Chapter 25- an argument and trouble afoot
Orion continued dancing around aerially until he saw a spot of ginger fur and black membranous wings on the stony ground creep away towards the tram tracks that ran past the garage. Immediately, he flew down to her.
"Hey, Ahsoka, where are you going to?" asked he as he touched down. However, Ahsoka refused to answer or even look at him and crept on, her head bowed and ears lowered. As she did this, the birds touched down with Carla, Bia and Tiago with Jewel with Blu standing nearby and Milo, Celeste, Aurora, Zephyr, Brisa, Sirius and Samara together. Rafael landed with Eva, their hybrid chicks and Nico, Pedro, Alabaster and Poppy.
"Ahsoka, what's the problem?" asked Orion when he saw Ahsoka's sadness. However, Ahsoka looked up at him and tried to deny it.
"Oh, there's no problem," she replied, trying to conceal her true feelings, "Now that we've finally gotten rid of those chains, you can return to the wild with Samara, Celeste, Zephyr and Brisa while I, Sirius, Aurora and Milo can return to our human friends. Isn't that right, you three?" she turned to Sirius, Aurora and Milo as she said this, hoping that they would agree. However, to her disappointment, their facial expressions and how they gazed at the four wild-born macaws including the now-reformed Samara gave a different answer. Aurora, Zephyr and Brisa also gazed at Blu and his family. After some hesitation, Sirius replied first.
"Um... Ahsoka," the male glaucous macaw said, "I don't want to eclipse your sunshine with clouds of disappointment but... that may not be the case with us anymore."
Ahsoka winced at this response, especially as Milo and Aurora nodded in agreement.
"W-w-why?" the female still-flightless flying fox replied in a strangled voice.
"Well, you see," Aurora replied, "The intention of me and Sirius coming all the way from the UK and Milo from Australia was to meet these guys," she gestured to Zephyr, Brisa, Samara and Celeste, "and join them in the wild for conservation purposes."
The four wild macaws including Samara rolled their eyes at the idea of having chicks just to save their species as they still found this UTTERLY irritating. However, their reaction and most especially Samara's, was less intense this time.
"Don't forget," Celeste interjected to remind the three human-raised macaws, "You didn't meet us just so that we can just breed for the sake of our species, you know."
"It was WAY too soon back then," put in Samara. Zephyr and Brisa nodded in agreement. Aurora, Milo and Sirius shot the four a look, nodded in agreement to this and resumed their thread with Ahsoka.
"After all, we were born here and we would've grown up here too had we not been seized by those rotten smugglers and taken to our destinations, mate," added Milo, "And we wouldn't have met our human friends who took great care of us. But still, we belong here, whether we like it or not. It's fact."
"Exactly," said Sirius, "And that applies to you as well, Ahsoka. Just count yourself lucky you didn't get whisked out of Brazil and to some potentially horrible demise in some unknown place abroad like how WE three would've faced."
"In addition to Blu," added Milo with a nod to the family man macaw.
"Indeed," agreed Blu, "Even I had to learn that I belonged here as well..."
"But you NEVER flew a SINGLE flap for the first fifteen years of your life, Blu," Ahsoka protested.
"I know," Blu replied, "But I eventually had to learn to use my own wings if I wanted to be with my gem in the jungle," he nodded to Jewel as he said this and his mate nodded in agreement, smiling at his compliment.
"Especially now that he has three rascal chicks to raise," Zephyr chimed in proudly to which the mated couple smiled in amusement. Carla, Bia and Tiago looked on with slight glares.
"And to add," Aurora continued, "We are all part of extremely rare species and it is important that we are protected by our human friends from potential poachers."
"B-b-but can't macaws be pets?" asked Ahsoka timidly, her eyes threatening to well tears. Blu rolled his eyes when she mentioned the word he hated most.
"Blu, it's true," said Sirius, "Technically, we WERE pets under our humans' care but not Ahsoka for she was fostered and flying foxes cannot be pets."
"I don't like to be called that," Blu slightly snapped, "It's 'companion' I like better."
"Either way," said Alabaster with Poppy nodding in agreement but Blu refused to accept this fact as Sirius then answered Ahsoka's question.
