Thirty years ago, Douglas Adams and his friend, wildlife conservationist Mark Carwardine traveled all over the world searching for endangered species. Twenty years later, in 2009, I accompanied Mark in search of the same animals, crisscrossing the globe for the last chance to see these incredible, unique creatures. Now I'm curious how the ongoing battle against poachers, deforestation, pollution, and general ignorance is advancing. When last I saw them, these unique creatures—the manatee, the aye-aye, the komodo dragon, the kakapo, and the blue whale—all had a fighting chances if we humans could curb our wicked ways.

In this episode, we're traveling back to Madagascar, home of the remarkable Aye-Aye and nearly one hundred other species of lemur. Most of them are on the endangered list, though none were as threatened as the elusive Aye-Aye. Several critical programs were instituted to help save these fascinating animals, including planting jungle corridors to encourage breeding and awarding significant prizes to the villages that could preserve and maintain parts of the surviving forest. Now we shall see if their efforts have been paying off.

"So how did you get involved in the efforts to save the aye-aye?" Stephen asked, his curiosity and interest undeniable.

"Well, it's a long story," Arthur said, licking his lips and trying not to look directly at the camera. Merlin had insisted he should be the one to answer Stephen's questions, claiming the camera would absolutely love him, but Arthur couldn't quite figure why he'd agreed to it. How much was he supposed to say? Surely Stephen Fry, the Stephen Fry, didn't want to hear the actual answer to the question, but Arthur hadn't really thought to prepare any responses. Why hadn't he thought to prepare any short responses?

Stephen chuckled. "I've got plenty of time. Did you always know you wanted to work with lemurs?"

"No." Arthur laughed. "No, not at all. I came here with my sister about six years ago to see if we could use any of the techniques they've implemented here to help animals elsewhere. And I sort of just never left. "

"What of your partner, Merlin? Did he have a passion for lemurs?"

"No. He was working on his degree back in the States when I first visited. He was a little skeptical at first about living here, but once he visited, he didn't want to leave either."

Which might have had something to do with the fact that he absolutely hated having a long-distance relationship. Merlin probably would have moved anywhere Arthur had said, including Antarctica, if it meant they didn't have to be separated again.

"Now, when you visited here with your sister, Morgana, the Pendragon Wildlife Fund was just the two of you, wasn't it?"

"Yes, and Merlin."

"Now how big is it?"

"We have a field operation on every continent and we've helped introduce several animals back into the wild." Uther had been most generous in the early years, though they were now beginning to attract enough funding that they no longer needed to rely on his wealth.

"That's extraordinary. Absolutely extraordinary. Now what can you tell me about the aye-aye."

"They're still vulnerable to extinction, but the population has grown in the past decade as we've been able to preserve more of their habitat."

Over Stephen's shoulder, standing just behind the filming grew, Merlin beamed at him and gave him a thumbs up. In the almost ten years since they graduated high school, Merlin had hardly changed at all, and Arthur's devotion had only grown. If somebody had told him in those directionless days that he'd eventually be shooting a documentary with Stephen Fry, discussing an animal as ugly and weird as the aye-aye, while Merlin looked on proudly, Arthur wouldn't have even dignified that deluded person with a reply. But there they were.

In the previous decade, they'd spent more time apart than together, but that had hardly mattered. Yes, there were some very lonely nights, and weeks when he was outside of any signal and couldn't even send Merlin an email, but it had all been worth it. If they could get through the rough years, he knew they'd have an entire lifetime to look forward to, with a world of goals and possibilities and accomplishments.

"I've never seen anything like it before."

"What?" Arthur asked, dragging his attention back.

"The way you look at him. I daresay it's as rare as your lemurs."

"That's probably because there's only one of him." And Arthur would know. He'd seen a good chunk of the world before he settled on his island, following Morgana from one corner to the other. Merlin truly was one of a kind, as Arthur was pleased to discover. It made a literal lifetime of devotion entirely reasonable and perfectly justifiable.

The End.

Hey love we'll get away with it

We'll run like we're awesome

Totally genius

Hey love we'll get away with it

We'll run like we're awesome.

We're the heirs to the glimmering world… "Geese of Beverly Road" The National