Chapter 4: Return of a chieftainess
Jewel was crying in her mother's wings.
"I thought I would never see you again, mom." Jewel said with tears rolling over her face.
"It's alright, Jewel. I have you." Sapphire said reassuring her daughter.
After 10 second they let go of the hug and looked at each other with tears in their eyes.
"Look at you." Sapphire said. "it's my gem. All grown up. You're so beautiful."
Sapphire then looked at the ground and sadly said: "You must have been all alone for many years, I can imagine."
"I was, mom." Jewel said, "But that all ended after I met Blu. And four years after it met him and had our children, we moved here and found daddy."
Sapphire looked at everyone and said: "After I lost you, I was part of another tribe, or should I say tribes, who treated me like a family member of their own."
Jewel looked a bit surprised, before saying: "Oh, how did you lose them?"
Sapphire's eyes suddenly widened and said: "I-, I don't wish to talk about that. It's too horrible to think of."
"If you don't want to, mom, you don't have to." Jewel reassured her mother.
Eduardo then spoke up and said with a smile: "How about we get outside and show everyone you've come back, Sapphire?"
"That sounds great, Eddie." Sapphire replied.
As everyone went outside, there were already quite some spix macaws on the nearby trees and saw the 6 macaws coming out of Eduardo's hollow all together.
There was a murmur between many tribe members, wondering who the new spix macaw was. But some suddenly recognized her, either because they were older, or they recognized her when they were just chick.
"Is that Sapphire?" one of the female spix macaws yelled.
"Yes, everyone! It is Sapphire!" Eduardo exclaimed with pure happiness.
Everyone gasped, they couldn't believe what they were seeing. The former chieftainess was back.
After a bit of flying, the 6 spix macaws reached the cliffs with the waterfalls.
"For years, the tribe had been on the run as the loggers and poachers pushed us deeper and deeper into the jungle." Eduardo said, "But as you can see, Sapphire, we have found a sanctuary, a place where we are at peace at last and where we can finally put down roots."
"EVERYONE! OUT OF YOUR NESTS!" Eduardo exclaimed happily.
Everyone, males and females, adults and chicks happily hopped out of their hollow, knowing Eduardo has some good news.
"My wife has returned! Come on, birds! My Sapphire is back!" Eduardo yelled happily.
Mimi, who was once again sunbathing with a clay-faced mask and some fruits on her eyes, suddenly heard what her younger brother said. She made a gasp and shook the clay of her face.
"Sapphire?" she asked herself, smiling.
A lot of birds were following Eduardo and the others, when suddenly happy screaming came out of the flock.
Mimi: "Make way! Make way! SAPHIRRREEEE!"
Saphire, who was flying besides Jewel, suddenly gasped, "Mimi? MIMI!"
She turned around, only to be quickly embraced into a hug by her sister-in-law. The two turned and turned until they landed onto a tree branch.
"I missed you so much, Mimi!" Sapphire exclaimed as she once again hugged her.
"My special gem has returned! I knew that Jewel might one day come back…" Mimi said enthusiastically "…since I saw it in the droppings…" she said with some humor, "but, I never saw your return coming, Sapphie!"
"Ah, Mimi, it's been so long since I saw you and the rest of the tribe. And it's even better now that we have 4 new members." Sapphire said while looking at Blu, Bia, Carla and Tiago.
"Yes, Sapphire. And the fact that we still are here for more than a year is all thanks to your son-in-law, Blu."
"Really?" Sapphire said surprised whilst looking at Blu.
Blu looked a bit nervous and said: "Ah, please, Mimi, don't boast about it. I only did what had to be done in order to save our home."
"Save this home? What did you do?" Sapphire asked curiously.
Eduardo then stepped in and said proudly: "A little more than a year ago, he rallied us to stand up and fight against the loggers that were threatening to destroy this sanctuary."
Sapphire's eyes widened and asked: "Where did you get that courage, Blu? I mean… those loggers have those giant hard things to destroy a tree with ease and you managed to rally an ENTIRE tribe to fight against them?"
"And his actions also made sure that our formerly rival tribe, the scarlet macaw tribe that neighbors us became friends. They joined the battle with some other animals and just as we thought we won; we heard an explosion. The boss of those loggers had placed something on the trees that humans call 'dynamite'. We could have let him destroy a few more trees until he ran out of it, but Blu here bravely pulled those dynamites into the air, making them explode there, almost killing him in the process." Eduardo told his wife.
