The False Handmaiden

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars which includes the movies (characters, dialogue, story arcs, love interests, lightsabers, and etc.), TV shows, cartoons, comic books or etc. I also don't own any other book, movie, song, character or etc. I may have mentioned along the way. I just so happened to use it for nonprofit able fun in my spare time.

Author's Note: Unless otherwise specified, I am ignoring Obi-Wan's other love interests (Siri Tachi, Satine Kryze, Sabe and etc.). I love reading about each of them but at the moment they don't matter and we are just going to pretend none of that happened or could have happened.

Chapter 1 – His Heart Lies With Naboo

A pair of feet clad in well-worn brown leather boots hung through the railing of a balcony at the Jedi Temple. The feet swung at the same beat as the fists that beat into the balcony ground, thudding lightly against the ground. Plain tan and brown fabric gather at the wrists above the fists, leading to plain robes that the figure was cloaked in, worn with the same amount of love as the boots, hiding their body. The hood of the chocolate brown cloak concealed their face from the bright light of the setting sun, only a long braided brown rope of hair visible from under the hood.

"Pria!"

The figure stopped pounding her fists and pushed off her chocolate hood. Her white-blue eyes flashed as she turned, ignoring the dark wisps of hair that fell into her face, a sun-kissed teak color skin except for the glowing white scar beneath her right eye. She had gotten it at age thirteen, only a year after she had been brought to the Jedi Temple by her current master, during some training that involved two sharp rods and a fellow padawan a few years older than she named Obi-Wan Kenobi. It had bled a lot and she'd been in shock for almost thirty seconds while he'd apologizing to her, making a fuss.

They'd been friends ever since.

A fourteen-year-old Pria huffed as she walked beside an Obi-Wan Kenobi, five years her senior, moving through the halls of the Jedi Temple. The two of them moved through the halls in companionable silence, both glad to have finally returned home after a busy past month. They were looking forward to enjoying spending time at home and with each other, being padawans who rarely had time to themselves.

The limp she had acquired from her latest mission with her master, joined by Jedi Master Quin-Gon Jinn and Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi. It was barely noticeable except for the occasional hop-skip-and-a-jump she had to make to keep up with him.

"Ben! Would you please slow down?"

Pria almost tripped when Obi-Wan stopped, crossing his arms over his chest as his handsome face looked down at her. A bit of his annoyance tugged at his eyes but she couldn't help but smile up at him. Ben was a name he thoroughly hated being called. She couldn't remember when it had started exactly but it had been something that stuck. The only time she didn't use the name was when they were among others or when she was terribly cross about something.

"My name is Obi-Wan," Obi-Wan frowned at her. "Not Ben. You should not change it,"

Pria mirrored his expression back at him. "I am not changing your name, Obi-Wan. I am simply giving you another,"

Obi-Wan sighed, walking away from her to leave her to catch up with him. "Wouldn't that just be a nickname?" Obi-Wan challenged, crossing his arms beneath his robes.

Pria scrunched her nose and waved away his words. "Nicknames are names you fondly give to someone you've grown attached to. That will never do for the Jedi Order. This instance is more alike with my own name-"

"Priamonapreska Zabini?"

Pria frowned at him to display to him just how much she enjoyed hearing her whole name used in conversation. "Exactly. People have taken to calling me Pria and yet it is not my name,"

"But it is for the sake of time,"

"It is the same for me," Pria joked. "Obi-Wan Kenobi is too long,"

"You will not call me Ben,"

Pria smiled and continued to walk beside him in companionable silence, still with her hop-skip-and-jump. This was an argument they'd had many a time before and it always ended the same way. He would tell her to stop calling her Ben, she would agree and then turn around and call him Ben again. It was partially the fourteen-year-old wanting to pester the older padawan and partially from the habit that had formed around calling him Ben. She could not stop even if she wanted to.

"I will not call you Ben… for the rest of the day,"

Obi-Wan took a deep breath and let his annoyance go.

Pria was no longer a fourteen-year-old padawan, the same way Obi-Wan was no longer a nineteen-year-old padawan. However, the two were still close friends and she still insisted on calling him Ben now and again. Both Master Jinn and Master Kentanu found it humorous.

