"Has something happened?" Mimi said, looking around her home in confusion. Upon Eduardo, Mimi and Blu's return to the ravine, they had sensed that something was wrong. Everyone seemed to be tense or panicked, their eyes darting around the ravine entrance and the top of the cliffs. Blu immediately split off from Eduardo and Mimi, making a beeline for his tree, to check on Jewel and Johanna. Was Jewel's condition the reason for the tribe's discontent?
"Jewel! Johanna!" he called, flying into his home. He was greeted by Johanna's voice - but he then felt a pang of worry, when he heard it. He started feeling nervous as it was whenever he was in here, but Johanna's voice made it worse. It had lost its silvery tone, replaced by strain and tremulousness. Blu stopped before he entered the small room Jewel was in, before stepping through the climbing plant. Jewel was lying in her down-filled nest, on her side, eyes closed, and her eye rims still stained in dark crimson. Jewel looked relatively unchanged, on the outside. But Johanna's expression was what worried Blu most. He rushed to Jewel's side, sitting and easing his wing beneath Jewel's head, to keep her comfortable while he put softer pieces of moss in place of the older bedding. Blu then retracted his wing, and sighed when Jewel looked much less uncomfortable.
"How is she?" he asked, trying to keep his voice steady. Out of the corner of his eye, Johanna was sitting down, her wing resting on her forehead. He felt so sorry for her - she had a lot on her plate. Caring for Jewel, and missing her tribe and mate. Alejandro couldn't lead it for long - he wasn't the most leader-like of macaws, and the Blue-and-Golds always went to Johanna if they had troubles. Johanna's feathers, which were usually sleek, were fluffed and out of place from stress and fatigue. Her eyes were filled with exhaustion, and a worry that matched the tone of her voice.
"Jewel's okay for now." Johanna said, to his relief. "She hasn't improved, but she hasn't gotten worse, which is good. But…" she looked away. "Did you hear the awful news?"
"No," Blu replied, feeling uneasy. "I was outside the ravine. Why, what's happened?"
"It's dreadful." Johanna replied, eyes closed. Jewel mumbled slightly, before she covered her head with a wing, letting out a feeble cough. Johanna's lime-green eyes opened, and flickered to her patient for a few seconds, before they returned to Blu. "Do you know that young female Spix's, Catia?"
Meanwhile, as Mimi and Eduardo arrived at the latter's tree, they were greeted by a bedraggled-looking patrol. Around the tree, dozens of tribe members were gathered, muttering in unease. The patrol of five - hadn't seven gone out originally? - included Roberto and Isaac. Isaac often accompanied his father on patrols, because he loved exploration and sight-seeing. The decision to not go to Peru must've been difficult for him, since he was so inquisitive. The father and son looked on edge, their similar crest feathers spiked from their panic, a trait Roberto's entire brood seemed to have inherited. Isaac especially looked the most shaken - as they came closer, Mimi and Eduardo were alarmed to see a trail of blood on Isaac's face, from a cut on his cheek. As they looked at the others, they identified claw marks, grazes, and bald patches, from where feathers had been ripped out. Blood marked the cerulean feathers, and most of them looked exhausted and bedraggled. Before either of them could ask what happened, Roberto stepped forward to speak. Just then, Sophia and Bromeliad flew through the gap between Eduardo and Mimi, rushing to Roberto and Isaac. Sophia immediately began fussing over her eldest son's cheek wound, while Bromeliad was standing back, looking disturbed and fearful.
"Isaac!" Sophia fretted. "Look at your face! What happened?"
"The Hyacinths happened. We were just attacked by four of them!" Roberto said, from where he was clutching a navy blue feather in his right talon. With Bromeliad examining her brother, Sophia turned her attention to her mate, reaching up to his face with both her wings, looking at a splash of red on his beak. Her dark blue eyes were filled with concern. "It's not my blood." He assured her, before wiping his wing across his face. He turned back to Eduardo and Mimi. "We put up quite a fight - eventually, two of the Hyacinths were too injured to continue, and they were outnumbered by six to two, meaning that the whole group had to retreat."
