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

[only_hope]

"Well, I told your parents a bit of a lie that we were going to remain the the system. We're going to a planet called Ahch-To where there's a significant amount of Jedi lore, including the ancient texts. It's a place where no one will find us and where we're able to commune with the force without interruption."

Ahch-To is barely more than a blip on the radar for the most part but Obi-Wan thinks it will be the place most conducive to the intense sort of training that Anne will need in such a short amount of time.

"There's a small house there that my master built a long time ago. We'll have shelter and there's plenty of food. It's just going to be rough living for a while."

[ajediqueen]

"You lied to them?"

There's a hint of outrage in her voice. He lied to the king and queen in an effort to secure her agreement to take her to this... place in order to train her in ways that she (most likely) won't need. The scandal.

Honestly, she doesn't show emotion to that much more but rather focuses on the other part of what he's said. "How long is 'a while'?"

She wants to know how long her training is supposed to last.

[only_hope]

"Six weeks. You'll be back in time to marry," Obi-Wan says. "And any transmissions will seem as if they're from an acceptable place and no one will be the wiser. You won't learn anything if your parents or fiancee can easily interfere; you have to have no distractions to commune with the Force."

Obi-Wan levels a serious look at her. "Being here where the ancient texts are means I can research this bond as well. It's rare, my apprentice, and it bears exploring. It could prove highly useful in a number of ways and...well, I wouldn't want you to be trapped in another life when you're meant to be a Jedi instead."

[ofaustria]

Knowing her wedding was to take place in six weeks, she thought it was cutting it very short. She didn't say so, however, instead choosing to look at the planet they were approaching. It didn't seem very large, which was what he'd said and she felt a measure of fear that was immediately offset by a thrill of adventure.

"I'm not meant to be a Jedi," she said automatically, as if by rote. "I know what I'm meant to do and it's protect Ord Mantell."

She turned to look at him, seriousness on her face. "Anything endangers my marriage and that protection is gone."

[only_hope]

"Which is why I will deliver you back to Ord Mantell after we're done here. I just have never encountered anything like this bond, Anne, and if you're unique among Force sensitives, I think you're worth more than a political marriage and I'll broker another deal to bring you and your fiancee's planet into the fold."

He's good at negotiation, after all.

"You'd have the protection and backing of the entire order and our Republic Army."

[ajediqueen]

"Let's see how the next six weeks go."

The landing is smooth and she's calm while he does it, though she mutters as she goes to exit his ship, "I hate flying," before flashing him a quick smile. Her bags are light and she lifts them both. Without her guard or handmaidens, she's actually quite capable, something she feels as if she needs to prove.

"Lead the way, Master." It's a bit heavy, but she can't help herself.

[only_hope]

"Then we have that in common," Obi-Wan says, flashing her a smile. "Flying is for droids. Even though Jedi make fairly good pilots due to our reflexes, I could go my whole life without being at the controls."

He eyes her bags and arches a brow. "You could use the Force to lift those bags, you know. You could also ask me to do it and I would do so willingly."

[ajediqueen]

"Regardless of where you found me," she tells him with a smile of her own, "I'm not a weakling. I can do things for myself."

She has one bag over her shoulder and one in her hand and she watches him with a bit of amusement. "If you'd like, I can carry yours." A pause, just to tease. "If they're too much."

There's something about him that draws it out in her — this need to be sassy and smart and show him she's capable. Perhaps it's because he's been intimate with her in ways that no one has and she wants to put herself on even ground again. Perhaps it's because she wants him to do it again. She's unsure.

[only_hope]

"By all means, apprentice. Feel free," Obi-Wan says teasingly, his own bags on the ground between them. She's so strong in the Force that she seems a bright flare and it's hard to pull away from her. It's hard to do anything other than link with her and explore the bond.

"I would like to see how strong you are. It'll be a worthy exercise."

[ajediqueen]

He calls her 'apprentice' and she wants to remind him that her name is Anne. As long as they're doing this, she wants to remain who she is so she doesn't lose herself in his... whatever the Jedi are and yet she knows without asking that he'll never call her by her name.

