Author's Note: Oh my gosh, ya'll. I think I did it. I think I finished this in one fell swoop. **Maybe** I'll do an epilogue. Okay, more like I **will** do an epilogue because I think we deserve that.
It's taken years, but Obi-Wan and Maridian's story ends here. I honestly didn't know how this piece would come together for an ending, but we're here. I'm very pleased with how I left this. It's been a ride, certainly, exploring the complications of Obi-Wan Kenobi and his romantic endeavors, but it has been fun. I'm just happy to finally give my favorite Jedi Master some love and the story he deserves.
I must thank you, the readers, for all your kind words and comments. It's been so fun to write this story with you and experience an **actual** live action show of Obi-Wan! This is vastly different from that but I never imagined I'd be writing a story as Kenobi comes to life in his own series. What a thrill. You all have made it just all the more fun. Huge thanks and love to you.
And finally, I must thank my heavenly father, Yeshua, for giving me the ability to write this. It's all due unto Him.
That being said, enjoy this final chapter. I'll get to work on the epilogue. Thanks for tagging along, my friends. I'm honored to have you here.
In Light always,
M.R.
XxxX
Obi-Wan didn't even hesitate carving himself into House Organa. The name itself bore some significance, otherwise the residence itself would not possess a title like House Organa, but any relevance it may have possessed was lost on the auburn-air Jedi marching down the hallway, determination opening his shoulders to a full, squared berth.
"Talor!" His voice boomed, rattling furniture and the structure of the house. Bouncing echoes rang back at them from the shadows. Not a stir of light was alive in the house. "Talor Jakkuun, here I am. Face me like a man!"
Maridian came up on him quickly, sidestepping around Kenobi's halt which had stopped at the base of an elegant stairway, which carved upward in a twist into the air of the house. Her face dropped into a horrified wrinkle. She couldn't believe this was his approach. A Jedi Master, a General of the Clone Wars. Sacrificing the element of surprise on the altar of theatrics.
Her blood would be broiling if it wasn't so cold.
"What are you doing?" she hissed, pushing his shoulder back with disbelieving aggression. "Could you be any louder?" She gestured to the open, dim light of the room. "We have the element of surprise," she informed. "Or we had."
Obi-Wan snapped a look at her like he couldn't believe she was lecturing him on warfare. She couldn't believe it either, he was supposed to be the one with the experience.
"We are where he wants us to be. There is nothing else to wait for," he grabbed her wrist and shuffled her aside. "Talor!" His Coruscanti accent boomed like thunder through the house and up the walls.
Quickly, Obi-Wan bounded up the steps of the serpent-esque stairway, Maridian hot behind him on light feet. He moved about the space like it was a frequent home, eyes searching the walls thoughtfully as she stood at the top of the staircase observing him. Kenobi moved brashly but with purpose, working the scarf off his neck to toss it to the long dining table positioned in the middle of the room.
Maridian began to calculate. What they had to offer Talor to do what needed doing was money, and currently they had none in their possession. He wanted payment for his dowry that had been denied him, understandably so. A significant amount of money that they were sorely deficient in.
Realization that they had nothing to offer clamped in her gut, feeling as if it had shut off access to vital organs.
What was more disturbing than this was the idea that Talor had brought them off world to meet someone. Who, she didn't know, and why was uncertain, but Maridian realized that money was probably not cure to their current indictment. Talor had brought them here for something, which implied he was working for someone, otherwise this business could have been resolved. Or he could've just collected payment from their bodies.
Her eyes snapped up to find the lines of Obi-Wan traipsing through the chiaroscuro light in the dark room. This was about Kenobi.
Talor had brought them here because of connections to Obi-Wan, not her. She had no network off of Tatooine. This was personal aggression, and she was a byproduct. A repercussion. A complication. It weighed like a tonne of permastone in her stomach.
"Ah, yes. There." He rapped knuckles against the wall, and a hollow ring shot out across the air. Maridian gripped the railing of the stairway and watched him pass his hand over the bare surface of the wall.
She startled when a soft mechanical click released, followed by a hiss as light illuminated in the darkened space from thin seams outlining a square on the wall. All at once she realized it was a clever, magnificent safe, disguised in the everyday décor of a rich Senator's home. Obi-Wan had opened it without hesitation and now riffled through contents like a child receiving a plethora of gifts, as if he'd done it before.
He nabbed a small satchel from the safe, waved his hand before it again. Just as quickly as it had appeared it vanished itself, and he turned to cross the floor in quick strides. Her look of numb confusion triggered him to grab her hand and plunk the satchel into it. Obi-Wan curled her fingers around it, and a thought fractured in her mind that this was money.
Looking into her face seriously, his hands tightened around hers holding the bag. "This will send Talor on his way." He cast a worried look around them, observant of still silence around their invasion of House Organa. "We pay him, and then we go."
Her mouth parted, "I don't understand –" Feet on the floor cut her short.
"Kenobi!" The familiar, harsh timber of Talba's prized bachelor boomed across the room. "Isn't this a great surprise? I'm tickled pink as a bantha's hide." Obi-Wan flung about at speed, Maridian staggering in her place. Talor continued, "I must thank you for disposing of those worthless lackey's Jabba outfitted me with. Not worth their weight in salt, them."
Obi-Wan's snarl was hardly contained and cut through the space separating them from Talor.
"I live to serve," he snarked, lifting his chin. All at once he ripped the satchel from her hand and tossed it across the floor, where it skipped to a halt at Talor's feet.
Looking pleasued, Talor gestured to it with a hand. "And this?"
