It was getting light by the time Roberto neared the ravine. He had left shortly after Sophia had gone to talk to Victoria, and the rain was now light, the wind breezy instead of gale-force. Sunlight poured over the Amazon, a soft golden light casting through the trees, tinting it the colour of pale honey. The light hit the abundant puddles and rain drops, sparkling and sending tiny rainbows radiating into the air. Despite the beautiful morning, Roberto sensed that more rain was to come. There were still grey clouds creeping across the sky, but despite the thought of more storms, his heart felt light.
He wasn't sure what it was. He just couldn't get that voice out of his head. Sophia sure was something - she always had been different, but when he thought about her now, the image of her was stuck in his mind. How he longed to talk to her now. The rain pattered gently on his feathers, with the humidity making his feathers go fuzzy, but he couldn't be in higher spirits.
"Thank goodness!" Boomed a voice. Roberto looked up, and saw Eduardo perching on a branch, looking annoyed. At first Roberto thought it was because of him, but then he heard a complaining voice. Zenaida! Roberto was briefly shocked to see the elderly female with Eduardo. She was ill; why was she out here, in the rain, as gentle as it was? She should be in her nest, recovering from her stubborn cough. He was more so confused as to why they were both out here, together - Zenaida and Jewel's family had never got along. He remembered from his first day in the tribe as a chick, when Mimi and Tia - Jewel's deceased mother - had been talking about Zenaida. Zenaida had made a remark about Mimi's head feathers. Meanwhile, Eduardo looked relieved to see him. "You've been gone all night - in a storm like that. Whatever possessed you?"
"Did you see Sophia?" Zenaida asked, somewhat anxiously. The golden-eyed female coughed a few times, before going on, clutching her throat. "Jespa told me she snuck out of the ravine, covered in leaves." She looked irritated at this thought. "Why did she go out in such horrendous conditions?"
"What?" Roberto blinked, but then he remembered what Sophia had pleaded him not to do. Zenaida and Jespa could never know - why, exactly, he was unsure of. "Er... no, I haven't seen her." He lied, but Roberto had never been a very good liar. Zenaida narrowed her eyes, but didn't speak. Instead, she started spluttering again. Eduardo and Roberto flew backwards a little to distance themselves from Zenaida. But then there was a rustle from the trees - an unwelcome appearance.
"Mother! What are you doing out here?" Jespa appeared like a lightning bolt from the leaves. He glared accusingly at Roberto and Eduardo, as if blaming them for Zenaida being outside. Eduardo's pale green eyes flashed with impatience.
"For your information, Jespa, she insisted on accompanying me on finding Roberto and Sophia." Eduardo informed him. Jespa's eyes flashed like how Eduardo's had.
"I told you not to waste your time." He whirled around to Zenaida. "If Sophia wants to go out into the storm of the decade like some lunatic, let her." Zenaida's face twisted in some form of pain, but Roberto sprang to answer.
"She's no lunatic, Jespa." Roberto leapt to Sophia's defence. "She's brilliant." Jespa froze. He turned slowly, eyes slitted with suspicion and hostility.
"'Brilliant?' Have you lost the plot?" Jespa snarled. "Where's your evidence?" Roberto almost blurted it out, but held it back. Jespa hissed at him. "You might want to watch yourself around her - she's not as sweet as she makes out."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Roberto asked, feathers beginning to bristle. He was disgusted by the utter disrespect Jespa expressed for his own sister.
"Leave it!" Zenaida interrupted. "Jespa, go home. I need fresh air, anyway - Mateo thinks it'll clear my lungs."
"No, mother - you go home and rest. I will find my reckless sister." Jespa said, totally ignoring Zenaida's last sentence, saying the last part rather bitterly. Zenaida sighed, before admitting defeat, turning and flying away in anger. Roberto was confused by their relationship - Jespa didn't treat his mother that well, but he still loved her dearly - maybe a bit too much. Zenaida did love her son - Jespa was certainly a macaw only a mother could love - but she criticized her children a lot. Eduardo was about to speak to Jespa, possibly to reprimand him for his comment, but then the worry in his expression drained completely.
