"I can communicate with humans," Blu reminded Jewel before realizing something important. "Oh right, they couldn't tell my message to our friends," he noted. "Let me think. Could we find a way to speak to any bird that isn't stuck here?"

"What do they do with other injured birds?" Jewel asked.

"Oh, I think they will be released when they are healthy if there are no special circumstances," Blu answered. "Yes, we could ask Tulio to let us talk with a bird that is from nearby and will be released soon."

Soon Tulio was in the room looking at the notebook. "I am quite skeptical of your plan, but I will humor you," he said. "What species are your friends, by the way?" Blu answered by writing.

Toucan, canary, and
unknown
small
mostly gray
red head
crest

"Sounds like a red-crested cardinal," Tulio informed. "Alright, let me check our list of patients."

A while later, Tulio was carrying them. "Let's start with parrots," he suggested. "They should be smarter than average birds and hopefully willing to help other parrots. The one you will meet was found in a backyard exhausted and brought here soon after Jewel's surgery. We plan to release it tomorrow."

Soon Blu and Jewel were on a table beside a cage where a small green parrot perched. They greeted him, and Blu explained that humans intended to release the small parrot the next day. The Spix's macaws inquired if he could take their message to Rafael.

"I do owe you two a big favor, but what you ask would be a big risk for me," The small parrot answered. "You see, I am not from around here. I don't know safe places to rest and where to find food. I don't have any friends around watching my side. I don't have any idea where your friends live. I also have 120 km travel ahead of me alone to get home, and I would like to start it with full strength."

"Um, how do you owe us a favor?" Blu inquired.

"You don't remember me from the plane?" The small parrot asked in a disappointed voice. "I can't blame you. After all, you two are obviously something rare, and I am just a plain parakeet," he continued. "Literally, my species is called plain parakeet," he added in a deadpan voice.

"I'm kidding," the parakeet admitted after a pause. "I was in a cage among dozens of birds while you two were at the center of the action. I am not offended, for real. Sadly, the danger of delaying my travel home is not a joke."

"Okay, I don't want you to endanger yourself for a message, and I am happy to have helped," Blu said.

"Me too," added Jewel. "I hope you get home safely."

"I am grateful that you saved me," the plain parakeet stated solemnly. "My name is Fabio, by the way."

"What direction do you live, and could you tell specific things that help someone find there?" Blu inquired. Fabio gave directions to his home, and Blu started to write.

He is not local

Can you help
this parrot home?

He lives 120km away
Direction about 270 deg
Nature park

"If he is not local, how did he end in a backyard in Rio?" Tulio asked. Blu answered again.

He was on the plane

Tulio stared at the answer for a while with a puzzled expression. Eventually, he seemed to realize the meaning of the note.

"Do you mean the smuggler plane that took off from that small airport," Tulio asked. Blu nodded.

"Were you, Jewel, and this parakeet on board that plane and escaped during the flight?" Tulio asked, sounding a little shaken, and Blu nodded again.

For a moment, Tulio just stood there motionless. Then he took a deep breath, reread the note, and looked thoughtful for a moment.

"I guess I could take him there," Tulio said. "If someone wonders, I say I got a hint from an informant that he was captured there," he added. "I can't do it tomorrow, but I should be able to do it the next day," Tulio planned. "Maybe Linda would like to come with me."

Blu looked at Tulio for a moment wondering why Linda would go with him but decided not to ask. He informed Fabio that he would need to wait one day longer but would be released to the nature park where he lived. The smaller parrot thanked the Spix's macaws again.

Next, Blu and Jewel were brought to a medium-sized green parrot with some red patches. She seemed to be slightly shorter but heavier than them. Tulio had informed them that this one was a red-tailed amazon that got its foot stuck on a fence and would be released in two days.

"Hello, I am Blu, and this is Jewel. Do you happen to live in Rio," Blu asked.

"Hello, I am Adriana," the amazon parrot said. "I actually live on an island nearby but visit Rio and the surrounding area regularly. Do you know what is going on in this place?"

