Jewel I
"Blu!" Jewel cried out as she witnessed the explosion. She had just gone through the emotional turmoil of arguing with him mere hours ago, she was not about to lose him to that stupid cockatoo. As she flew to him, sheer terror clenched her when she saw her mate, passed out with blood all over his plumage and dripping below him into a sinister, hellish puddle with the gasping, dying Nigel next to him.
"Kids, leave, NOW!" she heard Mimi uncharacteristically yell back to the children behind her, while running to the tied up birds.
"Listen to your aunt, go to your uncle Rafael and stay with him, do you understand!" She asked her kids, they nodded. "Alright, I'll come back to fetch you", she told them before heading off to join Mimi. In a matter of seconds, the Spix tribe, Scarlet tribe, and Amazon untamed performers were surrounding their fallen hero in a frenzied panic. Jewel ran over to Blu, searching for the injuries and crying her eyes out.
"Is there a doctor here, somebody? Anybody?" She cried out to the audience, desperately.
Fighting through the crowd came an old Lear's macaw, he was tall, broad shouldered and had prominent smile lines, even though his face had a dark, grim expression on it. He carried a fanny pack that was just like Blu's, except it had a red cross on it.
"Madam, I'm doctor Claudio De Campas. I was medically trained by humans in ornithology, I can help your husband!" he shouted over the crowds panicked and frenzied reaction in a calm, heavily accented voice.
Jewel desperately nodded at him, granting him permission to treat her beloved mate. The doctor rushed over and immediately got to work.
"Ok, he has a poison dart in his chest, we are going to need to remove that instantly and administer an antivenom!" the doctor yelled over the crowd to Jewel who was next to him. "We are going to need more help!" he added. On cue, Eduardo and Felipe rushed out of the crowd to help.
"What can we do to help Claudio?" Eduardo asked with a worried and desperate tone.
"Ok, you" he pointed at Felipe, "Make sure he is in a safe position while we remove the dart." "You", he continued, pointing at Eduardo "Keep pressure on the area around the wound." "And m'am, check his pulse at all times."
With all of the others ready, Claudio pulled a syringe from out of his bag. "What the hell is that?!" Eduardo inquired.
"Etomidate and Midazolam, they are anesthetics." Claudio replied
"Ane-what?" Felipe asked
"They will make sure Blu doesn't wake up during the procedure." The doctor explained while injecting the chemicals into Blu's wing.
"Ok, I'm gonna remove the dart in three...two...one!" The dart came out and immediately blood began coming out of the hole. Jewel's heart turned cold as she saw the red liquid pouring out from the hole in Blu's chest. The only thing keeping her from having a complete mental breakdown was the faint pulse she could feel with her primary feathers. Despite the relief of the pulse, she couldn't help but think; "My lovehawk is alive...but for how long?"
Jewel II
Panic and terror are two emotions that, if combined, can be highly damaging to the spirit. Jewel felt like she had become the manifestation of these emotions. Her normally beautiful light blue plumage was messy and unkempt. Her stunning eyes had bags under them from lack of sleep. And worst of all, her heart was numb. Her lovehawk was on a bed in Roberto's hollow, the only thing keeping him alive; two plastic tubes, an oxygen mask, and a vigilant Dr. De Campas.
"Mrs. Gunderson, the venom on the dart was from an unknown frog. We were able to stop it from being lethal, but he will have to deal with the symptoms when he wakes up" Dr. Claudio explained while seated by a makeshift desk with a bird sized chair, flipping through a stack of papers.
"What are the symptoms?"
"Headaches, temporary paralysis from the waist down, bursts of delirium, extreme pain, and temporary blindness" a glum Claudio replied, spinning the chair around so he could face Jewel.
"How long will the symptoms affect him?" Jewel asks, a tear forming in her eye.
"I don't know Julia… I'm sorry" Claudio concluded apologetically, .
"I understand Claudio, and please, call me Jewel" Jewel replied between heavy crying.
For five minutes Roberto's hollow-turned-hospital turned into a concoction of Jewel's wailing, sobbing, and desperation. Claudio tried to comfort her to little avail.
"Why do you go by Jewel?" Claudio finally asked, trying to get Jewel's mind off her husband.
"My dad wanted to name me Gem, but my mom thought it was tacky and finally forced my dad to agree to Julia. But, as an act of rebellion, he called me Jewel because of how close it was to Gem. The big irony is my mom loved the name Jewel, so I've gone by Jewel ever since." Jewel said, controlling her crying and wiping her tears.
"Fascinating" Claudio replied, listening intently.
A short silence overtook them before Jewel piped up and asked.
"So… where are you from Claudio? your accent suggests that you're not from here."
"I'm from Minas, but I was born in Rio."
"Really? So was Blu."
"Interesting, did he have American family? Blu is an uncommon name for a native Brazilian."
"He didn't have Brazilian parents. He was captured by smugglers as a chick and was raised by a human named Linda in a place called Moose Lake"
"Is that in America?"
"Yeah."
"Thought so… One second Jewel, I need to check something."
Whistling to himself and quickly turning his swivel chair around, Claudio picked up another set of documents, they had pictures of Blu, Jewel, and the kids on them.
"What are those… how did you get them?" Jewel asked, peeking over his shoulder.
"This? Just your family's health insurance info and medical history." Claudio replied absentmindedly, grabbing a pair of glasses from the table to better look over the documents.
"Tiago Eduardo Gunderson, son; Carla Marie Gunderson, daughter; Beatriz Linda Gunderson; Tyler "Blu" Gunderson, father; and Julia "Jewel" Gunderson, mother." The doctor started out loud, reading from the paper.
"Father has mild anxiety and vitamin-B deficiency and no previous surgical history. Mother has a slightly damaged wing from a now healed break and one surgical treatment; a caesarian section to ease the laying of her eggs. The son has a slight feather defect resulting in a few feathers growing out of pattern and ADHD. Daughter one shares her brother's ADHD but has no other reported issues. Daughter two has no notable deformities…"
"That's us." Jewel said with a false grin.
"Extra notes; Father has notable talon strength…" Claudio continued
"He couldn't fly until he met me" Jewel informed him, this time with a genuine smile.
Claudio read over a few more lines and raised an eyebrow,
"Father also has an incredible sex drive according to mate; disclosure to be kept under strict confidentiality"
Jewel blushed redder than a tomato and tried to hide her face behind her wings.
"Do you often go out of your way to compliment your husband Mrs. Gunderson?" Claudio replied with a cheshire grin.
Her blush deepened, as she turned away from the doctor.
"I'm just teasing, it's such a healthy thing for you two to be sexually active at your age."
"Really?"
"Absolutely, in my opinion, it is a very good method of stress relief."
"I guess that's right, he always wants to do it after he gets home from work"
"Ok, too much information" Claudio jokingly scolded.
Jewel and Claudio chuckled at their conversation as Claudio casually turned back around to look at the monitor he set up to the right of Blu. A thin grey line started to dip, resulting in Claudio's smile doing the same.
"Jewel… he will be waking up from the anesthesia in a few minutes."