Some minutes after Roberto and Sophia left, a dozen Scarlet and Green-Winged macaws flew into the Kapoks - three of the dozen were unconscious, hanging from their battered companions' talons. All twelve were covered in bruises, scratches, and they looked beaten and exhausted. Gasps of horror sounded from the trees, and the air was filled with red streaks as macaws rushed down to the twelve. The dozen were ushered to the small Kapok that served as Maite and Miguel's infirmary and herb store. Miguel and Maite were talking outside, but the mass of tribe mates approaching caught their attention. The two healers looked shocked beyond belief.
"What in the name of…" Miguel's beak gaped. "What on earth happened to all of you?"
"What do you think?" mumbled one of them, who was struggling to fly. He was clutching a ragged, navy blue feather. "The Hyacinths happened."
"Right, all of you – no arguing - infirmary, right now." Maite ordered. With that, the dozen injured were all sat against the wall while Maite and Miguel began running around their herb store, looking for the plants that stopped bleeding, healed wounds, and other things they needed. Someone rushed off to alert Felipe and Azalea. Before Maite could run back to her patients, Miguel took her shoulder, stopping her.
"Looks like Johanna's their only option." Miguel murmured, and Maite knew that he was talking about Roberto and Sophia. Injuries were so rare in the Blue-and-Golds - of course Johanna would be able to take care of Jewel. Alejandro was the patriarch, so it wouldn't be left without a leader - and Johanna was selfless enough to help. Maite's plan had been to leave Miguel in charge while she assisted the Spix's macaws, but with injuries being common in their tribe, they couldn't afford one less healer.
"You're right." Maite replied. "I'll get someone to go over and find Johanna."
"Things like this are getting more regular, Maite." Miguel's brown eyes turned dark. "This happened once, with the Glaucous macaw tribe. They were driven out… and they haven't been seen ever since."
Meanwhile
Bia bursted into the hollow, landing clumsily on the floor. A few seconds later, Azure and Bromeliad appeared, gasping for breath. Bia looked up, and saw her brother, sister, and friends, all looking anxious: Carla was pacing, restless, while Tiago was sitting, staring at nothing in particular, looking worried sick; Orchid had her wings draped around Tiago, her head resting on his shoulder, looking tense; Isaac's wings were wrapped around his head; and Bruno was chewing on his wing-tips. "Where's mom?" Bia spluttered, clutching her side. Carla whirled round.
"They won't let us in!" she almost wailed. Bia stared at her older sister, before looking at the room she could hear whispering from. Nobody used that room - it had been too dark to really be of much use, and it was full of spider webs. Climbing plants fell over the entrance, but she could see a slight gap, and several blue forms. Bia wasn't taking Carla's reply for an answer, however. She needed to see her mother.
"Stuff that!" Bia exclaimed, pushing past Carla and running up to the climbing plant. She seized the plant, pulling it open like a curtain. Eduardo, Mimi, and Blu's bodies hid Jewel from view, but Bia could hear unsteady breathing, a few coughs. "Mom." Bia whispered. She felt her brother and sister looking over her wings, to get a look, and the shuffling of feet told her that their friends were shuffling behind them, also trying to look in. Eduardo, Mimi, and Blu turned around, but Eduardo stretched out both wings, shielding Jewel from view. He clearly didn't want them to see the state of her.
"Eduardo…" Mimi said, quietly. "Let them see their mom. She wants to see them, anyway." Mimi looked her great-nieces and nephew up and down. "You don't have any open wounds, do you?"
"No." said the two sisters and the brother, in unison, before entering the room. Bruno, Isaac, Azure, Orchid and Bromeliad stood in the entrance, feeling it inappropriate to crowd Jewel.
"Hi, kids." Whispered Jewel, in a feeble voice that shocked the trio. They had never heard her use that tone of voice before. It sounded so fragile. The whites of Jewel's eyes were red, and her turquoise irises looked unusually pale. She was shivering slightly, as if she was cold, but her feathers were damp and dark from sweat. They were horrified when they noticed a black wound on the bottom of Jewel's foot, and there was red in the corner of her beak. What happened to you? All three teenagers thought.
"M-mom…" Tiago stammered, looking shaken. "What… happened?" Jewel stared at her three children, trying to find the strength to tell them.
"I…" Jewel began, but she couldn't finish. Blu swept his wing in front of the three, pushing them back, as Jewel began spluttering and coughing. Bia, Carla, and Tiago looked down, seeing red specks on the floor, where they had been standing just seconds before. Alarmed, they looked up at their father, and they were startled when they saw how he looked. The usually calm Blu looked frantic beyond belief, his brown eyes filled with panic and something else: pure terror. None of the three had ever seen such a look. Jewel's eyes glazed with pain, before she closed them, and turned over, her back to them all.
"Your mother needs some rest." said Eduardo, in a shaking voice they had never heard him use before. "Roberto and Sophia just went to Felipe's tribe, to get the cure from Maite and Miguel. They'll be back soon, so we should leave Jewel to sleep." But Carla, Bia, and Tiago didn't move. They couldn't take their eyes off Jewel. "Kids, just… go outside." Without another word, Eduardo pushed the three out, and closed the plant curtain, leaving them speechless.
