Chapter 8- off to the Amazon, meet the dragonbirds, Aang, Cersei and Petyr, and Ahsoka and Hogarth
Next morning in Rio
At the birdhouses outside Linda and Tulio's cottage, a group of birds and flying foxes were gathering for the few-day flight to the Sanctuary de Amazon with the seven fruithawks and owls, and because Carla and Justin were going to stay behind to help with the Blu Bird Sanctuary Untamed auditions and carnival event project, Bia and Virgil were going to lead the group of whoever had decided to go on the Amazon trip. So outside Bia and Virgil's birdhouse on the platforms and on the branches around the construct, some of the members who had voted to go had gathered. They were Tiago and Matilda, their daughter Bellatrix and one of their nieces, Spica from Carla and Justin's family. When Spica had voted to go on the trip, her parents had been very reluctant in letting her go due to what happened four years ago when she was whisked away to Peru with a number of other kids, among them Bellatrix and Sandalwood but after much persuasion from Bia, Virgil, Tiago, Matilda and some of the other trip members that she would be in good wings, Carla had relented but she had firmly told Spica to always, ALWAYS listen to her parents and elders' safety rules and to obey them at all times while she was out in the Sanctuary de Amazon. Though Spica and her sisters Melody and Sonia and cousins Sirius, Einstein, Miles, Bellatrix, Byron, and also Jason (Charlotte and Músculo's son) were adolescents and had been to the Sanctuary de Amazon before along with their other 'cousins' and Sandalwood, Connie, Acerola, Rutile and Ferdinand who were young adult flying foxes, they still had to stay within the safety range set by their parents, especially the hyacinth macaw youngsters for they were still preteens, and believe me, sometimes some of the parents were very overprotective due to what happened with the poachers, the false conservation area, the wicked toucans and the Blu Bird Sanctuary fire four years ago, and also the incident with Nigel and the dogs two years ago resulting in a number of them getting traumatised with a few of them sustaining life-changing injuries, especially Sheldon with his daughters Betelgeuse and Rigel and son Antares with the former losing her left foot and earning a scar to the face from a burn during the disaster as one of the unfortunate casualties, although Spinel had relaxed her protectiveness of her daughters and son based on the knowledge of their maturing. This same attitude was replicated on the parents going to the Sanctuary de Amazon and leaving behind those who had opted to stay, such as Bia and Virgil with Einstein and Miles who had opted against going to the Amazon to help with the auditions and they had to relent as well. During this trip, many of the families will be divided.
Tiago stood with Bellatrix and Spica while Matilda counted the fruithawks and owls: Ganymede, Gardenia, Samara, Gylfie and Comet for the former and Aragorn and Raya for the latter. However, Samara was still back in her compartment in the fruithawks and owls' birdhouse. Some of the fruithawks and owls were excited for the trip.
"Alright, Amazon rainforest here we come," said Ganymede as he stood on top of the roof of Bia and Virgil's birdhouse. He then fluttered down to three of his siblings and the two owls and joined them as Matilda finished counting them. As she frowned that only four of the five golden fruithawks were present, Spica gazed at Tiago.
"Uncle Tiago, did Grandpa Blu really take a pouch thing containing a device that humans use in navigation for your first trip to the Amazon?" she asked.
"He certainly did, my niece Spica," said Tiago.
"But Dad, why would Grandpa use a navigational device to find the Amazon Rainforest?" asked Bellatrix.
"His instinctive navigation skills were very poorly developed due to him being a domestic macaw for the first 15 years of his life," said Tiago. Spica shot her cousin a glare.
"You should know why Grandpa Blu took a navigational device," she said in slight annoyance, "Our parents had already told us a hundred times based on my calculations."
Tiago gazed at his niece with a surprised look. That was quite often the catchphrase of his nerdy sister Bia and his equally nerdy nephews, especially Einstein and Miles but to a lesser extent Sirius who was more into music unlike his mother and brothers. Unlike her music and dance interest-oriented sisters Sonia and Melody, and parents Carla and Justin, Spica was a science bird and often a bookworm and had little interest in music and dancing, so she was more like her aunt Bia than her sisters and parents. Tiago's own daughter Bellatrix was also nerdy and sometimes quoted scientific facts much to the boredom of her younger brother Byron who was not as into science as his sister.
