Chapter 2 to Romance Among the Stars
Obi-wan made his way down the hallway of the opulent palace to the waiting area of Princess Anaria, accompanied by two royal guards. Anaria had fled the hospital in her grief, and had taken her ship back to her home on the planet Nefthres. Obi-wan, after seeing the little ones attended to and Padmé taken back to Naboo for her funeral preparation, had made his way to Nefthres with the golden droid C-3PO. He was about ready to go back to the Jedi Temple when he received a request asking for his appearance at the royal court of Nefthres.
Naturally, Obi-wan obeyed the request and told C-3PO to head for the planet Nefthres. C-3PO did not object, as he knew Master Kenobi had important matters to attend to. When they landed on Nefthres, Obi-wan was amazed at the beautiful silver city that he saw and the lush green countryside surrounding it. Obi-wan had told C-3PO to stay with the ship; this was a matter for humans to discuss.
Obi-wan finally reached a huge set of doors with many galaxies carved on them. The work was fantastic, the planets and stars were carved to perfection from their views in space. Obi-wan's gaze swept over the door in appreciation of the craftsmanship, when suddenly the door opened without him even having to knock.
There stood Anaria in fresh robes of a light green, her hair redone and only her eyes betrayed the tell-tale signs of her crying. "Come in, Master Kenobi," Anaria said, moving out of the way of the door. Obi-wan nodded slightly his thanks and walked into the room.
At first, walking into that huge room might have astonished Obi-wan had he never seen anything that enormous. But he had seen his share of palaces and gigantic ships, so this room registered only a slight shock at its immense size. As Obi-wan looked around, his mind took in all of the carved columns, statues, a beautiful crystal fountain, and the illustrious furniture. He saw tall windows with a fantastic view of the mountainside and the sunset to the west of them.
"Your Majesty, how did you know I was there?" Obi-wan asked casually.
Anaria was silent for a moment before she said, "Intuition." Obi-wan looked skeptically at her but he said nothing.
Anaria sighed and made her way over to the crystal fountain. The fountain had always been a thing of beauty for her, though she saw it every day of her life. The way the sunlight shone through the crystals, made rainbow spots on the floor and in the water, and glittered with all its brilliance was truly extraordinary to her. "This fountain was made by the Glorgachev's on the mining planet of Glorgian. Something this beautiful came from such a harsh planet…" here she turned to gaze at Obi-wan. "…life is full of mysteries, isn't it?"
Obi-wan said, "Yes, it is beautiful. The Glorgachev's have always been master craftsmen." He came over and stood by Anaria, gazing admiringly at the fountain.
She said, "This was a gift from Senator Padmé. She was a dear friend of mine." Anaria's gaze shifted down into the water, tears threatening to spill. Suddenly, she turned away from the fountain and walked to the windows, pausing there to gaze at the scenery.
"Padmé died an honorable death, Princess," Obi-wan said gently. He sighed and said, "Is there a reason why you called me here?"
Anaria turned slowly to face him and said, "Master Kenobi, what I'm about to ask you might shock you, but please, hear me out." Obi-wan's face showed slight surprise, but he said nothing, waiting for her to continue.
She drew in a deep breath and said, "I would ask you, Master Obi-wan, to train me in the Jedi arts."
Obi-wan, surprisingly, didn't react with surprise. Instead, his eyes half closed and he said softly, "Yes…I can feel something strong within you, Princess." His eyes fully opened and he said, "I'm sorry, Princess, but there would be no way I could train you. One, you are too old for Jedi training, two, the other masters would not approve of it and three, there would be no time to train you as we are in the middle of a war." He stressed that last part very clearly to her.
"Yes, I understand we are in a war, Master Kenobi," Anaria replied, "having seen some of it myself. I am tired of fighting only with a gun; they are practically useless against the Jedi and the war droids. Oh, and here's your lightsaber back, Obi-wan," she said.
Obi-wan instantly whipped his head downward and saw that, indeed, his lightsaber had gone missing. When he looked up at the Princess again, he saw that she held his saber in her outstretched hand.
Taking it carefully from her, Obi-wan said, "There was no way you could have taken that from me by touch; I would have felt it. You must have had some training in the Jedi arts, then, to bend the Force to your will…"
Anaria smiled. "My father trained with the Jedi's when he was young, but when he grew up he met my mother. Of course, the Jedi cannot be married and still continue with their studies to become Masters, so he left the school and came here. He was a prince of Nefthres when he went to the school and his father, my grandfather, was king here. My grandfather had died by the time my father left the Jedi School and so my father came back here to take his rightful place on the throne."
"But what about the Alliance System?" Obi-wan asked, not meaning to interrupt. "I know that your planet holds a seat in the Galactic Senate."
"My father knew that being king meant nothing to the Senate and so he reformed our government to model democracy," Anaria explained. "Yes, we are completely supportive of the Galactic Senate and for the republic. But back to my father, as I was his only child, he trained my with what Jedi arts he knew. I know how to work a lightsaber somewhat, but it is not good enough. I have not trained with the masters, only a runaway schoolboy," she said, sighing. "That's how I knew you were at the door earlier, too."
"Well, I must say, that was impressive," Obi-wan said bluntly. "But still, Princess, there could be no way I could train you. I'm so sorry." And with that, Obi-wan bowed to her and proceeded to leave the room, his cloak whipping behind him with a snap.
When he reached the tall carved doors, Anaria instantly rushed forward, saying, "Obi-wan! Wait!" He paused for a moment as she walked quickly to him. "Be careful, Master Obi-wan," she said, laying a hand on the side of his cheek. Obi-wan smiled graciously and headed out of the room.
Anaria paused for a moment at the door, then suddenly raced to her tall windows. She thrust one of them open and jogged out onto a wide stone balcony overlooking the fantastic countryside. She swiveled her gaze to the ship landing dock, and saw Obi-wan climbing into his ship. He had a little red droid with him, Anaria noticed, and a golden humanoid robot.
Suddenly, Obi-wan paused before entering into the silver ship, and looked up at Anaria's balcony. He saw her there, gazing at him, her green gown waving in the breeze, her blonde hair starting to come loose from its coils. A beautiful sight she was…
Snapping back to attention, mentally hitting himself, Obi-wan turned his gaze from the princess and walked into the ship. The ship came to life with a rising pitch of notes and levitated from the ground. It swiveled itself to face the mountains and took off toward them.
Princess Anaria gazed after the ship and slowly shook her head. What were you thinking? she asked herself silently. You KNEW he wouldn't train you, for all those reasons that you knew of beforehand! Stupid, stupid, stupid…
She turned her gaze back to where the ship had taken off, and she sighed. But, then again…oh, Obi-wan…she sighed again, this time with longing.
Oh, Obi-wan...more to come soon I promise!
A Bleeding Rose