Amazon Adventures

Chapter Eighteen: Reach For The Skye

Tiago was flying through the Amazon, annoyed. He had wanted to hang out with his sisters that morning, but they already had plans; Carla was practicing her singing with Renaldo, and Bia was going to collect "specimens" (whatever those were) with Miguel. Tiago hadn't been pleased at what he saw as his sisters "blowing him off," to the point where he left the hollow in a huff.

"Dumb girls." He pouted. "Who needs 'em?"

As he flew across the jungle, he spotted something strange; a birdhouse-like structure was sitting on a tree branch, comprised of sticks and leaves.

"Whoa." Tiago flew down to examine it.

The structure seemed to be quite well-made, except for one twig sticking out of place, a single leaf hanging from it.

"Tsk, tsk." Tiago said, in a mock-highbrow voice. "Such shoddy construction."

Tiago pushed the twig in, so it was in perfect alignment with the others.

"Perfect." He said smugly.

There was a small creaking sound, and the structure suddenly fell apart.

"Whoops." Tiago gulped. "Time to fly!"

Tiago hastily flew away from the wooden mess. As he flew up above the canopy, he quickly looked back, trying to make sure no-one had happened on the mess yet. He then bumped into another bird, also in mid-flight.

"HEY!" The other bird yelled. "Watch where you're going!"

"No, you-" Tiago turned in the direction of the angry voice. All at once, he froze up. A pretty young Spix's macaw flapped in front of him, her amber eyes sparkling in the sunlight. Tiago's beak grew dry, and he felt an oddly warm sensation in his chest. "...You... you... okay?"

"I'm fine." She nodded. "Nothing bruised."

"Sorry about that." Tiago found himself apologising. "Totally my fault. I'm Tiago, by the way."

"Skye." The other macaw smiled.

"Whoa, cool name." Tiago declared.

"Thanks." Skye grinned. "Guess my parents wanted me to aim high."

Tiago laughed a little too hard.

'What is wrong with me?' He thought. 'It wasn't that funny!'

"You're alright, Tiago." Skye declared. "Wanna hang out?"

"Sure!" Tiago yelped. "I mean... sure, why not?"

"Great." Skye smiled. "How's your flying, by the way? When you're not crashing into other birds, I mean."

"I do okay." Tiago said proudly. "Watch this!"

Tiago flew upwards, then, closing his wings, dropped back down. Just as he was about to drop below the canopy, he opened his wings, and flew himself backwards to where he started.

"Not bad." Skye smiled. "My turn."

Skye flew up in a wide arc, then spun herself around. As she flew downwards, she performed corkscrews and loop-de-loops.

"Nice moves." Tiago admitted. "For a girl, I mean..."

"Funny." Skye rolled her eyes. "Hey, I've been working on something I think you'll like. It's this little fort I made out of sticks and twigs."

"Oh, really?" Tiago gulped, immediately making the connection.

"Yeah." Skye nodded. "I figured I could use a little hideaway. Somewhere I could watch all the other birds... and throw berries at birds I don't like from it. Cool idea, right?"

"Yeah, cool..." Tiago mumbled. He wanted to tell her the truth, but couldn't bring himself to.

As they descended on the tree, Skye spotted the wreckage of her fort.

"Oh no!" She gasped. "What happened?"

"Maybe the wind knocked it over?" Tiago suggested.

"Not a chance." Skye shook her head. "I built it here because there's not much wind. Someone knocked it over."

"Well, maybe that someone did it by accident." Tiago shrugged. "It's not like you can hold it against them..."

"Wait..." Skye caught the guilty look on Tiago's face. "You did this!"

"Well, yeah..." Tiago admitted. "But it was an accident! I just pushed this one leafy twig back into place, and it just fell apart!"

"That twig was supposed to be in place!" Skye snarled. "It was a load-bearing twig! It kept everything in balance, until you ruined it!"

"I didn't know!" Tiago protested. "I thought I was helping!"

"Well, you weren't." Skye glared at him. "You shouldn't have been touching it, anyway! It took me like, forever to put it all together, and now you've ruined it!"

"I said it was an accident!" Tiago glared back, annoyed.

"And I said you shouldn't have touched it!" Skye growled. "Why don't you just beat it? You've done enough damage here!"

"Whatever!" Tiago spat, as he flew away. "Your lousy fort is dumb, anyway!"

