Chapter Eighty-One

                                    

                                          
I ended the transmission when Anatoli shortly after I landed. Me and R7 made our way through the empty streets. While the streets were quiet, the area near the council chambers weren't nearly as calm. 
There was a clear divide in a large crowd shouting outside of the chambers. The Jakku guards, dressed in their sand colored armor, that not only covered their faces but any defining features, blocked off the stairs. Clones were also stationed by the doors. I approached the stairs, gaining screams of praise and both disdain. 
"General." A clone who recognized me nodded, and opened the chambers doors. 
I thanked him as he held the door open for me and R7. Anatoli who had been pacing around in the dimly lit hallway noticed me. "R2 and I contacted Master Kenobi, he's sending a fleet now." R2 rolled from behind Anatoli and beeped at me, disapprovingly.
"No, he's not my droid." I patted R7's head. "You jealous?" I smirked, R2 beeped, not having my— I'd rather not say. The double doors in-front Jado's office swung open. 
Padmé was speaking with Mothma, and Jado was bidding fair well to the Vice Chairman. Jado's sullen face brightened once we locked eyes with each-other. "How did it go?" I asked him.
"It's all clear." He smiled. "I'm glad you're okay, I was worried." We walked under some scaffolds where the rest of the hallway was still under construction. "We got a transmission from General Kenobi. He said you managed to destroy the hyperdrive?" I nodded, and explained what happened at the war ship. I also instructed Anatoli to escort Padmé through the less than content crowds. Me and Jado walked into his personal office. "Would you like a drink?" He leaned against his desk, ushering me to sit down.
"Neither of us are old enough." I replied. 
"Sometimes I forget how young we are." He laughed, "And this is just berry juice." He poured me a glass. "Credits go elsewhere here."
"I see." I replied. "You never told me what you were going to say on the ship."
"Like I said, I thought we were alone.."
"We are now. Were you going to ask me something?" He shook his head in response.
"It's dumb, I don't even know what I was really gonna say anyway." He crossed his arms and looked me up and down. "I'm sorry, that you had to take a blast for me. I never really got to tell you. I'm thankful for you." 
"I've taken worst for less." I joked.
"Im serious. I'm truly thankful for you, you keep me going, you know?" 
"I wouldn't give myself all the credit..." I laughed nervously. I stiffened my posture, trying to reset to a neutral, and professional demeanor.
"Whenever, well most of the time, when the work load gets too much, or when I feel like I'm failing I think of you, Liyah." He said more like a confession than a statement. "And then I ask myself 'what would Liyah do', and then I realize you'd keep going, you'd do what's best for others, and I love that about you. No, I love you." His words seemed to have lingered in the air. No one has ever said they loved me, in that way at-least.
"I...I don't know what to say." As a Jedi we were encouraged to love all things equally, but his feelings of love were possessive, attached, but what were mine?
"You don't have to say anything." He moved my hair behind my ear, bringing back a familiar sense of something I couldn't place my finger on. "Or...you could tell me how you feel." His hand rested on my cheek as he looked down at me with his green eyes.
After collecting myself, I caught his hand and gently placed his hand down. "I'm sorry...I can't. Attachment is forbidden." 
"But if it wasn't?"