"Your credits, for the Hail dowry," Obi-Wan explained firmly. "And what I am more than confident covers any debt hanging over the Hail family's head," he pointed an accusing finger as his timbre lifted, "I trust you can deliver this to Jabba the Hutt without looking like a fool, restoring your reputation with the scum of the Outer Rim. But you will leave her - you will leave our family - alone."
Maridian eased out from the shadow of the Jedi Master, her gaze firm on Talor. He rocked back on his heels comfortably, chucking as Obi-Wan fanned out the instructions like speaking to a petulant child. Her narrowed gaze intensified into a glare as Talor tipped his head, considerate of her. He took a step forward, and lazily bent to snatch the satchel from the floor.
Her heart hammered against her ribs. Maridian wondered if she'd have any left by the end of this venture. Wondered if it would matter.
Talor tossed the pocket of money in the air with casual ease, a hand sliding home inside his pocket. "You speak with the air of a man who thinks he knows the future, Kenobi," his feet wove a careful pattern toward them, pointing a jabbing finger to Obi-Wan. "It is a terrifying thing for men to guess the future they have no control of."
Obi-Wan stepped up to meet Talor. With the practiced ease of a life at war he drew his lightsaber to his hand, Maridian able to see its outline even in the shadows of the darkened house. Her fingers twitched subconsciously as her eyes fanned between the two men, hardly realizing that she had a weapon herself. It was heavy and brusque in her hand, foreign. She'd held a blaster far too often these last weeks and didn't much like the idea.
Forcing air out in little harsh breaths, her body shook from the cocktail of cold and tension swirling the air. She gasped and jumped when Obi-Wan hit the ignition switch of his blade, the lightsaber ringing to life in a wash of azure blaze. Suddenly it became the only living thing in the room. Light bounced off of it and cut through the shadows of a sleeping home, washing her and Talor in hues of blue that tore open the curtains of threat.
He chuckled. "Couldn't resist, could you?" Talor shook his head and drew the satchel of coin to his chest. "Once a Jedi, always a Jedi," he nodded to Maridian, his gaze sweeping over her blue-washed form, "In some respects, at least."
He rocked back on his heels and the action was enough for Obi-Wan to draw the lightsaber forward, pointed at him. Defensively, Kenobi stepped into position. "You have what you brought me here for, Talor. Now leave whatever grudge you have with Bail Organa here and return to Tatooine before you force my hand." It was final and harsh, spoken with the authority of man known for being in charge.
Giving a mock expression of surprise, he chuckled low at the threat. "Oh, really? Is that how it's going to go?" He shook his head and cut his hand through the air dismissively. "My quarrel is not with House Organa or anyone on this planet, Kenobi. And, I do have what I want." Very quickly his glare sliced over to her, cutting through all the walls she'd attempted to fling up.
"I say once more, Talor. Be on your way or –"
Even in the azure wash, she saw the corner of his mouth lift amusedly. "She was right about you. In the moment you are no different than the Sith. Bloodthirsty and poor to the power of survival." Confusion fell over Obi-Wan's face as Maridian looked at him, though his fortitude remained true. He took a step forward, face pulled into a hard strain as Talor put up his hands in easy defeat, backing away from his approaching blade.
"Who is 'she'?" He barked out the demand, forcefully. Maridian jumped when he lashed it out again, sweat flying off his brow as he tightened up his posture, body shaking with what only appeared to be focus, "Who!"
She closed her eyes as Talor whistled low, deliberately stoking his rancor.
"Obi-Wan Kenobi," came the soft interruption, out of the darkness beyond them. "We meet again. How pleasurable."
Mardian came about so quickly that she didn't even feel the movement of air behind her. All in one fluid instant the blaster was batted out of her hand, skittering across the lush carpet. Panic lit up her veins like a control panel and she went to get away, but all she saw was the flash of yellow light that cut through the dark with a powerful, hot snap that sang.
A hard, strong hand hit to the low of her back sent an explosion of pain ripping through her kidneys. She cried out and doubled over, the blow forcing her knees to the floor in a crumpled ball. She moaned, arms wrapped around her middle to contain the stabbing shards of pain gnawing at her organs. She could feel them running down her spine, bouncing through her body like knives.
From the ether flowed the slow movements of a species Maridian had never seen before. Pale skin, illuminated yellow in the wash of her lightsaber, and dark features stared down at her with every ounce of hatred that Maridian assumed possible in one soul. So moved like silk, slow and precise, and it felt like the world had stopped spinning when her gaze lifted from her to Obi-Wan.
Mardian followed the woman's transient stare to find that Obi-Wan had not dropped defensive posture, reflex and muscle memory alone kept him at full guard. However, the expression etched across his face was one of horror, like he'd stared into the past and it had come alive before him in a horrible memory. Even bathed in the light of his weapon he turned the color of bone china.
Something coarsed through Maridian that she couldn't separate from the pain rolling through her abdomen. Hot and cold danced over her skin, and in two long strides, Talor had retrieved her weapon and pointed it straight at her. It softly clicked above her head.
She lifted her gaze, hot little gasps rattling her teeth as she tried to separate pain and reason. Her back was on fire, her organs fuming as if they'd been set to flame. Black dots continued to flounce in front of her vision. She sensed an amused chortle from her husband.
"Well hello there, Ventress," it hung there, unfinished. Observant and surprised.
Had she not been bent over in deep pain, Maridian was certain her mouth would've dropped open at his all-casual response. A long shiver, a bad one, cut through her and riddled pain through her throbbing lower abdomen. She tried to hold back a breath but couldn't. An exhale shuddered out of her. Curls in her face she cut a look up to Talor.
