Managed 1059 words this evening. Almost 4000 words total written for Elisabeti. Since I'm aiming for ~30,000 that's more than a tenth of the way through the story.
Final snippet:
Even as a youth he hadn't made this much a fool of himself talking with a woman, but as a youth the stakes had never been this high.
“What is it, Aswathi?” Elisabeti asked with a sad smile.
“I... would you marry me?”