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The Night Of The Potted Fir Tree

The sky above Mobius would have been a sight to behold for any person that happened to be flying across it this morning. Sadly though, there was no-one to see the dark blue sky melt into a brightly reddish sunrise; there was no-one to look at the shades the light painted on the white ground far below, on the fluffy, small clouds or on the from of the floating island that seemed to weightlessly rest on top of them. Deeply snowed in, its base swallowed up by early morning mist, the mountains and hills were shining in gentle brightness, causing Angel Island to resemble what might have been its namesake… An illusive residence of heavenly beings, either hidden or long gone by now.

After heavy snowfalls during the past days, the air had cleared up now, allowing a view farther into the distance than usually. Every now and then a soft breeze would twirl some of the white powder upwards to glitter in the sunlight. Apart from the small gurgling sounds of half over-frozen creeks, the clear air carried no sounds; the island's animals had not yet been awakened from slumber.

Between a set of rocky hills and due to the mass of snow now even more camouflaged than normally, a small door led into a surprisingly roomy cave. Although making a rather simple houseroom, it was warm and cozy; not luxury but containing everything its inhabitant needed.

Yawning unabashedly and sleepily blinking into the dim light, the island's guardian picked himself up from his bed, pushing the heavy, warming covers aside and standing up to help himself to some breakfast. Upon realizing it was already rather late, Knuckles frowned. Probably the past days he'd spent digging out paths across his island from dawn to dusk had been a little more tiring than he'd thought. Shrugging off the matter, the red echidna quickly finished and got outside, ready to start a walk around to check if everything was fine.

He'd barely opened to door when he almost ran into a small tree. Stumbling backwards in surprise, Knuckles eyed the small fir tree. It had not been there yesterday, and he was pretty sure a tree about half as tall as he was wouldn't grow within one night. Especially not in a large pot.

A deep frown on his face, the echidna walked around the tree. The two or three centimetres of fresh snow that had fallen during the beginning of the night easily showed him how the plant had gotten here. A whole mess of footprints led up to the point it stood at.

A few meters further down the path leading towards the temple of chaos the traces got less unorganized, allowing Knuckles to make out two different pairs for shoes. One slightly smaller than his own, the other one considerably smaller than that.

Just a few years ago the realization someone had been sneaking around so close to his home and the precious Master Emerald in the nearby temple would have greatly unsettled Knuckles. The fact he had been sleeping so deeply he hadn't noticed a thing still wasn't a comfortable idea for the guardian; but judging from the circumstances he was pretty sure who to hold responsible for… putting a weird little potted tree in front of his house.

Following their footprints, Knuckles was not disappointed. His uninvited guests had not even bothered to hide; their brightly red biplane sat in the middle of a snowed-in field, revealing their presence better than any signal flags possibly could; the effect only intensified by the azure hedgehog that had obviously spotted Knuckles and now hopped off the wing he'd been sitting on to zip over to the echidna's position in a streak of blue.

"Hi there and good morning!", he shouted with a little overdone enthusiasm, his sharp break in front of Knuckles throwing up a good deal of snow. "Want a sandwich?"

Looking at the piece of breakfast in Sonic's hand, Knuckles shook his head. "No thanks."

"Your miss." Sonic shrugged, taking a bite for himself. "How's it going?", he continued through a mouthful of bread.

"Oh, it was going just fine. Nice… and quiet," Knuckles noticed dryly.

Seeming to miss the sarcasm, Sonic had already turned to walk back towards the plane. "That's just perfect, you know?"

Hopping down from the Tornado, a little two-tailed fox beamed at the two. "Good morning, Knuckles!"

"Hi Tails." The echidna briefly inclined his head.

"Wow." Sonic grinned. "We're getting better. He didn't say hi to me. Not much of a morning person, maybe?"

Tails giggled.

"I don't have a problem with mornings," Knuckles insisted.

"Well, you could just go like the rest of us and say you're happy to see us, y'know?", Sonic remarked and Knuckles found he sounded a tad bit hurt.

Studying the blue hedgehog for a moment, Knuckles noticed, as much as their strange visit surprised him, it wasn't uncomfortable either. "I'm sorry. I guess I am… You know, putting a potted plant in front of my door is a strange way of greeting me, too. Or am I just stumbling across another strange surface custom?"

Sonic laughed, good-naturedly patting Knuckles on the shoulder, but when he spoke up he turned to Tails. "See? I told you that'd catch his interest."

