I was wrong; turns out I do have some time for a few more chapters before 2015.
From now on, I'm keeping most OCs out, unless they're major. The minor OCs from the Outcast (for example, let's say Andrea, Augustus, the minor friends and the parents of the other kids) will be kept to a minimum in order not to make things confusing. I should've thought about that in The Outcast, but I didn't until it was too late. From now, the only OCs will really be the main ones (Sophia, Isaac, Bromeliad, Azure, Orchid, Bruno, Azalea, Johanna). Johanna was mentioned in chapter 1, and she's pretty much the only new main OC. She'll play a larger part later on. As for Tia and Adelaide, their parts will be more minor - I'm doing that on purpose, not forgetting about them.
I'll occasionally mention or show the minor ones, but I won't give them a big part. I'd like to prevent anyone being left out, a frequent issue in books I've read.
Now, we'll launch into the main plot from this chapter.
"Be back later, I'm going out with Sophia." Jewel called over her shoulder as she left the nest. "We'll be at the strawberry guava grove!"
"Okay." she was replied with Bia's voice. Carla was at her club (it was open three days a week, she didn't want to spent the majority of her time there), and Bia was still in bed - she said that she hadn't slept much last night, and that was the case with Azure, too. Jewel suspected that the two had gone out together in the night - she didn't blame them. The night had been clear and this time of year was when fireflies lit up the jungle, so they couldn't have missed a beautiful night. Jewel had watched them from the nest, listening to her mate's snores and seeing the little lights in the air. Blu, Roberto and Eduardo had gone on a patrol. Tiago, meanwhile, had gone to find a tourist boat, so that he could speak to Pedro, Nico, Rafael, and Luiz on the phone.
They did that often - boat trips from Manaus, filled with tourists, always meant that there was a phone available. This was how they kept contact over Autumn, Winter and Spring - the three party birds had learned how to use an old phone (Luiz didn't answer it, he just spoke into it. Being a bulldog with clumsy paws, couldn't press the answer button - not to mention he'd probably break it with his drooling), and Jewel and her family had the number memorized. Whenever the macaws wanted to give them a call, they'd hide somewhere on a touring boat, steal a tourist's phone, and talk to the four that way. Afterwards, they'd just slip the phone back into the tourist's pocket or bag before flying away, unseen.
Before she went, Jewel decided to see if the dye had finally come out of Mimi's feathers. She, personally, highly suspected Tiago and Orchid, but Mimi would be rather annoyed if she found out it was them. The Spix's macaw headed over to Mimi's tree, which was heavily flowered and carried a pungent smell of pollen and flowers. Mimi didn't seem to mind, but it could be overwhelming to anyone else. Jewel wasn't much bothered by it, but most others were. "Hey, Aunt Mimi - has the dye come out?" Jewel was now standing in the entrance to the tree, waiting for her aunt's appearance.
"Thankfully, it has!" exclaimed the familiar voice, and Jewel was relieved to see that Mimi's face was back to normal. "And I still can't figure out for the life of me who did it."
"Well, at least it's out." Jewel sighed, although she personally thought that it was obvious who did it. "Okay, I'm going out with Sophia - bye, Mimi."
"Bye, my little wildflower!" Mimi replied cheerfully, before turning to her breakfast, an assortment of exotic fruit. Jewel smiled at her aunt, before flying off in direction of the ravine exit. Sophia, and to Jewel's surprise, Bromeliad, were waiting for her.
"Hi, Jewel!" Sophia waved as she approached. "Bromeliad's coming with us - she had nothing to do today. Is that okay with you?"
"Of course!" Jewel assured her, giving Sophia's eldest daughter a friendly smile. How hard to believe, I wanted to wring that girl's neck a few months back, after what happened with Bia. Jewel and Sophia flew a few feet behind Bromeliad, talking away.
Meanwhile
"Doesn't look like the Hyacinths have tried to move the border again," Roberto reported, finding the marker that defined this as a border. The marker was a light blue plant paint; the light blue representing Spix's. The Hyacinths, being so determined to keep to their own territory, had devised the idea originally. Light blue represented the end of the Spix's macaw territory, while dark blue represented the beginning of Hyacinth. From here, Roberto could make out a dark blue streak on the next tree. The marking was known to everyone, so that they knew which tree to look at.
