By that time, the sun had sunk beneath the horizon completely, and the light of the moon and stars subtly illuminated the sand and sea.

Saya stood a few paces away from Haji, with her back to him.

Haji drew in a deep breath. "It was shortly after the incident in Vietnam. I was -" he paused, looking for the correct words. "I was not myself, and - , and I thought I had lost you forever." He took a step toward her. "But that is no excuse for such disgusting conduct. I do not deserve your forgiveness."

Saya neither spoke nor moved. Sensing that he was no longer wanted, Haji turned to leave, his human hand formed into a fist so tight that his fingernails broke the skin of his palm. She called after him.

"Haji wait."

He instantly obeyed.

It was several seconds before she began to speak again. "I'm not mad at you because of what you did, I have no right to be. You have broken no vow, neither of us ever made any promises when it came to that and -" she turned to face him, but did not look him in the eye. "I never really expected you to wait this long for me anyway. It's just that -" she took a step toward him. "You're keeping secrets from me, even though you must know how much that hurt me last time. I know that the status of our relationship has been kind of up in the air for a really long time, but regardless of that, for most of that time you were the only friend I had, the one person I trusted completely with everything, my life, my feelings, even my heart. It hurts to think that you don't trust me with your secrets, I trust you with mine." She raised her eyes to meet his. The truth was, as she was scolding him for keeping secrets from her, she wasn't just thinking about a tryst that had occurred over sixty years ago, she was also thinking about how he had not told her that Solomon was alive.

"I want you to make me a new promise."

"Saya -"

He was terrified of what she might ask of him.

"I want you to promise not to keep secrets from me."

He silently exhaled, relieved that her request was so benign. "If that is your wish."

"That's another thing," she said, not yet having abandoned her upset tone, "I don't want you to say that anymore, got it? You're my equal, so I want you to start acting like it."

She had more or less ordered him to stop letting her order him around, but such had been the nature of their relationship for so long, the irony was lost on both of them.

"Saya, do you really mean that?"

"Yes."

He narrowly stopped himself from uttering the phrase she had just asked him to abandon.

"Then I promise I will do both of those things to the best of my ability, but that will also mean that I will never stop serving you."

"But I don't want you to be my servant, I want you to be my -" she paused. "I want you to do what you wish to do."

"That is why I will not stop serving you, because it is my wish to do so. Nothing could ever make me happier than to make you happy." His matter-of-fact tone made the words all the more potent.

"Haji -" she said breathlessly as he walked toward her until they were standing toe to toe. She looked up into his eyes, the bottomless black of the night sky wreathed in the pale blue of a sunny day, cosmos unto themselves, with a gravitational pull that drew her closer and closer to them until their lips touched. Though it was gentle and somewhat brief, the kiss held infinite warmth.

"Haji?"

"Yes."

"Before, when I said that I wasn't upset about that other girl, I kind of lied."

"I know," he whispered with a tiny hint of a smile.

"I really have no right to be jealous, I guess I have just gotten spoiled over the years, having you all to myself."

"I know."

"But I did mean what I said before, the secrecy bothered me, I really do want there to be no more secrets between us."

Reticence was Haji's natural state of being, but at that moment, Saya sensed something in his silence.

"What is it, Haji?"

"I can think of only one thing that I still deliberately keep secret from you," he said softly.

"Tell me."

"Saya, I am not sure this is the best time."

"Please Haji."

He gave a slight nervous smile as he released her and knelt beside his cello case, still open and lying beside the driftwood log. He slipped one of his fingers underneath the blue velvet lining and pulled something out, closing his fingers around it before Saya could see what it was.

"I really did try not to love you, I have always been a stubborn man, and I knew that they had brought me to the zoo to – I didn't like the idea of being used, of just playing right into their plan. I tried not to fall in love with you, but -" he smiled and shook his head, "It just couldn't be helped. Even back then, before I became your Chevalier, there was nothing I wanted more than to make you mine. " He gazed down at the hand closed around the object. "But times were different then, to ask you to become my lover would have been an insult to your honor, and not the conduct of a gentlemen. When a respectable man wanted to be with a respectable woman, there was only one thing to be done. I went to -" He turned to look at her, "speak with Joel."

