Chapter 32: The Duchess of Mandalore

Obi-Wan escaped Serenno without much difficulty. He had grabbed hold of the cliff edge after he jumped and inched his way along until he could pull himself up into the courtyard. His swift legs carried him to his ship, and he quickly powered it on and left the palace. If Count Dooku kept a guard presence at his home, he didn't see anything, and it was unlikely the Sith would pursue Kenobi anyway. Dooku had made it very clear that he was untouchable, and that would be his downfall. He pushed the accelerator all the way forward, the starfighter screeching through the air as it left Serenno's atmosphere, quickly punching in the navigation for the Hydian Way back to Coruscant.

He needed to tell the Council. They needed to know what Dooku was, and they would listen this time. They had to. He eased off the acceleration as he approached the hyperspace route, his blue eyes wide and frantic as he ran through all his options, what he would say to the Jedi Masters, how he would say it. Then, slowly, he pulled the acceleration into the neutral position, letting the ship drift as he shut off the navigator. There was nothing he could say to the Council. The Count was right not to be worried. No matter what he said, he had no proof that Dooku was Tyranus. Unless...

He could confess to the Council that he had fallen, that he was barely a Jedi anymore, that he had invited the Dark Side inside him and kept it, used it, allowed it to corrupt him. Kenobi could apologize, beg for help, and the Jedi would have to take him back, they would have to believe him. After all, if he could fall to the Dark Side without the Council knowing, a Jedi Master like Dooku wouldn't have trouble doing the same. A confession was the only way he could even hope that the Council would listen, but the same thing would also render him untrustworthy. The Jedi Masters certainly wouldn't believe a Jedi that had fallen to the Dark Side, and the insistence that Dooku was Sith, that they needed to go with him to bring him to justice, just seemed like a trap. Even Kenobi could see that, to the Council, it would look like the fallen Jedi was trying to frame the Count.

Dooku had been right. He couldn't be touched. Obi-Wan couldn't go to the Council, couldn't return to the Jedi, and when he needed them most, he had no allies. He closed his eyes, tried to recite the Jedi Code, but quickly stopped. The words rang hollow, the Dark Side having opened his eyes to the lies and half-truths that the Jedi followed. The entire Jedi Order were slaves to the Republic, a system that was greedy and corrupt, and it wasn't working, was doomed to failure, and Obi-Wan knew he could never go back. Not now, when he had admitted to himself that he was much, much closer to the Sith. The Jedi side of him had died long ago, before he had mind raped the Neimodians, even before he had murdered the Disciples of the Dark Side on Dromund Kaas, and now that he knew how far he had fallen, he couldn't stomach going back.

Obi-Wan wanted to. After all, the Jedi were the only family he ever had. But at the same time, that family wouldn't believe him, questioned his every belief, even sent him out to see Dooku alone, when they knew it was dangerous. If he was going to return to the Jedi, he needed to kill Dooku, and he needed a plan for that. The Jedi would forgive him. They would. But Obi-Wan Kenobi could not forgive the Jedi.

He needed a plan. He needed a family. With nowhere else to go, and the planet nearby, he switched on the navigation, punching in new coordinates and entered the Hydian hyperspace route, away from Coruscant and heading for Mandalore.


Mandalore had changed since Kenobi had last been there. The domed capital city of Sundari was thriving, even if the planet itself had been rendered inhospitable by the brutal wars of Mandalore's past. The ports were open, ships flying in and out at an alarming rate, dock droids loading and unloading crates of cargo to be taken to the city or off-world for trade. Obi-Wan landed his ship where he was directed, and an official came to greet him, bowing, clipboard in hand.

"Welcome to Sundari," the man said warmly. "What is your business?"

"Visiting," Kenobi said softly, pushing past the man and drawing his black cloak around him, but the official came after him.

"But where are you going?"

"Is that any business of yours?"

"Um...yes."

Obi-Wan sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'm going to Sundari Palace."

The official looked him over. "You don't look like a dignitary."

