A/N: This is just an adorable little oneshot I wanted to write. Major Dawnshipping moments and a hint to Singe. Squeeeee~~~! Enjoy!~

Trapped on Planet Venus

It was midday and birds were singing and chirping, the sun shined its brightest above Mt. Aleph, and the Lookout Cabin was the only building that could be seen for several miles as a green-haired girl stared from the mountaintop she was perched on.

Karis heaved a sigh, bringing her knees up to her chin, and glared at the boy next to her. "You do know I terribly despise, you, right?" She couldn't figure out why she despised Matthew so much; she just knew that she did. Hating him was like a reflex that she couldn't control or stop.

Matthew glared back at the wind adept. "As a matter of fact, I do know that. Want to know another thing I know?" Karis rolled her eyes. "Your green hair is ugly."

Karis pouted and turned away from him. After a few moments she brought her knees away from her and stood up, huffing, and trekked back to the cabin, fed up with the blond-haired boy's attitude. After all, she adored her hair. It came from her mother, who passed away shortly after she was born. It was all she and her father, Ivan, had had left of her.

She met up with Isaac inside. She huffed once more, more loudly than usual, and glared at the older adept. "Are you sure Jenna can't come by here and teach her son some manners?"

Isaac laughed. "Matthew's bothering you again?" Karis nodded. "Ah." He put a hand on her shoulder, his blue eyes smiling as he spoke. "You know, Jenna and I used to be just like you and Matthew when we were younger. We used to fight all the time, but look where we are now. Err, I mean, I know she's at least a month's trip away from us now, but we still manage. I'm sure he just likes you."

Karis shrugged off his hand and grimaced. "Well, I think that's just gross. I'm pretty sure even Tyrell would think so! Right, Tyrell?"

Sure enough, the redheaded Mars adept was in the corner, playing with a pigeon. "Right. Matthew and you - gross." He resumed playing with the "winged rodent", as he liked to call it. Karis sighed. She didn't even think he was listening properly.

Frustrated, she threw her hands up into the air in defeat and walked back out the door to outside, slamming it on her way out. She passed Matthew but ignored him; strangely, the earth adept followed her.

"And where are you going?" he persisted, staying on her trail while kicking up some loose rocks.

Karis huffed again. "Somewhere. I need to get away for a while."

"To where?"

"Anywhere away from you." She turned around and pointed at him, giving him a nasty look. Matthew backed away and watched her leave. He silently wondered to himself why she was so upset, but figured it was nothing he had done and shook it off. But when he saw the Jupiter adept getting farther and farther away, he knew he had to follow her.

…

Karis traveled the short distance to get to Patcher's Place and, by then, it was nearly dusk. The cool air calmed her nerves from the day's previous events and she breathed in the crisp air and exhaled the no longer needed air and bad thoughts. Matthew crept closely behind her in tow, making sure she could not see him. He was surprised that not once had she looked back. She entered the door and walked to one of the small tables, sitting down. She was facing the wall so Matthew came in behind, sneaking quietly. Since it was dusk, all the villagers were not there; instead they were inside of their homes, which were either inside the building or in separate ones in the small location. He took refuge on the other side of the room, crouching down behind the short railing's pillars and watching Karis's every move.

She sat for a while with her face in her hands. At long last, she let out a sigh and spoke. "Matthew…"

Matthew sat, crouched, confused. Had she sensed something in the wind? He was just about to speak when she continued.

"Why do we always fight?" She chuckled to herself. "Maybe Isaac's right. Maybe we just…secretly like each other." She brought her hands away from her face and tangled them into her hair, frustrated.

This surprised Matthew and he blushed, crouching even further down and leaning against the wall, no longer looking at her. Did he really feel this way? Did both of them really feel this way?

"No, no…that's not right," she criticized herself. Matthew was even more confused now. Was she preparing a speech? Or did she really know that he was here and was speaking directly to him? "I can't say that to him." She again brought her hands to her face, burying it in them; his question was answered. She groaned to herself many times, which made him laugh a little. The noise surprised Karis and he gasped silently to himself, mentally cursing himself for being so idiotic. He couldn't help it, though. He thought she sounded cute when she made those noises. Wait - did he say cute?

"Is someone there?" she called out. Matthew thought about speaking but the wind adept's sigh silenced his thoughts, erasing the words from his mind and tongue. "You've followed me." She knew.

He gave up and slowly stood up, walking over to her. "Do you always talk to yourself like this?" he asked. Karis turned around and stared at him. "I don't remember that from when we were kids."

"We've changed a lot since we were kids…" she trailed off. She turned around, returning to her position at the table with her face in her hands. Matthew sat down across from her, staring at her. She mumbled something but he couldn't quite hear her.

"What?"

She brought her hands away from her face. "Did you hear all of that?" He nodded; she sighed. "Well?"

He tilted his head in confusion. "Well, what?"

She looked down. "I want an answer."

"An answer to what?"

"Why do we fight all the time?"

Matthew looked thoughtful. Why did they fight all the time? They were never like this when they were traveling together with their friends. In fact, they were almost the best of friends: Karis always agreed with him and Matthew always made her feel like part of the group, especially when she was the only girl in the group. He appreciated her intellect. It shouldn't have mattered now that they were together at the cabin, since the distance was no different from when they were on the road.

But now it felt to him like they couldn't even stand to be in the same room, let alone the same 10-mile radius. Why couldn't they stand each other?

He worked up the courage to speak and looked up at her again. "Maybe my father is right…" he trailed. He couldn't believe what he was saying. It was as if his emotions had taken over his entire body and he couldn't control them. He felt some heat rush to his face and quickly looked away, hiding it.

