The sun was beginning to dip behind the horizon, staining the sky with hues like golden, amber, pink, and lilac. The very edge of the sky, opposite to the setting sun, was a dark, rich blue-black, with slowly-brightening white specks indicating the presence of stars. Overhead, the trees were moving past swiftly, leaves and flowers sprouting out occasionally. The wood beneath their talons bounced a little as the train moved, and the breeze ruffled their feathers.
It was the kind of train Bia, Carla and Tiago had seen on several occasions in movies, like ones where the protagonists were on a journey or on the run from something or someone. It dragged what looked like wooden boxes, all of which had large holes in them from the floor to the ceiling. In the carriages along, legs hanging out of the sides of the train indicated the presence of travelling humans. In the train boxes, there were various crates and sacks that contained anything from hay to coal - the hay made a comfortable nest for them. While the others were sleeping on crates or on the hay, Carla was sitting on the side, legs hanging out. She closed her eyes in bliss - this was a wonderful thing, the train. They could see the rainforest moving past without tiring from flight, and that breeze was wonderful - relatively cool, a break from the humid air of South America.
She looked at her friends - Orchid and Tiago were lying in some hay, sleeping lightly, while Bia and Azure were perched upon the highest crate, the latter having his wing around her. Bia's head was resting on his shoulder, and Azure's chin as on her head as they slept. Such romantics. Meanwhile, Bruno was sitting beside Carla, a few inches of space between them. He had tried to shuffle closer to her several times, but she had moved up a little each time, making him give up. They were sitting in silence, watching the world run by. Since Carla was so focused on the rainforest, Bruno could look at her without her questioning him for staring. She looked ever so pretty, as usual, but she was most beautiful he'd ever seen her right now. Her emerald green eyes were luminous, even in the dimming light. The breeze stirred her head feathers, sending the wavy ends bouncing up and down, and her black eyelashes were shadowing her cheeks every time she closed her eyes. He edged his wing along, touching her own wing from where it was lying on the floor. This time, Carla didn't retract her wing. Her eyes flicked down briefly, before she resumed to looking back outside. Bruno looked back at their sleeping companions, making sure that they were asleep, before he decided to ask her.
"Carla…" he cleared his throat before speaking. His friend looked up, smiling, but her eyes were irritated. Clearly, she thought he was going to ask her to be his girlfriend again. He wasn't - but it was linked to that. There was something he had to know. Bruno needed to know why.
"Yes, Bruno?" she sighed, looking away. Bruno felt the familiar, disappointed feeling in his heart as she prepared to change the subject again.
"There's something I'd like to ask you -" he began, but Carla opened her beak to speak, her eyes set on the sky above - she was clearly going to talk about the sky. "No." he interrupted, cutting her off. "It's not what you think." Carla looked at him, taking her eyes off the sky, and she looked confused - and then relieved.
"You had me frightened there." She said, jokingly. "I thought you were talking about something serious…" her voice faded as she saw the look on his face. "…it is something serious, isn't it?" she guessed, her voice dropping as Tiago and Orchid shifted in their sleep. Bruno looked at their four sleeping friends, double-checking to ensure that they were asleep, before speaking.
"Look, Carla - I really do like you." Bruno said, his heart speeding up as she looked uncomfortable, awkward.
"Oh, boy." She groaned, looking away.
"You know we're going out. Don't deny it - my mom talks to yours, and they both think the same thing." Carla's eyes flashed, and he knew that her cheeks had gone cerise under the cerulean plumage. She looked down at her talons, her heart bouncing in her chest. She knew where this was going. It wasn't fair on him - she kept shutting him out, because of her stupid fears. She knew Bruno - But she couldn't help but have her doubts.
"I know." She admitted. "And I like you too." Idiot! Why did you say that? She scolded herself. Bruno blinked, his eyes full of mixed emotion - curiosity, nerves, and something she couldn't place her wingtip on.
"Then… why haven't we done anything about it?" he prompted. Carla bit her lower beak. "It's been so many months, Carli - why won't you be my girlfriend? I'm not impatient, but… it's just, many girls would love the thought of being one. Your first relationship…" Bruno didn't say Augustus's name. "You guys only went out for two weeks before you got together. But it's been months for us. I mean, I like you, and you like me… and do you remember what happened a few weeks ago? You kissed me." He tipped his head to the side. Carla had to suppress a smile at that memory - she couldn't have helped it. They had been in the mango grove together, and she had just kissed him, before pulling away as someone flew by. Bruno looked at her again. "Why, then? Is it your confidence?"
