11
Rafael watched Blu quickly glide down to his children, seeing their faces light up when he landed.
"Reality is good.", he murmured to himself. "O que diabos isso significa?"
He turned to Jewel, who was still glaring at Maria for her comment.
"Jewel, what do you think he meant?", he asked, attempting to ease the tensity in the room.
"What's that?", she responded, turning around.
"The "reality is good" thing. I mean… saying something like that doesn't sound very good."
Jewel sighed, looking at her family outside. "I don't know. He dismissed everything so quickly, I haven't had time to process it."
She continued watching for a moment, before turning to Rafael. "But that's exactly what it's been like for a while. Every time I try to pull him aside and talk about it, he just blows it off, acting like it doesn't matter. It's like he thinks he doesn't matter."
She wiped her eyes with her wings, sniffling a bit.
"It kills me to see him like that."
Rafael glanced over at Maria, who stood there silently. After a moment, she quietly shuffled into another room, leaving the two alone.
"Can you hear what they're saying?"
Bia, Carla, and Tiago stood on the sandy dirt while Nico and Pedro went off to have a private conversation.
"No, can you?", Carla responded.
Tiago shook his head.
"Bia, can you hear them?"
"Uh-uh."
"Huh."
...
"Are they talking about Dad?"
"I think so. Nico was talking about him passing out."
"Hey, speaking of Dad... did you two ever come up with ideas of how to cheer him up?"
"We were planning on getting him breakfast, but we've been moving around so much we haven't been able to do that.", Tiago said.
"You could've gotten some earlier before we left.", Carla said, looking at him. "But you were too busy playing with fireworks to do it."
"Okay, one...", he responded defiantly. "I wasn't playing, I was celebrating."
"Celebrating... what, exactly?"
"Celebrating that we're about to get a new pop-pop! Aren't you excited too?"
"Yeah, but celebrations can wait. Dad is more important.", Bia said.
"Right, but that's where point number two comes in."
"And what's that?"
"Dad liked the fireworks. He taught me all about the history of them and their pyrotechnics."
"...Wow.", Carla said, looking at Bia. "I never thought you would be interested in the history of... anything."
"Or even use the word pyrotechnics."
"I think they're cool. And besides, Dad makes learning about it fun.", he said, looking at Maria's hollow.
"Can we go inside and wait for him to wake up?", Bia asked.
"They won't let us.", Carla said.
"Why not?"
"They don't want us to worry."
"As if we're not already worried enough!", Bia said. "Do they think we can't see he's sad too?"
Carla nodded.
"I mean... last night I asked him if he was depressed, and he clearly lied to me!"
"Wait, you asked him?"
"Yes, because I'm worried! I want to make sure he's okay, and if he's not..."
"If you really think he's lying, then he's obviously trying to keep us out of it. He just doesn't want to worry us.", Carla said.
"We already asked mom, too. I don't think he's telling her either... he's trying to make everybody ignore it."
"Do you think it's our fault?", Tiago asked suddenly, now looking back at his sisters.
"Is what our fault?", Carla repeated.
"The fact that he's sad. I mean… maybe he thinks that we don't care about him. Maybe we haven't been grateful enough for him. And if that's the case… then it's our fault."
"Dad would never think that.", Carla said, comforting him. "There has to be another reason."
"Hey, he's up!"
Blu quickly flew out of the hollow, holding a mango as he flew down to his kids.
"Dad!"
As soon as he landed, Blu was bombarded with hugs from his kids, while he smiled and hugged them back.
"Hi, kids! Sorry if I scared you."
"What happened?"
"Yeah, why did you leave her hollow in the first place?"
"Oh. I... don't remember doing that, actually.", he lied. "I just blacked out, I guess. Now, moving on. What have you guys been doing?"
"Nothing really.", Tiago said. "Pedro went over survival skills with us, but there's nothing for us to do here. I haven't seen a single firework!"
"No songs and dancing either!", Carla added.
"And I've already seen all the animals here, so I have nothing new to add to my notebook!", Bia finished.
"Yeah... not a whole lot to do over here.", Blu said, looking at the mango in his talon. He was about to eat it before noticing the off-putting smell it had, inspecting it.
"Dad, I think that mango is rotten.", Bia said, seeing it had brown and grey spots throughout.
"…Yeah.", he agreed, slightly disgusted. He tossed the mango to the side, watching as it rolled down the dirt underneath them and into the water.