Lifting one of his bags, she puts it over her shoulder with hers. It's heavier and she's not expecting it, but she doesn't say anything, instead bending slightly to lift his second with her free hand. That leaves the third and she eyes him.

"How would I use the Force to lift that one?"

[only_hope]

"Use your mind, reach out and imagine your hand supporting it and that it weighs nothing," Obi-Wan says. "Your mind is a powerful tool, Anne, and I will teach you how to hone it as both a weapon and your greatest friend."

He watches her carefully, wanting to see how well she's able to use the raw power of the Force without training.

[ajediqueen]

As he explains, it feels as if she should have known. He was in her mind, but she was in his, too. Using her thoughts to change his meditation room to her gardens and to touch his face as gently as she had.

Nodding, she does as he says, closing her eyes to do so, at least in the beginning. Inhaling slowly, then exhaling with purpose, the bag resting on the ground rises with the measured thoughts she has. It's as if she's just instructing it to move on its on and then it did and before she can stop herself, she's back in the gardens and she's pulled him there with her.

No bags, no heaviness of any kind, though she knows she ought to still feel it as she's holding them, but he's there and she blinks at him.

"This isn't the ship."

[only_hope]

"It's not," Obi-Wan says, looking around at the lush gardens once more. He's afraid this will be a constant thing, sharing their mindscape in a way that no one should and certainly not a master and an apprentice. This is much different than being in Anakin's mind.

"This is something only a well-trained Jedi should be able to do. I'm not even very good at it - I'd make this garden a mere impression of what you made it. I can smell the scent of the flowers here and feel the breeze on my skin. It's as if we're there."

He steps closer, heedless of master and apprentice right now, and slides an arm around her waist to pull her against his chest. He angles his mouth over hers before capturing it in a long kiss, following his feelings rather than his intellect.

[ajediqueen]

There's a moment when she wants to tell him that it's because he hasn't lived in the gardens as she has, but then he's there and she's certain that every part of her being has been fused with his as his mouth comes down against hers. The ache she's felt since their first connection is eased in a way that leaves her entire being warm and malleable, like she's part of him in the most safe, satisfying way and she brings her hands up to cup his face as an encouragement to continue until there's nothing left of either of them.

It's a mistake.

Without being cautious of what her mind is doing separate from her body, she loses control of both and she's brought back to reality, the bags she's holding — all of them — falling to the floor. Stupidly, she stares down at them before raising her eyes to him, her breathing heavy.

"Obi-Wan."

Not 'Master', no teasing 'Jedi', but his name, breathed on an exhale as she realizes she's flushed and wanting more.

[only_hope]

It's something he has to stop doing. He has to purge these feelings before they become his undoing and as much as he wants to drag Anne back into their minds and kiss her again, he can't. He has to be the responsible one here and he has to refrain from doing this as her master. She should be able to trust him, not worry that he's going to fall on her at any moment.

He lifts the bags on his own floating them ahead of him, and makes his way to the small house that's here on Ahch-To. It's always been a hermit retreat for the greatest of Jedi and the Force flows strong here. There's only one bed but Obi-Wan has both a bedroll for sleeping on the floor or the option of sleeping in a berth on the ship.

"I'm not apologizing for earlier. I should be more in control of my feelings but an apology would be an insult to a beautiful woman and I'm not so stupid as to do that."

[ajediqueen]

Anne follows without a word, taking in their very remote surroundings, her finger tracing her own lips as she contemplates what's happened. He's not the one with an impending marriage, she is. She can't fault him for being who he is, and she's the one who pulled at him that time. It's her fault, all of it, especially since he's said that he's not seen it before.

Absently, she notices there's only one bed, but then his non-apology registers and it draws a smile from her.

"I've suddenly found that I'm not in control of my own feelings, Master Kenobi." Not his first name this time. She's almost under control, though with little effort, he'll notice that she's still flushed and clearly thinking about that kiss. Somehow, it's unsettled her more than his touching her. It felt like so much more. And now he's talking about feelings? She's a mess.

Wait. "Only one bed?"