He smirked down the barrel of the blaster to her, looking superior in every way. Maridian's thoughts spun backwards like hyperspeed and realized that Talor had always looked this way at her. How she hadn't seen it before she didn't know. She didn't care to understand. All she could do was glare at him and draw whatever little wisps of air whistling past her lips she could into her lungs.
The pressure holding her back teeth in a strong clench started a headache in her temple, but she dismissed the burn as she managed to slowly stand. Somehow, Talor allowed her to do so.
The more she focused on breathing, the more pain began to ebb away. Strength began to return to her wobbling legs.
What felt like it had taken an eternity had only taken a few moments, because the woman named Ventress was still weighing Kenobi's words with a twisting smirk on her lips and a faraway look in her eyes, as if she were amused by a memory.
Maridian considered the woman. She would've thought she was a beautiful thing, had the stranger not been pointing her blade in the direction of the one man she'd trusted with her very soul. Her hand tightened around the railing and she didn't even see Talor come around her from behind until she felt the barrel of the blaster beneath her shoulder blade.
The lines of her back snapped to attention. She felt his lips against her ear. "Easy now, my desert flower. Do as I say and you get to keep your spine."
She drew herself up and sent him a fierce glare over her shoulder. "I'm hardly useful without it," she stated the words as if they had been torn out of her.
His hand cupped over her shoulder and nudged her back a few steps as the woman stepped face-to-face with Obi-Wan. He hadn't dropped his guard but he had lowered the lightsaber, seeming to consider the newcomer's easy posture.
Maridian watched the aureate blade arch through the air as she spun the hilt through her hand with precision. Obi-Wan stepped around her, both of them engaged in a defensive dance of reading the other's movements. He did something similar with his blade, Maridian catching the amused look on his face.
"I'm surprised to see you here, Kenobi," Ventress chuckled and lifted a flirtatious shoulder, her hand floating through the air in silky, smooth movements. "Though I suppose I shouldn't be. You always had a habit of following Organa around like a lap dog," her eyes cut daggers through the darkness of the house, "I suppose we don't get to choose many of our friends these days, do we, considering the glorious new Empire."
She said the words with faux admiration, bitterness clearly written across her face as she settled a glower at the auburn-haired man across from her.
Maridian felt her stomach hollow when her stare cut over to consider her. "Though I must say, Obi-Wan – I am surprised to see you brought a pet of your own." Her lips twisted up into a smile and she approached Maridian on quick feet, cutting a straight path in front of her. One look beyond her to Talor and the man stepped back, blaster dropped from her spine.
Ventress chuckled provocatively. Maridian went to flinch away but didn't get the chance – the woman's hand lashed out like a bolt of lightning and gripped her about the throat, sending Maridian into a reel of panic. Instantaneously every nerve in her body was on fire, strung tight like she'd been made of wire. She sputtered on the bubbles of her own spit in an attempt to part her lips for air.
Her hands flew to the woman's ironclad grip on her neck, muscles screaming in pulsing, raging pain as her brain could only focus on one thing. She didn't even feel the woman's strength lift her off the ground, her toes kissing the floor. Maridian's eyes pinched shut as she felt heat smothering her face. Organs in her chest fired off behind her ribs. Black spots returned to her vision as air became like a thick blanket.
She felt the woman searching her soul, probing the Force in a harsh, perverted, violating way.
She could feel the skin of the woman's hand tugging beneath her nails. Make out the musculature of her arms as she clawed for purchase. Ventress' amusement rang through her grip on her throat, Maridian able to stare into nothing but her dark, wicked eyes. Gluttonous for power, her hand somehow strengthened. At any moment this woman could rip her throat out of her carcass.
Panic swelled in her chest.
"Enough, Asajj!" Obi-Wan pressed. Something in his tone warbled when she didn't release. "I said enough!"
"Ventress," Talor hissed ragefully from the shadows. "I want her alive."
She snarled, Maridian able to identify the curl of her upper lip. "Fine. Take your desert whore and be done with it." Her gaze hit Maridian's soul like a branding iron. Her head canted to the side considerately. "It's a pity you were never identified, young one. The Force is strong in you." Lips curled back, Ventress bore her teeth in a wicked grin, "A fine apprentice you could have made."
Fragments of a million emotions crashed into her mind, but she didn't have the strength. Fear required a string of conscious thought to weigh your circumstances and she didn't possess the brainspace in the clutch of this woman. Ventress spun her blade through her hand and Maridian flinched as it arched, subliminally bracing for the heat that would send through her gut. Flashes of the men Obi-Wan had killed on the ship passed before her eyes.
The world stopped and every emotion hit her at once…and that's when she felt it.
The burning pressure around her neck stopped.
Her knees hit the floor hard and she sprawled across the carpet, raggedly gasping. Talor was beside her suddenly, lifting her head to his lap. She tried shoving him away but had burned through every reserve of strength. It took two spluttering tries before she was able to pull in a shattered breath. Her chest heaved uneasily and her head kicked back to follow the woman's approach to Obi-Wan through bleary eyes.
Talor took her hand and began binding them.
"They should have killed you on Coruscant, Kenobi," Ventress spat. Her words were a slow and deliberate scalpel that raked across Maridian's nerves but Obi-Wan didn't seem phased. "But since they didn't, I'll have the pleasure. The Jedi Order dies with you, and it dies today."
XxxX
The attack came swiftly and without much monologue, which wasn't like the Ventress he had known before. She really wanted him dead.
Obi-Wan anticipated every slink of her body, every footfall as she approached. He calculated distance and trajectory. Position and procedure. Every hour of his life he'd spent training crashed into him like a cold wave, his reflexes responding from muscle memory more than conscious thought. Sidestep, arch, create distance. Suddenly he was back in the Jedi Temple dojo.
