Both Tulio and Blu stared at Linda after her revelation.

"Blu, changes have always been hard for you, haven't they?" Linda asked. "I didn't want to stress you out before meeting Jewel," she continued. "I didn't know if you two would get along. I thought you might be happier with her if you did, and I hoped she would help you through the changes. On the other hand, If you didn't get along, I hoped you would be allowed to come home with me. I felt I had to give it a chance because I didn't want my decision to doom your species to extinction," Linda added.

"Also, you belonged to critically endangered species and were smuggled to America. I found you after somebody had lost you," Linda reminded. "I don't actually have the legal ownership of you, and the Brazilian government could have sued me to get you. If they had to go to the court, they would hardly give you back even if you and Jewel didn't get along."

There was silence. Tulio felt shaken about seeing Blu write. Even though Blu's English was broken, the text indicated cognitive capabilities far beyond what he had thought possible for a bird.

At the same time, Tulio felt relief and admiration because Linda had deducted everything he had omitted to tell her. He also felt hope because she was still friendly to him. He still thought he needed to apologize to her later. Tulio decided to ask her to dinner tomorrow evening but not today because they were severely sleep-deprived.

"Are you angry?" Linda finally asked Blu who wrote his answer.

I understand

Still hurt

Blu had his head low for a while. Then he looked at Tulio in a questioning way. Tulio felt sorry for the parrot male. Blu was worried about his future and hurt by the lies. He had maybe also embarrassed himself by not knowing those things. Tulio wanted to comfort him, but not at the expense of the captive breeding program.

"I didn't expect you to breed this season, but I had tiny hope for it to happen.", Tulio revealed. "You don't seem happy about all changes in your life, but you and Jewel seem to get along well now, so maybe this is for the best," he continued trying to sound cheerful.

Blu was quiet for a moment before writing his answer.

What if
We do not
get along?

"Great," Tulio thought. "The male had found a way out on his first day back." However, Tulio's intuition had told him Blu and Jewel had started to bond, and he still believed so. He decided not to push Blu harder than necessary. He had already planned for setbacks and could adjust his plans for new information.

"Linda brought you here knowing she might have to leave you," Tulio reminded. "I consider her part of our conservation team now. If you and Jewel don't get along at all, I would recommend that you are returned to Linda on certain conditions," he stated. "But if you think what I suspect, I ask you to wait until Jewel's wing is better," Tulio pressed. "Quarreling with her and leaving would make her more stressed and endanger her healing. Do you understand?"

Blu nodded twice. After a bit of pause, Blu wrote again.

What would happen to
Jewel?

"Time for brutal honesty," Tulio decided. "She would stay with us," he informed. "We would try to find some other small macaw she accepts as her mate. Then each breeding season, after she lays her first egg, we would separate them and try artificial insemination with sperm collected from you. Collecting sperm from you wouldn't be easy, but we would try our best," he added.

Blu looked shocked. There was a long silence. Then Blu turned and pointed at the door.

"Do you want to go back to Jewel?" Tulio asked. Blu answered by nodding to him.

After returning to the cage, Blu stood on the bottom grid, thinking. At first, he was horrified that Jewel would be forced to take a mate from different species if he left. After thinking, Blu realized that humans would make him Jewel's mate if they could force macaws to become mates.

Blu also remembered that Jewel resented the loss of freedom, but she didn't seem as opposed to having a mate and chicks. If he left her, her mate could only be of different species. Even if Jewel accepted a mate from another species, Tulio's plan to separate her from her mate and use artificial insemination sounded unpleasant. Jewel might prefer not having chicks for that.

Blu decided he wouldn't tell Jewel about his possible way out or Tulios plan B before she had healed. Or rather, he wouldn't unless she directly asked about them. He felt Jewel would take bad news better than being lied to. Blu wanted Jewel to get well, and he pledged to keep Jewel company until her wing was better and try to help her avoid unnecessary stress. After that, he wasn't sure what he would do.