Sapphire didn't have any the words. All these years she had known that, when she was with the spix macaw tribe, they had been fleeing, running and living in fear from loggers and poachers. She looked at Blu, who was looking a bit awkwardly, not truly wanting to take credit for his actions.
"Where did you learn all those things, Blu?" Sapphire asked curiously, but with much wonder in her voice.
Blu gulped. He knew he had to tell Sapphire about the fact that he had lived with a human (Linda) for 15 years, whilst being flightless at the same time. When he and Jewel weren't a couple, she saw him as nothing more than a 'pet' bird and the same was with Eduardo when they first met.
"What's going on, Blu? You look so frightened." Sapphire asked.
"Ur, well uh, you see, Sapphire…" Blu paused for a moment, "When I was a chick, I remember being caught by poachers and being transported to the far north of the American continent, I wasn't even a month old, I think, and I couldn't even fly."
Sapphire gasped. "Oh, you poor thing…"
Blu: "I know. But when I reached a place called Minnesota, the box where I was in, fell out of the truck. It was cold, I was all alone and thought I wasn't going to live very long. But then the box was opened by a little human girl with glasses and red hair. I was scared at first, but the girl told me that she would take care of me, whatever it took."
Blu paused for a moment; Sapphire kept staring with wonder. "Her name was Linda Gunderson and for 15 years, I lived with her as a faithful and loyal companion, but flightless. Until one day, an ornithologist, a human who researches and helps birds of all kinds, found me and told Linda that they had a female in his aviary at the city of Rio de Janeiro…"
Blu paused again, before saying: "…and that female, was Jewel."
To Blu's surprise, Sapphire didn't seem to frown or anything and just listened with much attention. he went further. "In the beginning, your daughter and I didn't get along well, but after some adventures in Rio, we eventually fell for each other."
"Oh, yes, I remember that story! I especially loved the part when Blu jumped out of that plane, still flightless, trying to sacrifice himself for Jewel and then they kissed, which could make you fly, Blu." Mimi exclaimed happily.
Sapphire seemed awestruck by that story and looked at her daughter, before Blu said: "I just said that I lived under the protection of a human for 15, years, right? That makes me a companion, but I just want to say that I am not in the slightest a pet."
Jewel and Eduardo looked at each other, before Jewel said to her mother: "Yeah, in the beginning when we first knew each other, I saw Blu as nothing more than a pet."
"The same was with me." Eduardo declared, "I thought nothing at first of my son-in-law, but when he rallied us against those loggers, I saw that I couldn't deserve a better son-in-law."
Sapphire smiled and placed her wing on Blu's right shoulder.
"My mother, Blu, told me that I should respect everyone, no matter their background, as long as it isn't clouded with evil or that they don't respect me." Sapphire said assuring.
Blu was shocked. For the first time, a member of Jewel's family (Mimi not included) accepted Blu for who he was and didn't call him 'pet'.
Sapphire continued by saying: "Besides, I have known someone, a military macaw, who went through something similar as a chick."
Blu and the rest were surprised. "You do, mom?" Jewel asked
"Yes, dear. His name was Megeslav. He originated from Peru but was caught by poachers as a chick and was transported all the way to, what he said, the largest country on earth." Sapphire said.
"Russia?" Bia asked her grandmother.
"Yes, that was the name of the country." Sapphire said.
"Do you also know where he lived exactly in Russia, Sapphire?"
"I do remember that he told me that he lived for 12 years in the most eastern coastal city of Russia, it's a difficult name, but I know it starts with a 'v'." Sapphire added.
"Vladivostok?" Blu and Bia asked at the same time.
"Yes! That was the name of the city. I see where you get your intelligence from, Bia." Sapphire said whilst looking at Bia.
"So, what happened to this 'Megeslav', Sapphire?", Mimi asked curiously.
Sapphire's eyes widened and quickly said: "I don't wish to talk about that, Mimi, it's too horrible to think about."
Mimi knew she shouldn't have said that and apologized to her sister-in-law. Then a rustling came from the trees nearby and Sapphire saw a figure land in front of her that she hadn't seen since he was a chick.
"Roberto!" she exclaimed happily.
"Sapphire!" Roberto yelled happily, whilst hugging her. "The tribe members just told me that you are still alive and just arrived!"