Tails nodded. "In fact, Knuckles, you are kinda right. This is another 'strange surface custom' as you so nicely put it."

Knuckles tilted his head. "And that custom has people carrying around pieces of greenery and conveniently place them directly in the way of their friends so they call fall over them?"

Sonic doubled over with laughter and Tails shook his head. "No, not really."

Knuckles blinked. "Then I don't see the point."

"It's not really about carrying the trees around," Tails explained, throwing side-glances at his adopted brother who'd dropped against the biplane and was trying to stop laughing at Knuckles' look. "Although the tree plays an important role."

"It's a celebration," Sonic said, finally catching his breath.

"Ah yes." Knuckles looked at him. "And you celebrate the existence of fir trees in pots?"

"No." Sonic grinned, visibly struggling not to burst out laughing again. "We celebrate the winter solstice."

"The winter solstice," Knuckles echoed.

"Yes, you know, it is the day on which because of our planet's axis being inclined towards the ecliptic the sun's beams fall onto the northern hemisphere in the steepest angle," Tails lectured. "Hence the duration of the daylight periods are very short during that time and -"

Knuckles' jaw dropped and he looked over to Sonic who'd caught the young fox in a head-lock to give him a noogie. "You're gonna scare him off if you keep talking like that!", the hedgehog laughed.

Struggling in Sonic's grip, but giggling, Tails shook his head. "But it's the truth!"

"It's maybe the truth, but it's way too complicated for us normal people, 'kay, little bro?" Sonic grinned as he released Tails.

Knuckles still looked between them. "You were saying? You lost me shortly after 'it is the day'..."

Tails folded his arms. "Now you explain, Sonic. You told me to be quiet…"

The blue hedgehog shrugged. "Fine. The winter solstice is the longest night and shortest day of the year."

"What is practically not true because on the other side of the planet it's the other way around," Tails muttered under his breath.

"Well, it's true for where we live. As long as we don't move over to the other side of Mobius within the next week, it's gonna be the way I said," Sonic commented, turning back to Knuckles. "We celebrate it as the beginning of a new year."

"Ah." Knuckles nodded. It didn't make that much sense to him why the new year should start in the middle of winter and not in the beginning of spring, but okay. Never search for reasons if you know there probably are none… "What I don't get… What does that tree in front of my door have to do with it?"

"I dunno," Sonic admitted.

"Great," Knuckles deadpanned.

Sonic shrugged his shoulders. "It's fun, so what the heck?"

Knuckles drew a slow breath. "What do you do with that tree?"

"You decorate it nicely, with lights and stuff," Sonic explained. "And you put the presents under it."

"The presents?"

"Yes, presents!" Tails beamed. "It's tradition to celebrate with your family and close friends and exchange presents."

"I see." Knuckles regarded the two others. "Am I assuming right if I say you chose me to celebrate this holiday with you and your tree?"

Sonic snickered a little and nodded. "Yeah. It's fun."

"It's the nicest holiday of the year!", Tails insisted. "I'm sure you'd like it…"

Knuckles blinked at the big cerulean eyes that now rested on him with an almost pleading look. Whatever this thing was, it was really important for Tails, and also Sonic seemed rather fond of it. Probably he should consider it an honor to be invited to a traditional celebration they did… "I'm afraid you'll have to tell me what to do then."

"Does that mean you're coming?'" Sonic grinned, exchanging a high-five with Tails. "Way to go!"

"You don't even have to worry about your Emerald while you're with us," Tails announced. "I brought a brand new force field generator I built!"

"No-one's even going near that big rock of yours while it's on," Sonic added. "Isn't that ace?"

"Uh, I think so…", Knuckles brought out, silently shifting this strange holiday in his consideration from 'they kinda like it' to 'really important'. Still, he found himself feeling glad his friends thought of his duty, too. If they could accept what was important to him it was much easier for him to accept what was important to them… even if it was centered around a little tree in a pot.

A branch of soft-needled greenery continuously whipped up and down directly in front of his nose, every now and then tickling the very tip of it. Knuckles shifted, trying to scoot deeper into the seat's cushioning to get away from the persistent plant invading his personal space.

"Having problems, Knux?" Sonic snickered, standing on the double wings of the plane facing backwards.

"How about you come sit here, hedgehog?", the echidna grumbled. Had their relationship started awkwardly already, the limited space in the biplane stuffed with three people and a potted tree leading to the rather uncomfortable conditions of travel didn't improve Knuckles' liking for the needled shrubbery much.

