Sitting in the pilot's chair of their dingy starship is Obi Wan Kenobi, his hand stroking his non existing beard as he stares out into the stars, just above the atmosphere of Mandalore, just outside of any scanners.
His eyes search the horizon of the planet, searching for a solution to all of his new problems, thinking of the lies and excuses he’ll have to give in order to fit back into his old life. A smile does rest on his face though, a happy smile, one of peace that his whole body matches. He has a calm throughout him that he hasn’t had in years, not since he was a small boy.
He’s finally been given a proper chance to relive his life, something no one has ever gotten to do before, and he was determined not to squander this chance.
So, he has planning and decisions to make, about the people he loves, about the future of the galaxy, about the things he could do to help, it was all right before him, just waiting for him to find the solutions that they all needed.
With a sigh, he puts his arms down onto the rests of the chair and leaned back. The Sith caused the entire fall of the order, they caused people to die and suffer, they caused the war. So the simple solution would be killing Palpatine.
“Yes, quite right Kenobi, just kill him,” He thinks to himself with a scoff, shaking his head. If Master Yoda couldn’t defeat him, then there was no chance he could, even with how much his powers had grown.
He sighs again, a new mystery to ponder, how did he actually get stronger? He could feel it, sense it, he had a power that could rival Mace, or Anakin even.
“Another gift from the Force perhaps, is it possible that I've taken on twice the power with my second life, I could have absorbed my younger self’s strength on top of my own?” He questions, trying to figure out the impossibilities of what happened to him. He shakes his head again, a common occurrence these past few days, he had no idea what he was thinking.
“You look as if the planets stopped spinning, what is it Ben?” Satines says, coming in through the doorway. Obi Wan turns his chair, giving her a bright smile as she sits across from him in the co-pilot's chair.
“I think that would be a much kinder problem for me to solve than this” He says with a laugh, her bright smile captivating as it matches his own. She crosses her legs lightly, her back straight as usual, her arms lazily resting on the arms of her chair as she gets comfortable.
“And what mystery would that be?” She asks with a quirked eyebrow, leaning forward in her chair with interest, having not yet gotten the chance to hear any of the problems he faces. He smiles teasingly at her for a moment, before giving in, her curious eye’s too much for him to deny.
“I’m just trying to figure out what I’m going to tell my master,” He says looking back out towards the planet, knowing Qui Qon was down there hunting Satine’s killers down, probably being shot at quite a bit as is what usually happens.
“What do you mean?” She asks to dig further, hoping that maybe she could lend some insight into his troubles, something that she hasn’t gotten the chance to do yet, and with her new position as his partner, it was only right for her to try.
Obi Wan looks at her for a moment, trying to think of a way to explain it, finding it a slight difficulty to figure out how someone not force sensitive could comprehend it. He leans forward though, ever the teacher, and takes her hand gently into his own.
“You know what the Force is, you know that Jedi can sense things that others cannot, and well… recently, I’ve gone and done something that my master is going to be able to sense if I’m not careful, and i would very much like to have an explanation when he finds out, if he ever does,” Obi Wan says with a sigh, his soft smile still firmly in place as his thumb runs over her hand.
Satine blushes a little, her other hand coming to rest on top of his as well. She leans forward, and gives him a light kiss, sighing with content.
“Well, what will he sense? What can he actually feel? Or is it more specific than that, can he know more than just feelings?” She asks slowly, staring into his deep blue eyes. Obi Wan can't help the grin that came due to her kiss, and from what he can feel through the force, her love, her attention, her shining light.
“He’ll be able to sense that yes, my feelings, my love, my connection to you, and that is exactly what I can’t have him knowing, not yet at least,” he says with a light laugh, knowing his old master would probably be the most accepting of his relationship, right behind Anakin of course.
“Well, maybe you can tell him the truth, from a certain perspective,” She suggests laughing as she throws his words back at him, his favorite phrase when it comes to avoiding trouble with locals down below. He laughs along with her, kissing the back of her hand lightly as she leans back into her seat.