"Six?" Mimi repeated, in bewilderment. "Four Hyacinths took on six Spix's macaws? Hang on… there are five of you, here now. Six… I thought seven went on the patrol?"
"Yes." Roberto said, suddenly looking pained. He looked at the rest of his patrol members, all of whom displayed remorseful expressions. "Tobias, however, was injured rather… severely. We had to take him to the Spix's wing, and he's there now, being tended to. But there's something worse - Catia was among us…" he looked at the others, and they all looked depressed and miserable. Catia was a female tribe mate, and Eduardo remembered how she had been a friend of Jewel's, as a child. But based by her lack of attendance and the patrol's faces, Eduardo and Mimi could only guess what happened - and they dreaded hearing it. Behind the patrol, they could see a pile of wide leaves - but it wasn't entirely made of leaves. The leaves were covering something - a small flash of blue was visible through a gap in them, despite efforts to conceal every visible sign of what lay beneath. On the edge of the visible blue, there was a cloud of scarlet. Roberto's voice shook as he spoke again. "It was with one of those cutting tools humans use to cut those writing sheets with. It went to the heart. It was a quick death, but… she was in agony as she died."
Horrified gasps sounded around them. Sophia, too, gasped, wing covering her beak. Her eyes glistened with tears, as did Roberto's, and he pulled her into a comforting embrace. Like with Jewel, Catia had been a friend of Roberto and Sophia, growing up. From somewhere in the crowd, there was the agonized wail of a female macaw. Looking through the sea of blue, Mimi saw Catia's twin sister, Trix - she had crumpled to her knees, face buried in her wings as she wept. While tribe mates rushed to comfort her for her loss, Roberto began speaking again. "The Hyacinths… seemed to be targeting someone in particular." He looked down at Isaac, sweeping a protective wing around his son's shoulders. Isaac hesitated before speaking.
"They tried to take me away." Isaac admitted, and there were more gasps from the crowd. "One grabbed me, and tried to fly away with me, but that's where Catia died, attacking him so he would drop me. That's where she got stabbed." This news only made Trix sob even more, and Isaac flinched with guilt - maybe he shouldn't have said that part about Catia's death. Eduardo and Mimi looked at each other, before remembering what they had just witnessed outside the ravine. After they felt it was appropriate, they then described what had happened. The four Hyacinths, seeming to have inside information - trying to take Blu - and then the one tiny Hyacinth, Mina, who had saved him. By the end, everyone looked shell-shocked, and Roberto especially looked stunned beyond belief.
"There's no question now." Eduardo said, looking solemn. "The Hyacinths are planning an attack - Mina confirmed that to us."
"How do you know you can trust her?" challenged a young male. Shouts of agreement sounded from around him. "She's one of them! Did you say 'Mina'? Kerja's daughter is called Mina!" at this, shouts of protest came from the tribe, all against trusting Mina.
"We have to trust her, regardless of who her mother is! We don't have a choice!" Mimi interrupted, but she didn't sound confident. None of the tribe looked convinced. She turned to Eduardo, expectantly, waiting for him to reassure the tribe. He then turned to the crowd, who were whispering and looking stricken.
"Nobody panic!" he demanded, but his words didn't reassure any of them. His voice was almost drowned out by his tribe's - cries from chicks, shouting from adults, the mutterings of the elderly. "We were informed that the Hyacinths are trying to kidnap one of our own - for information. Everyone must remain calm - never go out alone - be careful - and try not to venture too far from the ravine or surrounding grove of trees."
"What about Catia?" cried someone in the crowd, an older female. "Justice must be done!"
