Chapter Text
Father is gone for the day so that gives Obi-Wan time to rest. It’s rare that he ever has a moment to do the things that he likes to do. He’s found painting is his favorite thing to do. He likes to bake too. And magic can sometimes be fun. It’s hard though because practicing magic and tending to the magic flowering plant is something he’s always been required to do. Not something he chooses to do, so he’s not entirely sure if he likes it or if he’s just used to it.
Being the only one left with a connection to magic and Pascal is a burden sometimes. He’s the only one that can help Pascal live, make her grow, make her continue to give off magic that Obi-Wan can mix into Father’s tea, that Obi-Wan can connect to. Obi-Wan doesn’t understand what makes him so special, but he knows that he is for some odd reason and so he must continue to perform his duties because no one else can. And Obi-Wan doesn’t want anyone else to have to.
He moves over to Pascal and touches one of her leaves. She is a sweet plant, if plants can be sweet, and Obi-Wan knows its his job to protect her. He can feel it in his bones, the siren song of destiny. He’s just not sure what to do now that he’s come to realize the plant’s biggest danger is Palpatine, his father. And perhaps Father is Obi-Wan’s biggest danger too.
It’s something to consider, and something he should probably give more thought to before planning to run away for the next three days. He can’t leave the plant without tending for too long. She’s innocent in Palpatine’s schemes. But a few days of freedom in the city will be enough. It has to be.
Obi-Wan moves up the stairs to his room to gather his things. He didn’t pack his bag ahead of time. That would be asking for trouble because Father liked to rifle through his things. For all he claimed of the importance of Obi-Wan, he didn’t trust him very much. Or the plant for that matter.
There’s a noise from outside his room, and Obi-Wan throws his bags under his bed with a touch of magic. Father shouldn’t have returned so soon, and him being back is not a good sign. It means that something went wrong while he was out on his “missions.”
Obi-Wan hurries down the stairs to start the tea for Father. He’ll need the healing effects of Pascal if he’s been injured and at this point, the magic functions as a calming agent to Palpatine. It turns his boiling rage into a simmering anger. Both equally frightening, but one less likely than the other to give Obi-Wan more scars.
Obi-Wan descends to the bottom of the stairs to see that it’s not Father who’s arrived, but a stranger with their back turned to Obi-Wan, looking out the window of the tower.
Any intruder to the tower cannot be here for good purposes. If they know Palpatine, then it’s likely they’re as conniving and cruel as him. But Palpatine would never let someone else in the same room as his coveted magic, so this person must be here for nefarious purposes.
Obi-Wan swallows down his fear and moves forward on quiet feet, reaching for the frying pan as he passes the stove. The intruder doesn’t seem to notice his approach and Obi-Wan briefly wonders if their large, thick hood muffles the sound of his footsteps. Obi-Wan dearly hopes so as he steps up behind them.
Obi-Wan swings the frying pan as hard as he can, hitting the intruder on the head, and when they drop he lets his arms fall. He kneels and rolls the person over onto their back and is surprised to find it’s a lady that broke into his tower. And she’s utterly beautiful. Pale skin, long lashes, beautiful blonde hair tied up in a short ponytail. To be fair he hasn’t seen that many people in his life, but she still has to be the most beautiful woman on the planet.
Obi-Wan shakes the thought from his mind. She still broke into the tower, no matter how beautiful she is, and he’ll have to find some way to restrain her. The thought doesn’t sit well with him. He knows this is what Father would want him to do, had trained him to do in case of an intruder. Well, not exactly. Father would’ve rather him used magic than a frying pan, but...well, training and the actual thing are very different. But the intruder is unconscious now and doesn’t pose a threat, so Obi-Wan’s at least done that right. But he really doesn’t want to leave her at the mercy of Palpatine’s clutches. He’ll harm her without a second thought.
Maybe if Obi-Wan wakes her he can see why she broke in, and if it's innocent enough, then he can let her go. Obi-Wan thinks he’s letting his attraction for the woman blind him to the danger, but he doesn’t care all that much. If there’s a chance she’s nice, then...well…
Obi-Wan still ties her to a chair though, binding her hands to the armrests and her legs to the legs of the chair. If she’s not a danger, he’ll let her go free.
