Work Text:
37 BBY
Obi-Wan Kenobi followed the faint sound he heard towards the back of the damp, dimly lit cave. He knew that Satine was safe with Qui-Gon back at the camp and this time, it was Obi-Wan’s job to look for more potable water. As Obi-Wan walked deeper and deeper into this cave and reached what appeared to be a dead end, he was surprised to find that the sound he had heard was in fact water. He examined the rock closer and saw a small steam flowing down the granite walls.
“Huh that’s curious. I don’t see where this water could be coming from."
Obi-Wan reaching a stand-still on his search for water decided to try and meditate for an answer and get in touch with the Living Force. Now, he was more in tune with the Cosmic Force, but he was still learning how to best interact with the Living Force. Master Qui-Gon had noticed a slight improvement in the young padawan’s connection and openness to the Living Force as his apprenticeship continued on, though there was still more progress that he could make. Once entering his state of meditation, memories of his time on Mandalore began to flow back to him.
It had been 6 months since the master and apprentice were first assigned to protect the Duchess Satine Kryze, the presumed next leader of the Mandalorians from the on-going civil war on her world. Several of the warring factions wanted nothing more to see the Kryze line end and have their clan in power once more. This is where the pair of Jedi came in, their task assigned by the Jedi Council was deceptively simple in its statement “Protect the Duchess until peace has been re-established on Mandalore.”
“Easier said than done”. Obi-Wan thought to himself when Qui-Gon briefed him on their upcoming mission.
Initially, Obi-Wan was less than enthusiastic about this assignment and thought that this Duchess would be as stuck up and difficult as other planetary leaders he had met during previous missions with Qui-Gon. Satine was different though, underneath the guarded mask of a leader he had begun to see more of who she was deeper down. It took a few months for Satine to shed this mask and in the meantime, could be as difficult to Obi-Wan as he thought she would be. She got along well right away with Master Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan was at a loss himself for why that was.
Throughout their adventures in the Mandalore sector, he saw the passion and care she had for her people, the willingness to do the hard work that would be needed once the Civil War was over, and the empathetic heart of a leader who would likely turn the page in Mandalore’s history to a new chapter of peace and prosperity. Satine had told Obi-Wan stories about how lush and green Mandalore used to be, but centuries of conflicts between the clans tore up the landscape and made it the barren desert they see today. While taking a short rest on one of their previous planetary shops, she described her ideas for a new Sundari; one with the finest schools not just for fighting, but to train the future leaders of their society. A Sundari where the architecture and craftsmanship of her people would shine on full display to all who visited. As well as a school that could rival some of the prestigious academies of the core worlds. She told tales of Mandalore’s greatest poets and artists and how she wanted to revitalize those aspects of their culture and. Obi-Wan was brought along by Satine’s visions and ideas for a new Mandalore and actually believed that if anyone could enact peace on Mandalore it would be her. Deeper down though he could feel within the Force that she was still mourning her father Adonai’s passing and was missing her sister dearly, though she never really talked much about that to Obi-Wan. Maybe she mentioned it to Qui-Gon, but nothing yet to him.
After several close calls with bounty hunters and numerous instances of food poisoning (all happening to Obi-Wan, it turns out temple food doesn’t prepare one’s gut for the spicier foods of the Mandalorians), Satine’s walls further lowered and let Obi-Wan into her inner sanctum where she could express all of the emotions she had been holding onto while they had been on the run. Her anger and sadness over the loss of her family and people, her hope for a better tomorrow, her joy of getting to know more of her Mando’ade* kin, and her doubt over her own abilities as a leader. Obi-Wan reciprocated as well, telling her about his anxieties of becoming a Jedi Knight and his own fears of letting his master as well as the rest of the order down. It wasn’t common for him to talk freely of such things with someone else his own age, he’d normally meditate to seek the answers or try to talk to his master or his friend Quinlan. Even though the three of them were almost constantly in mortal peril, Obi-Wan felt that this was the first time in a long time when he could just be himself. Not Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi, apprentice of Master Qui-Gon Jinn, and future Jedi Knight, but just be Obi-Wan. He was happy to have gained Satine’s trust and started to notice more feelings of friendship and affection between the two of them.
