A/N: All the usual stuff: planning for the rewrite/Final Draft is going well, art that goes along with WB/ The Prissner Creative Universe is good. And of course I hope you enjoy this and look forward to more... thanks for reading.
Chapter XVIII: The Marleyans
It was an odd scene for sure: a beautiful naked girl joyfully kicking around in the safe shallow waters, her handsome fiance sitting on the shore gazing at her lovingly, the Warchief standing an awkward distance away watching both of them and Pieck lurking in the background still in her titan form. The strange yet serene scene had been ongoing for a while since there wasn't very much to do there, however, it came to an abrupt halt when the girl froze, her laughter ceased and she let out a cry of fear.
"Eeyuuck!" Priss shrieked as her body tensed up and froze.
Reiner, who had been ready to act should anything go awry, quickly jumped into action and onto his feet, "What is it?! What's wrong?" he panicked as he ran to her – his mind raced with the possibilities of what could have caused her to yell, but logic didn't matter, the point was she was distressed and regardless of why... he had to step in. Once he got to her, she immediately attached herself to him in a clingy hug.
"Something gross just slide up against my foot!" She exclaimed.
"Oh..." Reiner let out an instant sigh of relief followed by a soft, single chuckle, "Probably just seaweed. That'll happen, nothing to worry about."
"What's seaweed? Ohh it felt so... weeeeeeird..." She whined as she fidgeted at the thought of it happening again, despite the icky sensation being very fleeting.
"It's just plant life from the ocean, it won't hurt you..." He assured her, giving her hair a kind stroke, "Jellyfish are something to be aware of and to watch out for though... but it's hard to see what's coming and going in the waves so you can't really 'watch out' for anything effectively."
Priss's nose wrinkled in utter confusion at the name of the creature he just mentioned, "JELLYfish? The hell are jellyfish?" She pressed as she stared up at him with wild-eyed curiosity.
"Well they're uhh... not fish exactly... but they're sea animals that have these dangling things that will sting you and make you sore," Reiner explained, "The ocean can actually be pretty dangerous, but the real dangers are when you venture further out."
"Huh..." She breathed, turning again to look out to the expanse of water that went on and on ahead of them,"It seems so peaceful though..."
"Things aren't always what they seem, Priss. Looks can be deceiving, especially on a surface level..." Reiner said, his expression falling a bit for having to dampen the mood.
"Yeah, yeah that's true..." She sighed as she turned back to him. She admittedly felt a bit stupid for not realizing that obvious fact of life, but her curiosity took the reigns of her emotions once more after that moment of reflection, "So, what sort of dangerous stuff is further out there?"
"Er... Well..." Reiner was caught off guard and wasn't sure to begin with something so broad. Not only was the ocean a massive subject to tackle, but he was by no means some kind of marine specialist either. The easiest thing to have a go at describing first was the threatening aquatic animal life and go from there – sharks were the first thing that came to mind, so he started to do his best to explain those to her. The poor girl did her absolute best to keep up and nodded along while listening intently. She wanted to remember anything and everything Reiner told her about the ocean.
Zeke considered making an attempt at his lame science lesson comment again while the conversation between Priss and Reiner unfolded, but he decided against it, he was more content to disconnect and just watch the horizon for the first sign of the ship. He could only hope it would show up soon, the man wanted to get off this dreaded island already and just standing around here waiting on the beach with nothing much to do was part of the final painful stretch. The sea journey wouldn't be anything close to enjoyable, but at least it was more meaningful progress being made towards their itinerary as opposed to just... waiting.
...And wait they did. He could hear the other two chatting away about the ocean, more back and forth questions and answers, but he wasn't paying very close attention to anything they were saying. Them talking about the ocean wasn't relevant to him at all, so why bother intentionally eavesdropping on them? The call of gulls and sounds of the waves lapping against the shore were even more interesting than the senseless babble of those two. For all he knew they moved onto other topics eventually; their voices had just become indecipherable white noise.
