Our flights were long, but we arrived in Salvador, Brazil on schedule and without mishap. From there we took a charter plane to the small airfield in Manaus, where Zafrina and her sisters met us.
"Welcome, friends!" Zafrina exclaimed.
"Zafrina, Senna, Kachiri," Edward responded, "It's so good to see you again!"
"Hello, Edward, Bella," Senna and Kachiri murmured shyly. They didn't know us as well as Zafrina and looked as if they felt a little out of place.
"We're delighted to have the three of you visit," Zafrina assured us, focusing her gaze on Renesmee. "My dear little one," she crooned, reaching for Renesmee's face, "but you are not so little anymore, are you? I am so glad you've come to see me. I have something very special to show you. What do you think of this?" Renesmee immediately gasped with pleasure, as she saw the vision that Zafrina put before her.
"What is it?" I asked. Renesmee just continued to stare, mouth slightly agape.
Edward answered for her, "Zafrina has built a most elegant tree house for the three of us to stay in while we visit. Our thanks, Zafrina, I know we will all enjoy it, especially Renesmee." His corteous tone did not disguise the heartfelt emotion in his voice very well, and I burned with a curiosity to see what they had seen. I nudged Renesmee, and she turned to relay the vision to me. Zafrina hadn't revealed much, keeping the view of the tree house obscured by the surrounding jungle, but it was obviously a magical place, and I couldn't help beaming with delight at the fascination with which Renesmee viewed our accommodations. Then Renesmee reached for Zafrina's hand, thanking her, I knew, in her own special way.
We ran quickly through the rainforest together, anxious to see this fantastic tree house with our own eyes. Zafrina explained as we went that though she and her sisters were migratory beings and didn't have a real "home", they wanted to set up a place to spend this time with us so that we would feel comfortable. We thanked her again and again, but I felt unable to express the depth of my gratitude.
"Who knows, we may settle down after all, now that we have such a nice place to call home," was her only response to our thanks.
The trees were thick all around us when Zafrina finally slowed and said, "Here we are. Home sweet home." I looked around at the dense jungle, and then up and up and up. I couldn't take my eyes off of it to see the reactions of Edward and Renesmee, but a small portion of my mind registered their stillness, and I sensed that they were as stunned as I was. The tree house was even more magical then we could have imagined. So high above the ground and so masterfully crafted that I knew human eyes wouldn't be able to distinguish the structure from the branches of the trees it perched in. Even with my supernatural vision, it was difficult to pick it out at first because everything had been carefully disguised with leaves. The house was made up of several turret-like rooms, each one nestled into the limbs of it's own tree, and connected to the others with swaying vine walkways. It was literally a castle in the sky.
Renesmee was the first to gather her wits. "Zafrina! Can we go inside? Please?"
Her voice brought me out of my stupor, and when I glanced at Edward I was sure the expression on his face mirrored my own. This made me giggle, and the lines of shock on Edward's face softened into a smile.
"Of course, my child," Zafrina answered. "Come on, follow me." She was clearly enjoying the effects of her handiwork.
"Zafrina, this is amazing," Edward and I both said at the same time, and I giggled again. Between my giddy laughter and Renesmee's exclamations of wonder, Edward kept up a steady stream of praise and technical questions as the sisters led us up the tree and began the tour. At the entrance of each new room, Renesmee grabbed both my hand and Zafrina's and showed us her view of the room and what she thought of it, which was much the same with each room: complete fascination. None of the rooms had traditional furniture in them; instead everything was constructed from jungle materials. They had obviously been preparing for months, and Zafrina and her sisters had thought of everything.
Edward and I were stunned when we entered the room that had been designed for us. It was a large, octagonal enclosure decked out like a honeymoon suite with tropical flowers growing on every surface. The bed was screened with a canopy of loosely woven grass mats hanging from supports on all four sides. A thick, luxurious mattress of moss sat atop interlacing vines wrapped around a sturdy wooden frame. Windows looked out on every side into the branches of the nearby trees, and thick, woven blinds hung above them. Live ferns carpeted the floor, brushing their silken fronds against my ankles as I walked into the room. I stood in the center of the room and turned in a slow circle, absorbing the masterful beauty of our hosts' handiwork.
"This is amazing," Edward began, addressing Zafrina, and I stealthily linked my mind to his as he continued. "It's so much more than we…" To the others, Edward appeared to have lost his train of thought for the moment. I slipped my hand into his, chuckling to myself; this was my favorite way to flirt with him. I had given him a little peak into my mind as I looked around the beautiful room that we would have all to ourselves, and apparently he liked what I was thinking. After a moment, Edward cleared his throat and recovered his focus.
"Thank you, all of you," he said simply, but with real feeling.
"Yes, thank you so much," I echoed. "It is so, so beautiful."
Kachiri and Senna looked at the floor bashfully, and Zafrina laughed lightly. "The two of you deserve it," she said with equal feeling and turned to lead Renesmee across the walkway to her room.
Edward smiled down at me, squeezing my hand a little tighter, and I saw that there was a hint of fire in his eyes now. Yes, this was going to be a beautiful prelude to our second honeymoon.
We continued on to Renesmee's room and found that it also held a beautifully constructed bed, much smaller than ours, but with the same springy, moss mattress and a shower of vines and orchids hanging down around it from a canopy. In the corner stood an intricate, hand-crafted birdcage holding a large green parrot. Renesmee was enthralled, and we left her to play with the bird while we returned to the main lodge to catch up with our old friends.
The furniture here was all wicker-style, fashioned out of small sticks and laced with vines. There was really no need for furniture at all, since we all would have been just as comfortable standing as we were sitting, but I guessed that they had done it to make us feel more at home. We were used to living like humans, and there was definitely something comforting to me in the simple furniture.
At some point that evening, Renesmee found her way back to us and nestled her little body between Edward and I on the wicker loveseat. I could see that she was fighting sleep as she replayed the images of the day for us. It wasn't long before her pictures blurred and slipped into dreams. Edward and I said goodnight to our hosts and excused ourselves. I picked up our daughter and carried her back to our "wing" of the "castle", as she thought of it.
As I laid Renesmee on her bed and kissed her forehead, Edward whispered, "I liked what you were thinking earlier...would you like me to show you what I was thinking?"
"I would love it." I took his hand coyly and let him lead me to our room.