"Something like that." She said. Carla covered her face with her wings, as she had an image of what she saw in her reflection. She wasn't at all happy with what she saw. "I'm overweight, Bruno. We both know it, and no matter how many times I listen to or sing all those songs - 'Just the Way You Are', 'Beautiful', and 'All About That Bass' - I can't be happy with how I am." Bruno sighed, running his wingtips through his head feathers in frustration, before placing a wing on her shoulder.
"For goodness sake, Carla - you're curvy. Not fat. We've talked about this - and you're beautiful as you are, you should know that from the songs you listen to." She was indeed curvy, and it suited her so much. They'd had this conversation so many times. Just a few weeks ago, she had fretted over her appearance in a mirror shard, as they prepared to sing a song in the club. She had complained that she looked a little fat, but Bruno had rushed to reassure her. Even his compliments hadn't soothed her worries. Now that he looked at her, she looked thinner then she had been back then - a little too gaunt. He'd been watching her as she ate, recently - come to think of it, she didn't eat that often nowadays. Whenever she did eat, she was skipping meals, claiming she wasn't hungry, or barely eating more than a few bites of her food. She was pushing herself to exercise. She did this by racing him or any of her friends, and when he or they got tired, she was still going, wings a blur, exhausted but still pushing herself to go on. It wasn't good for her, and he was worried that she could go too far with her weight loss scheme. Bruno looked into her eyes - they looked shadowed. Her confidence isn't just it, is it? "That's not the only thing, is it?" he asked, gently. He'd had this suspicion for a while, when he noticed Carla glaring at Augustus every time she saw him.
"Of course it's the only thing." She insisted, but Bruno could tell that she was lying.
"Is it what happened between you and Gus, all those months ago?"
"No." she lied. She felt a pang of anger and disgust as she heard her ex-boyfriend's name.
"Carla, you have to understand. I'm not like Gus." Bruno insisted, looking frustrated and a little hurt. He despised the idea of Carla thinking him to be like Augustus. He would never call Carla fat, even if she wasn't there to hear it. "I would never call you fat, let alone insult you or talk about you behind your back to impress my friends. You can't allow one comment to hold you back! He made a mistake, but that doesn't mean that every single relationship you will ever have will end because of one." He narrowed his brown eyes. He suddenly felt incredibly frustrated. All the frustration he was having over the last few months had come together. "You don't trust me, do you?"
"I do trust you!" Carla exclaimed in protest. She suddenly felt hot anger wash over her. She had to get it out - he had to understand. "Alright. Maybe I don't trust you whole-heartedly, but I don't want my heart broken again! This could go down in flames, Bruno - just like me and Gus. I don't want the humiliation and awkwardness that comes after it ends!"
"I won't break your heart!" Bruno protested, sounding angry now. "Don't you get it? I'd never break up with you, because I think you're beautiful. Not just for your looks, it's for you. You're funny, talented, and the best macaw I've ever met. I could never get tired of looking at you, or talking to you. Anyone would be lucky to have you, but you don't see it. And no, I wouldn't break your heart. It would be your decision as to whether our relationship ends, because I could never break up with you." He suddenly felt embarrassed, and looked away, not daring to look at Carla's face. "Please. Just see how much I really like you - use this journey to think about it. I understand that you need time to get over how your last relationship ended. But what hurts me most is that you don't trust me. You haven't been fair." Bruno then moved his feet, standing up. Briefly, he hesitated - then he spoke with a heavy sigh. "Tell you what. Here's an ultimatum for you. I will never ask you to be my girlfriend again." Carla looked up at him, eyes wide.
"What?" she asked, in bewilderment. "But… are you sure?" Bruno nodded, looking a little reluctant.
"On one condition. Should you ever think that you're ready, you have to ask me to be your boyfriend. Alright? Look, I'm happy being friends. But I know we're much more than that." Bruno then turned, and flew up to a crate, leaving Carla in stunned silence as the meaning of his words sunk in. Briefly, she hesitated, before sighing. It made sense.
"Okay." She replied, and his head snapped up. She then felt incredibly culpable, and she knew that her eyes were full of guilt. "Look… I haven't been fair to you. I'm really sorry."
