A lone female Hyacinth Macaw paced back and forth on the extended right arm of the Christ the Redeemer statue. The sun was now high in the morning sky. The wind lightly brushed the ocean blue feathers of this macaw. She saw the sky in front of her through her hazel eyes. She huffed.

"Oh, where is he? We agreed at nine-thirty. It's already…um…"

She looked down at her wing as she lifted it towards her face. She soon realized something and half-closed her eyes, dropping her wing.

"That's right. I don't have a watch."

She widened her eyes and stretched her wings.

"Maybe his lady friend said no, or that crazy bird doctor is checking him."

She shivered a bit.

"Humans with their tools of examining. Ughh. It's so sickly. Every time someone tells me about that place, it's so disgusting. A tube shouldn't go up there."

She looked around and saw no sign of Blu. She did see some birds, but she identified them as pigeons, Scarlet Macaws, and parrots. She crossed her wings.

"To keep a girl waiting is so absurd."

"Hey Flor."

She flinched at the male voice and turned around. Blu smiled at her.

"Sorry I'm late. I got let out kind of late. Oh, and I'm sorry for startling you."

"But how did you get here? I didn't see you."

"You were looking only at towards the west. The sanctuary is towards the east."

Flor narrowed her eyes, blushing out of embarrassment.

"… Just tell me where we should start at."

Blu began to think. He lifted his head up slightly as he was deep in thought. He smiled when he figured out what he wanted to do first. He looked down at Flor.

"Well, food is pretty important. Usually, I'm just given food, assuming it's good, but how can I tell a good one from a bad one?"

Flor put her right wingtip under her beak, tapping it. She then put her wing down as she thought of an idea.

"I guess the food market would be a good place to start. The venders sell both good and rotten fruits."

Blu was appalled by this.

"And they get away with this? Don't you guys have an FDA?"

"The what?"

"The Food and Drug Administration."

"No, but I think we have a Wal-mart."

Blu sighed. He slightly shook his head.

"Never mind. So, which food market are we going to?"

"The one near the streets that touch the beach. Have you been there before?"

"Well, I've been in one. I was lead into a club that was in the food market."

"That's the one. Well, there used to be a club, but the last time I heard about it, it was attacked by marmosets. It seemed they were looking for two blue birds."

Blu gulped, remembering the events of the marmosets' attack. He smiled nervously.

"Yeah. That is strange, but let's just get going. I need to get back by one."

"Alright."

The two birds flapped their wings and took to the skies.

Jewel looked at her surroundings. The streets of Rio were booming on this Saturday. The sun was beaming down, and no clouds were present to potentially ruin the day. She saw some Scarlet Macaws in the distance, flying above her. It would had been freer, but she was instantly reminded that she was behind bars, being carried by Linda. She sighed.

Well, she understood why she was in a cage. Not only did it make Linda's life easier to watch her, but it protected her wing from the outside world. Still, it felt embarrassing to be outside in public in a cage. As birds around her were flying freely, she was caged up like an animal.

They neared the bookstore, which bordered a beach. It cost a hearty amount to buy this building, but business was always booming. Most of the clients were here for peace and quiet…and Linda's famous hot chocolate and coffee. Even the local Starbucks couldn't compete.

Linda set the cage down as she stood in front of the door of the bookstore. As she fidgeted her purse to find her keys, Jewel looked at the beach before her. She smiled as the ocean breeze kissed her feathers. She looked up in bliss, but her face turned tightened a bit. She saw two blue birds in the distant, coming in for a landing. They vanished behind some buildings. Jewel knew that the street they presumably landed in was the food market, the one where she met Nico and Pedro.

She would've just shrugged it off, but something about the two blue birds annoyed her. It seemed that it was one female and one male. She couldn't tell what kind of blue birds they were, but she had only seen one pair of blue birds: Blu and herself.

Linda picked up the cage after she had opened the door. They walked into the bookstore, and Linda closed the door behind her. Linda set Jewel's squared cage on the polished wooden counter and opened the cage for her. Jewel walked out and squawked. Linda smiled.

"You're welcome, Jewel. Now, I'm going to make some hot chocolate. You want some?"

Jewel nodded.

"Well, it seems that a certain blue bird got you hooked too," she joked.

Linda walked off and disappeared behind the door next to the wooden counter and desk. Jewel had watched her and the looked out the window from where she stood. She rubbed her neck lightly, thinking about the two blue birds.

"That's…that's impossible. That couldn't have been Blu…could it?"

She tapped her wingtips nervously in front of her.

