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"I failed," he stated flatly.
This had been the golden opportunity for him and his cause. It would have proven how responsible and dependable he could be.... how right the others were to place such a task on his shoulders. Their lives could have been well on the way to vast improvement..... IF he hadn't failed.
"Now, now, Jex. How were you to know that the Jedi would show up to ruin things? We'll just have to try again." The older man patted Jex on the back and walked away in disappointment.
//No one is more disappointed than I am,// Jex thought with a sneer. Too many others were depending on him. He wouldn't let them down again. He would find the girl and her Jedi, and this time failure would not be an option.
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A sharp pain shot through Obi-Wan's head and ruthlessly yanked him from his sleep. Groaning and disoriented, he slowly opened his eyes and sat up.
"What?-- Where am I?" he mumbled under his breath. He couldn't see much through the inky, black night, but did manage to make out trees all around and the wrecked speeder some feet away from him. It all came rushing back to him--- the fight, the chase, the crash,........... the GIRL who started it all.
"Oh,no!" he muttered searching frantically for Arella. He finally found her lying unconscious on the opposite side of the small clearing. Kneeling by her side, he did a quick scan and found several bumps and bruises on her face and, unfortunately, a wet spot on her left shoulder that told him she was bleeding.
//Blasted girl!// he thought, recalling her unpredictable behavior that had gotten them into this mess to begin with. Fighting down his anger, he laid a hand on her forehead and sent a healing flow through her body. Her eyes began to flutter after just a few seconds as she gradually regained consciousness.
"Wha--what happened? Where are we?" she muttered groggily.
"We crashed in the middle of....." he drifted off, "well, I'm not exactly sure where we are, to be quite honest."
Obi-Wan helped her sit up so that she wouldn't have to put much pressure on her left arm, but still she groaned in pain. "Youch!" she exclaimed gently clutching her injured arm. "That really hurts."
"Here-- let me take a look at your shoulder," Obi ordered, moving to unhook the small med kit on his belt. Inside was an antiseptic wipe and a small bandage that most likely wouldn't be large enough. //It'll have to do,// he decided. "Pull your shirt off."
Arella snapped her gaze at him with a strange look on her face. It took him a few seconds to realize the misunderstanding, and he blushed when it finally dawned on him.
"I meant, just pull it over your shoulder so I can get to the wound."
Arella winced as she eased the top over her wounded shoulder. Obi-Wan was impressed that she wasn't whimpering like a child as he had expected. The gash looked pretty deep, and many a Jedi would have yowled in pain once the antiseptic lit it on fire.
"I know it hurts. I'm sorry," he offered kindly with a small smile. Arella smiled back through clenched teeth.
"I'm.... I'm okay." She really wanted to scream at the top of her lungs but wasn't about to give him the satisfaction no matter how sweet he was being. Calling her a child would not be something he would ever have the chance to repeat. "I can't believe we're still alive," she added.
"Yeah, well, I managed to set it down without hitting any more trees," he said with a quick glance up at her. She blushed. She knew she was guilty, and she had to admit that he was pretty darn good at protecting her. They had been through a lot in the past few hours and he had proven himself very capable.
"Who were they?-- those men? Do you know why they wanted me?" she asked innocently, trying to change the subject. Obi-Wan took a deep breath. He struggled with the decision to tell Arella about the life threats or not. Mrs. Tenot had made it clear that she and her husband did not want their daughter to know. However, Arella had just nearly lost her life. Didn't that warrant some kind of explanation?
"I'm not sure," he answered cryptically.
Arella studied his face as he busied himself with her wound. "If you're not sure, then that implies you have some idea." She was becoming frustrated. She could tell he knew something but was holding back. "I think I deserve to know, I mean, I almost DIED out here!" Obi-Wan looked up at her again. Her dark brown eyes were blazing with near fury, and he didn't want to deal with an irrational girl again.
"All right," he conceded, kneeling back on one knee and propping his arm on the other. "You do deserve to know. Your parents hired me because they've been receiving life threats..... against you." He watched her angry expression turn to one of disbelief and fear.
"Me?! But why?"
"I'm not sure exactly, but it apparently has something to do with some of your father's political stands. There are some on this planet that are desperate enough to go to the extreme in order to voice their dissent. I suppose they figure you are a means to an end for their cause."
Arella stared off into space, unable to comprehend all she had just heard. "But why?--- Why didn't my parents tell me? It's not like I'm some little child that---," she stopped abruptly. That was it. They still thought of her as a helpless, little child unable to deal with the realities and responsibilities of life, and she fueled that belief with her frequently childish behavior. She hung her head and looked away, fighting back the tears welling up in her eyes. She wouldn't let him see her cry.
A tingle suddenly ran down her spine, and she jerked around to look at him. He was blowing softly on her shoulder after a few gentle dabs of the antiseptic. She had to admit, it felt exquisite.