Her heart skipped a beat. She had been raised as an upper class lady of the nineteenth century, she knew what that meant. If a man said he had spoken with a girl's father, what he really meant was that he had asked for her hand in marriage.

"He immediately gave his consent, since a union between us had been his design all along," Haji continued. "He also gave me this." Haji opened his hand to reveal a gold ring, with a solitary gem in a setting shaped like a rose. The moonlight reflected off the surface of the jewel, revealing that it was a deep shade of red, most likely a garnet. "Apparently he had it made in anticipation of the occasion."

"It's red," she said softly and then gave a brief giggle. "It must have been Joel who picked it out, if it had been you, it would have been pink."

"Yes," he said with a smile and gazed at her for a moment before letting out a deep sigh. "I was so nervous about asking you, it seemed that every time I made up my mind to do it, the moment would end up being wrong. Like that day on the boat, I was going to, but you seemed so depressed. Or at - " he paused. "The picnic by the ridge."

"The ridge - " Saya stammered. "You mean – that day?"

"Yes."

She gasped as a tear rolled down her cheek. "I remember it now, that ring. After you fell, when I was looking through your clothes for your pocket knife, and I found a ring, but I was so panicked, I didn't think anything of it."

The moment he saw the tear, he slipped the ring into his pocket and pulled her close to him. She shut her eyes tightly around her tears.

"After that, everything changed," he said as he held her head to his chest, as he always did whenever she cried. "I knew that your only desire was to destroy Diva, and I could not compete with that, nor did I want to get in the way of your goal. So I decided to wait, I still hoped that someday, we would get another chance."

She slowly wrapped her arms around him, and clung to him tightly.

"Haji," Saya whispered against his coat.

"Yes?"

"I love you."

His eyes slowly closed.

"I love you."

They held each other in silence for some time. Neither spoke because it seemed that nothing more need be said.

Eventually, Saya's mind returned to the revelations from earlier that evening.

"Haji, what do you think about what Nathan said?"

"About how to end your sleep?"

"Yes."

"I think it is entirely your decision," he said quietly.

"I didn't ask if you think I should do it, I asked what you think. How do you feel about it?"

"My feelings on the subject are not important."

"Yes they are!" she said vehemently. "I'm not asking you as my Chevalier, I am asking you as my boyfriend."

He smiled subtly at the fact she had actually called him her boyfriend, and took several seconds to consider his response. "Much as I dislike the idea of him -" he paused, searching for a word that wouldn't create a bitter taste in his mouth, but couldn't find one, so he simply skipped ahead to his main point. "I believe the discomfort from that would be nothing to the joy of being with you always and raising a family with you, to no longer have to spend thirty years cut off from my reason for being."

"I could finally have a normal life," she murmured. "A real, normal life and family – with you." She looked up at him, and when he saw the happiness and hope in her eyes, he couldn't help but kiss her. When their lips parted, she kissed him again on the cheek and began walking back toward the house.

"Saya, where are you going?" He said as he began walking beside her.

"To find Nathan."

"Why would you want to do that?" Haji asked, puzzled as to why anyone would intentionally subject themselves to Nathan's presence.

"So we can make some kind of arrangement with Solomon. Then I'll never have to sleep and you'll never have to wait for me again."

It was always difficult to tell what Haji was feeling, but at that moment, it seemed that even he didn't know.

Saya grasped his hand as they walked. His bandaged demonic fingers closed gently around it.

"Saya?"

"Yes?"

"The ring – would you -" he paused nervously. "Shall I put it away or – would you like to -" he paused again, "to wear it?"

"Would you like me to wear it?"

"Yes, I would, if that is your -"

"Haji!" she scolded.

"Sorry," he murmured bashfully.

Saya smiled as she reached into his front pocket, pulled out the ring and slipped it onto her right ring finger

She rose to her tiptoes to kiss him, but even that wasn't quite far enough, so he bent down to meet her lips.

"Does this mean we're engaged?" she asked shyly.

"Yes, I believe it does."