having come to a head. The Lear's macaws then approached the scarlet macaws.
"Your younger brothers have been very upset as well," said Miranda to Alexandre, Spinel and Poinsettia.
"Cinnabar and Oliver, Uncle Athos told us, have been missing their mother dearly," said Finn.
"So has Edmund, our younger brother," growled Petunia grumpily nearby. Her face then fell. "In fact, he's been crying all night every night."
Wilbur and Azul then came over.
"Our sisters Amalthea and Desdemona also miss our mother," said the former brother in an edgy voice for he was about to weep again, "They've done so since she's been kidnapped by those horrid bats."
"Those bats sure like to cause a lot of heartbreaks, don't they?" snapped his brother Azul sourly, "Especially that Augustus and his family. Some friends they are!"
Immediately, Annette snapped her gaze to him, the others gazing on and expecting yet another argument to erupt. However, before Annette could retort, a voice sounded near them.
"Time for something to eat," it said. All the macaws turned and saw Eustace, Milo and Rosa come in with some large leaf bags of nuts and fruit. With them were Spock and Anakin who had also come to help. The five were fighting against the urge to fall asleep for they were blinking and half-asleep. Rosa then went over to the Spix macaws to offer them something to eat but Carla, Bia and Tiago gave her a silent shake of their heads, saying to her that they weren't hungry. Rosa backed away. However, Annette and the others apart from Chlorophyll all reached out and received the fruit and nuts from Eustace, saying thank you to him as they did.
"Where's Ashley?" asked Eustace. Petunia responded by pointing to where the military macaw had flown. With that, Eustace took off in that direction while Milo and Rosa offered Petunia and Chlorophyll food. However, the brother and sister also shook their heads, so the two cockatoos backed away.
As the group began to eat, Milo, Rosa, Spock and Anakin helping themselves to the food, Milo began to ask Spock a question.
"How's your wing, leg and tail, Spock?" he asked. Spock flashed a glance at his tattered left fore-wing, right leg feathers and tail plumes.
"They're fine, thanks," he replied as he took a bite out of a guava, "The clan healers said that the replacement feathers should grow back in a few months but until then, I cannot glide properly between trees."
"I'm still surprised that those wretched bats would target you archaeobirds," said Rosa. Spock just said nothing but Anakin looked cross.
"Well, I believe those winged mammals have really crossed the boundary, folks," he said, "Not only have they broken the truce by trespassing on the birds' land, but they have also attacked and kidnapped some of your friends against their will."
"Not to mention drive out those poor blue-throated and hyacinth macaws the other night," added Spock. Eustace was about to say something when suddenly, a voice shouted, "Augustus and his family are coming!"
"And about time and all," snapped Chlorophyll's voice. The group all stared upward at the crowd as a trio of macaws, one Spix, one red and one green who had been on the lookout for the family of flying foxes, continued to shout out the signal, while the crowd stirred, relieved chirps rolling through it. However, there were a number of angry groans thrown in as well. Alexandre, Spinel, Poinsettia and the others all rose to their feet.
"I shouldn't be surprised that the crowd is enraged at Augustus and his family's late arrival," said Alexandre slightly grumpily, "It's been almost four days."
"They're gonna be in for a good shouting at, I can tell you," said Wilbur seriously.
"Let's see what those five flying foxes have to say," said Petunia.
"Then LET'S!" snapped Chlorophyll sourly; making his sister jump. Then Chlorophyll and Petunia spread their wings and took off, Alexandre rolling his eyes before following.
"And I hope the mood of those two green grumps subsides as well," added the older son of Athos and Ruby irritably, "Their mood snaps and sulking has been getting on everyone's nerves."
"Not to mention the frequent bickering between the couples and some others," added Poinsettia, "Which we gladly avoided by staying apart."
And with that, she, her brother and sister Spinel all took off while Anakin, Spock, Eustace, Milo and Rosa ran off to alert someone else.
As the uproar of the crowd continued to increase, Alonso raised his head to the three lookouts he had stationed outside the home grove. He had been giving a review of the instructions to the rescue group when he had heard the signal. As the three lookouts touched down, the one who had shouted the signal, Tito from the red macaws, stepped forward.
