Author: Ellie     dnacloned@scientist.com

Timeline: Sequel to Goodbye, somewhere in the time before the Clone Wars, I

play with the time and events a little so don’t be surprised if something is

a little out of place.

Genre: Drama, ABH, almost AU

Archive: Generalsgrrls, Sith Chicks

Disclaimer: George owns Obi and most everything else, I own the chick and

the cat. I make no money.

Summary: Obi-Wan is out of her life, but will their paths unwillingly cross

again?

**This quickly turned into a huge story in my head, but each part has a

different feel so rather than have this be a work in progress, each will

stand alone. So…expect a sequel.**

Time, it has a way of healing. She never would have believed it, but that

is what it had done. She tried hard not to forget. His touch, his scent,

the way his voice lilted when he said her full name. But memories faded,

they were designed that way, and it was for the best. Jai-Tiel grieved his

death. That is what it had been to her. Obi-Wan Kenobi no longer existed

in her mind, in her world. She tried hard to hold on to his memory but in

her trade you had to learn how to cut your losses and move on. Oh, she’d

cried. She wept for weeks till she was incapable of forming tears anymore.

Jai felt their bond flicker and almost disappear, but when she probed for

it, she still felt it there even now. The mental and physical anguish she’d

felt as it drifted farther and farther away and weaken was almost enough to

drive her to take her own life, she’d dare not sever the remaining ties, for

fear of what effect it might have on her sanity. Leaving the remnants in

the back of her soul was a comforting feeling.

The woman she was now was twice as strong of a year ago. She’d mourned him

but she’d moved on. She did not blubber and sob as all the other women

did-the courtiers she saw outside the Senate; fools who had no original

thought of their own.

Jai had taken on a new fire for her smuggling trade. She’d always taken it

half-heartedly before. Content with the small amount of credits it provided

and the time it allowed for her and Obi-Wan to be together, she’d never

really put much effort into it. She tackled it full force now. She’d never

held much love for what the Old Republic was becoming but tried her best to

stay out of political matters. She’d seen what the Senate was like and she

cared nothing for Chancellor Palpatine or the bureaucrats. She took care of

one person and she didn’t intend to trifle with anyone else or their

crusades for power.

Jai-Tiel stared out the viewport at the stars of hyperspace streaking past,

mulling all of these things over in her head. A small felinx shifted lazily

in her lap. She stroked her pitch-black fur eliciting a content purr.

Jai-Tiel smiled to herself at the easy happiness of the creature. Few

beings ever knew such simple pleasure in life. She almost envied the little

animal. The warning bells rang, and Jai prepared to come out of hyperspace.

She was glad this particular job took her far from the core worlds. The

rumors she’d been hearing were that Palpatine was assuming more and more

power, and things were beginning to get more than tense on Coruscant. There

were worlds and factions attempting to break off from the Old Republic,

which in turn seemed terribly close to completely falling apart.

She set the little felinx languidly into the co-pilot’s chair and chuckled

to herself as she realized the felinx might as well have been such, since

she was the only creature to get use out of that chair. She pulled the

levers back and the stars once again steadied themselves into bright specks

all around her.

But Jai didn’t see what she’d expected at all. Dantooine was in the Outer

Rim and not susceptible to large crowds of anyone, yet she stared out the

viewport, and there sat a whole battle fleet. She quickly veered her

flightpath and tried to blend in, if you could call it that. She set her

coordinates for her rendezvous and prayed they wouldn’t take notice.

The comm unit beeped.

“Shit,” she said aloud. No such luck, they were hailing her.

“Shuttle ‘Tiel’s Star’, what is your cargo and destination?”

“I’ve got supplies for the farming camp, it’s on their logs.” She waited.

She didn’t know who these people were but she hoped they didn’t pry much

further. Truth was she didn’t know what was in her cargo. She’d asked a

mighty price to carry a shipment of something she couldn’t even know about.

And she’d gotten her money: half up front, half on delivery. She planned on

making that delivery on time and intact.

“All right, you’re clear. Proceed on your current trajectory.” Jai

breathed a sigh of relief and the felinx yawned, apparently unimpressed with

the whole situation. She wasn’t sure what these people were doing here and

what pawn she had been played as, but somewhere in her gut she felt it had

something to do with Coruscant and one man’s hunger for power over the whole

galaxy. And somehow she’d just become part of it.

*********