Then, after God knows how long, he saw it. Zeke could finally see what could only be the ship that would be taking them back to their home appear distantly on the horizon. He breathed a huge sigh of relief; he had been looking forward to getting back to the mainland immensely. His eagerness to return to Marley wasn't only because it was his homeland though... despite the mission of retaking the Founding Titan being a failure... he wasn't coming back empty handed. He got the girl, she was in good health and she was happy to go along with them back to Marley. He looked back at her, feeling mighty proud of himself – he had been trying not to look at her while she was in her nude state but he couldn't help but feel smugly accomplished enough to give her a prideful look – like a hunter looking down on the big game target he had finally killed. It would still be quite a bit before the ship made it to the dock, but after letting his inherently creepy gaze sit on her for a moment his eyes went wide with what could only be described as intense fear.
"...Shit shit shit shit!" Zeke cursed.
The Warchief ran over to Priss where he frantically whipped his coat off and started to force it onto her in an attempt to get her covered before the ship reached port, despite it still being a mere speck in the distance. Priss, however, was both shocked and disgusted by his sudden, context-less action and furiously tried to fight him off.
"What are you doing, freak?!" She shouted venomously as she made her efforts to push him away, "Trying to cop a feel?!"
Zeke did not relent and kept cursing under his breath, and in between his swearing she swore she heard something about 'embarrassing him in front of the Marleyans.' Reiner had been too caught up in the moments leading up to this to really think about what was going to happen when the Marleyans arrived... and this time he had to side with Zeke, it really didn't take much thought to come to that conclusion, but as always he had a gentler approach than his boss did when it came to Priscilla.
Reiner got between them where he successfully got Zeke off her, and then began in a calming tone, "Priss, it is probably better you cover up before the ship arrives... A lot of strange men are gonna be on there."
Priscilla didn't need much more than Reiner's word on anything for her to make a decision about something. He was the one person in the world she felt she could put her trust in, so there was no reason to doubt what he said. Like him, she hadn't thought much farther ahead than the moments they were living in where running around without clothes was, in it's own odd way, completely acceptable for her to do. Now that she had the reality laid out before her that new people would be showing up once that ship reached them, she acknowledged that it was indeed time to get dressed again.
"You're right," She agreed and her body relaxed after being in a defensive mode from Zeke's unjust assault, "And I'm sure my clothes are dry by now so..." she added as she thought back to her garments she had discarded to wash previously.
"I'll go get them from the cart," Reiner offered, ever the gentleman he was.
He gave Priss a quick kiss on the forehead before he turned and jogged towards the Cart Titan, leaving the two opposing beasts by themselves. It would only be for a short moment, but for Zeke time started to move painfully slow. He kept giving her side glances to see if she was paying attention to him at all, and she wasn't of course, she kept her gaze forward while she waited for her prince to return. The man felt compelled to break the silence that was only awkward for him because he was solely concerned with himself and his own feelings. He was at a loss for what to say at first, but then a logical icebreaker came to him.
"So what happened to the books?" He asked, trying to remain casual, but the words spilled out of his mouth in a clunky manner despite his best efforts.
"Hm?" Priss responded dreamily, not even slightly moving to look in his direction, "What books?
Zeke's nostrils flared as he whipped around to face her,"What do you mean 'what books,' Ziegler?! You know exactly what I'm talking about!"
Zeke's shift from attempted casualness to borderline fuming was unsurprising to Priss and left her still barely acknowledging him, in fact all she offered in response to him was a limp shrug. Her continued lack of attention towards him, especially since she didn't even bother to use words, got him seething even more. So he did what he thought was necessary to do and grabbed her by the arm to pull her to face him – to make it so she literally couldn't disregard him anymore, so that she couldn't escape directly addressing him.
"Don't you play dumb with me..." He growled at her in his best attempt at intimidation he could muster in that moment. Priss grimaced and shifted her lime green gaze away from him, which earned her a quick shake, "Look at me when I'm speaking to you...You left camp with them, you came back without them... And I heard you talking to Reiner about them last night too, so I know you read them."
"Hmph!" She tried to pull away her arm, but Zeke kept his grip firm on her, "Why is it your business anyway?"
"It's always been my business!" He full on shouted at her, "We had an agreement, didn't we?!"
Priscilla did not fall into a pit of fear from this unhinged man yelling at her, but rather her expression soured to a full on disdainful glare,"If you're buddied up with my brother, shouldn't you know all that nonsense anyway?"
"I wanted my own confirmation if I could get it... And who knows... what else there..." He sneered in response as he gripped her harder, causing her to wince a bit and let out a tiny 'ow.'
"What the hell?!"