While Tiago gazed at his daughter and niece, Matilda walked over to him just as Finnick and Kira turned up with their daughter Polaris and sons Achernar and Diego, the five having opted to come on the trip while Lavender, Felix and their families had opted to remain behind to help in the BBSU project, turned up.
"Samara's missing, honey," Matilda said to Tiago in a slightly disappointed voice. As she said this, Finnick peered through the entrance/exit hole to a certain compartment of the fruithawks and owls' birdhouse.
"She's in her compartment, Matilda," he told his cousin (because Finnick, Felix and Lavender and their two younger siblings Oberon and Ophelia, were the offspring of Roberto and Brisa, Zephyr's sister, that made these five the cousins of Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil and also Azurite and Aquamarine, Zephyr and Aurora's offspring). Then Bia arrived with Virgil and Sirius.
"Alright, are we ready to go?" the former asked.
"The rest of the group members who had volunteered to go on the trip have yet to turn up, Bia," said Kira. As if on cue, the sounds of dozens of wing flaps reached the Spix macaws and the fruithawks and owls' ears.
"I think that's them, Mrs Kira," said Raya with a point of a talon to a flock of incoming birds of various species, and flying foxes. Tiago, Matilda, Bia, Virgil, Finnick and Kira looked up and saw said flock.
In the flock were Poinsettia and Wilbur and their hybrid children, Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine and Thymine, the whole family having opted to come; Spinel, Sheldon and their daughters Betelgeuse and Rigel and son Antares; Petunia, Benjamin and their hybrid sons Aldebaran and Antares and also Chlorophyll, his military mate Ashley and their daughter Perdita; Jasmine, Finn and their chicks Vega and Regulus; Trixie, Aiden and their son Arcturus; Tristan, Neytiri and their children Katniss and Canopus; Zebedee, Iris and their children Celeste, Castor and Pollux; Frodo and Elsa's biological son Sylvester; Spyro, Marella and their son Bambi who rode on their bat-birds; toucans Gladion and Lillie; and flying foxes Sebastian, Anabelle and their daughter Acerola; and Stella, Soren and their children Sandalwood and Rutile, and Sandalwood's mate Connie, and Ariel, Eric and Elsa the blue-throated macaws. As this flock touched down around the birdhouse and in the branches, Matilda and Tiago set to doing an immediate headcount of the number of members present while Bia noticed that Indigo and her family were absent.
"Your sister, brother-in-law and niece aren't coming, Zebedee?" she asked Indigo's brother.
"It's a bit unusual for those three usually accompany us on our trips," said Virgil.
"Indigo, Victor and Sugilite have decided to stay behind and help search for auditions from the city animals, among them the Control de Pragas Squad," explained Zebedee as he stood with Iris and their three chicks Celeste, Castor and Pollux.
"And also help in the search for a suitable place in the forest for the performances as well as gather the appropriate materials for the decorations and instruments," said Finn as he stood with Jasmine, Vega and Regulus.
"And besides that, we'd like to find auditions from the Sanctuary de Amazon and see if any of the members of the new clans that had joined the sanctuary are interested in participating in the BBSU," added Jasmine.
"I see," said Kira, before she frowned, "But be aware that they might not like being seen by the humans, especially the dragonbirds."
She then gazed at the flying foxes and the archaeobirds, "And I see that Ferdinand has opted against coming with you guys as well for the same reasons."
"My son Ferdinand and my sister Luna are going to visit the Linda's orange bat colony to see if any of those bats would like to enlist in the auditions for the BBSU," explained Sebastian.
"While the rest of us would like to see if our relatives in the Sanctuary de Amazon are alright after that harpy eagle attack," said Anabelle. She then breathed a very disapproving sigh, "To be honest with you feathered folks, I still cannot BELIEVE that someone would be STUPID enough to deliberately provoke THE most dangerous flying predator in the rainforest and lead it straight towards a flock of innocent birds, flying foxes and pterosaurs. Mind you, a certain deranged female flying fox took on one didn't she when the flying fox colony threatened your homes."
"Harpy eagles are the apex predator of the treetop ecosystem and canopy of the Amazon rainforest, didn't you know?" said Bellatrix, "The top of the trophic chain and kings of the trophic web. Their sickle-like talons can gut you like a fish with one swipe."
"Trophic?" asked Anabelle in confusion at the term.
