Secret Rendezvous (Part I)
"I have routed you yet again, Master Kenobi." Siri grinned deviously. The deep hum of her training 'coldsaber' fell silent with a snap hiss. She clipped the saber to her belt before letting her hair down.
"I don't think I've ever told you this, but I like it that you've grown your hair long," Obi-Wan commented. Obi-Wan watched as Siri shook her hair loose in a dizzying display of blonde color. Siri's hair had once been shoulder-length, but over the years of the war, she cut her hair less frequently and allowed it to grow. Now, it stretched to just below her shoulder blades and threatened to reach the small of her back.
"You think it's more attractive?" Siri asked as she swept her hair back.
Obi-Wan's cheeks darkened slightly as he let loose an ear-to-ear grin. Siri grinned back with a chuckle. Deep down inside, the two were far beyond friends, yet the restrictions of the Jedi Code had stifled what would have otherwise been a strong, flourishing relationship. Still, the two Jedi Masters played their back and forth games, subtly pushing the envelope with off-hand flirtatious comments and suggestions, but after more than twenty years of these jests, neither had ever made a real move.
"We're getting old, Obi-Wan," Siri said as she took a seat on the bench.
"Forty, almost forty-one… oh yes, we're getting up there," Obi-Wan replied as he took a seat next to her. "But don't worry, Siri. Every time I start to feel old, I just think about Master Yoda. I've gotten over my fear of the future."
"'When eight hundred years old you reach, look as good you will not'," Siri mimicked the ancient Master. Obi-Wan broke down laughing. "But we are getting old," Siri continued. "I remember when we were Padawans we used to go at it all day and all night. Now, we've been training for only five hours, I already feel exhausted…"
"Yeah, well, we also always used to bicker and get on each other's nerves."
"Obi-Wan." Siri stared at him. "I don't think that's changed at all."
"I personally think our bickering has evolved to bantering and flirting."
"Yes…" Siri's eyebrow flared as her tone hushed to a superficially cool, falsely threatening tone. "Just be aware that you flirt with danger, Kenobi. I've demolished you with my special technique."
"Special technique?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Yes," the playfulness in Siri's voice melted away for a moment. "I've been training with Master Windu in my spare time. He's taught me some new moves to better fight the Sith."
Obi-Wan grinned deviously. "The only special technique I've seen in this entire training session is the way I kept letting you win."
"So, you want to go at it again, Kenobi?" Siri asked as she rose to her feet. Obi-Wan followed her to the sparring circle. "Don't you ever get tired of being beat by a girl?"
Obi-Wan smiled. Siri smiled back. Both coldsabers hissed to life.
The hum of the two coldsabers, a sound several octaves deeper than that of the standard lightsaber, echoed through the training room as the two masters clashed against each other. For several minutes, the fight was balanced, with each master taking minor gains and losses. The dance of light continued on at a moderate pace until Obi-Wan decided to up the intensity.
Obi-Wan's assaults came faster and stronger as Siri struggled to adapt to his increased pace and flow. Obi-Wan took a high swing, clear for Siri's neck, which she blocked and rebuffed. In the bat of an eye, Obi-Wan spun around, making another high swing, but on the opposite side, which Siri also managed to block, but barely. Sensing his opponent was beginning to weaken, Kenobi rained strong, quick attacks on Siri, forcing her back towards the wall.
Obi-Wan drew back before charging forward with a powerful stab. Siri parried the attack with such force that she knocked the coldsaber clean out of Obi-Wan's hands. Still, she could not reroute the power of Obi-Wan's charge, and his momentum carried into her, pushing her back until both slammed into the wall. Pinned between the wall and Obi-Wan, Siri couldn't help but grin. Her saber was still at his throat.
The most profound feeling washed over Siri when she met Obi-Wan's gaze. She seemed to struggle with these feelings every time she was with Obi-Wan, and she knew that he did too. Truly, there was no shame in feeling this way for one another. Years of work together and fighting side-by-side had drawn the two warriors close, but there was that damned code which always held them in place.
The banter and the jokes seemed to make the restrictions on their emotions easier, yet it was in silent moments like these that the feeling felt impossible to resist. The urge was compounded by the close proximity of their warm, sweaty bodies. Siri blinked as she felt his true intentions radiate through the Force. He leaned in. She made no effort to resist.
Their lips met. Over twenty years of being in love and only now they shared their first kiss. Slowly, it came to an end, and the two Jedi Masters looked deep into each other's eyes. Siri could feel her heart race as a lifetime of emotions boiled to the surface.
"So that's the new technique you have to battle the Sith?" Siri asked.
Obi-Wan grinned. "Indeed it is."
"Well, it's truly… devastating." Siri leaned in and kissed him again, but this time the kiss was deeper and more passionate. She dropped her saber and slipped both arms around him creating an embrace she had longed for years.
When the kiss ended, the two Jedi instantly separated as they became aware of their surroundings. Both surveyed the training room intently. It was empty and no one had seen them, thank the Force.