"Augustus and his family are coming, Alonso," said he.
"Right, you go and meet them while I get these guys ready," said Alonso firmly. Tito nodded obediently and took off, his green and Spix companions following. Seconds later, Alonso was off with the rescue group in tow. As they flew along, Athos, Porthos, Aramis, Cobalto and Levi looked around with immense worry and nervousness, as did Zephyr and Brisa, Sapphire, Monique, Pearl and Felipe. This was indeed going to be a dangerous mission and there was no room for error. However, they, as well as their companions, knew that they had to do this. As the rescue group followed Alonso, some of them also wore very sour looks. Felipe was especially on edge.
"Those five furballs are gonna answer for their immense lateness," he snarled.
"Oh, do try to calm down, dear," said Pearl in a low and calming voice.
"Hey, quit throwing snappy remarks," said Sapphire as she flew alongside Aramis, "We've all got the same feelings."
Felipe just breathed a sour sigh and flew on. Behind the rescue group, some macaws, among them the relatives of Athos and company such as Aurora, Phoebe, Roberto, D'Artagnan and their first-brood offspring, followed along. They knew that they will be separated from their loved ones until they return from the perilous mission into flying fox territory and they were dreading all kinds of things.
As many of the macaws and archaeobirds, along with some of the smaller group birds such as some toucans, perched on some branches with Verde, Tito and the other two lookout macaws at the front, five flying foxes, an adult brown male, an adult red-brown female and three younger white bats, two female and one male, melted out of the darkening jungle and made a hasty beeline for the birds. However, the quintet looked like they were in a hurry for they were flying surprisingly fast. Then as Augustus, Melissa, Stella, Luna and Sebastian finally reached the birds after four whole days, Alonso and the rescue group turned up to see the five flying foxes crash-land onto a branch and begin to gasp rapidly for air.
"Where in the WORLD have you been!?" demanded Alonso angrily, "It's been FOUR DAYS!"
The rescue group looked on with enraged faces but said nothing. Then the friends and relatives of the rescue group turned up with Eustace, Milo, Rosa, Clemont, Serena, Orion, Velocity, and Spock and Anakin on their bat-birds. When they saw the five bats puff and pant, Spock and Anakin guided their bat-birds onto the branch they had landed, dismounted their mounts and went over to the five bats.
"You look horribly stressed out and troubled," said Spock as he helped Augustus to his feet, "Are you alright?"
Augustus, who was indeed troubled, shot Spock a look flooded with it before directing it next to Alonso and the crowd of birds who glared back at him with outraged looks on their faces. Then after taking a minute to get his breath back, he let loose an explanation for his and his family's immense lateness.
"I'm EVER so sorry, you lot," he cried.
"'Sorry' isn't good enough," snapped Felipe brusquely, going straight over to Augustus and his family, "You don't know what STRESS and TENSION you have caused us over the past four days!"
As he approached Augustus to give him a piece of his mind, Spock and Anakin jumped in front of the five frightened bats, their fore-wings spread out protectively across them and angry looks on their faces. Their bat-birds also jumped to the defence of the five bats. When Felipe saw the four block his path to Augustus and his family, he almost lost his temper.
"Get out of my way, you four!" he snarled, his red plumage bristled, "Those five deserve a BEATING!"
"Look, there's NO time to jump to conclusions," snapped Anakin defensively, "I'm sure Augustus here has an explanation. Don't you?" he gave Augustus a 'Right?' look. Augustus, a timid look on his face and his body trembling like a leaf, nodded rapidly with a genuinely stressed look on his face while Melissa hugged Stella, Luna and Sebastian who cringed at the enraged scarlet macaw. Felipe, however, did not listen to Anakin's words of defence and continued advancing towards him, Spock and the two bat-birds when suddenly, two colourful comets darted in and latched their talons onto Felipe's shoulders and dragged him away. Pearl, together with Zephyr, pulled the red tribe patriarch away.
"Let me go!" snapped Felipe stormily.
"Look, if Augustus has an explanation for his lateness, let him spill it," retorted Zephyr.
