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Ch. 15: Now is the Winter of Our Discontent

"I was hoping you would come by," Obi-wan said, smiling as he stepped aside to let Airiana enter his apartment.

"You were?" Airiana asked, surprised.

"Yes. I wanted to speak with you earlier, but every time I went to your rooms you weren't there."

"Oh, sorry," Airiana replied a little sheepishly, "I've been really busy the last few days."

"Everyone has been since the war began," Obi-wan said with a tired sigh.

"Yeah. So…what did you want to talk about?" Airiana asked as she sat down.

"Oh, yes…well, I wanted to apologize…for the other night. I don't know what came over me am I am sorry for my behavior."

"Don't be. It wasn't your fault. I shouldn't have reacted the way I did either. Let's just forget about it, k?"

"Agreed," Obi-wan answered with a smile. A few moments passed and then he got up and asked if Airiana wanted anything to drink. As he walked to the kitchen he asked what Airiana had been doing to keep her so busy.

Following Obi-wan, Airiana sat down at the table, "Working down in the healer's wing mostly."

As Obi-wan came over to the table with their drinks he said, "You like working down there, don't you."

"Yeah, I do." Airiana answered a little wistfully.

"Are you going to accept Master Cis' offer, then?"

"How do you know about that?" questioned Airiana over the top of her glass.

"News travels fast."

"Yeah, guess so."

"So, are you going to become a healer?"

"I don't know yet. I know I'd like it, but I'm just not sure. Right now I think I'd be more useful out on the battlefield."

Obi-wan took a sip from his drink before saying, "I think you should do it. It suits you."

"So does combat," Airiana returned regretfully. Then, to change the subject she asked when Anakin was getting back from Naboo.

"Before the week's out, hopefully. The council already informed me that they have a mission for us and they want us to leave as soon as possible. It seems the Republic needs all the help they can get right now."

"You don't sound very optimistic."

"Something about this war; the way it started, how we couldn't sense it coming, just doesn't bode well with me. I have a bad feeling about the whole thing."

Airiana winced a bit at Obi-wan's last comment, but luckily he hadn't noticed and after a pause asked why Airiana hadn't been sent out yet.

Airiana's head snapped up at this question; she wasn't prepared for the question and it took her a second or two to stumble something out about working with Master Yoda on tactics. Obi-wan gave her sideways look, but let it go, instead suggesting that they go to lunch.

As they walked to the cafeteria, they ran into Bant and asked her to join them; she agreed and the three of them continued on their way. Not getting much time to see each other anymore, Bant and Obi-wan had a lot to talk about and Airiana got to hear more stories of when they were padawans. The three of them did more laughing and chatting than eating and spent the better part of the afternoon in the cafeteria.

That night, Airiana couldn't help thinking about how long it had been since she had so much fun. Thinking about what a good time she had filled her mind and she didn't even worry about what the night would bring. And for some reason, whether it was because she was more relaxed than she had been since the battle, because she was finally letting go of it, or for some other unknown reason, she didn't dream that night, or at least not of battles and death.

Instead, Airiana dreamed that she was back in Rivendell, before the dark times. A great feast was being held and there was music and dancing. Looking around the crowded room she saw Elrond quietly enjoying the festivities from a balcony overhead; Arwen and Aragorn were dancing together and looked happier than she had ever seen them in reality. Even Gandalf was there, entertaining those around him with small displays of magic.

Looking around more she saw other familiar faces as well; other members of the Fellowship, Master Yoda, people she knew from Earth, other Jedi she had become acquainted with, all of them in Rivendell, having a good time and acting like they all had known each other since they were children.

Airiana had been so absorbed by simply watching everyone that she didn't notice that someone was behind her until the stranger's hands were on her waist. As the person moved to her side, one hand trailed across to the middle of her back and urged her forward. She looked up and saw Obi-wan looking down at her and smiling; one hand still resting on the small of her back and the other gesturing to the dance floor.

Airiana let herself be led and soon they were on the dance floor, her head resting on his shoulder, his smooth cheek on her forehead, and his long padawan braid tickling her neck. The song ended entirely too soon and he pulled away. Her eyes met his as he cupped her face in his hands and she ran her fingers through his short hair. As they studied each other, their faces began to move closer to one another and the world around them disappeared. Pretty soon there was only a hairsbreadth between them and Airiana closed her eyes expectantly.

Airiana awoke, smiling, to the sun streaming in through her window and feeling more rested than she had in a long time. Still smiling, she turned over and wished she could fall back asleep. She had been dreaming a wonderful dream; the kind of dream where a wish comes true, you never want to wake up, and when you do, all you can think about is getting back to that perfect place. Unfortunately, Airiana couldn't remember for the life of her what her dream was about, only that it was something beautiful and perfect.

Two days later, Anakin returned to the Temple and then immediately left again with Obi-wan to lead clone troopers against the Seperatists. In the meanwhile, Airiana continued meeting with Master Yoda, but eventually her late night journeys began occurring less frequently and finally stopped altogether. Thinking that it was simply the stress of the battle that had brought them on, Master Yoda decided to turn their attention to working on ways for Airiana to calm down and relax in order to try and prevent future trips into alternate universes.