"Yes but not if they are part of a rare species such as us four but particularly us three," said he, "I'm a glaucous macaw, Aurora here is a Spix macaw, Milo is a Lear's macaw and you're an Amazon flying fox. I and Samara are the last of the glaucous macaws; Aurora, Zephyr and Brisa, together with Blu and his family, are the last known Spix macaws alive and you and Orion are the last pair of Amazon flying foxes."
"Indeed," agreed Aurora, "So, our gathering here in this city of Rio marks an ENTIRELY new chapter for all four of us."
"And that, sadly, means leaving behind a world we once knew and loved, mate," said Milo. He then paused as he thought of his soon-to-be former life as a waiter in a restaurant with a sad gaze. Ahsoka then frowned as her sadness and disappointment then showed themselves. All attempts to conceal her true feelings were finally vanquished.
"B-b-but how am I gonna join you in the jungle if all I'm gonna do is possibly climb through the trees," she then turned to a certain furry brown form with black membranous hand-wings, "Especially regarding HIM!?"
"Wait a minute, are you blaming US, especially ME, over the fact that you can't fly, lady!?" Orion snapped accusingly while Milo, Sirius, Aurora, Samara, Zephyr, Brisa, Celeste and even Blu and Jewel looked on in shock and in some, slight anger. Carla, Bia and Tiago and the toucan kids also looked on confused and stayed silent with some of them, including Diantha, actually ducking timidly behind their older siblings and Tiago behind Carla and Bia. That reply plunged the entire group into silence. As this happened, Luiz emerged from his garage via the doors but Poppy and Alabaster raised their wings to stop him taking another four-legged step and interrupt.
"Awkward," Pedro uttered nervously and in a high pitched voice. Then Rafael flapped in as Orion looked away with an angry glare and Ahsoka, sad and angry one.
"Okay, you two," said the toco toucan, trying to steer the flying foxes away from a potential argument, "Just be completely honest with each other. Dispel any fog of confusion and don't hide any true feelings..."
Ahsoka gazed at the toco toucan for a moment before finally giving her honest reply.
"Dispel any fog?" she started before finally unleashing her frustration, "Listen, I don't know HOW to get airborne and it is likely that I NEVER WILL!" her voice cracked as her emotions threatened to erupt and her eyes began sending tears down her cheeks. Everyone else flinched and Blu looked on in disappointment.
"That's NOT TRUE, Ahsoka," the family man macaw retorted, "I thought that about MYSELF but..."
"Shut up, Blu," Jewel rebuked.
"'Shut up, Blu'?" repeated Zephyr in confusion.
"I'm just making an important point," Blu protested but Zephyr shot him a glare.
"Shut up, Blu," he snapped, repeating Jewel's statement. Blu exhaled and looked on as Orion then snapped in response to Ahsoka's statement of her possibly being grounded and never flying.
"Oh, so you're perfectly happy with living like some house pet with that Joanna human friend of yours for the rest of your life, huh!?" the male brown bat retorted, clearly hurt, "Well, let me tell ya something. THAT is NO LIFE at all for a flying fox, or ANY species of bat for that matter, at all... be it a small bat that uses high-pitched sound to find their way around... OR large bats like me and you. But if you wanna live like that, it's up to you..." Ahsoka winced and flinched at this remark but Orion swept on. "But as much as I sympathise with human-raised animals, particularly those that had been abused and have managed to escape, have been smuggled and torn from their families such as Blu, Sirius, Milo and Aurora here, as well as orphaned animals like yourself, I will not, repeat: NOT live with a flying fox who is willing to live out the rest of her days like some flightless cage bird when we bats are NOTHING of the sort... and I find THAT EXTREMELY offensive and UTTERLY INSULTING!"
Ahsoka flinched violently at that scathing remark and that did it. Greater tears erupted from her eyes and ran down her cheeks and she released sobbing-gasps. Around the arguing bats, all the birds including Blu, Sirius, Aurora, Milo and even Samara drew in sharp inhales. However, Orion did not wince.
"YOU wanna live like that, Ahsoka, you go ahead," the male flying fox finished, "YOU GO AHEAD... PET BAT!" he spat the last two words out in a rage. Ahsoka then felt her emotions finally boil over from this scathing remark. The urge to cry seizing her, the female bat darted for Luiz's garage and entered into it, Luiz having to dodge her to his surprise while Orion himself went to a wall, climbed up it and dropped into flight. Then he fluttered to an overhang from a roof and hooked his feet to enter a roosting position. Jewel and Zephyr went to talk to him but the enraged and upset brown bat flung a membranous wing out and told them nonverbally to leave him alone, which they did.
