Title: He Kissed My Ankle makes silly face
Archive: Sure, just ask and give me a link.
A/N: This is a sequel of sorts to another story, Forbidden, which can be found by clicking on my name, but it does stand alone.
Feedback: I am not ashamed to beg. ;)
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I fell in love with him when he kissed my ankle.
Yes, I know it sounds weird, but it's true. Let me explain.
Telgar 6 is a rocky place. While certainly not as bad as some places I had been over my travels as a Jedi, it was bad enough that I had to release my feelings of ambivalence to the Force. Good example to the young ones and all that.
We were sent to help a group of settlers evacuate to a higher place. When the settlers – a group of human and Devonrians – came to the planet, they were not aware that it had regular flooding seasons every eight years. The company that had scouted the planet, which was located on the Outer Rim, had not done a thorough enough job and had released the planet for settlement long before it should have. But the settlers were desperate to make a home of their own, I suppose, even a place with such rocky mountains. They settled in an empty basin that hadn't received any rain for years.
Eight years, to be precise. The nearby river, once convenient, became a threat when the colonists realized what was going to happen. Fortunately the colonists had managed to scrounge up the money for a satellite, or this planet and its people would have been just another tragedy. The council that ruled the small mining town asked for Jedi help to organize the evacuation to higher ground.
Organizing the evacuation wasn't as difficult as I would have expected. The colonists were practical minded people, and were willing to bring along only the necessities of survival. In the end, we chose to have the heavy equipment and supplies that they needed driven up by landspeeder to higher ground. The people would have to walk, and would go in two droves, one Jedi team – a Master and Padawan – leading each time. I led the first time, and the other Jedi team led the second time. So I decided to watch for any stragglers who didn't go up with the last group. All very reasonable.
However, even Jedi Knights aren't immune to attacks of stupidity.
Anyway, feeling I was capable of dealing with any stragglers, I sent my Padawan with the other Jedi pair, who were guiding the last group up the mountain. I watched his golden brown head bob away and felt that I was doing the right thing. We had cut the evacuation schedule closer than we had planned, and I wanted him to be safe. I was also perfectly capable of dealing with any people left behind on my own.
After finding no stragglers, I guess it figures that I sprained my ankle on the way up to the temporary settlement.
Of course, it was my fault. Not wanting to take the long, winding path up the mountain, I decided to test my climbing skills and admire the view in private. Telgar 6's mountain vistas were something to see, beautiful and unique. If there is one thing that I have learned from the nomadic life of a Jedi, it's that there is always something you haven't seen. Telgar was a stark landscape, full of harsh edges in shades of gray, with a few sweeping plains in the distance. I admired it for a moment, then reached up for another rock, shifting one of my feet.
The thing about the Force and its warnings is that you aren't always touching it. The awareness isn't always constant and complete, even for Jedi Knights. And in that moment, in the beauty of my surroundings, I had let my awareness slip.
And my foot.
No longer having a firm base, I came crashing down, tumbling at least a few meters. The sharp rocks cut into my skin and realizing my inability to stop myself, I went limp rather than cause myself further harm. Finally, my impulsive travel to the bottom of the mountain stopped. I hadn't gone very far, I noticed, perhaps fifteen meters total.
Sighing at myself, I examined the state of affairs. I had numerous cuts in my brown, leather unisuit that I always wore instead of Jedi robes. My own little way of rebellion, I suppose. I knew the Jedi Council didn't approve of it – or my attitude, at times.
My skull wasn't cracked, thankfully. I checked for blood, and found none in my blond hair. It did feel a bit tender, though.
Finally, I turned my attention to the part that was painfully asking for it. My ankle. It was lodged beneath a heavier rock, loosened in my fall. Hissing, I nudged the thing of me. It was about the size of man's head. I carefully felt through the Force to see how badly I had hurt my ankle.
"Siri?" a familiar voice called out.
For a second I hoped it was my Padawan – my wonderful, talented Padawan Ferus – but no. It was Obi-Wan Kenobi, the other Jedi on this mission. I had known him since the both of us were just Padawans. We had been rivals, actually. Didn't get along terribly well. Of course, we were young then. It's just friendly banter now.
Mostly.
"I'm here," I called out, giving in to the practical, Jedi part of me.
I heard some rocks shifting, and then he was coming around the corner. He gave me a concerned look, and quickly stepped closer. Trying not to muse on my injured – and somewhat embarrassingly so – state, I focused on him.
Ginger hair. Beard. Blue-gray eyes. Stern expression – like he was chastising me. I gave him a half-hearted glare.
His mouth shot up into a smile and the corners of his eyes crinkled. Yes, Anakin Skywalker had definitely given his poor Master lots of trouble, I noted as I saw the fine lines. His eyes laughed, but wisely he didn't say anything. Instead he gracefully stepped over to my side and knelt, shifting his robe out of the way.
"Are you hurt anywhere?" he asked, giving my cuts and bruises a quick glance and then dismissing them as inconsequential. He touched my shoulder.