It still hurt that Linda had lied to him even though he understood her reasoning.

After a while, Jewel climbed down and walked close to him. "What's wrong?" she queried.

"Linda knew," Blu stated.

"Knew what?" Jewel inquired.

Blu was silent.

"Is it about macaws needing time to bond and the season ending soon," Jewel guessed?

"Yes," Blu admitted.

"What did she tell you?" Jewel asked.

"She knew I may not go back to Minnesota." Blu began. "She thought I might be happier here if we became mates. She thought I could have returned if we didn't get along. She said she didn't tell me because changes are hard for me. I guess she is right about that. She also said she wanted to save our species. Lastly, she told me they would have taken me from her if she didn't come with me."

Jewel seemed thoughtful for a moment and moved so that their sides touched. "Blu, I hardly know Linda, but she seems important to you," she said. "Sometimes life gives only bad options. It sounds Linda had such a choice," she continued. "It is still OK to feel bad when somebody lies to you," she assured.

"Thanks for listening and caring," Blu said.

"You're welcome," Jewel answered. "By the way, how did she know what you wanted to know?" She added.

"I asked by writing," Blu told her.

"You can write?" Jewel asked. "I have heard that some birds understand human language, but I have never heard about one, who writes," she added.

"I am not good at it but enough to communicate when gestures aren't enough," Blu informed.

"That is impressive," Jewel praised.

It occurred to Blu that while conservationists had a good cause, their work might negatively affect many individuals. He remembered some questions he had avoided.

"Jewel, when did humans capture you?"

"Almost a month ago," Jewel answered.

"Did conservationists capture you, or were you captured by poachers and then rescued from them," Blu asked, dreading the answer.

"I don't understand human talk, but I didn't see other captured birds where they kept me first. Everyone handling me seemed to get along, and I was brought here two days later," Jewel said. "I think they were all conservationists."

"I'm sorry," Blu said.

"It wasn't your decision," Jewel reassured Blu. "I am still angry with them, but it helps a little to know why," she continued.

There was a pause. "Hey, do you know how to crack shells of nuts?" Jewel asked.

"No," Blu admitted.

"Come, and I show you," Jewel offered. She then led Blu to a cup containing nuts. There were both shelled and unshelled nuts of several kinds to choose from. Jewel picked a relatively easy one and started her demonstration.

In the afternoon, Tulio brought them new fresh food and water cups. This time Linda didn't come in with him. Tulio also gave Jewel pain medicine which went smoothly because Blu explained the situation and encouraged Jewel.

The lights had already dimmed slightly during the day, and sometime after they had eaten, the lights started to get dimmer more rapidly. Jewel wondered about the change in timing. The birds moved to the highest perch in the cage and talked about the last days until they said good night and started to sleep.

There was a dim light when Blu woke up. He looked at Jewel, who looked pretty as she still slept. He carefully moved farther from Jewel, moved his wings, and noticed that his flying muscles felt alright. The previous evening they had felt sore after he had pushed them hard after the fall. His inner clock indicated that it was about 6 am. They had almost slept around the clock. As he watched around him, the lights went a little brighter, and moments after that, Jewel opened her eyes, looked around her, and smiled at him.

The birds looked at the food cups. Several kinds of dry foods were available, but all the fresh food was from the previous day, and there wasn't much left. Jewel told Blu that humans had so far given her fresh food twice a day. They felt it would be better to wait for it instead of filling themselves immediately with what was available.

Later in the morning, Tulio and Linda came in with new cups of water and fresh food and switched them with the old cups taking the leftovers away. Linda then stepped back, looking hesitant. Blu gestured for her to come closer. Blu pointed at a small door in the cage. Linda opened it and held her hand for Blu to step up. Blu did it and received head scratches and a warm smile from her. After a while, Blu turned his head towards Jewel. Linda lowered Blu to the door, and he went back inside. Two macaws then started eating breakfast.

After eating, they climbed around the cage without hurry.