Obi-Wan felt the Living Force all around the cave, from the air to the moss growing on portions of the wall. If he followed the Force further to where the moss was more abundant, he could feel where the water source was and it appeared to be leaking from a small hole in the ceiling of the cave.
“Good thing I can still fit through that gap, more water could be up ahead.” So Obi-Wan began his climb through the roof on his quest for water.
————————-
Satine and Qui-Gon had set up their camp closer to the mouth of the cave so they could have some light and watch for danger. Their camp wasn’t much really, just a few sleeping mats and a fire pit. Though that has started to feel more and more like home to her as of late.
“Master Jinn, it’s been a while since Obi-Wan left looking for more water. Shouldn’t we check and see if he’s alright?”
“My lady, I can still feel him in the Force and he’s quite alright. I have a suspicion he’ll be back soon with some good news.”
Satine didn’t like this answer one bit, after living with these jetti for the last 6 months she still didn’t like their seemingly magical abilities. Sure, they had come in handy on many occasions, but it still felt unnatural to her no matter how they described it. After hearing Master Jinn’s response, she went back to checking over their supplies. These last few weeks had stretched much of their bare essentials to their limits and they’d have to find some town to trade in quite soon. She hoped that Obi-Wan would be successful in finding water and maybe some fruits or vegetables they could use to spice up the ration bars the council had left them with. It felt like the fourth desert planet in as many weeks and she was craving a decadent meal full of lush greens and ripe vegetables. How come they couldn’t find a planet more temperate like Naboo to hide out on instead?
Their travels had shown Satine just how much work still was needed to lift up the entire Mandalore sector to its full potential. These worlds had been ravaged from the centuries of clan conflicts much to the detriment of the environments. Satine had vowed to herself that upon taking the throne of Mandalore, she’d seek out new technologies to restore the environments of these worlds to their former splendor. If anything, the time on the run has shown her the worlds of the Mandalore sector through a lens she wouldn’t otherwise have seen as the Duke’s daughter. On official visits to cities on Concordia or Concord Dawn, she was treated as the young Duchess, future ruler of Mandalore instead of Satine. The towns would show her their best features and hide what needed work. When what needed work is exactly the thing that Satine wanted to learn more about. Her father said that too would come in time, but she was impatient and wanted to make a plan then and there for helping her people.
“Duke Adonai... father..” Satine thought to herself. It had been too long since she thought about him. It was still so painful to remember the kind and loving man he was and yet reconcile that with the cruel and painful way his life was taken away from her and Bo-Katan as well as the rest of Mandalore. She missed him dearly, more than she’d like to admit to the Jetti. Qui-Gon was helping her learn how to meditate as a means to try and heal some of her feelings and let go of them, but this couldn’t fully ease the pain she held in her heart.
“Master Jinn, you’ve tried to get me to let go of my pain and sorrow over my father and sister, but this seems counter intuitive to honoring their memory and working towards the better future they believed in.” Qui-Gon, clearly not expecting this line of conversation turned toward her with rapt attention.
“I’ve always been taught that our love and connections to our family and friends is what keeps us Mandalorians strong and prosperous. This view of love and family contracts with the Jedi perspectives on attachment and love. You say you’re peace keepers of the galaxy, but how can you keep the peace if you aren’t attached to these places and want to see them thrive and prosper? A position of non-attachment would seem to almost preclude intervening on the behalf of other worlds if you don’t love or care for the people you’d be protecting.”
“Well Duchess, you are correct in that the bonds of family are one of the reasons your people are so strong, but I perceive the Jedi’s view of attachment differently than most. As Jedi, I believe that we have a duty to be empathetic and care for all beings in the galaxy. My love for life and all who are here comes first and that pushes me to want to keep the peace as an effort to preserve that life. The view of the Council is that remaining un-attached allows us to move about from world to world without risking the fear of loss that could come should a mission fail.”
“Yes, but that’s a wider love for the galaxy. What about a more personal love for another being? Surely you Jedi aren’t immune to that?”
“Actually Satine, you’re right. There was someone once who caught my attention in that way, but circumstances were that I had to let her go.” With that, Qui-Gon’s stare had gone past Satine and further out across the plains. Normally, she noticed a bright spark in Qui-Gon’s eyes, but at the mention of his once love they were filled with a tinge of sadness and regret.