"What---what are you doing?" she questioned trying to snap herself out of the pleasurable state she was suddenly plunged into. Obi-Wan glanced up at her innocently, giving one last blow. //Were his eyes like that before?// she wondered. //What am I thinking?!//
"The air lessens the sting of the antiseptic," he replied matter-of-factly, having no idea the effect it was having on her. She had forgotten about her arm and found herself staring at him as he continued to tend her wound. That's when she noticed the slight trickle of blood streaming from his left brow. Gently, she reached up to touch it.
"You're hurt," she whispered as he glanced up at her. His hand rose to investigate his own injury and met with her hand which was still there. The feel of his touch sent an imperceptible shiver through her body. //What is happening?!// She self-consciously pulled her hand back to her lap and left his gaze.
"Oh, I'm all right," he declared, jumping up to a standing position. "I'm just glad we're both in one piece... unlike our transportation." Arella's eyes followed his hand as he motioned to the wrecked speeder. A sick feeling immediately formed in the pit of her stomach.
//I did that,// she admitted to herself.
"I'm going to see what I can scavenge from the trunk. There are a few hours left before daylight, I would guess, so you'd better get some more rest. In the morning we'll start walking. Here." The Jedi undid the clasp on his cloak and tossed it to her. "You might need this."
"Thanks," she muttered. Her head was spinning with way too much for her to handle at one time. So many questions still needed to be answered, but right now her body and mind were crying out for sleep. She watched him walk toward the speeder and begin his self-assigned task. He seemed to have things under control, so she wrapped his cloak around her and tried to get comfortable on her right side. She had never slept outside before, and if she weren't so exhausted, she would probably be scared to death.
For a few minutes, she looked up into the night sky and gazed at all of the stars twinkling there. //Just to think that only this morning I was flying up there,// she thought. //It's amazing.// Taking one last look over at Obi-Wan who was prying the trunk open, one last thought tiptoed across her mind..... // HE's amazing.//
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This wasn't going to be fun.
He didn't know where they were exactly or where they should go. Only a few supplies were found in the speeder-- a sleeping palate, a few food items, a glow light. Not much at all. The comm link on board the speeder-- their only communication-- had been inalterably smashed beyond repair.
To top it all off, he was stuck with HER. Arella hadn't been the most pleasant of company since they had first met. She was not only conceited and spoiled, but wildly unpredictable, which was not usually a good thing, he had found. He glanced back over to her sleeping form.
However, something in her eyes when he was mending her arm seemed to have softened. The news about the life threats had also seemed to have a sobering effect on her as well, and she hadn't offered any snide remarks since. Maybe she would be bearable after all.
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The morning light danced across Arella's eyelids and beckoned her to wake. She sat up using her left arm as a brace, forgetting her injury, and yelped in pain.
"Ouch!"
Obi-Wan snapped out of his meditative state to greet her. "Good morning," he said kindly. "Did you sleep well?"
Arella was not a morning person. "Did I sleep well?" she repeated in a huff. "Despite the hole in my arm and the rocks in my back, I'd say yeah.... I slept well."
//So much for a kinder, gentler Arella,// Obi-Wan thought to himself with a chuckle.
She tried to stand and stumbled back to the ground. Obi-Wan ran to help her.
"Are you okay? What happened?"
"I think my ankle is sprained," she replied. If anything else went wrong, she would just burst into tears.
"Let me see," he said as he carefully began slipping off her boot. As soon as his strong hands touched her, another shiver went all over her body. //Not again!// she dismayed. She wasn't sure she liked how her body was reacting to him now. He began gently massaging her ankle, and while at first it was uncomfortable, it soon started to feel.... heavenly.
"Wow! That feels great," she admitted. //Did I say that out loud?// she wondered as soon as the words left her mouth.
"It's a Jedi healing technique. It will deaden the pain for a while." Then he stood up and offered his hand to her. "Here, let me help you up and we'll try this again."
//He is really quite handsome// Arella thought looking up at him. He had his other hand on his hip, and the way he was standing made him look so strong and confident. His plain Jedi garments actually caused him to look quite masculine and solid, and Arella wondered why she hadn't seen him this way before.
//It's the crash,// she finally decided. //It has to be the explanation for all of these crazy thoughts I'm having.//
She placed her small, delicate hand in his, and he gave one big yank to pull her onto her feet. Apparently, he didn't know his own strength because Arella ended up crashing into his arms as they encircled around her.
"Whoa!" he exclaimed, just as surprised as she was that they were now face to face with only mere inches separating them. She gazed up into his smiling eyes and couldn't look away. Immediately, her heart sped up and she swallowed hard, her whole body just longing to stay right there.
//Why is she looking at me that way?// Obi-Wan thought, suddenly uncomfortable in his current position. //Her eyes are really....... brown,// he noted, feeling lost in their depths. It was as if she was pulling him in---- in to what, he wasn't sure of. //Snap out of it!// he finally ordered himself.
"Well then," he blurted out as he gently picked her up and placed her further away from him. "Shall we go? I think we should start out that way," he motioned off to his right. Hefting the bed roll and another pack over his shoulder, he started walking.
Arella sighed deeply. //What are you doing, you idiot?!// she chided herself. //It's just the crash,// she kept telling herself, but watching him move ahead of her, she knew her heart didn't believe it.
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