"My right ankle. I think I can walk on it, if you help me," I offered. He glanced up at me, then looked at my ankle. I held out a hand so he could help me to my feet.
"No, we had better take off the boot first," he replied, a thoughtful expression on his face. He stroked his beard, then scrambled on the sharp pebbles I was sitting on, moving to my feet.
I sighed, letting my hand fall. "I would prefer to have this dealt with sooner rather than later. Can we get moving to where they actually have medical supplies?" I snapped. "Why are you here, anyway? I thought you were guiding the last group in." I was irritated at him, but I'm not sure why. Chivalry irritates me, I suppose. And Obi-Wan is definitely chivalrous. Even though I know he respects me as a Jedi and would never let that influence his personal feelings, he still manages to act that way.
"I was," Obi-Wan replied mildly, giving me a mild look of almost rebuke. Mild, that's Obi-Wan. Ever since he temporarily left the Jedi Order on Melida/Daan, he's tried to be the perfect Jedi. "I felt the Force call me here," he added.
I sighed again, at myself this time.
He gingerly touched my ankle, and I flinched, letting out a hiss.
"Sorry," he said.
"Just get on with it," I snapped. I knew he should take it off, it would only be more difficult later when it swelled up, but I wanted it over and done. Quit coddling, I wanted to say.
"Sorry," he said again. Then he grabbed the heel and toe of my boot and pulled. Hard.
I had prepared myself for it, braced myself with the Force, but it still hurt. I think I made some kind of faint noise, but I would rather not recall if I did or not. I felt the cool mountain air hit my ankle, and let out sigh of relief.
"You couldn't have been gentler?" I snapped, more out of irritation than lingering pain. Never let it be said that Jedi don't ever allow our emotions to influence our actions. Jedi are definitely not perfect, nor all seeing. Not that I would change this.
He gave a look of exasperation that quickly gentled to one of amusement. "Were you expecting me to kiss it to make the hurt go away?" he teased, nearly grinning. Then, before I could even react that to that uncommonly light statement – especially for the ever reserved Obi-Wan – he leaned down and kissed my ankle.
It was a feather light touch, just a passing of his warm lips across my sweaty, starting to swell ankle. Then he glanced up at me, from his position at my feet, and gave me a slight, amused smile, with perhaps a touch of embarrassment over his impulsive action.
And I knew I loved him, simple as that. It wasn't like a blinding realization – I just knew. It felt startling right – like something within had settled into the spot it was always meant to be. It felt right.
It felt wonderful.
He stood and came to my side again when I just gave him the best neutral look I could manage, taking hold of one of my arms. I leaned my weight against him, and lifted myself with my good foot. He wrapped one arm around my waist after I stood, and grabbed my boot. I put my arm on his shoulders, and let his strength carry most of my weight.
Then we began the walk up.
I didn't say much, still analyzing what I felt. If he ever sensed what I was feeling, he didn't give a sign. I just leaned against his shoulder and breathed his scent in. I smelled sweat and a masculine smell I didn't normally associate with Obi-Wan. Sometimes I still pictured him as the boy I had known, who was so eager to please his Master, instead of the reserved and dedicated Jedi Knight I knew him to be now.
The love I felt was a strange thing. Overpowering, like nothing I had ever known. I had thought that nothing could be stronger than the Force, nothing could affect me as it did. I was wrong. Love is so much different from the Force – it doesn't calm and soothe, it excites and changes. The Force is always the same. Love doesn't seem to be that way, not for me. I can feel it moving in me, wild and chaotic.
Yet it wasn't a bad feeling at all. It wasn't like something truly uncontrolled, it simply seemed like that attitude never even came into it. I felt energized, like some part of me was now complete and I didn't have to compensate for that missing hole anymore.
I loved that feeling. Simply experiencing it was – a gift.
I had always been an aggressive person, though it was sometimes hidden beneath Jedi calm. I preferred action over dialogue. Very much like Obi-Wan, as well, in some respects. Very rule-bound and reserved, or at least I used to be. My two-year undercover mission changed that. I didn't have to act like a Jedi then; I couldn't act like a Jedi. And in doing so I learned that some impulses and feelings are to be cherished, not folded beneath studied calm. Obi-Wan, though, cherished that way still.
That aura of calm – and that utter dedication to good and the Jedi Order that I knew lay beneath it – was one of things I loved about him, I realized.
I could never tell him how I felt. I could not burden him that way, could not force him to decide whether or not tell the Council. I would not do that to him. How can a person hurt who they love? Love was forbidden for us. I have always known that. I accept it.
Even now.
So instead of professing my newfound feelings, I was silent. I curled up against Obi-Wan – for the support, one could assume – and breathed in the scent of him. And I let my love lie inside of me, to exist as it may. I would hold it inside, and that feeling of completeness would be enough.
And oddly, for the smallest of moments, I thought I felt the whisper of a kiss on my head.