Chapter 31- more reunions and further good news
Back in the Spix macaws' ravine, the devastated scenery through the mist of heavy rain around the normally colourful paradise land was dotted with forms of various shades of cerulean and blue. The Spix macaw tribe had emerged from the waterfall cave to inspect the damage the fire had done to their homes, keeping out of the rain. Gael, Viento and Nuvem who had Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil and Carla, Bia and Tiago in their care came by and examined the burned trees the Spix macaws called home. They were horrified to see that they were each a hollow of blackened wood stripped of their colour and greenery. However, Viento had a glimmer of hope glowing under the gloomy cover of horror.
"The leaves and flowers will grow back in a matter of weeks and months," he said, "Like they always do after a fire."
The others looked at him, faces sombre as they surveyed the damage. Then D'Artagnan, Sapphire, Miranda, Jasmine and Annette came by.
"I hope Roberto and his search group are alright," said D'Artagnan. He then looked in the direction where Eduardo and Mimi stood with some inner circle birds by the edge of the waterfall cave's mouth, their eyes swamped with worry and guilt over forgetting the stargazing group.
"And I'm getting seriously worried about him over there," he said pitifully with a mod to a certain macaw, "He looks absolutely heartbroken and worried about Jewel."
"I'm not surprised," said Sapphire, "Jewel is his only daughter and he loves her dearly. It shattered him when the last fire tore Jewel from the Spix macaw tribe. If she's found missing again or worse, he'd probably suffer a…"
She was going to say 'fatal broken heart' but stopped herself from saying it, feeling that it was too inappropriate to mention it, but that might be true. If Jewel was found dead, it was likely that Eduardo might not survive, and the tribe might enter a period of deep depression. Jewel was one of the macaws most loved and respected by the tribe and her loss in the previous fire had caused an awful lot of heartbreak. Eduardo had been through a deep depression tunnel for months before overcoming it eventually but even after around nineteen years since the incident, he still remained remorseful over losing Jewel in the previous fire. Further, Jewel was the only heir to the Spix tribe's leadership and now she had a mate, that mate, Blu, will become the patriarch. If both macaws were found dead and Eduardo passes away, the Spix tribe will be left without a leader.
D'Artagnan understood what it was like to lose family, especially as a chick based on Levi and Aurora's accounts. The death of the parents of those two macaws and the disappearance of their siblings had left those two macaws severely heartbroken. However, Aurora's parents' demise had been at the clutches of a sadistic cockatoo, not a disaster like a fire. Then Nuvem came in, a sombre look on his face. Behind him, Carla, Bia and Tiago peered out.
"Do you think that Jewel and Blu will turn up?" Zephyr and Brisa's cousin asked worriedly. D'Artagnan and Sapphire did not know how to answer to this, for they had not been out in the fiery nightmare. Then Sapphire found something to say.
"Well, Roberto and his search party are doing their best," she said, "But they would know if Jewel and Blu are definitely missing."
As she said this, Sunset came by with Eustace, Milo and Rosa. Sunset looked like she had a glimmer of hope sparkling in her eye.
"Well, if Jewel had managed to survive the last fire," she said, "Then there's a possibility that she will have survived this one. I think she would have got to safety and waited until the fire died down. The same applies for Aurora."
"Yeah, but Aurora is still new to the tribe," said Nuvem, "So she's still inexperienced. The chances of her surviving out there during and after the fire are pretty slim."
He then stole a glance at Justin and his three siblings standing by Gael and Viento as they talked with a couple of macaws and sighed. "Come to think of it, I hope Aurora, Zephyr and Tornado have survived the fire too, otherwise those four chicks, my cousins once removed, are going to be orphans and without a grandpa."
D'Artagnan was about to say something when suddenly, commotion filled the ravine air. The group looked around and saw dozens of blue forms take off and converge towards the ravine entrance.
"What's going on?" asked Sapphire.
"I don't know," said Nuvem, "But it sounds like something very serious."
Then suddenly, Levi's voice rang out.
"Guys!" shouted Levi. This made the group's heads turn in the macaw's direction as a male teal-tinted turquoise and grey glaucous macaw rocketed in and then almost crash-landed. However, he managed to position his talons in time and skid to a halt.
