Duty First, Love Never | Star Wars | Obi-Wan Kenobi x OC

Sowing the Seeds of Friendship

The incident that occurred between Eesla and Obi-Wan only seemed to have spurred her to be more determined in advancing her training, to Obi-Wan's dismay.

Eesla on the other hand, actively avoided Obi-Wan, prefering to have as little contact with him as possible.

One night, Eesla couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned in her bed and tried to empty her thoughts. Giving up, she sat up frustrated. Seeing her bag in a corner, she decided to burn off some steam in the training arena. Scribbling a quick note for Lumi, she grabbed her bag and left.

Expecting the training arena to be empty at this hour, Eesla was surprised to hear lightsaber sounds echoing from within. She looked inside, expecting some Jedi Knight or Master. Instead she saw Obi-Wan, sparing with two training bots.

She cursed inwardly. Of all the Jedi in the temple, and it just had to be Obi-Wan Kenobi. Leaning on the doorframe, she debated leaving the arena.

Despite her detest of him, she couldn't deny her admiration of his swordsmanship. His attacking blows were powerful and precise; his movements exuded elegance and looked almost effortless, more of a cat's prowness in battle. He seemed to be more inclined in using Suretsu, but occasionally switched between Ataru and Makshi styles when the situation required so. Although she absolutely hated to admit it, she was completely mesmerised by the scene playing out in front of her.

Without realising it, he had finished his training with the sparring droids, and had looked up to find Eesla still at the doorway. Her face flushed and her cheeks burning, she quickly made a beeline for the training court furthest away from him.

Regaining her composure, she begin setting up two training droids. Usually she would have only set up one droid, but today she had been felt particularly inspired by Obi-Wan's show of swordsmanship and wanted a challenge.

Initially Eesla was doing well, striking blow after blow on the droids in quick succession until both staggered backwards, However, one thing Eesla never anticipated was that while using the Ataru style ensured speed, but if unable to fight off the enemy, it meant that a Jedi risks using too much energy and leaving himself or herself open to attacks. This was what Eesla was about encounter first hand.

Sweating from her short burst of offensive strikes, she realised too late that not only did her strategy hadn't work out, this practice battle was about to end very badly. She gulped.

She lost her balance while trying to avoid one of the blows landed by the training droid that sent her tumbling on her back. Before she could get up, the droid struck from above and she was barely able to block it. Rolling aside, she quickly stood up. Her energy was depleting rapidly and she realised she had only one chance to counter attack before she was overun completely. Hoping to catch the droids by surprise, she sent out a high kick. Before her foot managed to make contact with the droid, it grabbed her leg and swung her around before releasing her. The momentum sent Eesla slamming back first into a wall. She groaned as the impact hit her spine. Reaching for her lightsaber, she panicked when she realised it wasn't clipped on her waist. Eyes searching wildly, she spotted it in the far corner of the room, where it must have rolled to when she hit the wall.
She tried to use the Force to retrieve it to no avail. Too distracted, she failed to notice that the droids were already standing over her.

Crying out in fear, she backed into the wall. When she saw the lightsabers falling down upon her, she shut her eyes tight, dreading the stinging burns that were surely to come.
When the burning sensation never came, she opened her eyes and saw Obi-Wan blocking the two lightsabers.

"Get. Away. NOW!" He yelled at her as he deflected the blows, giving her an opening to escape.

He retreated sideways, luring the droids towards him. Circling the battleground, he lunged forward occasionally to get into the rhythm of the battle. Eesla noted that Obi-Wan was more inclined to using defensive methods when it came to battle. She observed as he switched to Djem So, blocking each of the droids attacks while using their energy against them. In no time, he defeated the droids and the training session came to an end.

Silence fell between them. Neither was looking at the other person. Eesla sighed inwardly at the awkward situation she was stuck in. So much for as less contact as possible. Still, he did save her from another batch of bruises. Let's just get it over with then.

Taking a deep breath, she walked up to Obi-Wan slowly.

"Thank you." She muttered quietly.

Obi-Wan's flinched as though he just realised she was standing beside him. His eyes slowly trained on her, Eesla noticed he was breathing unusually heavily.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" he yelled at her, shoulders heaving.

Taken aback by his words, she took several steps back.

"I DON'T GET IT! WHY WON'T YOU JUST LEAVE?! YOU HAVE A PERFECTLY GOOD LIFE BACK THERE AND YOU THREW THAT AWAY!"

Obi-Wan stepped forward towards her.

"JUST GO BACK! IT'S NOT LIKE ANYONE HERE WOULD MISS YOU!

Suddenly, it was as if something inside Eesla snapped. Everything Eesla buried within her threatened to surface and drowned her. In that moment, her ears rang and she suddenly lashed out.

"WHY?!"

"I LOVE MY HOMEWORLD. I MISS THEM. WHO EVER SAID I DIDN'T?"

"BUT BETTER TO HAVE A LIFE ALONE THAN A LIFE WHERE EVERYONE HOLDS YOU AT AN ARM'S LENGTH!"

"BETTER TO BUILD A LIFE FOR YOURSELF THAN TO HAVE IT LAID OUT FOR YOU!"

"BETTER TO WALK MY OWN PATH THAN TO FOLLOW SOMEONE ELSE'S!"

Eesla was sobbing uncontrollably by now.

"I REFUSE TO GIVE UP BECAUSE I CHOSE THIS PATH. I LOVE MY PEOPLE, BUT I WANT TO BE A BETTER PERSON ON MY GROUNDS. SO I CHOOSE THIS LIFE!"

She sank to the ground, exhausted. She was still weeping softly.

Obi-Wan had never seen her this vulnerable. But what shocked him even more was when Eesla lashed out, he felt a strong energy surged through him. It was then he realised that she was more powerful than he had initially imagined.

Feeling guilty about their altercation, Obi-Wan slowly approached Eesla. When he placed his hand on her shoulder, she flinched but didn't move away which he was thankful for.

"Look... I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said. I didn't realise what you were going through. I probably have no excuse for what I had done. If I were you... I would have been just as frustrated." he said apologetically.

When Eesla stayed silent, Obi-Wan assumed he had overstepped his boundaries. Yet he was very determined to mend fences.

"Eesla, if you're okay with it, I can help with your training."

When Eesla heard this, she turned around slowly to face Obi-Wan, the expression on her face unreadable.

"Is that sympathy I hear, Obi-Wan? Because I'm letting you know I don't need it."

"It's not sympathy." Obi-Wan protested. "You need the extra help, all I'm doing is offering you assistance. Let's just say, I want to be friends."

"Friends?" I said wearily. "Not 15 minutes ago you wanted me out of the Jedi Temple."

"I was wrong." Obi-Wan admitted sheepishly.
He extended his hand out to her. "Friends?"

Eesla silently grabbed his hand and stood up. To Obi-Wan's surprise, she lit up her lightsaber and assumed a battle pose. With a teasing smile she said "I accept, if Padawan Kenobi shows me what he's got."

Obi-Wan smirked at her words, and formed a battle stance of his own. He gestured for her to begin.

As they lunged at each other, their lightsabers collided in flashes of lights.