"I don't like this." Remarked Bruno, from where he stood, on a large, thick root. That reminded Bia, Carla and Tiago of their first time in the Amazon, for that had been one of the first things Nico had said as he looked around the unfamiliar jungle. Now, in the Peruvian Amazon, it also felt like that to them; daunting, unfamiliar, even if it's appearance didn't differ much from that of the Brazilian Amazon. It was the same as the Amazon they knew, really - ground covered in thick knots and tangles of roots, the same humid air, flowers and fruit hanging from leaf-laden branches. To the three city-born teens, the discontent around their wild-born companions was a surprise.

"I don't like it either." Azure remarked, looking around the rainforest warily. He was more at ease than Bruno, but he still didn't find it pleasant. Maybe he'd like it if he wasn't stuck on the forest floor, where every green root resembled a snake - they were one of his worst fears. "And those aren't comforting." He scowled up through the tree canopy, where Howler monkeys were shrieking, making their presence known to the Peruvian jungle. It was eerie - the sanctuary back home was populated sparsely with Howlers, as the macaw territories were more prone to mischievous capuchins. The occasional Howler monkey call could be heard, but that was about it. Now, the calls were everywhere. Sometimes, just when they thought it went silent, the quiet was broken by an ear-splitting shriek of a Howler, making them all jump.

But then, not everything was bad. Just a few hours ago, they had stumbled across a female tapir, with a litter of four babies. The little tapirs were small, covered in brown hair, which was decorated with white spots and stripes. It had been a lovely thing, seeing the mother tending to her young. It was also very beautiful here, that was for certain - this place was practically untouched by humans, except for the occasional shoe print in the mud. But these weren't heavy boots of tourists or loggers - they looked a little odd, like sandals. Bia thought that they were the shoes of indigenous Peruvians, living in the jungle. She had read about quite a few indigenous human tribes, and it fascinated her - she was hoping to catch a glimpse of some indigenous humans at some point, since she didn't see many back home.

Flashes of colour in the trees indicated the presence of animals - an occasional flick of a dappled, golden and black tail signifying a jaguar. When they saw this, most of them felt a shiver of fear, but jaguars didn't often attack macaws - they usually opted for mammals and ground birds. They didn't have to worry about jaguars, probably, but it was Tiago's job to focus on watching out for animals like snakes, poisonous amphibians, and anything else that would pose a threat to any of them. They swapped the role of look-out every half an hour or so, going in alphabetical order to make it fair. While Tiago stood at a slightly elevated spot above the rest, a few feet higher, the others looked around for any sign of the flower. They had been looking for several hours now, with no luck. Bia had lost track of how far they had ventured through the forest, but every few minutes, she flew up through the tree canopy, scanning the forest from above, to make sure that they didn't lose the train tracks. Reminded of that thought, she turned to the others.

"I'm gonna make another check." She said, before flapping her wings, flying directly upwards, leaving the others on the forest floor. As she rose from the treetops, bright light poured into her eyes, and she had to look away, blinking rapidly to stop the sunlight dazing her. Squinting up at the orb of fire in the sky, Bia turned away, so that she could look at the rainforest. A glint of blue in the distance indicated water, which she assumed was the Amazon river, or one of the smaller ones that branched off from it.

On the very edge of the horizon, there was a grey smudge, which she believed were the beginnings of mountains. She blinked, thinking. Mountains are more isolated, higher up. It's likely that it could've landed there. Bia reached into the sack, pulling out the atlas pages and frowning at the words sprawled across the grey areas. Is that Spanish or Portuguese? My mind's so blank, today… giving up, Bia refocused on the mountains. They were so far away, and it would take a fair few days' flight to get there. That would be reduced by the train, but the line appeared to be going in another direction. They'd have to fly. She didn't know how big those mountains were - but the mountains on the atlas pages stretched quite far. Journeying into mountains was a risky thing. Few trees meant inefficient shelter and food, little protection from danger…

"Bia!" shouted a voice, from below, making Bia's heart jolt. She looked down, to see Orchid, flying up to her like there was no tomorrow. At first, Bia felt a rush of hope, but this was swept away as she saw the look on Orchid's face. Azure's younger sister looked agitated, and frightened. Clearly, the flower hadn't been found. But Orchid looked sick with worry, and it made Bia feel nervous. "I've got a slight problem, and you've gotta get down here, now." Frowning, and stuffing the atlas pages back into the sack, Bia folded her wings, plunging down into the tree canopy. As she broke through, Bia resumed to normal flight, gliding down to the forest floor. Bia looked around, puzzled - where were the others? She was positive this was where they were last - whenever she went up to check things, they always stayed in same spot. She heard scuffling of leaves behind her, and turned to Orchid, who was biting her beak. Orchid looked fearful and anxious, her feathers frazzled. A speculation entered her mind - one she dreaded. Bia stared at the younger macaw, praying that her suspicions weren't true.

"Tell me you haven't lost them." She said, slowly.