Reiner had come back with Priscilla's clothes in his arms, shocked at what he was seeing before him. It felt like it was impossible to leave these two alone at all without some sort of spat breaking out. Zeke's grip on her arm loosened once he realized Reiner was back so she took the opportunity to pull away, and she made damn sure to not just do that, but to dash over to Reiner's side and point an accusing finger at Zeke.
"This creep keeps trying to assault me!" She exclaimed, attaching herself to Reiner's arm, "Any chance he can get, but especially if you're not around since he thinks he can get away with it..."
"Don't listen to her, Reiner!" Zeke ordered, "I was just trying to have a conversation with her, but she's hysterical and overreacting all the time."
"Sir, I saw you aggressively grabbing her arm..." Reiner countered, remaining steadfast in his defense of Priscilla, but also level headed... However, he would not be intimidated by Zeke's authority this time, "And you clearly looked angry with her, you were raising your voice, I can't imagine why either. I wasn't even gone for long... but that part's not the point. I'd ask what she could have possibly done to provoke you so quickly, but that doesn't matter either. What matters is you need to act better than this, Warchief Zeke... especially with the Marleyans on their way."
"I could say the same for you two," Zeke huffed dramatically and went on with bitterness, "I know it's a herculean task, but try to contain yourselves and not embarrass me."
"...Why would you be embarrassed in front of the people coming?" Priss spoke up, finding it weird he'd say this yet again on top of mumbling about it minutes ago, "Aren't you the boss of everyone? What do you have to worry about, Mr. Big Shot Warchief?"
Zeke's face went pale and he reached to scratch his ear while he looked away from her. His posture hunched and went rigid, and he also went suspiciously silent. Priscilla found his change in demeanor a bit peculiar, but in the end she didn't care enough about him to question it. Instead, she and Reiner turned to each other and all of a sudden it was just the two of them in the whole world again, just how they liked it.
"Here," He said, holding her clothes out to her.
Priss accepted the various rumpled and wrinkled items from him, "Thank you..." She responded, flashing him a cute smile that made him go ever so slightly red in the face. The two of them relished in that small amount of skin to skin contact as the clothing changed hands, it always made them feel something of an indescribable spark even when the contact of their bodies was brief. After they basked in their saccharine sweetness for a moment she added with a giggle, "I'll put all this back on again."
"At this point I wonder if you even remember how to put clothes on," Reiner joked, which sent Priss from a giggle to a full blown laugh.
"Who knows..." She said through her laughter, then playfully added, "You could be right about that."
After what seemed like ages, Priscilla finally got properly dressed again; everything back on and her body properly covered up. She really didn't mind basking in her own beautiful nude glory, in fact she felt very powerful when she did, but she understood what Reiner meant with his advice about getting dressed in the coming circumstances. 'Strange men' was just another way of saying potentially dangerous and lecherous men and nobody wanted to increase the chances of her being put into a situation where some creep might cross a line. Even with the factor of shameless nudity removed, a true scumbag would pursue and harass the alluring nymph if they really wanted to, so Reiner knew he had to protect her from possible degenerates with no sense of self control no matter what.
Which, of course, was a mission he would stay committed to until his dying day.
Reiner had no power to change the past pain she had suffered that he would always hold some sense of responsibility for, even though it was wrongful self blame, but he would do everything in his power to be her shield as she needed. Given not just the strength of his will with regard to her, but also just the raw strength of his body, it wouldn't be hard to ward off any threat that may present itself. Reiner had to wonder if she really understood the type of people that they would be meeting up with soon though – he didn't want to make assumptions that she'd be naive, especially given her life experiences, but he couldn't help but be concerned all the same.
He watched Priss as she finished up dressing herself. Once she smoothed herself out as much as she could, she did a little spin around to show off in a moment of girlish flaunting, allowing her hair to elegantly swish around with her. It was the same outfit he'd seen her wearing for a while, nothing new about it, but she would never stop stunning him and leaving him breathless – like he had come across a being thought to only be a myth, but there she was standing right in front of him. Once she came to a stop and her flowing hair settled back into place, their eyes were locked with one another's again, but Priscilla soon had a goofy smile start to appear on her face like the night before.
Reiner cocked his head to the side and crossed his arms, "What is it?" He asked with his own grin.
"This just made me think about..." She started as a blush made it's way across her cheeks, "That first time you brought clothes to me when I really needed them."
