Chapter 28: The decision
Everyone was still silent after hearing about Terrin and his inner circle. If he and the Emberwings would truly unleash their wrath upon the rest of South America, than the sanctuary will undoubtedly be one of the first main targets, especially since it is only 2 days west of Xlaxlan Twelve Peaks.
At length, Sapphire broke the silence.
"And because of everything that had just been said, I overreacted so much earlier, because if we don't set up defenses now, they might destroy us once and for all." Sapphire said.
"But that's why the Azul Clan will leave when our scouts from the south, north and west come back and we will reclaim Twelve Peaks with everything we got!" Willfried said.
The Azuls let out a roar of excitement and agreement, ready to reclaim their ancient home.
"Uhm, Willfried, Azuls, I appreciate your will to reclaim our ancient home, but haven't you heard Björn? They outnumber us about 1.5/1, something we didn't have to bother about when we were still yet at war." Andor pointed out.
This was something that made the smiles of Willfried and the Azuls drop. Andor was right, even though they were a battle-hardened clan, they will have to fight another battle-hardened tribe that has even more numbers than they have.
"But we can't just sit here and wait for the Emberwings to come. Besides, we made a promise to Eduardo that we would take leave soon." Willfried said.
This made Andor wonder, and he said: "We need… a strategy, something that will ensure our takeover of Twelve Peaks, while also suffering minimal losses."
For some time, the Azuls thought, but it was Blu who eventually sighed heavily and broke the silence.
"I may have a proposition here." Blu said.
All eyes turned towards Blu and Andor curiously said: "We're listening…"
Blu sighed heavily, knowing that there might come some commotion or even disagreement from his proposal. He looked for a moment at Jewel, who smiled at him, knowing that Blu would be able to tell everyone what he's thinking at the moment.
Then Blu took a deep breath.
"I know I'm not the leader of the spix macaw tribe or the two other scarlet macaw tribes, those are functions of Eduardo, Felipe and Mia, but what I'm suggesting is the following…" Blu said but paused for a moment.
"… My suggestion is that a large portion of our tribes would come along with the Azul Clan to Xlaxlan Twelve Peaks and help them reclaim their home from the Emberwings. Then we surely would outnumber them." Blu said, but still with some nerves in his voices.
There was muttering amongst all birds, whilst the Azuls all shared agreeable looks and nods, the other spix macaws and even Felipe's scarlet macaw tribe were pmuttering that this wasn't a great idea.
"Blu, your idea seems brilliant!" Willfried exclaimed. "With our combined strength, we could-"
But willfried was cut off by a spix macaw from Eduardo's tribe.
"But what if some of us don't return at all from that place?!" the spix yelled.
"He's right! For years we had a rivalry with each other and now a year after we had beaten all outside and inside threats, we could lose everything by helping them (points at some Azuls)!" a scarlet macaw from Felipe's tribe yelled.
"Well, excuse us!" an Azul said. "But haven't you heard anything our leaders, Willfried, Thomas and Jasmine and the others have said of how DANGEROUS the Emberwings are?!"
"Yeah!" another Azul yelled. "If the Emberwings eradicate us at Twelve Peaks, then it will only be a matter of time before they remake more birds and keep our ancient home!"
"Well, then why didn't you reclaim it when you all regrouped?!" a scarlet macaw of Felipe's tribe yelled.
"Because we needed time to grow in size again and being an entire clan, it must constantly be maintained and fed!" an Azul yelled.
"Alright that's enough!" Eduardo yelled, but nobody seemed to hear him.
"Be glad that we've allowed your clan to stay here at the place of our food sources, you selfish brats!" a spix yelled at the Azuls.
This was the moment when the Azuls decided to get stubborn and before everyone at the podium knew it, all the Azuls started arguing inaccessibly with Eduardo's spix macaws and Felipe's scarlets. The scarlets of Mia's tribe, however, were silent, not knowing what to do.
The fiery arguments raged for about half a minute, before Eduardo, Felipe and Andor looked at each other with annoyed looks and decided to take action.
Eduardo, Felipe and Andor: "Enough, everyone!"
However, their demands fell on deaf ears and the argument continued.
"Shut it!" Amalia and Sapphire yelled, but once again to no avail.
The argument between the Azuls, spix and scarlets continued, until the leaders saw that some birds on the front were readying their battle stances, ready to beat each other.
Blu noticed this and decided to get serious, he gathered all of his strength and courage and decided to yell.
"ENOUGH!" Blu yelled on the top of his lungs, whilst also bumping his talon on the ground in the form of a fist. This however, got everyone's attention.
"That's enough from all of you!" Blu once again spoke loud and clear.
"We must not limit our visions to our own homes!" Blu yelled towards his tribe and the ones of Felipe. This was something that made the Azuls look proud, as if he was standing on their side.
