you were always stronger than i was

[only_hope]

Obi-Wan is not particularly pleased about the assignment to Ord Mantell to train some princess how to use the Force. Force-sensitives are meant to be pulled by the Temple early on so the child doesn't form familial attachments and since this young woman was meant to be married to some politician from Cerea, there wasn't a chance of her being fully trained and inducted into the Order. This was a goodwill mission, nothing more and nothing less, and Obi-Wan chafed at the assignment when there were more important things to be handled.

"Surely another Jedi - " he'd started, before being silenced by Yoda. "Important to the Republic, Ord Mantell is. Train the princess, you will, and then return to the Temple with a new ally."

It was diplomatic then, more or less. There's plenty of villainy on Ord Mantell outside of army protection to concern him, though, and much of Jedi training is conducted in the wilderness. How would a princess hold up in that? Obi-Wan decides there's no point in arguing it any longer and agrees, intending to perform his duty with grace.

He flies his own ship to Ord Mantell rather than waiting for a transport and lands somewhat away from the palace. When he announces himself, he's brought inside and he expects the usual pomp and circumstance Jedi get on diplomatic visits; he receives it and then some. He feels a presence in the Force, a white hot flame, and realizes it's coming from the slim woman alongside the King and Queen.

"Am I to understand you are Princess Anne, then? My pleasure to meet you," he says, bowing at the waist. "I'm Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and I've been sent to train you on behalf of the Jedi Order. Even if you have no intention of being a Jedi, you should be capable of using the Force to your full potential." He turns back to her parents and strokes his beard a bit, thinking.

"Most padawan training is done away from the temple. I don't think it'll do Anne much good if we keep her here in the palace and treat her with kid gloves. Do I have your permission to train her properly? She'll be in my hands and there is no way anything will happen to her. We'll stay within the sector." Her parents look skeptical for a moment before nodding their assent.

"All right, then. I suppose there's not much point in me settling in. Pack lightly. I have robes and tunics for you on board but I would suggest a sturdy pair of boots, if you have them."

Comments

[ajediqueen]

Being told that she's going to learn to use this... Force is as much an inconvenience to Anne as it is to the man sent to train her and when she's told to be in the throne room to meet him, she does so, but only because her father's punishments would be more a hassle than if she didn't show up at all. Marriage into a family from Cerea isn't what she wants and she rebels at the idea that she's meant to be essentially sold off.

Her head rises when the Jedi enters the room; the feeling he evokes in her is strong, though it's not what she normally feels. Before she can answer whether or not she's the princess he's been sent to train, he's onto asking about whether or not he can take her from the palace rather than if she wants to go.

As usual, decisions made without her consent and she holds in the sigh before she steps from the dais, the dress she's wearing (thankfully) not one of her more ornate ones.

"I do." Her accented tone is clipped. "I'll have Katerina escort you to wait while I prepare."

The woman mentioned motions for the Jedi to follow and, as soon as he's out of sight, her father reminds her that she's not to make trouble. He receives a tight smile in return and Anne goes to change into something appropriate for travel. Robes, indeed.

Perhaps ten minutes pass when she appears again, dressed in white from head to toe, boots on her feet. A young woman carries a pack.

"Are you ready, Master Jedi?"

[only_hope]

"That is not going to be conducive to training," Obi-Wan says drily. Anne is easily fifteen years younger than he is and he's ashamed at himself for looking at her the way he is. He'd thought he got that out of his system when he was a younger man but something about this woman is sparking a reaction in him that hits him so strongly that he thinks he'll be doing a lot of meditation on this ship while they fly out of the system.

"Come, Anne. While we're training, I'm Master Obi-Wan or Master Kenobi. I know you're more highly ranked than I am but for the training dynamic to work correctly, I can't defer to you. You have to defer to me. We're not getting the chance for a formal apprenticeship but I'm trying to keep things as traditional as possible."

Obi-Wan helps bring her bags on board and stows them. He gives the servant a polite goodbye before shutting the cabin doors and getting his droid to start pre-flight.

