Her Secret

-Eight-

Some hours had passed since the four of them entered the space ship, nobody was really talking, Obi-Wan was concentrating on piloting while Anakin and Kira were quietly talking in the back of the ship. Anakin gave up his co-pilot seat to Iris so she could admire the beauty of the space; they rapidly passed by many planets, getting further away from Naboo. Iris was a bit worried because the attack that happened some hours ago would concern her father and bring her back home. She still felt uneasy about the nightmare and also because she didn't want to lose her friends, the ones she felt safe with.

Next to her sat Obi-Wan with a calm expression, Iris wondered what could be going on inside his mind. Even if she tried to read it he was a really strong Jedi, and his mind block was admirable. Suddenly Obi-Wan's voice awoke her from her thoughts.

"Iris, do you know where Anakin is? He was supposed to keep me company but you are in his place."

"Oh, Anakin asked me if I wanted to switch places because Kira and him were going to be in the back talking, but if you want I will go and tell him to come." Iris replied, looking at the tired eyes of the Jedi.

"No, don't, it's fine like this, Iris." Obi-Wan continued. Iris loved how he said her name, the way he talked, his gestures... All of a sudden she realised how wrong her thoughts were as Obi-Wan spoke again. " Iris, may I ask why you have a lightsaber? I saw you fighting, trying to protect Kira and I was really amazed by your skills."

Quickly Iris had to invent a coherent lie, she knew that revealing her fighting skills would cause problems. "There's no problem Obi-Wan, actually my mom was force sensitive but never had the chance to train, so when my dad saw the signs that I was force sensitive, he got a teacher for me." She hoped that he would believe her, in reality Iris's mom wasn't force sensitive, she got it from her father, or that was at least what he told her.

"That makes sense, I've been feeling a force user near and I was alert in case something happened but I'm glad it's you." Obi-Wan added warmly, while the spaceship approached an unknown planet.

"You seem to enjoy flying, I've heard from Kira that Anakin also loves it." Iris calmly said, looking through the windows.

Obi-Wan chuckled, involuntarily making Iris turn her head to where he was seated. "No, dear, in fact I hate flying, probably because of the multiple bad experiences I've had with Anakin." - He looked exhausted, as if he hadn't had good sleep in days.- "But do not worry, we are done flying because we have arrived at Scarif." Obi-Wan concluded, landing on a water planet with many tropical islands lying around.

They landed on a really big island compared to others, the beachfront surrounded the whole land and jungle vegetation in the interior. From some height they could see a village with plenty of huts, connecting all the sides of the island. When the four of them got out of the spaceship they could really feel the warmth of the air, indicating a permanent summer.

Iris was amazed by all this scenery, she had never been that far away from Coruscant and neither in such new environment. She looked mesmerised at the waves crash against the rocks, the branches of palm trees calmly moving in the wind and listened enraptured to the sounds of the animals.

"This is incredible." Iris said, slowly walking on the sand, entering the dense jungle.

"Oh yes, it looks like the summer vacations my family and I went to some years ago."- Kira commented while following the group. -"Well, not exactly the same as the jungle was safer, with maids and a nice house to stay in. But I mean, there're nice things here, like palm trees..."

"Kira, tell me more about the island you went to" - said Anakin and both of them distanced themselves from Obi-Wan and Iris.

They walked through the jungle, with the tropical trees surrounding them. There was a beaten path so they thought that it would lead them to the village that occupied the centre and the south part of the island. Iris could hear the wild creatures near her, not even in her craziest dreams could she have imagined that she would visit this kind of a planet, but now she was there, with her dearest friends.