OBI-WAN
"So, if I remember correctly, we're heading to the school today." Obi-Wan began, holding up a long list Thalia had made a few days ago. "And then…Jogan fruit?"
"Yes, we'll have to go to Tatooine for them." Thalia called from another room as Obi-Wan wondered out into the hallway, reading over the rest of the list. On the other side of the paper, she'd drawn the layout of a fireworks display, but had scribbled it out. Evidently, it had been too tricky to organise.
"I'm not sure I'll be able to accompany you to Tatooine. The Jedi aren't exactly welcome there." Obi-Wan called back.
"Just pretend your someone else." Thalia replied as she walked into the hallway. She was wearing a plain, light blue dress with short, puffed sleeves and a flowing skirt. Obi-Wan marveled at the way she could make even the plainest outfits look spectacular.
"Ready?" She asked.
"Uh…yes." Obi-Wan nodded and gestured to the front door.
Waiting outside was a pale blue speeder with an open roof and a small step up to the seats. Obi-Wan offered his hand to her and without so much as a glance in his direction, she took it and stepped up into the passenger's side.
The drive through Troska's capital could be described as pleasant. It was the first time Obi-Wan had seen the city properly. All the buildings were painted in pastel colours with impeccable gardens out the front, bright curtains in every window and smoke rising from chimneys. People milled around the clean cobblestone streets in bright dresses and shirts.
"It seems like such a happy, peaceful place." Obi-Wan couldn't help saying aloud.
"That's the idea. This is what neutrality looks like." Thalia replied.
"It's beautiful." He smiled.
The school was just as elegant as the other buildings. It was like a bigger version of the houses, expect it was taller and extended out the back. The sign on the front of the house read 'Gildy's School for Troskan Children'.
"My grandmother opened this school when she was my age." Thalia said, seeing him looking at the sign as the front door opened.
"Thalia!" A cry came from a tall woman in the doorway. She wore a plain, long navy dress and her hair was pulled back in a tight bun. She had all the qualities of a stern head-mistress but the fantastic smile on her face spoiled the assumptions Obi-Wan was imagining. The woman crossed the front path in three, easy strides before embracing Thalia in an embrace, which looked as tight as her hair.
"Hello, Edwina." Thalia smiled once she was released and turned to Obi-Wan. "This is Edwina Kiarnan. The head teacher."
"Obi-Wan Kenobi." He smiled pleasantly, offering his hand, which she shook stiffly.
"A Jedi. We haven't had one of your lot here for a while. What brings you to Troska?" Edwina asked.
"I…" Obi-Wan began.
"Obi-Wan is here to help with the festival." Thalia interrupted quickly.
"Hmm, I wasn't aware the Jedi made social calls." Edwina scrutinized, giving Obi-Wan a once over.
"How are the children?" Thalia asked, tearing Edwina's examining eye off Obi-Wan.
"They have missed you." She smiled and lead them both up the path.
"No one outside of the palace knows about the mounting danger of this looming war. They know war is imminent, but not the risk it poses to Troska and I want them to go about their lives happily. No need to worry them unnecessarily." Thalia said under her breath to Obi-Wan as they stepped through the front doors. He nodded in understanding, and thought no more on the matter.
They stepped into a long, wood paneled hallway with doors set into both side walls. Edwina lead them to the second door on the left and held up her hand for Thalia and Obi-Wan to wait for her.
She turned the handle sharply, and pushed the door open before striding inside. Obi-Wan caught the sound of small voices being quickly hushed.
"I told you, children, that if you behaved this year, you would be allowed to take part in the Crystal Festival." Edwina began and there was a collective, excitable gasp from the room and Obi-Wan watched Thalia as a grin spread across her face. "Well, your teachers and I have decided that you will be taking part, and we have a very special teacher who has come back to help you."
"Is it Miss Thalia?" A small voice asked and, no longer able to contain her own excitement, Thalia poked her head around the door.