"Have you ever been evaluated by a Jedi before now? I've never met someone so strong in the Force who wasn't aware of it - aside from my last apprentice. You feel different than he does, though, and I cannot put my finger on the reason why."

[ajediqueen]

Unsure as to what she's said that's inappropriate, she merely raises an eyebrow, boards his ship, and nods to the women in a goodbye.

"Master Kenobi, then." Which means he won't be addressing her as 'royal highness' and she keeps her irritation to herself. Once aboard, she seats herself and listens to what he says. The sooner it's done, the sooner she's home, yes? His question about evaluation draws her eyebrows together as she shakes her head.

"No, of course not." She offers him a smile that borders on the playful before glancing out the window of his ship. "My father would never have agreed to even this if not for Master Yoda's suggestion. The family I'm marrying into wants the best political match and all that it entails. The Jedi —" She pauses and looks at him. "Until I met you, I'd never felt one before. But with you..."

She trails off, her expression curious.

[only_hope]

"You feel the connection, then, the pull of another Force sensitive mind? It's easy to recognize once you actually know what it is," Obi-Wan says. His tone is a little gentler now, not quite so brusque as he'd been before.

"I was found as a baby and brought to the Jedi Temple. I never knew my parents and my master was the closest to a father I ever had. You're different. We don't recommend training people who have close ties to family because they're unable to shake those ties, unable to commit themselves fully to the neutrality of the Order. It is only at Grand Master Yoda's request that I am here and I am bound by that the same as you are. There's terrible things going on in the galaxy right now, Anne, and I would be remiss not to tell you that you'd be welcomed as a combatant. It's not your place, though. Still, I can teach you a bit about what you should have learned and you'll be able to protect yourself."

[ajediqueen]

Protect herself.

Anne is aware of the diplomatic tensions all over the galaxy. She's studied them on her own and with tutors and, joining one of the more political families in her region, she's supposed to know appropriate topics and be versed in them for discussions at all the incoming dinner invitations and other fancy to-dos that she will, inevitably, be part of.  That she's enjoyed learning for learnings sake is another thing entirely and she understands what he's saying.

As he speaks of his own upbringing, however, her expression softens into one of light distress.

"You never knew your family?"

It's easier than discussing her possible role as a combatant or the connection she'd felt to him and the Force.

[only_hope]

"No. They prefer Jedi this way. Loyal only to the Order and no one else," Obi-Wan explains, ensuring their ship is on course and making the jump to light-speed. He knows he ought not be taking her out of the sector but he needs to properly train Anne in the Jedi way without oversight.

"If I had divided loyalties, I could be tempted by the Dark Side to do things I wouldn't normally do because of attachments. It's forbidden. We're to be selfless and serve the Republic neutrally."

[ajediqueen]

"Divided loyalties?"

She ponders him as he says it, listens to what he says about the Dark Side, and again — that pull against her is suddenly so strong that her entire being feels as if it's trying to be part of something (someone) else and she holds her breath without thinking until it eases.

"My loyalties are already divided," she says softly, meaning her family, her upcoming marriage, but feeling deep down that something else is causing her to mention it.

[only_hope]

Obi-Wan strokes his beard a bit, thinking that over. For a woman so young, it must be difficult to have divided loyalties. Was it divided in the Force for her or was it simply familial relations?

"I assure you that anything said between Master and Padawan is sacred," Obi-Wan says after a long moment. "And make no mistake, you are my Padawan right now. If you wish to talk about it, I am happy to listen."

Anne feels like a bright flame in the Force, something Obi-Wan is drawn to even if he shouldn't be. He's never felt such a strong bond with someone he's known for such a short time and he wonders at the why of it. Is she that strong in the Force and able to mask it somehow? That would make her more powerful than most Jedi Masters.

[ajediqueen]

"You know that immediately following this, I'm getting married." He has to know. "I have a family, soon I'll have a husband, children... how are my loyalties not divided?"