Karis looked back up as well, staring at the side of his head. "Well, you know that I don't like you; maybe Sveta, on the other hand…"

Something overcame him then. He stood up out of his chair and walked over to her. He held her chin in his hand and whispered to her, "well, I like you." What on Weyard was he saying? And…what was he doing? Before either of them knew it, he was inching his face to hers and she was doing the same. Soon enough, their lips met and sparks flew throughout the air, them both smiling into the kiss.

Karis got up from the stool and pushed Matthew down onto it, climbing up onto his lap, never breaking the kiss. Her heart was racing as she placed a hand on his chest, sliding it down and back up again, hearing him sigh. His own hands were traveling the length and width of Karis's back, occasionally pulling her even closer to him. Finally they rested just on her hips. Once they finally broke apart, they placed their foreheads together and smiled at one another.

"I'm glad I could finally tell you," Matthew said, still smiling.

Karis blushed. "We did more than telling." He blushed as well.

"This is not a very romantic place…" he trailed. She nodded and got up, him in tow. They walked out of the empty place, hand-in-hand, and continued until they reached the cabin. Both knew they were in for it once Isaac saw them together. Once Matthew had explained this, Karis sighed and kissed him.

"I don't care," she said.

…

After the two-month voyage from the cabin to the country of Ayuthay, seeing his old friend Amiti made Matthew calm down a tinge. And once he had explained to the Mercury adept what he wanted him to do, the adept smiled and delightfully agreed.

"When can you have it done?" Matthew asked.

Amiti thought well. "If I can know exactly what designs, it shouldn't take more than two weeks, given the right equipment. I am a descendant of the Exathi, so almost anything having to do with crafting or carving is possible for me."

Matthew nodded. "Well…" he trailed. "There should be a mixture of orihalcon and zol carvings. And I would like there to be a carving of a whirlwind, if possible." He looked to his friend, who was chuckling quietly.

"What you ask is a small example of my carving skills. If that's all for the ring, I can have it ready in, say, one week's time." Matthew nodded and smiled at him, shaking his hand before wandering off.

"Amiti?" he called while turning around to face him. The water adept turned around as well. "Thanks." He gave another smile before heading out of the palace.

Amiti immediately started carving the ring out of zol with a short sword. He would need to find orihalcon later, he decided. It would not be much challenging carving the designs; he would just need time to perfect it.

…

A week had passed and Matthew knocked on the door to Amiti's chambers in the palace. Amiti opened the door and emerged from behind it, holding behind his back an object.

"It's done." He held out the hand that was behind his back with the object in it, a small black box. Matthew grabbed it and thanked his friend again, demanding that he receive some pay. The water adept refused it and simply told him, "an invitation to the wedding is all the pay I shall need." Matthew grinned and nodded.

Matthew began the long journey back home again, slightly dreading the monsters who would soon begin to follow and battle him. However, the one thing that he did not in the slightest dread was seeing his love's face when he proposed to her.

…

He knocked on the cabin door, the black box tightly tucked inside his jacket. Karis answered it, her eyes fixated on the ground as she spoke.

"Come in," she said unenthusiastically, obviously worn out from worrying about Matthew and being disappointed when she saw people at the door other than him.

"Is that any way to speak to me?" Matthew asked triumphantly, a huge grin plastered across his face. Karis immediately looked up and gasped, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him several passionate times before pulling him in for a long, romantic one.

"I missed you so much," she breathed once they pulled apart.

Matthew looked around. "Where's Dad? Or Garet and Tyrell?"

She chuckled softly, burying her head into his chest. "Tyrell's visiting Sveta in Belinsk and Isaac and Garet went to Kalay to visit Jenna."

His eyes lit up. "So we're all alone for the time being?"

Karis blushed, even though he couldn't see it. "Yeah." She sighed. "Why did you have to leave for Ayuthay again?"

Matthew shrugged, though he was dying to pull out the black box. "I can't pay a visit to Amiti?"

"Not without me, you can't."

He laughed, rubbing his hands along her back. "I'm sorry. Can you ever forgive me?"

"Yeah," she whispered. Her heart was beating so rapidly from the contact and she could barely control her words. "Come in." She broke away from him, grabbing his hand instead and leading him inside the cabin.

"What have you been doing without me here?" he asked her.

"I've been trying to fix the soarwing." She sighed. "It's a lot more work than you would think, even with the roc feather." She led him down the ladder to the basement. "But now that you're finally back here, I can worry about other things…"

"What other things might those be?"

She leaned in closer to his ear. "I think you know very well what those things are," she whispered seductively.

Matthew groaned. "Karis…" he trailed, trying not to lose sight of what it was he had to do.

"Yes?" She smiled innocently.

"I have some other things, too." He reached for the black box inside his jacket.

"Wh - what is that?" she asked nervously, pointing at said box. Matthew thought she looked adorable.

He got down on one knee and looked her straight in the eye. "Karis," he began, "you know I have loved you ever since that day at Patcher's Place. And I want to make our love official. I ask for your hand in marriage."

Tears formed in Karis's eyes but she didn't bother to wipe them away. Instead, she focused on the beautifully crafted zol-orihalcon ring in front of her and nodded. "Yes, Matthew. I know it wasn't a yes or no question, but yes." He took the ring out of the box and slid it carefully onto her finger. A perfect fit.

Matthew picked her up and spun her around, kissing her. Karis was absorbed in the fantasy for the moment, embracing him and grinning like a fool. Once he put her down, he smiled.

"Would you like to get to those other things now?"

She responded by pulling him in for another romantically long kiss. Her hands traveled dangerously low, then wandered back up. Neither of them broke the kiss.

And that was that.