"Cody! Finally!" Anakin almost cheered in glee when one of his favorite clone troopers emerged from behind dozens of trees.

Obi-Wan and Lyanna both looked up, seeing the five clone troopers walking towards them. The night had fallen, leaving them in almost complete darkness. Anakin had made a fire in the small clearing even though Lyanna had protested fiercely.

"It took some time to find you, General. You've chosen quite the place to hide." Cody smiled as he took off his helmet. He then looked at Lyanna who was a few feet away from them, just outside their hearing range.

"That's quite the prisoner you have there." Cody frowned as he looked at the several cuts and bruises on her skin. With her fiery red hair, high cheekbones and her prominent jawline, she still looked quite fierce. Her dark blue eyes made her face look much softer though, along with the freckles on her nose and the area around it.

"Don't let her looks deceive you, Cody, she's a she-devil." Anakin chuckled and watched as Obi-Wan walked towards them.

"I can confirm that." Another clone trooper spoke up and took off his helmet. Upon seeing the tattoo on his face, Anakin discovered that it was Fives. "She's the one that knocked me out by throwing me against a wall."

"You got knocked out by a woman?" Another trooper laughed at him.

"The rebels have proven themselves to be much more powerful than we expected." Cody admitted and looked at the two jedi. "We've lost a lot of good troopers during the siege."

"How? They didn't seem vigilant when we were there." Obi-Wan frowned as they all sat down in a circle around the fire, a few feet away from Lyanna.

"Because it was at the last moment that they attacked. When we entered the throne room, they blew up the whole building. More than 65 troopers were buried alive." Cody told them, a pained expression appearing on his face.

"That's more than we can handle right now." Obi-Wan sighed deeply, rubbing his fingers against the bridge of his nose. He hated losing troopers, let alone so many at once. He always saw them as equals, unlike some senators who saw them as merely pawns that could be sent to death.

"Damned rebels." Anakin cursed loudly and stood up abruptly, pacing in front of them and trying to contain his anger.

"What are you planning with her?" Cody nodded at Lyanna who was just sitting there, staring at the moss in front of her. Anakin had bound her to a tree, ensuring that she won't escape.

"I wanted to extract some information but... It's not working with her." Obi-wan said.

"You think she knows the location of the weapon?" Cody asked.

"Oh, I'm sure she does." Obi-Wan chuckled. "She's just too damn stubborn."

"Well, another try won't hurt." Anakin, who was still in somewhat of a fury walked towards Lyanna with big steps. With his enormous height and the scar on his face, Anakin didn't look very friendly.

"Anakin, stop!" Obi-Wan protested and chased after him.

"We've lost 65 men, Obi-Wan, I'm not going to lose more!" Anakin snapped. Lyanna noticed the commotion, sitting upright immediately and watching Anakin's every step as her legs pushed her body against the tree.

"Anakin-" obi-Wan sighed. He knew his friend was right, but he didn't like hurting or scaring prisoners for information. Especially not when it was a woman whom he wasn't sure was guilty.

"This is the last time I'm going to ask nicely." Anakin stood right before her, glaring down at her small figure. "Where did you hide the weapon?!"

"As I said before, I don't know what you're talking about." Her eyes shot back and forth between Anakin's furious eyes and Obi-Wan's who seemed guilty. Her heart was beating rapidly, having noticed the change in Anakin's behavior.

Anakin growled, ripped the ropes from her body using the force and then lifted her up with it, pushing her back against the trunk of the tree and holding her up in the air.

"Anakin!" Obi-Wan warned him. It was because he knew that Anakin wasn't choking her or hurting her in any way that he didn't intervene. But he was very close to.

"Last. Time." Anakin narrowed his eyes while holding her there.

"My answer is the same." Lyanna said through her knitted teeth.

"You killed 65 of my men." Anakin growled as he stepped closer to her, pushing on her chest even harder to the point where it nearly hurt. "Don't think I won't kill you."

"That wasn't me!" Lyanna yelled in frustration. She then closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath to calm herself. "Look, jedi." She started. "I have no idea whatever weapon you're talking about. We were a peaceful, ordinary folk, minding our own goddamn business that had no reason to start a war until you decided to show up and storm our city!"

She struggled against the invisible force that was holding her up while Obi-Wan and Anakin exchanged confused glances. She kicked and thrashed to no avail.

"Then why did you fight back, huh?" Anakin raised one eyebrow.

"We were only trying to save our people! All we did was evacuate the city until you two started to bombard the place!"

Anakin's frown turned even deeper as he tried to look for any sign of deceivement in her eyes.

"If that is true, why did your people kill our men?" Obi-Wan stepped forward with one arm wrapped around his chest and the other's elbow leaning on that with his hand stroking his beard.

