A/N: Thanks so much everyone for the reviews and PMs! I have managed to write ahead so I'll hopefully be faster updating for the next few chapters. Hope you continue to enjoy the story!

Obi-Wan's injury was more serious than he had led Chloe to believe; sufficiently serious to keep him off active duty until his assigned healer was satisfied with his recovery.

"It's intolerable." Obi-Wan chased a large piece of Dex's special nerfsteak around his plate, finally spearing it with a stab of his fork. "The Republic forces are stretched, to breaking point. Every Jedi we remove from the field could mean the difference between victory and failure."

Chloe put the welfare of the galaxy aside for a moment and silently thanked the healers for being so fastidious. She shook her head. "I bet you're a terrible patient."

Obi-Wan pulled a sarcastic face and continued to eat: Chloe propped her chin on her hand and watched him, trying not to smile too much. This had become something of a routine, over the past week or so since Obi-Wan's return. They would duck out of the temple as soon as Obi-Wan had finished his scheduled campaign meetings, healer appointments and training sessions with Anakin, grab some food here at Dex's and then head over to Chloe's apartment. Obi-Wan always left at first light, refusing to wake her if she was asleep, but until then, he was all hers.

Now, in the late afternoon, the diner was nearly empty. Behind the counter at the opposite end of the room, Dex polished glasses and whistled cheerily.

Far too cheerily. He'd already winked at her three times in the half hour they'd been in here. Chloe had been delighted, although surprised, to find Dex and Obi-Wan were old acquaintances. But it seemed that Dex had a more interesting past than she might have suspected, and although she had not been privy to the details, the history he had shared with Obi-Wan had led to both friendship and mutual respect. Dex had apparently been equally delighted to discover Chloe and Obi-Wan's involvement. In fact he'd guessed the truth after their very first visit. Chloe's happiness had bubbled over into a grin before she'd had chance to deny it.

"Hey, Miss Daydreamer." Obi-Wan's gentle voice interrupted her thoughts. His grumpy mood seemed to have lifted.

"Hmm?"

"I have something for you." He reached into his robe and pulled out a long white envelope.

Chloe took it cautiously and turned it over in her hands. The front side was blank and the envelope itself unsealed, the flap tucked inside but not stuck down. Paper documents and their associated paraphernalia were quite a novelty. What could it be?

"Open it," Obi-Wan said, sitting back in his seat.

Chloe un-tucked the flap on the envelope and slid out the folded card inside. The front was marked with a small silver crest: a shield divided into four sections, containing illustrations of a lake, a mountain range, a twisted tree, and then in the final section, two rings linked together above an ornate crown.

Inside the card were two identical sheets of translucent flimsy, each printed with a smaller version of the crest, a serial number, and a date which Chloe recognised immediately as the beginning of one of the Core Worlds' public holidays: the Festival of Stars. Below was a line of text in a language Chloe didn't understand. But she did recognise the two names printed at the bottom of each sheet, and the message written in ink on the inside of the card.

Breha is already looking forward to welcoming you to our home.

Sincerely,

Bail

So that meant Breha, as in Queen Breha Organa.

And Bail as in Prince Bail Organa, galactic senator and head of the Royal House of Alderaan.

Bail was a famous diplomatic figure, but Chloe knew a little more about him than the average inhabitant of Coruscant might. Four years ago, he'd been entangled in a passionate, if brief liaison with a certain Matty Jaks, the red-haired, mischievous journalism student who had been, and still was, Chloe's best friend. It was before his marriage to Breha, of course; flirtatious as she was, Matty was principled enough to steer clear of married men. Now, remembering her friends' affair, Chloe realised what the sheets of flimsy might be.

She glanced up. Obi-Wan was studying her. "You know sometimes I wish I really could read your thoughts," he said. "The expressions passing across your face are fascinating." He pointed a finger in the direction of the flimsy sheets Chloe was still holding. "Do you know what they are?"

"Tickets? To an event on Alderaan?"

"Yes. The Royal Winter Solstice Ball."

Wow. Her guess had been right. "But isn't it a bit… exclusive?"

That was an understatement. It was notoriously exclusive. Senator Organa's point-blank refusal to take Matty had been one factor in their split.

