A/N: Thanks for reading all of you, I hope you like it so far. Though these may seem fairly unconnected I assure you, it all comes together later... Well that's the idea anyway. Alright you know it's coming.

I do not own Blu, Jewel, or any of the Rio cast, setting, story, and lines that appear in the movie. Those are all the sole property of Blue Sky Animation.

2. Flight

"Ohh that feels nice." I sighed, let's be real here, like it or not, I am still from a tropical climate, cold is not something I enjoy, or even tolerate that much, which is why the sun felt so nice this afternoon. It was what Linda called "spring" and I loved it. I ruffled my wings and melted against my perch as the rays soaked into my freshly preened feathers. Several minutes later I couldn't' help but move if only to look at my newly fledged primaries. These beautiful feathers told me I was ready to fly.

"Bluuu"

My attention immediately shifted from myself to the doorway. Linda was home! I abandoned my warm perch and slid the lock to my cage door open. As the young girl entered our room, I made my way to the top of my cage. Looking at her cheerfully I asked her how school had gone.

The girl looked at me and smiled, "I'm good, how was your day Blu? Oh wait!" she interrupted herself and searched franticly in her backpack before pulling out a couple books and tossing them on the bed. "I picked these up at the library today; I figured you might like them."

Oh how life just couldn't get better! Before Linda could walk over to get me, I spread my wings and launched myself off the top of the cage. The sensation felt awesome, I was finally doing it! I was flying… err.. gliding… well, now that I think about it, the ground did come up awfully fast.

Linda was on top of me in seconds, "oh Blu! Are you ok?" I shook my head and couldn't help but sag in defeat. My companion must have seen this because she drew me to her face and gave me a light squeeze of reassurance. "These books might help actually" she spoke, placing me down on her bed in front of the two pieces of literature. Flight and Applied Physics, well the names certainly weren't creative, but if Linda thought they would help, I believed her.

As she sat down to do homework, I began to flip through the pages of the books. I was immediately enthralled by the text. The logic behind these arguments was incredible! Every now and then I would look up from the book at my feathers or my wing. I could only nod in agreement with the text each time. At some point Linda came over and got my attention.

"Blu, it's late, and I would like to use my bed sometime soon."

Sure enough as I looked around, the sun and gone down and Linda's clock read 10:00pm. I was stunned; I never stayed up this late. As I closed the books and climbed onto Linda's shoulder so she could take me back to my cage, I realized how tired I was. The last thing I heard was Linda shutting my cage door, and I was off to sleep.

It was the wind that roused me. The howling it created as it beat against the window across the room was relentless. I nuzzled my head closer to my chest resenting the noise. I was awake though, so sleeping was now out of the question. I performed a couple stretches and ensured that all my feathers were in line as they should be, taking special care with my new primaries.

A small bowl of fruit had been placed in my cage; dropping from my perch I grabbed a bite. Finishing the piece, I went to wash it down. As soon as the water touched my beak I spit it out cringing at the taste. I pushed the bowl away, begging the taste to quit ravaging my mouth.

Snapping my beak together hoping to remove the vile flavor I turned to face the empty room before me. Immediately I noticed a note on Linda's desk. With a slide of my beak the cage door was open and I hopped onto the wooden desk.

Tyler Blu,

I have to help mom with the shop today; your books are in the front room downstairs, enjoy! Oh I put your vitamins in your water today, all of it better be gone when I get back this afternoon. Love you Blu.

Sincerely,

Linda

I cringed, so there was a reason for the awful taste that still plagued my mouth. With a sly grin and an idea forming, I hopped back into my cage and maneuvered the bowl to the side of my cage. The potted plant below would do the job well. As I grappled the remarkably heavy bowl onto its side I couldn't help but notice how sickly the plant had become recently. With the sincerest apology, I thought of the plant no further and made my way down to the front room.

I climbed up the chair and hopped onto the table in the front room. Though the wind still howled against the glass, the morning sun bathed the table with light. I had just settled down and was getting into my book when a light tap brought me grudgingly away from my text. I knew who it was, but for some reason, I still decided to acknowledge the noise

"What now Alice? Can I help you with anything?"

The goose just snickered and replied "Oh no, we only want to see Blu come out and try flapping those puny wings."

I sighed, it seemed that nearly every day this would happen. I tried to refocus on my book and act uncaring. "I'll have you know that I can fly perfectly fine thank you very much."

This time Chloe's face popped into view "Gliding in a house and flying are not the same thing, but you wouldn't know would you nerd bird." The last comment got laughs out of both of them until they saw I was ignoring them. Grumbling, the two geese decided I wasn't being fun today and left. I gave out a sigh of relief when they were finally gone, but Chloe's comment stuck with me.

With a sigh I closed my book. The geese may be jerks, but they had a point. I looked at my wings and made my decision; it was time to fly. I made my way to the front door and squeezed out the mail slot. As soon as I was outside, the wind ripped at my feathers. Alice and Chloe were nowhere to be found. It was at this point, sense began to return to me courtesy of the strong winds whipping at my face. My prior determination left me and I put my wings up to say "oh no. I am not going to be this stupid. Not now!"

It was a millisecond later when I realized my error and the fact that I was no longer on the front porch but rather several feet above the porch steps and rapidly rising. In my panic I tucked my wings in tight just in time to drop onto something solid. I gripped it for my life.

I sat still gripping for my life. Until now, my eyes had been closed, but I finally hazarded a glance. Fear welled within me as I found myself nearly twenty feet up on the roof of a house. I closed my eyes and wished it all would just disappear. How long I was up there, I don't recall, but I remember at one point hearing a voice call to me in the violent wind. My eyes peeked open, but all I saw was the empty front lawn laying far below me. I closed my eyes again.

This time I heard it for real. It was my name being called and by no other than Linda! I snapped my eyes open to find her staring at me through her large glasses, shielding me from the wind. She grabbed me gently and pulled me close to her as she descended the ladder. The moment her feet touched the ground she rushed me inside and wrapped me in blankets. Her eyes tearing up as she looked at me.

"I'm so glad you're ok." Her face turned from worry to angry, "Don't ever do that again! You scared me half to death." She scolded before her face softened. She wiped the tears from her eyes and hugged me close. At that moment I nuzzled her cheek and promised….

My eyes opened slowly. It was still dark, but the rays of sun were just reaching the horizon. I nearly lost my grip as everything that had happened the previous day rushed back into my memory. I struggled to retain my balance on the old gazebo. Oh Linda I thought, how will I ever get back to you? I scanned the countryside. Rio, the place I needed to be, still lay sleeping far below us. Try as I might, I could not locate the conservatory where Linda would be.

With a quiet sigh I looked down at the chain on my foot. My eyes followed it to the sleeping form that lay chained to the other end. I still can't truly put into words the beauty that Jewel possessed as words cannot accurately describe it, but I can say that I have no chance with her. There was always something about her personality that made everything cold. We have to get this chain off; it would be the best for both of us. She could be free to her hearts content, and I could be with my companion again.

Again my thoughts drifted to Linda. I broke my promise, she had to be worried sick about me. After all she had given me: the love, attention, companionship. I longed to be with her again, back in store, a cup of cocoa with the perfect number of marshmallows and a nice book to-

The idea hit me; I knew how to get the chain off! I recalled some of the pages from Applied Physicsand did the calculations mentally. I would of course need to go over them and write them out to be sure, but it could work! Excitedly, I nudged Jewel, "Hey! I know how to get this chain off!"