The Legend of the Converging Hearts

Agnos felt so happy that it was Milal who took the initiative to approach her and apologize. She then squeezed herself into his embrace as she, too, apologized for her childishness.

After the couple had their moment of sweetness, they embarrassedly faced the crowd waiting for them at the juncture. As their wedding godparents, Tukruk and Samaya took turns scolding Milal and Agnos for causing everyone to panic for their sake. This went on for half a day, or even a whole day, depending on the mood of the storyteller.

The couple were then made to explain themselves. As each of them told their side of the story, the only people to be surprised were Milal and Agnos themselves. They probably fell in love twice more, nay five times more deeply, to each other after such a revelation.

Milal wanted to express the new depth of his feelings for his wife, but he was rudely interrupted by their grumpy godfather. Once more their godparents gave them a dressing down that lasted through the night.

Agnos was told that Milal was a man and that a man most definitely has to leave behind a legacy. The elders added that as Milal's wife, it is her duty to support her husband towards this end. Agnos agreed with the elders wholeheartedly and promised to give Milal her full support towards his great aspiration.

As for Agnos' problem of having no aspirations for herself, their parents and godparents were stomped as they found the notion of a having had no other aspirations except to become someone's wife to be unheard of that it was utterly ridiculous. Agnos blushed so hard she felt the need to keep her head down as she couldn't possibly hide at that moment.

On the other hand, Karyan felt happy that his daughter finally realized that there was something wrong about the way she lived her life. He asked Agnos if there was anything she wanted to accomplish for herself. Agnos answered that she wanted to learn martial arts and sewing.

Everybody expressed their support, and Samaya went on to volunteer to tutor her in those two endeavors. Agnos happily accepted her godmother's offer.

But when Samaya asked Agnos why she specifically chose to learn those two skills, Agnos replied that she wanted to learn martial arts so she could defend herself while accompanying Milal all over the two continents in his quest to vanquish demons and monsters. As for learning to sew, she explained that she wanted to sew clothes for Milal so that he would look good while he fought the scourge of the two continents.

Hearing her answer, two of the gods scratched their heads while the other one struck his forehead with the palm of his hand.

Milal and Agnos renewed their vow on that same spot. According to the legend, Lantig personally went down from the heaven to witness the exchange of vows. Lantig warned the couple that he will strike down with lightning whoever of them would renege on their vows. In Ragha, all wedding vows ended with, "If I should ever forget my vows, may Lantig strike me down with his lightning bolts."

Lantig gifted Milal with a sword of light to trample upon the dark powers of demons. Not to be outdone, the goddess of beauty Unnawa, who also arrived to solemnize the reaffirmation of the couple's love for each other, transmitted to Agnos a martial art whose power was amplified by the strength of the practitioner's love. It was told that Agnos crushed demons and monsters by the might of her love while Milal destroyed the darkness with the blades of his sword sharpened by his conviction.

The place where the couple renewed their vows was given another name that could be traced back to the ancient Grand Kingdom of Ragha. That juncture was called Converging Hearts.

Horns' Juncture a.k.a. Converging Hearts became a legendary spot for couples who wanted to renew their marriage vows after temporarily getting separated as well as for teenaged couples who were still dating.

Accordingly, married couples who renewed their vows at the Converging Hearts had a stronger relationship after going through the whole ceremony. Of course, the ceremony included being chastised for hours by their elders for all the faults they had seen in the couple's attitude towards each other and their in-laws.

At first, it was only couples who went through a temporary separation who partook in such a ceremony. However, because the matter of exchanging vows again at the Converging Hearts became a sort of status symbol, not a few wives created an issue to force a temporary separation from their husband just so that they could justify renewing their vows where Milal and Agnos renewed theirs. There were even others who did it more than once such that it became a competition of how many times they had exchanged vows at the Converging Hearts.

In all these cases, it was the wives who were driving the matter to a head. Taking their cue from the embarrassed husbands who complained of their wives' vanity as well as the elders who came to hate being dragged into giving a sermon that became more and more facetious each time, the village elders finally agreed among each other to impose certain regulations. This meeting of village elders happened in the year 778.

As a result of that meeting, a couple who wanted to renew their marriage vows at the Converging Hearts may only do so on the seventh year of their marriage and that they could only do it once. This became an ironclad rule in Ragha since then.

As for its popularity to teenagers, it had to do with the story's theme of separation and reunion. It was believed that couples who came to the spot to seek the blessing of Tukruk would end up together again if ever they were to be separated from each other. The couple just needed to write their names upon the bark of a tree on the horns of Tukruk's Helm and then pray to the mountain god and such a miracle would be theirs. This belief would not be so popular if not for the many testimonials of couples who had their own "Milal and Agnos" story.

Blink and Berge once went there on her fourteenth birthday. Berge requested for it precisely to gain such a miracle. This was the event that broke everyone's heart in the Ragha Martial Arts Academy. When a boy and a girl went to the Converging Hearts, it is as clear a declaration as any that they were a couple. It was just that Berge didn't feel it was official unless Blink verbally asked—no, pleaded—for her to become his girlfriend.

As Blink was carving their names on a bark of a tree, Berge leaned her head on Blink's shoulder while holding his hand in hers. This was the same scene that appeared in Blink's dream on the day he came back to Kasgar.