Chapter 1:

Blu's double trouble... an unexpected arrival.

The harvest moon rested upon the night sky, casting its soft pale light upon the jungle below. The trees danced in the breeze, shedding their dead dusty brown leaves onto the path below. Without a care in the world, a lone spix macaw sped weaving through the trees. Her laughter cut through the air, breaking the silence which could only come from the early hours of peaceful twilight.

Upon the ground, her father, a large blue macaw smiled with pride as he rested an arm around his cast.

"Very good, Rose!" he called up to her, his voice full of excitement. "You're improving. It won't be long before you master the technique of dodging and weaving at high speeds."

Rose fluttered to the ground, hovering in midair for a few seconds. Her tail shifted, lowering her talons before coming in for a landing. Folding her wings she looked at her father and his cast.

"I wish your wing would hurry up and heal." She frowned, "Most birds get to fly with their fathers when practicing their flying techniques."

Blu nodded his head and grimaced as he removed his wing. His body filled with the same burning pain as he attempted to move the limb.

"Yeah, well most fathers don't get injured having to deal with a power hungry, and egotistical cockatoo."

Rose noticed the painful look on her father's face... her face filled with concern for the poor creature.

"Hasn't it healed at all?" She asked, "It shouldn't be hurting as much as it was."

Blu shook his head. "The doctors still need to run more tests. The pain is too severe to check anything properly and they don't want to risk moving my wing at all."

Blu eyed his daughter. She was still a young macaw, with soft blue feathers. Her blackish beak shined in the moonlight. At the side of her head, rested a small red rose which brought out the rosiness in her cheeks. In every way she looked like her mother, her sapphire eyes glistened in the darkness. He noted the worry in her eyes, and continued his prepared and rehearsed speech.

"I'm sure in time it will heal properly... when it does we will fly through the forest all day. There is still plenty more for you to learn, and I want to be the bird to teach you."

"I hope so," she yawned, "I just want our family too return to the way it was before any of this happened."

Blu could tell that something deeper was bothering the young female. Some sort of inner turmoil blanketed her face.

"What is it?" he asked, "is something bothering you?"

The macaw nodded her sweet head. She hugged her father shedding a tear which fell down the back of Blu's spine.

"I miss spending quality time with you," she admitted, "especially in the sky."

Not long after, Blu carried his daughter into the old hollowed tree. She slept peacefully in his arms. Blu shook his head, handing the young female to his wife.

"Flying practice went really well today." He admitted. "She is the first of the three to be able to turn at high speeds."

Jewel smiled as she wiped a wing through her daughter's hair. She eyed Blu curiously.

"That's my beautiful little girl." Jewel smiled, "You look like you're in a lot of pain. Have the doctor's learned what is wrong with it?"

Blu shook his head. "I wish I knew. They haven't told me anything new, and it hurts just as bad as the day it happened."

Blu peered down at his cast. The pain had subsided just like it usually did, but he still couldn't move the joint at all. He voiced his own fears, his voice unusually calm.

"What if it doesn't get better?" Blu asked, "What if I can never fly again?"

Jewel placed her daughter down on a small bed made out of twigs, and placed a protective wing on the broken joint, taking extra precaution to avoid causing him any further pain.

"I'm sure it will." She soothed him, "even if it doesn't it won't change my feelings for you."

"Are you sure?" Blu asked, "We didn't really bond until I saved you that day."

Jewel shook her head. "Blu, I loved you since the day you showed me your fun side in the Samba Club. You couldn't fly then, and we will get passed this as a team. I promise."

Blu eyed his daughter, his eyes narrowed as he expressed another concern.

"Rose wants me to teach her the more advanced techniques to flying. What if I am unable too?"

"She will understand," Jewel smiled. "No matter what happens, she only wishes to be with her father."

Blu seated himself on the floor and stared out at the night sky. The harvest moon reflected the light in his eyes like twin mirrors. He shivered and peered down at the cast.

"I hope you're right. I don't want to let her down."

# # #

The next morning, Blu and Jewel returned to the old Aviary. Tulio studied an x-ray of Blu's wing structure, toying with his glasses as he occasionally peered back at the pair of macaws.

