Chapter 8: Parts of Sapphire's past
The sunset had arrived quickly with everything that has happened today, Sapphire's return, the discovery of Blu's older sibling and the celebration that happened afterwards. Every spix macaw was happy at this point, from the eldest one to the youngest chick, but the ones who were the happiest, were Eduardo, Sapphire, Jewel, Blu, Jasmine and Thomas.
Sapphire and Eduardo flew back to their hollow on the other side of the spix macaw tribe's side, both happy that they are back together after all these years of separation.
"You still remembered every dance move of the song, Sapphire." Eduardo said happily as they landed on the breach near Eduardo's hollw.
Sapphire panted, "Oh, I'm so happy, but tired at the same time. What a day."
"Let's get some rest, then." Eduardo replied as they entered the hollow.
"Oh, a hollow. It's been a while since I slept in a real one." Sapphire said with a sigh of relief and joy. "For years of traveling through south America, I had to sleep in hollows of poor quality and often also in the open, sometimes even in the rain."
"That must have been awful." Eduardo said. "When was the last time you slept inside a good hollow?"
"The last time was-" Sapphire suddenly paused, and her face fell a bit.
"When, Sapphire? is everything alright?"
"Yes, it's just…" Sapphire paused once again before saying: "…the last time I slept in a good hollow, was when I was living under the protection of 4 tribes in the jungles of Peru near the Andes."
"Oh." Eduardo said surprised, "And what types of macaws where they?"
"Well, their leaders were all half-siblings of each other. They all had the same father, a scarlet macaw, whilst they all had different mothers."
"Can you tell me about those days?" Eduardo asked curiously.
Sapphire hesitated a bit, but said: "Only who the tribes were, but nothing more, since it would remind me too much of how I tragically lost them."
"Hey, it's okey, Sapphire, you don't need to tell me if you don't want to." Eduardo assured her.
"No, I shall tell you." Sapphire said.
"Like I said, there were 4 tribes. One was a scarlet macaw tribe, who lived there for generations. The other was a blue-and-yellow macaw tribe, who lived south of the scarlet macaw's borders. The third was a caninde macaw tribe, who had fled from Bolivia from poachers and loggers. And the fourth and the last one that came one was a tribe of grey parrots."
"Grey parrots?" Eudardo asked. "I have never heard of those before."
"That's because they don't originate from South America, but they come from the central dense jungles of the land the humans call 'Africa'." Sapphire replied.
"But how did they get here, then?" Eduardo asked.
"Countless of them have been smuggled out of their homelands, but they managed to escape once they came onto western Peruvian grounds. Yet, they had to flee westwards to escape the poachers and eventually found refuge by the 3 other tribes." Sapphire told her husband.
Eduardo was dumbfounded. He remembered how Blu told him about that he was captured as a chick (or at least what Blu remembered at that point), but an entire tribe from a completely different continent from across the ocean was too much for him to handle.
"The tribe leader of the scarlet macaw tribe, wanted to unite all these tribes and after his wife's sudden passing, he announced that he would be the husband of all the leaders of the 3 other tribes. To his surprise, they all accepted and even though he already had a scarlet daughter, the female leaders each laid 1 egg and gave him a blue-and-yellow son, a caninde daughter and a grey parrot son."
"A true harem, I see…" Eduardo said a bit dumbstruck.
"Indeed. But this was before my arrival and tragically, all those female leaders died shortly after their eggs had hatched, leaving the scarlet macaw heartbroken and depressed, unable to truly raise his children."
"Oh." Eduardo said, "How unfortunate…"
"Fortunately, a cure came for him. When I arrived, I told him and the tribes how I lost you, Jewel and the rest of the tribe. He welcomed me and asked me if I could help raise the kids, which I accepted."
"I watched them grow up and they quickly became the leader of their respective tribes after their father passed away when they were only 8 years old."
"I see..." Eduardo said. "How was your relationship with those 4 chicks, who later became the leaders of their tribes?"
"I had the closest relationship with Mia, the oldest, the scarlet macaw. Although I was a great friend, she always saw me as a mother, since she only knew her biological mother for less than a year; then there was Arturo, the blue-and-yellow one. He was a free spirited and dreamy person, even into adulthood. I always stood up for him, as did his older sister, Mia, no matter how stupid or selfish his choices; there was Nicole, a caninde, she was a very softspoken and timid bird, but when it comes to intelligence, she was the king of her sibling; and then there was Orlando, a grey parrot. Although he was loyal to the wishes of his siblings, he had a very leadership characteristic personality and was also very stubborn." Sapphire told her husband.
Eduardo chuckled before saying: "and that one bird you mentioned earlier this day, the one who, like Blu lived with a human companion?"
"Oh, Megeslav. He came a little after I arrived with his wife Carina and two daughters, Svetlana and Lilian. Carina also passed away not long after their arrival due to a tumor in her head."
"In which tribe did he reside?" Eduardo asked his wife.
"After the 4 chicks became leaders, the scarlet macaw tribe." Sapphire answered but started to yawn.
Eduardo smiled and said: "I think it's time we get some rest, right?"
"You're right." Sapphire said as she stepped to eddy, who was already laying down.
Sapphire laid down next to her husband and before she could say something, Eduardo put his left wing over her. This remined Sapphire about how they slept in the old days.
"Good night, my gem." Eduardo said.
"Good night, Eddie" Sapphire said as the two fell into a romantic sleep as the sun was setting even more in the horizon.
To be continued…