"Oh, C'MON, FLYIN' FOXES!" Rafael cried out in protest, "You can't go ya separate WAYS! You BOTH need each other! You are Romeo to her JULIET!" he gestured in Ahsoka's direction as he said this. However, Sirius came in with Milo and Aurora.
"Stop mentioning Shakespeare's tragedy play, Rafael," the male glaucous macaw grumbled.
"B-b-but it's true," Rafael continued, "They cannot be without each other," he then exhaled and rolled his eyes as Nico and Pedro flapped in, "Oh, this is the thing with young love, honestly. ALWAYS the thing... okay, you two, go talk to him."
"He needs some time to himself first," Jewel said. However, Nico and Pedro flew up to Orion to try and talk to him. Jewel then turned to Carla, Bia and Tiago while Eva commanded her 25 chicks into the garage.
"I'm gonna usher those three into the garage as well," said she, "We have an incoming storm to ride out," and with that, she commanded her chicks to follow Eva and hers, Blu going along. Milo, Sirius and Aurora then gazed at each other, clearly grieved by Orion and Ahsoka's argument.
"Ahsoka's refusal to fly is clearly deep-seated, isn't it, mates?" the male Lear's macaw spoke sadly, "I have to admit I would have been like her had I not learned to fly myself when Audrey and her family moved from Perth to Sydney..."
"I'm surprised you've managed to learn to fly yourself, amigo," Rafael commented, "Especially when you covered the ENTIRE distance between the two cities."
"Yes," said Alabaster nearby.
"Perth and Sydney are on opposite sides of the ENTIRE continent," put in Poppy.
"I would like to find out more how he managed to find Sydney but that's another subject," Rafael said, "Let's get inside. The storm's due shortly an' we don't wanna be caught out in the rain."
"Or get caught by those pesky poachers' pets," said Aurora and with that the four followed Blu and the others into the garage.
In the garage, Ahsoka had climbed onto a worktop and had burst into tears. Sobs escaped her mouth and rivulets of tears ran down her cheeks like small waterfalls. Samara, Zephyr, Brisa and Celeste flapped up and touched down nearby and were promptly joined by Sirius, Aurora and Milo.
"Is she alright?" asked the middle one.
"No," said Zephyr, "Orion has indeed been VERY harsh in his words to her."
"Indeed," said Samara, "But I'm sorry to take his side but... he's right. Ahsoka cannot stay with her human friend forever, you know."
"We've begun to realise that ourselves," said Aurora.
"And I'm sure Blu would have had to have faced that as well regarding Linda," added Sirius.
"And I have to admit, I've been saddened over this fact too," said Milo, "I mean I ABSOLUTELY love being an assistant waiter in Audrey's restaurant..."
"Restaurant?" asked Brisa.
"It's a place where humans go and eat," explained Aurora, "Milo here helped his human owner Audrey in one back in Sydney."
"Indeed, mate," said Milo, "But now, it is time to transition from bird waiter to bird living in the jungle..."
"Your human friends would want that for you as well," said Celeste before she turned to the sobbing Ahsoka, "Especially Joanna regarding her. I mean she did try and get her to fly, didn't she?"
"Yes," said Aurora, "And she has nothing wrong with her wings either. Though Tulio has a special enclosure for permanently maimed animals too disabled to return to the wild planned, her place is in the jungle just like Orion and us macaws."
The others murmured and nodded in agreement. However, Ahsoka ignored the macaws' conversation and continued to weep. Deciding to give the upset female flying fox some space, the seven macaws left to spend a bit of time together.
A little while later
Samara sat on the roof of the garage while Sirius hovered high above in the sky to examine the encroaching storm.
"I can see a black mass in the distance and it looks very gloomy," the male glaucous macaw said as he returned to the earth and touched down beside Samara, "Looks like that's the storm cloud..."
"Will we be taking shelter in this garage until it passes?" asked Aurora who sat with Zephyr and Brisa.
"Well, we don't wanna risk facing those poachers' mud-pets who are hot on our tails, Aurora," Samara said firmly, "certainly not those ravens, crows and especially NOT Vecna."