Later
"Guys." Said a flat, dead-sounding voice. Eduardo and Mimi looked up, drowsily. They looked at their sick loved one; Jewel was lying, unconscious yet again, with Blu asleep on the floor. Jewel kept drifting in and out of unconsciousness, and it was making both Eduardo and Mimi beside themselves with worry. To contribute to the unease, Blu didn't seem to care that he could catch the illness, being so close to Jewel.
The voice had come from Roberto, who was standing in the entrance. His tone was shocking to Eduardo and Mimi - he had only used that voice in the days after Tia had died, when Jewel had gone missing. Sophia looked just as depressed, her eyes dull and hollow, and she looked like she might start crying any minute. They looked mournful. "Eduardo, Mimi." Roberto said. "We need to talk. Don't wake Blu up." Eduardo and Mimi looked at each other, rather puzzled - they were even more so confused when they noticed that Roberto and Sophia were empty-taloned. Where was the cure?
The four quietly walked past the three sleeping forms of Bia, Carla, and Tiago - it had taken hours for them to finally drift off. Isaac, Bromeliad, Orchid and Azure had gone back to the tree for an uneasy sleep, and Tobias and Isabella had called Bruno away, for it was getting late. Roberto and Sophia flew up to the higher branches of Blu and Jewel's tree. As soon as the leader and advisor had joined them, Roberto and Sophia braced themselves for their news. "There's something we have to tell you." Sophia confessed, in a wobbly, brittle voice.
Roberto and Sophia then explained everything - their visit to the Reds, their conversation with Maite - and the matter of the cure. As the talk went on, Eduardo and Mimi's expressions changed, the emotions vanishing until there was nothing left - nothing but fear and something the two younger macaws couldn't place. The two looked speechless, not believing their ears. Tears began to stream from Mimi's eyes, and within a moment, Mimi was gone, weeping. Eduardo hadn't moved - he was as still as a stone.
"But the myth!" Sophia exclaimed, sounding desperate. "The myth… its Jewel's only chance!" finally, Eduardo blinked. But then fury entered his eyes, to their surprise.
"Myths…" Eduardo snarled. "Myths do not exist. They are stories for the chicks and the naïve." The rage on his face then increased, making both Roberto and Sophia cower. "False hope!" Eduardo almost shouted. "I expected more of you. You should know better, than to tell me that the only cure is something that does not exist!" Without a word, Eduardo turned, and flew away in silence. As soon as he flew out of earshot of the two, the other tribe members, sleeping in their trees, stirred as they heard the weeping of a male bird. Meanwhile, Roberto and Sophia were left standing there, alone, bewildered by Eduardo's furious outburst. After several moments, Sophia trembled slightly, before a sob escaped her throat.
"He's right," she sobbed, heavily. "How could we believe in a myth? How could we have clung onto false hope? It's too unbelievable to be real."
In the branches below, a small, hazel-eyed girl was standing, unable to move. She had heard every single word. Horrified by what she now knew, she raced back into the tree, calling, frantically, for her brother and sister.
A few minutes later, in Roberto and Sophia's tree, there was the sleeping form of their four teenagers. Isaac was lying, propped against the wall, snoring; Bromeliad was sleeping, her head tucked elegantly under her wing; whereas Orchid was sprawled out on the floor, her wings folded under her chin like a pillow. Azure, meanwhile, was gazing up at the moon, from where it shone in through a large hole in the tree trunk. He had just woken up about a minute ago, but in his sleep, he was sure that he heard somebody crying. He was also certain that he saw Carla, racing away across the ravine, headed for Bruno's tree. Why would she be racing over there, at this time of night? Speaking of lateness, where were his mother and father?
The moon was then blocked out as two silhouettes appeared, in the tree trunk gap. He could immediately tell that it was Bia and Tiago. Why were they here, at this time of night?
"Bia, Tiago?" Azure said. His voice awoke his sisters and brother, for the three began yawning, and blinking drowsily at the two silhouettes. Orchid sat up, smiling at Tiago - but then her smile disappeared as she saw both his and Bia's faces. Tear droplets were trickling down the two's faces.
"What happened?" Bromeliad asked, her feathers spiking up. She and Isaac rose to their talons, looking at Azure and Orchid. Azure immediately stood, sweeping over to Bia and Tiago - his first concern was his girlfriend. Azure stopped in front of Bia, reaching up to touch her face.
"What's wrong?" he asked. Bia didn't speak - her face only crinkled up as she fought off tears, but she couldn't hold them back. She began sobbing, unable to fight them off. Azure was shocked – Bia was sensitive, but never had she cried like this. "Hey!" he said, in a soothing voice, gathering her in his wings. Bia's wings were thrown around him, and she was weeping into his chest. What's wrong? Azure wanted to ask, but he knew that she would be unable to reply. Consumed with worry, Azure looked at Tiago, whose eyes were, while they were spilling tears, blank. He looked traumatized. Orchid was looking up into his eyes, speaking in a low, quiet voice, obviously trying to get him to talk to her.
"Tiago, talk to me." Orchid said, urgently. "What's the matter?" she had never seen Tiago cry before - something had to be wrong. "Is it… Jewel?" she asked, quietly. At this, Azure, Isaac and Bromeliad looked at their youngest sister. Bia shifted in Azure's wings, and then they knew that she was able to speak. They all looked at her, waiting - waiting for an answer. But nothing could've prepared them for what Bia said.
"Mom's dying." Bia whispered.