[only_hope]

"It's not common that a Jedi comes here for a long stretch with a partner. If they do, one sleeps on the floor. We have a unique situation. I chose Ahch-To because there are ancient texts and holocrons we never remove from this planet due to their value. I wanted to research our connection."

He touches his beard lightly and looks at her carefully. "I only take advantage of the willing. If you're willing, I'll press my advantage as much as you care for me to."

It's entirely too forward but Obi-Wan cannot help himself.

[ajediqueen]

"If they're willing, is it taking advantage?"

It's not a no, it's a question of whether or not they should and Anne knows for a fact that she shouldn't. It would throw everything she's meant to do into chaos, even if what they do never leaves the island with them. She's connected to this man for reasons she doesn't understand. For reasons he doesn't understand and he's the master Jedi.

She watches him as she says it simply because it's not a no and he's standing close.

[only_hope]

"It's not but you didn't seem the sort of woman to get bogged down in semantics," Obi-Wan says, laughing softly. "I must say, you make much better company than a contingent of clone troopers. You are...you intrigue me, Anne. I've never really been in the habit of calling a new apprentice by their own name so much but it just seems right to do that with you. We should be Master and Apprentice but I don't know what we are."

He hopes to find that out in study and meditation here in this place. He just hopes six weeks is long enough.

"I think we ought to rest for now. This is a place forsaken by any gods I know of but I think we can manage."

[ajediqueen]

"I'm sure we can." There's a moment when she catches his eye again, charmed by his laugh, and then she moves her small bags to the edge of the bed. "You don't mind if I...?"

Back turned to him, she answers him.

"I don't know what we are, either, but as soon as I thought about the Force, you were there. I couldn't help but think of you there, with me, again. Then you kissed me, and I. I couldn't concentrate on anything else except the way it felt to be there, with you. Having you hold me."

[only_hope]

"It's all I think about. I censured my first padawan for this, for his obsession with a woman. Now it seems I'm doing the very thing I warned him against."

Obi-Wan has been with a woman before and loved her, yes, but he did not abandon the Order for her or abandon the mission he'd been charged with in favor of love. Now, though, he feels reckless and feels as if he could make those choices easily with Anne. He thinks he could keep her here on this uncharted island and not let her go back to her marriage and leave Ord Mantell to a fate unknown.

It's a dangerous proposition and one he must get out of his mind.

[ajediqueen]

That he uses the word obsessed when speaking about his first padawan and a woman gets Anne's attention and she turns to look at him with confusion in her eyes. Does he mean that he's obsessed with her? It's only been hours and she has no idea what to make of everything that's happened between them.

"What happened between your padawan and the woman?" She has to know. "Please tell me that it wasn't a disaster."

She can't bear to think that she's going to cause him harm.

"Why did you warn him against her?"

[only_hope]

"It's a currently-brewing disaster. My padawan is young and reckless and he loves a woman who is passionate about him. He thinks with his feelings too much for a Jedi," Obi-Wan admits.

"He came to the Order late, though, and that is to be expected of him. I was raised by the Order and I should know better except...this bond. It's too much to ignore."

[ajediqueen]

Anne watches as he explains, her heart aching for what he feels is an act of rebellion that he can't control for an Order that he must follow. She steps forward to take his hand, her fingers curling around his as she looks to catch his eye, her voice gentle.

"I'm sorry that I wasn't more resistant to what brings us together and I wish I could think less with my feelings." Squeezing gently, her fingers thread through his. "I've spent time around a lot of people; diplomats, royalty, peasants, and commoners... none of them make me feel what you did the moment you spoke to me in the receiving room. There's something... more." A breath. "Should we ignore it?"

Even though he says its too much, she wants to know if they should try anyway. He's the master, she the padawan. She'll let him lead.

[only_hope]

"I should have more control because you're under my care and you're promised to someone else," Obi-Wan says, squeezing her hand back. "But it isn't for you to have that control, to know how to think less with your feelings. You're not trained and I have the advantage."

Obi-Wan brings her hand to his lips and kisses it. "You don't feel coerced, do you? I couldn't stand it if I unintentionally influenced your mind. I suspect we're something called a Force dyad, a single mind in two bodies. It's very rare, which is why I wanted to check the old texts and holocrons."