"Blu, I haven't seen you fly even once after we came here," Jewel noted in a worried voice. "Are you okay?"

"Of course I am okay," Blu assured. "But I don't want to remind you that you are not allowed to fly."

"I definitely won't forget it," Jewel stated. "So, do you feel confident about your flying ability now?"

"Why would I not be confident?" Blu asked. "Honestly? not very confident," He then admitted.

Jewel looked at him, worried. "Did you hurt yourself yesterday when you flew?"

"Only some soreness on muscles. I feel better already," Blu assured.

"You know, sometimes parrots protecting those important to them do uncanny things," Jewel said. "Carrying me was an incredible feat, but I would still like you if you weren't a master flier. You flew once and are going to fly again," Jewel assured. "Looking back, Rafael's plan to get you to fly was quite reckless," Jewel said. "I will coach you, and I won't ask you to jump from the highest perch as a first step. This cage doesn't have room to accelerate to cruise speed. Instead, you must practice flying slowly, which is a basic skill and will also train your muscles."

Blu felt relief that Jewel didn't mock his lack of confidence and seemed to have a plan.

"You need to actively push air downwards to get enough force upwards when you fly slowly," Jewel instructed. "Of course, a bird rarely produces force just upwards. You produce forward force to speed up and backward force to slow down before landing," she added. "Start by perching and using your wings to produce force upwards. Keep your grip on the perch until you get the right feel," she continued.

Blu chose a perch that wasn't too close to the grid and was thin enough to grip. Before starting, he recalled his past and felt quite foolish. He had flapped his wings while perching in the past, but he had always concentrated on producing force forward instead of upwards. Some upward force was created as a byproduct but not enough, as he had found out when Tulio threw him. He had browsed a book about flight theory at some point, and it had likely just made things harder. Even after failing the day he met Tulio, he studied the book again. The book told about planes, and he was a bird.

Blu adjusted his position and started to flap his wings with low power, trying to feel forces and moments on his wings. He thought he was progressing and gradually increased the power of his flapping. The pressure on his feet started to decrease, and in the end, he felt he could lift off if he let go of the perch. "Jewel, I think I got this.", he said.

Jewel looked a little surprised by that. Then she went to the towel that had been left in the cage. "Come and help me move this thing!" she asked. Jewel started to drag the towel, Blu followed her lead, and soon the towel was spread on the floor, perpendicular to the cage. Jewel then climbed on a wooden shaft close to the opposite wall and gestured Blu to follow.

"Your next task is to make slow descent aiming at the center of that fabric," Jewel told.

"Ok, I can do it. Lift, drag, thrust and weight," Blu babbled. He started to feel anxious like in the past when he had thought about flying.

"Oh, one more thing," Jewel said to Blu. He turned towards Jewel, who moved closer and kissed him quickly.

"That seemed to help last time," she reminded, and Blu felt less anxious.

Blu looked down. He would survive even if he just jumped, but naturally, he would try his best to do his task properly. He started flapping, made a little jump forward, and noticed that he fell slowly as he was meant to. He landed pretty close to the middle. "What next?" Blu asked.

"Well, get back here and repeat that until you get tired or bored," Jewel advised.

Blu made that controlled landing several times as he was advised. "Ok, I am starting to get bored. What should I do now?"

"See that perch at the opposite wall lower than this one?" Jewel inquired. "I want you to fly and land on it. If you overshoot, brake and grab the wall grid," she advised. "If you are going too low, decelerate early and land to that fabric. Remember to flap with enough power."

Blu looked towards the target and jumped forward. He flapped hard and hovered towards the target. He came in a little too fast but grabbed the post and kept his grip while restoring his balance. He turned towards Jewel. "Let me guess; I need to repeat that for a while?"

"Correct," Jewel answered.

Blu flew that little distance several times as he was advised. "Ok, I am getting bored again. What next?"