"Well, I think we've had enough training for one day," Siri said with a sigh of relief. She summoned the coldsaber back to her hand. Obi-Wan nodded in agreement. Siri turned to put away her training saber.
"Siri, wait!"
She turned around. "What, Obi-Wan?"
"Don't go. I enjoyed this…us." Obi-Wan paused. "What I mean is that you're right- We're getting old. And we can't keep lying to each other and lying to ourselves like we have been our entire lives."
Her blue eyes pulsed with concern. "Obi-Wan…"
"Siri, what I'm trying to say is that I want to see you. I'm not doing anything tonight, and I know you're not busy. Anakin and Ferus are both off world on their own missions. Just come over, I'll prepare us dinner."
"I would love too, you know that," Siri said pensively. "But the Code…"
"I keep thinking about you… about us. I can't keep lying to myself; I can't keep telling myself that we were never meant to be when I know in my heart that we are." Obi-Wan looked away and bit his lip. Every bit of pain and internal conflict that plagued him was etched on his face. "The code forbids it, I know. I'm sorry, that was impulsive of me to propose that we break it, but either one of us could be ordered back to the front tomorrow and die. And I can't bear to think about losing you, or about leaving you without first telling you how I feel. I just… I just felt like we had to get this all out in the open, that's all."
"No one will know, Obi-Wan," Siri said as she took his hand. She squeezed it gently but never took her eyes off of him. "You'd better cook something good."
Obi-Wan grinned. "You know that I'll probably just end up ordering from Dex's to-go menu." Both chuckled. "Alright, so my quarters… say around seven?"
She smiled. "I'll be there."
Siri's eyes opened to the world around her. Her meditation ended and suddenly, she was back in the loud world of the bustling Thyferra central hospital. The pleasant, two year-old memory disintegrated away as doctors and patients rambled around the emergency room, some mad with stress, others insane with pain from the injuries they had sustained. Siri's eyes, now green due to the contact lenses she wore, shifted from person to person as she analyzed the room.
It was a dangerous time for her, and if anyone could recognize her as a former Jedi, it would certainly spell her doom. She had disguised herself in ways much more elaborate than colored lenses. Her hair, which now stretched down to her tailbone, had been dyed to a deep black color. She had discarded her Jedi robes in favor of more flavorful fashions. Her wardrobe now consisted of stylish dresses with matching sweaters and jackets. Even the few robes she had conveyed a jaunty air of royalty, which was fitting, because the new character personality which she had adopted had an aristocratic background.
"Mrs. Agatha Organa?"
"Lady Agatha Organa," Siri corrected as she rose to her feet.
"Why, yes, of course," the doctor corrected himself pensively. "Come with me, m'lady."
Siri followed closely as the physician led her to a massive patient room. Enclosed in an iron lung, the battered form of Obi-Wan Kenobi looked near lifeless. His orange-blonde hair was ruffled chaotically, and his beard was gone. In its place, bandages covered the various burns and cuts on his neck and left cheek.
"Your husband is in stable condition, and he is resting well," the physician said. "The injuries he has suffered however are quite severe. There are very few broken remnants of his rib cage, and his lungs were severely damaged. The right shin was broken in five separate places, and he has various fractures across his thighs and arms. There was also some severe damage done to his skull. I fear that there may some brain damage."
Siri nodded. Her eyes remained locked on Obi-Wan. "Can these damages be repaired?"
"The breaks will heal in time, and we can install a new ribcage. His lungs though are permanently damaged but they can be reinforced with a mechanical breathing apparatus. The brain damage however will be difficult to assess until he is conscious," the physician replied. "But I suspect that he might have lost some hand-eye coordination and some of the fine motor skills, like writing, in the accident."
"No memory damage?" Siri asked.
"I doubt that there was any kind of memory loss. The cerebral scans don't seem to show any evidence of that kind of damage."
Siri breathed a sigh of relief. "Good."
"It is, the memory is one of the most valuable things one could lose," the doctor said with a nod. "If you don't mind me asking, m'lady, what happened?"
"There was a horrible accident on Alderaan. There was aid for him there, and we were able to stabilize his condition, but we knew that he would need extensive care from the best facilities the galaxy had to offer. That is why we came here."
"Indeed," the doctor nodded. "Yes, well Sir Valygar is lucky to have survived that accident."
Siri nodded. "The gods were watching over him." Siri twitched slightly as the word 'gods' escaped her mouth. Deep inside, she knew she meant 'Force' but to say such a word aloud would have meant death.
"Well, I have other patients to attend to, so you'll have to excuse me for now, Lady Organa," the physician said as he made his way towards the door. "I'll be around this wing of the hospital. Just ask one of the nurses if you need me."
Siri nodded to him as he departed. She slowly advanced towards Obi-Wan and knelt at his bedside. The hiss-click of the iron lung followed a rhythmic pattern which she listened to intently. Obi-Wan's breathing seemed to time perfectly with the respirator.
Siri leaned forward and kissed his forehead while whispering something she had longed to tell him that night two years ago.
"I love you, Obi-Wan…"