Yesterday's Enemy [AoT]

SEVENTY-THREE

'The tendency to moralise our lives is something symptomatic of human folly. Subjectivity, circumstance, perspective... these things make null what is 'right'. ... Goodness is a prize which will turn its seeker mad; in the end, there is only what we want and what we can do.'

-An extract from a recent article by journalist Aksel Briggs.

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SEVENTY-THREE

Wall Maria, South Region, Port Noaks, Noaks Survey Corps Base of Operations

Time marched on. Before they knew it, a full month of their courtship had passed. Lorelai and Levi had barely even noticed the time before summer had reached its hazy height.

    It was surprisingly quiet for a time with war looming on the horizon. They went about their days as if nothing had changed and nothing was coming. She would rush to Levi's rooms in the morning, kiss, smile, and talk of silly little things like the poor catering and hot weather. Work dragged on as usual. Levi stole glances across the training site and counted the seconds until he could steal her away entirely.

     It was... a guilty happiness.

     Even as they picnicked and kissed beneath their willow tree, sometimes, Levi would catch her in a solemn moment. Dark eyes set into the distance, the nervous tremor of her hand. These clues betrayed that the threat was not gone from Lorelai's mind. Still, not once did she waver or doubt in that rainy day decision, even as the Archbishop's and Erwin's dismay were made clear.

    And Erwin made his concerns very clear.

    As the wedding date passed without its bride, the two of them appeared in his office like irresponsible schoolchildren. Up and down, Erwin had paced for nearly an hour, scolding, blaming, reprimanding. He was now left to suffer the consequences of their lovers' bliss. Still, Levi couldn't muster very much sympathy—Erwin's worry was not so much for the human lives at risk but for how those lives might serve him if they survived to attempt his mission to Havas.

     Lorelai had borne all the accusing and indignation like none on earth. There was a quiet resolve in her that neither Levi nor her people could understand. And she suffered the outrage of her people most of all. Rightly so, Lorelai had admitted. She had betrayed everything. Her duty. Her name. Her country.

     Lorelai let their resentment wash over her like hell's fury and made no fight to escape it. She listened to Erwin's whining. She suffered the paper's wrath. Her resolve endured quietly all the while.

     In the face of these innumerous grievances, she could only find true peace in the glade. Only with Levi at her side, tucked far into the woodland away from the base, could Lorelai forget her troubles for a time.

     In guilty happiness, they basked while they could.

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"-And so with a light heart, I may return to my beloved, and breathe in the fresh blossom scent of her perfume, never to fret about war again." Lorelai closed the book, softly smiling as she let her hands drop to play with Levi's hair.

     "Keep reading," he insisted drowsily.

     She laughed, looking up at the clearing.

     They'd been coming here a lot. During the day, they would come to their glade to escape the noise of the base and seek some quiet. Lorelai had taken to reading Levi storybooks while he dozed, his head on her lap. He'd deny that he fell asleep. But, she knew the truth.