Recall sent him reeling.
Ventress' blade bounced against his in a staccato hit. She had always moved with powerful grace. Was an attacker, on the offensive. Like Anakin. It would mean he needed every inch of Soresu he could harness. Form three. Has it been almost a year?
Bat, twist, Force push her away. Call that piece of furniture and crush it against her body. She pushed it away. Was up. Rushed him like a bad habit. Always close, too close.
Like Anakin.
She had stamina. Long legs. He had speed and quick feet, power. She was in practice, every muscle in his body burned. He could feel the blood pumping to muscles and tendons, loosening up his joints. How had he gotten old so quickly? He suddenly longed for younger years, happier times when this was considered play and there wasn't evil in the galaxy.
Obi-Wan shook the thought out of his frame. Soresu, Kenobi. Focus up. Keep low, quick feet. Blade up – up, man! Meet her low, create distance. Distance…he sent her back across the floor, crashing into the wall. Noise was a muffled thing, like his head had been stuffed into a bag. Balance could have become an issue if he wasn't grounded to every living, breathing thing on this planet. All he could hear was the throb of blood in his ears. Didn't even register the crashing furniture or the crushing vase.
Maridian, in the corner of his sight. Still down. Force alive, why wasn't she moving? Ventress, in his face again. A crushing pressure of the Force against his chest. Tangled feet beneath him, the hard floor cracking against his back. There wasn't time to think, wasn't time for him to see Maridian's shining, vacant stare across the floor from him.
Defense defense defense, Obi-Wan. 'Always on the defense, old man? Show a little spine!'
Anakin?
Half of his life he'd been training on the defensive with Anakin Skywalker, the chosen one of the Jedi, the one whom he had loved like a brother and destroyed. It was hardly different with Ventress. Years had been kind to her in battle and she moved like a younger woman, more limber and deliberate, like she had no qualms cutting him in two. She'd gotten lazy though, her form and posture slack. She was quicker, but like a poorly-cut arrow, she would be short-lived.
Channeling every memory he possessed about former fights with Ventress, Obi-Wan anticipated her next movement, spun away from her high arch, and met her low. The weight of her attack fell into her blade and tore against his, and it took viable effort to lock his arms. Hold it. How many times had he cursed these things at Anakin, forced the boy to build his strength, bellowed at him to forget everything else and 'Hold the enemy!'
Hold it. Make her break first. The former apprentice wore every emotion on her face.
"Very good," she clicked the side of her cheek. "You haven't quite lost your touch, Master Kenobi. Still the skilled bladesman you always were," she danced around the subject, teasing him with a flirtatious bat of her lashes that had upended thousands. He recalled this tactic, this attempt to break his concentration.
He could have been flattered if he hadn't wanted to rip the eyes currently scouring him right out of her skull. "Years have been good to you too, Ventress," he managed to chuckle, "I am a little disappointed, though."
Her brow arched curiously. Perfect. "Oh?"
He drew up and put on his most brilliant smile. "You're slow."
It was only a moment of surprise that did her in, but he created enough of a break in her concentration for him to shove her back. She staggered and stumbled, allowing him to break away. Obi-Wan watched her hit the railing hard and she grunted. He took the opportunity to spin and land a strong kick to her breastbone that almost sent her over.
Obi-Wan felt her lower back absorb the impact of his strike against the rail, and heard something snap in her skeletal structure that caused her to gasp in pain. Taking the seconds-only lapse of her judgment he snugged the blade of his saber against her arm but didn't entirely sever her limb. She shrieked.
The high sour stench of charred flesh stung his nose and was all-too familiar. Her lightsaber wobbled and hit the floor with a bounce.
Ventress Force-pushed him away and drew her injured limb to her chest. He heaved for air, stitched tight with the wires of adrenaline and tension as his gaze skipped over her, looking for any sudden actions of retaliation. He had sweated through the lifted uniform, and swiped the sleeve of his shirt over his brow to mop sweat off of his skin. Ventress clutched her arm and hissed, pupils dilated in baleful fury.
Then, she smiled a slow, dripping quirk that sent bumps across his flesh. Then, he heard it.
A soft click. "Ease up there, Kenobi, and drop the lightsaber."
He didn't have to feel the blaster at the back of his head to know it was there. Talor loomed behind him like a stone pillar, disturbing the energy of his victory in the Force. Dampened, his shoulders slumped as Asajj regained some of her momentum and squared up in front of him.
A shuffle of movement to his left snapped his attention and his spirit fell fully into his feet. Atonas and Matham, the lackeys that had assaulted Maridian weeks ago. They stood at the mouth of the hall leading out of the dining area, Bail and Breha Organa in their capture. Breha frantically attempted to soothe a swaddled Leia against her breast, the fuss of a baby was unmistakable.
His eyes fluttered closed. No. "Obi-Wan," Bail stupefied, disbelieving.
A fluster behind him snapped his attention over his shoulder and he saw Maridian, attempting to pull away from Talor. Her hands were bound tightly. His hard clamp on her arm was unshakable. For a moment Obi-Wan experienced soul-encompassing anger, it flared hot in his blood. It lasted only a moment as the familiar mantra of his training filtered through his mind like a balm.
He released anger. Bent to ease the lightsaber to the floor. Leia's fussing was the only sound the room could muster, always vocal like her father. It would've made him smile if it didn't threaten to undo him. He sighed and kicked the saber behind him, his eyes following Ventress as she moved to retrieve her own weapon.
She gestured for the lackeys to shuffle Bail and Breha forward. "Bring them to me," she insisted sharply, snatching her hilt from the floor. Her brow popped to amused attention, "Before I kill you, Obi-Wan, you can watch me shred the last hope of the Republic in the killing of House Organa."