“I acknowledge how she helped me become a kinder and more patient person, and I’m forever grateful to her for that, but the fear I had before losing her brought me to places in the Force I’d rather not experience again. I had no choice really, but to let that attachment and fear flow back into the Force. Not just for my own sake, but for those around me as well.”
Satine hadn’t expected Qui-Gon to elaborate further, but appreciated him trusting her enough to do so. Selfishly, she had asked about the Jedi and attachments due to her own growing feelings towards his Padawan. When she had first met Obi-Wan Kenobi, he seemed stuck up and self-centered to her. Under his façade of jetti calm, he appeared perpetually grumpy for the first week or so of their journey together. Gradually, he opened up more to her and she saw his inner romantic and his deep love and compassion for the people in his life. She could see how much he believed in the mission of the Jedi to be the peacekeepers for the galaxy and to help preserve life. Though she also knew that the duties he’d soon have as a Jedi Knight weighed greatly on his mind and he was filled with worry and self-doubt.
One night after a particularly harrowing escape, she caught him on the verge of a panic attack.
“Obi-Wan what’s wrong? Something terrible must have happened to cause you to feel like this.”
“Satine, don’t you understand! What happened back in that town was all my fault and it could have led to a worse outcome than you spraining an ankle. It’s my mission to keep you safe and alive. I.. I just don’t know how great of a job I’ve been doing. I trust Qui-Gon and his abilities, but I’m worried that I’m not enough and that I’ll let the both of you down and the direct consequences of my failure would lead to your death. This is too important of a mission to be given to a padawan like me.”
He was practically shaking at this point, it was clear to Satine that this wasn’t the first time he had these thoughts, but it was likely the first time he had voiced them out loud. Satine didn’t need to say anything, but she sat down next to him and hugged him for a moment to help him calm down. While not in the same situation, Satine had experienced a panic attack before and knew the best way through it was to have someone nearby who could offer comfort and support and that’s what she aimed to do with Obi-Wan.
A month or two had passed since he confessed these worries to Satine and she had unknowingly let herself fall more and more for this handsome padawan guardian of hers even though she knew in the end it could only lead to heartbreak when he left to go back to Coruscant. Satine was not one who would sit and wait around for something to happen, so she decided to take matters into her own hands and find Obi-Wan herself. Satine stood up abruptly and started to walk the way Obi-Wan had gone.
“Master Jinn, he’s been gone for over an hour. Surely this cave can’t be that deep, I’m going to check on him and see if he needs help.”
“Satine! Wait a moment, take this flashlight to light your way. Obi-Wan had his lightsaber, but you’ll need something as well.”
Satine travelled onward, finding Obi-Wan’s footprints near the back of the cave when she noticed instead of footprints there was just a smudge about the size of his legs in the dirt.
“He must have stopped here to meditate, but where did he go from here?”
Satine then looked around the back of the cave for any sign of her lost Jedi. Her flashlight found patches of moss which was curious enough in its own right. For the moss to grow, there had to be water, surely Obi-Wan had seen this as well. Tracing back the moss further, she finally saw something and it was a small padawan sized hole in the ceiling. Now, this ceiling was 10 feet high and would take some effort to climb and reach, but that was the only explanation for where Obi-Wan could have gone. So Satine began to climb up after him, sure it was dangerous, but there was a chance that Obi-Wan was hurt up ahead and she had to take that risk for him. Scrambling up the red rocks wasn’t easy by any stretch of the imagination and she hadn’t anticipated needing to climb so she didn’t bring her gear with her.
“Almost there! Just another couple of moves and I should be able to get through the ceiling.”
Satine thought to herself, but that moment of distraction was just enough for her foot to slip off its current hold.
“Kriff!!” Satine shouted in surprise. With her exclamation, she heard a loud splash from above her. Which at least let her know that Obi-Wan was alright, though maybe slightly more damp than before. Satine was able to keep her grip on the rock and re-center herself to finish the ascent and climbed through the cave ceiling. She certainly didn’t expect to see a small waterfall and a now soaking Obi-Wan Kenobi in the middle of the pond underneath it.
