"Garrett," she called softly to me.

"Yes, Kayley," I said back. I followed the sound of her footsteps until she stumbled into my arms. She was even more clumsy than I. I wrapped her up tighter and kissed the top of her head. She smelled like wild berries and honey.

"Ready for our training session today?" By training session she meant me teaching her what I knew about my style of fighting, not attacking ruthlessly, but standing until the last possible moment.

"Of course," she let go of me except for one of my hands and towed me towards the plants. I didn't rely much on Aiden these days but he was still a necessity when I was fighting away from Kayley. I could hear his wings beat above my head as he flew in the direction that we walked.

We came to a stop and I knew we were at the attacking plants. Kayley enjoyed practicing on these. As I thought about Kayley, I thought about what I planned to do tomorrow. We were both knighted only a few weeks before and we returned to my home in the forest. Of course I loved Kayley, and planned to propose to her tomorrow.

I took my place behind Kayley, her body pressed against mine, she held my staff and my hands enveloped hers. Aiden took his place above my head and the battle began. I moved the staff along with Aiden and Kayley, letting them guide me as they had done in the past. Kayley wanted to understand me more, learn why and how I do what I do. And, I wanted to be the one to show her.

I tapped the plant and waited for the signals. At Aiden's call I gently moved the stick so Kayley would know which direction to go. She followed through with her strike and successfully hit it. I felt her muscles bunch up in excitement. "Garret, I did it!" She turned around to face me and put her arms around me.

I was so proud of her I knew how hard it was for her to remain patient like that, "I know you did, Kayley. Good job." Just then the ground shook and I heard a rumble. Drops of wet stuck to my body and hers as she pressed herself closer to me. If it was one thing she was really, really scared of, it was storms. "Let's go home, love." She took my hand and led me to the hut that I built before I met her. It was small and comfortable enough for both of us. We walked inside and sat down on the leaves that served as a floor.

She cowered against me as the sounds thundered across the sky. The thunder shook the whole house and threw us aside. She began crying as the candles I had lit fell and left us in darkness. I listened for her sobs and crawled towards her. I found her, pulled her into my lap and held her tightly. I wiped the tears as they streaked down her face. "Garrett, don't ever let go, please?" she sobbed against my chest. The tears were making my tunic wetter and wetter, but I didn't mind.

"Kayley, I would never leave you, don't you know that? I love you," I whispered this into her ear and her sobs stopped. I stroked her face gently, picturing what she looked like. Even to me, a blind man, she looked beautiful. She had a soft heart shaped face with a small cute nose and cheek bones that cut across her face in a certain way that made want to see what she really looked like. He soft lips kissed my fingertips as they ran over them. Her hair was silky against my sensitive hands. She grabbed my hand and it held it to her face.

"I love you, too Garrett. And thank you."

"For what?"

"For, being with me, and for protecting me with your strong hands, for holding me tight every night, for never letting go." Such strong emotion overpowered me at that moment. I was ready for tomorrow, ready to make Kayley mine forever.

"Thank you for making me feel more alive than I ever have, for showing me the true reasons of love, for loving me past my bitterness, for belonging in my world." These small declarations held only a fraction of the love I held for her. I lifter her chin up with my hand and leaned my head closer to hers. She knew what I wanted and kissed me. Her soft lips moving with mine made me feel like I could see her, past her, into her soul.

We pulled away and prepared to sleep for the night, we laid down and I pulled her into me and held her close. "Did I ever tell you that you are beautiful," I whispered.

"How can you tell?" she asked, "for all you know, I could be hideous."

"I can see it your beautiful voice, in your attitude, in your words as you tell me you love me, the way I can never seem to ever want to let you go. Now, I won't keep you from sleeping, I'll be here in the morning, I won't let go of you, I promise. Good night love." I kissed her head and made sure she was comfortable. Within seconds she was breathing softly by my side, this was the sound I fell asleep to that night.

I woke up next to Garrett that morning, his strong arms still around me. His staff was on the ground next to us, and it was calling my name. Garrett wouldn't be awake for a while, so I weighed the options and decided to practice a little bit. I slid out from underneath Garrett's arm, but the ache for him was so strong that I almost wanted to stay.