"Oh, well. I'll just grab another one later."
"Do you want us to get you something?", Carla asked, her face lighting up.
"Thank you sweetheart, but I'm alright for now.", he smiled. He checked his surroundings, looking for something to keep the kids entertained with. He noticed a small log, completely hollow in the middle.
"Someone could use that as a hiding spot."
"Hey, I've got an idea.", he said. "Why don't we play hide and seek? There's probably…"
"You're counting!", Carla giggled, flying off with Bia and Tiago.
"...Plenty of places to hide. Well, better get to counting.", he said, holding his wings over his eyes. "1… 2… 3…"
"58… 59… 60."
Once Blu finished counting, he lowered his wings and looked around for a bit. He noticed some large bushes nearby, thickly covered in leaves and grass.
"At least one of them is over there.", he said to himself, beginning to wander off into the area.
"Hey, Blu! Where ya going, bro?"
He looked behind him to see Pedro and Nico calling to him, seemingly watching every move he made.
"Oh, me and the kids… we're playing hide and seek.", he grinned.
"Aight… just don't pass out, you know?", Nico said.
Pedro quickly elbowed him hard, signaling for him to be quiet. He then smiled at Blu, not saying anything.
"Uh… okay…", Blu responded, scratching his head feathers uncomfortably.
"That was unnecessary.", he mumbled as he turned around, quickly flying over to the bushy area. He scoped the area out, looking for possible hiding spots, large enough for a small blue macaw to fit in, but one that would require extensive detail to notice and search.
Once he landed, he noticed his stomach felt completely empty.
"Of course that mango had to be rotten. Just my luck.", he said, slightly agitated.
"Someone's getting hangry."
"Oh, God…"
"What?", Yin asked, walking out from behind a nearby tree. "Every living thing needs food to survive. Especially you! You don't want to seem angry in front of your kids.", he said, circling around him.
"What is your problem?", Blu asked. "Seriously, why would you do that?"
"...Why would I say you're getting hangry?"
"No!", he seethed. "That whole fake memory thing! You did all that work, causing me to pass out-"
"Ah-ah-ah!", Yin said, wagging one of his talons. "If you checked your heart rate, you could've-"
"Forget that! Why, why, why? Why did you waste my time with that?", he asked desperately.
"I was bored."
"...You were bored.", he repeated.
"Yep."
Blu stared at him, one of his eyes twitching in anger.
"You… oh, never mind!", he snarled. "Sometimes I just want to put my talons to good use and strangle you!"
"Uh oh, hangry alert!", Yin taunted, poking his stomach.
"Stop!", Blu responded aggressively, swatting his talon away.
Yin laughed, quickly walking behind a tree. He pulled out a rotten mango, the same from earlier. This time it seemed to be wet, like he had grabbed it from the water.
"Here, eat this mango."
"Ew, no!"
"Why not?", he asked, acting confused. "What's wrong with it?"
"Come on, you know what's wrong with it. It's rotten."
"No it's not. It may look unappetizing on the outside, but the inside flavor is all that matters. You of all birds should know that.", he said sarcastically.
"…You're trying to use a rotten fruit as a sort of… "don't judge a book by its cover" type of thing.", Blu said blankly. "Which I know you don't believe."
"I'm not trying to do anything. I'm just telling you to eat the mango. Maria spent all that time trying to get you some food, and you're being ungrateful by refusing to eat it. Typical of you, being ungrateful for what you have."
Blu shook his head, continuing his search. After a few seconds he heard a loud, obnoxious crunching noise from behind him.
"…Are you seriously eating that thing?"
"Mhm!", Yin said, his beak full of the rotten mango. "Tastes good… nice and hard. Kind of tastes like styrofoam… with a hint of cardboard."
"That's… disgusting. Also super unhealthy.", Blu said. He began to pace around, looking up and down as he attempted to find a spot where one of his kids could be hiding. He paused, thinking about the mango.
"How did you get that mango in the first place?", he asked, going back to his search. "Didn't it sink to the bottom?"
"What mango?"
Blu turned his head in confusion, looking at Yin for a few seconds. "...The one you just ate? You know, the same one that was rotten?"
"I didn't eat a mango.", he smirked.
"Yes you did, I saw you! We had a whole conversation about it!"
"No, we didn't. You've been standing here this whole time, playing hide a-"
"No, no, no!", Blu interrupted, shaking his head. "No! You were eating a mango – the same, rotten mango that was sinking to the bottom of the river when I last looked at it!"
