Chapter 4
Saturated

The city of Rio de Janeiro never ceased to amaze me. Aside from the paradise-like scenery, the city was also full of colors from the activity. The marketplace was busy with activity not only humans, but also birds, monkey, a mini-version-of-jaguar (which later Bia called cat). It was alive and vibrant. I was lost by the sea of color in front of my eyes until I didn't realize two enormous shades were casted to the city below. It was then when I noticed Blu's shocked looks.

I dared myself to peek at the sky; the sun's golden ray overloaded my sight senses for a few minutes before it finally adjusted to the luminescence, revealing the owners of the shades.

My eyes were widened in terror, as I didn't believe what I saw. But those large wingspan and terrifying talons faltered my denial.

Harpy eagles, two of them, flying in the airspace of Rio, unaware of our cautious glare from below.

The rest of the flock was oblivious with the danger above, slightly confused when Blu motioning us to flew to a nearby building, avoiding contact sight with the eagles.

"Uh? What's going on?" Bia asked, her face bore quizzical looks from her father's action.

I turned my head, slowly mouthing. "Eagles…"

Bia shuddered at my mention of eagles. I wasn't surprised if she was afraid or scared. In fact, their mere sight was enough to invoke a stinging sensation in my scar.

The rest of her family was tensed when I mentioned about eagles. The once joyous mood was replaced with frown and worry.

Blu was scanning the sky, attempted to spot where the eagles are, but with no avail as their presence already faded with the wind.

He hadn't yet convinced that the situation was safe, took other tense minutes to scan the sky. He finally gave up after it seems like eternity, declared it was safe to go.

"Hi there!" a voice greeted.

That sudden noise was enough to send us dispersed into the air, only Jewel and Carla were calm enough to stay.

I was quite annoyed by the startled, and even more annoyed when I finally saw the owner of the said voice.

A male harpy eagle was standing behind us, towering Blu almost – two or three times – his size.

But I spotted something odd about this eagle. His face wasn't full of hatred like Bark. Instead it was full of warmth and friendliness.

"Oh sorry there amigos, I didn't mean to startled you." He said, looking apologetically.

"It's okay. But please don't do that again." Blu stated nervously, another female harpy eagle soon join us.

"Oh César! You scared them." She snarled. "Sorry about César, he means good but always ending up scaring everyone."

"It's okay, we are just surprised. But no harm." Jewel said. "You aren't from here do you?"

"Ah, desculpe! onde estão meus bons modos? Meu nome é Selena, e ele é meu esposo, César." [Ah, sorry! Where are my manners? My name is Selena, and he is my mate, César]

"Tudo bem Selena. Estou Jewel, este é Blu, meu esposo, e eles são nossas crianças." Jewel stated, pointing to Carla, Bia and Tiago. "Elas sao Carla e Bia, ele éTiago." [That's okay Selena. I'm Jewel, he is Blu, my mate. And they are our children] , [They are Carla and Bia, he is Tiago]

"Hello!" Carla, Bia and Tiago greeted them.

"¿Blu y Jewel?" César inquired, his language brought a confussion in the group. "¿Que Blu y Jewel? ¡Fantástico!" [Blu and Jewel?] , [That Blu and Jewel? Fantastic!]

"He is Spanish?" Blu asked, finally feeling ease with their friendliness.

"Yup, he came from El Salvador." Selena replied.

"You amigos are Rio's most famous couple! I can't believe I meet you guys here!" His accent reminded me of someone – oh right, Roberto.

"So what brings you guys here?" Selena asked.

"Oh, we are on our way to the samba club." Jewel replied.

"What a coincidence! We are on our way there too! Let's go together." Selena declared, which Blu and Jewel agreed.

I was left dumbfounded by them – not the language – but the bizarre behavior of the eagles, my mind keep telling me that their friendliness couldn't be trusted.

We pierced our way to the marketplace; I couldn't cast my eyes away from the eagles for the rest of the trip. Bia noticed my cautious looks, flew closer.

