The Proposal

“What?” Sayane asked.

All Attis could do was smile a completely consuming grin of happiness. It took a second, but Sayane began to catch on to what he was thinking. She let out a squeal of excitement and shimmied her shoulders.

“What’s that?” Azag asked.

Now, Can-Mo began to catch on.

“Oh, Attis, you delicious scoundrel. I’m onto you.”

“I’m not,” Azag said.

Attis merely leapt to his feet and gave a theatrical bow to them all.

“Dear boy, we are talking about a ball…” he said.

“Wooooo!” Sayane cheered.

So long ago, when Attis had first appeared in her room wearing his fuchsia cloak, they had discussed a grand ball he’d attended many ages ago. He had wistfully said that he hoped to one day dance again. In a world where music was so sacred and scarce, balls carried infinitely more sanctity than any Sayane could think of from her first life. With the aid of the voice carriers and her power, there was a chance they could do something so grand that maybe the entire world could join.

“What if we threw a ball for everyone. Every realm. The first dance of the new world?!” Sayane asked.

Attis clapped with excitement, and Can-Mo forced himself up with a lurch.

“Think of all the finery and splendor!!” Can-Mo sighed.

Sayane jumped up onto her feet, scooping Attis into her arms as she spun around in place.

“We could dance the night away! All of us! Every being in the world could dance!”

Can-Mo paused with a thought.

“It’s been a while. Far longer than I’d dare admit. But Attis, weren’t most balls part of something else? A follow-up to another event, or ceremony, or something of that manner?”

Attis nodded.

“Aye, the two I attended were for a grand victory we’d had against The Silence, and a dedication ceremony between two old friends.”

“Dedication ceremony?” Sayane asked.

Attis stroked his chin as his eyes glistened with remembrance.

“Aye, it was a beautiful ceremony. They had been mates for years and had endured much. But this was their way of honoring the old ways and giving one another their crystal binds. In the old world, that was how you showed the world who you were dedicated to.”

“Crystal binds?” she asked.

Attis nodded.

“There are certain crystals that one can imbue with one’s essence. In the old world, those crystals would be carved into small pieces, and you would place a piece of your soul onto the one you were pledging your dedication to. It could be to mates, to royals, to family. The tradition faded and was certainly erased during The Silence’s time.”

Sayane couldn’t help but glance at Esca’s soul stone nearby. She’d been so moved when he’d explained its power to her, revealing it was his soul that had given the great machina its strength and ability. Thinking about how individuals used to do that to one another moved her almost as much.

Then Azag spoke.

“I’d do that to you, for you, Sayane. If you’d have me.”

Everyone turned in quiet shock. He’d spoken low, gentle, yet certain. It wasn’t dismissive or unbothered. By now, she knew the subtle fluctuations in his pitch that hid all the complexities of his emotions. That had sounded nervous, almost sheepish, yet confident and loving.

His hand took hers.

“What?” Sayane blushed.

He didn’t look away. She always loved it when he didn’t look away.

“I told you before. That night. I’d spent my entire life thinking nothing good would happen to me. Then I met you. And you are the best thing that has ever happened to me, and to this world. I would dedicate myself to you every morning if needed. You know that. But I’ll happily tell the world that.”

Can-Mo and Attis shared a glance and softly slid from the bed to give the two of them space.

Tears returned as a new torrent of joy raged in Sayane’s chest.

His hand found her cheek once more, enormous and steady? yet soft, as always.

“Azag, you’d do that?” Sayane blinked as she processed everything.

She’d told him she loved him so long ago. By now, it was a truth so utterly carved into her soul that she was convinced it would be the last thing she knew to be real. Even though he was not a hume, and only months ago such a concept would have felt absolutely foreign and frightening, now she could not imagine a day without him.

Waking beside him, walking beside him, enduring beside him, and living beside him were the things that brought her the most peace and happiness.

“You dared to see me. To honestly see me. Not just for what I was when we met, but for what I could be. And I want to be the best version of myself I can be. For you. For myself. I tried my best to always hold you and help you. And I always will. If you would have me, I would gladly dedicate myself to you and only you for the rest of my days.”

It seemed impossible to hold any more joy in her spirit. Yet as Sayane sat there looking at him, she felt like a new form of incandescence had descended from the Ether and was now bathing her in absolute lightness. Every flicker of the tiny glowing specks hovering around them seemed to match the flutters now pounding through her chest. Joy had arrived quietly and like fireworks, burning away the sorrow and heaviness she’d felt only hours ago.

Wonder settled between the breaths and quiet moments they’d shared, and she knew beyond anything that all she wanted was to share every moment of all of her days with him. Grand moments. Small ones. Every one in between. She would collect them all, like grains of sand gathered in her palms, and she would pour them into him just like he did to her.

“Would you allow me to dedicate myself to you?” Azag asked.

Sayane smiled and wiped her eyes as she took his mask in her hands.

“Azag, are you asking me to marry you?” she cried.

His hand rested over hers.

“If that is what you called it in your first life, then yes.”

Her forehead met the cool metal on his faceplate and she listened to the sound of his breathing as she inhaled his scent through her nose. The rest of her life sat there before her, softly holding her just as he always had. No matter what awaited them, she knew she could endure it with him.

“I will, if you let me dedicate myself to you, too,” Sayane agreed.