hadthehighground | Folkmore Inbox

She gives him a pleased smile, meeting his eyes for a moment -

No, I don't think I'm getting over being able to just...come see him, any time soon.

But then his gaze flicks away, and she goes to sit on the edge of his bed. She stares down at her hands in her lap for a few seconds.

"I wanted to ask you something. But you don't have to answer me."

When her eyes meet his she just gets a sense of confusion, concern, and care. He having shifted his barriers to keep her from being flooded with his thoughts every time their eyes met. Only letting his emotions filter through, unless he chose otherwise.

Satine had no such mental filter of course and he can’t help but smile to himself when her thoughts reach him. He doesn’t comment on it though. Instead he goes to sit on the bed beside her, letting her say her piece.

“Of course, my dear. What is it?”

She takes a deep breath. "In the time you came from - has the war ended?"

With that question he adverts his gaze, not wanting her to feel the depths of his sadness.

“It has.”

Yes, that seems to answer her real question.

"Bo said everyone lost," she continues, grimly. And again, yes of course they did.

But she is willing to admit these seems like...a spectacularly bad loss, to the galaxy.

Obi-Wan nods a bit grimly. “And she would be right. I think the only person that truly won was Palpatine himself.”

Such was the nature of the Sith, after all. Always seeking power for themselves and not caring who they hurt along the way.

“What else did she tell you?”

That also tracks along what Bo said.

"Not much, just the broad strokes of what she thought I'd care most about, I think. That...many Jedi die." She glances up at him, eye full of sorrow.

"Mandalore is glassed again at some point, badly enough not many are left."

He practically wilts in front of her as she mentions the death of many Jedi, yet straightens and quickly looks at Satine. Not thinking in that brief moment as their eyes met. His emotions one of shock and behind it a deep and lingering sadness.

“I didn’t know about Mandalore. I’m so sorry, Satine.”

She shakes her head. "Thank you. But I always knew our peace was precarious, and Viszla overthrowing me could spiral badly."

She shifts again, and holds out her hands to him. "The Jedi, though. She talked like it wasn't just attrition."

Satine was right, Mandalore had been thrown into civil war after her death. Tearing up the planet anew, but the glassing was new to him.

He then takes her hands in his, holding them tightly, as if she were an anchor.

“It was genocide,” he says quietly. “Masters, knights, Padawans…” he trails off and takes a breath. His voice wavering slightly as he continued. “And younglings. None were sparred.”

Her hands tighten, around his, her eyes flickering that red-orange.

"Planned. Meticulously so. It must have been. Yes?" It's the only way she can think the Jedi could have been caught off guard. And even so...

Meanwhile Obi-Wan’s own eyes are a drab grey.

“Yes,” he confirms with a slight nod. “Palpatine orchestrsted the entire war, of that I have no doubt.”

They found hints and clues throughout the war, but never put all the pieces together until it was too late.

"Wait." Satine's eyes fade to a puzzled green. "All of it?"

She had used a great deal of rhetoric, in her anti-war speeched, about how the war didn't make sense, under the belief that much of it was about profiteering, and it wasn't that she didn't believe that but -

All planned by one man?

“He had help from Dooku of course, but yes, all of it.”

He can clearly see her confusion though and takes a breath.

“Palpatine is more than just a man. It turns out he was the Sith Lord that we had been looking for since my master’s death on Naboo. He is the one who trained Maul.”

"A Sith Lord," Satine echoes, sounding it out carefully. "What does that mean, exactly?"

She shakes her head a little. "There were rumors about Dooku, that I was never sure what to believe. And I know from Mandalorian history that they are powerful Force users. That Mandalorians sometimes allied with them against the Jedi."

“They use the dark side of the Force. Once wayward Jedi, they are motivated by selfishness and hate. Their goal is to amass power for themselves with no care for others. We thought that they were eradicated long ago, but the emergence of Maul proved otherwise.”

She takes that in. "But can't Force users sense each other, usually?"

She knows the answer, she's simply thinking out loud, slowly putting together pieces.

So logically, Palpatine was very carefully hiding, and must have been very skilled. He'd been a public figure for decades. The level of deception and planning here is quite literally dizzying. She closes her eyes and takes more deep breaths.

“Yes, but the dark side clouds our senses. We felt it for some time, but couldn’t pin point anything.”

Palpatine was indeed very skilled. A master of disguise and deception. The Sith had been simply biding their time for centuries.

"...I'm getting sidetracked." She opens her eyes, now deep grey. "I am so, so sorry, Obi-Wan. I never wanted you to know this sort of pain."

Her clan was much smaller, but she knows what it's like to be hunted. To be one of the last.

A sad smile touches his lips and he reaches out. Brushing his fingers against her cheek and through her hair.

“I know, my dear. I never wished it for you either.”

A haunted look in his eyes as he remembers her own death as well.

"I couldn't bear to - I din't ask her about Korkie. She didn't say anything, so I must assume the worst. Or - I suppose she simply might not know..."

Finally, her expression crumples into showing her heartbreak, and she whispers. "Does that make me a coward, after all?"

Obi-Wan’s heart sank as she spoke of Korkie. Asking Bo-Katan about their son hadn’t yet occurred to him. That Satine’s sister volunteered no information about him was concerning, but he doubted she knew nothing.

Reaching for her, Obi-Wan carefully pulled Satine into his arms.

“No dearest. It makes you human. Sometimes we must struggle with our inner weakness before we can find true strength.”

She lets herself be shifted, and wraps her arms around him, resting her head on his chest. She's quiet a long moment, contemplating his words.

"Is this what you mean, about there being no Order?" she asks, a muffled.

The question follows somewhat, in her mind, not just from the entire conversation, but that last statement. Obi-Wan must be struggling with...many things, some of which she still might not know about or can barely understand. But also that they are here, and there are no clear, practical reasons to pretend they don't love and want each other.

What a change from how they both lived, for so long. It's easy to think of it as giving into weakness, and not a chance at mutual solace and drawing strength from each other. Maybe it is. Maybe it's both, and that's the catch.

It definitely was a change, but perhaps it was a bit easier for him to fall into after everything he’s been through. Between what happened back home, his time in Temba, and now here. He longed to feel settled, to be surrounded by those he cares for, and just exist quietly. While helping others when he can. He was a tired soul.

“Yes. There’s no Order here, and no longer one back home. While I want to continue my life as a Jedi in some capacity, as I won’t be able to in our galaxy, there’s no reason to strictly adhere to all of our structured guidelines either.”

Devoting oneself to the Order required dedication and commitment. But there was no such duties required of him here. Obi-Wan has heard of Jedi being stranded, separated from the Order before. For whatever reason. Those Jedi them trying to lead a normal life as much as they can. Perhaps that’s what he should do.

"Your only missions are the one you feel called to do, I suppose. Such as teaching Leia, guiding the older Jedi."

She bites her lips. "I don't want to be a distraction from those things. Or give you cause to doubt yourself."

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CW: Genocide, Child Murder

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