Kasen's hand was over my mouth, and his palm was sweating. I resisted the urge to bite it; for fear that he might make a noise. Meanwhile, I just frowned at him, thinking of calling him many swear words a Padawan shouldn't know.

He looked over at me and frowned back. But I knew that I had to be quiet, why did he have to suffocate me?

Thinking fast, I came up with a sure-fire way to get his hand off my face. Instead of biting him, I quickly stuck my tongue out and got saliva on his palm. He jerked his hand away, startled, and frowned deeper at me. I silently wondered if he, too, were thinking of swear words to call me. This amused me, and I grinned despite the situation.

I'll be quiet, bone-head, I thought at him.

You'd better be, his blue eyes shouted.

I rolled my green eyes at him. I opened my mouth, as if I was going to speak just to set him off, but then I pursed my lips again in silent defiance. Thinking I had the upper hand, I turned to stare at him, gloating with my eyes dancing.

But the footsteps drew closer, and startled me; but before I could squeal I felt a pair of warm lips pressing swiftly and gently against my own.

It took me a moment to realize that Kasen was not only silencing me, he was kissing me, another thing I knew Jedi Padawans were not taught! My head swam and my heart thudded in my chest, and I was so startled by his actions that I couldn't even move.

We stayed like that for what felt like hours, but in reality was only a few seconds, just long enough for the heavy footfalls to make their exit, far enough away from our hiding place. As soon as we heard a door slid closed behind them, we pulled apart.

I inhaled sharply, now suddenly aware that I hadn't been breathing.

"Whoa," I whispered.

"Sorry," I could feel a mixture of fear and excitement coming from Kasen. "I… uh… I didn't know what else to do…"

I stared over at him, into his eyes and into his core.

"Is that what you wanted to tell me?" I whispered to him.

He just nodded.

I scooted as close to him as I could get, resting against his side.

"I had only hoped so," I admitted softly.

"But I thought Jedi aren't allowed to love," Kasen said, his deep voice, though hushed, took on a teasing quality that was barely recognizable to the average listener.

"Too late," I whispered.

Then I felt his arms wrap around my shoulders, closing any space between us, and felt him kiss the top of my head, hard. I slid my arms around his waist in response.

And I felt safer than I ever had, even as dangerous as this trip was.

I was home.

………

"We are here," I suddenly heard a loud, commanding male voice say.

I jerked awake, though I didn't know I had fallen asleep. Kasen must've gotten less sleep last night than I realized, for it took me a long time shaking him before he finally stirred.

"We're here," I whispered.

"How do you know?" he asked quietly.

"The captain just said so, stupid."

"Oh," Kasen muttered, smirking at me.

"What?" I frowned.

"What were you thinking, sleeping next to me?"

My jaw dropped. "I…"

"Save it," he whispered, dropping me a wink. "This is our stop."

We fell silent again, other than our soft breathing, watching and waiting for our chance to escape. I closed my eyes, and heard Kasen whisper for the Force to guide us. I frowned, wishing he would keep such wishes inside. But, as if in on cue, the footsteps were now gone and the ship fell silent. Judging by the sound of rushing wind, they had left the ramp open behind them. Kasen motioned for me to follow him as he lifted the release latch on the outside with his Force ability.

The door slid open with a mechanical sliding sound, and Kasen grabbed my hand, pulling me to my feet and to trail after him.

We rushed as quietly as possible from the storage room, finding our way easily to where the ramp was open and resting on the sandy floor that was Tatooine's surface. White-hot desert stretched as far as the eye could see, and my heart dropped. This was Mos Espa? Kasen continued to pull me behind him, whispering for me to stay focused on our mission.

But what was our mission, really?

Deep down in my heart, I knew my only mission was to find Master Obi-Wan. I felt his presence in small glimpses all during the night last night, during the times I couldn't bear to sleep. This morning, I had felt him strongly, but broken up, as if some kind of static was between us.

My breathing was more ragged now, but Kasen's was still as steady as could be expected from a Jedi apprentice. I frowned, trying not to be jealous of his natural abilities. Jealousy is the shadow of greed, I heard Anakin's thirteen-year-old voice taunting. Before I had a chance to will the memory away, we were halfway down the ramp, and Kasen was jumping. Naturally, I had no idea what was going on, so the only way I knew to jump was because my hand was still in his. We landed on the ground; Kasen, gracefully, on his two feet, and me, graceless, spraying sand every which way.

"Come on," Kasen whispered. "We'll hide under the ramp until they close it; that way, they won't see us."

"Kasen," I frowned, "why don't we just follow them at a distance? That way, we'll be in town a few moments after them, and then we can just blend in? I've heard Tatooine is a fairly diverse planet, we probably won't stick out or anything."

Kasen stopped, brow creased, considering our options. I resisted the urge to tap my foot at him, and finally, he looked up again.

"Alright, Keelee," he nodded, "let's go."

And so, we followed footprints toward Mos Espa with the morning sun making it difficult to breathe.