"Of course not. I'm…I'm just over reacting. Blu wouldn't cheat on me. Well, we only met recently and I'm kind of grounded here. What if he got bored with me of being grounded and met some bird… No, I'm overreacting. I trust him. He's probably back in the bird sanctuary, waiting for me. I have nothing to worry about…I hope."

Blu and Flor landed on a carpeted roof of one of the fruit stands. Flor looked over at him.

"I think this one is good."

She walked over to the edge of the fruit stand and peeked over. Fruits this vender was selling ranged from cajus to melao. Flor noticed the vender was manning the stand behind his fruits that were displayed in nice, small wooden crates. She looked around and noticed that his old Ford pickup truck had more fruits. He wasn't looking at that as he tried to advertise. Flor smiled and looked back at Blu.

"Follow me."

The two birds flew down to the truck and landed on its bed. In front of them was a pile of unorganized fruits. Flor started to climb this hill of fruits. A few tumbled down Blu's way. He played Donkey Kong as he tried to avoid the fruits that rolled like barrels. He dodged all five of them. He smiled in victory.

"Catch."

Blu looked up to see a maca falling his way. It bounced off Blu's head and rolled slightly to his side. Flor saw this and flew down to confront him.

"Blu, are you okay?"

Blu rubbed his head.

"Now I know how Newton felt like."

Flor looked at him curiously.

"Who's Newton?"

"He's," he began, but he figured not to talk about it since it might confused Flor. "Never mind."

Flor shook her head and walked up to the apple. She picked it up and showed Blu.

"Alright. Let's begin. This is a maca, an apple basically. Notice the bright red and yellow layered mix to it. This is a good maca. Also, you should check for hardness. You don't want a mushy apple."

"Oh, alright. Maca, got it."

Flor set the apple down and walked back to the pile. She didn't have to go far. She noticed some ripped green bananas. She figured she should show Blu.

"This is a banana."

"I kind of already know what a banana is."

"Yes, but this one is ripped. It's not ready, but some like these kinds of bananas, I don't know why. Some like it stiff while others like it a little soft, but still hard."

"Do different bananas have different taste?"

"The soft, but hard, yellow ones allow the nectar to have a different flavor when you chew on it."

"Okay. Bananas, check."

Flor set the banana down next to the apple and started to climb up the pile of fruits. She only reached a quarter way up when she saw something green. She got it and slid down the pile of fruits. She stopped only centimeters away and looked up at Blu. Her face was very close to underneath his belly. Embarrassed, she quickly got up.

"Oh, sorry."

Blu nodded.

"So, um, what is that?"

Flor presented the small melon to Blu.

"This is my favorite fruit. This is a goiaba. It's like a little watermelon. They came with either white or red fruit flesh inside."

Blu extended his wing out and grabbed the melon.

"Mm… A mini watermelon."

"This one is ready. It's lightly green on its shell, so it is ready. I'll probably take that one home with me tonight."

"Flor, can I ask you something?"

Blu set the fruit down.

"Why did you agree to help me, a complete stranger?"

"The same reason why you told a complete stranger what was going on in your life? You were seeking someone that cared. Well, I was too. I've been always told that I've been a dunce. Only my looks could get a guy attracted to me."

She looked down.

"I guess I just want to prove to everyone that I'm more than a pretty bird."

Blu smiled.

"Don't listen what they say, Flor. You've convinced this bird you are smart."

Flor looked up and returned the smile at Blu.

"Thanks, Blu… So, where was I?"

"We just finished with the miniature watermelon."

"It's a goiaba, Blu," giggled Flor. "Now, let's continue with the uva."

After forty-five more minutes, Blu was finally getting the hang of it. Usually, heavily shelled fruits were bad when they were squishy when softer shelled fruits were bad when they were too soft and had a small rotten smell to them. He easily processed all the information and stored it into the data banks of his bird brain. Flor huffed in satisfaction.

"Well, I guess that's it. Did that help, Blu?"

"Very much. Now, I won't look like a dork when I'm looking for food."

Flor slightly smirked at his comment.

"That's good. So, what else do you want to know about?"

"Well, the jungle basically."

"Alright. If you're up to it, I can take you around tomorrow."

Blu nodded.

"That's sounds good. I'm pretty sure I can get out. I'll meet you at ten at the statue."

Flor grinned.

"Well, I'll be waiting for you there, but don't make me wait too long. I'll see you then."

"Bye Flor."

The blue birds flapped their wings and flew back home, each departing in the opposite direction of the other one.