Obi-Wan shrugged. "I don't know. Bail sends me tickets every year but I've never attended. I was under the impression it's part of their winter festival. Don't you want to go?"

"With you?"

Obi-Wan's lips tweaked in amusement. "Well, that was the intention… although if you'd prefer to go with someone else…"

He seemed so casual about it. But the implicit assumption that they would still be together in four month's time was more than she had let herself hope.

"Would I have to dance?"

"Quite possibly."

"Are you sure you want to risk irreparable injury to your toes and shins?"

Obi-Wan reached across the table to touch her hand. "I'll take my chances."

Chloe instinctively meshed her fingers with his. "Okay then."

Obi-Wan frowned. "You don't sound very enthusiastic."

Chloe felt herself beginning to blush. "Sorry. I'm just not very good at being… gracious. It sounds nice. Very… romantic."

She hadn't quite intended to say that. Her cheeks were burning now.

Obi-Wan smiled. "Good." His thumb traced circles on the back of her hand, triggering tingles in other, more intimate parts of her body. It was ridiculous that he still had this effect on her, but, if anything, she seemed to be getting more sensitive to him, not less. "You keep hold of them," he continued, "don't let me forget about I, and don't let me find an excuse not to go."

Chloe nodded. It was reassuring to know he actually wanted to set aside time to spend with her, especially since he spent everyday grumbling about getting away from Coruscant and back to the battlefield.

The ensuing moment of silence was broken abruptly by a loud 'ahem.'

Startled, Chloe jerked her hand away from Obi-Wan's. But it was only Dex. Chloe smiled, first in relief and then bemusement as, with a proud and elaborate sweep of his arm, the diner's proprietor deposited a large silver dish onto their table.

Chloe found herself confronted by a mountain of candied fruit, covered by a snow cap of cream and topped artfully, if not altogether tastefully, by lake of red sweetberry sauce shaped like a heart. Two spluttering sparklers completed the dish, and scattered sparks all over the surface of the table, melting little indentations into the plastic wherever they landed.

Dex beamed down at them. "Lovebird's special. New recipe. On the house, of course."

Chloe first instinct was to groan and hide behind her hand, but the genuine happiness and enthusiasm on Dex's face was difficult to resist. She grinned back at him, and only flinched for a moment when a spark landed on her forearm. "Thanks Dex."

"My pleasure." Dex patted Obi-Wan heartily on the arm before starting back towards the kitchen. "Nothin' too good for my two favourite customers."

When he was safely out of range, Chloe frowned at the dessert, imagining the fat being transferred directly to the bits of her body that were already quite sufficiently well-padded.

Obi-Wan caught her eye and winked. "Better eat some. It's not a good idea to offend Dex."

With a sigh, Chloe dipped her spoon into the mound of cream and took a delicate mouthful. Obi-Wan chuckled and dug in, unearthing a huge, candied muja fruit, syrupy enough to keep a small child on a sugar high for a week.

Chloe watched Obi-Wan bite into the fruit, and wipe away the trickle of sticky juice that ran down his chin. Thoughtfully, she swirled her spoon around in the cream then took a small, seductive lick.

"We could always ask for it to go," she said. "I'm sure we could have more fun with this at my place."

Obi-Wan eyes lingered on her mouth, before a particularly delicious and wicked smile spread across his face.

"Hold that thought." He turned in his seat. "Dex, you old rascal! Get back out here!"

Later that evening, balancing a mug of tea in her hands, Chloe settled into the corner of her battered sofa and stretched her legs out along the length of the seat. Obi-Wan finished tucking a towel around his waist before sitting down at the other end of the sofa, resting his arm along the back.

"Your neighbour?" he said, combing a hand through his wet hair.

"That's right. Orik Anderson. He was a year older than me, he lived two doors down and I'd been in love with him for three years." Chloe shook her head. "Three years, and he had no idea. But before I left for college, I finally plucked up enough courage to do something about it."

"And?"

"And what?"

"Did it – he – live up to your expectations?"

Chloe took a long, slow sip of her tea before replying. "Of course not. It was quick, and uncomfortable, and hugely embarrassing, and I never spoke to him again. But that's how it's supposed to be, isn't it?"

"Yes… Of course."