Reiner remembered it too, it went hand in hand with the reminiscing that they did last night about that same period of time in their lives. In retrospect, everything about their origins had the perfect making for a future couple, and now getting to think back on it now that they were together was unbelievably satisfying and offered comfort to both of them. When there was happiness to be found nowhere else, they could always find it in each other somehow.
They could create their own happiness as long as they had one another and didn't need to wait for it to come from anywhere or anyone else... and that, in a world as cruel as they lived in, was more valuable than anything.
Once the ship arrived it proved to be much bigger than any of the boats Priss had ever seen used to traverse the canals in the Walls. It was staffed by men in uniform, many looking to be military of some sort. She watched the soldiers get off the ship, leading a line of blindfolded people who were tied at the hands all by the same rope; more specifically they were bound at the wrists as she could eventually tell their hands had been cut off previous to starting this procession. Reiner had been mentally preparing to deal with meeting the military officers here and hadn't noticed his lady gazing at the prisoners being lead towards the wall right away.
"Those are mainland Eldians sentenced to be turned into Titans..." Reiner quietly whispered when he picked up on Priscilla staring at the morbid march, "This is what happens to those who... forget their place. To traitors. This is why Titans always came from the north, from this direction. Criminals from the mainland brought to this port get transformed and then move inland."
"But..." She began, equally as quiet as she slowly turned to look at him with her honest eyes, "But why?"
"This Island has been a penal colony for traitorous Eldians from the mainland. And the punishment for their crimes was to have their monsters within exposed..." Reiner continued, "To mindlessly seek out their own kind here. The people who descended from the King and all the people he brought here, the walls protect them from their own kind."
"Well, well if it isn't the boy wonder!" A boistrous man said as he approached the group, obnoxiously trampling over the quiet exchange between Priscilla and Reiner – which may have been for the best anyway. Priss's eyebrows furrowed at his comment, asking herself who the hell this 'boy wonder' could possibly be... but she soon realized he was looking at Zeke when he used the nickname, "The hell happened to you all? You look like shit and half your clothes are missing!"
Zeke, and Reiner too at that, were at a loss for words what with everything that had happened prior to this. However, Priscilla was glad to throw in her own comments since she was blissfully ignorant of what the reality of this situation was for them all.
"Oh well you see, I'm positive Zeke here uses his shirt as a cum rag." Priss piped up happily and with a cheeky grin, motioning with her thumb at Zeke, "That's why he doesn't have one on."
"Ziegler!" Zeke's eyes filled with panic and he grabbed at her arm yet again before yelling at her more, "S-Stop that! Keep your mouth shut!"
"Why? I don't think I'm wrong, you can't prove me wrong..." She replied as she tugged away from him with a mild look of disgust on her face, "Can't contain yourself, gotta clean up somehow..."
The boistrous man tossed his head back, laughed and then shook his head as it dropped down again, following with a scoff and a mutter of 'fucking Eldians...' under his breath. However, after Zeke's outburst, another man looked their way.
"What did you just say?" This man, a bit further away but more 'official' looking than the first asked. His way of carrying himself as he approached the group and the difference in his uniform from the 'grunt' gave off the hint that he may be the one in charge of the current operation, or at least of some high ranking.
"Just musing about what nasty little creatures these Eldians are, sir..." The first man said with a smarmy smile.
"No, not you..." The commanding officer scolded and motioned for him to get lost, then looked to Zeke, who stood straight up and with his arms glued to his sides. The man narrowed his eyes and closed in on Zeke's face before he continued, "That name you just used... Ziegler? Did I hear you correctly, Yeager?"
"Yes sir," Zeke answered swiftly and obediently, maintaining the eye contact established by the officer.
The higher ranked man shifted his eyes to Priscilla who swallowed hard as this man began to look her up and down, giving his chin a stroke as he did so. It wasn't a long or thorough examination before the officer uttered, "And the description matches... There really is no doubting it."
"Doubting... what?" Zeke asked.
"That girl is to be allowed passage as per request of Willy Tybur himself," The commander said firmly, "No questions asked."
"Willy Tybur?!" Zeke exclaimed, "What... What does the Tybur family want with... with her?"
"That's none of my business, I'm just following orders..." The officer replied sternly, "General Magath personally gave them. Should a fair girl with pale hair and bright green eyes be brought to us, she will have safe passage to Marley to meet with the Tyburs."