"Oh, absolutely not," said Blu nearby as he sat with Jewel to prepare for their time together. They had left Carla, Bia and Tiago to be looked after by Eva in the garage while they were having their time, "And we ESPECIALLY don't want our chicks facing that beast."
"ABSOLUTELY not," Samara replied in agreement.
"Carla, Bia and um... Tony or whatever your son's name is," said Sirius.
"It's Tiago," said Jewel.
"Carla, Bia and Tiago would probably suffer nightmares for WEEKS if they EVER met that vile swan," Sirius said, "And that monster holds no beak attacks when it comes to abusing his prisoners, especially parrots regardless of their age."
"Then he shall face our SERIOUS wrath if he EVER lays as much as a WING FEATHER on our kids," snarled Jewel.
"We shall claw his feathers out an' snap his snake neck," put in Blu.
"I'd probably do the same thing to that mud-pet swan if he EVER threatened ANY chick I had," Samara said in agreement. Aurora, Sirius, Brisa and Zephyr nodded in agreement. Then the brother and sister duo gazed at Blu with proud looks.
"Anyway, that aside, despite you being human-raised, you certainly were brave in rescuing Jewel from certain doom when that cockatoo broke your wing," said he, "Alabaster and Poppy over there just told me and Brisa about it."
"VERY brave indeed," said Brisa and with that, she and her brother turned to the two cockatoos who sat together with Milo and Celeste. Blu and Jewel also smiled.
"Anyway, if you don't mind, we'd like to have our time together before the yellow sun and blue sky above us becomes smothered with that grey mass with the rain and lightning," said Blu and with that, the group dispersed to enjoy the last moments of the fine weather before the storm arrived.
As the macaws settled into their spots, Rafael and Pedro appeared and gazed as Samara sat with Sirius, Milo sat with Celeste next to Poppy and Alabaster and Zephyr and Brisa sat with Aurora. Blu sat with Jewel next to the glaucous macaws.
"Hey, Rafy, do ya think dose three macaw lovebirds are developin' what I'm thinkin'?" asked the red-crested cardinal. Rafael examined the macaws and smiled.
"Time to set the mood," said he but before he could do that, he turned to Pedro with one important question.
"By the way, how are you doin' with Orion?" he asked.
"He's not respondin' to us, Rafy," Pedro said sadly, "VERY upset over arguin' wit Ahsokie."
"Indeed," Nico added, "So we're gonna give 'im some space."
"Best idea," said Rafael, "But I hope those flying foxes make up or I'll be worried. But let's focus on those three macaw pairs."
And with that, he and his two small friends took off and flew around the roof. On the ground, Luiz was also admiring the sky before the storm's appearance and wanted to make the most of it.
"So, what was your family like if you don't mind me asking?" asked Aurora.
"Brisa and I are the only two chicks of Viento and Gael," Zephyr replied, "Viento's our father and Gael was our mother."
"Samara, unfortunately, comes from a not-so-nice glaucous macaw family and a clutch of three, initially four," said Brisa, "But one egg didn't hatch. Celeste is from a family of two and Orion is the son of flying foxes Augustus and Melissa who were leaders of a mixed-species tribe. Augustus was one of Eduardo, Jewel's father's, best friends."
"Interesting," said Aurora, "Well, we had only just found out that we were born here, as was Blu over there," she nodded to Blu as he sat with Jewel. Zephyr and Brisa flashed the couple a look and turned back to Aurora. As the three continued to talk, Pedro came by and began to try and sing a song to set the mood. Nearby, Samara and Sirius talked as did Milo and Celeste, and Alabaster and Poppy. Pedro then began to try and sing his song called 'Drop it Low'. However, his presence hadn't gone unnoticed.
"Pedro's being a little distracting there," muttered Aurora as the cardinal continued his rap. Zephyr and Brisa flashed a look at the cardinal and rolled their eyes. Sirius and Samara also glared at the cardinal and saw him as an annoyance. Nico then flew in when he saw this.
"Um, Pedro, that's a lil' too aggressive," said he, "Plus you're distracting the soon-to-be macaw couples. Here, follow my lead..." he then began to sing a soft, lovely song and invited Pedro to provide gentle backup vocals. Milo and Celeste also flashed the pair a look and continued talking. Sirius continued talking with Samara.