Chloe sighed and poked his towel-clad thigh with her foot. "Don't tell me, your first time was with a beautiful princess, whose exotic world you had just saved from destruction, and afterwards you had to decline her hand in marriage in the name of duty, leaving her heart broken and her sex life ruined for the rest of her days because no one would ever compare to you."

Obi-Wan didn't answer. Instead he looked down, taking Chloe's bare foot in his hands and running his thumb over the bath-softened skin. (Dex's dessert had taken a lot of cleaning off, but the process had proved to be even more enjoyable than getting messy in the first place.)

Chloe sat up straight, slopping tea onto the front of her bathrobe. "No! You're kidding!"

"It wasn't quite like that." Obi-Wan said quietly, without looking up. "At least not the second part. But the first… to a certain extent, yes."

"You're teasing me."

"No, I'm not."

"Then tell me about it."

"I've never told anyone the full story before."

Chloe leaned forward and pushed a pile of datapads out of the way so she could put her mug down on the coffee table. He wasn't going to negotiate his way out of this. "I told you mine. It's only fair."

Obi-Wan looked up, and gave her a small smile. "Okay." He tucked her foot down by the side of his leg. "Her name was Gaia, and yes, she was part of a royal family, so I suppose you could call her a princess."

"I'm listening." Chloe settled into the sofa and hugged her robe around her body as Obi-Wan began his story.

"I was nineteen at the time, still a padawan, when my master and I were assigned a mission to an Outer Rim planet called Jamin. The archives held little information about the place as the whole system had been pristine – unvisited by outsiders - until a Jedi called Dalion Rea had been stranded there. You may have heard of him?"

Chloe shook her head.

"Okay, well, it doesn't matter. Remind me to introduce you to him, though, I think you'd like him. Anyway, the Jamini treated him for the severe injuries he suffered crash-landing his ship, and he was able to observe a little of their culture during his time recuperating. Dalion, noticing the richness of natural resources and the delicacy of the ecosystem on the planet, was concerned that they were vulnerable to outside attack. He persuaded their queen to let him leave behind an emergency beacon containing a small message transponder so they could contact the Jedi if they ever needed help.

"A couple of decades later, Dalion's fears were confirmed. A random prosecting probe must have surveyed the planet and identified a plant-source of spice there, because a group of prospectors arrived and started to dig up patches of rainforest. At first the Jamini were reassured by the prospectors' promises that the spice could be extracted without damage, but when it became clear that this was not the case, the Jamini queen approved the use of the beacon to ask for our help.

"We left assuming it would be a quick job: dispatch the prospectors, whose activities were illegal, and help repair the damage as best we could, perhaps training the Jamini in tactics to deter future attacks. I was looking forward to exploring a little of the planet – Dalion Rea had described it as breathtakingly beautiful – but given one other detail in Dalion's report, I suspect my master had something other than flora and fauna on his mind." Obi-Wan paused, and scratched the stubble on his jaw.

Impatiently, Chloe shifted in her seat. "What something?"

There was a hint of self-consciousness in Obi-Wan's reply. "He called it my reluctance to harmonise with the Living Force."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning, that I was nineteen, that I was still a virgin, and that I had absolutely no intention of ever being anything else."

"Really?"

"Yes. In fact you might have considered me something of a prude."

Chloe smiled. She'd seen a couple of holos, formal portraits of the tall, bearded and apparently genial Master Qui-Gon Jinn together with a very serious-looking young Padawan Kenobi. But still, given the Obi-Wan she knew, it was a bit of a stretch to go from serious to prudish…

"And he wasn't a prude, your master?"

Obi-Wan laughed. "No, not at all."

"What was so bad about the idea of sex?"

Obi-Wan sighed. "I can't really remember my reasoning. I was pompous and opinionated and I'd read too many books. I had a very clear image in my mind of what a Jedi should and shouldn't do, and I fear that I though indulging in pleasures of the flesh was somehow beneath us… beneath me. What a bore, eh?"

"I bet you were still hot."

"Pardon?"

"Erm, nothing, never mind." Chloe wrapped her arms around her body, horrified that the errant thought had somehow managed to make it out of her mouth. "C-carry on. What was so special about this place?"

"Wait there, just a moment…" Obi-Wan got up and crossed the living area to Chloe's bedroom.

