The Jedi and the Duchess

Chapter 6

Hello there! This story will include both canon plots (actual events from the Clone Wars/Star Wars) and stories I have come up with myself. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: These characters are the creations of George Lucas, Lucasfilm, and Disney. I do NOT own them!

It had been exactly seven hours and twelve minutes since Satine had kissed him, or at least that was what Obi-Wan approximated. Ever since she had expressed feelings towards him, he had been nervous and anxious all throughout the time following the incident.

He was surprised that he even succumbed to such an action. He was studying to become a Jedi and any sort of strong feeling was prohibited, especially at such a vulnerable time in a young Jedi's training. That kiss had practically thrown all of his teachings in the garbage, but for some reason, he didn't care. In fact, he was secretly hoping that maybe she would kiss him again one day.

Satine was fully aware that kissing Obi-Wan was probably the stupidest thing she'd ever done. It was painstakingly obvious that he was still thinking about it, and he'd probably never even kissed anyone before. The worst thing was that she knew Jedi weren't allowed to engage in such behavior and yet she had initiated it. Even still, she couldn't bring herself to fully regret doing it. As much as she tried to ignore it, she had feelings for the young Jedi.

"This looks like a good place to stop for now," Obi-Wan murmured, stopping to analyze their surroundings. He had learned his lesson from trying to find shelter in a cave after Satine was attacked by venom mites, and decided that a more open surface would be the safest place for them to wait for Qui-Gon… wherever he was.

"Are you sure there won't be any unexpected creatures lurking in this area?" Satine joked.

"Hopefully," he responded, clearly not picking up on her sarcasm. He was still so thrown off by their encounter earlier that he couldn't even pick up on her humor. Satine knew she had to say something before things got even more awkward between them. First, however, she wanted to get settled in the new area before confronting him.

He placed his robe on the ground and spread it out. "We can rest here for now," he offered, sitting down on the cloak and signaling her to do the same. She tentatively sat down and distracted herself from looking at him by fiddling with the bandage on her arm. She could feel some pain from her wound now that the venom mite's sting had worn off its numbing effect. "Does it hurt?" Obi-Wan asked, still embarrassed about dropping her.

"Not too much," she reassured. Satine really didn't want them to revisit her wound because that would lead to what happened right after which was something she knew would bring back any of the awkwardness they had slowly begun clearing. However, she knew she had to address it at some point, preferably when it was just the two of them. "Obi-Wan?" She took a deep breath.

"Yes?" he answered.

"Look, I— We should probably talk about um… well… you know,"

"Yeah," he finished. He wasn't too thrilled about revisiting the topic either, but they had to sort out whatever was going on between them.

"I'm sorry for initiating such behavior. I guess I was just excited that we escaped the mites," she lied. The more she thought about when she began feeling things for Obi-Wan, the more she realized she needed things to deescalate between them. She could trace her feelings for him all the way back to the time just before her house was bombed while they were in the gardens, and understood that whatever this was had to stop before it got them both into trouble.

"It's okay," he muttered. "We all make mistakes," he finished. Obi-Wan didn't think he'd ever been so quiet around her in his life. For once he had nothing to say. He was so sure that she cared about him, and yet here she was trying to end things if there was even something to end in the first place. He felt guilty and wrong and confused by wanting things to continue the way they were going, but he also knew the risks both of them faced by actually having some sort of relationship.

"Now that that's settled let's—" Satine concluded, but Obi-Wan wasn't ready to let go just yet.

"But why did you kiss me if you knew all the rules it broke for the two of us?" he blurted, not thinking about how bold of a question it was.

"Excuse me?" she replied, jumping up from the ground. She was utterly shocked. He was definitely more reserved than this!

He stood up as well. "I'm sorry, duchess, but the excitement you claim to have had that led you to kiss me couldn't have been just a one time feeling if you were fully aware of the consequences."

"First," she said sternly, "I asked you to call me Satine not—"

"Well you're the one who insists on keeping things professional, so maybe I shouldn't call you by your first name," he shot back.

"Do not cut me off," she snapped. "Second, I said that it was a mistake never to be repeated again. Besides, you should agree with me on this! You're a Jedi. You'd be breaking just as many, if not more, rules than me by engaging in such things."