Kenobi had enough. Glaring at the official, he quietly said, "Take me to Sundari Palace," and the man shivered, his eyes dulling as he asked the man to follow him.

With the official in hand, Obi-Wan cleared all the city's numerous checkpoints with ease, making their way quickly to the heart of the magnificent city. When Kenobi saw the palace, he waived the man off and took long, easy strides toward the towering spires of the grand entrance. The moon of Concordia hung in the sky, the night sky a deep blue with the light of it, and the streets were well-lit and alive with the busy, peaceful people of the city. Last time he was here, Mandalore had been ravaged, but Satine's rule had allowed the people to thrive again.

Kenobi brought his hand up as he reached the palace gates, and the guards dropped their weapons, allowing him access to the palace. The lights were low inside, his footsteps echoing off the alabaster walls as he walked down the long hallway toward the throne room. Kenobi had only been in the palace once, but he remembered every detail of it. The end of the civil war and Satine's rise to Duchess was something he remembered keenly, though the memory was bittersweet. The newly appointed Duchess Satine and the Padawan Kenobi had spent the night together in the palace, the first time they could be together without the threat of death looming over them, but it was also the last time he had seen her. They both knew it would be the last time; she would be busy rebuilding Mandalore, and he was in training to be a Jedi, and his Code forbid such things. Qui-Gon knew, of course, but saw no harm in his young Padawan having affections for the girl. He had always known Obi-Wan to be dutiful and dedicated, and knew that, when the time came, he would let go of his ties and become a Jedi Knight.

Of course, that was before. Obi-Wan was hardly a Jedi now.

He passed under the large arches that led to the throne room, the entire room open and flowing and allowing the light breeze of the Mandalorian evening to pass through, the light of Concordia spilling into the room and streaking it with moonlight. Two large braziers lit the area next to the throne, but the rest of the open hall was white marble glowing with pale moonlight, and it was stunning. A man standing at the base of the throne turned when he heard the echo of the Jedi's footsteps, and Obi-Wan recognized him as Prime Minister Almec, and he grinned maliciously. He had considered seeking him out when he saw him on Coruscant. They needed to have a...talk.

"Who are you?" Almec called, walking out to meet the intruder. "Why are you here, the Ruling Council has been dismissed for the day."

"Explain your presence here, then."

"I live here," Almec growled, standing before Kenobi, arms crossed and glaring at the smirking Jedi.

"You live here..." Obi-Wan purred slowly, mockingly, and he grinned slowly as the Prime Minister got more angry. "I was under the impression the palace belongs to the Duchess."

"It does, but other people live here!"

"I'm here to see Satine," he drawled, waiving off the man. "Where is she."

"The Duchess will see nobody else today."

"Mm, but she will see me." He leaned in, a lazy smile crossing his face, and Almec backed up. "See, Satine and I were very good friends."

Almec drew up taller. "Really. She's never mentioned you, sir..."

"Obi-Wan Kenobi."

The Prime Minister's eyes widened, and Obi-Wan's smug satisfaction faded away, left to look at the man in confusion. "The Obi-Wan Kenobi?" Almec bowed deeply. "I'm sorry, Master Jedi. I've heard stories, but...wait here. I'll go tell the Duchess you are here." The tall blond left quickly, and Obi-Wan just stood staring at the spot Almec was in a moment before. What happened? Was it possible that Palpatine was wrong about Satine and Almec? It was possible, and he closed his eyes and prayed that nobody else had been with his Duchess.

Obi-Wan heard the swift, light footsteps before he saw the person they belonged to, and he held his breath, steeling himself for what was to come. He wasn't even close to ready when he saw her.

Satine Kryze dashed into the room from the door to the right of the throne, strands of pale blond hair falling across her flushed face, breathing hard, and Obi-Wan felt like a Padawan again, staring like an idiot at the woman that entranced him, her bright blue eyes wide and wet as she looked at him.

"Obi-Wan..." Her voice was just barely above a whisper, breathless and disbelieving, and the Jedi took long, swift strides to stand before her, bowing deeply and taking her elegant hand in his, kissing it gently.