"I think she means food and feeding, aunt," said Rutile, her unusually and very unique spiky straw yellow head hair glinting in the sun and contrasting with her darker red fur and which resembled a mineral that grew in this way and so earned her her name. Some of the other members gazed at Sandalwood's sister in astonishment.
"She's just like some of Blu and Athos's grandchildren," said Sebastian.
"We taught her some ecology, geology and maths actually," said Adenine proudly as he stood with an equally proud Guanine, Cytosine and Thymine.
"Now that explains why we have a Bia-like flying fox in our family," said Stella with a smile. Titters rolled through the group while Rutile shot her mother a look, the skin under her red fur flushing to a similar red colour. Sandalwood, Acerola and Connie just exchanged glances and shrugged while Ganymede, Gardenia, Comet and Gylfie and also Aragorn and Raya looked on and said nothing. Then a minute later, Tiago and Sandalwood returned.
"So how many members are present including us and the fruithawks and owls, you two?" asked Bia.
"70," replied Tiago, before he turned to the fruithawks and owls, "But we still have one fruithawk missing. Only four of those five are present," he then examined the four fruithawks and two owls more closely and identified the missing one, "Where's Samara?"
"She's in the birdhouse," said Finnick. Bia then flew over to the fruithawks and owls' birdhouse and knocked on Samara's compartment wall.
"Samara, come on, we're leaving!" she called.
"I'm not goin'," replied Samara from within the compartment, "It's gonna be lame."
Bia flashed a look of disappointment at this response. She clearly wanted all seven fruithawks and owls to go on the trip as it was her and the others' job to raise them. Then Diego, Elsa (Ariel and Eric's daughter) and Byron tried their luck and flew over to the compartment.
"Come on, Samara, you'll severely regret it if you miss out, especially since all four of your siblings and both white-and-silver owls are willing to leave," said Diego.
"You don't wanna be alone," said Elsa.
"Yes, and besides that, four of your friends Gladion, Lillie, Sylvester and Bambi are coming with us," said Byron. As he said this, said four toucans, Cuban macaw and archaeobird teens flew and glided in to help back up the trio. These four were also adolescents and were larger in size like their other cohorts.
"Absolutely, Sammy," said Gladion.
"Do you wanna miss us?" asked Lillie.
"We'll be gone for a few days, maybe weeks," said Sylvester.
"Think you could handle being alone while the rest of your siblings have an adventure out in the Amazon?" added Bambi. This seemed to instantly work as a yellow head adorned with glinting gold cheek patches and deep blue eyes peered out of the entrance/exit hole to her compartment. Seeing that Samara had changed her mind about staying, Bia and Virgil smiled.
"You four are going?" said Samara to the two toucans, the Cuban macaw and the archaeobird, "Okay, I guess I'll come. It may be a boring journey but I don't wanna stay if all four of my sibs and both owls are leaving."
With that, she crawled out of his compartment and flew over to the other six. Kira flashed Gladion, Lillie, Bambi and Sylvester a smile.
"Good job you four," she said, "You changed her mind as quick as a wing flap."
"Or as quick as a chameleon devouring a bug," said Antares. His sisters Betelgeuse and Rigel shot their brother a glare.
"Don't forget we were victims or near-victims of one of those reptiles four years ago, bro," hissed the former indignantly.
"Yes, he bore a CAUSTIC hatred for all parrots," put in the latter, "So stop bringing back bad memories!"
Antares gazed at his sisters apologetically.
Then as soon as Samara had joined her four siblings and two owls, the large flock prepared for departure.
"Okay, are we ready to return to the Sanctuary de Amazon, folks?" called Sebastian.
"It is time we took our seven adopted fruithawks and owls a little flight on the wild side," said Wilbur as he gazed at the fruithawks and owls with a smile. Poinsettia, Adenine, Thymine, Cytosine and Guanine did the same but said nothing. Then Bia and Virgil flew to the front.