"Did I hear my name?" She asked and a chorus of screams came from the children as Thalia stepped further into the room.
Obi-Wan watched from the doorway as she was surrounded by about thirty children. They were only half her size, but their numbers made up for it. They swarmed around her and after almost losing her balance for a second time, Thalia clapped her hands together, instantly gaining their full and undivided attention.
"Now, I can't hear any of you if you all talk to me at once. Sit down and then you can all tell me one thing that happened to you while I was away." Thalia said and in a great wave, the children sat down, jostling for a position closer to the front.
"Well done, now Clarisse and Digby, what did you two do?" Thalia asked a pair of identical twins sitting to her immediate left.
"I learned three new words." Clarisse, who couldn't have been older than four said proudly.
"And I saw a dead cow!" Added Digby just as wonderfully and Obi-Wan grinned.
"Well…how exciting!" Thalia humored his statement.
Thalia proceeded to go around the room, hearing about the children's adventures since she'd last seen them. Each child lit up when it was there turn and Thalia made sure to give each of them her complete attention, which each child reveled in.
"Miss…" A young boy towards the back of the room called carefully, raising his hand. "…where did you go?"
The question seemed to surprise Thalia. The way he'd asked it wasn't accusatory, or pleading, more of a simple curiosity, like he assumed she'd just taken some time off to pursue a new hobby. Thalia thought quickly before responding with a grateful smile.
"I went on a holiday, to a few different planets and I made a friend along the way. This is Obi-Wan." She gestured to the Jedi, who had tried to sidle into the room un-noticed and he had mostly succeeded apart from a small girl in the corner, staring him down as if her life depended on it. As soon as Thalia said his name, all heads turned in unison to stare at him and he smiled nervously at them all. "Obi-Wan is a Jedi and he's here to help us with the festival."
"What are we doing for it?" A small voice asked.
"We are going to be acting out the history of Troska, from when it first started to how it is right now." Thalia replied and there was a collection of excited whispers around the room.
"Everything is set up in the back garden, so let's go out and begin." Edwina added, and marched the children out into the beautiful garden.
Around a large, grassy square were low trees with pale flowers hanging off their branches, bushes with berries on them and lanterns hanging from black posts dotted about the garden.
Obi-Wan watched from a distance as Thalia began arranging the children into their positions. She made sure to explain things slowly, to listen carefully to the children's questions and guided them gently with her hand on their shoulders.
"She wonderful, isn't she?" Edwina gushed, joining him where he was standing under the shade of a low tree.
"She is." Obi-Wan nodded. "How long has she been teaching here?"
"Since she was sixteen." Edwina smiled fondly. "Most of the children have grown up with her. She was my student first and now she's become a teacher. A bit like your Jedi training I believe." She added and Obi-Wan nodded, realising the similarity.
"She has this extraordinary knack with the children." Edwina continued. "She's one of those people you look at and think they were just born to be mothers. She'll be absolutely perfect."
Obi-Wan's jaw clenched and he reached his hand up to rub his chin. Thalia could never have this, he realised watching her with the children. Her perfect role had been snatched away from her, and there was nothing that could be done to get it back.
A sudden tap on his shin brought him out of his thoughts and forced him to look down into the little face that had been eyeing him suspiciously from the corner of the classroom.
"Hello there. What can I do for you?" He asked, bending down to her height. The girl fixed him with a suspicious glare.
"Are you going to marry my teacher?" She asked accusingly.
"And why would you ask that?" He asked with a laugh.
"Because you're a boy, and she's a girl and that's what people do." She said expertly and crossed her arms.
"Thalia is my friend." Obi-Wan replied and the girl raised her eyebrows at his unconvincing tone.
"Really?" She said slowly, narrowing her eyes at the Jedi. "I'm watching you." She warned, before running back to join the group, but not before casting another warning glare at Obi-Wan over her shoulder.