She watching him walk away, savouring the view of his body with only a white bath towel tucked around his hips, half-expecting him to reappear fully dressed; there lay a fine line between the Jedi master who insisted everything was done properly, and the man who was happy to let her smear dessert cream over his naked skin. Happily, Obi-Wan emerged from her room still wearing only the towel, carrying the quilted comforter she always kept slung across the bottom of her bed.

"You looked cold," he explained, kissing the top of her head then laying the comforter over her legs.

Chloe opened her mouth to protest but realised that, although he might have mistaken the real reason for her body language, he was actually correct. The large patch of spilled tea had soaking right through to her skin beneath and she was starting to feel chilly.

Obi-Wan noticed her squinting down at the robe and grinned. "I'd suggest you take it off," he said, resuming his previous position at the other end of the sofa, but this time under the quilt. "But I might get distracted."

It was difficult to resist the temptation to shrug of her robe, snuggle up next to him and see just how distracting she could be, but the prospect of hearing Obi-Wan's story was just about enough motivation to be good and stay where she was. "Okay," she said, tucking the quilt around her legs. "I'm listening."

"You asked what was special about Jamin," Obi-Wan began. "Well, as we flew in on a landing trajectory, it was clear that Dalion had been correct in his praise; it was indeed a place of extraordinary beauty." Obi-Wan's eyes focused in the distance as he recalled the setting. "There was a turquoise ocean fringed by a thin strip of black-sanded beach, with dense vegetation behind, covering the foothills of a huge, volcanic mountain range. Beyond that lay thick forest, and, as we lost height, the mass of deep green turned out to be dappled with intriguing patches of intense colour – yellows, reds, oranges, blues, violets. Overall, it was a world ripe for exploration, with idyllic scenery, intriguing life forms and an apparently agreeable climate. The kind of place you dreamt of being stranded. Dalion Rea had been a lucky man all those years before.

"But, I digress. In fact it was not the scenery but something else that made the planet particularly special – perhaps unique. Something about the population, the Jamini themselves. As Dalion reported, they were humanoid, and of human origin, but their evolution had taken an interesting course. They reproduced asexually."

Chloe frowned. "Asexually as in without sex? How?"

"Yes. It was, apparently, a natural process, although the detail of exactly how they reproduced was considered sacred. Only members the royal family were allowed access to the holy temple, known as the Kwa Song, meaning Tree of Life. We assumed there was some mechanism by which they deposited genetic material there. All we knew for certain was that newborn Jamini were brought from the temple as infants, and that the females did not carry or give birth to children in the normal way."

"So they were clones?" Chloe was busy trying to recall long-distant biology studies.

"Presumably, although not as identical as the engineered clones we are used to."

"And what did this have to do with your master wanting to improve your Force harmony, or whatever-you-call-it?"

"Well, because of their unique reproductive status, the Jamini also had a rather unique attitude to sex."

"Erm… they didn't need it?"

"No, or rather, it wasn't necessary to their survival, but they didn't abstain from it either. They considered it something akin to a… recreational activity. And in certain circumstances it was considered disrespectful to refuse an invitation. "

Chloe grinned. "And so you were forced to participate and surrender your virginity, just to be polite?"

Obi-Wan shook his head. "I'm afraid I risked the status of our mission by refusing an invitation from the queen herself."

For a moment Chloe wished she could travel back in time and meet this young version of him; there was something charmingly chivalrous about a man refusing sex as a matter of principle. Especially if that man was Obi-Wan. She felt a pang of envy towards the woman who managed to persuade him to change his mind.

"But what of this princess..? Chloe asked. "What was she called again? Did she proposition you too?"

"Gaia," Obi-Wan said, with a sadness that gave Chloe the impression this particular princess was not to be envied after all. "And no, not exactly, or at least not in the normal way. It happened some time later, after we found out what was really happening on Jamin."

"Sorry." Chloe curled into the sofa, resting her chin on her knees. "I'll stop interrupting."

"It's okay," Obi-Wan said. "Am I boring you?"

"No, no." Chloe shook her head. After all, listening to Obi-Wan reading out the Coruscant Holonet Directory would be interesting, as long as he was doing it half-naked from the other end of her sofa.

"What's funny?"

"Nothing! Now stop delaying and get on with it."

"Yes ma'am." Obi-Wan closed his eyes for a few seconds, gathering his thoughts before he continued.