"Mangoes don't sink, Blu."
"A-ha! I knew you were playing mind games!", he gritted. "Mangoes do sink, because they're denser than water. So, ha!"
"Oh, really?", Yin asked smugly. "I bet if you go back to that same spot you saw the mango splash and land, you'll see it floating on top."
"Yeah, I bet I…"
Blu was about to scoff at him, before he noticed the expression on his face. It was a familiar expression, one that Yin hadn't made in a while.
The smirk.
The eyes.
The glare.
"...Don't give me that look.", Blu said quietly.
"What look?"
"You know… that look. The one you're giving me right now. You're, like… smirking, but glaring, and… I don't know, just stop!"
"I'm just smiling!", Yin said. "This is what others see when you smile, so…"
"Hey, I don't smile like that!", Blu said defensively. He began second guessing himself, lowering his wings.
"...Do I?"
After a moment, he quickly took flight, flying back to the same pond outside of Maria's hollow, checking his beak and eyes, flowing through his head feathers in the reflection of the stream. He quickly preened a feather on his wing that seemed to be out of place, beginning to smile from different angles, not able to replicate Yin's.
After a few attempts, he took a small breath. "Mindgames, mindgames, mindgames!", he scolded internally. "I knew I didn't smile like that!"
He turned back to the blank stare in his reflection, beginning to inspect it closely. He remembered something Yin had told him in the therapy room, before repeating himself the following morning.
It had only been earlier that day, but to Blu, it felt like an eternity ago.
"You like to stare at your reflection, whether it's in a glass window or a river, expecting something to change. It won't. You're still Blu, no matter how much you dislike it."
He sighed and shook his head slightly, defeated by the words. He sat in silence, no longer analyzing his smile. Just as he was about to turn away, he heard a bobbing noise nearby, like something was floating in the water. He looked to his right and saw the mushy, rotten mango floating on the water, moving with the subtle waves that carried it.
Blu tilted his head upon seeing it, his expression turning from slight confusion and sadness to completely baffled.
"That's… not possible. Mangoes don't float."
He tried to grab it, but his talon was just short of it, splashing the water in front of it. The splash sent a small ripple throughout, causing the mango to float further away.
"Yo, Blu!"
He instantly dropped his talon and whipped his head around, seeing Pedro and Nico flying up to him.
"Oh, hi! What's, um… what's up?"
"...We thought you was playing hide and seek with the kids.", Pedro said.
"Oh, well… yeah, we still are.", he responded, laughing nervously.
"Then why are you over here?", Nico asked.
"Um… well, you see, I, uh…"
He paused, thinking of an answer.
"I… felt something crawling on me. Or I thought I did. Like a spider, or something, so… I went over here to, um… to check.", he said, scratching his neck feathers.
Pedro and Nico exchanged quick glances with each other, which caused Blu to panic.
"...What?", he asked. "Why are you two looking at each other like that?"
"Oh, nothing, bro. I thought Nico was gonna speak, so I looked at him."
"Yeah! And… I thought Pedro was gonna speak, so that's why I looked towards him."
Blu stared at the two, thinking about their responses.
"Did they see me? They saw me. They totally saw me! Or, maybe just Nico, and that's why he's not sure… no, that's bad! Neither of them were supposed to see that!"
"…Oh, alright… yeah, I just thought there was something on me.", he said, looking away.
"Are you sure there was something on you? You weren't feeling something that wasn't there?", Nico asked, looking at Pedro again.
"…Huh?"
"Nothing!", he said. "Just messin' with you. That's all."
"I… hope I'm not, um… getting cross-examined or something.", Blu said awkwardly.
"Do you feel like that?"
"No… not really."
The group fell silent, awkwardly taking small glances at each other.
He took a small gulp, turning back to the mango.
"Use that mango as a distraction, they'll think it's cool!"
"Hey.", he said, breaking the silence. "Look at that mango, floating in the water. Isn't that weird? Mangoes aren't supposed to float."
Pedro and Nico glanced at each other again.
"There's no mango in the water, bro."
Blu smiled, nervous laughter slipping out, turning back to the mango.
The mango was gone. The pond was completely still, with no signs of life nearby except for the three birds.
"…Oh.", he said, looking around for the mango. "Um, yeah! There is… definitely no mango in the water.", he finished, turning back to the two. "There was also, uh… no spider on me! So… yeah. No mangoes and no spiders."