The scene exploded as Breha released a harsh cry, her efforts to escape increasing until Matham had to all but drag her across the floor. Bail was bound so tightly at the wrists that Obi-Wan could see the white in his blood-deprived hands from here, though to the man's credit he thrashed like a contained beast. The child began to scream high-pitched, blood-curdling cries as Breha was forced to her knees, Bail beside her.
Organa looked up at him helplessly as Obi-Wan folded his hands behind his head. Talor didn't even give him a chance to get on his knees, he just kicked him down into the position. Pain punched into his joints and up into his hip, but he didn't care.
The heavy stare of his friend rustled the curtains of his mind. Bail's misty-eyes locked with him.
Together they had survived so much. Bail had saved his life. He'd saved his. He could see it written across the man's face, the realization. Thank you, was all it said. He detected a hint of sorrow, but no fear. The man would die proud. Breha, despite her bodily reaction to the idea of death manifesting in shakes and silent cries, lifted her trembling chin. Always an Organa.
Ventress came up behind Bail, bent low over his shoulder. The hilt of her lightsaber touched beneath his chin. Obi-Wan imagined her finger itching over the switch as her lips twisted into a pleased, sociopathic grin. Blood-lust became a tangible thing, swirling through the Force. His heart trip-hammered, mind reeling for something - anything - to do.
The Force go with you, was what Sonika had wished them. His eyes moved from Ventress' hand to Bail's face. His head kicked back and he closed his eyes. Obi-Wan's entire nervous system reacted, his body chilling to a dead cold. He waited, counting down the seconds which were basically standing in front of him. Until that moment, that snap where he felt the Force move.
It flew out of his hand, across the air, and locked Asajj's hand in place. Verifiable horror screwed up her face as she tossed a look at him, her hand frozen in the Force beneath Bail's chin. He watched Bail react, at first in panic that he wasn't dead, then in recovery. He scrambled away from Ventress, but not before Atonas and Matham could intercept them.
Obi-Wan held Ventress in the Force. It took herculean effort. His body began to tremble from the strain but he deepened in the Force. How Talor hadn't killed him didn't matter.
What mattered was that he was alive enough to hold.
XxxX
Maridian wasn't sure what had happened until it unfolded before her, the world seemingly frozen in this picture of time. All she knew for certain is that her head was swimming in her pulse and that her ribs were burning with pain from her triggered heart. Her eyes couldn't decide whether to focus on the Organas or Kenobi, though she suspected she should have been watching enemies.
She could see the struggle between the two accomplished Force-users, Ventress' active and violent attack to throw off Obi-Wan's hold on her. The Force was like a thick fog as light and darkness merged together, swirling against one another in patterns and ways she couldn't understand. It was a struggle to even watch, her brainspace completely consumed with waiting for the moment either would snap.
Until Matham and Atonas moved for the Organas. She reacted immediately, uncertain what to do in body but somehow reacting anyway. Her blood sang with the power of the Force as she pushed the two of them back, and whipped her attention to Bail and his wife, who were scrambling to get away. Between her and their escaping pair was Obi-Wan's abandoned lightsaber.
She looked to the lackeys. She had to release the Force to send the lightsaber to Bail. "Hey!" She released, Atonas and Matham staggered to the floor from the momentum, and she sent the lightsaber flying towards the Senator's wife, "Go, go!"
The woman scrambled on top of the lightsaber with her baby. She took it in a certain hand and the blue light immediately kicked to life from the hilt. Maridian's attention immediately fell to Atonas and Matham, who were already moving to Obi-Wan, realizing they'd have to get past her to the Organas. That venture lost, Maridian staggered to her feet.
Where was Talor? He'd vanished with the blaster from behind Obi-Wan, slipping away in the moment.
Breha was already down the stairs when Bail came about with the saber, rushing to stand in front of Kenobi. Atonas and Matham put on hard brakes, skidding across the carpet to a halt as the blue blade snapped in front of them. They squared up, snorting angrily like denied, mindless creatures.
"I would greatly advise you to reconsider your course of action," Bail slowly warned the two lackeys, adjusting his grip on the saber. "Back up, against the wall!" He ebbed towards them, the azure wash of the lightsaber the only focus of the two bootlickers.
Maridian looked down to her bound hands, uncertain of what to do. She saw Obi-Wan shift uncomfortably, visibly shaking with the strain of his Force battle with the woman called Ventress. Maridian could feel the tangible buzz of the Force between them, crackling and snapping as they both funneled everything they had against one another. She moved to his side, then stopped and snapped her gaze to his opponent.
An idea blossomed in her skull. She didn't know if it would work, but she had to try. Turning on her heel she stepped quickly to Ventress, raised her bound hands, and twisted her palms outward as she closed her eyes. Her head tipped back and she mustered every ounce of the Force she could feel in her blood outward to Ventress, a burning hot wave of light twisting through the air from her very core.
She screamed, and felt the tension of Obi-Wan and the woman's fight in the Force release. Ventress cried out and the ruffle of movement snapped Maridian's eyes open. Ventress was gone, over the railing, the heavy thud of her body on the stairway unmistakable. Maridian didn't even think. She reacted.
Racing to the rail, she leaned over and saw Ventress already up and moving, racing down the steps. She cast an evil glare up at her from the balcony, one that read all levels of This isn't over, though she didn't dare breathe a word. As silent as night she slipped around the corner and was gone.
Breha was calling for guards and movement in the house kicked to life, lights flipping on violently as the hustle of militant bodies invaded the slumbering home. Maridian heaved for air, upsetting the wet, stringy hair hanging in her face. She could feel every vein in her body moving blood, the tremble of the ventricles of her heart as they pushed the life-giving scarlet through every avenue of her body. She nearly collapsed to her knees, but thought to check over her shoulder.