"Justice will be given, Jacinta!" Eduardo shouted back. "She will be avenged. But for now, we must put the tribe's safety first, to prevent any more deaths. We will bury Catia, and then we will figure out what to do next!" the tribe, while still looking unsettled, now looked more satisfied with this news. After several moments, the crowd broke apart, and Eduardo gathered several members to start digging a grave for Catia. Trix came up, gently moving the leaves apart so she could see her twin one final time. Eduardo turned to Mimi, and Roberto and his family, who remained. "They killed a tribe member." He spluttered, unable to get over it. Rage was burning within him - Catia had been such a young bird, with her whole life ahead of her. And it had been snatched away by Kerja's fiends. Hopefully Catia would be the only fatality - but some part of Eduardo believed that this incident was the beginning of their problems.
Meanwhile
Iquitos was the fifth-largest city in Peru, and the largest in the Peruvian rainforest. Bia couldn't help but feel a rush of excitement, as the city melted into view - they would soon encounter their first Peruvian city, and it was an exciting thought. Their first city outside Brazil. They had crossed into Peru a couple of hours ago, and now their first city was minutes away.
As they got closer, they noticed several humans sitting on the decks or in boats, hauling fish-loaded nets out of the water, while others were using fishing rods. As they passed over the first huts, flying further into Iquitos, the buildings grew more modern. Below them, Peruvians were going about their day to day activities - a farmer ushering along two cows, with a dog trotting beside him, occasionally running on one cow's side to stop it veering away into the road. A fisherman setting up his stall, slinging dead fish onto the table, while other various stall owners were arranging second-hand objects or cutting up exotic fruit. A small truck drove on the dirt road, with several small, cut trees loaded onto it. Children tottered along the ground, their parents running after them, while birds from the rainforest perched upon buildings, watching the humans below. Macaws, Amazons, all matter of birds were here, all but few the young birds could identify. Orchid, Bruno and Azure all looked amazed, as they looked down upon the sights below. Bia, Carla and Tiago had been born and raised in Rio, and seen so many cities on their way to and from it and the Amazon - in contrast, their wild-born friends had never seen cities, as small as Iquitos was.
"I never imagined we could see so many humans, all in one place!" Azure exclaimed, his eyes filled with wonder and curiosity, mirroring that of Bruno and Orchid.
"If you think this is a lot, you'll be shocked when or if we fly over a more major city." Bia flew closer to Azure, her wing-tips tracing his. At this, Azure swerved closer to her, landed a quick kiss on her cheek. Her heart bouncing, her cheek feeling warm, Bia gave him an adoring smile. She then reached into the bag, which was tied to one of her ankles, and pulled out the atlas pages. Flipping through them, she found one of those solid colour maps that showed the urbanization - buildings, cities, travel. According to the map, at the end of the city, there was a small, minor train line that cut through the rainforest - likely moving faster than they could fly in a day. The train line moved throughout Peru, heading to Tarapoto, which was near the middle of Peru. On a train, moving through the country toward its midpoint - it was a good way to start looking for a magical flower.
Throughout the next couple of chapters, we'll be more focused on the journey, rather than what's happening back home. I'll probably show small scenes from home, to show the separate situations with the Hyacinths and Jewel getting worse. I'd just like to thank you all for your incredible support, with my announcement in the previous chapter regarding the story length. It means so much to me, and it's such a relief. Thanks! Also, the train line is made up - I doubt there's one going through any rainforest. I just wanted a train scene, to break up the old flying routine.
Also, before I go, I have a question for you all. Okay, so Blu and Jewel's kids are teens here. Carla and Bia are voiced by teenagers themselves in Rio 2, so their voices won't have changed much by this point, I'm certain. But then what about Tiago? He must've undergone a voice change, because he sounds so young in Rio 2. If an actor was to voice the teenaged Tiago, who would be the most suitable and why? I'd personally pick Josh Gad, and I'm sure you guys all know who he is - Frozen, Ice Age 4. Anyway, I think it would be Gad because he'd got a voice that would suit Tiago, and it's also because I can't see Tiago having the voice of a big song artist. If you guys can think of another great actor to voice him, who do you think? You don't have to, of course, just a bit of fun.