((little snippet of a scene since I play both Ke'rii and Alara. Needed to put this somewhere xD))
”Doubt”
Alara woke when she heard the door shut with a quiet swoosh. Her eyes barely focused in the dim light of their room, but she knew he was up again. It was that time where he just couldn't sleep… or as he tended to say:
couldn't shake a feeling.And neither could she for that matter.
Maybe everyone had the Force in them. Or maybe they were just that connected that she could feel when something was bothering him.
Lazily, Alara sat up and found her robe at the foot of the bed and pulled it over her bare body as she went to the door. A cool breeze blew over her as she hovered in the door frame and saw him standing out on the balcony. He looked to be in deep thought, or perhaps he had picked up on mediation, or some other thing that was common for Jedi and other Force users.
She shivered, and began to turn back into their room. Tatooine was known for its dry lands and intense heat. But night was different. Night was colder, the sky glittered with a million stars. There was no other place in the galaxy that compared. There was no overpopulation. Life was hard, but it had its moments of ease. Desolate, yet tranquil.
“You're not bothering me,” Ke'rii said, his voice even and calm. He looked over his shoulder, and met her eyes as she turned back to him.
“I wasn't sure if you were doing some mystical Force thing,” Lara said.
Ke looked back towards the Dune Sea and shook his head. “No, no mystical Force thing,” he assured her.
“But something is keeping you up,” she said, coming out to him. There were a hundred things that could be keeping him up. It was a matter of whether or not he wanted to talk about any of them, “Want to talk about it?”
Ke was silent as he wrapped his lover in his arms. He contemplated his response, not sure where to begin.
Should he even begin? he wondered, kissing Lara on the top of her head.
“I'm ruining people's lives,” he said simple, yet vague.
“How so?” she didn't agree.
“I promised Keiko a good life.”
“And you've done that.”
Ke shook his head. “For the first time she has a…
friend... that she didn't put together with spare parts and who she actually liked and he's not an Imperial citizen.”
“I'm not an Imperial citizen,” she reminded him, her voice soft. The issue a regular argument between them, but not tonight.
“He was with the Jedi. She's been going places the Empire really wouldn't want her to go unless she was spying for them, which she's not. I mean, what Imperial citizen goes to Tython to sit in on a Jedi lecture and
not report back to the Ministry of Intelligence?” Ke sighed. “I'm just worried it might be seen as treasonous.”
Alara understood where he was coming from. “And what of you? We service Republic and Imperial alike at the Lounge. Not to mention what were building now.” she looked up at him, “Oasis Industries has been running transport for the Republic. Not exactly running military cargo, but… still aiding the Republic citizens in some way.”
His gaze was fixed on the sandy sea. “I know,” he acknowledged. He knew everything he was doing was a risk. “But this is Keiko. She deserves a chance at life. A chance at happiness.”
“But she wants to be in the Imperial Navy,” she said. “She wants to be just like you… well,” she grinned. “
almost like you. She'll make better first and second impressions.” she watched him, waiting to see if his expression would crack. But it did not. “We want what is best for her, right? What will make her happy?”
Ke nodded. “And what if that isn't in the Empire?” he said this as if he already knew. “You know, it's a lot harder to defect from the Empire. I mean, I think the Republic would take her back. Her citizenship was merely because of me and my affiliation. She's got a clean record, but I…”
“... don't,” she finished where his thought was going.
He merely tilted his head. “I can't go back, and I certainly can't leave. Not without having to live on the run. There's not an authoritative entity out there that would offer me protection.”
Alara wished he were wrong.
“I'm just that good at severing ties,” he added glumly.
“There might be an option, but I won't even suggest it because you won't do it,” Alara said, and wrapped her arms tighter around his waist.
“What is it?”
“Trade secrets. Buy immunity with information,” she felt him shaking his head. “Its only one way, not
the way.”
“I couldn't do that. I couldn't do that to Mei and Kaatulf,” he was firm about this.
“There are other ways,” she said, hesitant.
Ke rested his chin on her head. “Like.... I don't know… we could get married?” he suggested, anticipating the usual rejected response. But this time she was quiet. He felt her embrace tighten on him.
“Maybe,” she mumbled quietly.
Ke let the silence grow comfortable between them. A small, somewhat lopsided smile had finally cracked his expression. He had proposed a thousand times, and each time she had told him ‘no'.
“You really want be married to a guy with so much instability?” he joked.
“Maybe,” she answered again.
He chuckled. “We’d have to do it quick before I go back and report to duty,” he doubted she was serious. “You know, elope to Nar Shaddaa or something.”
“And you’d wear the dress,” she added, holding her smile as she joked with him.
“You think I'd be pretty in a dress?” he looked down at her, amused.
Lara shook her head. “Nah, you’d look awful, but it would be a good disguise if we just ran away. Don't think anyone would be looking for Ke'rii Ogasawara in a flowery wedding dress.”
“It's flowery now?” he raised a brow. “I thought it’d be lacey.”
Lara beamed up at him. “You’d have to be gaudy. It's the only way to draw attention away from your face.”
Ke chuckled again. “You have this all planned out, don't you?”
She sighed quietly and rested her head back in his chest. She gazed out at the endless Dune Sea, which seemed so full of possibility. “Don't go,” she asked of him.
For the first time, he felt his duty and honor falter to his heart… and he wasn't sure what to do.