"But you pouncing on him and beating him up isn't gonna help anything," added Pearl, "Now SNAP OUT OF YOUR TEMPER THIS MINUTE!"
Felipe, at his mate's harsh words, reluctantly relented and re-joined the other rescue birds. Athos looked on in surprise. Pearl was sometimes the red tribe's equivalent to Eduardo's sister Mimi of the Spix macaws. It appeared that Pearl was bold enough to rebuke Felipe whenever he was being unreasonable. Then as soon as things had calmed down, Augustus launched into an explanation.
"We would have returned the following sundown as promised but unfortunately," he said, "We've been confined to our tree by some of Cicatriz's thug bats who absolutely refused to let us leave."
"It appears that he is somehow suspicious of us and our allegiance to you birds," added Melissa, "He's suspicious that we're helping you and wants to keep us from you birds."
"Anyway," said Augustus, "For four whole days, we've been strictly forbidden from leaving our tree while food was brought to us. Every single exit of our tree, our hollow entrance… every window… had been completely under guard by those thug bats who kept watch on us twenty-four-seven. We've tried everything to get those thug bats to change their minds but they wouldn't do so, regardless of any excuse we made."
"Such as our offspring getting bored, which they were," said Melissa, a nod to Sebastian, Stella and Luna, "Or the excuse of going sightseeing under the promise that we'd never meet you again, and whatever else."
"But… how did you eventually manage to get out if your tree was so heavily guarded that you couldn't leave?" asked Pearl, a stern glance at Felipe to make sure that he did not lash at Augustus and his family. Augustus turned to face her before directing his gaze to his son Sebastian and daughters Stella and Luna.
"It was our three kids' doing," he explained, "While we were sitting confined to our hollow during the fourth day, Sebastian, Stella and Luna went about exploring some deeper parts of the tree, parts we never knew we had. It was boredom that drove them to exploring."
"And during the process, I happened to come across some sort of passage that was hidden at the very bottom of our tree hollow, where we store our fruit," said Sebastian.
"And we found that it led to outside," added Stella and Luna together. Surprised glances were exchanged through the feathered crowd.
"Go on," said Alonso.
"And when Sebastian, Stella and Luna reported that to us, we immediately followed them to that compartment," said Melissa, "But it had not been easy for the passageway had been quite narrow. We then squeezed through the passage and made it outside."
"And then we flew like the wind to meet you here," said Augustus, finishing the explanation, "And that's about it, but we don't have time to talk more about that," his voice then became serious, "We have to get going to our colony's territory and rescue those kidnapped macaws PRONTO. Where is the rescue group?"
His eyes scanned the crowd of birds expectantly until Felipe ushered the volunteers forward.
"Here," he growled. Then Aramis said, "Are we going now?"
"Yes," said Augustus urgently, "We have to be off RIGHT NOW."
Shocked glances were exchanged throughout the crowd. Then Athos came forward with Porthos, Levi, Zephyr and Brisa, Monique and Sapphire.
"Are the prisoner macaws, especially Ruby, Orquidea, Esmeralda, Waldo, Lapis Lazuli and Nuvem alright?" he asked. Augustus shot him a sorrowful look.
"We haven't got one glimpse of the prisoners at all," he replied, "Having been confined to our hollow all that time but I have a bad feeling that they may be in very bad shape by now. That is why we've got to get them out of there as soon as possible."
"And another thing, Cicatriz might be planning on putting those macaws to death by now since they might no longer be of any use," added Melissa. This sent squeaky chirps of distress rolling through Carla's group. Justin, Charlotte, Matilda, Virgil, Finnick, Felix and Lavender, Tyler and Ricardo shuddered as did Alexandre, Spinel and Poinsettia, Azul and Wilbur, Tristan, Quincy, Larimar and Trixie, and Chlorophyll and Petunia while some of the others, especially Rudi who was in the crowd, had dread come over them. But then Alonso's barking voice shattered the dreadful silence, making everyone jump as he began to shout orders to the rescue group to get ready.