"Well, you are here to be treated after you got stuck, and these humans intend to release you in two days," Blu explained. "Jewel and I are here to ask you a favor."

"I would like to help you two heroes, but I would like to hear what kind of favor before giving any promises," Adriana answered.

"Were you on the smuggler plane too?" Blu asked.

"I wasn't, but the story of you freeing dozens of birds reached me here," she answered.

"We would like to send a message to our friends, Blu explained. "They are a Toucan named Rafael, who some call 'the king of carnival,' and a pair of singers named Nico and Pedro. They know each other, so getting the message to one of them should be enough."

"I know Rafael, and I occasionally forage near his home. I can do it," Adriana answered. "What kind of message should I take?"

"The first thing is that we, Blu and Jewel, are alive," Jewel answered. "If he doubts you, describing how we look should help."

"Jewel had a wing injury that humans are treating. She should fly again in a little over a month. Otherwise, we are healthy," Added Blu. "Oh, tell him also I finally learned to fly."

Blu stopped to think about what he should tell and what to avoid to keep Jewel from getting stressed.

"When do you think they will release you," Adriana asked.

There was a silence. Jewel lowered her head. "I don't think they will release us ever," she stated in a small voice.

"Why do you think so?" Adriana inquired in a worried voice.

"You see, we may be the last ones of our species alive," Blu informed. "They likely want us to stay and breed here."

"I am sorry about that. I hope you at least like each other," Adriana commented.

"I do like him," Jewel stated.

"Yeah, I like her too," Blu assured.

"I hope things will work out for you," Adriana said. "Should I tell Rafael about that problem?"

"I think telling him would be best, so he wouldn't wait for our visit," Blu decided. "Tell him also that we are otherwise treated well. Food is delicious here."

"We are grateful that you are willing to take our message," Jewel thanked Adriana.

"We really are," echoed Blu.

"I am happy to help you two," Adriana answered. She repeated the message to the Spix's macaws to ensure she wasn't leaving anything important out.

After the discussion, Blu wrote a note to Tulio.

She knows our friend

She promised
take the message

Thank you Tulio!

Tulio took them back to their room and stood by the cage for a moment, thoughtful. "You wrote 'he' and 'she,'" he noted. "Could you tell their gender?" he asked. Blu looked surprised and nodded.

"I couldn't," Tulio revealed. "Let's take you and Jewel as an example. You look more masculine than Jewel, but differences within each sex are bigger than the differences between them. I couldn't be sure without DNA tests."

It was the morning two days after the Spix's macaws returned to the Conservation Center. Tulio had brought them some food and given Jewel her pain medicine. After a while, he returned, carrying some papers and other things. He put a notebook and pencil on the table by the cage and opened the door next to the table.

"Blu, Linda said you don't remember your parents, but you remember getting captured as a chick. Is that correct?" Tulio inquired. Blu nodded twice.

"Can you tell if the area where you were captured looked more like this," Tulio started and showed a large picture of a forest with lots of green leaves. "Or this?" he continued showing another image of a dry-looking area with some old-looking trees beside a small river.

Blu pointed at the greener forest.

"I have questions for Jewel, and I hope you can translate," Tulio said. "Jewel was captured a little over a month ago. Did Jewel live her whole life in the wild before that?"

Blu talked with Jewel, then both parrots nodded.

"There were rumors about lonely Spix's macaw moving around for about two years before someone managed to take a decent photo," Tulio revealed. "Was she alone already two years ago?" he then asked. Again the parrots talked and nodded to Tulio.

"This picture is from Caatinga," Tulio said while pointing at the picture of a dryer area. "It has until recently been the only known territory of your species. Unfortunately, after 1987, only one male was left, and he disappeared in 2000."

"You two seem to come from elsewhere," Tulio revealed. "You pointed at a picture of an ordinary forest over Caatinga, and Jewel was found far from there. Your DNA tests also indicate that you came from populations separated from the Caatinga population for dozens of generations. To our relief, you two are also unrelated to each other."

Blu looked surprised. He walked to the table and wrote in the notebook.

When did you
take sample?

