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Cody didn’t take long to decide that she didn’t like the planet Mandalore.Four hours after landing on the planet, one hour after escaping the royal entourage, twenty minutes of wandering through the leisure district—and she still hadn’t found a decent place to drink. The crowds that flooded the streets were both welcome and deeply annoying. The cover was nice, but she had been elbowed a few too many times and her mood was dark enough as it was. If her control snapped and she got into an actual fight, she shuddered to think of the headlines.Above her, a police craft rattled the sky with sirens, and she flinched. It swept harmlessly over her, but she didn’t want to take any chances. She gave up on deciding and slipped through the crowd, entering the nearest bar.Lights flashed and swung over the crowd. The music was both extremely loud and very muffled, and all she could make out was the thump and bounce of the bass. It overwhelmed her, but it didn’t feel like enough. Coherent thoughts were still traveling through her head.“Two shots of Dalamore,” Cody said, dropping credits onto the sticky counter. A glass of deep brown alcohol slid towards her and she picked it up and downed it.“A toast!” Someone shouted, almost lost over the music. “To Prince Satine, on his happy engagement!”Cody lowered the glass from her lips, scowling. At least she’d drunk quickly enough to avoid being implicated in the toast. The alcohol burned a trail down her chest and she had half a mind to order the whole bottle to ensure she got drunk, but only ordered another of the same. Armed with her new glass, she elbowed her way away from the bar and towards the dance floor.Above the dance floor, like a bad omen, was a holographic image of the current ruler of Mandalore. Prince Satine looked like he had been cut from glass: colourless hair, extremely pale and handsome, in a very sanitized way. Even his blue eyes looked like shadows in clear ice.Cody turned on her heel and headed in the opposite direction. The still image of Prince Satine seemed to watch her go, although if he felt any way about it, Cody had no idea. Those blue eyes betrayed nothing.Somehow, she found herself crowded into the back booths, near the smoking area. The music was even more indistinct here, where the twin speakers weren’t synced and the bass overlapped with itself. Cody swallowed the rest of her drink and balanced her empty glass on the alcove.A hand startled her, slipping over Cody’s shoulders, sliding into warm space between her jacket and the outside of her tanktop. It was a long, pale arm. For some reason, she didn’t react. She only turned to see whose arm it belonged to.Before she could react, Cody was kissed. Chastely. Cold fingers tipped her head back.Finally, her brain sparked together. Cody shoved the person back and they hit the dark wall with a smack.“Shit,” the person, a human woman about Cody’s age, scrambled upwards again. “God, I’m so sorry—I thought you were someone else. Oh my god, I can’t believe I just…” She pushed back a tide of soft hair from her forehead, eyes wide and despairing.Cody stared at her.The woman was tall and had the ungainly nature of a tomcat, broad-shoulders accentuated by her dark shawl. Her reddish-brown hair was soft and lightly curling, with two cowlicks at her hairline. She was, actually, exactly Cody’s type.“You’re not saying anything. Are you alright?” the ginger woman asked, approaching Cody as if she was a wild animal that might bolt. “Do you— is there anything I can do?”Cody reached out and touched the woman’s silky hair. She didn’t react, only watching her with big, blue eyes. Her hair was just as soft as it looked, brushing against the back of Cody’s hands as she put her hand on the back of the woman’s neck. She drew her down.Cody kissed her softly. She opened her mouth and the other woman followed suit. When Cody moved against her, the taller woman let herself be herded back, so that she was pressed flat against the wall.“It’s alright,” Cody said, voice low and eyes half lidded. “Who did you mean to kiss?”“Someone I know,” the woman said.“Pretty good kiss for an acquaintance.”“I like to make a good impression,” the woman said, a note of wryness in her voice that Cody appreciated a lot.Cody narrowed her eyes. “If that’s strangers, I wanna know what your friends get. Or your girlfriend.”Instead of smiling, the woman flinched a little.