Airiana also continued working in the healer's wing, eventually coming to accept Master Cis' offer and becoming her somewhat official padawan healer. Airiana called herself a 'somewhat official' padawan healer because it was agreed between her and Master Cis that healing would come second and not interfere with any missions that the Council assigned to Airiana. In this way, Airiana could get the best of both worlds; she could still get away from the Temple and go on missions, but also train to be healer.

Airiana remained at the Temple for three months before Master Yoda reluctantly agreed that she was ready to be put on active duty. She was promoted to General and sent to the Outer Rim to ascertain whether any of those systems were thinking about leaving the Republic, and if they were, to try and stop them. She also negotiated with the governments in order to get them to pledge whatever support they could offer to the Republic. Most of the time Airiana was stuck in offices and government buildings, pretending to be interested in politics. If it weren't for the grassroots bands of Separatist supporters who threatened to start civil war or who occasionally caused a skirmish or two, Airiana would have been quite bored and begging the Council to send her out to battle.

It wasn't until almost a year later that Airiana was sent into combat. The Council had received a message from the Tarogan government saying that they were under attack by Separatist forces and requested assistance, specifically asking for Airiana.

The fighting started as soon as Airiana and her squadron entered the Tarogan system. After what seemed like hours of dog fighting, the squadron was finally able to land. Airiana's first priority was to free the capitol city from Separatist control, which took almost three weeks. Things didn't get any easier from there and reinforcements were called in.

Although Airiana won most of her battles and was steadily, albeit slowly, gaining ground, life was difficult and there were only two good things that stuck out in her mind during her time on Taroga. The first was that the calming techniques that she had worked on with Master Yoda helped immensely with keeping her in one place. It was only during extreme times of combat or when she had little time to meditate that her 'nightmares' would return. The other good thing was that Anakin, newly knighted, had come to Taroga as part of the reinforcements during one of the more intense periods of battle. They often discussed tactics together and collaborated on many offences, but they also got the chance to talk about things other than the war and enjoy each other's company.

Not knowing exactly when Anakin would turn, but feeling that it must be getting close, Airiana enjoyed every moment they spent together, hoping all the time that something she said or did would somehow stop his fall. But even when she knew his time as Anakin Skywalker was coming to a close, she still couldn't imagine what would make him turn to the Dark Side; there was so much good in him now and she had come to know him so well that it was hard to reconcile the image of Darth Vader with the Jedi Knight that was with her on Taroga.

Unfortunately, Anakin's stay on Taroga was interrupted by his former master needing his assistance defending the Outer Rim against the sieges. When she saw him off Airiana told him to tell Obi-wan she said hello. He said he would and turned around to walk to his fighter. As Airiana saw him walk away, she had a strange feeling that this would be the last time she saw him as Anakin Skywalker, so on a whim, she called after him, ran up to him and through her arms around his waist. Not knowing quite what to do, Anakin patted her on the back and mumbled that he had to get going. Knowing he was right, Airiana gave him one last squeeze and told him to take care of himself.

Over the next several months, the Republic won key battles, along with the battle for Taroga, and there was even talk that the war could be over within a year. These things only made Airiana more uneasy, however, because she knew that Anakin would turn before the end of the war. Airiana returned to the Temple only to be given another mission by the Council and leave again. Before she left, she packed up her sword and a few other items that she didn't want to leave behind if something should happen before she had the chance to return.

A few weeks later, news came that Count Dooku had been killed and that General Grievous was on the run with Obi-wan Kenobi hot on his heels. Airiana knew when she heard this that the end was near, not only for the war, but for Anakin as well and it nearly broke her heart. She cursed herself for being too afraid to interfere and not doing more to prevent it, but there was nothing she could do now; she was lightyears away from him and she had her duties. And so, she prepared herself for the news and concentrated all her energy into her missions.

Not long after this, Airiana woke up one morning and knew it had happened or was about to happen. Not knowing what to expect from the storm troopers, she packed everything she wanted in a knapsack, threw it on her back, and began arming herself with every weapon that was in her small tent. Just as she was about to step outside, the Force screamed at her and she barely had enough time to take out her lightsaber and start deflecting blaster shots.

Airiana backed up until she could go no further, then she cut an opening in the wall of the tent and jumped out, tripping over the bottom of the torn tent as she did so and falling to the ground. When she looked up, she was surrounded by storm troopers, all with their blasters aimed at her. Knowing she only had a few seconds until they pulled their triggers, Airiana slammed her eyes shut and desperately called on the Force to take her to any time but this one.

When, a few seconds later, she didn't hear shots being fired and didn't feel any searing pain, she opened her eyes to be greeted by pitch black. She blinked a few times and when her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw the familiar interior of Ben's hovel. Finally exhaling the breath she had been holding she got to her feet, silently began pulling off her weaponry, and sank into the small sofa.

Tomorrow, she and Ben would have a long talk on exactly what happened, but for now all she wanted was to sleep and forget that she had ever been in a past where Anakin Skywalker was still Anakin Skywalker.

The End

Thanks for all the reviews, you guys are great! I look forward to writing the sequel, "In the Hands of Time" and hope you'll enjoy reading it as well.

In the Hands of Time…All shall be revealed.

Coming Soon to the near you!