Obi-Wan glances at Pascal behind him. Pascal is in the prime position to be hit by the sunlight from the skylight and from the eastern facing window, but it also puts her in full view of the intruder. Obi-Wan lifts her pot and moves her behind the curtain. It’s obvious there’s something hidden behind the current but not obvious that it's a large flowering plant.
“I’ll get you back into the sunlight soon, Pascal,” Obi-Wan assures her.
Obi-Wan walks back over to stand in front of the intruder. He turns to the door where they entered the tower. The bad thing about all the stone is that it muffles the sound of footsteps on the steps leading up to the main tower floor. Obi-Wan learned quickly that it was better to be completely sure that Palpatine wouldn’t be around before he even tried to do anything that might be frowned upon.
Obi-Wan sees the satchel on the floor and moves over to it. It’s not his or Father’s so it must be the intruder’s. Obi-Wan picks it and up, and it’s heavy. He opens the front flap and is shocked to find a jewel-studded crown inside. It is a crown fit for a prince. The intruder is definitely not dressed in the finery of royalty, with her scuffed boots, simple black pants, and dirty and ripped white shirt with a patched-up navy blue vest. So how did she get her hands on a royal crown?
There’s a groan from her, and Obi-Wan flicks his wrist and sends the satchel and crown spinning up into the air and into his bedroom. He’s almost positive they land under the bed. He’s done this trick enough times to be relatively sure
He turns back around to see her turning her head from side to side, blonde hair catching the rays of the light and Obi-Wan’s eye.
He moves to face her. Her eyes narrow in on him even as she raises one brow.
“Who are you, and how did you find this tower?” Obi-Wan demands.
“I know nothing about you or this tower. Simple happenstance.” Her voice is smooth and soft, flowing out of her like water down a river, washing over Obi-Wan in a way that makes his knees weak, his palms clammy.
Obi-Wan scoffs in an effort to reboot his brain.
“Who else knows you’re here?” he asks, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Alright, Rusty–”
Obi-Wan bristles at the nickname. “Obi-Wan.”
“Satine. Alright, so I was in a bit of a situation, gallivanting through the forest when I came across your tower and–wait where’s my satchel?” she looks around, on the edge of frantic.
“It’s hidden. Somewhere where you’ll never find it,” Obi-Wan says, a touch of pride in his voice.
She frowns at him.
“Now why are you here? What do you want with this tower?”
“The only thing I want with it is to leave it. Just give me my satchel, and I’ll be on my way.” Obi-Wan is almost inclined to believe her. He feels within as if she’s telling the truth, but he shouldn’t trust the first person he meets, should he?
“So you haven’t heard about any flowering plants from anyone? No reason that you’d chose this tower to break into?”
“Flowers? No.” Her brow furrows before she shakes her head slightly. “Look, I was being pursued. I saw the tower, looking dark, scary, and abandoned, and decided to hide here. Clearly a mistake.”
“Pursued?” Obi-Wan asks, the pieces falling into place. “So that’s why the crown in the satchel is so important to you.”
“It’s a valuable family heirloom.”
Obi-Wan doesn’t believe that for a second.
“And I want it back. It belongs to me.” Satine glares at him, her eyes icy blue. Obi-Wan wonders if that’s what a glacier would look like. He’s read about them but never seen one. He’s seen frost before, and that’s similar to the look in her eye, but it's just not large enough a thing to describe the emotion in her eyes.
“I think we both know it’s not your crown,” Obi-Wan says as he thinks about how best to take advantage of this situation. If Father ever found out that someone broke into the tower, he’d be furious. And he had a sense of knowing when Obi-Wan was lying. So lying to him was out of the question. But so was remaining in this quiet tower for one more day. He ached to experience life. Not just the walls he could paint with his eyes closed. And Satine is his chance to get away. At least for the next few days. “But I will return it. If you help me with something.”
“What do you want?” She eyes him with caution.
“You’re a thief, so that means you must be capable of getting in and out of places quickly.”
“I am not a thief,” she denies.
Obi-Wan chooses not to engage in a back and forth dialogue when he knows she is a thief.
“Right. So you know the city well. Well enough to take me there for three days and bring me back here before nightfall on the third day.”
“What do you want to do in the city?”
“Experience things.”
Satine studies him for a moment. “I can get in and out of the city without being noticed, but I don’t partake of the frivolous activities there. And I can’t with you either. I’d get caught by the palace guards.”