As if trying to distract his friend's mind away from it, Sonic started telling all kind of random things he thought Knuckles should know about the celebration. In the end of it, the echidna couldn't remember much of it and was really glad when Tails landed the plane and the way too lengthy journey ended in front of the house the fox and hedgehog shared.

Sitting on a hill-top overlooking the ocean and a part of Mystic Ruins, the architectonic style of the building was at least questionable as the roof, windows, and general forms showed a seemingly chaotic mixture. Aside of the door, the weird spinning things that usually busily stirred the water – for reasons Knuckles had never figured out or dared to ask – now stood still, the small pool frozen; and the house just like the runway and the rest of the hills covered in pristine snow.

Sonic had already hopped down from the wings and was opening the large hangar doors, preparing to shift the plane inside. A minute later, the Tornado stood in a puddle of snow-melt.

Enjoying the warmth of the house, Knuckles stood up, lifting the potted tree out of the space to his feet. "What do we do with this…" He looked at the green thing "… this tree now?"

"It gets into the living room," Tails explained. "Come on!"

"Alright…", Knuckles muttered half into the tree's branches that once more hung in his face while he carried it upstairs.

"Okay, I think we put it over here…" Tails directed as soon as the echidna entered the room.

Walking up to him, Knuckles almost fell over at bumping into the low couch table.

"Watch out!", Sonic reminded him unnecessarily.

"I can't exactly see where I'm going," the echidna noticed dryly.

"Well, that's okay. Just put it down and we'll leave it there." The blue hedgehog shrugged, closely regarding the tree after Knuckles sat the pot onto the carpet in one of the corners. "I think it looks great there," Sonic announced.

Good, Knuckles inwardly sighed in relief, that means we can leave it there…

"There's still a lot of work to do today," Tails said, bouncing on the balls of his feet and wagging his tails in excitement. "For starters, we gotta go shopping for presents!"

"Yup!" Sonic nodded. "We better get going." He paused for a little moment of thought. "I still don't know what to get you." He shrugged. "But I'll think of something."

"We can take the train," Tails said. "It's the fastest way into town."

Sonic nonchalantly shook his head. "Wrong. The fastest way is on these two feet here." He pointed at his red sneakers. "But I can't leave you two all alone on the train, can I?"

"I suppose we can't let you alone on the train, Sonic," Tails gave back jokingly.

"Catch me then, squirt!" Laughing, Sonic zoomed out of the room and noisily down the stairs, closely followed by Tails.

Knuckles stood and watched the small fir tree wave in the wind the speedy hedgehog had stirred up in the room. "I don't get it. Do you?"

Not much to the echidna's surprise, the plant didn't reply.

He felt lost. Looking around, standing still near the entrance to the mall, Knuckles watched the hundreds of people rushing past him, chattering, carrying piles of bags, bumping into others. Tails and Sonic had dashed off almost as soon as they'd arrived here, claiming each of them needed to go shopping on their own so the others couldn't know the present. Knuckles could see that point, everything else would spoil the surprise Sonic had stated to be that important about the whole present idea… but still, he felt awkward around here. Company wouldn't be so bad now. He'd even accepted the weird little tree…

Another person bumped into him. Muttering a curse, Knuckles turned around, and regretted having used the word he just had.

However the small rabbit girl that stood in front of him had either missed on it or politely ignored it. "Hello, Mister Knuckles," she said, brown eyes twinkling. "We haven't seen you in a while."

"Hello Cream." Knuckles smiled, finding Cream's chao Cheese fluttering up to him.

"What are you doing here?", Cream asked curiously.

"Uh, Sonic and Tails invited me for this holiday everybody seems to celebrate," Knuckles explained. "We came here to get presents, but now they're gone and I'm a little… I don't know where to go or what to get," he admitted.

"That's nice," Cream squealed, making Knuckles wonder if she referred to him being invited or his lack of orientation around here. "I'm gonna buy presents, too. I'm gonna celebrate with mum and Amy! And Cheese of course."

"Of course," Knuckles nodded.

"Do you want to come with us, Mister Knuckles? You could help us!", the little bunny suggested.

The echidna shrugged. "I think I could. Okay." Somehow, he was rather sure she'd be much more needing to help him than the other way around…

Looking all over the place while half-heartedly listening to Cream talking in childish excitement about the cookies her mother had baked for her, Knuckles wondered what kind of shop this was exactly. The stuff stuffed into the large shelves didn't seem to be categorizeable…

"Hey Mister Knuckles, do you think Amy would like this?", the little rabbit asked.

