From that night forward—standing beside you at the ruins of her former clan—she stopped running from the idea of building a life and began shaping one deliberately, even if she still stumbled through the softer parts of it. The year after your proposal was not dramatic, but steady. And when Maki insisted on a small, private ceremony—just friends, a few trusted faces, and the sea as witness—it was proof that after everything, she had chosen, and been chosen, without hesitation.