I sloshed through the mud to the flowers and prepared for training. I watched the flowers intensely and it was like I could feel him behind me, guiding me, moving his staff with me as I effortlessly dodged and attacked the plants. I was never this good at fighting like Garrett, so it surprised me a little when I was able to do it.

I continued this for a while until I grew bored of it and decided to put the staff down for a second. But apparently the plants had other ideas, they all came at me at the same time, it was impossible to try and avoid them all. They hit me, hard. Instead of falling into the mud that I knew was there, I fell into a pair of strong arms. I heard the sound of laughter and blushed at Garrett's comment, "Well, Kayley, it seems like you and the plants had a bit of fun."

"You weren't supposed to be up yet, so I decided to get some practice done without you, and I was doing pretty well, except for the last part." He held me tight and I held him too, never wanting to let him go. "Stay here while I go get your staff." I skipped to get it, despite my embarrassed state and returned in a few seconds.

I gave him his staff back and took his hand and started to lead him to the hut, but he pulled my hand back. "Um, Kayley, there's a place I want to show you." And for once he was my eyes in the middle of the day.

We walked through the forest in silence, only occasionally talking and laughing with each other. We walked past the boundaries that I knew and I was solely relying on him. I noticed how confident he seemed, how he seemed to glow in the sunlight. He always made me forget he was blind. I never loved anyone else as much as I did him.

We walked through a tunnel of branches where I was completely cut off from my sense of sight. Garrett must have been here before because he knew exactly where he was going. I saw a beam of light at the end of the tunnel and pulled him towards it. It took my eyes a second to adjust but when I did, I was amazed. It was beautiful, there was a small clearing with a tiny lake made from a small waterfall atop a cliff. "So Kayley, " Garrett began nervously, "how do you like it?"

"Garrett it's beautiful!!!" I was overjoyed. I stripped off my shoes, tights and let my hair down. I let go of his hand and dove into the cool blue water. It felt good on my skin and washed away any stress. I swam to the edge and luxuriated in the feel of the water. I could see Garrett attempting to walk to the wat er and decided to get out and sit down with him. I sat in his lap and twined my hands with his.

"Well, I could say it's beautiful but I would be lying, you're the only beautiful thing in my world." He stroked my face as I blushed at his complement. I would never know how much Garrett ever really saw. Somehow I had fallen in love with the blind man who swept me off my feet. But, I had a very pressing question on my mind.

"So was there a reason for this little trip?" I didn't really care, just being alone with him was enough. But, I was curious.

"Not really, I found it yesterday while you were in Camelot. It seemed like a nice place to visit, and I wanted to show it to you. I'm glad I did, you seem to like it a lot." He was detached, like his mind was on something else.

"Well, I love it, it's perfect, almost as perfect as you," I said touching his nose with the tip of my finger.

We could have sat there the entire day. But I'm not the type of person to sit still, so I had to go play in the water. And Garrett just had to be with me. We stayed in the shallow water splashing around and playing. In the end, I ended up back in his arms watching the sunset and just talking.

"Kayley," he asked suddenly.

"Yes Garrett?" I wondered.

"There is something I need to ask you."

"What is it?" I said, intently listening to anything he had to say.

He pulled me into his lap and opened up his palm, inside was a diamond ring that sparkled in the remaining sunlight. "Kayley, you've taught me how to love again, you've learned to love me past my bitterness, I love you more than I love myself, I want you and I to stay like this forever. So I ask you now, will you marry me?"

I was shocked and didn't know what to say except for yes. "Yes, Garrett, yes a million times over." I couldn't hold in my excitement, I've never experienced anything like the feeling that went rolling through my head and heart. He must not have been able to stand it either, because as soon as the ring was on my finger, he swung me in the air and kissed me passionately.

"You don't know just how happy you have just made me," he said. We grabbed his staff and went back to the hut. It felt better to know that the man I was sleeping besides was more than anything I had ever wanted.