Mimi once looked at the world with rose-tinted spectacles. But now, she didn't know if she could look at it in such a way ever again. The world outside was dark and miserable, the rain beating down, the sky a murky, depressing shade of grey. It was as if the sky was crying, as if mourning the news of what would soon be Jewel's death. The wind was blowing violently - tugging at Mimi's feathers even from inside her heavily flowered home. Petals were drifting about, and she had been watching them for hours, watching them move across the floor.
When Blu had reacted horribly to the news last night, the entire tribe had been alerted that something was wrong. So, a few hours earlier, Eduardo had reluctantly called them together and announced that Jewel only had a few weeks to live. Many macaws had begun crying, some had been too shocked to react, while others had come up to offer their sympathies. Mimi then remembered that Rafael, Eva, Nico, Pedro and the other friends from Rio would have to be told over the phone. One of the kids will have to do that, no one else can use it… oh, it's too horrible. They'd tell the city birds after the event actually happened. Emotions were running too high right now.
Flowers rested outside Blu and Jewel's tree - hundreds of them, for sympathy, but this made Mimi feel worse. Flower petals were used at burials, to cover a grave - the flowers did stand for condolences, for their petals just reminded Mimi of Tia's funeral, nineteen years ago. Mimi would have thought that she would be the first to die, of her family. She was the eldest, after all, a few weeks older than her brother - she did have years yet to live, but still, she would've probably died before anyone else did. Certainly not after Jewel. Mimi shivered when she remembered Blu's face, after they told him. It could have outweighed all the grief Mimi had felt for Tia, when they dragged Tia's corpse from the wreckage of the burning tree.
Blu had crumpled to the floor, shrieking - anyone would've thought it was a heart attack, but Mimi knew exactly what it was - she'd seen what grief had done to Eduardo on the night Tia died. He'd cried, pleaded them to tell him that it wasn't true. After his show of devastation, Blu had raced into the room Jewel was in, and had begun sobbing his heart out. Mimi honestly couldn't imagine what it was like, losing a mate Mimi had never had a mate - she'd had a few boyfriends and flings when she was younger, but nothing special. She had some idea of it, but she knew she would never truly understand.
Mimi dreaded to think what Blu would do when Jewel actually died. His reaction to the news alone was disturbing enough - surely he wouldn't - be pushed to suicide? He can't leave Bia, Carla and Tiago without a father as well as a mother… he can't be left alone after she passes.
"Mimi!" a frantic voice cried, making her jump. Mimi's head whipped up as she recognised Roberto's silhouette, in the entrance of her tree. She felt a sickening feeling of dismay. No! We were told she had a few weeks! But, seeing Mimi's expression, Roberto realized that his frenzied entry had delivered an unintended message. "No, Jewel's still fine." Roberto said quickly, to her relief. He looked beside himself with worry - not over his childhood friend, however. He looked consumed with fear, his head feathers spiked violently - it was a 'parent' look, one Mimi had seen with Tia and Eduardo when Jewel was a child. "Have you seen my kids?" he demanded, confirming Mimi's suspicions. "Isaac and Bromeliad are asleep in their nests, but there's no sign of Orchid and Azure. Soph's going crazy, you know what she's like! Have you seen them?"
"Azure and Orchid?" Mimi asked, alarmed by his behaviour. "No, I haven't - why don't you ask Bia and Tiago? Bia is Azure's boyfriend, and Tiago is Orchid's… wait." Mimi frowned. "Where are Bia, Carla, and Tiago?" Roberto opened his beak to reply, but then it snapped shut as he was lost for words. "I haven't seen any of them since…" Mimi began.
"…yesterday morning." Roberto finished. They both stared at one another, before Roberto knocked himself on the beak with a clenched talon. "How could I have been so blind? What kind of a father am I? I didn't notice my own kids were missing! Help me find Azure and Orchid - and Bia, Carla, and Tiago, too. Eduardo, bless his soul, went out the ravine to help look for them all, despite how he's feeling. Come on!" Roberto turned, and flew away, calling for his younger son and daughter. Concerned for the well-being of the five kids, Mimi pushed aside her dark mood and flew out of the tree, into the drizzle. Wind battered at her feathers, sending a few moulting ones flying away. She and Roberto flew as swiftly as possible, as most birds couldn't fly well in the rain. They reached the canopy of the trees where Blu and Jewel lived, providing some shelter. Most of the tribe were huddled in their nests, out of the rain. Over the wind, she heard Sophia calling.
"Azure! Orchid!" through the miserable weather, Mimi could see the periwinkle-blue form of their score marker. Sophia was darting from tree-to-tree, searching every hollow, asking everyone where they were. Nobody had seen them, however. Even more worrying was the fact that somebody else was missing, as well as Blu and Jewel's entire brood and half of Roberto and Sophia's.
"I went to the club, Tobias! There's a sign saying that they're closed for a few weeks - it didn't say why!" Isabella fretted, from where she was looking around her tree. "How didn't you notice he was missing, Toby? This is your entire fault!"
"It's not just my fault! He's your son too, Izzy!" Tobias was chasing his mate, trying to get her to calm down, but he still looked as fretful as she did - the difference was he could conceal his worry. Most mothers were visibly more worried than fathers, shown by Sophia and Isabella's frantic behaviour. At least Roberto and Tobias could keep calm - speaking of parents, where was Blu? Jewel's absence was acceptable, but, despite his grief, Blu should have been out, looking for his children. At least, that was her opinion. Mimi flew toward the tree, which looked droopy and sad, its leaves seeming to have lost their rich green hue.