“Oh stars, Obi-Wan. I didn’t mean to startle you, I was coming to check up on you and see if you needed help with the water. Though that climb certainly took a while longer than I thought it would. I take it you used the Force to get up here easier?” Satine said in Obi-Wan’s direction as she finished pulling herself up into the water filled cavern.
What she saw was a young man with blue-grey eyes who was slightly blushing from cheek to cheek. It wasn’t often that Obi-Wan appeared to be embarrassed by something, so whenever his body showed signs of that embarrassment Satine found it endearing.
“Here, let me help you out of there.” Satine said, while offering her hand to him
“Ah… well… yes, thank you Satine.” Obi-Wan quickly turned his head in the hope that Satine wouldn’t notice the light shade of pink he had become.
“I was about to head back to the camp, but there was something so peaceful in this cavern that I took an additional moment to meditate here. I must say, I wasn’t expecting to see you up here.” Obi-Wan said to Satine with a quizzical look on his face.
“He’s fiddling around with something in his pocket. That’s certainly new. Obi-Wan isn’t the kind who keeps trinkets on him for good luck.” Satine thought to herself.
“Well Obi-Wan, it’s like I said earlier I was worried about your safety. You had been gone quite an awfully long time. Now, I saw what looked like the remains of your mediation stance in the dirt below. So what really kept you up here for so long?” Satine retorted.
Fidgeting further, Obi-Wan hesitated for a moment and then spoke up.
“When I found this waterfall, something caught my eye on the shores.” As Obi-Wan was explaining, his hand brought the hidden content of his pocket out into the open and Satine saw it; a bright blue stone almost the same color as her own eyes and around the size of a small berry.
Quickly explaining, Obi-Wan went on “I saw this rock and I know it’s silly, but it reminded me of you. I wanted to further figure out what it was so I continued to look around the area. The surrounding rocks are quite red, which suggests that there’s a large amount of iron in this rock. Which on other planets I’ve studied often correlates with areas of copper deposits as well. All this to say, I’m sure that this is one of the finest turquoise specimens I’ve seen in person. I can understand if you don’t want to remember a lot of this year due to the extenuating circumstances surrounding our travels, but I wanted to give it to you.”
His light pink blush had now turned to a bright red and Satine returned a kind smile at him. Moving closer to Obi-Wan than she had been before
“Obi.. Ben, that is incredibly sweet of you and I’d be happy to accept it. This year may have been far from ideal, but it hasn’t been full of memories I’d rather forget and our time together is one thing I’d like to remember for a long time.”
Hearing Satine reply in the affirmative seemed to put Obi-Wan more at ease, that is until Satine leaned in with a peck on the cheek. Not expecting him to reciprocate, he pulled her closer and kissed her directly on the cheek.
“I’m glad that our time together has been a positive memory to come from all of the chaos surrounding us.”
Obi-Wan continuing to blush, while Satine now also was flushed with a light pink glow in her cheeks. Now she certainly wasn’t expecting him to respond that way to her kiss on the cheek, but she was glad he did. Finishing filling their canteens, Obi-Wan left their little oasis first and then made sure that Satine could climb down without too many issues plaguing her descent and made their way back to the camp where Qui-Gon awaited.
“Ah Padawan! Welcome back!” Qui-Gon exclaimed on their return to the camp.
“Judging by the state of your robes, I take it you found the water.” Qui-Gon said with a chuckle. At this, Obi-Wan scowled and muttered something about a hard to reach waterfall and slippery rocks before he sat down by the fire to warm up. Satine hung back just for a minute to capture this moment in her memory. Clutching the stone Obi-Wan gave her, she looked out at the Master and Apprentice with nothing but love in her heart for the two of them. Come what may, she wanted to hold as many happy memories close as she could.
-----------
21 BBY
Obi-wan was taken aback when he first saw Satine in the throne room. There the stone was, in an intricate silver ring, that turquoise stone that he had found when they were on the run so many years before. He still recalled seeing the stone at the bottom of the waterfall he had uncovered when they were on the last of their water reserves.
“Satine, it’s wonderful to see you again, but I’m surprised to see you still have that stone. After all this time?”
She looked deeply into his blue grey eyes and said
“Always. It hasn’t left my side since that day. It feels like there’s still a piece of you inside it Ben.”