"Your DNA sample was taken about a year ago by your regular bird veterinary as requested by the Brazilian government," revealed Tulio. "Jewel was tested after she first arrived here."

Blu then remembered that the results from the routine checkup had included a "complimentary" test showing he was a male. He had already thought of himself as a male even before the test. Blu didn't like that Tulio had him DNA tested long before contacting Linda but realized that it had saved time when they found Jewel. There was another thing that bothered him.

What happened to
caatinga population?

"Herding, farming, and woodcutting have degraded the Caatinga ecosystem during the last centuries," Tulio informed. "Therefore, there was only a limited supply of food and nesting trees. You were thought to be rare already 200 years ago. Finally, poachers devastated the last known population there."

Why not
go other places?

"Scientists believe that your kind has adapted to Caatinga's specific ecosystem," Tulio revealed. "Outside that environment, you probably can't compete well with other parrot species. We were surprised about two additional populations."

Blu started to translate everything Tulio had revealed to Jewel. When Blu told her about Caatinga, she became more interested. She took a more extended look at its picture and informed Blu that her flock had old stories about their founders coming from that kind of place long ago. Blu made a short note about it in the notebook.

Next, Tulio opened a pouch containing roughly ellipsoid-shaped pieces of black glass.

"Blu, can you show how many years old you are with these?"

Blu started to pick and set the beads on the table. He put ten of them in one row with a slight gap in the middle and added five to the second row. Next, he moved away from the pouch and looked straight at Tulio.

"That matches what Linda told me," Tulio confirmed. "Could you ask Jewel how old she is and show me or even better, ask her to show me like that?"

The parrots talked briefly, and then Jewel looked straight at Tulio. She moved to the pouch, and without hesitation, she put eight pieces in one row with a small gap in the middle and then three in the second row. After that, both parrots seemed to look back and forth between piece groups with thoughtful expressions.

"11 years," Tulio noted. "Has she had any chicks or eggs in the past?"

Blu already knew the answer to this question but felt it would be rude to answer without translating the query to Jewel. After a short parrot talk, they shook their heads.

"How many years ago did Jewel last see other of your species?" Tulio asked, and Blu, again knowing the answer, translated the question to Jewel, who suddenly stiffened.

"Don't tell him!" Jewel warned Blu, turned, and walked back to the cage. Blu stood in place, feeling confused.

"I guess that is enough questions for now. Hopefully, you can cheer her up." Tulio said. Soon Blu was back inside the cage with Jewel.

After the door closed behind Tulio, Jewel turned and started to climb. She perched and looked at Blu. Blu followed her up and perched beside her, their sides touching lightly. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"I have a wing fracture, and I am in captivity. Otherwise, there aren't any new problems," Jewel answered. "I just realized that if some of my flock-mates are still alive, they wouldn't like if my answers lead them to be captured."

"Would you tell me more about your flock?" Blu asked.

"Can you promise that you tell Tulio only what I consider safe to tell about my flock?" Jewel asked.

"I promise," Blu assured. "How did your founders end up in the rainforest from Caatinga?" he asked.

"It all began several hundreds of years ago," Jewel began. "Humans had started cutting nesting trees in Caatinga and already caused some overcrowding. A group of volunteering young pairs was gathered from several flocks to seek new territory from far away regions. They waited for a strong tailwind before starting their journey, and they were soon far from home," she continued. "Eventually, they were flying over a huge rainforest."

"As I mentioned earlier, blue and yellow macaws were the dominant parrot species in that part of the rainforest," Jewel reminded. "However, a disease had killed lots of them recently, and our ancestors managed to find and populate that small area with excellent food sources. It didn't take long before the flock had grown to fill the area. After settling in, our flock never heard of other flocks of Spix's macaws or managed to start new flocks elsewhere," Jewel added.

"So it was human's fault that our ancestors ended in the rainforest," Jewel said. "They likely also started the fire that burned our territory because humans start most forest fires, and they took me far from my flockmates if any of them are alive," she added.

Blu didn't know what to say.

"I can see now that humans aren't all bad, but as a whole, they cause lots of destruction around them," Jewel added. Blu couldn't argue.