The awkward, deafening silence came back, silencing the gusts of wind swaying against the leaves and the nearby chirps of neighboring parrots and hollows, leaving internal dialogues the only source of sound, inside and out.
At least, Blu's internal dialogue.
"There was a mango there. There was a mango there. I know for a fact there was a mango there! The mango was there, floating in the water. I dropped said mango out of my own right talon, saw it roll down the dirt into the water, and then I saw Yin eating it, somehow, but I also-"
He stopped his monologue, noticing Pedro and Nico deconstructing his every word with precision, waiting for him to continue.
"I have to leave. They're acting weird… too weird."
"…Well.", he began, "In that case… the case of there being, um… no spider on me, nor mangoes floating in the water, I am… going to resume playing hide and seek.", he smiled.
"Alright. We'll be…"
Blu took flight and zoomed over to the bushy area he had been looking through a few minutes ago, not saying anything.
"…Over here.", Pedro finished.
"Okay, so he's definitely seeing things.", Nico said, turning to Pedro.
"He saw a mango, dude. That's not like seeing another bird or something."
"Uh, hello? The spider that wasn't there?"
"Maybe there was a spider!", Pedro responded. "I mean… we're in a rainforest. There's gonna be spiders."
Nico rolled his eyes. "Dude, we literally said ten minutes ago that if we saw something that concerns us, we would go and tell Jewel. We.", he emphasized, tapping his bottle cap against Pedro's head. "That means me and you!"
"I know that, but what are we supposed to tell her? Oh, hey hot wing! Yo' lovebird is seeing things that aren't there, he's going loco.", he said sarcastically.
"Well, not with that kind of attitude.", Nico shrugged. "But… more or less, yeah. That's basically wh-"
"Hey!"
Jewel quickly swooped down to the duo, fire in her eyes.
"Where's Blu?! Did you two seriously let him wander off after what just happened?!"
"No! We-"
"And what about the kids, where did they go? Are they with him?"
"Yeah!", Pedro responded quickly, attempting to calm her down. "Well, kind of…"
"...Kind of?", she glared.
"They're playing hide and seek, that's all!"
"Hide and seek, out here?!", she yelled. "No, they've never been here! What if one of the kids gets lost, or Blu? What were you two thinking?!"
"Woah, hot wing! It's alrig-"
"No, don't tell me "it's alright", especially when I just explained why it's not alright!", she groaned, dragging her wings down her face. "Where did he go?"
"Over there.", Nico said, pointing to the bushes in the distance.
Jewel said nothing and angrily flapped away, flying over.
Pedro and Nico awkwardly looked at each other, before they heard a noise imitating a missile from above. Once the missile noise stopped, it was replaced by an explosion noise, which turned out to be from Rafael.
"Wow.", he said. "Full mama bird mode, eh? Eva used to be like that. Still is, actually."
"Yeah, bro.", Pedro said, watching Rafael fly down to them. "I mean, it's just hide and seek."
"She's shaken up over Blu, amigo.", he explained. "I am too! It was pretty bad to begin with, but it could've gone way worse."
"Yeah, I guess. But he's not gonna fly off again, especially if he's hanging with his kids."
"Well, we can't be sure.", Rafael said, trailing off. "Between us, I don't think he's in the right headspace."
"You're telling me.", Nico said, giving Pedro an "I-Told-You-So" look. "A few minutes ago he came back here and was just… staring at himself in the pond."
"He thought he had a spider on him.", Pedro interjected. "But then he told us to look at some mango floating in the water."
Rafael looked confused. "A mango? Mangoes don't float."
"That's the thing, dude! There was no mango to begin with!", Nico cried. "I swear, it looks like he's losing his mind."
Rafael kept his expression, thinking carefully about what Nico said. "Losing his mind, huh?", he asked himself. "Well, when he woke up, he did seem off."
"What do you mean?"
"At first he said he didn't remember what happened, so Jewel and I explained it to him.", Rafael began. "I was about to tell him he could've fallen off the branch and possibly killed, but he interrupted me. He was like, "died, but I didn't!", and changed the topic. But then he said something weird."
"Weird?", Pedro asked. "Like, weird weird? Or just… a Blu kind of weird?"