"Duchess..." He looked her over, taking in every little detail he could observe, reaching through the Force and gently touching her mind, and he found her excited, hopeful, wanting, just as he was. If there was another man in her life, than she was the greatest actress in the galaxy, because her entire being screamed for him. "You've...grown up."

"As have you..." She cleared her throat, raising her head and looking regal. "Thank you, Almec, for telling me my friend is here. You're dismissed." The Prime Minister bowed deeply and left through the door they came in. When he was gone, Satine threw herself into her Jedi's arms, one hand running through his hair. "It's been so long since I've seen you..." she mumbled into his chest, her shoulders shaking as tears dropped on to his tunic. "I was certain I would never see you again. After you became a Jedi, I-"

"Hush now..." Kenobi said softly, hooking his fingers under her chin and gently making her look up at him. "Force, look at you. You're more beautiful than I remember." Her cheeks flushed a deep red, and she looked away from him, pulling away, but standing close.

"Your braid is gone. Are you a Jedi Knight now?"

"I am, yes."

"So you are forbidden from attachment."

"Well-"

She nodded, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes before she stood tall, regal, and looked very much like the ruler of a planet that she was. "So what does the Jedi Council need from Mandalore?"

"The Jedi didn't send me." He looked around the large room, and suddenly the breeze was not so pleasant. "Can we talk somewhere...private?" She nodded, held out her hand and he took it in his own, the two walking slowly side by side out of the throne room and through the halls of the palace.

"...is something wrong?" she asked softly, and Obi-Wan trembled.

"Yes. I didn't know where else to go, Satine, all I could think about was you. You...understand."

Her bright blue eyes regarded him carefully, running over his face and watching pain and conflict rush over her Jedi. "If there's anything I can do to help you, Obi-Wan, I'll do it."

"There isn't, not in this." He smiled at her sadly. "I'm running into a very dangerous situation. I wanted to see you before I go."

"How dangerous?"

He didn't say anything, just stared at the floor as they walked together, eyes focused on the ground before him, looking up only when Satine led him into the room he knew to be her bedroom. He stood inside the room, watching the Duchess walk out to the balcony, and he slowly followed her out into the moonlight.

"I won't forgive you if you die, Obi-Wan," she said softly, laying her hand over his on the carved stone railing.

"Satine, that isn't fair..."

"Yes it is." Her blue eyes were blazing, and Kenobi could feel the passion inside her, and it made his heart race. "You don't get to come back into my life after years of being gone just to tell me you're going to be gone again soon. That is cold, even for a Jedi." He said, nothing, just looked away from her, and the Duchess became angry, laying her hand on his shoulder and forcefully turning him. "You are a Jedi. A peacekeeper. It's not supposed to be dangerous!"

"Of course it's dangerous, Satine! Keeping the peace isn't without danger."

"You aren't a soldier, Obi-Wan, if this is something a soldier can do-"

"It isn't! This is a Jedi matter, and there isn't anyone else that can do this!" Her blue eyes were wide as she looked the man over, and she cupped his cheek, his hand coming to rest over hers.

"What's happened? You've changed."

"...yes, I have." His voice was heavy, tired, sad, and Satine picked up on all of it. How could this woman with no connection to the Force feel everything that the Jedi Masters could not? "The past few years have been...difficult. Nothing is what I thought it to be."

"I can see that. I always knew you to be brash and impatient, but never this angry or conflicted. What's happened?"

How could he even begin to explain this to her in a way she would understand? "I got involved," he started carefully, "in some things I did not fully understand. I thought I could control it, but it wasn't that simple."

"Control what."

He huffed, frustrated. "The Force." He looked at the Duchess, her blue eyes narrowed as she longed to understand. "It can be dangerous if you overstep your bounds, and I have reached far beyond my capacity."

"I highly doubt that. I have seen what you can do, Obi-Wan. I have seen you prevail when I was certain we would die. Whatever it is, you can conquer it."