"Thank you." He said, before shuffling around his crate, to get comfortable. Before he settled, he looked up at her, with insistent eyes. "One last thing. Please - stop your diet, Carla. You don't need it, and if you keep going, you could hurt yourself."
"You think?" Carla asked, in a tremulous voice.
"Have I ever lied to you, or anyone for that matter, Carla?" Bruno asked, before he tucked his head beneath his wing, to sleep. Carla stared at him, thinking about his words, before she looked back outside, staring into the trees. His words sunk in, and she knew that he was right. She sighed, and leaned against the gap frame, watching the moon rising over the trees.
Meanwhile
It was the evening, and the entire Red tribe were gathered outside their hollows, to watch the sunset. Today, it seemed unusual - the sun was unusually red as it sank lower into the horizon, like a berry dipped in blood. It was both a little disturbing and beautiful. Felipe and Azalea were multitasking - an eye on the sunset, as well as watching Adele and Leti, as they hopped from branch-to-branch, flapping their wings as they did. Each time, they managed to stay airborne for a few seconds, before they were forced to make a landing. They only needed a bit more practise, and then they could try free flight into open air. Felipe remembered learning to fly for the first time - it had been thrilling and scary at the same time. He was looking forward to seeing the looks on the faces of his daughters, when they finally flew properly for the first time. Despite his uplifted mood, there was something in the back of his mind that worried him.
Every day, his patrols returned, reporting trespassing and attacks from armed Hyacinth patrols. Many of regular patrols bore bruises and wounds - a young male had even broken his wing, and two of his tribe members were missing. Chicks and elderly had literally been forbidden from leaving the Kapoks, for their own safety. Felipe was also increasingly worried as he learned where trespassing Hyacinths had been caught. He had had somebody keep track of the areas, and each time, the trespassing crept closer to the heart of his territory - to the point where trespassing had been recorded thirty metres from the Kapoks his tribe called home. Sentries were posted around the Kapoks, to watch for any sign of navy blue macaws with yellow face markings, but so far, the trespassing activity had been most active further away.
Felipe wanted to confront Kerja over the matter - but he was humiliated to admit that he was terrified of the Hyacinth's matriarch. She was twice his size and weight, older, and the sight of her twisted, mangled foot was enough to make him flinch and feel bile rise in his throat. And she was so barbaric and mean-spirited that he was certain that her territory had been effected by it. Since she came into power, the Hyacinth macaw territory had withered. From the few glimpses of it he got, he saw shrivelled fruit and leaves, and half-dead trees. The sky was never entirely blue, but covered in grey cloud. Kerja was also brutal in battle - No, Felipe thought. 'Brutal' isn't good enough. She's a tyrant. It was common knowledge that, over fifteen years ago, she had done something truly terrible, when she drove out the Glaucous macaw tribe. To stop anymore deaths, the Glaucous leader had called a hasty surrender, agreeing to leave and go peacefully. Kerja had agreed to this, but, unexpectedly, she had suddenly motioned to some Hyacinths. At her command, they immediately seized a random Glaucous macaw, a young male, and dragged him before Kerja. To show the Glaucous what would happen if they came back, Kerja had literally hacked off the chosen macaw's wing, with a human knife, before shoving him off the branch. The Glaucous macaw tribe, horrified, had immediately fled, and that was the last time they were seen. Azalea had told Felipe this, for she had been informed by Johanna and Alejandro, who had made this sickening discovery when they had gone there, in secret, to try and help the injured.
The two Blue-and-Golds had only found corpses, and a few Glaucous macaws beyond saving - then they found the unfortunate soul who had had his wing removed, who would have bled to death had they not found him. It had been a miracle that he was still alive, hours later. Johanna and Alejandro had taken him back to their territory, and nursed him back to health - it had been an exhausting process, taking weeks for the Glaucous macaw to heal. He had been tortured in his sleep by nightmares of Hyacinths and human knives. The Glaucous macaw had refused to look at his left side for weeks, but when he finally had, he had been horrified. With one wing, and no way to reattach the lost one, the Glaucous macaw would have never flew again. Devastated as he realized this, the Glaucous macaw shocked Johanna and Alejandro when he suddenly spun round, launching himself out of the tree - and crashing down to the forest floor. To the horror of the Blue-and-Gold tribe, they realized that he had done it on purpose, killing himself by the fall. He would rather die, than stay grounded forever.
