Chapter Ten: J
J is for Juggling
Obi-Wan Kenobi never knew a little thing like juggling could open up a whole new world between him and Elanor.
It happened the morning he goes to wake up Elanor early so that they could do their regular practice session. They do it every morning now that she is fully healed – warm-up and then the running through of katas and then meditation for a cool down and then, finally, breakfast.
She woke the second his hand touched her shoulder, and at first she is confused; he has never woken her before. Usually he waits for her to join him outside.
But she does not ask any questions, and within a few minutes, she is ready.
When they are finally outside, after the warm-up, he draws his lightsaber and drops the surprise – he challenges her to a duel.
She is startled, and for a second, he can see how the instincts return and she nearly backs away. But then her Jedi mindset kicks in, and as he swirls his lightsaber through the opening salute, she responds by activating her own and sinking into a defensive opening stance.
He attacks first, throwing a blindingly fast array of quick stabs and lunges.
She parries madly, her blade flickering as she whirls out of reach. She deflects most of his jabs and avoids the rest, using her smaller and swifter form as her advantage to combat his experience and strength.
He gives her an approving nod as she skillfully avoids yet another lunge and flips over him, startling him with a new angle of attack. He allows her to use that as a way to go on the offense while he takes the defensive.
Her offense – while exemplary due to her employment of Makashi, which is hard for him to fight – is still not as good as her defense, and after a few minutes, he goes back on the offensive.
He increases the speed and power and unpredictably of his strikes, showing a hint of his true skills for a moment to test her.
She meets the challenge, but barely.
She misjudges the power behind one of his blows that she chooses to block directly and not parry or guide slanting away – a bad decision. She cannot match him for strength, which is the purpose of a block, and yet she tries.
The mistake costs her.
The blow forces her lightsaber down and disrupts her rhythm and concentration. It is only three blows later that he gets her completely off balance and his next blow send her lightsaber flying from her hand.
He deactivates his blade and gives her an approving smile. She is talented, and although she has flaws, so did they all. After all, he has a lot more experience than her. However, he makes a point to warn her about underestimating opponents.
She accepts the statement gracefully – or so he thinks.
It isn't until they are both back inside the hut and he is stretching out again that he realizes that he made the very same mistake he warned her against.
Because he turns just in time see a pillow flying straight for his face.
Instinctively, he reaches out with the Force and stops it centimeters from his nose. He glares around at her. She is pouting that she failed, while he wonders how he didn't sense it coming.
But he has no time to linger on those thoughts, because she chucks another pillow at him.
And another.
And another.
And another.
Pretty soon, he is juggling – with the Force – at least nine pillows. He juggles them because he needs to split his attention between ducking or stopping her throws and keeping the pillows levitated so she can't get them back and keep chucking them. So he tosses them up and sends them up and around instead of simply holding them.
Finally, she grows tired – or maybe she ran out of pillows.
In any case, she leaps towards him, whirling into a side kick that would sink into his ribs and distract him, making everything fall on his head.
Anticipating it, he reaches out, intercepts the kick, and swiftly turns it, adding just enough momentum so that instead of kicking him, the kick brushes across his torso as she turns suddenly due to his grip. As she falls, though, she surprises him yet again by scissoring his legs with hers so that he falls anyways.
He hits the floor, stunned, and only belatedly registers that she has fallen on top of him.
As he looks up into her face – her emerald eyes full of a mixture of surprise and mischievousness; her long gold-brown hair falling in a curtain around her face – he feels stunned as strange feeling suddenly flares within him.
Obi-Wan Kenobi never expected juggling might lead to something quite like this.
J is for Juncture
Elanor is at a juncture.
She did not expect Master Kenobi to start juggling the pillows. She also did not expect him to counter her kick – but at least she got revenge by making him fall as well.
There was only one drawback – she still fell.
On top of him.
His heart pounds wildly beneath her hands, and his blue-green eyes express a stunned emotion that seems so youthful that she is tempted to laugh. He seems, for a moment, her own age, as they recover, their legs tangled, their arms bracing the other away from them, their eyes locked in a mixture of surprise and something else she can't quite identify.
But then the moment is broken, and she rolls off of him.
Because he is not her own age, and because he is still a Jedi Master while she is only a Padawan.
She senses him sit up slowly, rubbing at his head. And then she hears him laugh.
She looks up sharply, startled by his reaction. His eyes are filled with mirth, and he teases her about failing to hit him with any of the pillows.
She looks around and realizes that he is saying the truth – despite the fact that he fell and he lost his concentration, none of the pillows hit him. Actually, they fell in a little circle around the both of them.
She makes a face at him, and he grins again, reaching out to tousle her hair affectionately.
For a second, she nearly tenses, remembering how her captors pulled at her hair during the months she spent with them.
But then she realizes, quite suddenly, that instead of shying away, she finds herself allowing his hand to slide through her hair. The touch is completely natural and innocent, and she relaxes.
He folds his legs beneath him in a meditative posture as he levitates some of the pillows back to where they belong. She crosses her arms, disappointed that she failed and pondering over her reaction to him.
And then she gets a new idea.
When he turns around to talk to her again, she seizes the last pillow and smacks him squarely in the chest with it. He fails to stop her in time, although he does grab her wrist and twists it, forcing her to drop the pillow. His counter jerks her off balance and she falls towards the ground – but he catches her, wrapping his arms securely around her frame and drawing her to his chest.
This time, she really does tense. She can't help it. Before, he was merely tousling her hair. Now, she is practically lying across his lap, her head against his chest, his arms wrapped around her.
But all he does is hold her.
Finally, after a long moment, she relaxes in his grip, trusting him completely. Her common sense finally wins out over the instincts beaten into her – she knows he will never hurt her, and especially not that way.
Elanor has reached a juncture concerning Obi-Wan Kenobi, and she has chosen her path – she trusts him now, completely and always.