"What is it, Levi?" asked Sunset. Then Levi looked up, out of breath but with joy and excitement shining on his face like a full moon.
"Roberto and his group have returned and they've found two of the five missing macaws!" he said, almost so fast that he sounded like a messy flow of words, but understanding bloomed within Nuvem, and Viento and Gael behind him. Nuvem popped his head up in hopeful joy while Carla, Bia and Tiago's eyes widened. Then the next moment, the whole ravine air was filled with a rapturous cheer. Nuvem and the others turned to the direction of the sound and when they saw Roberto and his group including Travis with two more macaws by their side. Then Levi blurted out the names of the two missing macaws found.
"It's Blu and Jewel," he said. Then Nuvem, along with Gael and Viento, looked and saw the two additional macaws, which were indeed the two macaws Levi had said. Then without another second's hesitation, Nuvem took off, with Viento, Carla, Bia and Tiago following.
"Mom, Dad," cried the three chicks as they shot off, leaving the others including Gael and Justin and his three siblings, standing on the cliff edge to watch the reunion about to unfold. Across the ravine pool and the rain, Eduardo and Mimi continued lamenting over their guilt of forgetting the stargazing group when they also heard the rapturous applause.
"What's going on?" asked Mimi. Eduardo and the other macaws with them looked up and saw the blue crowd gather around a group of certain macaws and a white and yellow bird. Then a 'Daddy!" rang out. Eduardo, confused whether this was real or a dream raised his eyebrows.
"Jewel?" he asked. Then a cerulean comet with a jubilant look on her face began to fly towards him. Behind her were a blue macaw with brown eyes and a white cockatoo.
"Daddy!" shouted the macaw at the front.
"Eduardo!" called the brown-eyed male macaw.
"Blu and Jewel are alive!" shouted the cockatoo named Travis.
"Blu? Jewel?" repeated Eduardo confused at first. But then a volcano of joy erupted inside him upon realising that this was definitely not a dream.
Yelling the two names of the two macaws, the tribe patriarch clumsily lofted into flight and flew rapidly towards them. Mimi and the other macaws also took off upon seeing Blu and Jewel.
"Daddy!" cried Jewel. Then as soon as the father and daughter collided, they were locked in a tight hug. Then Mimi joined in the hug as well.
"My little wildflower has survived the fire without getting lost this time!" cried Mimi emotionally, "We thought you'd be gone for good again like last time!"
Jewel stole a glance at her and smiled before burying her head into her father's chest feathers to sob. Eduardo also began crying Blu and Travis landed nearby with Roberto, Brisa, Roxie, Maximillian and some other macaws. They looked on with smiles at the tearful reunion. Then Eduardo broke the hug with Jewel and turned to Blu. Then before Blu could protest, Eduardo trapped him in a tight hug.
"E-E-Eduardo, you're embarrassing me," muttered Blu awkwardly as the other macaws applauded. Dotting the ravine, the few glaucous macaws that had taken refuge with the Spix macaws looked on. Jewel looked on with an amused smile.
"You have saved my daughter's life," cried Eduardo with untold relief, "I can't put into words how grateful I am."
Then Eduardo broke the hug with his son-in-law. Embarrassment was written all over Blu's face.
"Honestly, Blu," said Brisa, "You're a hero."
Blu didn't reply as Mimi then suddenly appeared and took him by surprise with a hug of her own.
"You have saved my wildflower," she cried as she literally squeezed Blu in a bone-crushing hug, "I couldn't have asked for a better nephew-in-law."
"Seriously, Mimi, you're making it hard for me to breathe!" squeaked Blu as he squirmed in Mimi's grasp and struggled to draw in a breath. Then Mimi released Blu and apologised.
"Sorry, but I'm so proud of you," cried Jewel's aunt. Blu sighed. Then three small comets flew in.
"MOM, DAD!" cried the three little chicks. Blu and Jewel looked up and saw Carla, Bia and Tiago rush in and then hug them. The family of five then locked each other in a family hug with the others looking on while Travis was joined by Sunset, Eustace, Milo and Rosa. Then Travis had something to say.
