So hi guys. I love that I still get reviews for this story and people are still adding it onto their favorites or follows. You all are so awesome :D
This is some random stuff I came up with when I was at work tonight because I was bored. Some of what I said here is taken from other places and I'll credit those places below (don't worry, I haven't stolen anyone else's fanfic stuff, I just used quotes and something from a book I read totally unrelated to Star Wars).
At first, Satine paid more attention to Qui-Gon than Obi-Wan, because Qui-Gon was certainly the leader, or the "master," of the two. At first, Satine saw no difference in the two at all. Over time, she came to realize that Obi-Wan was more uptight than Qui-Gon was and he required more time spent alone than his master. It was very easy to overlook Obi-Wan. He never smiled and he seemed comfortable being the lesser of the two. She wanted to know his age and guessed he was between sixteen and eighteen, though she wasn't sure.
Satine found herself alone with Obi-Wan one night. They were around a campfire. Qui-Gon was guarding the permitter. Satine had never had a conversation with Obi-Wan alone. He was staring ahead at the flames.
"Obi-Wan, what is the Force?"
He blinked and turned his gaze toward her. "What?"
"What is the Force that you and Qui-Gon are always talking about?"
Obi-Wan blinked again. An emotion crossed his face. Perplexity. "It's... well... it's the Force. It's what binds us and gives us life. Makes things grow and change."
"And what is the will of the Force? What does that refer to?"
"The will of the Force... dictates what will happen. Everything that happens is the will of the Force. What does not happen was not meant to happen. For instance, it was the will of the Force that you became the leader of Mandalore. The Force always wins."
"So the will of the Force is like fate or destiny."
"I guess you could put it that way."
"If the will of the Force always wins, why do anything at all? Why help me? If I'm meant to rule over Mandalore, it will happen on its own."
Obi-Wan shook his head. "The Force acts through Qui-Gon and I. It acts through you. You, Qui-Gon, and I were meant to come together."
"So it was destiny that you and I are sitting around this campfire now?"
"Yes."
"What about just chance?"
"There is no such thing as chance," Obi-Wan explained as he grabbed a leaf and started tearing it, "and what seems to us as merest accident springs from the deepest source of destiny."
"You have a good head on your shoulders, Obi-Wan. I don't personally believe in destiny, or the will of the Force, but you obviously hold strong convictions."
Obi-Wan almost blushed and said, "So do you."
When the conversation stopped, Obi-Wan stopped tearing leaves for a few minutes. Then he grabbed more leaves from behind him and said, "When did you decide you wanted to lead Mandalore?"
"When I was eight."
"And... don't take this personally, but how old are you? Because you look really young," he added hurriedly, as if he was afraid asking would offend her.
She considered lying to make herself older, but she admitted, "I'm sixteen... And yourself?"
"Seventeen." He said this as if he was not happy about it.
"So what does 'padawan' mean?"
"It means I'm a learner. I'm not really a Jedi Knight yet."
This surprised her. "When do you become a Jedi Knight?"
"When the Council thinks I am ready."
"You seem ready to me."
For the first time, Satine saw Obi-Wan smile and it made her smile as well. He uncrossed his legs and recrossed them again differently. "The Council wouldn't agree. Let's just say they don't have much faith in my abilities. I almost never became a padawan. Qui-Gon took me at the last minute. Long story. I'm fortunate enough to be a padawan and I do not mind it."
Silence fell over them.
"What's the scariest thing that's ever happened to you?" Satine asked out of thin air.
"Jedi don't feel fear."
"Don't be ridiculous. Everyone feels fear. Even animals feel fear under the right conditions."
"Why are you asking me this?"
"We're around a campfire."
He looked at her with a blank expression.
"It's the will of the Force to tell scary stories around a campfire. Everybody knows this."
"It sounds funny when you say 'the will of the Force,'" he said bemusedly. "What's the scariest thing that ever happened to you then?"
She racked her brain. "Well, my older sister used to read this book to me at night when her friends were sleeping over. They gave me nightmares. Like there was this one story where a girl was lying in bed and she heard this voice calling to her. It told her it was coming up the stairs. It talked to her on its way up the stairs. Then she heard it say it was right outside her bedroom. And then it was in her room. And then it screamed 'I've got you!' and the girl screamed. Her parents came in, but found nothing. I used to think I was hearing a voice telling me it was coming for me at night."
Obi-Wan said nothing for a moment and then he burst out laughing. She had never heard him laugh before.
"So non-Jedi children are afraid of things that don't exist?" he finally managed to say.
"All children are afraid of things that don't exist. Haven't you ever heard of the monster under your bed?"
"A monster under my bed?"
"Yes, all children cry out for their parents at night saying there's a monster under their bed."
Obi-Wan became silent as he considered this. Then he said, "What do the parents say?"
"Well, they look under the bed of course," Satine explained. "And they say there's nothing there."
"That's not what I would do," Obi-Wan announced after another moment of silence.
"And what would you do?"
Grinning to himself, he said, "I would tell them that there was a monster under their bed, and if they ever misbehaved again, I would let it kill them."
It was Satine's turn to laugh. "That is the most demented, evilest thing I've ever heard my life!"
