When Naritha regained consciousness, she was lying on her back, with her head slightly raised.
She had a pounding headache and she needed some time to realize her "pillow" were in reality Padawan Obi-Wan's legs.
The youth had been leaning forward at the waist, looking closely at her face, and when their eyes finally met, he smiled gently.
"Welcome back, My Lady. How do you feel?"
Naritha tried to sit up and grimaced, reclining again. "I am sore, as if a wall collapsed over me."
Obi-Wan's grin broadened. "It did."
It was then she remembered what had happened before she fainted. She remembered the earthquake, the desperate run to escape the crumbling building and the wall crushing down in front of them as they searched for a way out.
Her heart pounding with fear, Naritha ignored her sore muscles and sat up, looking around.
They were trapped in a portion of the corridor leading to the safety stairs. The ceiling had collapsed both in front and behind them, blocking them in a windowless rectangle of duracrete and bricks. The emergency lights were on and one of the lateral walls had lost part of its facing, baring a water-leaking pipe.
Naritha walked toward the pipe and cupped his hands to collect the water, and discovering it was clean and pure, she drank it to free her mouth and throat from the dust she had breathed in.
Feeling better, she returned near young Obi-Wan. The boy was sitting with back against a wall, holding his left arm tight against his body, as if he was nursing it. His face was covered with dust, and it made his blue-grey shine even more.
"Are you hurt, Obi-Wan?" Naritha asked kneeling at his side, remembering how he had protected her with his body.
"Yes, Milady, but it is nothing serious. My arm is broken in two points, but now that I know you are all right, I should be able to do some Force-healing and mend it."
"You can do that?" she enquired, genuinely interested. She knew so little about the Jedi powers.
"Yes, I can, but I will be in trance for at least a couple of hours. That's why I waited for you to regain your consciousness before attempting it, I did not want you to worry needlessly should you woke up and find me unresponsive."
Naritha smiled, moved by his consideration. "Very well, Obi-Wan. Go on, heal your arm. I will be fine."
The young Jedi nodded and closed his eyes, a look of concentration settling over his dirty features. Soon afterward his breath became deeper and slower, and his Force signature started to glow.
Naritha watched him, fascinated and basking in the serenity he was emitting, until her eyes widened in alarm.
All the Angarians are slightly Force-sensitive, not enough to become Jedi, but enough to form mental bonds. However, the only time a woman is able to sense another Force-signature so strongly is when her Receiving is about to begin, and her mind stretches out, searching for her mate.
Naritha's breath caught in her throat and she scrambled to her feet, backing away from him until she pressed against the opposite wall.
It could not be happening! Not now! That very morning her doctor had said her Receiving should not begin before a couple of days. He was an expert, so how could he have been so wrong?
Calm down, the young woman ordered to herself. Maybe you are just overreacting. Maybe you can feel him only because his Force-signature is so much stronger than the Angarians' average ones.
Naritha sat down, and took several deep and hopefully calming breaths.
Obi-Wan's manly scent invaded her senses, setting her nerves afire and tearing an anguished moan from her lips.
There were no more doubts: she had entered the Receiving and it would not take long before the need to mate would overcome her.
Naritha wondered how much time would take before someone found them and asked herself if she would be able to resist until it happened.
She moved to one of the heap of rubble blocking the corridor and started removing debris and broken bricks, throwing them aside. She willed herself to concentrate only on her work and on her need to reach Voltan, resolutely silencing the little voice whispering, "What will you do if you can't get out of here? What will you do if he is dead?"
-----
Two hours later, Obi-Wan resurfaced from the healing trance.
Naritha was showing her back to him but she sensed him open his eyes the very moment he did.
Her hearing, made sharper by her craving, heard the rustle of his clothes as he stretched his mended arm.
"What are you doing, My Lady?" he then asked.
She did not turn as she answered, "I-I am trying to open a passage. We cannot stay here waiting for rescue without doing anything. Maybe they won't even come for us…maybe they think we are dead…"
"My Master knows I am alive. We share a training bond with which we are able to sense each other's presence. He will lead the rescuers to our location."
"But what if he is trapped too!?" she said, more forcedly than intended.
Obi-Wan nodded. "You are right, My Lady. Let me help you."
"No!" She cried, wheeling around and stopping him in mid-move with an outstretched arm. "Stay where you are, Obi-Wan. Don't come any closer."
The boy's eyes widened at her tone. "My Lady?" he asked tentatively.
Naritha wondered briefly what to tell him and decided he deserved to know the truth, so that he could be prepared.
"How old are you, Obi-Wan?"
"I am 18," he answered promptly, although clearly perplexed by the question.
