Never Hide Your Heart
What I'm lookin' for
Location: Coruscant - Kat's New Apartment
Objective: "As You Wish" - The Princess Bride
Tags:
Dean Walker
The rain hadn't let up in hours. Thick sheets of water blurred the Coruscanti skyline, a glistening, shimmering haze of speeder lights and neon. Jedi Master Katarine Ryiah stood motionless on the balcony of her new apartment—her first space away from the Temple, away from the Order. A place of her own. Strange how it felt more like exile than independence.
A single box sat inside the doorway behind her, modest and solitary just like her. Years of Jedi discipline meant she owned little, needed less. She had been raised in an era when Jedi slept in shared quarters and carried nothing but their robes and sabers. But times had changed, and now so had she. The Galactic Alliance wanted her. Not as a Jedi, but as part of their police organization—an elite task force within the strategic intelligence agency. It was a prestigious offer, one that meant stepping away from the Jedi Order entirely. That alone should have made the decision easy.
But it wasn't.
Katarine's hands gripped the cold railing, knuckles white, rain cascading down her arms, soaking through the thin fabric of her white tank top and clinging to the sleek lines of her black pants. Her soaked hair—chestnut brown streaked with silver from her time in freeze hung heavy around her face. Her green eyes were closed, face tilted slightly downward as if trying to feel the Force through the storm. This was more than a career shift. It was an identity crisis. The Alliance meant working side by side with Dean Walker. Her partner on the Black Marsh investigation. Her friend. Her anchor. Her forbidden temptation. As a Jedi, her feelings for him had always been a line she refused to cross. But if she wasn't a Jedi anymore...
Her heart pounded. Her stomach twisted. She had texted him the address.
Can you meet me?
Simple. Vague. But enough.
Now she waited. Waited for Dean. Waited for clarity. Waited to know if she'd just thrown her life away... or finally taken a step toward the one she truly wanted.
The rain masked her tears. Or maybe there were none left to cry.
Was this who she was now?
Was she allowed to want more?
And would Dean even come?