"What is?"
Both Satine and Obi-Wan stopped laughing and looked over in the direction of Qui-Gon's voice. He was walking out of the woods into the clearing.
"Nothing, Master," Obi-Wan said swiftly. "What is wrong?"
"We need to move," Qui-Gon said without preamble. "Now. On your feet. Put the fire out."
As Obi-Wan sat and watched the hologram of the Mandalorian attack on one of their Republic cruisers, he couldn't help but think about Satine. He had not thought of her since he learned that she was delegated leader of the Council of Neutral Systems. He heard about it on Holonet. He knew his own name was on Holonet all the time along with Anakin's, and he had to wonder if Satine had ever heard about him.
"The Mandalorian's may be raising up an army to fight with the Separatists," Obi-Wan faintly heard Mace Windu say.
"She's not," Obi-wan cut in. "Duchess Satine Kryze, I mean."
"How do you know?" Mace said as politely as possible.
"Assigned to protect the Duchess years ago, Obi-Wan was," Yoda interjected. "Still a padawan then, he was. Spent a year there, did you not, Obi-wan?"
"About that, I don't remember how many months now," he lied.
"Well, if he knows her personally, why don't we send Obi-Wan to investigate," Plo Koon suggested.
Obi-Wan felt like cold ice was trickling down his spine at the very thought of facing Satine again. "No, really, it's not necessary, this was a unrelated incident and -"
"Why would you not want to go?" Mace shot at him.
"I'm... I'm biased. Satine and I were friends."
"Put aside your feelings, you must, Obi-Wan," Yoda told him with an all-too-knowingly glare. "Important, this is. The best candidate, you are."
Obi-Wan swallowed and decided he really did not have any choice. Obi-Wan watched as Yoda contacted Satine. Thankfully, Satine could not see Obi-Wan from where he was sitting.
"I do not appreciate being treated as if I have to answer to the Republic, Master Yoda," her heard her say forcefully and without any hesitation. "I am not encroaching into your affairs, you are. If the Republic insists that Mandalore is a threat and wants to investigate this ridiculous claim, very well, but you will do so on the time that is convenient to me."
She sounded exactly as he had remembered.
"And what Jedi should I be expecting?" she asked Yoda after they had agreed to a time.
"Master Obi-Wan Kenobi."
Obi-Wan bit his lower lip and sat in a very uncomfortable silence as Satine tried to ingest this news.
"Very well," she said finally, and swiftly cut off the transmission.
Obi-Wan let out a breath he did not realize he was holding.
The meeting adjourned and Obi-Wan walked to his quarters with his head feeling far too light. When he stepped inside, he saw that Anakin was sitting on his couch eating his cereal as if he owned the place.
"So, where are we going?" Anakin asked with his mouth full.
"Who said we were going anywhere?"
"You've been assigned a mission, right?"
Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. "Yes, I was assigned a mission, not you and I."
"Oh, come on," Anakin insisted. "You're going to Mandalore, aren't you? Because of that security hologram you told me about?"
"Yes, I'm going to Mandalore. And you are going to stay here."
"I want to go. Have you ever seen that Satine Kryze on Holonet? The leader of the Council of Neutral Systems? Because she's kind of good-looking. For a person who, like you, isn't in her twenties anymore, I mean. And it's kind of cool because she's a Mandalorian and the Jedi have fought with them across history. Like forbidden romance or something."
Obi-Wan brought a hand to his forehead. "Right," he mumbled. "I'm going alone. If I need something, I'll contact you. Now get out."
The spoon clanked in the bowl and Anakin positively whined, "Why?"
"Because I want to think by myself."
Anakin rolled his eyes, got up, put the bowl in the sink without washing it, and walked out the door.
That night after Satine learned she would be seeing Obi-Wan again, she cruised on Holonet for hours reading about the famous duo known as Kenobi-Skywalker. He was even known as General Kenobi. That killed her. General Kenobi. He was supposed to be a peacekeeper. They also called him "The Negotiator" because "he would rather talk than fight." The whole thing was preposterous. He was a general of the highest rank. He caused fighting. He caused death. Yet they said he would rather talk than fight.
As she watched snippet after snippet about him, she tried to work up anger. She tried to hate him. Anxiety chewed at her insides at the thought of speaking with him. She told herself she hated him, not because he left her behind, but because he became a soldier.
Should she pretend she didn't know him or would that make things even more awkward? What if he decided to pretend he didn't know her? The night before he and Qui-Gon departed, he had held her close all night and they said nothing. They had never really said goodbye. How do you function in an official manner with someone you shared that with? How could she swallow down all her emotions and questions and stick strictly to business?
She turned off Holonet and stared at the blank screen. She was absolutely sure she would lose her mind before this was all over.
Stuff I took from other places:
1. "There is no such thing as chance; and what seems to us as merest accident springs from the deepest source of destiny." This was spoken by Friedrich Schiller.
2. The scary story Satine refers to is a story taken from the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series.
3. Obi-Wan's creative way to keep children in line by telling them there is indeed a monster under the bed came from a cartoon that I saw on facebook that made me laugh.
I love you guys and I hoped you enjoyed!