Nahlia didn't resist but instead wrapped her arms around his waist and returned his embrace fervently. She could taste tears on his lips, sense the pain in his heart, and could think of nothing she wanted more than to comfort him.

Obi-Wan stopped kissing her and trembled as he held her close to him, still caught up in the emotion of his vision. He had touched feelings within his future self that he had never felt before. Love and sorrow seemed twisted together within him at the moment of this woman's death and as the older Obi-Wan grieved, so did the young. Slowly, as he looked around at the forest setting, he remembered that it had all been a vision of the future, or a possible future anyway. He attempted to regain his composure and pulled back from Nahlia. "I-I'm sorry... I..."

"Obi-Wan, what's wrong?" Nahlia stepped closer to him, following his steps backwards. "What just happened?"

Wanting to get away to think, he stepped further and further back. "I... uh..." He wasn't sure he understood himself what had happened. Backing into a tree, he looked up and saw an opportunity to escape. "I should go up and survey the perimeter. Y-yes... see if Venu's henchmen are about..."

Before Nahlia could say anything, Obi-Wan leapt straight up into the air nearly 4 times his height, and landed on a thick branch. He then leapt again and again through the spaces between the branches until he was near the top of the tree, high above Nahlia. He could see all around, nothing but forest for miles. He had hoped to find civilization, someone who would help them return to Coruscant, but there had been nothing. They hadn't even seen signs of very many wild creatures, which Obi-Wan deduced may have been victims of Venu's bizarre idea of artistic expression.

Other things plagued his mind. The vision troubled him, not only because of Nahlia's death, but because of what his presence at her death bed, and the feelings that had overwhelmed him there, seemed to mean. 'If my future is to be with this woman,' he wondered, 'then what of my dream of becoming a Jedi Knight?' He had worked so hard for so long. He even thought Qui-Gon might recommend him for the trials any time now. The thought of not becoming a Jedi Knight was a crushing blow. He remembered what Yoda had once said to him, "always in motion, the future is..." He muttered. 'Perhaps this is just a vision of one possible future... and not set in stone.' He remained greatly troubled by Nahila's death as well. Part of him hoped he would find a way to help her, that there would be a cure for her disease, but the visions did little to foster that hope. 'If I cannot save her, then what is my point in her life?' He looked down at her. She was pacing slowly, with her arms folded and looking both confused and concerned. The end of his long brown robes dragged behind her as she walked. She shook her head in frustration and looked up at him in the tree.

Obi-Wan didn't waste any time getting back to surveying their surroundings. He wasn't ready to talk to her about it yet. 'Perhaps if I stay up here long enough she'll just forget that I kissed her...' He snuck a glance down again. This time she was looking straight up at him, hands on her bare hips, and with a look on her face that distinctly said: you have to come down sometime.

'All right,' he realized to his chagrin, 'so that's not a very likely scenario.'

Down on the ground, Nahlia knew Obi-Wan wasn't just up there to survey the perimeter but could do little about it. She sighed. 'No matter what Trindi says, I don't think I'm ever going to understand human males.'

A rustle of leaves behind Nahlia grabbed her attention away from Obi-Wan. She turned and slowly approached a nearby bush from which the sound had emanated. The bush rustled again at her approach, and she could hear breathing. "Obi-Wan?" She called to him, but he was pretending not to hear her from up in his precarious perch. Nahlia continued to approach the hiding creature. She could make out a small form in the shadows and it appeared more frightened of her than she was of it. With one quick motion she pushed the branches back to reveal a short bright orange skinned reptilian creature, like the one Venu had tested his machine on the previous day. He hissed at her, more out of fear than a threat, and ran away.

"Hey!" Nahlia called after it. "Don't run! Come back here!"

'She really sounds quite desperate...' Obi-Wan thought as he kept his eyes on the surrounding forest. 'I expected more restraint from her than to stand there begging me to come down there and-' He stopped in mid thought as he realized that Nahlia was not at the base of the tree pleading with him to come to her. "Oh." He muttered. 'Where'd she go?' Spotting movement in the trees, he made out the form of a circular flying droid zooming towards Nahlia as she chased the reptilian creature. "Nahlia!" He called, urgently. Before he knew it, he had lost his footing on the branch and was falling out of the tree.