"You okay Frost?" She inquired.

"Yeah, I'm just…"

"These eagles seem nice." She whispered softly.

"Don't let them fool you, you remember what happened right?"

Bia frowned at the memories. "Well, yeah… but maybe they are different, Frost."

"I don't know Bia, but it would be hard for me to trust them."

The sight of the samba club finally materialized, a loud thudding rhythm could be heard from the outside.

"Here we are kids! The club, let's go meet Pedro and Nico." Blu said jovially. "Ladies first."

Jewel and Selena chuckled at his action. "What a manner, gentlebird." Jewel teased.

We opened the curtain and that's where's my world was completed.

The sight was incredible! Birds, lots of them were dancing with the enchanting music, strokes of spotlight with multiple colors were adorned the scenery with supreme level. My senses were once again overloaded with such beauty, awestruck.

"This is the coolest place I've ever seen!" I exclaimed, couldn't contain my excitement.

"Bem-vindo a paraiso!" Bia told me. "That means 'Welcome to paradise'."

"Hey look! Rio's most famous couple has returned!" Someone shouted, which replied with thunderous cheers from the other birds.

"Nico! Pedro!" Jewel and Blu said in unison.

"Uncle Nico! Uncle Pedro!" Their kids echoing, rushing to hug them.

"Ugh… guys… I need… some air…" The yellow canary struggled for breathe.

They released their hearty – supposedly – hug, looking apologetically. "Sorry."

"You mini-birds are getting stronger each day!" The red-crested cardinal quipped.

"So what bring Rio's famous couple here?" The yellow canary asked.

"Oh we are here to say hello to you, kids have been wanting to meet you guys." Blu replied.

The yellow canary spotted our eagles' companion, shouted in joy, his voice almost drowned by the ambient music. "Eh César! Selena!"

"Hey Nico!" César replied.

"Wait, you guys know them?" Jewel surprised.

"Of course! They've been on our club since four months ago." Nico told her, and then lowered his volume into a whisper. "Although they look really scary, they really are good birds."

The doubt in Blu's face ceased totally at the confirmation, he flashes a smile to their new acquaintances.

"Okay, I know you like to chat, but dis club ain't for talking!" The red-crested cardinal declared. "Come on Nico! Hit da music!"

"Wait! I'll sing too!" Carla halted them. "Can I Mom?"

"Of course sweetie."

"Alright! Everybody listens up," Nico shouted, the music ceased. "We had ourselves a very performer today! Please welcome Carla!"

The crowd cheered loudly, Nico then added. "Since our performer still young, please considerate the rules: dance appropriately okay?"

"Now without further ado, let's get this party started!"

"Yoyoyoyo everybody clap their wings together as loud as you can! Clap 'em! Slap 'em."

The lowly bass rhythm slowly manifest from the speakers, a spoonbill was using a maraca to enhance the performance, and the first verse of the song started.

The beat was unbelievably amazing; Tiago was doing acrobatic stunts in his dance, spinning his head and ricocheting like a bullet. Blu and Jewel were dancing romantically and the crowd was lost with the beat.

Nico voice booming as the first verse of the song finally hit the spotlight; his voice was amazingly smooth and nice. The thumping beat slowly seeping into my soul, my talons moved involuntary.

Bia wasn't really a dancer, but she tried her best. I was struck in awe when she danced with her wings, like an angel in the earth.

"Come on, Frost." She giggled.

The eagles were the main spotlight - aside from their size, their way of dancing was also unique. César was holding Selena with his wings, their dance were more coordinated than the rest, slowly tip-toeing from one spot to other, before lifted Selena and spinning around before throwing her into the air.

Selena was hovering and flapping her wing at a steady rhythm, her large wingspan produced a very audible wing-flap noise, but instead of distorting the music, it perfectly synced with the beat.