Pria was born on Naboo to a wealthy woman and an off world trader. Once her mother died a few years after Pria was born, her father took her off world to travel with him through the galaxy despite the constant tension during this time. She was found by a Jedi Master and taken from her father to join the Jedi Order because of her high midi-clorian count and sensitivity to the Force.

As a youngling, Pria trained under Grand Master Yoda alongside other Jedi hopefuls of her age and then later was placed into a clan under the tutelage of Jedi Master Shaak Ti. She learned everything she could possibly need to become a padawan for a Jedi Master. She learned the ways of the Jedi, how to meditate, how to use the Force, how to wield a lightsaber. As a youngling, Pria had been one that many of the Jedi kept their eyes on. They had expected her to become a powerful Jedi Master as she grew up and learned the ways of the Force. However, it hadn't worked at nearly so easily for her.

Though Pria was always very Force sensitive, her skills were always hindered by her clumsiness and impatience. Where most younglings were gently levitating objects across a room or carefully deconstructing and reconstructing their lightsabers, Pria could do none of that. Pria on the other hand, could only accomplish other large feats like clear whole rooms of heavy objects or levitate very clan members. The ability to do anything meticulous or delicate with the force was almost entirely out of the question for her.

Her lightsaber skills were also in question. Where her technique and practices were always good and precise; her sparing left much to be desired. It was as if having a person placed in front of her made her clumsy and confused, which is not what one would want out in the field.

If her skills as a Jedi weren't hindering enough, Pria wasn't the most obedient youngling. Pria was always very verbal and opinionated when it came to the Jedi teachings. She always felt the need to ask questions about what the Jedi Masters were teaching her. She always had constant questions and was having arguments against the Jedi Code's interpretations.

It was odd for Jedi younglings to be so opinionated against the teachings and she always felt out of place among the Jedi when she was young. Many of her mentors chided her for her disobedience and curiosity about things that were against the Jedi teachings. Other Jedi Masters however, found it intriguing to have a youngling that was mindful of what they were told but few ended up making them their padawan.

Despite all of this, Pria was a knowledgeable and quick learning, reserved Jedi learner but it didn't help her as she came of age to be picked as a padawan. By the age of twelve, whereas all of the younglings in her clan had been picked to become padawans under a Jedi Knight, she had not. Younglings who weren't selected to be padawans by the age of thirteen were shifted into one of the divisions of the Jedi Service Corps. Pria was all but resigned to her fate when Jedi Knight Mordoe Kentanu, a Miraluka Jedi Knight, decided to take her as his first padawan learner.

A twelve-year-old Pria sat in one of the empty meditation rooms, her legs crossed and her hands resting on her knees, her eyes closed and her face calm as she meditated. Slowly, her and a small puzzle rose off the ground until she was in the very center of the room, the small box puzzle hovering a few feet from her. As time went by and she became more and more relaxed and in tune with the Force, the puzzle began to separate until all of the pieces hung around her.

The doors slid open with a hiss, causing her eyebrows to furrow.

When there was no sound except for the hiss of the doors closing again, she reached out through the Force and sensed a Force sensitive Jedi standing to her left.

"You are both Force sensitive and strong I see,"

Pria opened her eyes and looked over at the Jedi. He was in robes similar to hers except they were blue and much closer fitting than hers were. By the look of him, he was a Near-Human, sandy-brown hair sweeping to his shoulders, pale skin freckled over his cheekbones. The only strange thing about him was the decorative blindfold over his eyes.

"I've heard of the Miraluka," Pria told him matter-of-factly. "You do not have eyes,"

"And yet we can still see… with the help of the Force,"

Pria nodded though she knew he could not see it. She turned away from him and closed her eyes again, trying to fall back into her trance again to see if she could put the puzzle back together without squishing it like she did with all the others. With a great deal of concentration- forty-minutes' worth- she had repeated her previous failures. She frowned as she lowered herself to her feet, levitating the mass of steel into her hand with a sigh.

"What is your name, youngling?"

