Just a cute little chapter before the serious stuff happens. It's so adorable! :)
Knuckles was awaken from his nap by a hard turbulence in the airplane. He looked out the window and saw the fluffy, white clouds, illuminated by the light of the moon, roll past them.
"Good evening passengers. We will be landing in approxamently 15 minutes, please strap in and prepare for descent. Have a great day and thank you for choosing Mobius Airways," an announcer said on the speaker. Knuckles looked to his side, and found Ruby nuzzled up against his shoulder, fast asleep. Knuckles smiled, and stroked her head gently. She stirred in her sleep and moaned slightly, but didn't wake up. Knuckles put a hand on her shoulder and gently shook her, whispering her name. Now Ruby did wake up, and she looked up at him.
"We're going to be landing soon," he whispered to her. Ruby smiled and snuggled against his shoulder again, before she sat up straight and stretched.
The plane landed in the port at Rio around 3:30 AM, and the two of them hailed a taxi and headed towards the ocean bay, where his friend would be waiting with his boat to take them out there. But not before driving through the city of Rio. Even though it was very early in the morning, people swamped the streets. There were street performers out, kiosks selling homemade items, and people playing music and dancing in the streets. It was very beautiful and enchanting, and they had to stop at some point to enjoy what Rio had to offer.
After a few hours, they caught a different cab that drove them to the seashore. That's where they met Knuckles' old friend. She was a hawk named Ember. From there, they took a boat out to the island, called Ember Isle, named after its owner. The island was beautiful; it wasn't very big, you could easily see across one side of the land to the other, but it was covered in tropical palm trees and other exotic plants. There, close to the shore, was a large cabin, the pathway to it lit with tiki torches. The entire cabin was made out of bamboo and light brown wood, and it was decorated to feel like a Hawaiian cottage. Ruby made a huge smile and turned to Ember.
"Oh my gosh, it's beautiful!" she exclaimed, "Thank you so much Ember!" she said, hugging the hawk.
"No problem. You two deserve this, and more!" Ember said, smiling at the both of them.
Ember dropped them off at the shore, after giving them her phone number, so she could pick them up when their trip is over, and giving them one last hug. Knuckles and Ruby walked down the white, sandy beach, hand-in-hand, towards the cabin.
The cabin had huge windows in the front, that basically made up the entire wall, made to let in the light they needed. The hose didn't have electricity, so at night they'd need candles, and sunlight was their source of light in the daytime. When they entered the cabin, they found it completely lit with pretty smelling candles and the floor was littered with rose petals.
"Oh man, Ember went overboard… I knew she would," Knuckles mused, as he looked around at the tropical cabin décor.
"It's amazing! I wish we could live here!" Ruby exclaimed, and she twirled in a circle in the middle of the room. Knuckles came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her close. He kissed her neck and whispered in her ear.
"We should probably get some sleep. It's 6:30," he said. At just the mention of the time, Ruby yawned and walked away from Knuckles' grip.
"You're right, I'm beat!" she replied, yawning again.
The two of them found the master bedroom, and was immediately stunned. It was so beautiful! There was a skylight in the center of the roof, letting in the last bit of moonlight of the evening. The bed was huge; it took up half of the room. It was draped with satin around the bed corners, attached to the ceiling, making a canopy for them around the bed. Knuckles and Ruby smiled at each other.
"It's so beautiful!" Ruby mused, and she walked over to the bed and touched it. It felt so soft, like she was touching a cloud. Knuckles yawned and walked by Ruby, and sat on the edge of the bed.
That first night, they slept soundlessly, after having a very crazy night. They ended up sleeping in until 12:30 in the afternoon… but it didn't matter. It's not like they had anywhere to be.
Knuckles awoke first, and looked at Ruby sleeping next to him. He smiled and leaned down to kiss her forehead softly, before he got out of bed. Shortly after, Ruby awoke, to the smell of something delicious. She slowly got up, realizing her back hurt a little bit from sleeping upright on that plane, and cracked her back. Then she got out of bed and put on her bathrobe on over her pajamas, before she walked into the kitchen.
Ruby was greeted by the bright sunlight pouring into the house, and the sweet smell of something cooking, and she could feel her mouth watering.
"Morning!" Knuckles said, catching Ruby's attention. Knuckles smiled at Ruby as she walked up to him, and she hugged him from behind.
"Whatcha cooking?" Ruby groggily asked.
"I don't really know. Something called Farofa," Knuckles said, reading the recipe. "I found a whole stack of Brazilian recipes, and I just wanted to try this one out," he said. Ruby took the recipe from him and read it.
"Toasted flour of manioc, served with rice and beans?" she read. "Hmm… never heard of it before," she said, setting down the card.
"I thought, 'heck, why not try some of these out?' This is a common lunch item, and its around lunch time, I guess," Knuckles said.
"Here, why don't you let me finish it?" Ruby asked.
"No no, I want to do it. You can go and relax," Knuckles insisted. Ruby smiled at him and kissed his lips, before she turned and sat down at the table.
"So, what do you want to do today?" Ruby asked him as he cooked.
"I heard there's a small waterfall on this island, if you want to go check that out?" Knuckles offered.
"That sounds like fun!" Ruby said. "I can't wait!"
Over the course of the rest of that day, Knuckles and Ruby found the waterfall he'd talked about, and they went swimming in it for awhile. They even found a thick tree branch that they could swing into the waterfall with. Then, on the way back, they found a small group of macaws all sitting together on a thick tree trunk. The two of them were able to come right up to them, and Ruby even gently stroked one of the bird's soft, feathery backs, before it squawked and flew away. However, they did get a lot of pictures of them. Then they headed back and did some stuff around the home, until around 7 o'clock, when Ruby made themselves some dinner.
"I love you," Ruby said that night, before they went to sleep.
"I love you too," Knuckles said, and he kissed her goodnight, as the moonlight shone over their bed, while they slumbered.