"Ramon, the scarlet father of Sheldon who is on e of Athos and Ruby's chick's friends, helped escort Blu and Jewel back to your tribe's territory," he said to Eduardo and Mimi, "The two had been taking refuge in a little cave in Felipe's territory according to him…"
"Oh, I'm not surprised," said Eduardo, "You get so easily lost in the fire but I'm glad Felipe sent Ramon with Blu and my daughter to be their escort on their way back here. The next time I meet Ramon, I'm going to give him a reward for keeping my son-in-law and beloved daughter safe until one of my patrol groups found them."
Travis smiled as D'Artagnan, Sapphire, Miranda, Jasmine, Annette, Levi, Lapis Lazuli, Tristan, Quincy, Larimar and little Trixie touched down, smiles adorning their beaks. Then Levi remembered the other three Spix macaws that were still missing when he saw Gael, Viento, and Nuvem fly in with Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil.
"Oh, Roberto," he said.
"Yes," said Roberto, turning to the male glaucous macaw. His head feathers swung with his head turn.
"Any news on Zephyr, Tornado and Aurora?" asked Levi. Roberto's face fell to a sombre look and the macaw shook his head.
"I'm afraid we haven't," he said sadly, "We only found Blu and Jewel with Ramon by their sides but no signs of Zephyr, Aurora or Tornado. We asked Ramon the same question but he replied that he, Felipe, Athos and the others had only found Blu and Jewel and that's it."
This made Gael, Viento and Nuvem, along with Brisa make sad faces and look away. Justin and his four siblings also began to weep with Blu and his reunited family looking on sympathetically. At the back of the crowd, Mertle with her only daughter Aguamarina just gave Jewel and her family a grateful but deadpan stare before flying off. Though they were glad that Jewel had made a safe return, the two maintained their dislike of the patriarch's daughter, her mate and her three chicks.
"The other search groups will be searching high and low in our territory for those three," said Maximillian, as Turquesa walked in and happily jumped into his wings, joyful that her father had returned with the other patrollers. He scooped her up in his wings and held her. "Hopefully we'll have good news from one of them when they get back…"
As he said this, a voice sounded from above, making them all jump.
"They've already been found," said the voice. Eduardo and the others all looked up and to their surprise, they found two large hyacinth macaws, one a blue-eyed female, descend from above and touch down near them. They both blew up some of the charred wood and dust from the draught of air kicked up by their large wings as they landed.
"Phoebe!" gasped Travis, Sunset, Levi, Lapis Lazuli, D'Artagnan, Sapphire and Blu and Jewel at the same time. Phoebe then saw Blu and Jewel.
"Blu, Jewel," she cried jubilantly, "Awesome! You both are alright."
Jewel sighed. "I was a crying and trembling wreck while we were flying through the fire, though. It didn't half bring back a torrent of bad memories but if it weren't for Blu here, I'd have probably lost the tribe again or ended up dead."
Blu smiled and blushed, grateful that he had risked his life to save his beloved mate much to Phoebe's surprise. Then Eduardo stepped in but before he could ask why Phoebe and the other macaw, a male named Jeremy who had chosen to go with Phoebe for he was more experienced and wanted to keep an eye on the still-inexperienced Phoebe to make sure she was safe, Phoebe gave the reply.
"Flavio has sent some hyacinth macaw groups from his clan out to check on the other tribes and clans and the smaller bird groups," she explained, "I have also come here to let you know that we have found Zephyr, Aurora and Tornado. They are in Falkor's cave on the Navyfeather Clan's territory but they will not return here until morning as they are all exhausted from this hectic and chaotic night…"
When Gael, Brisa, Nuvem, Viento and Justin and his three siblings heard this, they breathed sighs of total relief. Roberto, D'Artagnan, Levi, Travis and the others did the same.
"Well, at least that worry's been cleared," said Eduardo.
"Yeah," said Mimi, "She's only been with us for a few weeks and I greatly doubted her survival out there."
She then felt a twinge of guilt at forgetting the stargazing group prick at her again and she sighed. "We would have never forgiven ourselves if that poor girl was ever found dead or lost, especially after what she had been through as a chick."