Carla voice finally erupted at the second verse, a swirls of colors finally manifested in my eyes as the music assimilated me into its realm, and my body gave up to stay still.

I hold Bia's wings and we danced together, spinning her as we dancing in circle, returning her into my embrace, enveloping her within my left wing.

The fiesta of colors exploded as the chorus hit the spotlight, Carla and Nico's voices were seamlessly fuses with the music, enchanting each lyric with unexplainable magic.

Carla was sassily shaking her tail when the interlude of the song coming through. She broke her voice once again into the soft finale chorus and the crowd went wild.

The soft melody drifted me into Bia closer, her eyes met mine, locking our gaze to each other. The loud noise of the crowd was muffled as I set my eyes for her. We leaned closer to each other, touching our beaks together; her wings wrapped my neck.

In the midst of multi-colored light that enchanted the room, I wasn't going to miss the opportunity to tell her how much I love her.

"You are my one and only, Bia." I stated, closing my eyes.

"Oh really?" She quipped.

I leveled my gaze with her, smiling. "I have a mark to prove that."

She smiled. "Love you too."

Applause erupted when the song finally ended; Carla, Nico and Pedro bowed humbly. They later fluttered down, spotting us.

"Well well! Who is this?" Nico asked, "Your boyfriend, Bia?"

She nodded her head. "Yup, this is Frost."

"Hi!" I greeted them.

"Well hello there!" Pedro said, before noticing my scar. "That's some nasty scar you got there."

"How did you get that?" Nico asked, inspecting the scar.

"My encounter with harpy eagles." I answered, noticing their curious looks. "Um… It's a very very long story."

I let out a sigh of relief when they weren't trying to press the issue, but their question lingered in my head, invoking the doubt that had been casted away about those eagles. It was really hard to trust a creature that wasn't supposedly to be your friends, not to mention the scar they left me to remember.

César and Selena had been so kind and friendly all this time, it was something I noticed, their face wasn't full of wicked grin or menacing looks that threatened to kill us, but rather the exact opposite, warm and gleeful.

But my mind insisted that they couldn't be trusted completely. Eagles are eagles, no matter how friendly they were, they would always be your enemy.

The rest of the family finally joined in, Tiago was gasping for breath, his stunts was taking toll on him. We cheered for Carla performance.

"Thanks guys!" She intoned playfully, proud of herself.

"She was really great! You must be proud." Selena praised her, talking to Jewel.

"I must say that your voice is very amazing." I commented. "The best singer I've heard."

Truth be told, Carla singing prowess is equal to Bia's intelligence and Tiago unlimited supply of energy – okay fine! I'm not going to exaggerate anymore, happy?

Carla formed a teasing smile at my compliment. "It's that a compliment I heard?"

Nonplussed, I tilted my head. "Well yeah…"

She giggled at my reaction. "I began to see what Bia sees in you."

I groaned at the awkwardness, while the rest of them joined the giggle.

Selena and César bid us a farewell after a few moments, having another issue to be done. I was thankful when they finally decided to leave, as I finally felt less tense.

Even after their friendliness towards us, I still couldn't cast away the cloud of doubt away from my head.

"So where did you guys want to go after this?" Nico inquired.

"Home?" Blu replied.

"No! Come on dad! Just a little bit longer?" Tiago begged.

"We haven't yet visited Uncle Luiz." Bia confirmed.

"That's true sweetie, let's visit him too before we call this day an end." Jewel added.

Blu wasn't going to survive the barrage of request, sighing in defeat. "Okay fine."

"Yes! thanks Dad!" Tiago exclaimed joyfully.

"Nico, Pedro?"

"Nah, we'll stay here. The club needs us." Pedro stated.

"Suit yourself." Blu replied. "Come on guys, we need to catch the trolley."

"Um… Dad. We can fly, remember?." Bia told him.

Blu was embarrassed by the sudden revelation. "Well… that's correct…"

Jewel was giggling. "I think your father want to remember the moment we got from there."

