Chapter 12: 12 years of peace

The day had been great for Blu's entire family. Blu had to get to know Sapphire a bit better (except her backstory), Thomas had so much fun in playing soccer with Tiago, Roberto, Skye and the 3 scarlet macaws, Jasmine had been enjoying her time with Bia and Miguel, learning them about different plants and insects, as well as the runes of nature she had known for years. And the best part about today was the amazing jungle performance that Jasmine and Thomas had made before a great audience.

Around 50 minutes after the performance, Blu, Jewel, their kids, Thomas and Jasmine had dinner together, where Carla boasted to her mother about how well her uncle and aunt had sung and danced. Jewel was amazed to hear that and said she couldn't wait for the Carnival show to see what her sister-in-law and brother-in-law could do.

After dinner was finished, Thomas asked Blu and Jewel if they could tell them more about their backstories. Blu and Jewel decided that it was time to tell them. Blu went first of what he had experienced after he was taken away from Rio all the way to Minnesota. He told them about the years he lived with Linda and how he was flightless, until one day Tulio showed up and convinced them to go to Rio to meet Jewel.

Then Jewel spoke. She told her life about when she lived with the tribe, her father, mother and childhood-friend, Roberto. But after she told how she lost everything thanks to the loggers, Jasmine let out a tear of compassion for her. Jewel then told them that she was held most of her life in captivity (for her own good, though) with Tulio at the aviary, until, one day, she met Blu.

Blu and Jewel both talked about how their first encounter was a disaster, how they were captured by smugglers and how they escaped. They also told Thomas and Jasmine about the evil cockatoo Nigel, who became their archenemy. They told about the wacky adventure they went through Rio and how they eventually fell in love with each other. They later told the story of how their kids where born, where Tiago once again mockingly said that the last egg Jewel laid (the most painful one) was Carla's, much to his sister's annoyance.

After that they talked about the journey they made to the Amazon, how Blu was unable to adapt and how they eventually defeated the loggers under the leadership of Blu. Jasmine and Thomas were amazed by the achievements of their younger brother. After that, they told them about some adventures they had over the past year after they decided to stay in the Amazon permanently.

"Wow, those are quite some stories to hear." Thomas beamed.

"Indeed, especially the parts when you could fly after your first kiss, Blu, the hatching of our nieces and nephew and the part where you rallied everyone against the loggers!" Jasmine said.

"Aw, thanks, guys." Blu said.

"Now, we wish to hear your story, Auntie Jassie and Uncle Tommy!" Tiago said excitingly.

"Yes, I'm also a bit interested." Jewel added.

Just then, 4 similar figures entered the hollow. It was Eva, Pedro, Nico and Rafael.

"Hey, lovebirds. I hope you had a nice dinner." Rafael said.

"Rafi, Eva, Pedro, Nico! What brings you here."

"We came here to tell Carla that all the performers agreed that they would let Thomas and Jasmine take the main stage in the Carnival show within 2 weeks." Nico told them.

"Wow! That's great! Did you hear that, Auntie Jassie and Uncle Tommy?" Carla said to her aunt and uncle.

"Certainly, dear and it would be an honor to do it." Jasmine said.

"Were we interrupting on sometin'? 'Cause you all sit around each other like you're telling stories." Pedro noticed.

"Oh, yeah, Jewel and I talked about our backstories and now Jasmine and Thomas are about to tell them." Blu told the 4.

"Oh. Well, I'm actually kind of interested about what they have gone through." Eva said.

"Me too actually." Nico said.

"And us too!" said a voice happily.

Jewel looked outside and saw Mimi and Roberto.

"Aunt Mimi! Beto!" How are you this evening?

"Great, dear. We just wanted to tell how such an amazing day we all had, but we just heard that Thomas and Jasmine are about to talk about their background. Did Blu and Jewel talk about their first kiss and how their children were born?" Mimi asked Thomas and Jasmine very enthusiastically.

"Ah, yes, Mimi, and I loved those parts, alongside when he rallied you all to fight against the loggers." Thomas said.

"Hey, I too wish to hear your story." Roberto said while looking a bit suave at Jasmine.

Jasmine blushed for a moment and said: "Alright everyone, sit down and we'll tell you."

Everyone sat down and was quiet, waiting for Thomas or Jasmine for something to say.

