Dark Legacy

Chapter 25 - Interim

Author's Note: I just wanted to announce that I have finished writing this fic, and as such, I will update twice a month on Tuesday until it's done being released. There are three more chapters, plus an epilogue, so enjoy! :D

~ Amina Gila

The rest of the day is a chaotic whirlwind of trying to make deals and re-establish peace, as well as trying to figure out who all was behind the invasion of Mandalore. Vizsla didn't know much, and the two Dark Siders are dead, so they can't get any information out of them. It's frustrating, but at least they managed to confirm that Sidious – in Ventress' body – is behind it.

That doesn't really tell them anything about where he is or how to find him. It's as annoying as it is worrisome. If Sidious is out there, none of them will be safe.

"You wanted to talk to me?" he asks, letting the door to Satine's private sitting area slide closed behind him. She's standing in front of the window, staring out over Sundari, wearing less formal clothing than she's ever worn in his presence.

She steps back, turning to look at him. "Indeed," she agrees. There's something slightly awkward in the air between them, and Obi-Wan knows why. Even though the conversation they need to have will not be easy, they need to have it, nevertheless.

"I suppose this is about... the marriage," he says, crossing the carpeted, marble floor and sitting on one end of the leather couch. The room is decorated with a luxury befitting a duchess, but he'll have plenty of time to study it later. For now, they need to talk. Satine nods, sitting primly across from him at the other end. "I didn't expect this to happen," he admits, breathing in and out slowly to help himself relax fully. They've been friends for a long time, and there's no reason why they can't talk about this. "We aren't even... together, in a relationship. I never – I never even thought about marriage."

She nods again, understanding his point, even as a small, fleeting smile crosses her face. "You did," she murmurs. "Once."

Obi-Wan doesn't let his mind drift to the past, to the non-relationship they had when they were still teenagers. "I know, but I was young then, and I don't know if I would have really gone through with it. I – I know I said I would have left the Order, but... I can't imagine a different life. I don't regret having stayed a Jedi."

He hardly even knows why he's saying it, because it's not as if she doesn't know any of that. "This is a political marriage first and foremost," Satine says. She seems perfectly relaxed on her chair. "It's not meant to be about us. It's not meant to be real."

She's giving him an out which he would appreciate far more if he didn't still care for her. What makes this so uncomfortable isn't because he doesn't care about her like that, but because he does. He just doesn't know if he wants to be married. He's perfectly fine being single, thank you very much, Anakin.

"I know," he agrees, scrubbing a hand over his face, "But it... isn't easy."

"Things worth doing rarely are." There's a flicker of something akin to melancholy in her clear, blue eyes as she says it, and he gets the feeling that she's thinking about her part of the agreement. After the civil war all but destroyed Mandalore, she had plenty of reasons to want to change the ways of Mandalore. Obi-Wan may not have entirely supported it – only because he worried about how it would work out in the long-run, being as Mandalorians have always been warriors – but he respected it, and he admired her courage in standing up to the disapproval of her people and past and deciding that it was time to change.

And now, it's back to where it started. He can't imagine how – how worried and stressed she must be. "I'm sorry," he murmurs quietly, "About what happened. I know this is not what you wanted for Mandalore."