Obi-Wan slumped, spent. Crumpling to the floor he flayed out, arms and legs, staring mindlessly at the ceiling. She could feel his exhaustion bleeding out of him like a river, which propelled her away from the railing and to his side. Her knees hit hard on the plush floor and her bound hands fumbled for his.
"Obi-Wan?" She questioned him, her voice constricted with worry. "Hey, hey, look at me." His head lolled to the side in obedience, glassy eyes staring at her as a light smirk lifted the corner of his mouth.
"Maridian," he offered quietly, though it took a try or two. "Hi."
It took verifiable effort to keep her welling tears in check, but she managed. Her lips twisted in uncertain patterns between a worried line and a smile as she held his hand. His eyes lazily scanned the features of her face, as if he were looking for injury. Maridian couldn't pin down the emotion soaring through her chest, but she knew on some levels there was relief and pride. She pressed her lips against the back of his hand.
"Are you alright?" He nodded a slow yes and attempted to prop up on an elbow. She pushed his shoulder back down. "No, no, stay down. I want you looked at —" she started to call for medical attention. He grabbed her hand, steadying her and cut off her words.
His brow fell into a look that told her to listen and comply. "Keep silent," he murmured to her, slowly moving to a sitting position. "The less bodies know about our presence here the better. Bail will handle this, believe me."
Her eyes popped from him to the man named Bail Organa, who had disengaged the Jedi weapon and covered it with the hem of his garment. Atonas and Matham were faced the other direction, hands behind them and their heads bowed against the wall, whipped and knowing they were beat. Angry guards suddenly popped on scene from the stairs, moving swiftly to engage the Senator waving them into action.
In a matter of moments Matham and Atonas were in custody. They struggled down the stairs as Bail finished talking with a militant looking man outfitted in the most regal armor Maridian had ever seen. He turned from him and the man of House Organa moved to offer Obi-Wan a friendly, assisting hand from the floor.
"Need a hand?" He teased.
Obi-Wan offered him a thin smile and chuckled. "If you're offering," he shot back lightly. Together they chuckled and Obi-Wan found his feet, Maridian rising beside him. Kenobi immediately to begin working the binds on her hands loose, Bail watching. Maridian couldn't get over how they flowed from an intense battle to easy humor, the crook in the Senator's brow nearly shattering her mind.
"A great many thanks I owe you yet again, Bail." Obi-Wan screwed up his face and tossed aside the bind from her hands. "And credits too, I fear." He didn't explain further, though Maridian got the sense Bail followed the conversation when he glanced over his shoulder, looking deeper into the upended room.
The man laughed and shook his head. "Consider us even, yet again," he mimicked the tone of his friend. "And the credits, well. Those take care of themselves."
She rubbed life back into her hands as Organa's gaze swept over her considerably. Never before had she felt so inspected or sized up in such a nonjudgmental, genuine way. His face bore the look of a man uncertain if she were prize enough to gauge the interest of a friend. Maridian wasn't sure if she was grateful or uncomfortable, until his face brightened.
He nudged Kenobi in the ribs, easily. "Who is your pretty young friend here, Kenobi?" he stepped up to her and offered his hand. He winked as she slipped her hand into his and offered two strong pumps of a handshake.
She felt her face flame and attempted to swallow her caught breath, but the muscles in her neck protested. She reached up to run her fingers over the inflamed area, offering Organa a polite smile and nod.
Organa patted her hand and wrapped both of his around it. "I don't remember your manners being so lacking, Obi-Wan," he checked over his shoulder to find a beaming Obi-Wan running a nervous hand through his hair. "A lady like this shouldn't be left so unintroduced," he turned back and smiled at her. "Senator Bail Organa, formerly of the Galactic Republic," he refused to acknowledge the Empire, something Maridian noticed immediately. "At your service."
Maridian had never seen a man bow so formally. Perhaps it was customary here.
His smile would have been rakish had he not been so sincere. "Welcome to Alderaan, miss." he finished, the name dripping from his tongue proudly.
She parted her lips to speak, but it took a few painful tries from her flaming throat. "Thank you, Senator," she insisted with a nod as he straightened up and pressed her hand to his lips in a gentle, mannered kiss. She squeezed his hand and wrinkled her nose, chancing a glance over his shoulder to Obi-Wan, who had stepped away to give a statement to Organa's Captain.
"And what is it I'm to call you, since Master Kenobi still has refrained from properly introducing you?" He laughed and thumbed over his shoulder, exaggerating his voice purposefully. He drew her arm beneath his and guided her to the stairs.
"Maridian," she brightened as he registered the name. "Maridian Kenobi."
XxxX
"I do insist, Obi-Wan. You should stay, until this entire mess has been cleared by Kaar, my Captain. I won't have you running back into Ventress on your way off world."
Maridian saw the moment Obi-Wan dismissed the statement from Bail Organa before she felt it, the draw of his shoulder back against the lounge testament enough of his decision. She sat beside him, legs curled up beneath the most magnificent silk throw she had never seen. She hadn't been able to stop smoothing her hand over it since they'd been seated in the divine sitting area, Breha and Bail across from them.
Bail's guards had made swift work of Atonas and Matham, who would be extradited back to Tatooine on charges of kidnapping, and a slew of other legal issues that Maridian didn't dwell. The search for the woman named Asajj Ventress, however, would continue well into the night – Bail seemed confident she would not make it off-world, though Obi-Wan had just thinly smiled and nodded, Maridian getting the sense he knew better.
