ℝ𝔸𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ𝔸𝕃 ➵ o. kenobi {my only hope; book 1}

【 TWENTY 】

     By the time I rounded the corner off of the balcony to find Kera, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon had already disappeared. I was almost disappointed, then reminded myself I shouldn't be. I had a commitment to Kera, to the Jedi Order... to myself.

Yet I still felt the ghost of Obi-Wan's lips on mine, from the kiss he never should have given me. I could still feel the way his lips had grazed my cheek... see the way he'd gazed into my eyes. And I didn't want to forget any of it.

"You all right?" Kera asked me with slight concern as she caught my eye. "You look a little dazed."

I tried to force myself out of it, but when I spoke, my voice was still a little too soft. "Yeah. Ahem." I cleared my throat, and worked even harder to force my voice to sound as it usually would. "Just a little hard saying goodbye after being so close with them the past couple of days."

Kera nodded, clasping her hands behind her back as we walked down the hallway. "I can tell Qui-Gon has taken quite a liking to you. And his apprentice, too, for that matter. I'm a little surprised, if I'm being honest. I wasn't sure how working with two strangers would go for you... given how uneasy you've been lately."

I smiled a little. "Yeah, well, I surprised myself, too. Obi-Wan's a good friend, and Qui-Gon... well, he looked after me, that's for sure. He's a really amazing guy."

Kera smiled sadly, her eyes becoming distant. "I know."

"You knew him? Before this, I mean?" I queried, reading the look in her eyes.

She glanced over at me momentarily. "A little," she admitted. "We were younglings together. He was always so rebellious... but so at peace. He's become a great Jedi Knight."

"I agree." I thought back to his fight with the Sith Lord. Qui-Gon really was one of the most powerful Jedi I knew.

Kera moved on quickly. "And his apprentice... Obi-Wan?" She said. "Now, he's a sight for sore eyes, isn't he?" she teased, nudging me.

I quickly stammered for a response. She couldn't know, could she? "I-I guess," I replied. "If you're into red hair and blue eyes, that is. I-" My voice faded out as I realized Kera was laughing, and I rolled my eyes. "Oh, come on."

"I'm just teasing you, Re," Kera told me, her eyes alight with amusement.

Kera had been calling me Re for as long as I could remember. When I was younger, she used to call me her little 'Re' of sunshine as a play on the last two letters of my name, but that had died out by the time I turned ten and was too embarrassed to be called that. Yet the nickname 'Re' had stuck, and she still called me that to this day.

"Yeah, yeah, alright," I murmured, my eyes ablaze with annoyance.

Kera noticed. She immediately stopped, pulling me over to the side of the hallway. "Okay, Emeré, that's the third time in the span of five minutes your voice has changed. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I tried, and began to walk away, but Kera wasn't having it. Her dark eyes were full of concern.

"Did that trip not go as successfully as the Council made it seem? Did something happen? Emeré, tell me what's wrong, or so help me-"

I quickly tried to come up with the right way to phrase what I was trying to say. If I lied, Kera would see straight through me, so I would at least have to make it a half truth.

"The trip went fine," I assured her. "It's just... some things happened that caused some issues on my end."

Kera's gaze was still more concerned than angry, but I could see a hint of fire in the depths of her eyes. "Like?"