"Uh… weird weird, I guess. He said "reality is good", and I don't understand what he meant.", he continued. "I thought that maybe it was some Minnesota slang, like the cheese and sprinkles thing, but this one seemed… odd. I can't describe it well, but it sounded like he had to remind himself that he had just snapped back into reality. He was about to explain, but then he just dismissed it again."
Pedro and Nico turned to each other, unsure of how to respond.
"Just keep your eyes on him.", Rafael sighed. "I didn't want to say this to her, but I think it's getting to a point where she has to make him talk about whatever he's dealing with."
"Me and Nico were thinking about telling her our thoughts if we saw something strange, like… seeing mangoes that aren't really there.", Pedro said, uncertainty in his voice.
Nico cleared his throat, looking at him.
"Why are you clearing your throat?", he responded, unable to decipher what Nico was trying to signal.
"Y'know… the whole "looking to his left" thing.", Nico whispered.
"Oh… yeah."
Rafael had gone from mildly confused to boggled. "What? What's the whole "looking to his left" thing?"
"I kept seeing Blu looking to his left.", Nico explained. "When we were flying here he was doing it, when we were in Maria's hollow he was doing it… he looked terrified. Like he was scared of something, but nobody was there."
"I was thinking that he just slept funny.", Pedro continued. "But I guess when Maria flirted with him, it distracted him from… whatever he was seeing. Once she stopped, he looked at his left again."
"It seemed like he was looking at something. He didn't take his eyes off it, but they were moving like he was following another thing walking around. That's when he bolted out.", Nico finished.
Through all of Rafael's wisdom, it was the first time in their lives that the pair had seen the toucan look so bewildered.
"So… do you think we should tell her?", Pedro asked.
"I think that's probably the best option.", Rafael responded, still confused. "But I think you should wait until later. Don't do it in front of the kids, and don't do it in front of Blu. It'll overwhelm him, and that's the last thing we want."
Blu landed in front of the thick bushes, pushing through them to find a small path riddled with logs and long, dense trees. His mind was preoccupied with the mango, unable to figure it out.
"How did he do that?", he whispered to himself, checking one of the logs. "The mango should've sunk, but then he ate it. Then it's back in the water?"
He quickly flapped over to another log, not finding anything.
"But once I pointed it out, it wasn't there. It just… vanished! But that's not possible. It doesn't just disappear like that, and it wouldn't suddenly sink… would it?"
He shook his head, attempting to forget about it. "I'm sure there's perfectly logical reasons for both of those happening… Yin probably grabbed the mango when nobody was looking!"
He hopped on to another log, swinging his body upside down on the ledge of the bark, peering through. He found nothing and got back up, flying over to the next one.
"And as for the mango, maybe the grey spots were mold, or… maybe it became soft inside from how old it was!", he said quietly. "Perfectly… no, wait a minute… Yin crunched on the mango. He said it was hard. If it was hard, it shouldn't have floated…"
He groaned, resting his head against the bark of the log he checked.
"I don't get it. I don't get him."
Just then, he heard flapping coming towards him, and he quickly lifted his head to see Jewel flying over. His sour and exhausted mood immediately brightened up, happy to see her. He watched as she gracefully fluttered down, her light blue plumage glistening in the sun, like a spark of light in a pitch-black room.
"She looks the same as when we first met… hopefully she doesn't try to strangle me when she lands. But she looks kind of angry, so… maybe she will. Please don't."
"Hi, Jewel.", he greeted, hopping over to where she was landing. "What, uh… what are you doing over here?"
"I heard you and the kids were playing hide and seek, and I wanted to make sure nobody got lost.", she said seriously.
"Oh, okay.", he responded meekly. "Um… I'm getting the sense that you don't necessarily like that."
"After what just happened, not really."
"Well… this is different. The kids know not to go too far, and I'm not gonna fly off and pass out again. Not like I remember why that happened.", he said, visibly uncomfortable.
He quickly faced away from her, about to fly over to another log.
"Do you really not remember why, or are you afraid to admit the reason?"
He stopped in his tracks, his heartbeat increasing rapidly.
"Um… I don't remember.", he said, looking back at her. "Really! I don't. Why do you, uh… why do you think that?"
"I don't believe you. You're lying to me, aren't you?"
"God, what… what's with all these questions?", he asked, his sour mood flicking back on like a light switch. "Seriously, what?"
"I'm sorry?", Jewel asked, a little startled by the sudden switch.
