I stood as an onlooker to my brother's nervous state.  Ender was just eighteen, but he knew what he wanted, and he was out to get it.  He was always that way, always strong and confident.  Though I knew for a fact he could lead an army with a graceful ease, there was some doubt in both of us that he could spit out a few important sentence to Petra.

He told me of his secret plans the day before.  He told me all the steps he wanted to take, all the things he'd practiced saying, all the positions he'd stand in.

I told her he was stupid, stupid like he shouldn't be.

I knew he'd loved Petra ever since he told me of his days at the Battle School.  She was his best comrade, and they worked together well to rid the galaxy of the buggers, but when he described her I knew he felt something more.  It was in a simple letter, but just the way he wrote her name told me something about her was, well different.  I knew I had to help him, that he had to tell her.

We didn't know Petra had flown to our colony until a couple months after arriving and settling.  But as soon as Ender laid eyes on her, I knew exactly who she was.  I didn't nudge him, or give him an odd stare, or anything like that; he knew that I also knew.  And by us both knowing, we knew we both loved her.  He as a boy becoming a man, and I as a sister respecting the woman who has won my younger brother's heart.

I watched from behind a large tree in front of her yard.  Three years his senior, Petra lived on her own.  She had known we were here also; we'd spoken to her often and invited each other over for dinner.  I didn't know if Petra knew my brother's feelings for her, but after this I hoped she would realize his love for her.

Ender rung the doorbell.  He rocked nervously back and forth on his heels, bit his lower lip, and quickly glanced at the ground just before the door opened.

Petra looked the same as she always had, though now with a more mature air about her.  Her hair was just as short as it had always been, but now she wore fitting jeans and a T-shirt instead of Battle School gear.  Around her bright, brown eyes were traces of old, black eyeliner.  On her mouth was nothing more than a natural smile greeting Ender in a warm embrace that calmed him.

"Petra, I stopped by to ask you something..."

She interrupted with a hug as she walked down the stairs of her stoop.  "Ender, I'm so glad you came!  Thomas is here, and he wants to hear all about our Battle School stories!"

Even before Ender told me his thoughts of the experience, I could tell he was nervous about this Thomas character.  Even I did not know of him.

"Thomas?"

"Thomas, my small cousin?"  Just then a yell emitted from the room.  It was indecipherable at first, but it sounded to me like a whine for water.  Petra politely closed the door and came back to stand with Ender.  "I'm just watching him while his mother is gone."

"Oh," Ender said, getting out of his funk.

"So, you had a question?"

I knew this was Ender's time to shine, but he had never been the most graceful in these moments.  In the Battle School, his shining times had been when he was just guessing, or experimenting or practicing.  He had no idea, I could see from his eyes, of what he was doing.

So, he did what he thought best to do.  He didn't kneel or say something romantic, like any other boy would do.  He too her hand, very gently, and slipped a thin, golden ring onto her finger.

"I don't know what to say," Ender stated, truthfully, but full of nerves, "so I will try my corniest pick-up line; I haven't even tried it yet."

Petra stayed silent.

"If you were a bugger, I would spare you from extinction."

Petra laughed very hard.  She laughed so hard tears ran from her eyes.  Before she was done with her fits of giggles, she stood on her toes, for she was a whole head shorter than my brother, and kissed him for a very long time.  As they were going inside her house, he looked back at me and winked.

When the door was closed, I arose from my hiding spot to make my way back to my empty house.  My brother, Ender, was to marry the only woman I thought worthy for him; I just wish Peter could have seen.  It was indeed a happy moment, and in my mind it would stay.