"Blu!" Mimi called, entering. She knew not to call Jewel - she was probably in a blackout again. But Mimi was in for a shock, when she saw a figure propped against the entrance of the abandoned room. She had thought that she was too weak to stand. "Jewel!" she exclaimed, bewildered. "What are you doing? You need rest!" Jewel must have come out of her blackout - for the moment. But Jewel looked worse. She didn't seem to have changed a lot, but there was something even more worrying - her eyes were red. Not the whites of her eyes, from pain or anything… Mimi let out a small shriek as she realized. "Jewel! You're - you're - bleeding!"
"Wh…" Jewel blinked, touching her eye; her wingtip came away red. A stream of blood was coming from Jewel's left eye; bright red, carving a red stream through her face feathers. You're bleeding… from your eyes! Mimi thought, feeling sick. Horrified, Jewel began shaking as she slid down the wall, staring at the blood on her wing. Mimi rushed to Jewel, wrapping a wing around her and trying to help her to her feet. The flapping sound of wings distracted Mimi, and she turned, squinting up at a silhouette. She had an elegant look to her, with blue and yellow feathers - there was no doubt as to who it was.
"Don't worry, I'm here!" cried a familiar voice - if it were a fabric, it would be silk. The leader and healer of the Blue-and-Gold macaw tribe rushed down, dropping a large leaf-woven bag, and she immediately helped Jewel up. Together, Mimi and Johanna hauled Jewel back through the climbing plant, putting her into the nest, despite her feeble protests.
"Let me…" Jewel was trying to speak; under the pain in her eyes, there was desperation. "My kids!" she insisted, attempting to push them away. "Let me help…"
"You're not going anywhere." Johanna said firmly, pushing Jewel back into the nest."I'm sorry, Jewel, but you're too sick to fly. You're in no state to look for the kids. They'll turn up - just sit down and let me give you some sort of pain reliever." Johanna whirled round, picking up the bag she had initially dropped. "You need to replace or re-educate your healers." She muttered, as she ran past Mimi. "They may be unable to treat the disease, but surely they'd remember to give her a pain killer!"
"We've got a healer in the making -" Mimi began, thinking of Bia, and her fascination in medicine. "-but right now, she, her siblings and friends are missing. Thank you, Johanna - I'll be back. I need to help in the search." Mimi turned, looking at Jewel. "We'll find them, wildflower. Just let Johanna give you some medicine."
"Don't talk to me like I'm a child!" Jewel snapped, unexpectedly. Mimi recoiled in astonishment, shocked. Jewel was never so rude, especially not to her own aunt. Johanna, however, didn't look alarmed by the outburst.
"It's a side-effect of the disease." She explained, quietly, while she sorted out a bizarre-looking plant. "The disease targets the part of the brain that controls fear, anger, leading to emotional outbursts and mood snaps."
"That's comforting, Johanna." Mimi muttered, sarcastically, looking away. She couldn't stand to be in the same room as her dying niece, so she quietly slipped from the room and focused on finding the missing kids. Maybe it would put Jewel's mind at ease. "Bia! Carla! Tiago!" Mimi knew that the tree had probably already been searched, but she had a knack for spotting small clues. If she'd honed her skills further, she could've become a tracker. Tribes often, along with healing and Pit of Doom teams, had a group of trackers. Roberto was a tracker, and Isaac was said to have inherited his father's skill, too - Azure had artistic skills, but Isaac had the life skills. Mimi spotted a small, downy feather on the ground, and she picked it up, examining it. It was a juvenile feather, but dark enough to be Blu's - without question, it had to be Tiago's - and it was recent, too. Maybe a few hours old.
Mimi looked up, and could see the four sleeping hollows above, with Blu and Jewel's at the lowest level, and Bia's at the top. Mimi checked Blu and Jewel's room - which hadn't been slept in for days - but found no sign of the kids. Knowing that their rooms would show the most clues, Mimi began searching the three kids' rooms. She couldn't help but tut when she entered Tiago and Carla's. What a mess - if I had kids, I'd make sure they wouldn't clutter up their rooms. Mimi did notice similarities between all three bedrooms; all the necklaces were in their places. The kids usually wore them inside the ravine, to prevent the chance of losing them. Carla's iPod was tucked neatly into its gap, covered by a couple of leaves to conceal it. Carla always took the iPod with her - Mimi rarely saw her without it. Bia's room held the most evidence. A few things littered on the floor, but Bia always tidied up her room - Mimi had come here a few times, and it had always been immaculate. It was as if items had been knocked - Bia had clearly been in a hurry. Bia's sketchpad and a few of her drawing tools were gone from their usual place - and something odd, lying on the floor, caught on one of Mimi's claws.
Frowning, Mimi pulled the thing from her claw. It was probably an inch in width, light brown, made of some sort of material: long strings woven together. She'd seen it on one of those human boats, only then it had been a container for fruit. This came from a sack. What was a scrap of a sack doing in Bia's room? Why would she need it? Azure, Orchid, Bruno, and the three kids were missing… why weren't Isaac and Bromeliad with them? If Carla went out, a reason for leaving the iPod behind would be to prevent it being lost. None of them took their necklaces, also to prevent losing them… and the club had closed for a few weeks with no explanation, according to Isabella. The missing and changing things, almost as if they had gone somewhere…
Mimi then saw something white, lying in Bia's sleeping niche. Dropping the scrap of material in her talon, Mimi walked up to the niche, peering inside - before she took hold of the white thing. It looked as though it had been torn from one of Bia's books. It was written in rushed, yet neat writing, in one of Bia's charcoal pencils.
We love you all - Isaac and Bromeliad will explain everything. Sorry.