"How much damage did your clan's territory suffer? A lot?" asked Eduardo.
"Only a fraction of our territory's been burned," said Jeremy, Phoebe's escort, "Thankfully, the fire had not spread as far as our home patch as it had begun to rain which helped to put the fire out and stop it spreading any further. However, we retreated into our evacuation cave just in case."
Then Rudi, the leader of the glaucous macaw tribe, walked in with Valeria holding the still young Alberto and Lorenzo in her wings. Phoebe and Jeremy were hit by surprise when they saw Rudi's family before turning their eyes and seeing some more glaucous macaws dotting the Spix macaws' ravine. But before either of the hyacinth macaws could ask, Eduardo stopped them.
"It's a long story," he said, gesturing to Rudi and his family and some of the glaucous macaws behind him, "But put short, these macaws have survived the flying fox attack."
"But how!?" retorted Jeremy incredulously, "It's nearly impossible for a large part of a tribe or clan of birds to survive being slaughtered by an attacking wave of those barbaric flying furballs. Also, how did these glaucous macaws…"
"That fire took us by surprise and we ended up flying into here," explained Rudi, "Many of the others in my tribe, however, I don't know where they've flown to which is why I have sent search groups out to see where they had gone."
Phoebe, however, was still lost for words. Finally, she found something to say.
"Tulio and his team should be alerted of these macaws' existence at once," she said to Eduardo, Blu and Jewel. Rudi, clearly not liking the idea of his tribe being revealed to humans, was about to protest when suddenly, six glaucous macaws appeared. They had been outside the Spix macaws' ravine on the search for the other glaucous macaws and had returned to deliver the report.
"Report on the other glaucous macaws, Santiago," said Rudi to one of them. Levi, Lapis Lazuli and their four chicks Tristan, Quincy, Larimar and Trixie looked on.
"We have found most of the other glaucous macaws hiding with a flock of Lear's macaws, green macaws and blue-and-gold macaws," said Santiago, "The other groups are rounding them up now and will be leading them to meet us somewhere here but they are going to be escorted by some Lear's, green and blue-and-gold macaws…"
"Alright, brilliant, Santiago," said Rudi gladly, "You fly out and prepare to meet them and their escorts and then we'll discuss what we'll do next."
Santiago and his five companions nodded and left. Levi saw them leave.
"Looks like that fire certainly has forced you out of your vulnerable spot," he said to Rudi. Rudi then breathed a sigh and sat down.
"Well, one thing is," he muttered, "We're never going to go back there again. It's just too unsuitable to be living out there. Why didn't I see that or listen in the first place?"
Eduardo, Blu, Levi, Lapis Lazuli, D'Artagnan and Travis smiled with hope upon hearing this. Valeria also smiled. Then Rudi had another thought.
"Which begs the question," he said, "Where are we going to live? We can't live here since this place belongs to this flock of Spix macaws by the looks of it…"
"I wouldn't have thought you guys have survived the previous fire," said Valeria to Eduardo, Mimi, Blu and Jewel.
"We did but Jewel and a family of some other macaws from our tribe were separated," said Mimi, to which Gael and Brisa sighed, remembering that nightmarish incident. "They've returned now but we almost lost Jewel again in this fire. Additionally, a newcomer called Aurora was separated from a group of macaws out stargazing, apparently from the panic caused by the fire taking them by surprise. I'm glad she's been found."
Rudi then looked up at Eduardo and said, "I hope you can forgive me for being obnoxious and arrogant when we met a few days ago but… you were right about us living out there. It is just too open to being destroyed by loggers and not a bird tribe or clan could call home…"
As he said this, Valeria who had the still-young Alberto and Lorenzo in her wings, smiled even wider, her mate having finally opened his eyes and swallowed his stubborn pride about the living conditions the glaucous macaw tribe had to deal with for years. Lapis Lazuli also smiled. It was clear that the fire had finally shocked some sense into this present glaucous macaw tribe patriarch.
"Well, why didn't you just come to any of us for help?" asked Eduardo with a frown, "after losing your home to those pesky flying foxes? We would have hosted you temporarily until you could find another home of your own."