Jasmine: "It all started after we lost you, Blu. After we couldn't find you in our hollow anymore, we thought you might have flown away out of fear."

Thomas: "Our parents and us searched all of Rio for you, searching for a whole week to be exact."

A whole week? Blu thought to himself. Jasmine, Thomas and their parents really most have been broken when they did that.

Jasmine: "After that, we eventually gave up and with broken hearts we decided to get into the wild and search for a new home."

Thomas: "For a year we travelled through Brazil and other parts of South America, sometimes without any food or shelter. Until one day, we saw something, a real jewel to behold.

"Haha! You said our mom's name, uncle Tommy." Tiago said, laughing.

"Haha, very funny, little bird." Jewel said sarcastically "But, seriously, what did you find?"

Jasmine: "In the middle of the jungle west of Brazil, we found a complex of 12 Inca temples that stood in a square. Three temples were stationed in the north, with the one in the center being bigger than all the other ones, 3 in the east, 3 in the south and 3 in the west. In the center of the giant stone plaza was a small shrine with a water pond in it. We don't know when those temples were built and why it was in the deep jungles but there were no humans present in it. Instead, it was a clan…"

Carla: "What kind of clan?"

"A clan…" Thomas paused for a moment. "… of spix macaws…"

Everyone gasped at that moment and cried out: "SPIX MACAWS?!"

Jasmine: "Yes, spix macaws. When we approached them, they were suspicious at first, but they quickly saw us as their distant kin and their own kind."

"What do you mean by 'distant kin', Jasmine?" Blu asked.

"Well, little brother, that clan had been living in those temples for nearly 2 centuries, isolating them from their relatives in the east. All of them, and by all of them I literally mean all of them, have eyes the with the colors of the ocean, just like the one Beto has." Jasmine said while looking at Roberto.

Thomas: "And when we noticed that they announced themselves as the Azul Clan, or simply the Azuls or in their tongue: the Ættin Ázul."

"That doesn't sound very Portuguese or Spanish." Bia said.

"No, Bia, their isolation for nearly 2 centuries ensured they gained a language of their own, with English as first language of course. And they even made their own runic alphabet." Thomas said.

"Did this Azul Clan also give a name to their home?" Nico asked.

"Glad you asked, Nico." Thomas said.

"They called their home…" Thomas said while looking a bit proudful. "… Xlaxlan Twelve Peaks."

Jasmine: "Each peak has also its own number. Peak 1, the biggest one, is the one in the center of the northern line of temples, Peak 2 is the one east of it, Peak 3 is the most northern one of the eastern line and so we go clockward until we reach Peak 12."

Thomas: "After some Azuls told us who they were and how they have lived in isolation from their kin for nearly 2 centuries, we were brought into the chambers of Peak 1, the throne room and the home of the chieftain. Their chieftain introduced himself as Stigandr and he had a son our age named Andor, literally in their language meaning 'eagle'."

Jasmine: "From what Stigandr said, he was once a mighty spix macaw warrior. Yet, as fate would have it, his wife passed away a year ago and he himself was dying. When we had arrived, he had already been infected by disease for months and believed it would only be a matter of time before he would pass away."

Thomas: "And as tradition within the Azul Clan goes, no son or daughter may become a chieftain or chieftainess until he or she is at least 15 years old, so with Andor only being a little more than a year old, he couldn't become the next chieftain."

The 11 other birds listened very attentively to what Thomas and Jasmine had to say.

Jasmine: "Eventually, our father, Alejandro and our mother, Camila, became very close to Stigandr and as his health faded, dad would take on responsibilities that normally the chieftain had."

Thomas: "Mom also did the same thing and even we took a liking to running a clan. We also befriended Andor, who took a liking to us, despite not truly being of his clan. Due to the responsibilities our mom and dad took for the clan, they also earned their respect and loyalty."

Jasmine: "Eventually, the day came. Stigandr felt that his time had come and because his son wasn't ready to ascend to chieftain, he decided to put a steward as a 'replacement chieftain'."

"Oh." Mimi said. "And who did he choose?"

Thomas: "He chose our dad to temporarily succeed him, alongside mom."

Everyone gasped, especially Jewel, since she had never known that Blu's father and mother have been leaders of a clan, particularly one where they don't even have kinship with.