Breha had been kind enough to lend her clothes and use of their facilities. A magnificent stream of pulsating hot water had worked the nerves out of her body, further remedied by the herby scent of fusty shampoos and slick oils. She'd bathed for an hour before Breha had informed her that dinner would be served at dusk, which had been a kind way to remind her out of the luxury of a shower.
Sonika and Utarri had already been escorted to the House. While they had thanked the Organas for their kindness and replenishing amenities, they had retired for an early transport home to Tatooine. Maridian had checked on them once, the couple soundlessly sleeping in guest chambers in the upper level of the house.
"Bail. You know why that isn't a good idea." The tone carried finality from her husband, who tightened his hold on her hand against his thigh. He lifted his arm and allowed her to curl up beside him. She rested her cheek against his chest as his arm lowered across her shoulders. "We should –"
"Senator!" the bang! of a door flying open was unmistakable.
Noise burst into the room and Obi-Wan and Bail flew to their feet, moving swiftly across the floor to intercept the man named Kaar, Captain of the Organa House Guard. He was sweating, red-faced and puffing as he pulled to a prompt halt, saluting. His eyes skipped between Maridian and Breha, who had come up behind the lounge to put confident hands on Maridian's shoulders.
"Kaar," Bail said forcefully, though the man's attention silenced him.
He nodded to Obi-Wan. "Senator. Sir," he gestured to Obi-Wan before turning to usher in two more guards, currently stumbling up the hallway with a thrashing, muttering body between them. "I believe this vagrant belongs to you, Master Kenobi?"
It was more of a question than a statement as two guards flung the body between them to the floor in the middle of the sitting room. Maridian sprang up from her seat, discarding the silk throw with a flick of her wrist. Breha came swiftly around the couch to stand beside her, forever a pillar of stability and grace as Maridian's gaze welded hard on the man currently picking himself up off the floor.
He was beaten and bleeding his clothing rumpled and filthy. Evidence of a skirmish in the woods carried on his person, given the dirt marring his hands and arms. He'd been stripped of weapons, one side of his jaw swollen and tossing painful blue and purples shades across his features. Upper lip cracked, a gash was bleeding over his eye, and the man peered up at them with one eye, the other stitched closed in inflammation. The acetone scent of iron, blood, sweat, and spent adrenaline stung her nose and hit her senses.
His head fell back as he considered the two men staring down at him. To his credit, Talor Jakkuun said nothing. He just snorted derisively and looked away, sinking farther on his knees. Kaar stepped up behind him, grabbed a fistful of hair, and punched his head down to the floor in much the same manner you would the controls of a speeder.
"Show respect before the master of House Organa!" He barked down over Talor's skull.
Maridian jumped from the intensity of the order, Breha's hands firming on her shoulders. She stared down at him hard, unmoving, like the stone pillar she felt weighing down her stomach. Silence swelled the space and snatched air from the room.
She could feel a thousand emotions stirring about the Force, but tried to pull out of her interpretations of them. Exhaustion made it difficult to discern, and she was running on the fumes of spent energy. Talor folded before them, moaning incoherently. Maridian's gaze landed on Bail Organa. Face pulled into a horrific wrinkle, he looked every bit the regal and authoritative ruler his title and reputation promised.
In ire, he took a breath and squared back his shoulders. Maridian thought he may have made a move against Talor, but instead he turned to face his friend. Obi-Wan. Who hadn't stopped looking at the man on the floor since he'd dropped there moments before. He was unreadable, an enigma not even the Force could discern.
Stonewalled, he looked up to Bail then to his boots. "He is your prisoner, Kenobi. While Alderaan has many grievances and charges that I could bring this man up on, I turn him over to you, General." The title snapped Obi-Wan's gaze up to hold his.
Maridian's throat closed. Gnawing the inside wall of her cheek, it was difficult to control her breathing through clenched teeth. It whistled past her lips unevenly and she didn't understand why – she should want Talor dead. In prison, rotting. Seeing his head on a pike was not the most outlandish request she'd ever heard breathed.
He looked back to Talor. A beat of silence and then his brow tightened in a hard frown. He turned and went to walk away.
"Release him," he sent the idea away with a wave of his hand.
Her mouth fell slack open. Thankfully, Bail intercepted, stepping in front of Obi-Wan. He pushed his shoulder back to halt the Jedi Master, who's gaze lifted up the man's body to stare Organa in the face. Maridian hurried about the couch, though Breha stopped her with a gentle hand on her arm. Somehow she found the nerve to slow up, stop, and watch the scene unfold. Anger bombarded her like a volley of blasts, ripping apart her ability to think.
"Are you mad?" Organa gestured for Kaar to haul the man to his feet, and he obeyed. Talor staggered between the two guards who had dragged him into the House, looking lost and confused and beaten. "Obi-Wan. This man, he –"
"- has debts to pay to Jabba the Hutt," Obi-Wan cut coldly. "He will take his money to Jabba and recover his debts to the clans, clearing his name and the name of my wife." He stepped into the square of Bail's person and hardened his stare. "What Jabba will do to him is more recompense than I could ever give him."
Bail's face fell into complete and utter shock. The lines of Maridian's back snapped to attention and her hands balled into fists. Her mouth opened and closed, searching for words, but she couldn't muster any. A surge of ire lit up her veins and her fingers twitched in a reactionary way. Stony silence fell over them until Talor's gaze cut to her.
She glared at him and the unthinkable happened.
He reeled back and looked away, downward, like a frightened animal. Maridian saw the moment he realized what his fate would entail at the hands of the Hutts, a fate that was equally hers, once. Jabba could kill him. That was the promise of debts not paid to the Hutt clans - death, or enslavement, or torture of those you loved. The upending of your world, not just once, but over and over.