Zeke's 'professional' composure he had built when talking to these military men was collapsing into confused desperation, "But... Why?!"
The commanding officer's glare showed he'd just about had enough of Zeke pressing for answers that he had no right to be pestering for, "Orders are orders. I don't question what comes from the top, and you don't get to question anything you Eldian scum."
The sneer of his lips and cutting tone of those last two words weren't something Priss expected. Zeke's change in behavior hadn't sunken in until now either – he went from acting like he's in control, that he is to be respected... to subserviently answering to these other military men once they arrived... and based on how he was being spoken to by them, Zeke was far from some kind of authoritative figure in the military structure he served in.
Embarrass him in front of the Marleyans... She thought back.
The realization of what that meant fully dawned on her: Zeke was far beneath these men who just arrived and he's already seen as lesser – he didn't need anything else adding onto the oppressive nature of the dynamic between himself and the Marleyans.
...Did she feel bad though? No. A smile started to tug at the corners of her mouth and her eyes went dull as she got lost in thought. She remembered all the times he tried to lord authority over her or intimidate her and reveled in how she wouldn't relent to him, because now she saw she doubly didn't have any reason to listen to him. She was feeling quite pleased with herself, and the smugness that went along with it was clear as day on her face at this point, but when she looked over to Reiner to hopefully share the feeling, she noticed his posture had changed as well. He was also standing stiff and straight with his arms at his sides, but he was keeping his head down. Observing the same shift in behavior in Reiner made her smile fade, but it made sense that if Zeke was looked down upon, then Reiner would be too.
The quarters they were shown to within the ship were tiny, no room for anything but beds on either side, a single, small bedside table between them against the wall and just enough space to walk between the beds, plus a dim single light hung from the ceiling. They were buried far below deck too – this was by no means some sort of luxury trip, but the fact that they were Eldians ensured they got the worst arrangements possible. The Marleyans were under the assumption that Priss was an Eldian, and she didn't have an opportunity or need to correct them, and if putting that fact out there meant she'd possibly be separated from Reiner then she definitely didn't want it to be known.
Priss and Reiner stood in the doorway looking at the dreary low class room with pitiful lighting in front of them without much enthusiasm. Zeke was elsewhere, presumably taking care of some necessary business as he was in charge of the operation on Paradis Island, despite the fact that he was of lower standing in the grand scheme of things. After just staring for a moment, the pale girl looked over to Reiner with a soft smile, grabbed her lover's hand and lead him towards one of the beds.
"These are small, but that shouldn't be a problem for us," Priss said optimistically as she plopped down on one. It creaked and had next to no bounce to it, which wasn't shocking based on it's looks alone, "And I imagine they're be better than those tents, even if these don't feel amazing or anything. At least it's a mattress."
Reiner sat down next to her, and put one arm around her to pull her closer to him – nice and tight. She leaned right into him, resting her head on his shoulder as she closed her eyes and hummed with content. Reiner couldn't help but be a bit worried though – he was relieved there was no issue getting her on the ship and across the ocean, but the circumstances had him baffled. Then, as if she could read his mind...
"What's the Tybur family, Reiner?" She asked softly as her eyes fluttered back open.
"They're the family that governs and rules over Marley behind the scenes. Eldians, actually, not a lot of the common folk know this..." He rattled off his quick explanation, "They're nobles with a lot of power... I have no idea why they would want you... or how they would even know not just your last name, but what you look like too..."
Priss sensed the anxiety building in him by the way his voice started to change as he went on with his speech, so she lifted her head and raised her soft hand to Reiner's cheek where she gently turned his face to hers, "I wish you wouldn't worry so much, Reiner... I understand why you do, but I just don't want you to stress yourself out. I'm sure we'll figure it out when we get home."
"Home..." He echoed as he raised one of his hands to cover the one of hers she had on his face, "Yeah, back to... our home."
She grinned big, her eyes wide with glee as she added with enthusiasm, "To our home where we'll be Mister and Missus Braun!"
Reiner let out a loud laugh at the pure adorableness of her sheer excitement – not to mock her, and she was perceptive of him and his thoughts enough to know that. It just made her smile even more and start to laugh a bit herself; she was unable to contain her overflowing joyous anticipation of what was getting closer and closer for them.