"Did our other grandparents really serve as leaders of a spix macaw clan?!" Tiago exclaimed.

"Sure they did, Tiago, sure they did." Thomas said proudful.

"How did the Azul clan react to that?" Rafael asked.

"Because of the responsibilities he and mom already had taken and helped the tribe back on its feet, everyone respected the choice of their former chieftain, as long as we would embrace their culture, their religion and even their language, which we did." Thomas said.

"Yeah, and especially you, big bro, you truly have embraced the religion and the gods of the Azuls, didn't you, even if you're not their kin?" Jasmine said with a smug smile on her face.

"Why did you not?" Thomas asked, looking at his sister. "You know how much it meant to me, to us."

"What type of gods did the Azuls embrace?" Blu asked curiously.

"There was the upper god named Odsen, who was also the god of wisdom and intelligence." Jasmine said.

"There was Thurs, son of Odsen, protector of the Azul kind and especially, the god of thunder." Thomas told them.

"And besides them there were also many other gods and goddesses that the Azuls worshipped." Jasmine said.

"Did you also get your muscular built there?" Roberto asked, looking at the muscular bodies of both Jasmine and Thomas.

"Ah, yes, the training days…" Jasmine recalled. "Blu, you told us about your first day of training with Eduardo, right?"

"Yeah, I did." Blu said a bit nervous, trying not to remember that day.

"Well, I don't want to be rude at all but if you compare that training to ours, then your training was nothing compared to the trails we had to go through." Jasmine said.

"We would be training sometimes day and night, sometimes going days of weeks without food and we would have our peers yelling in our faces, calling us 'worthless maggots' whilst we would be lying with our faces in the mud." Thomas recalled.

Jasmine: "But it all had one purpose: to make strong warriors out of us. And at the same time, we also made friendships with many other Azuls. My most trusted friend was Amalia, who almost saw me as a sister. Later, Amalia also became Andor's love interest."

Thomas: "And my best friend was her brother, Willfried, another skilled warrior and had a great leadership style. It was with him that we also made several songs, including the one me and Jasmine sang today."

"Oh! So you and your friend were the ones who created that awesome song?" Nico asked wondered.

"Exactly, and like him I became a Temple Guard when I was 8 years and a half old." Thomas told them.

"What does this Temple Guard truly hold in?" Jewel asked.

"A Temple Guard, Jewel, is someone who commits his life in guarding the temple and ensuring its safety. There are 2 types of Temple Guards: Partial Temple Guards and Full Temple Guards." Thomas said.

"What's the difference?" Pedro asked.

Thomas: "Partial ones are Temple Guards that may protect the temple, but still have a wife and sometimes children. Full Temple Guards are the ones that swear a blood oath by having their blood painted in the engraved runes of their names by the list of Temple Guards and they have to swear that they would never have a wive or children."

"Which one were you, Thomas?", Roberto asked.

"Like Willfried, a full one." Thomas said.

"So you may never have a wife or children?" Blu asked.

"Blu, I am still bound by blood to those temples, and I must keep my oath, no matter how attractive the ladies may look like." Thomas said.

"Besides the warrior spirit the Azul Clan had, did you also have some fun?" Bia asked.

"Of course there was room for fun, Bia. We had many festivals and also knock parties." Jasmine said.

"Knock parties?" Mimi asked.

"Yeah, it were parts when there was a party, but Azul clan member could sometimes be really… stubborn… to each other and before we knew it, everyone, sometimes even our dad and us, would be teaming with some members and literally beat other members, of course not too hard, since that would kill them." Thomas said before asking his sister: "Remember those times, Jass?"

Jasmine (with a smile): "Ah, yes, me, Amalia and some of her friends teaming and beating the crap out of some Azul Clan members…"

"How did most of these 'knock parties' then end, I mean, did they had some point that they knew they would stop?" Bia asked.

"Yes, there was one who mostly couldn't stand those parties: our mother. When she saw that it was enough, she would show her harsh side and then everyone would stop instantly, because even though they all respected her, they also feared her in some way." Jasmine told.

"I wonder something. If that Azul Clan truly had quiet some numbers, how did they all fit in those Temples?" Rafael asked.

"Oh, good you ask, Rafi, how could we forget?" Thomas said with a wing on his head. "It wasn't just the Temples and the Plaza that were magnificent, but also what was underneath it: the Underpassage."