“What’s wrong?” Cody asked, making a move to step back.The woman pulled Cody against her again. “It’s fine. Sorry. I—I had a relationship. But they’re marrying someone else.”Cody blinked quickly. The drink was making her callous, but she couldn’t help a smile. “Kinda ironic.”“How so?” The woman asked.But Cody just kissed her, and the woman lost interest in the question. She carded her long fingers through Cody’s buzzcut. Cody shifted closer, until the lines of their body were pushed hard together. Every shift of the woman’s body, Cody felt intimately. The woman untucked Cody’s shirt from her belt and slipped her cold hands against hot skin. Cody gagged on air when the woman’s hands dipped into her bra and began to massage her skin, hard.“Koti!” Rex’s voice managed to break above the music. “Koti! Are you here?!”“Shit,” Cody hissed, breaking away.“What is it?” the woman asked, but Cody ignored her.Cody pulled her bra back into place and adjusted her jacket as quickly as she could. She barely finished when Rex appeared. Her little sister was as cute as ever, her blonde hair tumbling like rapids over her leather jacket, bangles dancing as she stretched out her arms.Rex threw her arms around her older sister. “You’re okay! Jeez, we were so worried.”Cody pushed her away, awkwardly aware of the throbbing between her legs and the hardness of her nipples. She was glad that it was dark and her sisters couldn’t see how flustered she was. “Yeah. Thanks for looking for me.”“You know… you don’t have to go so far out if you just wanted a drink,” Ponds said, measuredly. Her sleepy gray eyes looked black in the low light of the bar. “Anyway… Mother wants us at the palace before midnight…”Cody glanced behind her, but the mysterious woman had already disappeared. Damn. No name, and no comm code either. “Sure. Let’s head back.” * “Ah… here comes my prodigal daughter,” Janga Fett said, when she saw her second-eldest daughter finally enter the parlor. The matriarch’s face was beaten and leathered, like a wrinkled brown bag. Heavy, jeweled earrings weighed down her earlobes.Cody tried her best to walk quickly, without hurrying. The enormous deep blue dress she had been sewn into frothed up and down as she marched over. When she reached the table, she pulled the silken folds of her dress upwards to curtsey deeply. The kyber-crystal medallion resting on her chest gleamed prettily.“Excuse my tardiness, Prince Satine,” Cody said, speaking towards the floor.“I shouldn’t expect a repeat of this, my Lord,” Janga said, cooly. “Disobedience isn’t really in your future Lady’s nature.”“Nonsense,” Prince Satine said. His voice was like his complexion—clear and cool. “Princess Kotisava will have every freedom as my wife. I will not berate her for being only ten minutes late.”The response was nice, but Satine wasn’t aware that the comment wasn’t for him. It was a threat, and it was aimed at Cody. Cody tightened her jaw and rose out of her deep curtsey. Her eyes swept over the Prince’s table—and her heart nearly stopped.There, at the Prince’s side, dressed in royal white uniform, was the ginger woman from last night. And by the silently horrified look on the ginger woman’s face, she remembered it too.“Ah,” Prince Satine noticed the stare. “Let me introduce Obi-Wan Kenobi, my head of—”“We’ve met,” Cody said, curtly, straightening up to her full height.“You have? When?” Janga asked, raising a dark eyebrow.“Excuse me,” Kenobi’s voice, much like her Prince’s, was polite, but remote. “I believe the Princess must have mistaken me for someone else.”Cody met her eye for a hard moment. “I must have.”“For Force’s sake, girl,” Janga hissed in a dialect Satine wouldn’t understand. “Sit down.” * “And there I was, with the Jhalak beast cornered, but with only half a sword and no chance to escape since my ship had been destroyed,” Janga said, swinging her arms in a wide arc. “When the pylons began to overheat!”“Wow,” Prince Satine said, unconvincingly.“This caused the electricity to start jumping between the pylons, which only stirred the Jhalak beast up even further,” Janga said. “I could tell he was about to charge me. You’ve got to remember that this beast had horns as long as both my arms, and teeth like a raptor. Serrated all the way down, too. He was pawing the earth, aiming those horns at me like this—” She extended her arms to show the long horns.“How horrifying,” Prince Satine said, taking a sip of his drink.