"Sophia - such a relief to see you safe and well." Eduardo sighed. Roberto turned around, once again feeling that bizarre new feeling of warmth. Sophia, feathers fluffy and tousled from sleep and the weather, glided through the trees, landing on the branch beside them. Eduardo looked worriedly at the scoremarker. "Whatever came over you, to leave in that weather?"
"Oh, I... wait, how did you know I left?" Sophia asked, but then she saw Jespa. Her relaxed expression fell. "Oh." She said, in a small voice. "You saw me go."
"Eduardo!" Mimi's voice then interrupted, from some distance away. "You're needed in the ravine - one of those little snakes got into a hollow again!" With that, Eduardo left, leaving Roberto, Jespa and Sophia alone on the branch.
"Well, thanks to your stupidity, our frail mother just risked her health coming out here to search for you." Jespa's harsh voice broke the silence. Roberto turned in surprise, shocked by the acidity of Jespa's voice. Then he recalled what Sophia had told him last night - he wasn't right in the head. The coldness of his words made Sophia flinch, and Roberto felt an overwhelming desire to defend her from her brother's words, but his brain didn't react. He was too occupied in watching the scene unfold to act.
"Jespa, I'm sorry, I just -" Sophia tried to protest, but then Jespa's wing darted out, seizing her wing in the middle joint. Sophia jumped out of her skin at this action, and she frantically tried to dislodge her brother's grip. She didn't look too shocked - maybe it wasn't the first time, but regardless, she looked afraid. "Jespa, I was just -" her eyes were round with fear, and no matter how much she shook her wing, Jespa's tight grasp didn't loosen.
"That's no excuse! Zenaida's sick, how could you be so selfish?" Jespa demanded, his feline-amber eyes burning with fury. Meanwhile, Roberto came to his senses - disgust and horror flowed through him as he saw the grip Jespa had on Sophia's wing. He lunged forward.
"Let her go, Jespa!" He grabbed Jespa by the wing, wrenching it from Sophia's. Sophia took a step back, clinging onto the part of her wing Jespa had grabbed, pain twisting her face. Jespa shoved Roberto in the chest, so heavily he almost fell back.
"What's your problem? This is none of your business!" Jespa literally spat at him, spittle flying. "She's my sister, I'll say or do whatever I like."
"It is my business when you're grabbing her wing like that!" He retorted, shoving Jespa back. Jespa's wing rose, to hit him, but Sophia shoved herself between them, wings up to block the swipe.
"Stop it!" She hissed. "Jespa, just go away. Please." Jespa stood there for a couple of moments, wing trembling, clearly tempted to bring it down. But after a few terrifying moments, it went slack.
"Alright." He said, in a surprisingly calm voice. Sophia and Roberto both looked at one another, with Sophia sighing and shaking her head. She then pushed past him, covering her face, and flew into the trees. Roberto went to follow her, but then something seized him by the shoulder. Jespa froze him in the icy depths of his amber eyes. "Be careful around her. She may look like an angel..." he paused, and Roberto stared at Jespa. "But she sure isn't one." Jespa then let go of his shoulder, before turning and flying away in an eerily calm manner, leaving him lost for words.
Roberto continued to stare after Jespa, with utter shock. His shoulder thudded from Jespa's grip, and he glanced down to make sure it wasn't bruised - then he felt a pang of worry, remembering how Jespa had grabbed Sophia's wing in the same way. He whirled around, as swiftly as he could, to catch up with Sophia.
Meanwhile, a pair of narrowed eyes glowed from some leaves. Jespa's icy stare fixed on Roberto as he left, then he hissed in a grating voice. "I'll be watching you, Roberto." Jespa snarled to himself. "I will be watching him, won't I?" He wasn't talking to himself now - talking to the empty space beside him. In his mind, he wasn't alone, but to anyone else, he stood there, talking to thin air. "And I'll be watching her, too."