"Excellent." Eduardo nodded in approval. The border marking idea was now only with the Hyacinths - the other tribes now existed harmoniously and in peace, going wherever they pleased. The Hyacinths still wanted to keep the border marker. He turned around, to see his son-in-law eating a piece of mango, while gazing into a tree with a tired expression. "Hey, we're not here to snack." Eduardo reminded him, a hint of amusement at his voice. It seems funny - I wanted to kill him almost a year ago, but now we're fine. Blu jumped in surprise, not expecting Eduardo's voice.
"Sorry, Eduardo." Blu quickly threw the mango over his shoulder, in the process accidently hitting Roberto on the back of the head. "Oops - sorry!" he exclaimed.
"It's fine, don't worry about it." Roberto shrugged, rolling his eyes in amusement, before sending the mango flying toward the ground with a powerful kick. "It's only mango, afterall."
"Alright, vamos." Eduardo stretched his wings. "I'd like to leave this place before one of their patrols arrive and try to blame us for something."
"I've never actually met the Hyacinths before." Blu mentioned, as they flew back into the heart of the Spix's macaw territory. "What are they like? No-one sees them much." Roberto flipped onto his back, flying upside-down so that he could look at Blu.
"Hope you never do. When I was a kid, I arrived in the jungle for the first time - I hadn't been part of tribe then - and they were a bunch of numbskulls. I fell to the forest floor, and they just laughed. Yeah, that was them then - but they're worse now… much worse." Before Roberto could continue, however, the three males stopped flying, hovering instead at the sight before them.
A battered-looking, Orange-Winged Amazon was doubled over, coughing and gasping for breath. Blu and Roberto exchanged worried looks; that had been the bird they had run into the other day, when they had been with Jewel, Sophia, Felipe, and Azalea. His condition seemed to have gotten worse since then. The Orange-Winged Amazon was coughing up something red - Blu shivered. Is he coughing up blood? There seemed to be red patches around his eyes; did Orange-Winged Amazons have that? Not last time I checked. The bird looked emaciated and frail, as if he hadn't eaten for weeks on end, and his eyes were dull with exhaustion and agony. Occasionally, his coughing spotted, followed by vomiting. Eduardo, Roberto and Blu flinched in disgust. Blu started flying forward, but Eduardo put out a wing, stopping him from getting any closer.
"Blu, I wouldn't." he advised, and Blu reluctantly backed away. Eduardo then cleared his throat. "Sir… do you need help?"
"No." the Amazon replied in a gruff voice. He looked to be around Eduardo's age, not exactly young but then not old yet. "Mind your own flaming business, and get away from me -" the Amazon then burst into a fit of coughing, and Eduardo, Roberto and Blu sprang backwards as red droplets flew toward them. They looked at each other again, alarmed, keeping well away from the droplets that now stained some leaves.
"You don't look well, mate." Roberto said cautiously, but the Amazon scowled at him.
"Are you deaf? I said mind your own business, and keep that stupid beak of yours out of mine." At the Amazon's reply, Roberto looked rather offended.
"Look, fellow, move along." Eduardo snapped, losing patience. His feathers were on end. "Don't insult my tribe members, move your lazy self out of here before I do it for you -"
"Alright," the Amazon retorted, coughing up more red drops again. He wiped his wing carelessly over his beak, unknowingly smearing the blood across his face. "I'll go." The Amazon staggered away, half flying, half-falling through the trees, muttering about something. Upon hearing one of his murmurs, Blu looked nervously at Eduardo and Roberto.
"I think I heard him muttering about the strawberry guava grove… isn't that where Jewel, Sophia and Bromeliad are today?"
"They are?" Roberto's head snapped up at the mention of the trio; two of them were his beloved mate and daughter, and he had known the other since he was a young teenager. Eduardo especially looked unsettled.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Eduardo muttered, before swiftly following the Amazon parrot. Blu and Roberto exchanged worried looks, before quickly flying after Eduardo. Before following, Blu picked the blood-spotted leaves, and flew down to a small stream, dropping them in. If he's diseased, he's not spreading it anywhere. Blu then flew up, after Roberto and Eduardo.