FROM THE ASHES, obi-wan kenobi ✔

CHAPTER EIGHT

"Did they cause you any harm?" Obi-Wan asked as he turned to face her. Phoenix nodded and gestured to her neck but didn't really give him any more detail. He nodded and took her word, looking over the room before walking back out of the study. Phoenix allowed him and followed him, "Have you got a Senate meeting to attend?" He asked and Phoenix nodded, "I will accompany you there and stand guard," He said. Phoenix looked at him almost in disbelief before she took a deep breath and rubbed her face with her hands.

"Why you?" Phoenix asked, the question had been running through her head since he walked in. She grabbed her holopad filled with her speeches for the day before she walked towards the door. Obi-Wan was already standing waiting for her and he glanced back. His eyebrows furrowed together. Clearly he was not understanding her question so she gestured to him, "Why are you here, Obi-Wan? Of all the Jedis. Why, you?" She attempted to emphasise her point with waving hands but he only seemed to be more confused.

"Senator Vanda, I was asked by Chancellor Palpatine. There is no other motive here. I am doing my duty to the Senate. Do not take my acceptance as something else," Obi-Wan said, his voice quieter than normal. It was as if he wanted to hide what had happened between them all those years ago. It infuriated her. He had grown older since they had last spoken, grown a beard even. It looked good on him but her observations of him changed nothing. He was still the diplomatic Jedi that broke her heart and now he was here. In front of her again and trying to hide what they had as if it held any significance now.

"I did not take your acceptance as anything else! I'm engaged. I simply wondered why it was you that was chosen. Considering our history but clearly, I see that it was a mistake to ask. Shall we leave?" She opened the door and quickly ushered him out of the room. She just shouldn't have said anything. She should have been quiet and diplomatic. That's what she should have been. There was no other motive here and she was kidding herself if she thought otherwise.

No matter what her feelings are, he was only her protector and there was nothing they could change now. She was a damsel and he was her knight in shining armour even if she would rather him not be.

-

Phoenix's debates in the Senate had gone better than any previous day. Though that was likely because she was trying not to be distracted by Obi-Wan's presence. He had been hovering around her all day and now that the evening had long since set in. Phoenix was just trying to forget about him. She didn't want to admit it to herself but she knew she was still madly in love with him.

But she couldn't be. She just couldn't. He left her all those years ago and told her that they could never be an item. He told her that she needed to get over him. She was the one that was left in the dust and she had no right to try and bring him back down. Break the Code for her. He'd already said that he didn't want her so she just had to accept that. Even if even so many years on, she found that difficult to grapple with.

Not to mention, Phoenix had a fiance now and she knew she had to love him. Not that she believed that she loved him. Obi-Wan had only confused her feelings further. He may have been in her memories all the time but that wasn't anything that affected her love for Jax in real-time. Remembering him and the version of him in her memories helped her work out how she felt. But the fact that he was here, right in front of her, always around her. That made her confused and almost sure that she didn't love Jax despite how much she wanted to.

So, instead of dwelling on that. Instead of talking to Obi-Wan. They walked back to her room together in silence. He was quiet and constantly looking around to confirm her safety and Phoenix kept glancing at him. As much as she tried not to, she was curious. It had been years since she'd seen him.