“It doesn’t work quite like that,” He says, shaking his head with a grin, and leans back into his own seat as well. After a moment, he reaches down and grabs his lightsaber, unclipping it from his belt and holding it out.
“A Jedi’s lightsaber is his life, I have a connection with it unlike anything else,” He says, using the force to lift it only a few inches above the palm of his hand vertically, slowly rotating it for her to see.
“I could close my eyes and still know every bump and edge of it, I could sense the singing of the crystal inside, and I can feel if anything has changed it, I’d sense if parts are missing or have been added, or if someone else has held it,” He says, his voice matching the same tone when he was teaching Anakin, explaining the same things.
Satines eyes moved between him and the hilt, captivated with the explanation he’s giving her. She leans forward once more, with her chin in her hand, a look of contemplation coming to her.
“My master is connected to me in a very similar way, he can sense if something in me has changed, what that change is, and he can put two and two together and figure out who caused that change,” Obi Wan says, his smile finally turning into a small frown thinking about it.
“Is there any way you can prevent him from sensing it?” She asks simply, her eyes glued to the hilt of his blade as it stays floating there in front of her, her eyes moving to him though as he nods his head.
“I can, but he’d know that as well, and ask me why, which would also lead to some difficult questions,” He says, letting his weapon float back into his hand. He holds it in his lap enjoying the feeling of freely having it again after such a long time.
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“Could you possibly alter what he senses, or possibly change how you feel to him,” She asks, leaning back into her chair again, swiping a hair out of her face and behind her ear as she does so. He shakes his head, laughing lightly.
“Oh no my dear, the only way he’d sense something different is if I feel differently, and that is quite impossible,” He says smiling at her lovingly.
“No, the only thing to do is to give him a reason that won’t get me into too much trouble,” He says. Her hand stroking her chin in imitation of him, a comfortable silence falling between the two as they try and think of a solution. After a few minutes, Satine suddenly smiles wide, an idea forming in her head as she grins at him.
“You said he’d feel a connection? An attachment to something? Can he feel what kind of attachment?” She asks. He grins as well, not having a clue as to what she’s thinking, but loving the thought process he can clearly see being laid out for him.
“Normally yes, but it shouldn’t be too hard to conceal the deeper meaning of my feelings, I can make it seem much smaller than it actually is,” He says.
“Well, didn’t you tell me that your master had a tendency to pick up pathetic life forms?” She asks teasingly, grinning at his look of embarrassment. A light blush comes to his cheeks, regretting the unfortunate words he’d used at this age.
“Whenever he gets the chance,” He says though, not quite liking what he thinks she's implying. Satine gives a light little shrug and looks out the window of the ship, staring down at her beautiful planet before looking back at him.
“Well, to me, it sounds like you just have to find a pet Ben,” She says laughing at the look of incredulousness. He shakes his head with disbelief as he looks at her, a confused smile planted on his face.
“How would a pet help me hide my feelings for you?” He asks, enjoying the slight uptick of her lips as he says he has feelings for her. She puts her hands in her lap and straightens up her back, ready for her turn of an explanation.
“You said that your master can feel your strong connection, your love for something, but you said he’d have to put it together that you have those feelings for me. So, all you need to do is pick up a pet and pretend that those feelings of love and connection are for it instead,” She says proudly.
“He can still sense my thoughts Satine, he’ll know if I think of you too strongly,” He says with a shake of his head. Satine waves that away though, not concerned at all.
“Then don’t think of me too strongly,” She says teasingly, her hand finding itself on his thigh, giving it a light squeeze before it goes back to lay on her arm rest. Obi Wan can't help a little scoff of disbelief, and a shake of his head as he smiles at her.
“How can I not?” He asks quietly, staring at her with love in his eyes. Satine stares right back looking at him with that same love, leaning forward she gives him another small kiss before standing from her chair.
“With lots of difficulty I imagine,” She says just as quietly. Obi Wan watches as she walks over to the door, stopping right before she leaves.
“There are a lot of great companions on Mandalore, lots of which are very easy to care for, and maybe once your mission is done, it’ll give you an excuse to come visit,” She says smiling over her shoulder before walking out, probably to make there evening meal, or possibly relax in the lounge.
