He is the anchor that keeps me tied to my life. Too often I feel like a half-tamed hawk ready to fly away over the horizon, but he holds the jesses that keep me on his glove. The chains that tie me to him are nothing physical, nothing unpleasant, but my own certainty that I could not live without him. I still don't know the moment I realized that, but I remember an argument last spring that was a turning point for us. He was convinced that the small apartment I took when I moved away from Air Temple Island wouldn't work for me, which I was just as sure that it would work fine. He said "But since we'll be married," and stopped, blushing bright red. It took me a moment to realize the implications of what he'd said because I'd just accepted the statement in stride. It made perfect sense to me, and it wasn't until he started tripping over himself to apologize that I realized the implications of what he'd said.

I still tease him that every girl in the city but me has gotten a proper proposal. But the way he said that to me means more than any scripted outpouring of love delivered on bended knee. We'll be married. Of course we'll be married. Even though I'd never put it into words, I think that assumption had been a foundation of my plans for a long, long time. To this day it makes my heart beat faster to know he felt the same way. As impatient as I am, as much as I could wish to go adventuring through the world, I know that no power could force me to leave his side. I would never be whole living away from him because the act of being with him has become my life.