THALIA
Thalia watched as the children ran around the grassy square, waiting for their parents to pick them up at the end of the day. They had been very obedient. They'd practiced every lesson, making sure they knew their roles for the festival performance. She watched as child after child ran to their mother or father and threw their arms around them in delight. A few ran back over to her and did the same before heading home.
Soon, all the children were gone and Thalia was left standing alone in the middle of the square. Her heart was so full, yet so heavy after seeing the children again today. It reminded her of the future she'd always imagined but could no longer have.
A tear slid down her cheek, and she let it run it's course as another followed. The soft padding sound of feet on grass met her ears and she quickly whisked the tears from her face.
"Thalia? Are you alright?" Obi-Wan's voice asked, worry lacing his words.
She squeezed her eyes once before turning around to face the Jedi.
"Yes." She replied a little too forcefully.
"Is there anything I can do? You can trust me." He said earnestly, reaching out and wrapping his hand around her arm, just above her elbow as he took a step closer. Thalia looked from him to his hand before pulling away from his grasp and started past him.
"I can't." She muttered, folding her arms as she went.
The trip home was silent, and Thalia kept her head turned away from the Jedi, watching the houses pass by. However, she didn't miss the glances that Obi-Wan kept sending her way every thirty seconds. He'd worn the same expression since leaving the school. His jaw was clenched, eyebrows pulled together in a concerned frown and he would reach his hand up to his chin in thought every so often.
When they pulled up outside her home, Thalia made straight for her room, leaving Obi-Wan standing in the hallway as he watched her disappear up the stairs.
She realised how silly it had been, visiting her class so soon after learning the fate of her future. She thought she would have been able to handle it, but Thalia had underestimated how ready she was to open herself up again.
She turned towards the door as she felt someone's presence approach it from the other side. With help from the force she sensed it was Obi-Wan. He raised his hand as if to knock, but after a pause, let his hand fall back to his side and he turned away.
. . .
The next morning, Thalia dressed in a simple blue shirt, tucked into a pair of brown pants underneath black boots. She and Obi-Wan were headed to Tatooine, which meant keeping a low profile. If you looked like you had even a few hundred credits to your name, you'd be snatched up by bounty hunters. After plaiting her hair into a tight braid, Thalia grabbed a dusty purple coloured shawl and headed for her bedroom door.
She pulled it open and almost walked straight into Obi-Wan who was sitting on the top step of the landing just outside her room. He had his elbows resting on his knees and both hands clasped under his chin as he stared ahead of him, thinking hard. When he heard the door close behind him he looked over his shoulder, letting his hands drop into his lap.
"Have you been there all night?" Thalia asked hesitantly.
"I didn't want you to feel alone." He replied, getting to his feet. His expression was calm and thoughtful, like he'd been meditating.
Thalia didn't know what to say to that. What could she? There wasn't anything that came to mind that would be enough.
"Thank you." She found herself saying. That was it? Surely she could have come up with something better than that.
. . .
After a quick discussion over their plan, they set off with C-6 in the Falcon to Tatooine. The Jogun Fruit was always purchased from the same supplier, so the idea was to get in and get out as quickly as possible. Obi-Wan hadn't needed to remind her that she would undoubtably have a large bounty on her head and going to the capital of bounty hunter territory was a careless idea. However, she wouldn't be deterred from her mission.
"There…" Obi-Wan pointed at the planet's surface as they came out of lightspeed. "…land just beyond those moisture farms."
C-6 looked to Thalia, ignoring his order and waiting for her to give her directions.
"Do it." Thalia said, nodding to the controls and the droid sighed at having to follow Obi-Wan's directions.
"So, where's this supplier?" He asked as they lowered the ramp to the sandy ground below. Thalia fixed the shawl around her shoulders and made a hood over her head. As soon as they stepped off the Falcon they were hit with a blast of hot, dry wind, which blew sand into their faces.