Before she knew what she was doing, "Wait," flew out of her mouth. She choked on the words, a small squeak stitching her jaw closed as every person in the room turned to consider her.
Breha released her. Her feet wove careful, uncertain patterns as she tested the waters to Talor, still held up on sagging limbs by the two guards. Memories from her childhood flashed before her eyes, seeing Tuskens hauled into Talba and beaten to death. Criminals stoned in the street. Men and women thrown out to the mercy of the desert, their children hauled away screaming.
She closed her eyes, watching the wickedness in her mind's eye. Remembering their screams, their pleas for mercy.
Many of them cried out for mercy. Others didn't. Talor had been among the chief abusers to drive out the dangerous from among their village. Even as a small child she remembered her mother guiding them away through town, though she'd seen the scenes unfold anyway.
'Seek justice, Maridian, be quick to show mercy. Walk humbly,' it was like a touch on her shoulder, and she started in surprise that no one was actually there when her eyes opened in thought of her mother. Instead something from the Force trickled through her blood, the same wild and white-hot light she had felt following her most of her life. For years she'd merely thought it a premonition. It had been Obi-Wan that taught her it was the light of the Force.
"Maridian," she could feel him coming up behind her.
She put up a hand and opened her eyes, drawing up a breath to release slowly. She blinked thoughtfully and then looked to Bail Organa, who considered her with an offset cast like he wasn't certain what he was witnessing. He was a time bomb, biding minutes until it was appropriate for him to speak. Breha came up beside him and he draped an arm protectively around her shoulder. Love stood between them like a visible pillar.
She looked back Talor, looking lost and whipped. This was the man she had been planned to marry for most of her adult life. He, in this moment, was much like the men and women he had driven away, yet he didn't cry for mercy. His jaw flexed in clenched silence, like he wanted to speak but knew better. Desperately wanting to be angry, she tried to rile up her rancor, but all she felt was sympathy.
Talor was now at the mercy of what little he had shown others. It was a bitter, venomous reality that bit into her and made her almost sick to think. Revenge was nothing her mother had ever taught them. It was not the way of the Jedi.
White-hot confusion sent tears to her eyes, tears that she didn't understand. That she fully and completed wanted to cry angry but couldn't force them into that corner. Instead, she felt nothing but sympathy, pity. It spun her into the wild arms of confusion. She wanted to be baleful, longed for the justice due unto her and her family. She just couldn't arrive. It fell into the categories of dragons and currency trees and flying banthas. It just didn't exist.
It took two tries before she got out, "If…if it is acceptable," she pushed out as much of a steadying breath as she could muster, "I would like to send a messenger to Tatooine with the debt monies." Then, "To Jabba."
She felt the hairline fracture of the room's composure as Obi-Wan stepped up beside her, pulling her shoulder back. When she turned to face him he looked wildly confused and hurt, like he too wanted to be angry. His face was all levels of uncertainty, of worry, until she dug up a small quirk of her lips and brushed his hand off her shoulder, taking it up in hers.
The words stuck in her throat. "Jabba will kill him, Obi-Wan," she pressed his hand to her lips and pressed a hard, needful kiss to the fist which had formed in her hands. A tear slipped past the corner of her eye as she added softly, "And I don't think that's what you truly want."
When he said nothing after a long moment, she breathed out a soft, "It is not the Jedi way," before offering him her eyes.
The moment the walls of Obi-Wan Kenobi fell were all too clearly written across his face. The hard line in his forehead vanished off his expression, his face softening into the features she remembered seeing that first day in Talba, sitting on the porch, helping him nurse visible wounds. He suddenly carried the easy authority of a cultured man, as if he remembered who he was.
She was proud. He was strong enough to stand before his enemy, knowing full well that the entire measure of justice he deserved would not be met. And yet he was gentle enough to understand what she didn't ask, didn't say, when she hadn't even had the strength to say it herself.
He was strong enough to forgive, even when it wasn't required of him anymore.
Obi-Wan cast his gaze to Talor, whose blood and filth continued to seep in the floors of House Organa, whose presence continued to muddy the fine waters of this place of peace. He gave his enemy, the man who had used him and betrayed him, a sweeping glance before looking back to her, taking her face in his hands. He pressed a soft kiss to her forehead.
Turning to the guards, he nodded with his head. "Turn him over to the Alderanaan state," he said firmly, though it was a quiet order. Looking to Bail but not lifting his hands from her face, he nodded once. "I trust you to see that justice is served, Bail. It is not my place, and it never has been." He references years long behind him that she didn't know, didn't press.
Bail folded a hand in front of him, bowed, and guided Breha's arm into his. Wordlessly, they swept out of the room.
Kenobi stared back into her face, unmoving for what felt like a journey through time. She wrapped her hands around his arms, still holding her in place, waiting. Waiting for what she didn't know, didn't care. Words didn't need to be said, everything he felt, every word he would have said, passed to her without the use of voice. They flowed fully and sweetly through the Force, pressing her from all sides.
I love you, the search of his eyes said.
And I love you more, her canted head replied.
Then, he drew her into a strong hug, pressing against her with the full force of his strength. Years of restraint, years of burden, fell from him and she watched them slip away in the Force. Anakin. The Jedi. Those whom he had maybe loved before, the visions of what may have been. They avalanced away, as if they'd broken off a cliff and dipped into a forgotten sea. His arms held her securely, like he wouldn't release even for the world. Wild banthas couldn't have torn her away.
His beard brushed against her cheek when the man called Ben Kenobi pulled back to kiss her, deeply and needful.
She had never felt so alive.