"You tried to find your flock mates after the fire, didn't you?" Blu asked.

Jewel informed Blu that even though birds can fly away from dangers, they are also very vulnerable to smoke. Therefore all of her flock might have died, but it was also possible that most of them had survived. She had flown along the edge of the burned area but didn't see any of her flock members. Instead, she saw many blue and gold macaws, who looked hostile but let her pass.

Jewel started to follow search patterns around the burned area, trying to call her flock regularly. She gradually moved farther and farther from the center and continued for over a year without getting an answer. If there were any other survivors, they had flown far.

After going through the rainforest for so long, Jewel was discouraged. She hadn't found any outstanding areas during her long search. Even if there were other survivors, it seemed unlikely they had found a suitable territory. She decided to fly farther from their old area and try to collect information about vegetation and parrot populations in the wider region.

Many areas she saw were good enough to sustain her, but she wasn't confident they could feed a larger group with chicks. Far from her flock's territory, the parrots she talked to had never heard of Spix's macaws or only remembered old rumors pointing to their lost territory. Eventually, Jewel lost hope but still flew around and asked questions because she didn't have a better idea of what to do with her life. In the end, she was captured by humans.

"Those years alone must have been tough for you," Blu empathized.

"It was hard, but I got used to it," Jewel said. "Now that I have spent time with you and look back, it feels worse than I realized at the time."

"What can I reveal to Tulio, and what I should keep secret?" Blu asked.

"Let me think," Jewel asked and was silent for a while. "Don't take offense that I won't tell you directions to our old territory. It makes not telling easy. You likely wouldn't travel there anyway. Don't tell him the year of the forest fire. It might narrow his search too much," she requested. "Don't tell why I didn't have chicks either," Jewel warned. "I don't think other details would help him find my flock," Jewel said. "Please be wary of questions about my youth or forest fires in general. He may try to make you say too much," Jewel finally warned.

"You don't trust Tulio?" Blu asked.

"I believe he wants to keep me healthy and save our species. Freedom of an individual parrot is less important to him," Jewel answered.

"I have always trusted Linda and people she lets near me. I can see now that things can be more complicated," Blu admitted.

It was the late afternoon of the third day for Blu and Jewel back in the Conservation Center. They had just come into a room carried by Tulio with "Bird shower" text on the door.

The room looked like a large bathroom except for a raised platform with a metal surface beside one wall. At the edge of the platform, there was a railing. At one end, there was a rectangular recessed area. A low perch was set up within it, and there was a drain at the opposite end. A shower system was set up on the wall so that the droplets would come to the perch diagonally.

Tulio put the carrier on the platform opposite end from the showerhead. He took a clean towel from the cabinet, folded it once, and put it on the platform before letting the parrots out. "Jewel first," Tulio said, pointing towards the perch. Blu said something, and Jewel started to walk towards the perch. The lowered rectangle and the perch weren't too high for her to get down and up without help. After perching, she looked at Tulio.

Tulio adjusted the shower head to point down and turned some knobs, and water droplets started to fall without reaching Jewel. He tested the water temperature and then turned the spray towards her. The droplets from the showerhead were tiny, making it almost mist-like. Jewel sighed as the warm water reached her.

The water flowing down was quite dirty. Even after preening, the Spix's macaws had some dirt on them from their adventure.

Blu was watching Jewel in the shower. He wondered if he should look away, but he couldn't. Jewel moved elegantly and seemed to enjoy herself, and the water dropless shimmered as they rolled down her feathers.

Blu wondered if Jewel noticed him looking and would it bother her. On the other hand, the only way he knew how not to look would be to turn his back on Jewel. That might lead to questions. Maybe it was just natural for birds to bathe in the view of others, and maybe there wasn't anything wrong with looking.

Blu then saw Jewel lifting her tail to get water under it. Even though she had her head towards him, he felt his cheeks burning. "Please don't turn red," he thought. Blu thought Jewel hadn't used a human-made shower before, but she seemed to get it fast. Soon the water had reached every side of her.

