[SpringsSong]

Aila sighed as he brought up the mention of his time in Serenia.  She knew that he was one that tended to reminisce, but she was just as guilty as he was in that respect.  After a few moments, she looked back at him, keeping one eye on the skies before her and another on him as she offered him a small smile as she laughed.

“It has been a long time, hasn’t it?” she asked, a flittering laugh in her voice as she said this.  “I did not often take to the skies when you left for Inailia.  I just… it didn’t feel right to be taking to the skies without you.  I kind of wish that you could summon Shadow-wings in order to fly with me… that would be amazing if you could,” she said.

That was one of the wishes that Aila had long kept secret from even Atlantia, for the serpent would have said that such a thing was impossible.  However, Aila did not want to believe it.

[4.2]

[SpringsSong]

Ekal looked at his beloved curiously, trying to understand what it was she was getting at.  However, when she mentioned wishing that he could summon Shadow-wings so that he could fly with her, he laughed as he ran a hand through his hair nervously.

“Funny you should mention wishing that I could summon Shadow-wings, dearest…”

As he said this, he leapt from her back and took his Paragon form, with a skin of pure Shadow covering the spaces between the bones of his once-magnificent wings.  He smiled as he made his way back up to the same altitude as her, offering a sheepish smile.

[4.2]

[SpringsSong]

“Ekal!”

Aila cried this as Ekal leapt from her back; naturally, she had no idea that he was planning to show her that he could indeed summon wings of Shadow, and when he did so, she about dropped from the sky herself, and once she could look Ekal in the eyes, she playfully slashed at him.

“Don’t… just… do not do that again,” she said firmly, a growl creeping into her voice.  “Just… don’t scare me like that, dearest.  You’ve no idea what kind of things I went through when you left me… how many fears I had to face.  I was scared that you left me because you thought I wasn’t good enough… that I would play things too safe…”

[4.4]

[SpringsSong]

Ekal winced as Aila reprimanded him, but he could understand why she would do that.  After all, he had not exactly told her that he had been working on being able to summon wings of Shadow—yet another secret that he almost regretted keeping from her, but that was what made the surprise even better for her.

“I could not tell you about it, dearest,” he said, a slightly coy tone coming into his voice.  “Just like with the gig we played before the fight against Deraj, I wanted you to be pleasantly surprised when I finally showed you that I could fly once again.”

Here, he braced himself for another bout of reprimanding; after all, she had a habit of doing that, and she was completely justified in reprimanding him this time; after all, had the wings not appeared when he needed to, he could have crashed to his death in the oceans below.

[4.4]

[SpringsSong]

Aila stopped and held her position in the sky, staring at the black-and-red Paragon as her blue eyes gleamed with something in between a fire of hatred and wanting to laugh from the irony of it.  In all honesty, she could not imagine Ekal doing anything other than surprise her consistently with all of these little things, from the concert to this now.

“Ekal… never do you cease to amaze me with your ability to keep even the brightest of secrets shrouded in darkness,” she said, laughing.  “But, then again, I guess that’s why you were made to have power over Darkness.”

Here, after a few moments, she began to fly again, keeping wary eyes on the sky.  Something all of a sudden did not feel right to her, and she was not keen on having this time with Ekal disrupted.

[4.6]

[SpringsSong]

Ekal laughed as Aila pointed out his ability to keep even the brightest of secrets shrouded in darkness.  That was indeed something he was known for, even though he hated it with a burning passion sometimes.

“But I’m sure that even you could shroud your secrets in the darkness, Aila,” he said, laughing.  “After all, you were able to hide your affections for me for the longest time, but once it became apparent, it was a star that gleamed brightly within my world the more and more time we spent together.  It was something I looked forward to seeing every day, Aila—and something that I wish to continue seeing as long as I live,” he said, and he ran his claw through his head-feathers nervously.

“Aila… I wanted to ask you something,” he said.

[4.6]

[SpringsSong]

“What?”

Aila’s voice instantly rose in anticipation of the question; she had foreseen certain events coming to pass, but she rarely put enough stock in her Foresight ability in the more recent days, for it had—more than once—led her into paths that were not exactly the best for her, and she regretted ever taking to them when all was said and done.  However, as she would often say, what’s done is done.

“What is it, Ekal?—what is it that you wish to ask of me?” she asked again.  Over and over again in her mind, she could see one particular scenario coming to pass, but she was not willing to let them manifest in her mind again, for she had foreseen the scenario many a time beforehand, but it had never come to pass.

[4.8]

[SpringsSong]

“Aila, for goodness’ sakes; calm down!” Ekal said, laughing as he flew closer to her, taking her claws into his as he smiled at her.  “It’s not like I’m going to ask you if you’ve thought about picking your successor within the Pantheon, even though our time will not come for another several hundred years hence.  It’s… actually a little more important than that.”

He froze here, keeping her claws within his as he tried to figure out how to best ask the question which was weighing on his mind right now.  He had wanted to ask that question for twenty-five of Evelon’s years, and now that he was finally beginning to ask it, he was finding it incredibly difficult to ask it.  It took him several minutes, but finally, he spoke again.

“Aila… you have long been the light in my darkness.  When I was lost, you found me, and when I abandoned you, you held faith that I would come back to you.  I cannot live without you, my dearest Aila… and I was hoping that you would give me the honor of becoming my wife and joining in a permanent Saiken with me.”

[4.8]

[SpringsSong]

As the words finally left Ekal’s mouth, Aila could barely believe that he was actually asking her, and that the scenario was actually happening now.  For so many years, she had seen glimpses of this moment in time, but she had always passed them off as wishful thinking on her part.

“Ekal… I… I almost don’t know what to say,” she said, “but I decided a long, long time ago that… that if you would ever ask me to marry you, that my answer would undoubtedly be yes.  Yes, yes, yes, Ekal; I will become your wife and join in a Saiken with you.  I could imagine no other person to be bonded to for the rest of my days.”

[5.0]

[SpringsSong]

Ekal smiled as he heard these words came from Aila’s mouth, but then again, he had no real reason to doubt that she would have answered otherwise.  He could see it in her eyes and in her heart; she wanted to be with him.  That much was evident from the time that they had formed their saiken, almost twenty-six years in the past.  He kept her claws within his, smiling as he spun her around delicately.  It was something that he had never imagined happening, but now, it was.

“Aila… oh, Aila… I never thought that I would get to hear you say those words.  I never thought that I would get to have you as mine, but… now that we can be together…”

Ekal could barely speak as he twirled her around, descending quickly to the ocean, but then quickly ascending back into the heavens.  He could not help but laugh, and he knew that, inside, Aila was also laughing with pure joy.  His beloved Goddess of Music was going to be his wife, one way or another now.  He had hoped that they could be wed in Re’klet, but Evelon would be just as fine of an arena for a wedding as the forests of Nycisia.

[5.0]