"Underpassage?" Everyone asked at the same time.

Jasmine: "Yes, it was a labyrinth of tunnels and halls that went crisscross through each other and often lay underneath each other."

"The halls were magnificent, with the names of many Azul Clan members engraved in our runic script in the stones." Thomas said with much glory and pride in his voice and pointing his right wing into the air.

"How were they lit, those passages? Because it must have been really dark." Blu commented.

"By two things. Either by countless fireflies or even what the humans call 'troches'." Jasmine said.

"How did you make those torches and how did you light them?" Carla asked.

"We had some craftsmen of craftswomen who could were able to make them from sticks and we also had a lot of flintstones to light those torches." Thomas said.

"The most magnificent hall of the Underpassage was the Sal Hinna Föllnu, literally translated as the Hall of the Fallen. It is a giant hall with a lake in it and if an Azul Clan member passed away, we would place him/her on a leaf, would fire a burning stick that would hit the leaf and burn the body, so that his/her soul could leaf the body and go to the heaven of our gods, Valhalla." Jasmine said.

"Wow, this truly sound like the Vikings." Bia said.

"What are Vikings?" Thomas asked curiously.

"In ancient times in Northern Europe, the Norsemen, or Vikings, had a similar language as you had and similar runes and traditions. I wonder how a Clan of spix macaws could have had similar traditions and values."

"Heh, perhaps we might have some connections with these ancient humans." Jasmine said humorously.

"But did you also learn a lot about the fauna around and within Twelve Peaks, Auntie Jasmine?"

"Ah, yes, alongside Amelia, this is where I collected vast knowledge of nature and all its secrets. I also learned about a plant which the Azul clan could use as a weapon. This plant only exists around that area and is unknown to humans."

"Oh." Bia said curious. "What type of plant is that?

"We called it the Eiturefni planta, or literally Toxin Plant, a plant that has a juice in it that can cause high degrees of burning to the body that it touches. The juice in it looked quite yellow and it comes in 2 variants. One looks like a sack, in which we could press on it, and the juice would flow into the opposite direction; the other one looked like a ball and ones it touches the ground it explodes and spatters the juice over the place."

"Wow, fascinating." Bia said with much wonder in her eyes.

"Truly fascinating. I wish I could train with such plants." Tiago said with the intent of doing something dangerous.

"Be careful what you wish for, Ti, not having experience with those plants could be as dangerous to a foe as well as the one who holds them." Thomas added.

"Did one of you two ever wield those plants?" Jewel asked.

"Yes, I did." Jasmine said. "And after about 3 years of careful but also hard training, I was seen by the Azul Clan as the best toxin plant thrower in Xlaxlan Twelve Peaks, particularly with a little catapult known as a sling or even big slings that the clan had made."

"Aw, that's sick." Tiago said.

"How did your father and mother actually run the clan if I may ask?" Nico asked.

"Well, our father and mother always ruled as wise, yet also very strong leaders. Our dad even made specific plans for the Clan that were carried out in the first few years of when we lived there." Thomas said.

"What did these plans hold in?" Blu asked.

Jasmine: "In the first 2 years, our mom and dad ensured that there was enough food in the surrounding areas, since it had been scarce for quite some time. He ensured that many fruit seeds were reserved to be planted in the ground and that new fruit shrubs would grow in the surrounding jungles. This policy also bore fruits, literally, and the food problem truly came to an end."

Thomas: "In the third, fourth and fifth year of our presence, he decided to strengthen the members of the Azul Clan physically, to make sure that we would be ready for any invaders if that would ever come. That's when the harsh training for us began, and although we had been humiliated by our peers MANY times, it eventually bore fruits as you can see now (pointing at his muscular body). We also learned about the runes and how we should imagine every single one of them in our hearts and 'activate' them when necessary."

Jasmine: "In the sixth and seventh year, mom decided to expand the previous policy by adding more defenses to Twelve Peaks, one of them was constructing those sling catapults on the tops of each peak and within various places of the Underpassage."

Thomas: "After that, everything seemed completed but there were however some problems, still."

Jewel: "Which were?"

Jasmine: "During the wet season, much of the plaza would be covered in water due to the river standing so high and there were piranhas in it that would often try to bite a clan membe that would get some water. Luckily, at the start of the eight year, our solution came."