"Then I suppose you know everything about sexuality."
The poor boy flushed crimson and nodded. "Yes…it was taught at the Temple."
Naritha tried to ignore how innocent and charming he looked as he shifted his weight from a leg to the other and pressed on. "Did they teach you only your species' characteristics or did they tell you about other species too?"
"We are taught alien physiology too."
"Were the Angarians dealt with in the course?"
Obi-Wan's brow furrowed in concentration, and Naritha found very enchanting the way understanding crept over his face.
The boy's eyes widened and his mouth opened, but no words left it. He closed it, composed himself and tried again. "Are you telling me you are in your receptive time?" he said, sounding apparently very calm.
"Yes," she answered.
"Do you need to mate?"
"Not yet…but I will need it soon."
"How much time do we have to find your fiancé?"
Naritha was impressed by how in control Obi-Wan was. He had not giggled or smirked as the boys of his age usually do when confronted with a sexual issue. Instead he had understood at once the seriousness of the situation and she could see his quick brain was working frantically to find a solution.
"Four or five hours," she answered.
The youth pursed his lips and nodded curtly. "Then you need to be out of here by that time. Please My Lady, move away from there, I will continue to remove the debris."
Naritha did as she was told, and moved near the opposite wall as Obi-Wan began to work in earnest.
The following hours were among the most difficult of Naritha's life.
She felt physically ill, burning with a fever that threatened to consume her. Her glazed eyes never left Obi-Wan's form as he worked to free them.
The boy was tireless and efficient, and had taken only a pause to remove his tunics, a gesture that had caused a startle and an even greater bout of longing in her.
The sight of his bare back, of his muscles rippling under his pale, sweaty skin, made her almost dizzy with need.
Naritha just wanted to walk closer to him, to taste every inch of his exposed skin before stripping and claiming him.
She almost moaned aloud at the thought and she bit down hard on her arm, hoping the pain would distract her from her needs.
It did not work—if possible the pain excited her even more.
Naritha's confused mind finally realized she could not resist any more, the fever was escalating too quickly. She knew that no matter how hard Obi-Wan worked, he would not free her in time to avoid her falling into coma because of an unfulfilled Receiving. And even if he somehow managed to open a passage, there was the strong possibility Voltan might be dead or wounded or trapped somewhere.
Her survival instinct told her there was a way to put an end to her suffering. That there, only a few feet from her, there was a beautiful, young, healthy male, ready to satisfy her every need.
Her reason instead told her she had not the right to force her desires and the bond that would result from their mating over the courageous boy who had protected her so selflessly.
If they bonded, there would be no one else for both of them. The bond would make Obi-Wan impotent with everybody but her. If she acted as her body pushed her to do, she would take away his freedom and his right to bestow his love on a partner of his choice.
It would be a rape, she said to herself, hoping that harsh word would make her understand the seriousness of the act she would commit, but her survival instinct proved too strong for her to control it.
It won't be a rape. My fever will make him burn as hot as I do, she thought in an haze of red fog. I will give him all the love he needs…I will cherish him…adore him…make him happy…I will have him.
Almost without noticing she walked toward him and put a hand over his shoulder.
Obi-Wan turned around and looked at her, his eyes full of concern, "Milady?"
Naritha did not answer as she hungrily stared at his bare chest.
Awareness appeared on his face. "You are suffering, Naritha," he said softly, calling her by her name for the first time. "You need help."
She nodded, her hands twitching with the desire to pull him against her. "I need you, Obi-Wan…I am sorry…"
He shook his head. "Don't be. It is not your fault." He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, then added. "I am here; take what you need."
In Obi-Wan there was none of the thrill one might expect from an 18 years old boy who was going to be ravished by an older, more experienced woman. Instead there was serenity, acceptance, desire to help—and a genuine liking.
Naritha smiled in triumph and relief as she pulled his head down for a kiss and her fever engulfed both of them.
In the years that would follow, Naritha would always feel saddened she did not have clearer remembrance of her First Receiving.
If she closed her eyes, she would recall the memories of heated touches, of scalding tongues tasting sweaty skin, of her fingernails scratching Obi-Wan's back and sides as he moved over her. She could remember her scream when he took her for the first time and the wonder in his eyes when her supple flesh engulfed his hard one.
Naritha had not known, back then, she had been Obi-Wan's first, but she realized it when the bond between them was completed and she was able to see into his mind.
-----
Obi-Wan and Naritha spent days—they could not say how many – joining and resting, eating the ration bars he had in his belt and drinking water from the broken pipe.
They talked, but never discussed any important topic; it was like they had both decided to leave them for a later, quieter time.