"I may have lost them." Orchid admitted, and Bia stared at her in horror. "I'm sorry." She was looking at her talons in shame. "Look, a jaguar came too close for comfort, and we all had to fly pretty fast - I panicked and went in the complete opposite direction. They seemed to have stuck together, though." A rush of fear went through Bia, and she looked around, warily. She was tempted to yell at Orchid, but she held it back. They had to remain calm if they were to find their friends.

"Well, that's good." Bia said, hoping to stay positive. "We're not all split up. Which direction did they go in?"

"I don't know… everything looks the same, I can't tell." Orchid confessed, in a small voice. Orchid's voice was brittle, and she looked as though she were about to cry. Bia listened, hoping to hear the voices of her friends, but any sound was drowned out by the Howler monkeys. Bia put a wing on her friend's shoulder, trying to stay calm.

"Okay." She said, breathing deeply. "We just need to remain calm, and start looking for them… and hope we find them before nightfall." But she doubted the last words. In just minutes, the sky had darkened, and the sun was sinking lower into the sky. Already, the sounds of the rainforest animals had become lower, making it eerily quiet. "Azure?" Bia called, unsure what to do. Calling loudly would draw attention to them, and nocturnal animals were generally the most dangerous. She called as loud as she dared. "Carla, Tiago, Bruno?" no response. The jungle was quiet. Orchid's eyes were flickering around warily, as if she expected a snake to come shooting out from the bushes, and her behaviour was making Bia nervous too. Every snapping twig made them jump, and every distant animal call sent shivers down their spines.

"Bia." Orchid said, as the surroundings grew dim. "Can we please get into a tree? I feel very unsafe." An animal call that was unfamiliar to Bia rang out, and they both stiffened.

"Yeah." Bia replied, grateful that Orchid had said this. The pair quickly flew up into a tree, and began searching the branches, looked for somewhere concealed. Eventually, they came across a spot in the tree where several branches joined to the tree trunk. They hid themselves there, pulling down several slimmer, leaf-laden branches to hide themselves from view of potential dangers. By now, the moon was rising, and the sky was almost black. The sound of night animals echoed through the jungle, making their hearts beat faster. Hoping to put her mind off it, Bia looked at Orchid, whose head was drooping from fatigue. They weren't going to get anywhere, staying here and exhausted. They had to rest. "Why don't you sleep for an hour, while I take watch?" she suggested. "We'll take turns every hour - one sleeps while the other keeps an eye out for the others or predators." Orchid hesitated briefly, before nodding gratefully.

"…okay. Thank you." Orchid nodded, before settling herself on her side, a few leaves tucked under her head. Bia crossed her wings, suddenly regretting taking first watch. Her eyelids felt heavy, and sleep was trying to take over her. Stubbornly, she only stretched her eyes wider, to try to fight it off, but she still felt the temptation to shut her eyes for a couple of minutes. She felt worry churning within her stomach; she hoped that Azure, Carla, Tiago and Bruno were alright, and most importantly, together. Orchid was such a pain, sometimes - she was ditzy and had little independence. At least Orchid hadn't flown off alone - she would've been practically doomed, in a strange country. Bia stared at the sky - it was like black velvet, only covered with a million pinpricks of stars. Bia's eyes began closing, and she couldn't resist the wave of sleep, shutting her eyes.

Meanwhile

It was late evening in Brazil, and the sky was beginning to darken. Isaac's cheek wound was healing fairly well - already, the scratch was almost sealed, and it shouldn't be too long until the feathers grew back over it. But he was bored. The absence of his rambunctious younger sister and his only brother was a severe blow to his life. Of course he had Bromeliad, but she was currently busy with their mother. Obviously he had other friends beside his siblings and Blu and Jewel's absent brood, but most of them were with their parents, being watched. The majority of parents in the ravine had been so concerned over the recent events that they had forbid their children from leaving their sights, and that was understandable, given what had happened to poor Catia, and the still-hospitalized Tobias. Eduardo had increased patrols from a maximum of seven to a maximum of twelve, and they were rather regular, meaning that every patrol that went out had back up not far behind.

Many macaws had challenged Eduardo, urging him to go to Kerja and demand that she keep her tribe inside their borders, but this was out of the question. Marching into the heart of the Hyacinth territory, with Hyacinths hiding around every corner? Not a smart idea. The current plan was to 'wait and see', as Mimi put it, but what happened next? They were defenceless alone, and their allies weren't the best. The Blue-and-Golds weren't the best or most determined of fighters, and as for their Scarlet and Green-Winged neighbours, they had not been seen for days. Isaac's parents were worried, of course - Roberto and Sophia had spent the last few days speculating on their absence. Sophia had been desperate to go there, to ensure that they were alright, but Roberto had immediately objected. As close a friend Felipe and Azalea were, he wouldn't sacrifice Sophia's safety to go and check on their territory. Sophia had been frustrated and angered by this - Isaac's mother was strong-willed and stubborn. She was desperate to make sure that her friends were alright, and it took a lot to make her change her mind. Just as this thought entered his head, there was a flash of unfamiliar colour at the ravine entrance. Isaac frowned, looking up from where he was preening his wing feathers.