"You're supposed to be rooming with Pieck!"
Somehow neither of them noticed Zeke, ever the buzzkill, enter the room until he announced himself in his dreadfully dramatic way. In his arms he held changes of clothes to replace the tatters he and Reiner were in. Priscilla scoffed and flopped down onto the bed she was sharing with Reiner.
"You're delusional if you think that was gonna happen, Zeke..." She said, but then politely added, "Nothing against Pieck, of course, I'm sure she's a nice girl and all."
Zeke narrowed his eyes and sneered, "A little influence from a nice girl is exactly what I think you need, Ziegler..."
"Hmm... nope I'm better off with my fiance," Priss responded without hesitation, "There's plenty of room for he and I to share one bed since we're plenty used to sleeping in close quarters."
Zeke groaned and shook his head as he shuffled to the unoccupied bed across from them where he took a seat on the edge. He was well aware that she knew his problem with her presence there had nothing to do with whether or not they had enough space in one bed. Zeke, for all his moronic moments he had, wasn't dumb – but it didn't take a genius to deduce that there would end up being more than just sleeping and innocent cuddling happening in their bed. The precedent had been set that Zeke being near in proximity didn't matter much to them when they really wanted to have a go at each other.
"By the way..." Zeke said sharply as he made a subject shift, "Don't mention that you're not Eldian to anyone. I believe it will cause more problems than it would solve for us right now. You'll be treated as poorly as the Reiner, Pieck and I but..."
"I'll survive," Priscilla stated flatly as she sat back up. Reiner threw an arm around her once more in a tight one armed hug, then used his free hand to give her thigh a rub. It was his silent gesture of ensuring he'd be there to watch her back – that he would do his best to make sure that she'd do more than merely survive, but it wasn't like this voyage had room for anyone to thrive or live nicely, but he'd do what he could to make her comfortable – which of course would extend to life in Marley too – that man made her a promise to give her the best, and he would. She snuggled deep into his one armed embrace and grinned stupidly – all the sickening sweetness that these two simply couldn't contain was nothing but a bother to Zeke. It was a separate type of nuisance to the sexual temptation, but an annoyance to him all the same.
"And another thing..." Zeke continued, starting to take his boots off, "My cover for your... peculiar appearance... was that you have a rare genetic disorder distantly related to albinism. You should be thankful that I was quick on my feet enough to think of that."
"...The fuck is albinism?" Priscilla asked, but her confusion shifted to horror when she saw Zeke pull off his socks and reveal his grossly untrimmed toenails to everyone. She visibly recoiled, pressing even harder into Reiner's body, and pointed to them, "No, no, NO. PUT THOSE AWAY."
"Calm yourself, I'm going to sleep..." Zeke groaned as he removed his glasses and carefully placed them on the basic nightstand crammed between the two beds. He then looked back to the pair and added with an obvious touch of disdain, "Unlike you two I didn't get a chance to rest all last night."
The changing of clothes didn't matter right now, so they were left carelessly on the floor. Once Zeke got himself situated under his sheet and rolled over with his back to the couple, she felt it was only fair she and Reiner got comfortable too – even if they weren't quite ready to sleep yet. Reiner didn't have much but his tattered pants since his brutal injuries obliterated most of his clothes with what he went through, so he slipped out of those and was down to his underwear. Priscilla had more to shed: and it came down to her taking off everything but her panties. Reiner's shirt that she'd always steal to sleep in at night was tragically gone, so completely topless she would go.
The two of them crawled under the single sheet they had, but warmth wouldn't be any sort of problem. The room itself was fairly stuffy, and their bodies provided heat too so just having a basic thin blanket to sleep under wasn't an issue. The pair laid on their sides facing each other – and the looks in both of their eyes made one fact quite obvious:
It may not be necessarily soon, but there was going to be some kind messing around going on that night. Whether it be full blown fucking or just something simpler like the night prior, both of them knew there was fondling, kissing and cumming to be done. However, for the moment they were happy to just lay there where they would stay just far apart enough to look into each other's eyes and silently try to guess what the other was thinking.
...As if there was anything else to think about other than each other in that moment. It was difficult, if not impossible, to have their minds wander into areas that would inspire worry. Again, even with the dreariness of their immediate surroundings, there was always joy to be found in each other's arms, thoughts and hearts.