Tiago was still smarting over the incident as he returned to the hollow for lunch. The rest of his family were already there.

"Dumb girl..." He muttered. "Totally overreacted... her fort wasn't that great, anyway..."

"Something wrong, sport?" Blu asked, picking up on Tiago's not-too-quiet mumbling.

"Wha?" Tiago started, having been engrossed in his thoughts. "No, no, dad, I just..."

"Come on, son." Blu smiled. "You can tell me anything."

"Well... okay." Tiago sighed. "I ran into this bird named Skye this morning, and I thought she was pretty cool-"

"She, huh?" Carla smirked, suddenly interested in Tiago's tale. "Tiago's got a girlfriend!"

"I do not!" Tiago said hotly.

"Did I hear right?" Jewel smiled adoringly, having finished preparing lunch. "Has my little guy gotten his first crush?"

"No!" Tiago insisted. "Like I said, I thought she was cool, but then she totally lost it after I accidentally broke this dumb little fort she was working on."

"Oh, that's a shame." Blu frowned.

"A lover's spat, huh?" Carla snickered. "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll kiss and make up soon."

"I'm not in love with her!" Tiago grimaced. "Besides, she hates me, and I don't like her. Even if she's kinda fun... and has really neat eyes..."

"Really?" Bia smiled. "Say, that wouldn't happen to be her right outside, would it?"

"What, where?" Tiago turned around hopefully.

Bia and Carla burst out laughing.

"Oh, yeah!" Carla guffawed. "You got it bad, baby bro!"

"I do not!" Tiago yelled.

"Okay, girls." Jewel stepped in. "Leave your brother alone. It's time for lunch."

The females of the family moved to the next chamber to eat their berries. Tiago stayed where he was, pouting angrily.

"Tiago?" Blu asked.

"What?" Tiago crossed his wings.

"Did you happen to... apologise for knocking Skye's fort down?" Blu inquired.

"Why should I?" Tiago said petulantly. "I told her it was an accident, but she wouldn't listen! Dumb girl.."

"You know what I think?" Blu grinned. "I think you really do like this girl."

"Aw, not you too!" Tiago groaned.

"Would that be such a bad thing?" Blu asked.

"Uh, yeah!" Tiago declared. "I've seen how gross and mushy you and mom can get. I'm never doing any of that stuff, especially not with her!"

"You know, your mom and I weren't always 'mushy'." Blu remarked. "In fact, we couldn't stand each other at first."

"Really?" Tiago frowned.

"Yeah." Blu nodded. "Your mom didn't think much of me being a 'pet'. And to be honest, I was a little afraid of her back then."

"Just back then?" Tiago snickered.

"Watch it, little bird." Blu admonished him.

"So, what happened?" Tiago asked.

"Well, after we spent some time together, we started to see past each other's differences." Blu declared. "Before we knew it, we were in love. And... well, you knew the rest."

"So what?" Tiago snorted. "Like I said, I don't have a crush on Skye!"

"But you did say she was pretty cool." Blu recalled. "It sounded like you had fun with her."

"Yeah..." Tiago admitted.

"Then why don't you go and apologise to her?" Blu suggested.

"Me?!" Tiago spluttered. "But-"

"It's only fair." Blu told him. "You did knock down her fort, after all. And it'd be silly to stop being friends with someone just because of a little argument. It's the kind of thing you might end up regretting. Trust me, I know."

"Fine." Tiago sighed. "But after lunch, 'kay?"

"That's my boy." Blu smiled.

After lunch, Tiago grudgingly flew back to the tree Skye's fort was on. Skye was busy putting it back together. She narrowed her eyes at Tiago's return.

"Oh, it's you." She said, injecting venom into every syllable. "What do you want?"

"I wanted to say that I'm... I'm..." Tiago struggled with the words.

"You're what?" Skye asked.

"I'm sorry, okay?" Tiago sighed. "I'm sorry I wrecked your fort."

"Yeah, well... apology accepted." Skye shrugged. "But my fort's still in pieces."

"I could help you fix it." Tiago offered. "If that's okay."

"Sure, why not?" Skye shrugged. "Just try not to wreck it again."

"I'll try." Tiago nodded.

They went to work on the fort. Together, they were able to get it back to it's original shape by the end of the afternoon.

"Now for the load-bearing twig." Skye declared.