"Ah you understood. Isn't that nice?" Blu walked closer to Jewel, "The trolley that brought us together."

Jewel was nuzzling his neck. "Of course I do."

"Okay! Better get moving; Dad and Mom are getting all sappy again." Tiago declared, grimaced.

"We are mates Tiago, give us some time." Jewel said.

Tiago and Carla rolled their eyes before flew outside, Bia and I soon followed, leaving the adult macaws to savor their time together for a little while.

The sky had reached its oldest as the sun had started to descend into the horizon; it wasn't officially evening – more like afternoon.

I caught some glimpses of eagles in the sky. This time, there are three of them. Two of them, I was sure, were César and Selena, while the other one was a juvenile.

Tiago also noticed their presence, commented. "Those eagles are very nice birds, awesome too."

"I got to admit that I wasn't hoping to get a closer look on eagles. They are really fascinating." Bia stated.

"Well they are sure different from those eagles back in the Amazon." Carla said.

Blu and Jewel finally hopped out of the club, joining us. "Okay kids, ready to go?"

"About time dad! Come on!" Carla declared.

We finally returned into the city airspace, the heat was reached an unbearable intensity, something common from summer in Rio, courtesy to Blu.

Blu motioned us to follow the thing. The yellow-self-moved-box-filled-with-humans – trolley, as he stated it would directly brought us into this Luiz.

My eyes still glued on the eagles in the sky as we flew to our destination. Part of me still cautious about those eagles, but the other one was left perplexed, searching for every reason available on why they were acting so friendly. Despite they were being the apex predator, the bird of prey, you name it.

My brain was left with too many streams of possibilities and variables to formulate the exact reason, and it slowly took toll on me as I wasn't really paying attention to the flight, Blu's words were drowned with the heat.

My brain finally gave up and terminated the process before it completed its full cycle as their presence finally faded with the clouds, bringing me back into the real world.

And before I know it, we already approaching a quite tall structure, it was a grimy sight – to be honest, the eerie atmosphere was present.

We fluttered down to the metal bars that covered the huge entrance; it was peace and quiet – too quiet.

The massive structure was shady, providing a perfect shelter against the hostile heat outside, but something just felt wrong. As there were neither signs of this Luiz nor any other activity.

We walked deeper into the garage – as Blu told me, and yelling for his name.

"Luiz! We are here!"

No response was coming out, I started to felt uneasy.

"Uncle Luiz! Hello!" Tiago exclaimed.

"Coming!" Someone exclaimed from inside, moment later, it revealed a – well I didn't know what that was – dog, he quickly rushing towards us with his saliva all over the floor.

He then slipped, skidding towards us with his belly.

I couldn't contain the laugh, snickered at the humorous act in front of me; the laugh soon infected the rest of the family.

Luiz wasn't offended with our laugh; in fact, he joined in. "Yeah, I guess I deserved that."

"That's why I kept telling you to wipe your droll, Luiz." Jewel chuckled.

He nodded, claiming a clean rag to wipe his droll. "Now then! Hug your Uncle here!" He declared, which Bia and her siblings obeyed.

"I miss you guys, since I can't go to the Amazon as much as Nico and Pedro." He stated.

"We miss you too Uncle Luiz." They said.

He released his hug, turning to Blu and Jewel. "So you guys ready for carnival?"

"Of course! We won't miss it." Blu said joyfully.

"Uhm… what's a carnival?" I inquired.

Luiz was perplexed when I suddenly joined in. "Hey who is this?" He said warmly.

"Bia's boyfriend! Frost." Tiago exclaimed.

"You guys grow really fast! And now Bia's already got a boyfriend. It seems only yesterday I was helping your parents broke the chain." He said.

"I wouldn't classify that as a help Luiz." Blu snorted a laugh, "Although it was a good fun back there."

"Well it was working right? Then it was a help." He countered jovially.

Blu rolled his eyes, chuckled. "Sure Luiz, whatever you said."