“I was sure this was about to be the last of me,” Janga said. “I thought I had danced my last…”“Excuse me, sir,” Cody said, in the soft voice she always used in royal company. “I need to use the washroom.”Prince Satine snapped out of his polite semi-daydream. “You can’t go alone, there have been too many close calls with safety lately. Kenobi, escort her.”Kenobi nodded stiffly. “Of course, milord.”Cody watched her cautiously, but Kenobi might as well have been cast from stone. She followed after the royal soldier, picking up the front of her dress to climb the marble steps. Her heels rang loudly across the polished stone hallways.Kenobi said nothing. There was a line of tension that ran through her like a taut cord.When they reached the washrooms, Kenobi stood smartly on one side of the door. Cody waited for a moment, but the other woman didn’t move.“Come in with me, sir,” Cody said, touching Kenobi’s elbow. “The washroom would be the perfect place for an ambush, no?”Kenobi relented. Together, they slipped into the empty washroom.Prince Satine had spared no expense. Crisply cut stone pillars broke up the stalls, and the washbowls were beaten bronze. Every mirror gleamed like a knife edge.“I’m sorry,” Kenobi said, suddenly. “I never would have kissed you if I knew you were Princess Kotisava.”“Just Cody is fine,” Cody said. She turned the faucet on and water splashed dazzlingly in the bronze bowl. “Satine is the one you were talking about. The ex who’s getting married.”Kenobi’s tight jaw told Cody that she was right. The soldier took a long time to respond. “That was a long time ago. I will never get in between you two.”“I don’t mind. You can go ahead,” Cody said. She began to wash her hands.“It’s not like I’ll cry over it. He can fuck the whole of Mandalore if he wants to.”“Don’t say that! You hardly know him,” Kenobi said.The defensiveness in the soldier’s tone raised Cody’s eyebrows. She glanced at the other woman.“He’s loyal to you,” Kenobi insisted. “He broke off relations with me as soon as your courtship began eight months ago.”Cody watched the other woman curiously. She shut off the faucet and dabbed wet hands under her chin and down the front of her dress. She hated these thick shift dresses. “I’ll never love him. You can put credits on that.”“I know arranged marriages are hard, Princess,” Kenobi said. “But he’s very clever, and kind and he’s—”“I’m a lesbian,” Cody said.“Oh,” Kenobi said. Her face coloured.Cody led her out of the washroom and back to the parlor. Cody’s face was the picture of elegance, round as a pearl and just as shockingly dark-eyed and mysterious as her mother’s had once been. The Prince didn’t look away from her, even as Kenobi came to sit back beside him. Cody’s arched black eyebrows and sleek, long neck drew Prince Satine’s gaze almost hungrily. * The sky that night before her wedding was a deep maroon. The glass city of Sundari was aglow with crimson light, filtered through the enormous bowl-like dome that stretched miles above them. Traffic glowed like gleaming beetles scurrying through the sky.Cody was drinking on someone else’s credits, and so she was a little pickier with the vintage. The closest she could get to the Alderaanian wine she had grown up on was a Mandalorian vintage made out of fermented, crushed worms. It was surprisingly sweet.Bored and frustrated by conversation, Cody had broken off from her ranks of sisters and drifted onto the observation deck. She could only hope her skills at diplomacy returned at some point—she wouldn’t be a very good Queen if she snapped and snarled at all her advisors.The observation deck was totally empty. She heard the footsteps walking up behind her, but she didn’t bother turning to see who it was.“Good evening, Princess,” Kenobi said. “Sorry, if you were considering taking a dive. There’s an anti-suicide web about ten feet down. A jump ends up being a little more embarrassing than dramatic.”Cody glanced at her. She looked down the railing, at the distant city lights below them. “What about poisoning my wine?” Cody asked, conversationally.“I’m afraid we have the best doctors in the galaxy a floor below us.”“Slitting my wrists?”“With what?” Kenobi asked. She swept her eyes down Cody’s red silk sheath dress. It left little to the imagination—the bulkiest things she had were the large gold bangles which rang around her wrists.Cody leaned forward, putting a hand around the hilt of Kenobi’s rapier, which hung from her belt. “With this?”“It’s just for show,” Kenobi said. “The edges are blunt.”“You’re such a tease,” Cody said, her hand falling away from her hilt.