"Hold on." Tiago stopped her. "I think I know a way to make sure that stick sticks."

"Oh, yeah?" Skye asked. "How?"

"Like this." Tiago took the stick and slathered it in some nearby sap. "There. This'll help it stay where it is, in case some other bird-brain tries to mess with it."

"Pretty smart." Skye admitted, as she took back the stick and slotted it into place.

"Thanks." Tiago grinned. "So... friends?"

"...Friends." Skye nodded. "Come by tomorrow, and I'll show you how to have some fun with this thing."

"You got it." Tiago beamed.

The next day, Tiago returned to the fort.

"C'mon in." Skye urged.

Tiago went inside, spying a pile of berries in one corner.

"Lemme guess... ammo?" Tiago smirked.

"Oh, yeah." Skye nodded.

The two got into positions by the fort's spyholes, and waited. After a short while, Tiago spotted Antonio flying by.

"Target acquired." Tiago grinned. Picking up a berry, he threw the berry. It struck Antonio right on the back.

"Ah!" Antonio yelped, flapping in place. "What was that?"

"Nice shot." Skye sniggered. "My turn."

Skye threw her own berry, which splatted on Antonio's head.

"Yuck!" Antonio groaned. "Who's doin' that? Come out, ya cowards!"

Tiago and Skye pelted Antonio with more berries, forcing him to retreat.

"I'm outta here!" He yelped.

Tiago and Skye collapsed with laughter.

"Did you see his face?" Tiago guffawed.

"Priceless!" Skye cackled.

Tiago spent the rest of the week hanging out with Skye, hiding out in the fort, having flying contests, and playing soccer. With each passing day, the feeling he had been steadfastly denying grew stronger. One night, he managed to catch his dad alone, and talk to him about them.

"You know how you fell in love with mom?" Tiago asked. "Well, how did you... tell her?"

"I almost didn't." Blu chuckled, recalling all the events that got in his way. "There were a lot of distractions. But in the end, I just told her exactly how I felt. Simple as that."

"That's it?" Tiago asked.

"More or less." Blu shrugged. "Why do you want to know, all of a sudden?"

"Oh, no reason." Tiago shrugged. "Just curious."

"if you say so." Blu smiled knowingly.

The next day, Tiago met up with Skye at the clay bank.

"What do you want to do today, Ti?" Skye asked. "Soccer, maybe?"

"Yeah, sure." Tiago mumbled.

"What's wrong?" Skye asked.

"Skye, I..." Tiago shifted his talons awkwardly. "I... like you. A lot."

"Like me?" Skye repeated. "As in... 'like me' like me?"

"Yeah." Tiago admitted, wringing his wings. "I think you're pretty, and stuff... especially your eyes. They're really pretty."

"Oh, uh... thanks." Skye blushed.

"I was hoping that, maybe, we could be... y'know, boyfriend and girlfriend." Tiago said nervously. Unable to look at Skye directly, he gazed at the ground instead. "We could... hold wings, and stuff. If you don't think that's too mushy. If not, we could still be friends..."

Skye was silent for a short while. Tiago began to worry that he had ruined everything.

"...I'd like that." Skye said finally.

"You would?" Tiago turned to look at her, overjoyed.

"Yeah." Skye nodded. "I like hanging out with you anyway. Being boyfriend and girlfriend is kinda the same thing. Just with... extras."

To emphasise her point, Skye leaned forward and kissed Tiago on the cheek.

"I said 'hold wings'." Tiago rubbed his cheek. "But this works too."

"By the way, I like your eyes too." Skye giggled.

"You do?" Tiago smiled.

"Yeah." Skye grinned. "They're big and brown, like Brazil nuts. ...I like Brazil nuts."

Tiago smiled a goofy smile.

"So, uh... still up for that soccer game?" Skye asked.

"Oh, yeah." Tiago nodded. "But don't expect me to go easy on you, just because you're my girlfriend now."

"'Course not." Skye smirked. "You'd need to be at the top of your game to beat me, anyway."

"We'll see about that." Tiago smirked. "If I win, you give me another kiss."

"And if I win, you give me a kiss." Skye retorted.

"Deal." Tiago shook her wing. "Get ready to pucker up."

"You first." Skye shot back.

The two birds flew off, caught in the throes of puppy love.

To Be Continued...

(Rio 2 and all associated characters are the property of Blue Sky Studios and 20th Century Fox.)