"So are you going to perform again in the carnival? You know, like you told us." Carla asked.

My question was left unanswered, so I decided to assert my question – although it's more like a meek request.

"So um… what's a carnival?"

"Oh right! We haven't told you yet." Carla replied. "It was a party, celebration, you name it. But with a very huge scale!" she added. "And it only happens in Rio!"

"That's sounds really nice, when this 'carnival' will be held?"

"Around a week from now I guess." Blu responded.

We continued to chat about the carnival, until finally drowsiness started to get its talon on us, Carla, Bia and even Tiago had lost their enthusiasm.

Noticing the looks, Blu decided to end the conversation, bidding goodbye to his canine companion.

I was the last one to take off, admiring the sky for a moment, Luiz walked beside me.

"Yep I know just how you feel." He continued. "Watching them up there, makes you want to chase them and bite their heads off, uh?"

Wait what? WHAT?

I inched myself from him a little, scared.

He then laughed before tapping me on my back. "I'm just kidding. You stay safe okay?" he bid me a farewell.

"Uh yeah, you too… bye." I said awkwardly.

He disappeared into the garage soon after, I spread my wings and catching them up.

The yellow orb was half-way sinking into the horizon, the Copacabana beach transformed into a sea of molten gold as the sun's golden ray reflected by the seawater; it rippled slowly as a breeze passed by.

I was intrigued by the beach, slowly made my way there.

Bia noticed my change of course, banking left, approaching me.

"Where're you going?"

"Oh, that." I pointed the beach. "It seems nice."

Bia was hesitant for the moment, before nodded and asking her parents. "Mom, Dad! Can we go to the beach for just a while?" She inquired.

"Well… your siblings look tired." Blu stated, Tiago then stifled a yawn as a confirmation.

"Maybe you two can go together." Jewel said, "But not passed dinner, okay?"

"Are you sure?" Her mate asked. "They can be lost or you know…"

"They'll be fine, Blu." Jewel assured. "You two have fun!"

"Thanks Mom!"

"Have a nice date!" Carla quipped.

"One of this day I'll return those teases Carla, just you wait." Bia snarled playfully.

"Oh really? I'll be waiting then."

We parted our ways, heading to the beach. But my eyes caught something else in the sky, eagles, and this time half-dozen of them.

I motioned Bia to fly lower, much to her bewilderment.

"What?" She asked.

I pointed the sky to answer her question.

She peeked at the sky, but her reaction wasn't what I was expecting.

"Oh come on Frost, they are nice eagles."

Surprised, I replied. "How did you know? There are six of them and as far as I'm concerned, you only know two are friendly, we can't take any chances."

She sighed before nodding her head. "Fine, let's go."

My decision soon proved to be a fatal mistake. I wasn't yet familiar with the human's surrounding – more likely their creation that seems bizarre and the lack of knowledge were driving me into a reckless, naïve decision.

We flew past the streets, some cars were speeding up. Bia wasn't sure about crossing the streets, she was explaining the danger might happened, but my mind insisted that eagles are more a threat than humans.

A car suddenly pacing from the distance, I was caught up with keeping my eyes on the eagles until I wasn't notice the closer mortal threat. Bia hurled herself to save me, the car barely missing us. The gust of wind from such velocity whisked us, throwing me into the ground, and Bia to the center of the road.

She was trying to recover from her spin when another vehicle speeding from the distance. My eyes widened in terror and I squawked loudly. "Bia! No!"

A/N: So yeah, this chapter finally finished. this is not my best chapter I admit. probably going to rewrite it one of these day. and about the languange I used, I know Jewel is called 'Perla' in Spanish and 'Jade' in Portuguese, but bear with me just this time.

I have a request for you guys, I have a poll in my profile. and it is about my future stories and I hope you guys can fill that so I know what to do.

PS: Please kindly leave a review and thanks for reading.

PPS: Fallout 4 confirmed! yes!