"If it wasn't because you were shooting at them, I don't know." Lyanna said. She felt the force holding her up subsiding slowly, her feet touching the ground ever so slightly. She tried to catch her breath by bowing over and then looked up at Anakin.

"Are you done?"

Anakin looked behind him at Obi-Wan, trying to see if he had any explanation. "Could you in any way arrange a meeting between us and your king?" Obi-Wan walked up to her after a few moments, stopping right next to his fellow jedi.

Lyanna looked up at Obi-Wan with her eyebrows raised. "Are you crazy?" She laughed. "You just laid siege to our city, probably killing dozens and wounding more, kidnapped the king's daughter and now you want to negotiate?" She scoffed. "I knew you weren't very intelligent, but this takes it to a whole other level."

"Ha!" Anakin pointed at her. "So you are the princess!" While Lyanna groaned and mentally face palmed herself, Obi-Wan and Anakin exchanged meaningful glances. "Congratulations, feathers." Anakin knelt down in front of her and put his hand on her shoulder, smiling broadly. "You just gave us a reason not to kill you."

~

Lyanna's POV

The men were laughing and sharing some army rations around the fire as I was strapped to some tree a few feet away. I could hear my own stomach growl and protest over their chatter.

"Bloody hell." I cursed as I struggled against the ropes that held me tightly in place, almost to the point where it hurt. That Anakin guy surely hated me after what had happened, I had no doubt about that.

While trying to blow away a lock of hair that was hanging before my eyes, my body shivered in the cold of the night. Valeria is a tropical planet but during the dark the temperature dropped dramatically. I refused to ask for any cloak or clothing though.

I heard the twigs and the moss crack beneath his feet as Obi-guy made his way towards me. Avoiding his gaze, I kept my eyes locked on a white flower in front of me as he sat down right beside me.

"Here." In the corner of my vision I could see that he was trying to hand me some of the army rations his trooper had brought with him.

"You need to eat, we will be staying here until the morning." Obi-Wan pressed on, practically shoving what seemed like a cracker in my face. "You can't hold out a whole day without eating anything."

After I made no movement whatsoever Obi-Wan sighed deeply and plumbed back down, following my gaze to the fire. "I'm sorry about Anakin." I could feel his gaze burning on the side of my face. "He tends to get a bit protective over his troopers."

"Why are you apologizing to me?" I turned to him abruptly. His eyes widened slightly as I took in his appearance. Thrown back blonde hair, a beard that was long but also well-taken care off. Normally I'd prefer men with stubbles but I must say that this definitely wasn't bad. Together with his kind, blue eyes and his well-built figure he surely wasn't hard to look at.

Shaking those thoughts from my head, telling myself that he was my captor, I bit my lip and narrowed my eyes at him. "I'm your prisoner, your enemy."

Obi-Wan frowned as he scanned my dark blue eyes. "Oh, I'm not sure if you are."

I scoffed, letting my eyes wander back to the fire. "A jedi having second thoughts? The world must be ending."

"Oh, I'm sure it is." He chuckled and crossed his arms before his chest. He then remained silent but continued to scan my face. "Tell me, why did you try to save those people? You're a princess, surely you could arrange an escort for yourself to leave the city safely."

"Because I'm the valkyrie." I turned my head towards him.

"I'm sorry, you're what?" He chuckled and raised his eyebrows.

"It's what my people call me. It practically translates to 'savior of the wounded and protector of the innocent' in my language." Obi-Wan still seemed confused. Rolling my eyes and sighing deeply I continued. "It's some sort of medic."

"Right." He smirked as his fingers traced his beard, still staring at my face like I was someone special.

"Honestly, Jedi, I thought you'd know more."

"Well, I have always been rather fascinated by exotic cultures. Only I haven't heard of this planet before, let alone of its inhabitants." He explained as his eyes glided over the nature around him.

"It's too bad you've come to destroy us then." My eyes darkened immediately, remembering that I'm supposed to hate the guy.

"Yes, well..." He stood up, taking off his dark brown cloak while kneeling down before me. "If tomorrow doesn't bring any proof that you and your people are innocent," he laid down his cloak around my shoulders as I shivered under his touch.

His eyes then suddenly looked right into mine while his face was just a few inches from mine. I could see the green spots in his otherwise blue eyes as his hand remained on my shoulder, spreading warmth through my whole body.

"I'm afraid I'd have to carry out my mission." He finished. He stepped away a bit, his hand going inside his pocket and taking out a few keys. He grasped my hands and took off the metal shackles that Anakin had placed on me.

"But for now you need to eat." He threw away the shackles into the bushes and placed a few crackers, a piece of an apple and a bottle of water on my lap. He again caught my eyes with his and smiled.

"Goodnight, princess."