That pride soon faded, when he turned an angry look towards the Azuls and yelled: "And that also goes for the Azul Clan!"
"We must remember the words Sapphire said. The Emberwings are a threat to all of South America, not just our home and Xlaxlan Twelve Peaks!" Blu exclaimed. "True, in Twelve Peaks they might operate plans now to possibly take over all of South America, but that doesn't mean that those temples are our only concern."
These words made many birds murmur amongst each other.
Blu (serious): "I will remind each and every one of you that THIS is the moment!"
Blu paused for a moment, trying to catch his breath again. Jewel looked with a smile and with wonder at the speech of her husband.
"Your choices that you will make at this moment will decide the fate of South America!" Blu exclaimed. "And all birds that inhabit it!"
Blu once again paused before saying: "So that is why I ask all of you this: Make. the right. One!"
This speech seemed to have changed the minds of Eduardo's spix macaws and Felipe's scarlet macaws drastically. Even the Azuls were astounded. They were humbled by this speech Blu just gave them but were still murmuring amongst themselves in conformation.
Jewel then approached her mate and said: "Can I just say that I truly loved the way you handled that, honey?"
"Yes, you can." Blu said proudly.
"I too must say that that was very impressive, Blu." Sapphire said. "It's no wonder why my husband told me that he wishes you to become the next leader of the tribe."
Blu then gulped a bit, since he still was far from ready for that to be true.
Jewel noticed this and gently said: "Blu, that's a compliment, we all see something in you. We see you as a great leader."
Blu smiled at his wife.
Then from the crowd, many birds (spix and scarlets) yelled out that they have to aid the Azul Clan in reclaiming their ancient home, whilst also ensuring the safety of the sanctuary and also South America, much to the pleasure of the Azuls, who apologized for their stubborn behavior from earlier.
The leaders of the tribes then discussed for quite a while, but they eventually reached an agreement that a portion of the spix macaw tribe and the scarlet macaw tribe would stay behind, whilst the majority would fly along the Azuls towards Twelve Peaks.
After some discussing, Tiago eventually said: "Yeah! You hear that, Skye? We're gonna help the Azuls reclaim their home and save South America! We're gonna be heroes!"
"Whoa, there, kids! You're not coming with us." Blu said. "It's too dangerous for the three of you."
"What?!" Carla said.
"No!" Bia yelled.
"Oh, come on, dad!" Tiago said. "Last year we helped in beating the loggers, how can this be any different?!"
Blu: "Because the loggers were humans, to which you have knowledge, knowledge which I gave you three. These Emberwings are completely different to me and have no knowledge about them."
Carla: "But, Uncle Tommy, Auntie Jasmine, Granny Sapphie, Mia, Megeslav, Arturo, Andor, Amalia and Willfried do have knowledge about how we have to fight them."
Bia, Carla and Tiago then stepped towards Blu and Tiago said with puppy eyes: "Please, dad, let us come with you, we promise that we'll be careful."
"Yes, and we too wanna see how this Xlaxlan Twelve Peaks looks like, please, daddy." Bia pleaded.
Blu couldn't resist the puppy eyes of his children and then looked towards Jewel and Eduardo. They put on a smile and nodded towards Blu.
Blu hesitated for a moment, but then sighed and happily said: "Alright, then kids, you can come along."
"Yay!" the kids exclaimed and hugged their paramours, Renaldo, Skye and Miguel.
One thing that everyone however forgot about the carnival show (even Nico, Pedro and Rafael) due to everything that just had passed, was the final song that Thomas and Willfried were supposed to sing.
Two days passed by, for it was then that the other 3 Azul scouts returned from the north, south and east. Sapphire and Andor told them about the whole situation and the scouts too were shocked to hear that Twele Peaks was taken over by the Emberwings, but they too were eager to reclaim their ancient home.
After 2 more days of planning and gathering supplies for the journey ahead, all birds that were ordered to come along (or even volunteered) bade the ones who had to watch the sanctuary their farewells. Some of them shed tears, wondering if their husband, wife, son, daughter, etc. might return at all.
Andor: "Alright, Björn, show us the way to Twelve Peaks."
"With pleasure, chief!" the Azul replied.
And as Björn took off, so too did the entire Azul Clan, alongside many of Eduardo's spix macaws, many of Felipe's tribe and all of Mia's tribe. They were also joined by Nico, Pedro and Rafael, with Eva, after some HEAVY convincing from her husband, staying behind. Rafael did not want to put his wife in danger.
The journey towards Xlaxlan Twelve Peaks, the ancient home of the Azul Clan, had begun and all birds knew very well in their hearts that a war was on the western horizon.
To be continued…