"I'm afraid that there has been no change." he sighed, "The tendons in his left wing have separated further than even I could have predicted. I don't know if I can even repair them properly."

Jewel eyed Blu as he lowered his head at the bad news. He wiped a talon across his beak. His eyes instinctively fell upon the injured left side. Tulio picked Jewel up and stroked her blue feathers. He soothed the female with a quiet shush.

"Don't worry," Tulio whispered, "I'll keep on trying everything in my power so the two of you can fly together again."

Jewel cooed at his reassurance, she snuggled against the human's hand. Her eyes closed tight as she grew more comfortable in the hands of the would-be saviour.

"You've made tremendous progress, Jewel." Tulio smiled, "You didn't even like humans when I first tried to fix your wing... which by the way was far more damaged than your boyfriend's here. I'm sure that in time, we'll figure out the solution to this problem."

Blu kept a careful watch on his wing. It wouldn't respond to his commands to move. His beak curled into a sad frown, his thoughts dwelled upon his daughter, his wife, and the other two children.

"I'm going to let everyone down." He sighed. "My flying days have come to an end."

# # #

The autumn foliage drifted down on all sides of the three small macaws. Flying with her brothers, Rose admired Kinski and Buster's playfulness towards the falling leaves.

"Boys..." she rolled her eyes, "Always amused by the simplest of things. I wish I could be like that."

The two macaws turned to her, tossing a bunch of collected foliage at her. She screamed as she dodged the bombardment. Her eyes narrowed disapprovingly.

"Hey, there could have been a stick in that!" she growled, "Don't make me tell mom when she returns home."

"Oh, grow a sense of humour, sis." Kinski pouted. "We didn't mean anything by it."

"Yeah," Buster frowned, rolling his leg sheepishly through the air. "Please don't tell mom."

The young female's eyes softened somewhat. She rolled her eyes, realising she had fallen for the boys' biggest ploy... the guilt trip.

"Ok boys," she grinned wickedly, "You wanted to start a leaf war. You're going to get a leaf war!"

The rain forest erupted with the laughter of three young macaws. Flying through the air, all three tossed leaves to each other. Fiery orange, majestic red, dusty brown, and the occasional deep purple flew through the air in all directions, followed by a macaw diving out of the way.

Kinski lined up a shot, his tongue prodding from his beak as he lurched his wing back. In a speedy movement he tossed his projectile.

BANG!

Rose's eyes filled with concern as she peered at the unintended target of Kinski's attack. Rose stopped in her tracks, flapping her wings to hover in place. Before her floated a strange looking macaw... his feathers were a silvery bluish tint. His amber eyes peered out as he looked crossly at the three youngsters. His most prominent feature was the blackish beak and under-feathers, the usual trait for a spix macaw.

"Oi, bom dia..." the bird said with a slight smile. "Meu nom e Jollo."

Rose pieced together the little bits of Brazilian Portuguese she had learned from her parents and smiled a reply.

"Oi, Prazer em cohence-lo. Meu nom e Rose." She smiled and added, "Noa falo Portugues. Falo Ingles."

The bird nodded in understanding. He smiled and switched his vocabulary.

"I'm pleased to meet you, Rose. It's shocking for me to see a macaw that doesn't know a decent amount of Portuguese especially in Rio."

Rose blushed slightly and shifted her head sideways. "Well... my father is from the United States and my mother is Brazilian." She explained, "I grew up more speaking the English language."

"No doubt, but you do speak Brazilian Portuguese really well. I would like to meet your mother. Surely she is as beautiful a rose as you are, my dear."

Rose's cheeks flushed brighter. Her eyes narrowed as she nodded her head.

"Well I don't see the harm. Let's head back to the nest, with any luck she should be returning soon."

The strange macaw cocked his head to one side, as he flapped his wings. He peered at the female from the corner of his eyes.

"Returning from where?" He asked.

"My father was injured a few months ago. His wing is broken, something about tendons being separated or something like that. It's really difficult to explain."

The macaw's eyes narrowed, a smile formed upon his face. "We'll just have to see just how injured he truly is."