Jewel continued giving Blu new tasks. Most of them were a little more challenging than the previous one or sometimes just different. Blu repeated each task couple of times. It didn't take long for him to fly through the cage lengthwise and end up higher than where he started. Nothing he did was complicated for a typical parrot, but this was just the second time Blu had flown. Eventually, he had flown about three hundred meters in total.

"Aren't you getting tired at all?" Jewel asked.

"Now that you asked, a little," Blu admitted.

"Ok, that is enough for now," Jewel decided. "Well done. Now I am wondering: how?" she asked. "You seem to have normal instincts, and your muscles are in passable condition," Jewel stated. "How were you unable to fly earlier, and how have your muscles developed without flying?"

"The first thing I remember was the morning I was captured," Blu revealed. "I decided to try flying the first time, and just when I was about to jump from the branch, poachers came and started to capture birds with nets. I fell out of control and was captured. After that, I got anxious whenever I thought about trying to fly, and my body kind of froze. I also had some stupid ideas about how to approach flying."

"And your flying muscles?" Jewel inquired.

"Well, Linda encouraged me to flap my wings while perching. I think that has paid off," Blu said.

"So it seems," Jewel admitted. "You did well for your second time flying. Your last task, for now, is to check that your wing feathers aren't out of alignment."

Blu had gotten himself preened after practice. He was grateful to Jewel for her advice. As he looked at Jewel at his side, he realized he didn't know much about her life even though he felt drawn to her. At some point in his past, he had heard that one should get to know a potential partner at the beginning of a relationship.

Blu stepped away from Jewel and turned to face her. "Jewel, is it alright to ask how old you are?" he asked.

"Why wouldn't it be?" Jewel responded. "I am eleven. How about you?"

"I am fifteen," Blu informed. He thought it was nice that they didn't have a vast age difference. Blu wasn't sure about Spix's macaw life cycle but trusted they weren't too old to breed yet.

"You said earlier you had been alone for a long time. When did you last see other Spix's macaws?" Blu inquired.

"It has been five and half years," Jewel answered.

"That is a long time," Blu noted. "Did you have friends from other species after that?" he asked.

"Not really," Jewel answered. "I kept moving too much. I tried to find other survivors of my flock or any other Spix's macaws or a good territory to return to if I found others. At most, I had acquaintances," she continued. "What about you," she asked.

"Most wild birds around were disinterested, and some were mean to me," Blu said. "There was one other parrot I met occasionally. We weren't close friends, but it was still nice to talk with her from time to time," he continued. "What happened to your flock?" he then asked.

"A forest fire destroyed our territory and lots of area around it," Jewel revealed. "I had gone exploring alone and survived. Afterward, I couldn't find any of my flockmates, but I kept hoping that some of them survived and just flew too far away for me to find them," she continued.

Jewel explained that she saw survivors from other species. If there were enough survivors, overcrowding around the burned area could lead to fights for resources. The dominant parrot species in the area were blue and yellow macaws, which were huge compared to Spix's macaws. Other survivors of her flock may have decided to fly farther away to avoid fights against them and then continued further, hoping to find a decent territory.

"Did you see other Spix's macaws before they captured you?" Jewel asked in turn.

"No," Blu answered. "but I don't think I was hungry, so my parents had probably fed me recently," Blu answered. "Did you ever have kids?" he asked. "Or thought about having?" he added.

"I never had kids," Jewel answered. "I had a boyfriend and thought about chicks, but apparently, I wasn't yet physically mature at four. Next year, things didn't work out between us anymore, and we didn't become mates. Well before the next season, the forest fire happened."

"Do you miss your boyfriend," Blu asked, worried about how he compared to him.

Jewel seemed surprised before answering. "You don't have to worry about him," she assured. "We had already separated before the fire. He should also be more than two thousand kilometers from here if he were still alive," she continued. "I still miss him little, but less now that I have you around," Jewel admitted after a pause. "I also miss my family and friends." She continued with a sad voice and expression.

Blu felt relief that Jewel didn't seem to miss her ex-boyfriend more or be traumatized by whatever had caused their breakup.