"We certainly are, Sebastian and Wilbur," said Bia. Then wings were opened and the birds including the fruithawks and owls lofted into flight with one flap. The flying foxes dropped into the air while Bambi, Spyro and Marella launched into the air on their bat-birds. Then as soon as everyone was airborne, they released a cheer and with that, they set off on the long journey to the Sanctuary de Amazon. As the flock took off, Bia sternly instructed the seven fruithawks and owls to stay together and with the flock for the ENTIRE journey and to NOT wander off, to which they, some with uncertain looks on their faces, nodded. To reinforce this, Bia had allocated each fruithawk to a specific group of macaws and flying foxes who will serve as their supervisors for the journey, with Ganymede being supervised by Bia, Tiago, Matilda, Virgil, and the other Spix macaws present. As everyone left Tulio and Linda's cottage and prepared to fly over Rio in the direction of the Sanctuary de Amazon, Sandalwood gazed to Connie and Rutile.
"Even after four years since Blu told us the story of his first trip to the Amazon with Jewel, Carla, Bia, Tiago, Rafael, Nico and Pedro, I still can't believe that he would use that GPS thing to try and find the Spix macaw tribe," he told his grey-headed mate and sister.
"Especially since his wild-born mate had better developed navigation skills," said Rutile. Then Connie formed a smile.
"Well, since we've been to the Amazon so many times, we should know where to go now," said she with certainty. Sandalwood and Rutile nodded in agreement. Nearby, Tristan spoke to Bia.
"How are we gonna stay out of the harpy eagle case while we are there?" the glaucous macaw asked.
"Charlotte is going to ring Dad and let him know we are on our way," replied Bia, "But in the meantime, let's stay focussed on the journey."
Tristan nodded and returned to flying with Neytiri, Canopus, Katniss, Trixie, Aiden and Arcturus as they kept a strict eye on one of the fruithawks and owls entrusted to them, Gardenia.
As Bia and Virgil's group departed, they were witnessed by some of their friends and stayers, among them Carla, Justin, Charlotte, Músculo, Indigo and Victor as they were interviewing a group of canaries who had signed up for the auditions. The four Spix and two hyacinth macaws looked up and waved goodbye to Bia and company as they flew over them. After this, the flock began to recede from them.
"There they go, Carla," said Justin as he watched the flock disappear into the distance, the glinting of gold and the silver from the fruithawks and owls' plumage flashing in the sun.
"I sure hope they stay safe, especially the fruithawks and owls and Spica, darling," said Carla.
"Don't worry, Bia and Virgil know what they are doing," said Victor with a certain smile. He had complete trust in Bia and Virgil for they had quite good leadership skills. Then Sonia, Melody, Byron, Einstein, Ferdinand, Sugilite and Miles gazed at the flock.
"I sure hope my sister Bellatrix will stay safe," said Byron, "Especially under the supervision of Mom and Dad."
"I hope they stay well away from strange humans, especially poachers," said Sonia.
"You remember what happened four years ago," said Ferdinand, his ears, including the lobeless left one, twitching with nervousness. The adolescent macaws nodded. Then Ferdinand heard his name get called. He turned his gaze in the direction of the caller and saw that his aunt Luna was waiting with a few other flying foxes, Alexandre, Estelle, Sol and some other macaws, the scout group ready to visit the Linda's orange bat colony to ask for auditions.
"Oh, aye, sorry, my feathered friends, I gotta go," said Ferdinand and with that, he scurried off to join said group. Melody gazed after the bat as he hurried off.
"I hope some of the members of Basil's colony have some talents for the auditions," said she, "I look forward to seeing what they have in store for us."
"We'll have to see, sis," said Sonia with a smile. Melody smiled back and with that, they returned to Carla and the others as they continued to interview the canaries.
Back in the Sanctuary de Amazon
Blu stood on a branch overlooking the Custody Tree as the suspects were being questioned a few at a time. It was now day two of the investigation and some of the suspects and eyewitnesses had already been interviewed, some several times. Blu and Jewel's youngest daughter Linda was one of them and she had answered each question asked to her honestly, and her admission to the Custody Tree had been a very difficult choice for Blu and Jewel but they wanted to ensure that she was not the culprit that had instigated the harpy eagle's attack. Questions asked to Linda included did she provoke the harpy eagle and deliberately lead it to Caspian's group and then the group just outside the Meeting Tree where so many chicks, flaplings and pups were gathered to which she answered no. Then she was asked did she see any blue bird fleeing from the eagle and where she was when the harpy eagle attacked. After she had answered these questions with genuine honesty, she had been released from custody for she was no longer important in the investigation for now, and the next suspect or eyewitness called in. However, she had been sternly warned by her questioners to be on the alert of any suspicious activity to which Linda obediently replied yes.