Kenobi didn't know what it was, but something about the Duchess made him feel better. She didn't understand, not really, but those lovely, trusting blue eyes said otherwise. They saw him, really saw him, and Kenobi believed her. They had shared something deep, something intimate, something that he would share with nobody else, and that eased his nerves. He smiled softly and bent down to kiss her flushing cheek.

"You always know what to say, Satine. Thank you."

"I had always hoped that the life of a Jedi would be safe and peaceful."

"Then you would be pleased to know that it is." He shrugged "Except when it's not." He grinned as her lips turned into a frown. "Not like you! Just look at you! Satine, what you've created here is amazing." A pink blush stained her white cheeks, and she had to turn away from her Jedi. "Mandalore is thriving, how did you do it?"

"It wasn't easy," she said softly. "My New Mandalorians are pacifists. We are dedicated to peace."

"The Mandalorians are a warrior race, how did you manage that."

She frowned, holding herself tightly, and it looked like she was cold, though the air was temperate. "After the civil war, much of our population had been killed, as you know." The Jedi nodded, and she took in a deep breath. "The people were ready for the violence to stop. I was ready for it to stop. Those that did not see it my way were exiled to Concordia." She looked at him nervously, afraid he would disapprove, but she found the Knight smiling at her.

"How very like you." Her eyes narrowed, and he laughed. "I mean it, it's good! My Satine...committed to peace. Other leaders would imprison them or execute the traitors."

"They aren't traitors, Obi, they are my people. Even if they are wrong, even if they stand in the way of peace, they are still mine. They want to embrace our history, and I understand that. I disagree, but I understand."

This was why he loved her, and he felt his heart ache in his chest. The woman was understanding, passionate, brilliant, and he felt a desperate pull within him to protect her. She needed it, desperately, if she was going to stay on this course. She would have enemies, many of them, even with her peaceful ways and desire to understand, and someone needed to defend that.

"One day, you may have to fight to defend this peace." Her blue eyes narrowed.

"No. I won't. I'm fundamentally against violence, Obi-Wan, all it does is beget more violence."

"Not everyone sees things the way you do, Satine. Dangerous people must be dealt with."

"Yes, and even extremists can be reasoned with!"

"Not all of them."

"Yes, all of them. I have built up Mandalore on this principle, Obi-Wan, and it has worked. Mandalore is peaceful. I have had to negotiate and debate and reason with people every single day since I came to power, but I have done it, and we are thriving."

He looked at her for a long while, the fire in her eyes warming him, and he finally chuckled and shook his head. "Well, I can't argue with results." His blue eyes hardened. "If that were to ever change, though, I want you to contact me. Someone needs to protect you."

"Just because I'm a pacifist doesn't mean I won't defend myself. I just don't believe killing is the answer. It shouldn't even be an option."

Obi-Wan nodded. "Just promise me, Satine. Promise me that you will find a way to get in touch so I can help you preserve your peace."

For what seemed like the first time that evening, she smiled warmly, and Kenobi felt the breath catch in his chest. "I promise."

"Of course," he drawled, breaking eye contact and looking away before she saw how flushed he was becoming. "By then, you may have someone ruling by your side. There's rumors about you in the Senate, you know."

Her face hardened. "What rumors."

"That Prime Minister Almec is your, uh..." He couldn't say it. The words caught in his throat, because if it was true, he didn't want to hear that it was, and if it wasn't, the accusation was insulting. But Satine was clever, and she had understood the implication, and her angular face became red with fury.

"That is...insulting! Does the Republic have nothing better to do than gossip about my personal life?!"

"They really, really don't."

"Do they honestly believe that I would have such an inappropriate relationship with my subordinates!" Her furious eyes met Obi-Wan's, his face curious, and she felt herself bristle. "What."

"...well, are you?"

She had to keep herself from slapping him. "No, Obi-Wan," she growled, balling her hand into a fist. "I am not involved with Almec."

"The implication being you are involved with someone."