“Can I suggest something, my Lady?”Cody tilted her head. Her earrings glowed softly.“Call off the wedding,” Kenobi said.“...and marry you instead?”“Be serious,” Kenobi shook her head. “It’s not about me. You don’t want to marry him.”“If only it were that simple,” Cody said.“Why isn’t it? You have many sisters.”“That’s exactly why,” Cody said. “The Prince is a stranger to them, too. And, forgive me for saying it, but there have been some terrible rumours about him. I may not be able to change my mother’s mind about linking our clans together, but I can’t subject any of my sisters to that risk in my place.”Kenobi frowned. “I know about the rumours, but they are all false. Satine has many enemies which speak terrible things about him, but he is a good man.”“It’s strange to hear you, of all people, try to convince me to like him,” Cody said.“He is a good man,” Kenobi said. “A kind one. You can trust him.”“Until I become politically inconvenient, in which case, he will cast me aside,” Cody said, leveling her eyes at the other woman.The skin around Kenobi’s eyes went tight. “If you’re trying to hurt me for kissing you, I’ve already apologised.”“I don’t want you to apologise for kissing me,” Cody said. “I want you to apologise for not doing more.”Kenobi pulled in a sharp breath.Cody pressed in closer, the silk of her dress riding up her brown thigh. Hot wine was swimming in her head. “You know him well, don’t you? Did you fuck him?”“I… don’t have to answer that,” Kenobi muttered, without conviction.“You’re right, you don’t,” Cody said. “I can already tell. You know him too well, you’re too sure about him. I want you to show me.”“Show you what?” Kenobi asked, as if Cody had asked her to jump and she was asking how high?“What he’s like, in bed,” Cody murmured. “Whatever he did to you, I want you to do them to me.”Kenobi’s eyes were wide and dark. She looked a little frantic. “God…”Cody kissed her, desperate and hot, like a brand. Kenobi crashed their mouths together, pushing her hard against the railing. Her knee pushed between Cody’s thighs and Cody hissed appreciatively.“This is a terrible idea,” Kenobi informed her. “You’ll lose all respectability and I’ll be executed.”“I won’t let them execute you,” Cody said. “And I never had any respectability.”With eager, cold fingers, Kenobi pushed the silk hem of Cody’s dress up. The expensive material was as sleek as water. Kenobi’s hand pushed down the front of her panties and the shock of the temperature change made her hair stand on end.“I hope you were joking about me doing what he did,” Kenobi said. “I don’t want you to think about Satine.”Cody leaned back, bracing an arm around the railing. She spread her legs and knew all sense of decorum was lost—if someone entered the observation deck now, there was no chance of hiding what they were doing. “I was joking,” Cody agreed, weakly.Kenobi lifted Cody’s thigh so she could rest her leg over the soldier’s shoulder. When Kenobi huffed a laugh, Cody could feel the warm air against the most sensitive part of her. “Good,” Kenobi said.The first kiss on her clit startled her so bad Cody nearly kicked out. She had to tense all of her muscles to keep still while Kenobi worked her mouth, hard, into the soft, wet skin. It was far, far too much, but it wasn’t enough at the same time. An overwhelming sensation filled her, a hot star in her body, living electricity thrumming through her skin.Kenobi buried her face in Cody. She felt the soldier sigh through her nose, tongue lapping hard and regularly. Cody ground against her and Kenobi put a hard hand around her hips, keeping her still. She didn’t even pause in her rhythm.It was awful, terrible. It was torturous. Cody dug her nails into Kenobi’s scalp, the silky hair sliding along the inside of her thighs. Cody’s breath came in loud, gasping pants and she rocked her hips gently. Kenobi’s tongue carved into her, hot and relentless.Cody’s body went tense and her thighs tightened around Kenobi’s head. She came with a grunting shudder.Kenobi continued to lick at her, softer now, until Cody’s thighs released her. Kenobi kissed soft, sweaty skin. She was gentle, and reluctant to pull away.Gingerly, Cody eased herself off the railing. Her back twinged uncomfortably from the awkward position. She pulled her sodden panties up and eased her dress down.