It had been a huge relief for Blu and Jewel that their youngest daughter who was the main heir to the Spix tribe's leadership, when she found a mate and when they retired had been cleared of suspicion as the culprit who had provoked the harpy eagle, and it was a huge burden off their backs, and Linda also felt relief lift it off her shoulder too and knew full well that she was being honest. She had been foraging for starfruit when the incident occurred, and had not seen the culprit make their escape from the predator and lead it to their victims. But the most troubling question boiled within Blu and the other leaders: why would anyone want to lead such a dangerous apex predator to innocent birds, flying foxes and pterosaurs? However, they had put that question to the back of the line until the culprit was found and questioned, and that may take a while.
As Blu watched his relieved youngest daughter as she talked with some of the other macaws, among them one or two Spix macaws including her boyfriend for Linda was dating; some scarlet and hyacinth macaws, and also two flying foxes, a silver bat-bird and a few archaeobirds, a voice called his name, pulling his attention to the speaker.
"I'm so glad your daughter was at the star fruit area when the incident occurred," said the speaker which was a very unusual creature called a dragonbird. Dragonbirds were bizarre birds that bore a strong resemblance to an archaeobird but they did not have the long, stiff tails ending in a fan of flight plumes. The heads of most of the creatures were adorned with a feathery frill radiating like a flower's pointy petals upward and to the sides behind the forehead and cheeks, and the birds had a long neck snaking down to a bird-shaped body. But what was most unusual about these creatures was their wings. Instead of feathered wings, the wings of dragonbirds were membranous and bat-like. The membranes were supported by elongated fingers and a fourth element extending from their elbow and unlike in bats and also pterosaurs, the membranes did not join the legs. The dragonbirds' legs resembled a theropod dinosaur's legs, their feet ending in clawed toes on which they walked. The bat-winged birds' tail consisted of long feathers extending backwards like fronds. The combination of these traits made the dragonbirds resemble a mythological dragon or cockatrice, an imaginary dragon-like creature said to resemble a wyvern with features of a chicken.
The flying ability in the dragonbird was either powered wing-flapping flight or gliding, but they often utilised a combination of the two. Dragonbirds, despite their name, did not breathe fire but they spat venom that was potent enough to cause a burning sensation on skin, and they were able to shoot jets of it like a spitting cobra. If it got into the eyes, the results would be devastatingly painful and the threat or prey would be temporarily blinded for several days, though the venom of some dragonbird individuals was potent enough to actually inflict permanent blindness on the threat or prey. However, they ONLY used this venom as a last resort, such as in life-threatening situations like being in danger from an apex predator like a harpy eagle. Dragonbirds came in a variety of colours but their most common colours were green, yellow, brown, orange, red, white and black, which served both as camouflage amongst the trees and to warn potential threats of their venom. Rarer colours included blue, purple and pink and dragonbirds did not have metallic colours like archaeobirds. A dragonbirds's diet mostly included fruit, plant material and insects, some of which was the source of their venom. And because of the dragonbirds' strong resemblance to birds and theropod dinosaurs and also a certain creature that possessed both membranous and feathered wings, Blu had theorised that the species could be an offshoot of theropod dinosaurs theorised to have developed membranous wings though some macaws of Blu and Jewel's group, such as Aurora, disagreed and believed that the dragonbirds was a separate kind of creature altogether.
The dragonbird standing with Blu was a male named Bra'tac, and he was the leader of a clan of dragonbirds who had recently joined the Sanctuary de Amazon to escape the danger of human loggers and poachers. He was the size of an adult Amazon flying fox, so he was taller than Blu, and most of his plumage was green, yellow, lime green and red and he sported an orange underside and a stripe down his back, and his eyes were brown similar to Blu's. His bat-like wings were green and yellow and he carried a stick ending in a collection of brightly coloured fruit shell fragments attached via coconut fibres to the branch. This branch was to show Bra'tac's leadership of the clan which did not just consist of dragonbirds but also other-species members such as macaws and flying foxes whom the dragonbirds had salvaged and adopted, and five of the non-dragonbird members were three golden fruithawks and two white-and-silver owls. However, there was also a Spix macaw, a few partial Spix macaws, a few bat-birds and some Cuban red and Dominican green-and-yellow macaws that had been adopted into the clan. Blu walked over to Bra'tac and perched next to him.