"COAT YOURSELVES IN MUD AND GATHER SOME VEGETATION FOR YOUR CAMOUFLAGE OUTFITS NOW!" shouted the green macaw tribe at the top of his lungs. Then without hesitation, the rescue birds all darted off to find a patch of mud to roll around in. Aurora, Roberto and D'Artagnan and some of the other macaws darted after some of the group members.
"We're coming too," shouted Aurora but Zephyr, together with Brisa, Sapphire and Monique shot them a stern look.
"I'm afraid you have to stay here, Aurora," said Zephyr firmly.
"Yes, this is a perilous quest and we can't risk losing any of you," added Brisa. Justin, Charlotte, Matilda, Virgil, Finnick, Felix and Lavender came forward and hugged them while Aurora went on to protest.
"No, LEAVE it to us!" barked Zephyr harshly, trying to get the point across to his mate. When Aurora refused to obey and continued protesting, Zephyr latched his wings onto his beloved mate's head sides and brought her close to his beak before delivering some huge passionate kisses. After breaking the last kiss, Zephyr gazed at Aurora with pleading green eyes.
"I'll see you when I get back," he whispered lovingly. He then turned to Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil and commanded, "You look after your mother and Blu and Jewel's three offspring, as well as your cousins and your two younger siblings Aquamarine and Azurite."
Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil nodded. Nearby, Brisa bid Roberto, Finnick, Felix and Lavender farewell as well while Athos said goodbye to Alexandre, Spinel and Poinsettia, Porthos to Azul and Wilbur, Aramis to Petunia and Chlorophyll, Cobalto to Phoebe, Zebedee and Indigo and Levi to Tristan, Quincy, Larimar and Trixie.
"Please bring Mom back safely," begged Wilbur as he and his brother hugged Porthos.
"We will do our best, my sons," replied Porthos as he returned the hug to his two sons. Nearby, Rodrigo tried to sneak away. He appeared to have changed his mind but Levi stopped him upon catching him.
"Where do you think YOU'RE going!?" he demanded, latching his talons onto his wings and turning him around. Rodrigo timidly gazed back at Levi with a confused face as he tried to look for an excuse.
"Don't you realise that Lapis Lazuli, along with the others, could be in mortal danger?" asked Levi. Then Rudi came in, a stern expression on his face.
"You've volunteered to go on the rescue, Rodrigo, now go with it!" he commanded. Rodrigo shot Lapis Lazuli's cousin and glaucous tribe patriarch a timid look.
"Er… I was…" he began but Levi saw straight through his flimsy façade.
"I can see you're being a coward," said he, "First you want to participate on the rescue because Lapis Lazuli is your friend and now you don't? What sort of a friend are you!?"
Rodrigo tried looking for an answer but Levi swept on. "Don't you remember what happened last time when you tried to save your own skin when you and Lapis Lazuli were being chased by some of those bats all those years ago, when those bats drive out your tribe!?"
Still Rodrigo refused to answer, leading to Levi to harden his gaze.
"YOU left her to defend herself from those bats when YOU had the opportunity to rescue her!" he barked in a harsher voice, making Rodrigo's nerves flinch, "YOU were too cowardly to protect her back then. Is it any wonder she harboured bitter feelings towards you when we found our tribe before we moved in with the Navyfeathers. This time, she could be in mortal danger and she is gonna need rescuing. Now snap out of this cowardice and LEND ME A WING, is THAT CLEAR!?"
Rodrigo timidly nodded. Then Levi released him and Rodrigo flew off to look for a mud puddle. Rudi gave Levi a congratulating look.
"Well done, my cousin-in-law," he said with a smile, "You've talked some sense into him," he then turned serious, "Now you need to coat yourself in mud and get ready as well. Augustus and his family are waiting."
Levi turned and saw the five bats as they waited for the rescue group. Nodding obediently, Levi prepared to take off.
"Please rescue my cousin and your mate," whispered Rudi pleadingly, Tristan, Quincy, Larimar and Trixie, his first cousins, once-removed standing around him, the same pleading looks mirrored on their faces.
"Please bring Mom back here safely," added Tristan, a tear in his eye. His three siblings nodded in agreement. Levi nodded solemnly before taking off to search for a mud puddle.