Thomas: "One day, in the morning, we heard loud waning and yelling from the outside. When we looked it, appeared to be a whole pack of caimans, who's teeth hadn't been cleaned for weeks. Our father took sympathy to them and even approached their leader, Joan."

"How did the clan members react to that?" Carla asked a bit nervous.

"At first, everyone was scared out of their wits, believing it was suicide, but our dad told them that they would not eat him and if they would, then the Azul Clan members could bombard the caimans with countless toxin plants." Thomas said.

"What happened afterwards? Mimi asked.

"Our dad took a stick, stepped into the mouth of Joan and began cleaning, all of us frightened at the sight. Yet, he did not close his beak, instead our dad kept cleaning until his teeth were spotless, much to the amazement of all Azuls." Jasmine said.

"But all the other caimans had pain on their teeth, and they had to be cleaned as well. So some Azuls, inspired by our dad's deeds, did the same thing and cleaned those teeth until they shined." Thomas said.

"Wow, our other granddad really did have courage." Bia said.

"After that, the caimans were happy and even asked if they could stay near the banks of the temples, to which dad happily applied to that if they could help the Azuls of getting rid of those Piranhas. Joan and his flock happily said 'yes' to that and made sure that most of the flesh-eating fish would be wiped out from the place." Jasmine said.

"Still, we found it annoying that the water levels would rise up to the plaza, but not long after the caimans came, another solution for that came." Thomas said.

"And what was that solution?" Roberto asked.

"Beavers." Jasmine and Thomas both said at the same time.

"Beavers?!" Blu said dumbfounded.

"There are no beavers in the amazon forest." Bia pointed out.

"These beavers originally come from North America, but some evil humans, poachers to be exact, captured them and decided to do something for 'fun'." Jasmine said with some disgust.

"And what was this 'fun'?" Jewel asked.

"They decided to drop those beavers in boxes deep in the Amazon Jungle, forcing them to survive in a complete different and more dangerous habitat." Thomas said.

Mimi growled at this and said: "Even though Linda and Tulio are good people, what some humans would do to us animals is just enough to make us attack them!"

"I know." Jasmine said. "And there were some beavers who didn't make it, but most of them survived against all odds and eventually came into contact with us."

Thomas: "They told us their story and that they were masters at building dams in large rivers when they lived in North America. Their leader, Fred, made a deal with our mom, our dad and Joan to build a dam in the smallest part of the river around 450 meters west of the temples."

Jasmine: "When construction started, it began poorly, since the beavers had some trouble in finding the suitable wood and because they had problems with the piranhas. This is where the caimans helped them with getting rid of those fish and later, the Azuls would deliver sticks to help them build the dam."

Thomas: "And after months of hard work, at the end of our eight year at Twelve Peaks, the dam was completed, making it also the beavers their new home. They also made some opening they can open and close at will to control the flow of the water. And when the dam was built, a grand celebration was held on the plaza of Twelve Peaks with Azuls, caimans and beavers singing and dancing until late in the night."

"Wow, your dad also seemed much of a diplomat to other animals." Mimi said amazed.

"And also, to other birds." Jasmine said. "In the first half of our ninth year at Twelve peaks, he reached his wings out to the birds that lived in the surrounding jungles, particularly the ones north of us. He mostly made agreements with them on how to share the food better."

"Because those achievements had gone smoothly, another grand celebration was held at the plaza at the end of our ninth year with Azuls, caimans, beavers and all other kinds of birds celebrating all night through." Thomas said.

"In the 10th and 11th year no true plans were made, since everything was going smoothly, but on the twelfth year, we had an immense growth in fruits, giving us more food than before. For caimans it was also a good year, since a lot of piranhas came from the east and were nothing more than a banquet for our crocodilian friends. They also sometimes gave the deceased fish to the beavers, giving them also some food." Jasmine said.

"As for Andor, the heir to the throne, he was like a new brother to us. Even though our father wasn't his biological one, he looked up to him and even saw him as his second biological father. He also had the same with our mother, since he never knew his biological mother." Thomas said.

Jasmine: "And so, for 12 years since our arrival at Xlaxlan Twelve Peaks, and since our dad took the role of being the tribes temporarily cheiftain, we have lived in an undisturbed and beautiful peace."

To be continued…