Kess moved into the same bunk to which she was assigned during the Frakkan mission, but now it was Vanech in the bunk a few paces away. She turned on the little corner light and settled in the blanket, but she wasn't ready to go to sleep yet. She meditated often, but it didn't help with the boredom of this flight. Her thoughts stumbled frequently into worrying about Nik almost as often as she remembered warm moments with Luke, but the difference was that she was almost forcing herself to think about Luke just so she didn't fret so much about Nik.
She wondered about the two of them, remembering that single afternoon when they met. Nik's original assumption that she was bringing a boyfriend home was nipped in the bud as soon as he realized who it was. Nik believed what she told him: all Jedi training, nothing more. He treated Luke with the appropriate respect and friendship of that position.
But they got along, and Kess liked that. If there was anyone she cared would welcome Luke into the family, it was Nik. The approval of Dad and Gina, and even little Ben, all paled in comparison. Luke promised he'd warm them up eventually. She wasn't sure if that was possible, but his effort towards that goal meant a lot. If only they could get Dad to quit drinking. If only they could convince Gina that being a Jedi wasn't so risky.
But Kess had to admit that it was. Their skills shoved them to the front lines too often. She went up alone to face Cheenan and Kadaan because of it. And now she and Luke were going to pierce the Imperial Palace alone to rescue Nik. Perhaps they could convince Gina that training Nik and Ben was safer than not training. If Nik had his Jedi skills honed into use already, the Empire likely would have never been able capture him in the first place.
Kess rolled onto her stomach in the bunk. She hid her face in the tiny pillow and tried meditate away her worry. At least they were on the move now. At least the waiting for action was over. Hang in there, brother. I'm on my way.
She turned her mind deliberately to happy memories and fun fantasies. She remembered that day she and Nik drove out to Grandpa's sanctuary outside Pika Oasis to shovel sand away from his front door. He made the siblings sit down to watch the sunsets with him over glasses of cold water. They talked about the bigness of things and the smallness of things and how it all connected together. She imagined Grandpa probably hired Luke to help him with his ailing vaporator from time to time. She wondered what Luke was like as a teenager. She fantasized what would have happened if she and Luke accidentally met at that sanctuary, him an adventurous country mouse and her a city girl trying to prove herself, before they knew anything about anything. It wouldn't surprise her if old Obi Wan made careful efforts to prevent that meet-up from happening, but she grinned to imagine what Grandpa's reaction would have been to catch the two teenagers making out around the back of that little adobe building.
He kissed her. Right there on Pad 14. In front of everybody. And she smiled more to remember it. She imagined he was probably getting the full front of harassment about it from Rogue Group right now. Not that they didn't know, but they didn't 'know'. He kissed her in front of everybody. She wasn't expecting that at all. She was expecting the 'reserved Master' to wait until this whole thing was over so he could slide it in as a boring, passive comment somewhere amongst the bigger news of battle success.
But now the news was out. Kess was glad she didn't have to watch the resulting smear in the Newsnets, glad that media circus of it will be spent and replaced by battle news by the time she had to face a camera too. And afterwards? They would be able to shift the galactic conversation to the construction of a Jedi Academy. Vanech. Nik. Little Ben. Maybe even Leia. And Force knows who else was out there waiting for the Empire to end so they could step up to the Jedi plate too.
Her mind lingered on imaginings of her and Luke watching the construction of buildings on some foreign landscape, organizing foodstuffs together, and settling in to make themselves at home in a meditation chamber still smelling like new-dyed fabric and paint. Would he arrange for separate quarters for them? In the effort 'not to assume things he had no right to assume'? Only to end up never using one of them? Would they have any privacy when they made love on that fresh campus with a growing collection of novice Force users sensing their every orgasm?
She imagined Nik shouting loud from his quarters down the hall. "Would you two quit! I'm trying to sleep!"
Kess slammed her eyes shut and giggled into her pillow.
She fidgeted with the heirloom locket resting on her breastbone and glowed at these thoughts. She wondered, if it ever came, would hers come in the form of Tatooine wedding locket? There were so many traditions to choose from, but this one seemed to fit, even though neither of them subscribed to the religion and practices of the Sand People. Knowing Luke, he'd probably just ask her in passing after some stupid meeting. And knowing her, she'd still say 'yes' as if he'd just presented her with a Coruscant gem the size of a walnut.
But she sighed and controlled her hopes. She meditated away these fantasies because she already knew how frustratingly futile it was to try to rush Luke into anything he wasn't ready for. It took a year before Luke even introduced himself. It took another year before he told her he loved her. He probably wouldn't have kissed her in public before the launch if Leia hadn't politically pressured him to get the news over with.
Luke was not in a hurry. So Kess settled herself in for a long wait.
After all, she did have the patience of a Kenobi.