Obi-Wan had completely lost control. He had always been the quiet, studious, observant, obedient, and compliant one and was sick of everyone trying to get him to stay confined by those labels. "Has it ever occurred to you that maybe, just this once, I don't really care about the rules?!"

"You're kidding right?" Satine spat. "I mean this is crazy! You sound crazy! One day when I am older I will get married to someone who can rule beside me. Can you get married? No! So don't you think it would be pointless to start a romance if we'd just be setting ourselves up for disaster? Besides, one day you will be a Jedi Knight who is off helping restore peace in the galaxy. Our futures clash way too much to be worth loving each other." There. Satine had said it. No matter how they felt, they could never work, so it wasn't even worth trying.

Before thinking, Obi-Wan barely whispered, "I would leave the order for you." He almost gasped when the words left his mouth. Satine wished she hadn't heard it, but she did.

"What?"

"I'd leave the order for you," he repeated louder. After all these years, he finally understood why the Jedi had prevented attachment. It made people do rash things exactly like he was doing. Satine, on the other hand, was too baffled to say anything. She couldn't believe what he had just said. The order was his life, and he was willing to give it up for someone he had just met. She feared that he was already too attached to her to see her side of the argument clearly.

"You should think before saying things like that, Obi-Wan."

"I meant it," he replied. "Trust me when I say I'm just as confused as you are about why I feel this way, but I do. I don't want to let you go. I can't let you go." He grabbed her hand and traced his thumb down the back of it.

"What have we gotten ourselves into?' she sighed, taking his other hand and wrapping his arms around her waist. She let herself give in just this once. Fighting her feelings for him would just make things worse. He pulled her closer to him and rested his head on hers.

"I have no idea," he answered, stroking her beautiful hair. He lifted her chin gently and looked into her eyes. He remembered how fascinated he was by them when he first saw her sitting on the throne in Mandalore. How long ago that seemed now that they were stuck in a swampy forest searching for a lone Jedi who could be anywhere on this strange planet. He slowly pulled her face towards his and was about to kiss her when he felt a familiar presence approaching the area.

They snapped out of their trance when Obi-Wan practically shoved Satine down to the floor and turned around abruptly.

"Where in the world have you two been?" Qui-Gon scolded, clearly unhappy that they didn't stay with him.

"We were looking for you, Master," Obi-Wan quickly responded, his heart beating a mile a minute. They had almost been caught!

"Alright," Qui-Gon accepted, clearly offset by his Padawan's shaky reply. "Are you okay, duchess?"

"I'm fine," she answered much calmer than Obi-Wan.

"Good. Let's go back to the ship. I was smart enough to get a path tracker before heroically sprinting into the woods," Qui-Gon added disapprovingly. Obi-Wan fake coughed towards Satine since she was the one who had suggested they enter the forest, and she stuck her tongue out at him.

Qui-Gon started walking away from them, following a beeping noise guiding them back to the ship. "Follow me," he shouted, already a few feet ahead of them. Obi-Wan stuck his hand out to help Satine off the ground and took his robe off the floor once she got up.

"Let's go before we lose Qui-Gon again," he joked. Satine smiled and quickly kissed him on the cheek.

"Yes, let's go," she repeated and jogged towards the older Jedi. Obi-Wan rolled his eyes cheekily and went after her and his master. This was certainly a strange situation he had gotten himself into, but Satine was worth it… she always would be.

Author's Note

Guess what day it is? MAY 4TH! Happy Star Wars day and may the force be with you! I am about to watch the last episode of the Clone Wars and I'm shaking! I've been avoiding all social media to keep the spoilers away. I'm excited yet sad to finally see my favorite show come to an end.

ALSO... Can we just take a moment to appreciate the small obitine content we were given this season when Bo-Katan said, "I thought you cared about her [as in Satine]" and Obi-Wan replied, "I did. I still do." LIKE WHAT?! I was screaming for five whole minutes afterward. SEASON 7 IS PERFECT! And let's not even get into how they changed Anakin's whole appearance this season because I could talk about that for a loooooong time too... wow just wow.

Okay someone really needs to take away my typing privileges because I'm being way too chatty. As you can tell, I am very excited today! See you later.