Her tone is gentle, but questioning.

"Now you're one more addition to that division and it feels..." She trails off as she watches him, her eyes on his. "I feel drawn to you in a way I've never felt drawn to anyone." He did assure her that it was a private conversation. "Why?"

Even more than being that strong and being able to mask it, she's unaware that she's doing it at all.

[only_hope]

"I don't know," Obi-Wan confesses. Just as her confidence is something he'll keep, he hopes she'll keep his in return. He has never felt a presence in the Force like hers, not even Anakin's, and it puzzles him.

"It's unlike anything I've ever felt before. I'd like to try something. I have a thought it might be something I remember my master telling me about once in passing but to test it, I need your trust. Do I have it?"

[ajediqueen]

He hasn't done anything to not earn her trust, but she feels apprehensive all the same. It's toying with forces (literally) that she doesn't understand. He's the master, of course, and that apprehension shows, then disappears before the trust she feels shows on her face.

There's something in her that knows, just knows, that he wouldn't do anything to hurt her.

"I trust you."

[only_hope]

"Relax your mind," Obi-Wan says quietly. "Imagine a door and let me in. I won't go poking around, I promise."

When he's beneath her walls, he very nearly staggers and has to grip the back of the cockpit chair to keep his balance. He feels as if he could manipulate every cell of her body and, in turn, she could do the same to him. There's a white room, blank, and he can see Anne there in simple clothes.

He reaches for her and touches her shoulder, then her cheek. "Do you feel it in your body? Even though I'm feet away from you physically?"

[ajediqueen]

He's done this before and she shouldn't feel a pang of jealousy, but it's there anyway, a flare of something irrational and needless. Unable to hold it back, she's certain he's able to pick up on her emotions as linked as they are and she quells it almost as fast.

"Tell me this is okay, Obi-Wan, that we'll be safe."

The reassurances are necessary.

[only_hope]

Obi-Wan does feel it and he's quick to reassure her both mentally and physically, cradling her in his arms while he whispers softly against her hair. The others weren't like this, Anne. They were nothing like this. You're the only one who's been in my mind like this and touched me in places I've never shown to others. You see all of me.

It's frightening, in a way, but it feels right deep down.

"Come to bed with me. We'll figure out politics later."

[ajediqueen]

The sight of her bed in her gardens is strange but, like him, it feels right and it's there at the edge of the bed that she pauses to kiss him again. She initiates the contact in their minds and knows it's still happening in the small house while the rain falls harder outside.

Her hands go to his robe, easing it off his shoulders and, to be honest, she's surprised at how bold she feels now that she knows it's the two of them, alone, for six weeks. If they're going to figure out politics later, then she's not going to worry about anything but this until later.

The clothes she'd chosen to wear now feel like too much; she wishes she'd chosen a dress. Something easily removed.

[only_hope]

Obi-Wan, too, wishes her clothes were less complicated. He's used to tunics and robes and for some reason, even the simple white ensemble she'd picked to travel in is too much for him. He needs her out of it and unlike most things, he cannot just wish it away with a thought. No, he needs intention for this.

He works on the shirt first, undoing zips and pushing cloth away. He's stymied by a bra but he decides to worry about that later and goes to her hips, tugging at the fabric and pushing it down and away.

"You're entirely too overdressed for mental sex games, Princess Anne. Next time, do make sure it's easier access so we don't get bogged down in this."

[ajediqueen]

Princess Anne. Not padawan. In this, she's certain he doesn't want to think of her as his trainee or anything of the sort. But he's not wrong and she wants to do as he asks for her own benefit.

"The tunics you brought?" It brings a light laugh as she cups his face to draw him close for another kiss. "Or should I choose nothing at all..."

She trails off with another kiss before shivering as the fact that she's almost entire without clothes to the forefront of her mine — and she's not at all embarrassed.