“Thank you,” Cody gasped.Kenobi smiled. “You’re welcome, I suppose.”Cody sighed and eased herself onto the cold stone. Her heart was still beating hard. The night was suddenly very cold, especially with the sweat soaking through her expensive silk dress. Her heels were making her ankles hurt.After a long while, Kenobi sat down next to her. She produced, of all things, an embroidered handkerchief, which she used to wipe her face with. It made Cody ache with affection.“I lied,” Cody said. “I know Satine’s a nice guy. The rumours are all fake. The real reason is… I’ve always been a coward. Called it obedience, all my life. That’s what my name, ‘Kotisava’, means: ‘Obedient girl’. But really, I can’t disobey my mother because I’m a coward. I don’t know who I’d be, if I wasn’t a dutiful daughter, and I’m too scared to find out.”Kenobi watched her. The woman’s bright auburn hair was messy, falling in tangles over her pressed white uniform. In the dim light, she was as pale as a ghost.“If you want to continue seeing him, I won’t stand in your way,” Cody said. “You deserve that much.”“Cody,” Kenobi said. “I think I know how you feel. I’ve been a coward too. When Satine broke off our relationship, I didn’t fight for him. I wasn’t brave enough to see if he would reject me again. Now it’s too late for us.”“Oh,” Cody said. “I’m sorry.”Kenobi extended a hand. Cody took it. Kenobi squeezed her hand, tightly, like a promise. * “You look gorgeous,” Rex whispered.“Thank you,” Cody said, smiling faintly. “You can use this dress for your wedding, if you’d like.”“Really?” Rex swept her eyes over the long lengths of white satin, shifting like exquisite feathers, and the white fur hem. The sweetheart neckline showed off a wealth of Cody’s beautiful chest, where the brown skin was butter-soft and dappled with black freckles. Her neck rose bare, long and elegant, but her face was obscured by a lace veil.Janga Fett smacked her daughter, Rex, on the back of the head. “Are you implying I can’t afford another wedding dress for you?”“I understand the concern… It is true you have many daughters, mother, more than I can count…” Ponds said.“Are you calling me a whore?” Janga growled at Ponds, shaking a scarred fist at her.Ponds’ gray eyes slid away. “I don’t remember saying that…”“Well, if the shoe fits,” Rex said, dryly. “I think you’re avoiding the question, anyway. How many daughters do you have, mother?”Janga smacked her again. “Cody, keep your sisters in line.”“That’ll be your job soon, Janga,” Fox said, from the doorway. Her eyes were ringed with black kohl. “God only knows how she’ll keep us in check without Cody to do all the mothering for her.”“Disrespectful brat!” Janga said, throwing a shoe.Fox ducked in a smooth motion and slid, foxlike, out of the doorway. She slipped under Wolffe, who was coming in. She was the only one, apart from Cody, who was dressed for the occasion: in a neat, slate-grey linen sheath dress with a pink carnation over her right breast. Her impossibly curly black hair had been gathered into a neat bun.“They’re ready for you, Cody,” Wolffe said, bowing respectfully.Cody’s heart jumped.“Alright,” Janga said, taking her second-eldest by the elbow. “Cody, please try to smile.”Cody’s expression couldn’t be seen under the thick white veil, so she didn’t bother. She took a deep breath in, trying to calm her thumping heart. Janga led her gently out of the side room and down the corridor to where the ceremony was being held.Bridal music reverberated through the walls. They turned the corner and the full sweep of the church was revealed to them. Ranks of polished pews, hundreds of respectable guests, cameras where it was all being broadcast to the public. Cody kept her chin up and her head high. She wouldn’t falter, not now.Music swelled. Janga’s grip on her elbow wasn’t tight, but it was firm. The church smelled of lily blossoms and ceremonial wine. Petals drifted down on them from the mezzanine.Prince Satine stood, back-straight, at the head of the aisle. His suit was even paler than hers, as if he had carved it from pristine snow. He smiled gently at her; a quick, polite smile you might give to a coworker. Cody wondered what Kenobi had ever seen in him.At that thought, Cody noticed Kenobi behind the priest, off to one side. Kenobi was dressed in crisp, ceremonial uniform, complete with gold epaulets and a chest full of gleaming medals she must have earned during service. Cody tried to smile at her, but remembered that nobody could see her face. Kenobi looked like she was about to pass out, her face tense and colourless.The music stopped. A hush fell over the gathered crowd.The priest cleared his throat. “We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of two great Mandalorian clans: the Fetts and the ruling Kryzes. It is a historic moment, which we are all greatly blessed to witness.”Cody was watching the fountain on the mezzanine above. She hated all these eyes on her. She just wanted this ceremony over, so she could see what a mess she had made of her life and attempt to fix it, somehow.