"Harpy eagles are incredibly dangerous if you are not trained in dealing with them you know," said the strange bat-winged bird, his patriarchal stick clutched in his left batlike wing, "Even with our venom which we can spray at the eyes at predators including harpies, those savage birds can still turn a dragonbird into dinner."
"You sometimes run into those dangerous birds, don't you?" said Blu, "and have encountered them before."
"Several times," said Bra'tac, "But the most recent one had been the most brutal. My mate B'Elanna and sons Thor and Kion and a few other of my clan members, among them Zazu when he had been a Spix macaw chick and who is dating your daughter, and two dragonbirds, had come under attack by a female harpy and despite B'Elanna's use of her venom to drive it away, nearly catching its eyes, it lunged at them, hitting one of the white-and-silver owls, Ahsoka, in the face with one of its claw swipes but miraculously, she had managed to escape with those nasty claw marks which eventually scarred, but one of the golden fruithawks, Cersei, suffered worse. When the harpy eagle lunged, she rushed in and took it on one-on-one to ensure that B'Elanna and the others escaped to safety."
Blu flinched at this and shot the dragonbird a dark look. "That was she was brutally slashed over the torso and the face, wasn't it?"
Bra'tac nodded. "Yes, and that is how she lost her right eye and ended up with that massive scar on her torso which is far worse than the scar Ahsoka sustained on her face. However, she managed to inflict a serious enough injury on the harpy eagle to get it to leave," the dragonbird then hardened his gaze, "Unlike that crazy matriarch of the flying fox colony who took on a harpy based on vanity, Cersei took on a harpy eagle to save her adoptive clan members. Pretty impressive since that bird of prey was more than three times the fruithawk's size and FAR stronger."
"How are she and the other two fruithawk members currently doing, Aang and Petyr and also Ahsoka and the other owl, Hogarth?" asked Blu, "Are they busy still? Some of my relatives and family's friends are going to come from a sanctuary near a city called Rio with the seven fruithawks and owls we had entrusted to their care."
"Aang is still out on a teamwork hunt test while Ahsoka, Hogarth, Cersei and Petyr are on a fruit and insect foraging trip," said Bra'tac. Blu then remembered that part of Bra'tac and B'Elanna's clan's way of life for the young, both dragonbird and the adopted non-dragonbird members including Zazu, Linda's boyfriend, were to put them through a series of tests to see which job in the clan would suit them most, but not before teaching them those skills first. One skill was foraging for fruit, catching insects and hunting for and dispatching prey, another was defence while yet another was gathering medical plants and caring for the sick and injured. Other skills included raising the young, patrolling, housekeeping and negotiating with other animals that lived in the jungle. Unlike the flying fox colony who were hostile to birds, dragonbirds were peaceful and never waged unnecessary war against another tribe or clan unless they were a significant threat. For clan members who wanted to start a family, skills in housekeeping, nest building and raising the young were essential and compulsory base skills, though members who made this choice had the option of helping to raise other members' young as well.
The dragonbirds clan, when it was led by Bra'tac's parents, used to live somewhere on the flying fox colony's territory forcibly taken from countless bird tribes and clans. However, after finding out how the colony treated birds based on a pack of lies that they were the reasons for the rainforest disasters like logging, as well as how the flying foxes slaughtered birds for the fun of it and that the land they lived on originally belonged to bird flocks slain by the bats, the dragonbird clan, fearing for their safety and lives since they were also feathered despite their batlike wings, moved into hiding. Some of the flying foxes who strongly disagreed with the colony's teachings about Amazon birds and wanted to flee for fear of their lives for any flying fox that disagreed with the colony's teachings were put to death left with these strange birds. Then as soon as they had found a place to live, away from the colony, the dragonbirds, along with the defected flying foxes, started their lives anew, which included salvaging and adopting a variety of birds and pterosaurs, and had remained hidden from humans for they did not want to rouse the attention of poachers due to their unusual appearance and rarity. Then a few years ago, during the events of the Paradise Sanctuary and the Blu Bird Sanctuary fire, the dragonbirds came across a small area that had been freshly decimated by loggers and after discovering that the little area had belonged to a little group of golden fruithawks and white-and-silver owls after finding their carcasses and also nests with eggs in the fallen trees, the dragonbirds salvaged whatever intact eggs they could find amongst the wreckage and took them in to raise as their own. They had managed to save more than twenty eggs but only five had hatched, birthing Aang, Cersei and Petyr the golden fruithawks, and Hogarth and Ahsoka the white-and-silver owls who were found out to be cousins based on where their eggs had been found.