[only_hope]

"Tunics, possibly, or nothing at all," Obi-Wan says, meeting her kiss with another hungry one of his own. He shouldn't be kissing her like this and he knows it but he can't help it. He absolutely cannot help it, not with this strange bond between them. He knows he'll never be able to let go of her once they're together and that's something he'll have to deal with himself; there's no sense in dragging Anne in for Council censure when she's not even a Jedi.

He pulls at her bra this way and that, finally managing the clasps, and cups her left breast in his hand. It's almost too much for him to feel the soft weight of it and to feel how soft her skin is under the roughness of his fingertips and he moves his mouth to bite lightly where her neck meets her shoulder, intending to leave a mark.

"It's probably going to happen quicker than I want it to."

[ajediqueen]

Whatever amused response she might have had to his declaration falls away as his hand takes her breast and she feels the heat over her skin; despite that, her nipples harden in anticipation and she moans his name quietly the moment his mouth settles against her skin.

"Oh, Obi-Wan..."

The flush she's feeling rushes through her to warm her all over and, as the bite he gives her settles, she uses her hand to hold him close. She's not sure what is going to happen quicker, but she feels it's prudent to ask. And to offer to slow down.

"Quicker than you want it to?" On the bed in the gardens, she pulls back slightly to look at him, her heart thumping. "Should we go slower?"

Please say no.

[only_hope]

"Quicker than I want it to," Obi-Wan confirms. When she asks if they should go slower, he responds by making another mark against pale, unmarred skin; he likes seeing the results of his handiwork over her as if he's left some sort of indelible mark upon her that no one else can ever touch. It's just theirs, this, and even if she doesn't come back with him to the Temple to be trained and does go through with her marriage he wants her to never forget this.

"But it won't be the last time I have you, Anne. I promise you this." He doesn't know how he'll manage not to have her over and over while they're here and away from prying eyes.

He shifts his mouth down, raining kisses over her breasts as he does. He wants her writhing for him.

[ajediqueen]

As if she's ever going to forget this.

She moves beneath him, as if she can make him move faster or press harder against her by simply willing it so. And maybe she can, because of their bond. She's not sure how it works but it doesn't matter, because everything that he's drawing forth from her she knows he can feel.

"Then make it go quicker."

A demand from a princess, even as she holds his mouth closer to her breasts.

[only_hope]

Obi-Wan has been taught his whole life to obey and obey he does, mouth going lower to kiss along her ribs, her stomach, the inside of one thigh. His beard has burned her a bit in places, leaving redness against his skin, and he likes it. He wants her to look well and truly fucked and to know he did it.

He nuzzles his nose between her thighs, inhaling the scent of her, and draws the tip of his tongue ever so lightly against her cunt before spreading her with two fingers and licking inside. It's just teasing right now, tasting and exploring, and he loves every single moment of it.

[ajediqueen]

Whatever she's expecting 'go quicker' to mean, this isn't it. This is all sensation and feeling and pleasure and more than she's experienced in her entire life and he's just there, giving it to her.

It surrounds her, moves through her, and she's certain that he feels it, too, in the way she lifts her hips to encourage more pressure and a deeper laving of his tongue. She wants him to know how amazing it feels to have his mouth on her and she moans his name as she writhes on the bed.

[ajediqueen]

So far, the marriage is not ruined. Not technically, not if they stop now. If all they've done is touch and put mouths where mouths aren't supposed to go, then she can go into her marriage slightly tainted but unused.

She doesn't voice it, doesn't even think it fully, but it's there in the back of her mind.

"I still don't know the meaning of dyad, but I know that this," even as she catches her breath and attempts to ease her legs closed, she wants more. All of it. All of him. "I can't imagine being without you and it's been hours."

[only_hope]

"I can't imagine ever being without you," Obi-Wan agrees. "I've never felt someone in the Force the way I feel you. I know this marriage is necessary but I'm going to find a way around it. You just have to trust me, all right?"

He kisses her again, everywhere his lips can reach, and slides back up so he can whisper into her ear. "You can stop me whenever you want but I don't want to stop. I want to be with you, Anne, in all the ways we can be together."