“Prince Satine Kryzes, do you take this woman to be your wife, to live together in honourable matrimony, to love her, to honor her, to comfort her, and to keep her in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, for as long as you both shall live?"“I do,” Satine said, crisply.He slid the heavy wedding ring onto Cody’s short, blunt finger.“Princess Kotisava Fett, do you take this man to be your husband, to live together in honourable matrimony, to love him, to honor him, to comfort him, and to keep him in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, for as long as you both shall live?"Cody opened her mouth.“Stop!!”There was a stunned silence. Everyone looked around to see who had shouted. Then Cody realised that Kenobi had drawn her sword.Nobody stopped her as the soldier marched forward, pushing the priest aside. Everyone was too shocked to react. Kenobi’s sword was outstretched, like a knight in a fable story. Her chest puffed out.“Don’t do this, Cody!” Kenobi said, her voice slightly breathless. “Marry me instead!”Janga blinked back to life. “What’s the meaning of this?”“Obi-Wan!” Cody broke away from her mother and flung her arms around Kenobi’s neck. She kissed her.“Stop! Kotisava!” Janga snatched her daughter’s wrist, but had to release it when Kenobi swung her sword in an arc, forcing her back.“What’s going on?” Satine asked, stepping towards them. He stopped short, a rapier suddenly held under his chin.“Not another step, Prince,” Fox said, holding her razor-sharp blade close to his jugular. “You’ll find me much less charming than my sister.”Satine swallowed. He watched the shining blade, hand curling into a fist.There was the hiss of a dozen Fett sisters drawing their swords, taking up the aisle like an personal guard. Janga was the most heavily bracketed, with four separate rapiers at her old throat. She smiled, hand twitching towards her own sword hilt, hanging at her belt.“We should probably make a quick exit,” Kenobi muttered in Cody’s ear.“I agree,” Cody said. “But I can’t run in these heels.”Kenobi tossed aside her sword. “It was fake anyway.” She swept Cody into her arms with so much ease that it made Cody feel hot all over.“This way!” Wolffe called from behind the dais, and Kenobi dashed towards her. Cody’s arms hung around the soldier’s neck, her still-veiled head tucked under the other woman’s chin. The smell of Obi-Wan’s skin filled her up.“Use my ship,” Wolffe said, tossing the keys at them. Cody had to catch them, because Obi-Wan’s arms were full.“Thank you for the help,” Kenobi called.“Take good care of her or I’ll kill you,” Wolffe said, darkly. She drew her rapier and charged back into the church.“And thanks for the warning,” Kenobi said. Laughter brightened her voice. She dove into the small space crafts, setting Cody down in the entrance way and dashing into the cockpit.Fighting the weight of her wedding dress, Cody stood and closed the airlock. As the ship began to rattle and rise into the sky, Cody finally managed to get rid of her shoes and toss them into the back of the ship. She charged to the cockpit, barefoot under the piles of white plumage.Kenobi directed them over the city and quickly hailed the dome controller. The scene at the wedding was too fresh; they hadn’t heard about the runaway bride, so they waved them through. Cody let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding.Black space poured into all the viewscreens as they pulled away from Mandalore. Cody leaned heavily on the back of the pilot’s chair. What a night. What a life. She rested her head on her silken arms and watched Mandalore retreat.“You know…” Kenobi said. “You never did answer me.”Cody blinked quickly. She smiled. She felt light, relaxed and happy for the first time in such a long time.Using her teeth, she yanked the massive diamond wedding ring from her gloved fingers, and took it out of her mouth. Delicately, she pushed in onto Kenobi’s finger.“Do you think this is a good answer?” Cody asked, holding up Obi-Wan’s hand and pressing a kiss to her large ring.Obi-Wan smiled, almost shyly. “I do.”