"Towards the far end of the settlement." Thalia replied and the small group headed off through the maze of sand coloured, windowless buildings.
They had to dodge out of the way of arguing aliens, let huge creatures lumber past and avoid the droid-drawn carriages that zoomed in every direction. So, they were thankful when they reached the small shop, which sold exotic fruits from across the galaxy. It was one of those little shops that looked pretty suspicious but wasn't as bad as it looked. Thalia smiled when she saw Obi-Wan's dubious expression.
Brightly coloured fruits spilled from large, wooden crates out the front of the shop and as they stepped over the threshold, a magnificently sweet aroma pulled them even further into the cool shop.
"H'chu apenkee! Hi chuba du naga?" A protocol droid asked in Huttese from the corner of the shop.
"We'd like a box of Jogan Fruit." Thalia replied and the droid sorted through it's languages until it matched hers.
"Twenty." The droid replied and she weaved her way in between boxes to drop a handful of silver credits into the droid's hand.
"Let's get these home. It's too hot." Thalia exclaimed as she walked out of the cool shop and back into the dry heat. "C-6?"
She looked around her, but couldn't see the droid anywhere. She had decided to wait outside, but now there was no sign of her.
"Where could she be?" She wondered aloud, scanning the busy crowds for any sign of her droid.
Thalia wandered further out into the street and turned in a full circle, until finally she spotted her. C-6 was standing beside a speeder surrounded by five men all dressed in the same brown garb with black scarves around their faces and waists.
Thalia started towards them as she saw the droid reach out and slap one of the men across the face. They all surged forwards and tipped her headfirst into the speeder, quickly jumping in after her.
"Hey!" Thalia began but a hand was clamped over her mouth. She let out a small shriek, but as she whipped her head around, she saw it was only Obi-Wan. "What are you doing?" She demanded, pulling away from his hand.
"We can't draw attention to ourselves out here. We'll follow them." He explained and took her hand, pulling her towards a nearby speeder depot. Stopping beside a plain, grey speeder with a dusty windshield and cobweb covered engines, he turned to the owner of the depot. A Troidarian by the looks of him.
"We will take a speeder." Obi-Wan said, waving his hand to direct the flow of the force.
"No, you won't." The Troidarian replied, taken aback by the blunt statement.
"We will take a speeder." Obi-Wan tried again.
"No, you won't!" Came the reply.
Then Thalia suddenly remembered, the force doesn't work on Troidarians.
"What my friends here means is, we would we would like to hire a speeder." Thalia cut in quickly as the creature flapped it's wings wearily.
"That's more like it. Your friend had better be careful waving his hand around like a Jedi. The Jedi are not welcome here." The Troidarian grunted and pulled out a board. "Names?"
"Ob..." Obi-Wan began.
"Ben." Thalia interrupted, stopping the Jedi from giving himself away. "Ben Kurala."
"Take it." The Troidarian nodded to the speeder once he'd taken down the name.
The pair hastily leapt into the speeder and as the engine coughed into life, Thalia spotted the kidnappers speeder disappearing into the crowd.
"That way." She pointed and Obi-Wan followed her direction.
"Where did you get Ben from?" Obi-Wan asked as they weaved through the pedestrian traffic.
"Just popped into my head." Thalia shrugged.
"And Kurala? That doesn't sound like a name you can just make up on the spot." He continued and Thalia smiled fondly at the name.
"It's mine. My surname, my family name." She added quickly. She assumed the brief silence was because Obi-Wan had just realised he hadn't known her full name and they'd been together for the last seven months.
"Right…" He began slowly. "…so is there anything else I should know about you by now that I don't?"
"I'm married." Thalia answered completely deadpan. Obi-Wan's head whipped around so quickly she was surprised it didn't spin all the way round. "I'm joking." She added and relief washed over the Jedi's face before his agape mouth turned into a grin. There was silence after her announcement and Thalia could have sworn she'd seen a bit of disappointment in his face when she'd told him she was married.