Nahlia was too far from Obi-Wan to hear him, as she continued her pursuit of the small creature. It was less than 3 feet tall, but most of it was legs and so it moved just as quickly as Nahlia could. Still she had to try. It was the only remotely civilized looking creature they'd seen since escaping Venu's complex, and therefore was their only hope of returning to Coruscant. "Wait! I won't hurt you! I just want to talk!"

Obi-Wan had managed to latch onto another tree branch with one hand and stop his decent. As he hung there, he could see Nahlia still chasing the creature, but the droid was now out of site. The ground was still a long way down to go for him and the trees were crammed so close to each other that he decided there might be a faster way to get to Nahlia, if not safer. He let himself drop another ten feet to the next branch strong enough to bare his weight, then concentrated a moment before somersaulting into a neighboring tree.

Nahlia saw the creature dash through some bushes and followed it into a clearing. What she saw there made her freeze in place. The flying droid was there with its one large eyeball focused on the creature. The droid's thin mechanical arm zapped him with electric shocks over and over. Concerned for the creature, Nahlia began to look at the ground for some way to defend him. She picked up several palm sized rocks from the ground, and began to pelt the assailant.

It ticked and whirred in protest. 'The human will pay now...' it concluded, the end of it's mechanical arm sparking as it approached her. Nahlia backed away, afraid and unsure what to do now. She spotted a long thick stick on the ground and picked it up - swinging with all the strength in her body at the droid.

"Nahlia!" Obi-Wan dropped down from a tree and rushed into the clearing. There he was surprised to find the droid smashed almost beyond recognition on the ground, and Nahlia being hugged around the waist, very gratefully, by the reptilian creature. She appeared unscathed by the experience, but a little embarrassed by the creature's fawning over her.

Obi-Wan smiled proudly. "Looks like you're a hero."

"Hero..." Nahlia responded mockingly. "That's me all right."

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Nahlia and Obi-Wan followed the creature, who Nahlia had decided to call "Beebo" after the beeps and other odd sounds that chattered out of his mouth. As for she and Obi-Wan, there had been little said between them about that morning or anything else, other than curiosity over where little Beebo was leading them and whether or not he could actually help them return home.

"How do we know he's not just leading us back to Venu?" Nahlia asked.

"I don't sense any deception or malice on his part. I don't think he likes Venu and his droids very much, in any case."

"I wouldn't either after what it did to him."

Obi-Wan nodded. "Venu must use those to seek out victims and stun them. Then someone probably comes along to pick them up."

"Do you think it had a chance to send our location back to them?"

"Well, you certainly gave it a good beating but who knows how much information it was able to send out this morning before you destroyed it." Obi-Wan took her left hand and helped her down some rocks in their path. "It's a good idea to get far away from there, either way."

"Mm." She agreed. Nahlia couldn't help but notice a momentary lapse keeping Obi-Wan holding her hand longer than necessary. Rather than say anything or pull her hand away, she kept eye contact with him and took a step closer.

The moment passed quickly, leaving Obi-Wan feeling awkward and confused. He let go of her hand and quickened his pace to catch up with Beebo.

Undeterred, Nahlia decided to take a more direct approach. "Speaking of this morning, you never did explain what happened."

Obi-Wan waved his fingers at her in an attempt at a Jedi mind trick. "Nothing happened this morning..."

"Yes, something did." Nahlia grabbed his arm, stopping him. Before he could respond further, she took his face in her hands and firmly planted a kiss on his lips. "Remember now?"

That wasn't quite the reaction Obi-Wan had expected. "I... uh..."

Beebo let out a pitched sigh as he watched them. Even with the language barrier, he could see where this was going. He smiled wistfully as if watching some romantic drama played out on a stage.

Obi-Wan cleared his throat. "I don't really think this is the right place or time to talk about this."

"Why?" She argued. "He can't understand anything we say."

"As far as we know..."

"Why would it matter if he did?"

"Because," He lowered his tone to an aggravated whisper. "Jedi are not supposed to go around kissing girls..."

Nahlia folded her arms. "That didn't stop you this morning."

"No, but I ..." Obi-Wan stammered. "Look. I had my reasons but now they've passed."

"So you don't want to kiss me anymore?"

"I..."

She raised an eyebrow. "Well?"

"I... don't want to talk about this right now, all right?"

"Fine." She responded - noticing the fact that he didn't say that he didn't want to kiss her.