"Sure, I am, Beto." Sapphire said happily. "I still remember when you were still a chick, playing with Jewel. How the time has passed by…"
"Hey, girl! Where have you been?" a voice called out.
Everyone looked at their left side and saw that it was Pedro who had called to Carla, he was accompanied by Nico and Rafael.
"Hey, guys, sorry for the long wait, but we have a new tribe member." Carla told her musical 'uncles'.
"New tribe member? Who?" Rafael asked.
"Nico, Pedro, Rafael, meet our grandmother, Sapphire." Carla said proudly, whilst pointing her wings at her grandmother.
"Well, hello there, ma'am, I'm Rafael." said the toucan.
Nico: "I'm Nico."
"And I am Pedro, but… Hold up! Rewind!" Pedro said as he noticed that Sapphire looked a lot like Jewel.
"Isn't this madam here looking a lot like our hot wing (points at Jewel)?" Pedro asked whilst he flew next to Jewel and Sapphire.
"Yes, Pedro, my wife and daughter look exactly the same." Eduardo replied.
"That's great." Nico said, "Now she too can listen to the auditions."
"Auditions?" Sapphire asked.
"Yeah, we're doin' auditions for the Carnival show this year in the Amazon, under the name "Echoes of the Amazon". Pedro replied
"We're searching for all kinds of animals that can both sing, dance and preform at the same time." Nico said.
Sapphire looked with a smile at Carla and said: "Now I know where your passion for music comes from, Carla."
Carla: "Yup, and I will never cease with music. The show must go on."
"Carla!", "Bia!" "Tiago!" three voices came from a distance.
Everyone looked and saw that it was Renaldo, Miguel and Skye. They asked what took them so long, since they had promised yesterday to meet today. Blu's and Jewel's children explained that they couldn't because they had just met their grandmother whom they thought to be long dead. Skye, Renaldo and Miguel introduced themselves to Sapphire, which made her even more happy to see that her grandchicks have a love interest of themselves.
Mimi was about to say that it had been enough chatting and that the party could start.
However, before she could do that, a voice came from the distance: "Hey, yo, Eddie!"
"Felipe." Eduardo said surprised.
"I have been searching for you, but I couldn't find you." Felipe told Eduardo as he landed with 2 scarlet macaws and even 2 unknown spix macaws beside him.
"That's because today my long-lost wife, Sapphire, has returned to the tribe." Eduardo said whilst showing Sapphire to Felipe.
Felipe was a bit dumbstruck. "But… didn't you tell me a few months ago that she perished in a forest fire cause by loggers?"
"That's what I thought, but just like with my daughter, I was once again wrong." Eduardo declared.
Felipe looked at Sapphire and greeted her, telling his name. Sapphire told him that she heard the name before by Blu, who thought that Felipe was near him, even though he wasn't on their territory stealing food. Felipe laughed at this, reminding Blu about the accidental 'war' he caused last year.
"In the past, when I was separated from the spix macaw tribe, I have also known someone who was called Felipe, but don't have good memories about that guy." Sapphire said.
"Heh, these two here (pointing at the unknown spix macaws) said the same thing when we found them on our side of the grove." Felipe said.
The spix macaws finally realized that there were standing 2 other spix macaws next to Felipe, a male and a female, both very muscular. Many spix macaws that were standing on the other tree branches also noticed them at this point. Eduardo had never seen them before and addressed them.
"Who are the two of you?" Eduardo asked extremely serious.
The female spoke. "Greetings, my name is Jasmine, and this is my older brother Thomas. Mr. Felipe told us that next to them a spix macaw tribe resided."
"Correct, where did you both come from?" Eduardo asked.
"Let's just say that we have endured a lot of misery and pain and travelled a long way through most of Brazil, trying our best to survive."
"Mhh, I see." said Eduardo, "Well, since you are both spix macaws, you can stay at the tribe and-" but before he could finish his sentence, he noticed something. Thomas his facial structure was looking VERY similar to Blu's, only difference was that Thomas' eyes were green (same as Carla's) and that he had no little feathers on the back of his head.
"Uh, sir? Are you alright?" Thomas asked a bit confused.
"Blu, can you come here for a moment?" Eduardo asked.
Blu walked towards Eduardo and said: "What is it, sir?"
But before Eduardo could say anything, both Thomas and Jasmine said at the same time: "BLU?!"
Blu and the rest of the spix macaws were dumbstruck, did these two birds know him?
To be continued…