Felipe was flying into the ravine, his feathers tattered and patchy from where some had fallen - or been torn - out. Not far behind was Azalea; the white skin around her left eye was almost black, heavily bruised. Like Felipe, she looked exhausted, and there were two chicks on her back - presumably her and Felipe's daughters. Isaac had a vague recollection of his parents telling him and his siblings that they were called Leti and Adele. Immediate voices rose from the trees around Isaac, as Spix's macaws came rushing from their hollows. When the last time a Scarlet macaw had come into the ravine? Felipe would never come here, surely. Why should he? He had no reason. But as he looked at the state of the Red tribe's leader, Isaac began to suspect that he had a perfectly valid one. Felipe's vivid green eyes were hollow with bereavement, hunger, and anxiety, a look Isaac had never seen on him. Half-healed wounds were clearly visible in his feathers, and he looked as though he found flight painful. "Dad, Mom!" Isaac called over his shoulder. "You have to see this." But there was a whistle of air above his head, and he looked up to see his father, flying swiftly toward Felipe, Azalea, and the two chicks. Roberto had already seen them, and was flying quickly to greet his friends.

"Felipe, Azalea!" Roberto exclaimed, sounding both relieved and worried at the same time. He stopped, hovering before the exhausted family. "Look at you! What happened?" The murmurings Felipe's arrival had created had clearly alerted Eduardo, for he had emerged from Blu and Jewel's eerily quiet tree. That tree was usually producing some sort of noise - the voices of the lively Bia, Carla, and Tiago, Blu's squawks of panic as he saw a spider or mosquito, or Jewel as she laughed at her mate's reaction to seeing an insect. Now it was always quiet, with Isaac's friends gone, Jewel being too sick and Blu usually being alone in his thoughts, imagining the worst-case scenario. The only sound really was Johanna's voice, as she soothed Jewel.

As Felipe's eyes landed on Eduardo, they filled with desperation and pleading. "I need a huge favour." He said, looking back at his mate and daughters. "We need a place to stay. But… not just my family. My whole tribe is waiting outside your ravine." Immediate discussion - mostly protests - broke out among the Spix's macaws, and when Eduardo looked perplexed, Felipe raised his voice. "As of a few days ago, I've lost my entire home to Kerja and her Hyacinths." Horrified gasps broke out, followed by a stunned silence. Isaac's blue-green eyes widened in shock; was this real, or was he dreaming? The Red tribe is powerful and stubborn… did they really get driven out? "There were so many. We had no idea they were planning it, and about a dozen of my macaws are dead because of it." Felipe looked around the ravine, still seeing the reluctance and uncertainty on everyone's faces. Could they afford providing a refuge to so many other macaws? "I know we're allies, but I also know we've been pretty rotten to you all in the past. Of course I'd understand if you refused, but… we're desperate. We've got chicks and unhatched eggs with us. We have nowhere else to go." Isaac looked at Felipe's family. The chick with green eyes, Leti, looked delirious. Isaac then felt a pang of pity when he noticed a small cut on the chick's shoulder. She's just a kid! He thought, horrified. How could Hyacinths attack kids? There was a tense moment as everyone looked at Eduardo, wondering if he would accept or send them away. But Eduardo was nodding.

"We have many spare trees." Eduardo said. Some of Isaac's tribe mates muttered - some of them were clearly not pleased at the idea of sharing their home with a hundred-and-something Red macaws - but most of them breathed sighs of relief. "About half of the trees in this ravine are unoccupied - there'll be plenty of room for you all." Eduardo looked around, before waving to around thirty macaws, gathered in a few trees. "Go out and help the Red tribe in - help the injured and the chicks." Immediately, the group of Spix's were flying outside, with Felipe following. His eyes landed on Mimi. "Tell Johanna that there are injuries - you stay with Blu and Jewel." Mimi nodded back, before disappearing into her niece's home.

"You can stay in our hollow, if you want." Roberto said, to Felipe and Azalea. "There's more than enough room for you." Felipe nodded in acceptance, before following the Spix's macaws to fetch his tribe. Meanwhile, Azalea gave Roberto a grateful look, before flying toward the tree. Isaac extended his wing toward the entrance, and Azalea disappeared inside. After a few moments, Isaac could hear Leti and Adele beginning to cry, and Azalea trying to soothe them.

"Mommy? Can't we go home?"

"No, Leti. I'm sorry, we'll have to stay here for a bit. Don't you like your aunt Sophia and uncle Roberto?"

"Of course we do, mom… but we want to go home."

"I know, Adele. I know." Isaac looked into the hollow, where Leti and Adele were enveloped in their mother's wings. The two chicks were so little - they looked as though they couldn't fly yet, as there were still baby down feathers fringing their wings. They must be devastated, being forced out of place they were born, staying somewhere they don't know. Roberto landed beside Isaac, blue eyes filled with worry. "I had a feeling something like this would happen, sooner or later." He sighed heavily, running his wing-tips through his crest feathers. "This isn't good at all. Kerja is a monster, attacking the elderly and the little ones." But then Roberto became still. He was frowning.

"Dad?" Isaac asked, confused at this new look. "Are you okay?" Roberto looked down at Isaac, still frowning.

"Isaac." he said. "Where are your mother and sister?"