Either way he didn’t stop her, knowing that she’s letting him think, and he can’t help but love her all the more for it. It’s as if she just knows what he needs, for everything, whether it’s being with him, or if it’s not to distract him with her beauty.
He shakes his head though, thinking that a pet is not going to work, it would most certainly get hurt, probably killed on this mission, and besides, he couldn’t divide his attention between it and her. She’d come first every single time.
The idea that he could have an excuse to love Mandalore, enough to visit was tempting though, the idea that he could talk about it all with the excuse that he once made a furry friend on the planet would be so remarkably simple.
It was also something that Qui Qon would probably believe as well, he could play it off as though he’s picking up his master's habits, just a little less floral and a little more animal. He’s always had a special connection with animals as well, it wouldn;t be too hard to tame something and have a bit of a friend.
“That’s an idea,” he suddenly thinks to himself, having a marvelous solution to this. He just needed something with a bit more teeth, he just needed to pick something a bit more scary looking.
“I can tame an animal friend, and I can train it to protect Satine. I could make the connection to cover my love for her, have a valid excuse as to why I kept an animal with us, and another protector for her, one that I could leave her with when I leave,” He thinks, loving the win-win-win scenario this has turned out to be.
He just loved her brilliant mind, and the solutions she comes up with, and how she looks, and just everything. He gives a sigh and looks back down at the planet. He swivels his chair back towards the forward position and starts flicking a few switches and pushing a few buttons, his hands going to the controls as the ship starts moving forward.
They needed to move on before they got caught by a hunter, they’d already been there long enough, hopefully not too long. The ship picks up speed as he blasts towards the darker side of the planet, picking a random destination in his navi computer to help him decide.
He flies for about twenty minutes, staying far enough away from any sort of scanner from the planet's detection, and stops above what looks to be a small city. It’s only lights of course from this distance but he really can't help but admire it, just as he had the larger cities, and the natural beauty that came with them all.
He sets the ship on an automatic hover and gets out of his seat with another content sigh, his hands moving behind his back as he walks out of the cockpit, intending to stretch his legs a little before going to bed. He walks the dark halls of the ship, stretching out with the force as he goes, and feels Satine in the makeshift living space they’d created in the small hangar in the back.
With a smile he keeps walking, down a curve and into that very hanger, lit with flimsy overhead lights and colorful lamps that they'd acquired at the markets. Satine was sitting on the lone couch in the middle of the room.
He could still remember the trouble he’d gone through to get it into the ship, without the help of the force, and without being caught by anyone. It was worth it though, to see her happy, even all those years ago.
She’s laying on her back, her datapad clutched in her hands lightly as she reads through her normal reports coming from her people in the capital, running the planet the best she can while on the run. She looks away from the screen, hearing him coming in by the sounds of his steps.
“Are you done brooding?” She asks with a small laugh, looking back at her work, continuing to scroll through updates on what's been happening while she's been away. Obi Wan laughs with her and walks over to the couch, gently using the force to lift her feet, and taking a seat before laying them back down in his lap.
“I didn’t even get a chance to start, you came and solved my problems too quickly,” He said, making her laugh again as she laid her data pad on her lap. With a small smile she swings her legs off of him and scoots to his end of the couch, wanting to sit next to him. In a moment, he wraps his arm around her shoulder and lays back against the couch, with her in his arms.
She sighs with content, her eyes closing as she lets the work she'd been doing fall to the floor, her arms wrapping around his waist as her head rests on his chest, feeling his warmth even in this cold ship.
“Let's take a nap Ben before more trouble comes knocking,” She says quietly, wanting to enjoy this moment while they can. Obi Wan nods his head, his chin resting on the top of hers as his eyes close as well.
Even though his sleep has still been plagued with the nightmares of the past these last few nights, he still smiles knowing that he gets to wake up to his new reality. Which will be even better this time when he finds her in his arms again. They slowly drift off to that sleep, relaxed, still worried for their people and responsibilities, but able to enjoy this gift.
Their eye’s snap open though, when the ship rocks, the sound of an explosion impacting the hull.