"You aren't being fair. Can you really expect me to wait for you when I know you will never come?" Obi-Wan could feel the floor drop out from under him. He knew it was too much to hope for, but he did hope. "I am not you," she continued, voice straining with emotion. "I feel things deeply, and I can't just brush things off and let people go like they're nothing like the Jedi can! Loving you is like loving a star, Obi-Wan, it's beautiful and you can't stop looking at it, but it will burn the heart out of you, and no matter how much you love it, it will never love you back."

"Wait, you think I'm like a star? Satine, that's not-"

She slapped him. Hard. Her blue eyes immediately filled with tears when he reached up and gently rubbed the stinging spot on his cheek. "I'm so sorry," she said softly, voice quivering as she tried to keep from crying in front of the man. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean..." She sniffled, looked the Jedi right in the eye. "There isn't anyone else. There can't be anyone else. Nobody can compare to my Jedi Knight."

Kenobi's head was swimming when he drew the woman against him, tilted her head up and kissed her, softly at first, but the Duchess quickly melted into him, her hand cupping the place she had struck him and gently running her thumb over the fine hair of his beard. They pulled away for a moment, faces flushed and breathing accelerated and Kenobi felt her through the Force and found want and desire and yearning and lust. She had needed this just as much as he had. She kissed him this time, quick and deep and fierce, and the passion between the two engulfed them.

It became a feedback loop for Kenobi. He had locked their minds together with the Force, his presence deep inside her, and though she could not feel him within her, he could feel her within him. Every thought, every feeling pulled at him, increasing his need for her, and his own need fueled hers, the exchange stirring the Jedi into a mindless haze of passion and lust, the Dark Side only increasing the feelings to maddening levels.

"Obi-Wan..." Satine gasped, pulling away from the flushed Jedi as he bent to kiss at her neck. "We can't do this..."

"Yes we can, of course we can." He dragged her hips against his, grinning against her neck as she moaned softly. "We need this..."

"Your Code-"

"Says nothing about being physical with someone else." He groaned almost as soon as he said it. He sounded like Quinlan. Kenobi pulled away from her, holding her out at arm's length, looking into her eyes, so dilated with arousal, only a thin blue line of blue could be seen. "Satine...I broke the Code a long time ago, and I haven't stopped breaking it." Her eyes narrowed in focus, disbelief on her face, and he bent down and kissed her deeply, groaning softly as the woman whimpered.

"It's not like you," she said softly, pulling away, but gripping his robe tightly and pulling it away from his shoulders. With a frown on her face, her hands shot to his belt and quickly undid it, and the Jedi shrugged his robe off his shoulders, letting it drop to the ground.

"It is like me, Satine," he purred as he quickly pulled his black and red shirt over his head. "There is no emotion, there is peace, there is no passion, there is serenity." He knelt before her, pulling her close to him and she put her long fingered hands on his bare chest for support; her legs were barely supporting her anymore.

"I can't live like that," she said softly, shivering as his hands stroked her leg and his lips ran slowly over her stomach, and Kenobi scooped her up in his arms and brought her into the warm confines of the room. The Mandalorian night suddenly felt cold against their flushed skin. She was set down on her oversized bad, and she kicked off her shoes as the Jedi pulled his boots off. "But you have to live like that, Obi-Wan, you are a Jedi."

"Yes, but I don't live like that." He smirked as he stood before her, his long fingers slowly unbuckling the clasp on her light red overcoat and gently slid it off her shoulders. "A Jedi shall not know anger nor hatred nor love, but I do, Satine." The Duchess' fingers lightly traced the long, deep scars on his chest, and he carefully covered her hand with his. "I have loved you. I do love you. I've tried to stop it, but I can't, and I'm sick of trying to deny it."

Satine ran her hands over Obi-Wan's chest, breath hitching as her Knight moaned with pleasure. "You don't care what the Jedi think?"

"The Jedi can be damned if they would keep me from this."

Nothing was left to stand between them anymore, and they allowed unrestrained passion to carry them away into the night.