"ANAREL!!!" Tar-en-Onek's voice echoed above the cries of the dying and the wounded. He walked among them, blind and deaf to their pleas. Countless dead...their bodies broken and shattered and their souls deprived from the foul magic of their Enemy. After all these years, after so much effort and agony, victory was finally their's but at a high price. At any other time he would have rushed to their side, calm their pain with his spells, cover their wounds with his own clothing, ease their passing with kind words of encouragement. Yet he did not care, not now. His mind was set to her and her alone. He lost her hours ago, when he saw her Pegasus fall from the sky, wounded. He could do nothing for her then, his duty was to carry on his mission and she would not have him abandoning it. But now, all there was in his mind was her.

 

"Anarel!!" he screamed again and again, stumbling across the dispelled bodies of their skeletal enemies as well as the flesh of his own comrades. He pushed them aside, his mind unable to bare the though that he would find her among them. A priestess of the Goddess of Healing rushed to his side and tried to calm him but he pushed her aside.

​

After about an hour he saw her Pegasus. He was lying against a boulder, his white fur painted with blood. His broken wing was covering her fallen body, protecting his Mistress even as his own strength was failing him. Tar-en-Onek stopped and looked at him with tears climbing up his eyes. He took a deep bow before the steed and gently pushed his wing to the side. The flying horse neighed softly in pain, as the druid whispered prayers and touched his wounds. With renewed powers by Nature's blessing, the Pegasus rose to his feet, bowed his head and slowly walked a few steps away, leaving the druid to kneel next to the unconscious paladin and take her head in his lap.

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The man sobbed softly from happiness. She was alive and their Enemy was dead. What more could he ask for? With careful moves and blurred eyes, he stroke her hair away from her face. She looked calm, as if she knew in her sleep that it was all over. He kissed her forehead lovingly as he whispered prayers once more, conjuring all his remaining power to one powerful healing.

​

A soft green light covered her and she took a deep breath, as the druid laughed softly. Slowly, she opened her eyes, looking at the man who loved her with tired eyes, his tears mixing with the blood and the tribal paintings on his face. He smiled and she smiled back.

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"Marry me" he said and they kissed.

​

 

​          *                    *                 *

 

"You know" she said laughing "I haven't done this since I was a child". Tar-en-Onek smiled as he held her by the hand, guiding her, her eyes blindfolded.

 

"Be patient!" he laughed in reply. "We're almost there". They walked through the forest he came to claim as his own on the small island that was given to their group as a recognition to their services. After a while, they climbed up a hill and Tar-en-Onek stopped and turned her head to the right direction.

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"Now" he said smiling as he removed the blindfold "open your eyes". She blinked curious a couple of times, trying to adjust her vision to the sudden light. She looked at the tree that stood alone a few yards away from them then turned to him puzzled.

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"Look again" he said softly. "Don't focus on the trunk or the brunches. Look at it as a whole, as if it was a painting or a sculpture". She smiled confused then turned to the tree again, curious.

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"It is shaped!" she said a few seconds later and he nodded smiling. "Those are eyes...And that is a mouth..And there.." she stopped, amazed as her eyes came to realize. "It's...it's me!" she exclaimed happily. "Oh, Tar-en-Onek, this is amazing! How did you..?" He chuckled softly.

 

"I never got you a wedding gift. If you were getting married to someone suitable to your social class, you probably would have gotten a tower or fields. But this is my gift to you. But I am not like that. I am but a gardener of this world. And this is what I can offer to you. Nature, as I see it now through your beauty".

​

He took her hand and walked with her slowly under the tree's brunches. There he stopped, turned to her and kissed her. He raised his hand to the blossomed brunch above them and looked above, guiding her eyes to do the same with his kiss. He reached for a flower and gently touched it, with his hand waiting open below it. A ring, shaped like a white rose with a pegasus jumping from inside it fell and he offered it to her.

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"You are supposed to drop to one knee, you know" she chuckled and he laughed, kneeling in front of her while holding her hand. He looked at her and his face turned serious.

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"When I first saw you in the Monastery, you were crying. My heart ached in the sight of your sadness and I promised to myself I would do everything within my power to prevent those tears from covering your face and soul ever again. Anarel...Will you marry me? Will you give me the chance to keep that tears away from you for the rest of our lives?"

​

Tears climbed to her face. But those were tears of happiness, tears that people should be having. She did not have the strength to answer. She simply nodded, pulled him from his knees and they kissed.