There were times of strain, too. A brief illness once kept Anna quieter, and the aviary brimmed with an anxious hush. Nelly never left her side; she preened with an insistence that was almost human, probing gently, humming as if singing the illness away. It did not vanish because of the song, but it changed shape under the steady pressure of companionship. Recovery unfolded as a choreography: Anna’s first tentative hop, Nelly’s approving chirp, the slow return to competitive berry raids.