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Saloma opened her pastey-feeling eyes and blinked a few times to clear them. She looked around. The darkened room she was lying in wasn't at all familiar, but she felt warm and safe and well- rested. She had been so cold before and nearly exhausted. And more frightened than she ever remembered feeling.
She sat up, startled, and looked around again. She had been in the fighter's cockpit. She remembered seeing Nare. She remembered shouting, begging, threatening him....
She gasped suddenly with recollection. Nare was dead! She had shot him! She had killed her brother! Her heart felt like it was tearing in two and her body began shaking all over, her mind threatening to shut down once more, still unable to accept what had happened.
Then she felt a warm, callused hand stroke her face and hair. A gentle, melodious voice began talking to her.
"Saloma? Don't be afraid. I'm right beside you. There's no need to be frightened anymore. You're safe, I promise. You're on the Council's ship. We're taking you to Coruscant."
"Obi-Wan?" she said, her voice trembling and weak. She hadn't noticed him in the room before. He was facing her, sitting in a chair beside the bed she was lying on. His soft blue eyes reflected a myriad of sad emotions.
"I was worried," he confessed softly. "You've been sleeping for quite awhile."
Tears welled up in Saloma's eyes as the memories came flooding back. She began shaking her head and gasping for breath. "I couldn't let him kill you, I just couldn't. I didn't know how else to stop him. I was so scared. I just couldn't let him....I love you."
Obi-Wan rose and leaned towards her and kissed her cheek. "I love you too," he whispered, caressing her face, trying desperately to soothe her. She took his hand and pulled him closer, crying even harder.
The Jedi seated himself beside her and gathered her in his arms. Curling up around him, she leaned her head against his chest and sobbed fitfully. Obi-Wan tenderly rocked her, his heart breaking for her.
Obi-Wan held Saloma until she fell back asleep. Carefully he shifted away from her and slipped off the bed.
He felt sick and discouraged. Nare's death had been tragically needless and now Saloma would have to live with the memory of having killed him.
Anakin was waiting just outside the door, pacing back and forth like a tethered wildcat. He looked up as Obi-Wan came out of the room and hurried over to him.
"Doesn't it seem like the harder we try, the more we fail?" Obi-Wan murmured, barely able to look Anakin in the eye.
"It may seem that way at times, a wise old Jedi once told me," Anakin quoted back to him. He glanced towards the door. "How is she doing?"
Obi-Wan sighed heavily. "As well as can be expected. She's sleeping now."
Anakin shook his head. "Let me get this straight, once and for all. She shot her brother, and killed him?"
"What's to understand, Anakin? She killed him to save my life. If she hadn't, I'd most likely be the one dead now. This is something that will always stand between us. Our feelings for each other will never be the same. Something like this...it's too traumatizing. For both of us. Saloma had to choose between her brother and me and...I'm not sure how to feel about that. As it was, he was fighting with me because he believed he was saving her."
"But she killed him?"
Obi-Wan put his hands on his hips. "I know it sounds incredulous, but I've explained it over and over to you the only way I know how. She shot him, he fell down. He died."
Anakin frowned deeply. "You're certain he died?"
"What is it? What's not getting through to you?" Obi-Wan snapped. He turned away from Anakin and started up the hall. "I saw her shoot him."
Anakin held up his hands. "But that shouldn't have killed him."
Obi-Wan stopped in his tracks. "What are you talking about?"
"The blaster she had. We got it off the first starfighter pilot we attacked. I adjusted the setting for her because she was uncomfortable using it. Obi-Wan, I set that blaster on stun. Unless she changed the setting afterwards, there's a very good chance her brother may still be alive." Anakin folded his arms across his chest and stood back to watch his master's reaction.
Obi-Wan's heart skipped a beat. His eyes widened as he stared up at Anakin, his jaw dropping in astonishment. He swallowed uncomfortably and licked his lips. "I think you may be right. I never actually sensed his death."
Anakin narrowed his eyes. "Didn't you check him... to make sure?"
Obi-Wan's head was spinning. "No... I just, well, I just assumed. I mean, she shot him right in front of me." He glanced behind him at Saloma's closed door, then bowed his head and sighed heavily. "The anguish that poor woman has been through. How could I have made such a...stupid mistake?"
Sensing the older Jedi's anxiety and shame, Anakin placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Obi-Wan slowly looked up at him.
"It's understandable," he began softly. "We all make lame, stupid mistakes from time to time. It's easy to get caught up in the passion of the moment."
"Yes," Obi-Wan agreed, knowing Anakin was speaking for himself as well.
Encouraged, Anakin continued. "The sound of our hearts' mad beating drowns out any sensibility our minds may be preaching." He offered Obi-Wan a crooked smile. "She said she loved you. She had just saved your life. No one would expect you to be thinking of anything except her at a time like that. You may be a Jedi, but you are only human."
Obi-Wan's heart swelled with pride as he looked into Anakin's eyes. "Thank you. Your words have been very comforting. I only wish I had been in possession of such compassionate wisdom when confronting you about your mistakes." He lowered his eyes briefly, then gestured at the door. "Go to her, Anakin. Tell her, please."
Anakin straightened and shook his head. "No, you go to her. It's you she loves."
Obi-Wan smiled and accepted Anakin's gift with a slight nod. He stiffly turned around, then paused. Waves of emotions washed over him and unable to contain them inside, he suddenly threw his arms around Anakin and hugged him.
Anakin returned his master's embrace, his heart warming with affection. He greatly enjoyed seeing his normally stoic, high-minded, unbending Jedi Master lose his composure like that once in awhile. It made him seem infinitely more real.
THE END
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