"We didn't want to bother you and cause competition for space and food," said Rudi. He then scanned the sea of blue birds. "And besides, your tribe has well over two-hundred members and there is probably only enough food on your territory to feed them all. Additional hundred or more birds or so would deplete those food sources very quickly…"
As he said this, Phoebe began to think.
"And besides," said Valeria, "We thought you Spix macaws had perished in that fiery disaster anyway. The green and Lear's tribes were still quarrelling with each other and…"
"A clan of hyacinth macaws would have helped had you asked for it," said Jeremy, "Why didn't you do that rather than secretly move out into that exposed spot? Is it any wonder we believed that you glaucous macaws had been slaughtered."
"But what can you hyacinth macaws do?" asked Rudi, "You don't have anywhere for us to permanently live…"
When Phoebe heard Rudi say this, an idea formulated in her head. She remembered that the Navyfeathers had that large grove of still-unoccupied trees just outside the clan's home patch. That group of trees was big enough to house a large clan or even a small tribe of birds.
"That's it," she said. She turned to Rudi and Valeria and said, "I believe I may have the solution to that problem."
"What do you mean?" asked Jeremy. But then understanding washed over him. Rudi and Valeria, however, were perplexed.
"Oh, I get it," said Jeremy, "That large cluster of unoccupied trees. I'd never thought of that."
"Rudi," said Phoebe, "How many macaws are there in your tribe?"
"About a hundred to a hundred and fifty," replied Rudi, "Excluding chicks. Why do you ask?"
"We have a large cluster of trees just outside our home patch," said Jeremy, "And our territory is very large with an awful lot of food. We've been longing for another bird tribe or clan to move in with us so that the trees could be used."
"You mean... you want us to live with you?" asked Valeria.
"I suggest you take it," said Mimi, "One, you'll be on the Sanctuary de Amazon, safe from the destruction caused by logging and poaching and two, you'll have more protection and help from the much larger hyacinth macaws. I know the blue-throated macaw clan has that support from the Bluewing Clan…"
Rudi and Valeria then turned their eyes to Eduardo who nodded in agreement.
"It's a very good idea," he said, "And I agree with my sister. You should definitely take it."
Then Levi and Lapis Lazuli smiled.
"I think that's an excellent idea," said Lapis Lazuli.
"Yeah, definitely," said Levi, "certainly for a flock of extremely rare and critically endangered macaws like ourselves."
Rudi and Valeria then turned to look at Jeremy and Phoebe and then at Blu, Jewel their chicks, then at Levi and Lapis Lazuli and their chicks, and then at Travis and his family. Tension then rose in the air above them as Rudi thought about this, especially for Lapis Lazuli and Levi. But that tension was eased when Rudi made a smile on his beak.
"I like that idea," he said, "I'll have a look at this cluster of trees and see where we'll go from there."
This was met by a joyful and silent cheer from Levi and Lapis Lazuli and smiles from the others around Rudi and his family. But Rudi had other priorities.
"But first, I need to gather my tribe and check to see which macaws are missing," said the glaucous tribe patriarch.
"Alright, you do that," said Jeremy, "And what we'll do is we'll have a word with Flavio and he'll give you a tour around the area. After that and if you like it, we'll help your tribe move in but first we have some unfinished business to deal with as we are still in the aftermath of the fire."
"Yes, you might want to stay here for a bit," said Phoebe. She turned her gaze skyward and examined the still cloud-filled and dark sky and rain. "It's still night-time and raining at the moment and we're still trying to survey the damage caused by the fire."
She then turned back to Eduardo, Mimi, Blu and the others. "But I think it's time for us to head over to check on Felipe's tribe to see how they are doing. I'm so glad that Blu and Jewel have been found and returned safely and you no longer have to worry about Aurora, Zephyr and Tornado. They'll be back after sunrise."
"Thanks for bring us the news, Phoebe," said D'Artagnan. Phoebe smiled as she accepted the thanks.
"You take care and be careful of any unstable trees," said Mimi, "And also, make sure you send Flavio our thanks for finding our other three missing tribe members."
