"Auron?" Alex whispered. I opened my eyes and blinked a few times; the sunlight coming through the window was still soft, which meant it must have been fairly early in the morning. "Auron, are you awake?"

"I am now," I murmured. "What is it?"

"It's our turn to talk."

"Okay." My heartbeat began to hasten. "What is it?"

"Not here," she said. "Come on, follow me."

"What? Where are we—?"

"Trust me."

I followed her out of the room and out of the house, and she led me back to Macalania Woods and to a different location. This seclusion had a tree with a glowing orange orb, as did the other one we had found, but also a deep lake.

"This was where Mara and I talked yesterday," she explained.

"So," I said. "What is it you need to tell me?"

"I went to see the fayth last night, as I'm sure you know," she began. "I prayed to him. When he joined with me to bestow upon me the aeon, he showed me a number of possibilities, things that I could do, and which course of action he thought I should take. What he said… surprised me to say the very least."

"What did he show you?"

"You and me continuing our pilgrimage, and a statue of me as High Summoner, for one thing," she said. "Then, you and me in Kilika, with our two kids. He let me explore those worlds for a while before showing me Sin. He knows as well as I do that it always comes back, and he wanted to remind me that although there is always a chance it won't, the odds are astronomical."

"He's right," I admitted. "Though Yevon says otherwise. It says we can banish Sin with complete atonement, but… I'm starting to wonder myself."

She nodded. "Yes. So, I thought it over, and I came up with my answer. And it feels so right that I'm really not sure why I didn't just say it in the first place. Auron…" she stepped closer to me and took my hands in hers. "I don't know how we're going to do this, but let's do it all the same. Let's get married, Auron. Let's get married and have children."

I was rendered momentarily slack-jawed. "This is what you want?"

"Yes."

"You are sure?"

"Yes, Auron!" she exclaimed. "Don't tell me you've gotten cold feet!"

"Never," I said, shaking my head. "I just want you to do what you want, not what I want."

"I promise you, Auron, this is what I want," she said, her voice confident and passionate. "Let's do this."

"Let's do this!" I exclaimed, holding her close. "As long as you don't keep me in suspense like that again—you had me so scared yesterday."

"I'm sorry about that, I shouldn't have reacted that way," she said, rubbing my back in small circles.

"Suspense or not, you had every right to," I said. "I dropped a pretty big bomb on you. It was a lot to ask, and I know it."

"But I should have at least told you what was going on," she insisted. "I think you were probably more stressed than I was for a while there."

"That part may be true," I confirmed. "I didn't know what was going to happen. Part of me tried to convince the rest of me that you were going to be so uncomfortable that you were going to leave me."

"Auron, there's no way I would ever leave you," she said softly. "I love you too much."

"I'm glad," I chuckled, pulling back from her just a little. "So, do you think we should go share the news with Braska and Mara?"

"Oh, I think we should," she nodded. Hand in hand, we found our way back to the house, where Braska, Mara, and Yuna were all awake and eating breakfast.

"Good morning," Mara greeted. "You're both looking refreshingly chipper."

"We are," Alex smiled.

"What happened?" Braska inquired. "Where are you going from here?"

"Well, we're thinking of sticking around here for a while…" Alex began.

"After we get married, of course," I finished.

"Married?" Mara squealed. "Oh my goodness, congratulations!" She got up and hugged both Alex and me before resuming her seat and attempting to get a restless Yuna to eat some pieces of dry cereal. "That's so amazing!"

"Congratulations Auron, Lady Alex," Braska said cordially. "I'm quite glad everything worked out."

"So are we," Alex grinned, looking up at me with bright eyes.

"There is one problem, though," I said, a little more seriously. "We don't know how we're going to get married. I would rather not be excommunicated, but to get married, we need—"

"Say no more," Mara interrupted. "Leave it to me."

"Really?" Alex asked.

"Trust me," she said. "I've got your back."