"That's enough," Tulio said quite soon. While Jewel didn't understand English or other human languages, the tone and the context helped. She turned and started to stroll toward Blu while looking at Tulio. When Tulio didn't indicate she had misunderstood, Jewel walked the rest without hesitation.

Blu walked to the perch under the shower and started to move himself to get water everywhere. He was also enjoying this shower. He shook his wings and body, which Jewel wasn't allowed to do. He glanced at Jewel to see if she was watching and noticed that she looked at her wings with an annoyed expression. She didn't dare to shake because of the fracture.

She then noticed the towel. She got on her back and spread her wings and tail. She laid there for a moment. Next, she rolled on her stomach and started to turn herself to get her chest and abdomen drier.

After some rolling, she stood up and looked under her wings. Tulio approached slowly and grabbed an edge of the folded towel. He raised it to about 10 cm in height. Jewel looked at that for a couple of seconds, head tilted. Then she lifted her wing, moved closer, and closed her wing over the towel. After a short wait, she raised her wing, moved, turned, and raised the other wing. Tulio switched to a drier part of the towel, and Jewel closed her other wing over it.

Jewel was now much drier than just after the shower and seemed content. The air in this room and their cage was warm, so she wouldn't get too cold before drying up completely.

Blu realized that he had stood still while watching Jewel drying herself. He quickly did some turns to get water again on the other sides of him. He then noticed Jewel looking at him. She seemed pretty happy and relaxed. There wasn't anything in her expression that hinted that the situation wasn't perfectly natural.

Suddenly he felt a grin spreading on his face behind his beak. His earlier thoughts felt funny now. He didn't feel shame anymore. "I am a bird, and I am in love!" he thought.

He stepped away from the shower and shook himself vigorously while trying to direct the spray away from Jewel. He then walked towards Jewel with determination. He stopped close in front of her. Then slowly, he moved to kiss her, and she responded. It was a long kiss and made him feel warm and content.

Eventually, the kiss ended. Blu turned his eye toward Tulio and saw him smiling warmly at them. Blu looked at him and smiled as well. Then he realized that a human might not recognize the expressions on parrot faces. He used a more unmistakable message and made stationary flapping motions with his wings while looking at Tulio. Jewel looked at him with amusement and followed his example more slowly because of the fracture.

Tulio closed the shower. "You seem to have enjoyed your showers. Are you ready to go back?" After a short parrot talk, they nodded. Soon they were back in the cage.

The evening came, and the lights were already dim. Blu reflected on the last days. There hasn't been a significant moment of decision, but he felt like he had slowly drifted towards acceptance that he wouldn't leave Jewel as long as things between them were going well. Blu expected to miss Linda a lot, but he believed he would survive when she returned home.

He was surprised at how fast he had fallen in love and believed Jewel felt the same. He thought it might result from meeting a member of the same species for the first time in years and all the dangers they had shared. It didn't hurt either that Jewel and he were intelligent and healthy, excluding the fracture, and Jewel was also beautiful.

Blu turned towards Jewel and looked straight at her. Jewel also turned, facing Blu. Blu looked into her eyes. "Jewel, I love you."

"I love you too, Blu," She answered and kissed Blu. They moved to perch side by side, and for a moment, Jewel pressed herself against Blu tighter than she had before. That night the last known Spix's macaws slept well.

Author's notes:

I must resist proofreading software repeatedly to keep Blu's written English at the level I feel is suitable for the story. My idea is that Blu can use common word combinations as building blocks. Therefore, he could write things like "He is not," "Can you help," or "On the plane." "Can you help him" with two pronouns was too much, so he wrote, "Can you help this parrot."

Tulio let Blu and Jewel use Go stones to show their ages. Why didn't he ask Blu to write?

Tulio hasn't tested Blu's ability to write numbers or limits of communication between Blu and Jewel. He considers it likely that they are capable but sees counting physical items as a universal skill and a more reliable way for now. He also wanted to see Jewel answer in a way that didn't require interpretation.

I got the idea that Blu has learned the decimal number system from humans, and Jewel has learned the octal number system from her flock. Therefore, they put different numbers of stones on the first row.