Phoebe smiled and nodded.
"And when we get back to the Navyfeathers' territory," said Jeremy, looking at Rudi and his family, "We'll have a word with Flavio and see what he'll do but in the meantime, you might want to stay here in the safety of the Spix macaws' ravine with your tribe once they have been gathered. Anyway, we'd better go. We have a job to do."
And with that, the two large navy blue macaws opened their wings and took off. Blu, Jewel, Carla, Bia and Tiago waved.
"Take care, Phoebe," called Blu.
"We'll meet again after we have finished sifting through this mess," said Travis. Sunset, Eustace, Milo and Rosa also waved.
"Maybe we could have an outing with our families sometime?" called Sapphire who stood by D'Artagnan and Phoebe, Jasmine and Annette. Levi, Lapis Lazuli and their four chicks Tristan, Quincy, Larimar and Trixie also stood by the Lear's macaw family. The group continued waving until Phoebe and Jeremy disappeared over the ravine cliff and were gone. Roberto saw them leave.
"I've been told how awesome Falkor, Ámbar and Fedor and their team are in looking after birds in distress," he said.
"Yeah, that milicinth macaw is excellent," said Eduardo, "A real help indeed. I bet he and his group are busy with helping so many distressed birds tonight. There'll be a lot of them needing medical attention and looking after, especially families that had lost members. Anyway, I'm going to help some of my macaws survey the damage caused by the fire."
Then he turned round and flew off. Jewel then leaned onto Blu who leaned onto her crown in return. Carla, Bia and Tiago stood around them.
Jewel was a lot calmer than she had been around an hour ago. Being safely returned to the ravine had relieved a lot of the stress and panic that boiled within her when she was lost. She was not only grateful of Blu rescuing her but also of the red tribe, especially Ramon who had escorted them back. It was clear that Ramon knew the way quite well despite still being new to the jungle. Felipe had already showed him an accurate tour of the red tribe's territory and that of the Spix macaws, and that the main landmark marking the red/Spix border was the Brazil nut grove. Ramon had that firmly in his mind when he escorted the couple back to the Spix macaws' territory.
The rain continued pouring down heavily on the parched and incinerated forest and much of the other parts of Brazil. In Rio, it was raining but far lighter than in the Amazon rainforest. However, a group of certain humans were getting ready for some very early morning work. Tulio and his team were at Tulio's Aviary preparing to leave for the Amazon. They were going to use special helicopters to fly to the Amazon but the flight had been delayed due to the weather. Though the fire had now been put out, it was still not very safe to fly helicopters into the darkness of the storm due to visibility issues. However, Tulio and his team continued to prepare and will be making the journey as soon as the signal was given once conditions improved. In Manaus, another team of humans were also preparing to fly out into the Amazon but had also been delayed due to the storm. They were standing by also, waiting for the signal from the weather officials once they were certain that the storm had eased. While these events happened in Rio and Manaus, in the Navyfeather Clan's territory and Falkor and his group's cave, activity had eased as many of the birds in the infirmary had gone to sleep. Fedor and Ámbar had also gone to sleep for they had been very hard at work, but Falkor was still awake, helping to keep an eye on the patients. On one corner, he looked after the six glaucous macaw chicks and the adolescent who had been found in the fire for they were restless. It was unsurprising since the seven had had a traumatising ordeal in the fire. A few of the other birds were also restless. They too were also traumatised and Falkor's helpers, mostly parakeets were trying their best to calm them. Outside the cave, the rains continued pouring heavily and thunder kept sounding. The fresh smell of the rains wafted into the cave through the perforations in the walls and ceiling. It truly was a comforting smell, especially after the awful stench of burnt wood from the fire. However, it did little to relieve the still simmering shock of the birds. While most of the other birds struggled to sleep, one macaw was particularly restless. Aurora, who still lay in her nest with her back and right wing bandaged with freshly replaced large leaves, was tossing and turning.