"Everyone keeps asking me questions that I either don't have answers to, or ones that I already answered!", he snapped. "Whether it's where my real parents are, or your father asking me to keep Linda and Tulio away from the tribe, or, or… or 10 minutes ago when Pedro and Nico kept bugging me with stupid questions, it's just… question, after question, after question! I don't know what happened. There's your answer!", he finished angrily.
As soon as he finished his ranting, he went quiet, noticing Jewel's hurt reaction.
"Uh oh.", came a voice. "Strike three, Blu! You're out."
"And you are the worst of them all!", he yelled, turning his body to Yin. "All the questions that you ask result in me feeling even worse about myself!", he gritted.
Yin continued to smirk, realizing he had forgotten Jewel was right behind him. "Go on."
"I most certainly will! I don't care if you're just "another version of me", or whatever you want to call it! You play mind games, and are rude, annoying, and pessimistic. You ruin my day, my mood, and you are deliberately trying to ruin my relationship with my family!", he finished.
"Mhm."
"...Mhm?! Is that all you have to say?!"
"Speaking of your family, did you forget that Jewel is… right behind you?"
Blu went still, knowing that he was right. He laughed and flew off, leaving him to stare at the tree he had been in front of. He heard light footsteps behind him, and slowly turned his head.
"Boo!"
"Gah!"
He jumped back to see Tiago laughing, who had snuck up on him. "I got you good!"
Blu quickly looked around him, seeing no trace of Jewel.
"Wh-… where's… where did your mother go?", he panicked, beginning to pace around.
Tiago's laughter stopped, becoming concerned. "Uh… mom hasn't been over here."
"What? I, I, I… I just… I just had a whole conversation with her. She was right here!"
"...Dad, you were staring at a tree."
Blu continued to look at Tiago in confusion, before sighing.
"Sorry.", he smiled awkwardly. "I… must've been daydreaming.", he laughed. "Let's, uh… let's go find your sisters, hm?"
"I agree."
Blu and Tiago glanced behind them to see Jewel flapping down, a serious look on her face.
"Oh, uh… hi Jewel!", Blu said nervously. "You seem a bit tense…", he noted, watching the expression on her face as she landed.
"I heard you and the kids were playing hide and seek, and I wanted to make sure nobody got lost."
His nervous expression quickly turned into a look of suspicion, remembering the conversation he just had.
"...What?"
"I said-"
"No, no, no, I… I heard what you said, but…"
He trailed off, taking quick glances around him.
"But what?"
"Is this another trick? Seriously, I'm not-"
"Blu?"
He looked back at Jewel, who had her head tilted in confusion.
"...What are you talking about?"
"...Nothing.", he responded mysteriously. "Nothing, just…"
"Oh!", Tiago chirped. "Before you came over here, Dad thought-"
"Ooh, Tiago, look at that!", Blu interrupted, pointing him to a random bush. "There's this really cool… uh, thing!"
"Where?!"
"Oh, sorry, you missed it. Now, let's go find your sisters! Great idea, Blu!", he said to himself, hopping further down the path.
Jewel watched in disbelief, looking at Tiago.
"What were you saying, honey?"
"Dad was staring at a tree when I scared him, but then he started looking around for you. He said that you and him were having a conversation."
"And… did you tell him I wasn't there?"
Tiago nodded. "Yeah, then he said he must've been daydreaming. That's when you came over."
"...Okay.", Jewel said, trying to hide her nervousness. "That's all. Thank you, sweetie.", she said, beginning to walk down the path.
"Hey, mom?", he asked, following behind her. "Is it our fault that dad's acting differently?"
She stopped in her tracks, looking back at him in surprise.
"Honey… your father's fine.", she said vaguely. "He's just-"
"Mom, please. I know what you're doing… and as much as I appreciate it, I can see that's not the truth. Why's he so sad?"
Jewel opened her beak to respond, but sighed as she closed it, thinking of an answer.
"Look, I… I don't know, sweetie. I really don't… but trust me when I say it would never be you or your sisters' fault. He loves you three more than anything in the world.", she smiled. "I mean, you should've seen him the day you were born! He stayed up all night holding you guys in his wings… and when he finally went to sleep the next day, he slept right next to you."
"So… you're sure he's not mad at us or anything?"
"Of course not.", she said, gently kissing him on his head. "Now… let's go help him look for your sisters, okay?"
"Alright.", he nodded. "I think I saw Bia hiding on a branch down there... not sure."