Pria turned to the Miraluka Jedi Knight still standing to her left. "Padawan Priamonapreska Zabini, Master Jedi,"

The side of his mouth twitched as he crossed his arms. "That is a mouthful,"

"Everyone has taken to calling me Pria,"

He nodded. "Has someone taken you to be their apprentice, Pria?"

Pria ducked her head, hiding the ball of metal behind her back. "No, Master Jedi. I'm the only one in my clan not to be. I am clumsy, unfocused, inquisitive and curious. I'll be sent to the Jedi Service Corps soon I think. I don't want to though…"

"I see," the Jedi said thoughtfully, touching his chin with a finger. "Then I should make you my padawan then,"

Pria looked up at him in shock, it radiated off of her like light from a lightsaber.

"Would you mind being my padawan?"

"I would be thankful to you, Master Jedi. I promise to work hard. I will not fail you and you will not regret choosing me,"

"I know I will not,"

Now, Pria was a young twenty-year-old woman, still a padawan under Jedi Knight Kentanu and as he stepped out onto the balcony that she was currently sitting on, he smiled fondly. Even though she wasn't the ideal padawan, she was his first padawan learner and he cared for her deeply.

"Come, my padawan. We are going to Naboo,"

Pria smiled and jumped up, using the Force to pull her legs through the railing and to bring herself up to a standing position in one motion. "Really?"

He nodded.

Pria eyed him for a moment, suspicious. "Is it because you have a mission that you can bring me along on or is it because of her?"

Master Kentanu frowned at her. "I would not know what you are talking about,"

Pria crossed her arms over her chest and cocked a hip. "I've been by your side for almost ten years, Master. Whenever we visit Naboo, we end up seeing her and it is not by accident. Your face turns toward her when she walks into a room, your conversation lasts longer with her than with others, your hand lingers on hers. And don't think that I'm so blind as to not sense your feelings for her through the Force whenever she is around. You practically light up like a lightsaber,"

His frown deepened.

"Why don't you tell her?"

Master Kentanu rubbed a hand over his face, pulling a bit at his eye mask that covered his eyeless eye sockets. "You know our teachings, Pria. A Jedi shall not know anger, nor hatred, nor-"

"Love," Pria finished with a sigh. "I still disagree. Love should be known to Jedi's or else we become unfeeling and cruel. We must know these emotions or else fall victim to them in ways that we are taught not to. How am I supposed to not hate when I've never felt it coursing through my veins? It is necessary for us to feel,"

Pria sighed. This was an old debate that she mostly had with herself nowadays, regardless if there was anyone there to hear it.

"The Jedi are supposed to have compassion for all, does that not mean that we love all?"

Master Kentanu frowned at her. She could sense his conflict inside him as he tried to remain true to the Jedi Code. However, he could not fight the fact that he himself was in love with someone, he loved her with all his heart.

"Compassion and love are not the same, my padawan," he tried to explain to her. "Compassion is for all and is pure in its intentions. Love is more specific and is not always so pure despite what some might say. Love leads to jealousy which leads to greed which leads to anger and hatred which leads to the Dark Side. Love can also lead to loss of that loved one which can lead to pain and anger which can lead to the Dark Side,"

"Resisting love can also lead to hatred of the Jedi Order for stopping you from being in love or at least anger towards them," Pria challenged. "I think refusing love- not knowing it- can cause more harm than just excepting and living,"

"It is not our place to interpret the Jedi Code, my young padawan. We leave that to the Council and the philosophers,"

"So you are saying that I should follow anything blindly just because it is deemed right?"

Her master let out a long breath as he rubbed a hand over his face again. "No. You know that the way of the Jedi is to search for peace and serenity, to uphold order throughout the galaxy, protect those people who cannot protect themselves, and maintain balance in the Force. To be Jedi, we do not know emotion, we know serenity,"

Pria mirrored the frown he so often wore. "How can it be wrong to love? It is like ignoring the best of your skills because it might lead to pride,"

Master Kentanu's face broke into a smile. "Ah, dear Pria. Your questions and insights could possibly even shake Grand Master Yoda's beliefs in the Jedi and our Codes,"

Pria blushed against her will.

"Come, my padawan. Let us take our leave of here,"