Aang, Cersei and Petyr were adolescent golden fruithawks just the same age as Ganymede and his four siblings. However, unlike the five who lived in Rio who were siblings, Aang, Cersei and Petyr were all completely unrelated and so were not biological siblings. The trio were the last descendants of a golden fruithawk clan that was decimated by loggers and poachers. Their parents had perished in the destruction of their home caused by loggers and the three fruithawks had been rescued by the dragonbirds as eggs, along with the white-and-silver owls. Biological cousins Ahsoka and Hogarth the owls were also around the same age as the two Rio owls, Raya and Aragorn, who were brother and sister. These two were the last living white-and-silver owls of the clan that had also been decimated by the loggers, and their eggs had been found close to what was the golden fruithawk clan's home for their clan had lived close to the fruithawks. When the five hatched, the quintet had been brought up by the clan, along with the other non-dragonbird members and taught the ways of the clan and all their lives, the five had not seen other fruithawks and owls like themselves. The five were still in the process of learning to be providers and helpers of the clan with Aang and Ahsoka choosing to be hunters though they still ate fruit like every other fruithawk and white-and-silver owl. Petyr had chosen to be a fruit and insect gatherer and Cersei and Hogarth had chosen to be defenders. However, all five wanted to be parents with chicks in the future as well but they were still too young for the role yet and would need to find mates for this first. But due to their species' extreme rarity and the fact that Cersei was not willing to choose either Aang or Petyr to be her future mate, and that Hogarth and Ahsoka were closely related as first cousins which would result in possibly inviable eggs, that was slim. However, the choice of possible future mates for the five will be expanded slightly when they meet the seven fruithawks and owls from the Blu Bird Sanctuary.
While Blu and Bra'tac continued their conversation, in a certain part of the sanctuary where the dragonbirds clan and their non-dragobird members were moving in, a golden fruithawk was gazing at the collection of fruit he had foraged with his foraging party when a young dragonbird, Thor, flew in and touched down beside him, along with two more fruithawks and two white-and-silver owls. Both Thor and his brother Kion had the same colours as their father Bra'tac but they had some splashes of aqua blue strewn through their feathers as well as aqua blue back stripes and feathered head frills, a trait they had got from their mother B'Elanna who also had a vivid sky blue back stripe and head frill. Thor bore blue eyes, another trait B'Elanna had while Kion's were brown like his father's.
"You certainly have collected plenty of fruit, my adopted fruithawk brother," said Thor with a wing-shake with Aang, "You certainly did well to gather a variety of it too."
"I prefer working with a team than on my own," said Aang.
"You'll need those skills for when you want to find a mate and start a family when we reach maturity, Aang," said one of the other two fruithawks, Petyr.
"Indeed," put in the other, Cersei. The two owls, Ahsoka and Hogarth, nodded in agreement.
Like Ganymede and his four siblings on their way from Rio to here, Cersei, Aang and Petyr bore sparkling golden plumage on their bodies and yellow heads and necks, and their cheeks adorned with golden cheek patches, and also orange beaks with black tips and orange feet. Aang was more muscularly built than Petyr, who was stocky but not burly, and Cersei who was quite slim. Aang had green eyes while Petyr sported brown eyes. Cersei's left eye however, was dark blue. Their crests were also different. Aang had a tiny flick atop his crown, Cersei had a ponytail and Petyr's was a flat sheet of feathers on his crown. The two males were unmarked and bore no scars but Cersei sported three massive scar stripes slashing through the golden feathers of her torso where the harpy eagle had raked its claws on her torso during her defending of B'Elanna and the others in the past, and she wore a tight leaf over where her right eye once was. Also during an incident, Cersei had lost her right eye and since then and after her recovery, she had to wear a leaf to conceal the empty eye socket. Her self-esteem had taken a battering but over the following months, the fruithawk had learned to live with these life changing injuries but her scars and eye loss had been a VERY important lesson to the other clan members to NEVER mess with harpy eagles.