Knuckles turned fully to her, regarding the wristlet she held out at him. It was a little too kitschy for his taste with the gold and pink glitter stuff on it, but probably it would fit Amy. He nodded. "I think she would."

Happily Cream put the 'jewellery' into their basket. "What do you want to get Sonic and Tails?"

"I have no idea," Knuckles admitted. "I don't know anything about this present stuff…"

Cream smiled. "You should try getting something they will enjoy."

Knuckles blinked. "Fine…"

After waving good-bye to Cream and Cheese, Knuckles slowly wandered back towards the entrance of the mall, finding Sonic already there, sitting on top of a container, a bag akin to the one Knuckles carried aside of him and a chilidog in his hand.

"Hey, Knux," he smiled. "You ready?"

"Yes." The echidna sat aside of his friend. A minute passed in silence; Sonic wolfing down his snack and Knuckles watching the numerous people rushing about.

"Stuff like that always makes me hungry," Sonic remarked eventually.

"Is there a thing that doesn't make you hungry?" Knuckles smirked.

"Umm…" Sonic pretended to think the question over. "Eating," he said then, grinning broadly.

"I figured." Knuckles snickered. His attention returned to the mass of people. "Just where're they all going?"

Sonic shrugged. "Y'know, some people make a big deal out of buying a bunch of presents."

Knuckles didn't comment, not willing to admit he found it wasn't the easiest thing he'd even done in his life either… although, it wasn't so bad.

"Now when Tails shows up we can get home. We can have a snowball fight before it gets dark," Sonic continued speaking, leisurely dangling his legs.

Knuckles smirked. Finally something he knew. He threw a side-glance at his blue friend. Sonic wouldn't know what hit him…

Some time in the next morning, after generally enjoying the time the three of them spend together, Knuckles found himself feeling a bit awkward once again. He looked between the boxes on the living room's floor, Sonic - his forehead adorned with a nice bump one of Knuckles' snowballs gave him the other day -, Tails -surprisingly unscathed -, and his two friends' current center of attention.

The little tree stoically sat in its pot while the little fox was flying around it in a slightly clumsy attempt installing a chain of tiny electric lights on the branches. Sonic was busily fighting with some long, glittering stuff that seemed more intend on hanging in the hedgehog's quills than the tree.

"You damn stupid stuff," Sonic adressed the clingy means of decoration. "The green thing is the tree! Leave me alone!"

Looking up from his own work, Tails giggled. "Probably it prefers spiky blue hedgehogs over spiky green trees…"

Sonic grimaced. "Very funny."

"Sonic isn't suited for the job," Knuckles threw in. "I doubt he'll be able to stand still until in the evening."

"Me too. This little buddy here has the far better qualifications," the hedgehog grinned indicating the fir tree, finally managing to get the last glittering stuff out of his quills and attach it to the plant instead. As if to prove their assumptions and as a huge contrast to the blue hedgehog, the calm piece of greenery didn't seem to mind.

Knuckles looked into the box filled with small colourful balls he'd been given. "I can't do anything wrong with these, can I?"

Tails looked up from where he was crawling behind a bookshelf in search of an electric outlet. For a moment regarding their work, he shook his head. "Not after what Sonic did to the tinsel."

"Hey!" The blue hedgehog folded his arms. "I think it looks great!"

"I think we let Knuckles put up the balls and then we'll rate our piece of artwork, huh?" Tails grinned.

Somehow, the day had passed a lot quicker than others did... Knuckles threw a glance out of the window. Outside, it was dark already; and the snowy hills with the starry sky above looked peaceful. For a moment he wondered what the fireworks Sonic had announced for later would look like in front of this moonlit background.

From the kitchen the echidna could hear Sonic and Tails laughing while baking cookies that already sent a nice, inviting smell through the house. On his way back to his friends, Knuckles passed the door to the living room and couldn't help but steal a short look inside.

The room was almost dark; the only source of light the multiple tiny lamps in the tree. Knuckles tilted his head as he watched the spiky plant. The way it sat in its pot, glowing and glittering, the decoration not near as chaotic looking as they'd all first thought, with a pile of presents below, made it seem almost proudly standing guard over them.

Knuckles smiled. "You know, this holiday isn't so strange. You aren't either…"

The little fir tree stood and shone in silence.

"Why am I talking to you?" Shaking his head to himself but feeling strangely content, Knuckles turned and went to join his friends.