“For stealing their crown, right. I understand. So we stay out of the light of watching eyes. I want that too.” Palpatine has spies everywhere. It’d be better for him not to learn that Obi-Wan left the tower. And left Pascal alone. But she would be fine. She’s hearty and strong. “And don’t worry, having fun isn’t on your list of things to do to get your crown back. You can be as grumpy as you like.”
“I am not grumpy.”
“Crotechty then.”
“I am neither. I am a very well-tempered woman.” Satine was many wonderful things. Beautiful, the voice of an angel, eyes to get lost in, clearly smart and clever. But she was not well-tempered.
“I’ll believe that when I see it. So, do we have a deal?”
Satine’s frown is a scary thing to behold, not scarier than Palpatine, but still not pleasant. it makes Obi-Wan feel as if he’s ruined a batch of blueberry muffins. “And what makes you think that I won’t be able to find my satchel without your help?”
Obi-Wan grows serious and steps forward, leaning into her personal space. “You can tear this tower apart brick by brick, but if I want that crown to disappear for good, it will.”
Satine stares at him a moment as if determining his seriousness. “So if I take you to the city, let you run around for a few days, and bring you back here, without alerting any royal guards, you’ll give me back the crown?”
“I promise.”
Satine raises a brow.
“I don’t break my promises, milady.”
Satine raises a brow. “Well, it seems you leave me no choice. Here comes the smolder.” Her eyes take on a flinty look, something burning within them as she shifts her expression into something more inviting, intriguing, mesmerizing.
Obi-Wan can only stare at her, not quite remembering what exactly is going on.
Satine scoffs, her breath puffing across Obi-Wan’s cheek as she turns her head. Obi-Wan steps back, not realizing quite how close he’d been standing to her. Something about her just pulls him into her orbit.
“Fine. We have a deal.”
***
Obi-Wan sighs when he sees the damage Satine did as she entered the tower. He’ll have to repair that with magic when he returns. But the moment he steps foot outside the tower all of that worry disappears. He’s seen all of this before, only twice was he allowed to roam around outside the tower, and it hadn’t really been roaming. Palpatine held his hand the whole way in a tight grip. That was the little taste of freedom Obi-Wan had known. But this? This is so different. The breath in his lungs feels clean and fresh. The birds are chirping. The sun is shining. The creek is babbling.
It’s like nothing Obi-Wan’s ever felt. He kneels to touch the grass with his bare hand. He aches to take off his boots and run free across the grass, but there’s really not the time for that. and he’s already done that once in his life. He can live with once. He wants to experience things he’s never done before.
Obi-Wan stands and sees that Satine is waiting for him at the edge of the clearing in which the tower is located. He makes his way over to her side. There’s a confused expression on her face that she wipes away the moment their eyes meet.
“Follow me, Rusty.”
“My name is Obi-Wan.”
Satine shrugs and steps through the seeming wall of leaves and bramble. Obi-Wan follows, a nervous energy filling him. He draws from within on the magic that is always able to calm him. He can do this. He’ll be back by nightfall in three days' time. Palpatine won’t return for five days. He can do this.
Obi-Wan steps through the leaves to find a wide-open forest and freedom singing in his veins. He’s deliriously happy and can’t help the laughter that bubbles out of him. He’s helpless to stop it as he stares in wonder at the world in front of him. He itches to explore it all, to know it all. There’s so much to see in just this small part of the forest, and he walks forward, touching each tree and plant he comes across, the magic within him connecting with the plants. Plants and magic share a natural connection, and Obi-Wan wonders how he’ll be able to resist this, knowing there is so much right outside his tower.
He spins around and takes in the forest canopy and the sliver of blue sky, and he fears he’s just made the greatest mistake of his life. He closes his eyes as he breathes in. Palpatine will be furious. But Obi-Wan knows he can never let this go. He opens his eyes to find Satine staring at him. Her eyes are a different shade of blue than the sky, different than the navy of her vest. She stands out against the green of the forest as an unexpected beacon of hope, and he knows he’d follow her to the ends of the earth.
So in the end, there’s only one conclusion. Father can never find out about this excursion and especially not about Satine. And Obi-Wan will live these three days to his fullest, as if they are his last.