The two white-and-silver owls, Ahsoka and Hogarth, like every other owl of their species, had snow-white plumage and silver wing and tail flight feathers, ear-like feather flicks on their heads, rim around their eyes and speckles on their bellies, and grey beaks and feet. Ahsoka was larger due to being a female, had long white feathers snaking down her shoulders and back of her head, those feathers tipped silver. Her eyes were orange coloured and she sported a set of scar-tissue streaks slashing across her face, the result of that savage harpy eagle attack that rendered Cersei facing the loss of her right eye. Hogarth also had head feathers cascading from his head but his were shorter than Ahsoka's and resembled Roberto's feathers. Like his cousin's head feathers, his head feathers were tipped silver. Hogarth was shorter due to being male, had yellow eyes and talked in a stutter. Both cousins bore a stocky build
Thor then formed a smile at Cersei's statement at finding mates.
"There are five fruithawks and two owls on their way here from another sanctuary, Mr Blu has told us, am I right?" he asked.
"I thought we five were the LAST golden fruithawks and white-and-silver owls alive," said Petyr, "But apparently not."
"It will be interesting to meet those seven when they arrive here," said Aang.
"And I am surprised to hear that they are all siblings," said Ahsoka.
"U-u-u-unlike us who a-a-a-are cousins," said Hogarth, his stutter obvious. He was not stuttering out of shyness. It was a speech problem he suffered.
"And I sure hope they'll not find me repulsive," said Cersei as she gaze down at the large jaguar claw stripes on her torso with her single eye, "I've come across highly insensitive strangers who have uttered insensitive remarks about my scarred torso..."
"That family of hyacinth macaws borne by that bratty ex of one of the friends of the older brother and sisters of Zazu's girlfriend Linda sport an attitude like that," said Thor with disgust, "I heard she used to date that hyacinth macaw but eventually broke up with him when he faced a disfiguring ordeal when trying to protect three flying fox pups of an allied flying fox during the War for the Sanctuary..."
"Oh, you mean Penelope?" asked Aang, before a look of disgust formed on his face, "She's an outright braggart she is, always boasting about how big her family was and how beautiful some of her daughters, especially Nagini, and handsome some of her sons, among them Tybalt, were..."
"Nagini?" said Cersei, "Is she the one who seems to have some very unusual and at times unsettling interests?"
"She may be very beautiful but she can at times be very creepy," said Petyr, "I once overheard her talk with some of her sisters, among them Marnie and Margalo, about her unusual interests but it creeped those two sisters out. The other sisters, however, seemed impressed with Nagini..."
"Wh-wh-what sort of interests d-d-d-did she h-h-h-have?" asked Hogarth.
"I don't know, cousin but creepy ones," said Ahsoka, "Something I daren't find out."
As she spoke, another dragonbird appeared. It was Kion, Thor's brother.
"Thor," he said, "Father has sent for the three golden fruithawks and two white-and-silver owls on Mr Blu's request. Can they come along and meet them please?"
Thor and the three fruithawks and two owls exchanged glances and lofted into flight after Kion. As the seven flew along, Aang gazed at Kion.
"How is the harpy eagle case going on?" he asked, "Have they uncovered anything yet?"
"Well, two key pieces of information have come to light," said Kion, "One is that the harpy eagle had been deliberately provoked and the other was a blue blur was seen fleeing. Some of the investigators believe the culprit to be either a blue macaw or archaeobird."
"But if either a Spix, glaucous, hyacinth or Lear's macaw or an archaeobird had provoked that apex tree predator," said Ahsoka, "Wouldn't they have been very badly injured there and then?"
"That's what our bird, flying fox and pterosaur friends are trying to find out, Ahsoka," said Kion. Aang and Ahsoka looked on with worry while Hogarth, Cersei, Thor and Petyr exchanged glances.
Much like every other jungle creature with common sense, they knew that messing with such a dangerous bird that was twice the size of a grown hyacinth macaw was an extremely stupid thing to do, and as Cersei found out the hard way though she had only attacked the harpy to defend her clan members, the risk of getting severely injured or killed was incredibly high. It was clear that the blue culprit, if that culprit had been a blue bird, had been utterly stupid in provoking a harpy eagle and to lead it into attacking innocent birds, flying foxes and pterosaurs was even worse. Putting aside this worry, the septet flew on to meet Blu and Bra'tac.