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Beebo's people celebrated his safe homecoming with a great feast that evening in their gathering hall. The ample meal was very much to the delight of Nahlia who hadn't eaten more than some of Obi-Wan's ration sticks in days. Designated a hero for her efforts in defending Beebo, she was allowed to sit near the head of the feast table next to the tribe's leader - another short, orange skinned reptilian creature that appeared to be female. Though neither Obi-Wan or Nahlia were sure which was which.

Obi-Wan sat much further down the table, quietly eating, and trying to relax while ever mindful of the situation they were in. It was clear these creatures had no technology, at least not the kind that would get them back to their home world. 'We could be stuck here for a long time...' He watched Beebo pour Nahlia another drink which she took graciously. Still, he supposed, there were worse people that he could be stranded with...and certainly ones not nearly as pretty.

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Later into the evening, after the feast, came the dancing. Outside was a huge bonfire, where the creatures held hands and danced around in a circle while singing. Among them, was Nahlia dancing and attempting to sing along - an attempt which some of the creatures watching on the sidelines found slightly humorous. Obi-Wan laughed as well, sensing the joy pouring out of her. It amazed him how the night before she had been so upset, in tears, and yet in a day's time she could be so happy again. The old pain was still there, he knew, but there was a resilience within her that he found he admired.

Noticing him watching, Nahlia broke from the circle and walked over to him. "You ought to come join the dance...it's fun."

"Oh... uh... Jedi don't dance..."

"Oh? That seems like sort of a silly thing for them to put in the code." She teased.

"Uh, no... " He answered shyly. "It's not in the code or anything it's... it's just not something we do."

"Oh, okay." She sat down on a log bench next to him and waited.

After an awkward silence, Obi-Wan gave in and got up. "On second thought, let's dance..."

"Sounds good to me." She smiled and she took his hand to lead him over to join the dancing circle.

Unknown to everyone, high above the village another surveyor droid was watching the celebration with interest. "Very good..." An incoming message from Diora Dega said, "remain in position for now, but if the girl and the Jedi leave, follow..."

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Obi-Wan had to crouch down just slightly to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling of the small wood hut that had been designated his sleeping quarters. He removed his belt and began to pull the layers of his tunic over his head in preparation for sleep when the door opened and Nahlia entered holding his robe over her arm. Her sudden entrance startled Obi-Wan and he inadvertently whacked his head on the ceiling. "Ow!"

"Are you all right?" Nahlia cringed at how painful that looked.

He rubbed the sore spot on the back of his head. "Aside from a mild concussion, yes..."

"Sorry..."

"Are you..." He realized with some degree of horror, "sleeping in here too?"

"This is where they sent me." Nahlia put his robe down over a tiny chair and began to unfurl a light pink nightdress that one member of the tribe had provided for her.

"Oh."

She ignored his apparent discomfort for the moment, "Could you turn around?"

"Why?" He asked almost suspiciously.

"So I can change."

"Oh. Yes of course..." He obeyed her request and turned the other way. "If you're sleeping here, you can have the bed."

"Thanks..." She busied herself slipping her skirt off in the candlelight. She noticed the bed over by Obi-Wan. Although comfortable enough looking, it was quite low to the ground like the creatures that normally slept in it. It was also less than four feet long and not more than two wide. She sighed. "I don't think much sleeping will be done there."

"W-what?" A little shocked Obi-Wan slipped and glanced over at her again. With her back to him, she was just in the process of pulling the yellow top off over her head.

"You know," she continued, "because of the size, even I'd have to really curl up to fit in it properly."

"Oh, I see..." His eyes slowly trailed down her body, making note of every curve.

Glancing back, Nahlia took note of this herself and smiled. "Anyway, we should probably both sleep on the floor..."

"P-probably..."

She allowed him to look a moment longer before saying "turn around..." again, this time with a playful twinkle in her eye. "Looks like they gave us plenty of blankets..."

"Looks like..." He said, struggling to be good and not look again.

She pulled the satiny, flowing, pink frock over her body. "It's turning cold..."

"I hadn't noticed." He continued to keep his eyes from her, but his thoughts remained lingering on her body still.

"Obi-Wan?" She whispered, touching his shoulder.

He turned to face her again. "Yes, Nahlia?"

She rose herself up almost onto her toes and kissed his lips softly once without touching him elsewhere. He closed his eyes and accepted her there. Seeing no resistance, she kissed him again, this time a bit longer. She felt his arm slip behind her back. She paused again, to check his reaction as she trailed her fingers down his Padawan braid and along his bare chest. Seeing no resistance again, she eagerly returned her lips to his.

TO BE CONTINUED...