Nearby, Zephyr and Tornado were lying against the cave wall in another pile of moss and feathers, trying to rest. They were only dozing, not sleeping, for they were still shaken from flying through the fire looking for Aurora. While the father and son continued resting in that spot, Aurora tried lying on her left side again. She could not lie on her back with her belly up due to the wound which always sent searing pain coursing through that area. Her wing was also crying in agony and Aurora kept flinching and gasping every time pain emitted from it. Aurora still looked very tense besides in pain, but she also felt very restless. As she rolled over onto her right side, yelping briefly in pain as her injured right wing brushed against the floor, Zephyr opened his eyes and looked up at her. Tornado stirred and moved only slightly. Seeing Aurora toss and turn like a city dog irritated by fleas Zephyr, filled with concern got up from his father's side and walked slowly over to her.
"Are you alright, Aurora?" he asked. Aurora, hearing her mate's voice, sat up and turned in his direction.
"I'm fine," she whispered, "Just struggling to sleep."
"I'm not surprised," said Zephyr as he sat beside her, "It's been a frightening and traumatising night for you as it is for us."
He then bowed his head and sighed. "I thought I was gonna lose you and when we had to break off the search due to the immense dangers of the fire, I was severely heartbroken. Then to hear that you had a disturbing encounter with some of those flying furballs, I was even more horrified."
Zephyr then lifted his head up. "I would honestly have never forgiven myself if something ever happened to you, like if you got killed or separated from us like Jewel and I and my family had when Brisa and I had been young."
"It's not your fault," said Aurora firmly. She then flinched and lifted her left wing and gently stroked her back, her eyes narrowed with pain.
"And to add to the trauma, my wing and back injuries aren't helping either," she muttered, "Every time I try to relax, they sting and jolt me awake again."
Zephyr, sympathy taking over, reached out a wing and touched Aurora's forehead to comfort her, tears forming and running down his face. But then he noticed something unusual about the feel of Aurora's forehead as he stroked it.
"You feel a bit warm," said Zephyr in a low and concerned voice, "I hope it's not a fever…"
"Oh, don't be dramatic;" said Aurora slightly annoyed, "It's just that… I've been flying super-fast through the rainforest before collapsing in terror."
Zephyr sighed and retracted his wing from her forehead. Then he had another thought come to his head.
"Look," he said in a low voice, briefly glancing at a family of festive amazons as they slept nearby, making sure that they weren't disturbed by their talking. "Our human friends will be coming over to the Amazon to help treat any animal that had been injured in the fire. When they do, I'm going to carry you to them and they will hopefully help to treat your wounds. Then we'll be going back to the Spix macaw tribe and be reunited with our family and friends, especially our four children Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil. Those four have been without their parents for hours now."
Zephyr then briefly stopped to listen to the rains outside. "It's obviously still raining outside at the moment, so obviously those humans aren't going to be coming here right now…"
"I hope they come here near sunrise," muttered Aurora as she raised her wing to her forehead, "I'm starting to feel a bit… unwell…"
Zephyr shot her a concerned stare. "Unwell?"
"It's nothing serious," said Aurora when she saw the look on Zephyr's face, "It's probably just a cold. I have been exposed to the rain quite a lot. Maybe that's why I have this chill…"
"Well, I hope you're right," said Zephyr. He then shot a glance at Tornado who was still resting. "Anyway, you try and get some rest and we'll see you in the morning. Right now, I'm very tired. It's been a chaotic night."
But before he could get up and return to his father's side, Aurora interlocked her wing with his. Zephyr turned round upon feeling that gesture. Aurora's amber eyes then glowed with affection.
"I'd like to thank you for trying to find and rescue me in that fire," she said in a low voice, "It was really brave."
Zephyr sighed. "But still, it wasn't enough. We should have found you sooner…"
But then he found himself captured by his mate's beautiful amber eyes, amber like the rising or setting sun. Then Aurora leaned forward and moved her beak closer to Zephyr's, despite the stinging pain emanating from her bitten wing and scratched back. When Zephyr saw Aurora move in toward his face, he moved in as well. Then as soon as the two macaws' faces met, their beaks interlocked and they shared a very loving kiss. After breaking the kiss, the couple stared lovingly into each other's eyes, Zephyr's an emerald green and Aurora's a golden, liquid amber.