"Did you have many relatives?" Blu asked.

"I had my parents and four siblings," Jewel said. "I also had an aunt and a grandfather. My siblings also had some kids."

"Was your flock a big one?" Blu inquired.

"At the beginning of the breeding season, our number was usually more than 48. So it was pretty big, but it was the only Spix's macaw flock in the region," Jewel informed. "After chicks had hatched, our numbers were considerably higher, and then they gradually decreased during the rest of the year."

"It sounds that life was perilous if your number increased a lot during the breeding season but didn't grow in the long term," Blu noted.

"The first year or two are perilous for young parrots," Jewel admitted. "Those who survive them have a decent chance of surviving to old age. And even though there were dangers, my parents had managed to raise three of us to maturity and had still young ones coming."

This answer made Blu shiver. Jewel had wanted him to follow her to the wild. He had been scared for his safety. The thought of having chicks and failing to keep them alive felt even scarier. Blu also had a nagging feeling that he was missing something important. "Did your number stay relatively stable year by year for a long time?" he asked after some thought.

Jewel looked uncomfortable about the question. "My flock lived in a vast rainforest," she began, "Our territory had abundant food in a small area but wasn't so good further from the center. The bigger the flock grew, the harder it was to find enough food to feed the chicks. We were outcompeted by blue and yellow macaws anywhere else in the rainforest. We were dependent on and limited by that small plentiful area that is gone now."

"If you depended on that area, how did you survive after the fire" Blu asked.

"A mature parrot may survive a long time in an area that is too poor for raising chicks," Jewel answered, looking and sounding nervous.

Blu had expected Jewel to suggest escaping together after her wing had healed and thought she had a plan for keeping him alive once outside. However, Blu started to suspect that Jewel didn't have confidence in their ability to raise their chicks successfully, and she was worried about his reaction.

Blu was distressed by the thought of dead chicks, but he didn't blame Jewel. Things in the wild were what they were. He asked himself how far he would go to be with Jewel and how far he would go to keep her happy, and he didn't have answers yet.

Blu wanted to show Jewel that he accepted her and cared for her. He moved closer to Jewel, reached with his beak, and started to preen her neck. Gradually Jewel's expression became calmer. They continued mutual preening of safe regions for a short while and ended it with a kiss that felt bittersweet for Blu.

The afternoon following Blu's first flying practice, he remembered something.

"Jewel, our friends: they probably think we are dead or in the hands of some cruel bird collector!" Blu suddenly said in a loud voice.

"What could we do?" Jewel asked. "We are stuck here," she reminded.

Author's notes:

Tulio's plan A required that Blu and Jewel liked each other. He hoped Linda would give up Blu voluntarily after seeing the last Spix's macaws were bonding, and the Brazilian ministry of environment would avoid legal fights and bad press. While Linda would miss Blu, she would be comforted by doing the right thing and Blu having gotten a mate.

Artificial insemination (AI) for Spix's macaws is a real thing and was an essential tool for turning a dire situation of the species into a more promising one. I believe the males used for AI were at least most of the time in the same facility as females and had a mate. Using frozen sperm collected from a male without a mate might not work.

Why is Tulio considering letting Blu return, then?

1. He is a kind person.

2. He likes Linda and wants her to like him.

3. He doesn't want bad press.

4. He realized Blu is intelligent enough to work against his plans if not treated right.

In Tulio's plan B, why would Jewel need to have a mate if they will use AI anyway?

Because she won't start to produce eggs without a mate.

Why would conservationists start AI only after the first egg?

Because they don't know the right time to fertilize the first egg. When they see a female parrot lay an egg, they know they have some time to fertilize the next one.

I know that in reality, Spix's macaws didn't live in a rainforest. Later chapters will clarify this oddity. I guess I was affected by Rio2, even though I decided not to be constrained by it.

I decided that Jewel was eleven. She has seen life but is still at her prime and has many fertile years ahead.