Trying to escape this thought, Felipe turned his mind to other things. He had been looking for any sign of Roberto or Eduardo at the Spix's border, but he hadn't seen anything. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen any Spix's macaws for some time as of recent. The occasional flash of cerulean was all he saw, and he was getting worried. He'd seen Hyacinths going in there - and it was said that a few had been seen entering the territory of the Blue-and-Golds. With the Blue-and-Golds a leader short, they were vulnerable - and they didn't know how to defend themselves. Someone was probably going to get hurt over there. By now, the sun was almost entirely gone, and the Amazon had grown dark. Adele and Leti had finally given up trying to fly, and had wandered into the hollow, for bed.
Most of the tribe should've been going back inside by now, but some reason, there was an air of suspense hanging over the Kapoks. Most of them were still lingering outside their hollows, muttering in unease. It then occurred to Felipe that the patrols were late - usually, they came back before it darkened. As Felipe was thinking this over, he was then aware of the sound of frantically beating wings - several of them. He knew that the wings were of the patrols - but something was wrong. What was the hurry? "Felipe." Azalea then said, her voice sounding like splintering wood. Felipe looked up at his mate, but she wasn't looking at him. She was looking at the main Kapok entrance, unable to tear her hazel gaze away from it. Something he hadn't seen in her eyes for a long time - terror. Wondering what could make his near-fearless mate frightened, Felipe followed her gaze to see what she was looking at, and he was in for a shock. Six patrols and all the sentries were racing in all at once, bloodied and struggling to fly. They were shouting, telling everyone to flee. Then the entire tribe heard it - battle cries, and dozens of Hyacinth macaw squawks.
It happened so fast. Like floodwater, the Hyacinths came crashing in, wielding sharp human objects, donning war paint that was designed to frighten any opponent. This was no pretty paint for tribe dances - these were frightening shades of blood-red, night-black and bone-white, painted to resemble a bird's skeleton. The Scarlet and Green-Winged macaws couldn't defend themselves, not against the Hyacinths - they were hopelessly overpowered. Unprepared, and while they were larger in number, the Hyacinths were twice their size and armed with deadly weapons. In the few minutes it took, Felipe saw several tribe members drop out of the sky - he couldn't tell whether they were brutally injured or dead. Feathers and blood flew in all directions, most of it from the Red tribe. More bodies were falling, more anguished cries as macaws saw their loved ones fall - and Felipe was horrified as he saw his tribe - some of whom were his friends - fall, slain. Every falling body ripped his heart, and his ability to fight was reducing, so much so that his tribemates had to rush in to help. In the trees, Hyacinths were forcing their way into the Kapok hollows, throwing out the terrified macaws that were hidden within, regardless as to whether they were old and frail, or injured.
Then, after an unbelievably short amount of time, the Reds knew that they had only one choice. Leave, or die. There was no question - they had to go, right now, if they wanted to survive. Just as he prepared to call signal for retreat, Felipe heard a scream that made his blood run cold. He spun round, and saw a Hyacinth, dragging Adele and Leti from their nest - and then, without hesitation, it threw the two chicks out, sending them plummeting to the forest floor. With his heart in his throat, Felipe immediately rushed forward, flying so fast it hurt his wings. He was shouting their names, telling them to flap their wings - but they were too young to do it properly. Leti then stopped screaming, for Azalea had appeared out of nowhere, grabbing her from the air. But Azalea then screeched.
"Adele!" She cried, in panic. Felipe could hear Adele still screaming, for she was still falling through the air, moments from hitting the forest floor. Felipe folded his wings, plunging down - then his talons were wrapping around his younger daughter. He could barely describe the relief that was in his heart as he caught Adele. Safe in his talons, Adele was trembling and crying at the same time, so frightened that Felipe could feel her heartbeat in his claws. Enraged, his initial thought was to hand her over to Azalea and launch himself back into battle. But he knew that was impossible. He'd be killed. There was just one thing they could do.
"Everybody, get out of here!" He commanded, at the top of his voice. Immediately, the Red macaws stopped fighting. And then they were flying for their lives - many supporting each other, carrying the injured, and young chicks and unhatched eggs. Felipe looked over his shoulder, at the place he had been born, grew up in. He was abandoning it to save his mate, daughters, his tribe. He stared at the Hyacinths, who looked back with prideful, gloating expressions. Then he turned, and followed Azalea and Leti.
And then the Red tribe were gone - fleeing their own home. Leaving the Kapok grove behind, with only cheering Hyacinths and red feathers in it.