Fragments of the Galaxy

Siri’s footsteps carried her down the hallways of the Temple, stride purposeful. It was exhausting, living the way they were living. Constantly hiding what they felt for each other in the Force. Pretending that they were nothing more than friends. And then he’d come to her. Telling her of the Council’s intentions for him. They had assigned him a mission. And it began with his faking his death, and using it to go undercover.

He was supposed to tell no one… but he’d told her. Even if he hadn’t, she would have known the lie of it, when it happened. But he’d come to her quarters, kissed her like he was drowning, and told her everything.

It was dangerous, what she was doing. The decision she’d made. But there was no other decision she COULD make. She would make no other decision. She would not be kept from her husband. She didn’t care that they were in the Temple. She would not be kept from him. Especially not the night before he left on a dangerous mission.

So she made her way to his quarters, and, after making sure the hallway was empty, let herself inside.

Siri hadn’t thought it would be this difficult. It wasn’t as though she hadn’t had to watch women flirt with Obi-Wan before; he was the most attractive man she knew, and it was no surprise that others could see it. But it hadn’t... BOTHERED her. Not in this way. Not this intensely.

Not until they were assigned to Mandalore to protect Duchess Kryze and to investigate who would want to see her dead. She’d known the woman had a history with Obi-Wan, had heard that she’d been attracted to him when he was a Padawan assigned with Master Qui-Gon to protect her from the insurgents threatening her planet... but what she hadn’t known was that that attraction hadn’t faded. And the woman made no kriffing effort to hide it.

The invitation for a tour through the gardens before lunch was, she had no doubt, an invitation intended for Obi-Wan only. But he’d turned, given her that smile that made his blue eyes light up and made some comment about how she could see how it compared to the Room of a Thousand Fountains. And she’d found herself trailing after the two of them, a captive audience to the Duchess’ attempt at seduction.

It wasn’t that she was jealous. Far from it. She didn’t doubt his feelings for her, or the strength of their relationship. They had been through so much, and their relationship wouldn’t falter. And it certainly wouldn’t falter due to the tactless attentions of one woman. But it hurt, to watch another woman so casually and openly touch the man that she loved. The man that she was married to. In a way that she couldn’t. Not if they wanted to remain Jedi and have a better chance to change the future.

So watching the duchess hang on Obi-Wan’s arm, pressing close to him, touching his shoulder... his cheek, broke her heart far more deeply than she could have ever anticipated. But she hid it in the Force, focusing on the mission. On her duty. There would be time enough for stolen moments together on their flight back to Coruscant.

Until then she would simply have to endure Duchess Kryze shamelessly throwing herself at her husband. Did the woman honestly think it would work? That he would leave the Order for her? That was an impossibility.

There was reason enough for her to go off on her own, at least. Gathering information. Listening to whispers. She could blend in well enough with the Mandalorians if she changed out of her unisuit and left her cloak and lightsaber behind. It would involve the proper style of clothing and hair, but that was an easy enough matter to take care of.

She frowned and drew to a halt, head tilted as she listened carefully to the Force. Its warning. Kriff. “Stay with the Duchess!” she shouted, pivoting sharply and drawing on the Force as she raced towards the danger.

Only she wasn’t quick enough.

The force of the explosion flung her across the garden.

It was supposed to have been a simple mission. Reconnaissance. That was all. But it had ended with them running through the jungle and finding themselves in a battle with a rather large purple plant that, as they had learned firsthand, exploded in a shower of equally purple goo when stabbed with a lightsaber.

VIOLENTLY exploded. All over them.

Over HER.

Somehow she’d managed take the brunt of it. And what made it worse was that Obi-Wan had one splotch of the stuff on him. ONE. Siri wasn’t amused. AT ALL. She might have been, if there hadn’t been so much of it on her. She was soaked from head to toe in the faintly luminescent purple goo.

She stalked up the ramp to their ship, squishing with every step and leaving a faintly glowing trail behind her.

Siri drew in a ragged, unsteady breath, disoriented and confused. She didn’t know where she was. Where she should be. The last thing she remembered...

Was...

Dying...

But she wasn’t. She was very much still alive. The pain was different than it had been. Should have been. It was still enough to steal her breath, but it felt... more like an echo of the agony she’d been feeling. Nothing more. Her eyes fluttered opened, and she looked up to see Obi-Wan, gazing down at her, his arms around her, warm and familiar. Memories came rushing back; ALL of them.

Waking in the Land of Make Believe. Finding Obi-Wan, and Anakin, and Padmé there. Learning of the future, the tragedy that came after her death.

Univille.

The Warehouse.

Their wedding.

She gasped, reaching up to cup his cheek with a trembling, unsteady hand, and she blinked in surprise. There on her finger, glinting faintly in the light, was a ring. A simple, silver band that Obi-Wan had slipped onto her finger only months ago. A ring that she hadn’t been wearing when this mission had started. She scarcely dared to hope, as her gaze moved from the ring, back to his eyes. Force, please let him remember... She could sense him in a way that she never had been able to, before Univille. Relief and joy in equal measure filled her chest as she grabbed a fistful of his robes and all but yanked him to her, kissing him fervently.

She could be wrong; there was the chance that he didn’t remember, that the bond didn’t care, Obi-Wan was Obi-Wan, and he would be pushing her away wondering what had gotten into her.

But that awareness of him made her reckless.