"You HONESTLY do NOT wanna meet my nasty mother, Sirius," said the female glaucous macaw, "She HATES human-raised animals... she and a number of other glaucous macaws. Her attitude caused friction between her and Augustus and eventually, she was almost expelled from the mixed-species tribe. That would have been me had I not shaken off those poisonous traits she had put into me. No wonder you and I frequently fought during our first hours since meeting..."
"You're still afraid of becoming like her, aren't you?" asked Sirius. Samara, a sad look on her face, nodded and was about to reply when a toco toucan hovered nearby and called their attention.
"Hey, Sirius, tell her 'you have beautiful eyes'," Rafael suggested. However, unlike Blu who agreed to this when he courted Jewel, Sirius glared at the toucan.
"Excuse me, can you beak out, Rafael!?" the male glaucous macaw snapped, "I don't need YOU telling me how our conversation should go OR what to say."
"I'm just suggestin' sommat sweet to say to her, Siri," Rafael innocently replied, "But either way, you do as you wish. But here's a better suggestion, tell her how you feel," and with that, he flew off to advise Milo as he talked to Celeste. Samara glared at the toucan.
"Seriously, Sirius?" she asked the male glaucous macaw but he shrugged. Rafael tried to suggest some romantic advice to Milo but he too shooed the toucan away while Alabaster and Poppy rolled their eyes. But before he could fly to Zephyr and advise him on how to court Aurora, Blu intervened.
"I think you should let things take their course, Rafael," said he, "I can see they're getting a little annoyed."
Rafael exhaled in disappointment and abandoned the idea of advising Zephyr. He then touched down near the couple, a worried look on his face about the fourth couple.
"I sure hope Orion and Ahsoka make up," the toucan said, "They did have quite a falling out despite it being short."
"They've been through a lot, as had the macaws," said Blu, "So it's no surprise. Further, Ahsoka is UTTERLY troubled. I believe her inability to fly is the result of trauma from those poachers, kind of like me and possibly Milo as well."
"You probably never learnt to fly when you were captured by those smugglers, Blu," said Jewel, "I mean Aurora and Sirius had learned to fly BEFORE they were captured and not AFTER."
"But what about Milo?" asked Blu with a gesture to the male Lear's macaw, "HE learned to fly when he was in Australia but it must have had something to do with the determination of finding his human companion when they moved from Perth to Sydney."
"Maybe Ahsoka was about to fly but never got to when her parents were killed?" asked Jewel, "Normally, just like chicks of flying birds such as us macaws, bat pups learn to fly as taught by their parents, usually from their mothers. Ahsoka never had that when her mother died."
"That could explain why Ahsoka has never flown a single flap," said Blu. Rafael and Jewel nodded in agreement.
"Anyway, I shall leave you two lovebirds to continue your time while I check on our chicks and my lurvely angel Eva and also Ahsoka," the toco toucan said and with that he left for the hole in the roof, leaving Blu and Jewel to continue their time. Samara saw Rafael enter the hole and decided to follow.
"I'll check on Ahsoka," said she to Sirius and with that, she left and disappeared into the garage after Rafael. Moments later, Rafael came back out after ensuring that Eva and the chicks including Blu and Jewel's three were fine. However, he was still worried about Ahsoka who was still hung on a low shelf and upset.
The group continued to spend their time but they were unaware that they had intruders afoot and their presence was sure to shatter any assurance the group had that they were safely away and hidden from the poachers' pets. Not too far away from Luiz's garage, a group of large black passerine birds armed with cages crept towards the building and leading them was a chubby bird with brown eyes. As this group of sinister birds approached Luiz's garage, two of them fluttered up and spotted some spots of blue on the roof. Immediately, the pair returned to their comrades and gave the report.
"Dooku, the blue macaws are over there," said one.
"Looks like we've finally found them," said the other. The lead chubby black bird, a raven, then widened his sinister smile on his beak.
"Excellent, you two," said he, "Now let's creep up on that garage and nab those macaws an' bats. This time, make it without fail. Remember, Vecna and Frank wants ALL twelve of those blue macaws including the Spix macaw family of five and both flying fox caught and we have to be quick as that storm is approaching. Frank wants us outa Rio as soon as possible before it gets too close."
The other crows and ravens with Dooku nodded and with that, the group continued their advancement upon Luiz's garage.