Star Wars - Kenobi

you’re going to be happy being the traveling companion of a middle-aged student?”
    “I can’t deny I miss the stars,” he said, his hands resting on the door of the landspeeder. “And in another life?” He nodded gently, his mouth crinkling into the tiniest smile. Then he looked up at her, solemn. “But I’m afraid I can’t go.”
    Annileen froze. “What do you mean?”
    “I have responsibilities here. Things to look after.”
    “What kind of responsibilities?” Annileen looked back at the house. She spied Rooh in the pen. “If it’s the eopies, we can drop them at a ranch on the way!”
    “That’s not it.” Ben shook his head and started walking away from the landspeeder.
    “Wait. You did all this. You saved us. You led us all here!” She stepped after him. “ We’re who you’re looking after!”
    “You don’t need looking after, Annileen,” Ben said, his back to her as he walked up the hill. “You’re quite capable. Extremely capable.”
    Annileen stood in the swiftly falling night, bewildered. Since her talk with Ben in the bedroom, momentum had carried her through the events of the day. That, and the knowledge that he was part of the next chapter. “I don’t want you to stay,” she implored. “I want you with me!”
    “Annileen—”
    “Annie! I told you, everyone calls me Annie!”
    “—you know that’s not possible. It’s not even sensible—”
    “Sensible? What’s sensible ?” She kicked at the sand. “Working with someone for twenty years only to find out they’ve been defrauding half the oasis?”
    “This is just a fantasy—”
    “Like Tusken Raiders you can reason with?” She grabbed at his shoulder and spun him around. “Or a man who arrives out of nowhere, who risks his neck to help people he’s never met, like he’s some kind of …” She stopped, searching vainly for the next word.
    Ben took a step back. It was a small step, almost imperceptible. But to Annileen, totally aware of him, it seemed like a light-year, and she lost her train of thought.
    It made her take a breath.
    “I’m sorry,” she said, struggling to control her emotions. “But we want you with us.” She reached for his hand. “ I want you with us. With me . Now just—”
    “I have a family already,” Ben said, abruptly pulling his hand back.
    His eyes shone at her in the fading light.
    “You—you have …”
    “You once asked me if I had a family to look after,” he said. “I do. It’s why I am here.”
    Annileen looked around, laughing nervously. “Not the eopies?” she asked in a small voice.
    “No. There’s a child,” he said, looking as if he’d given her his most secret truth. “It’s my responsibility.”
    Annileen shook her head, tears finally arriving. Yes, she’d imagined this possibility once, but had put it out of her head. It didn’t make sense that it would trap him here forever. “You can make provisions,” she said. “Families do it all the time. You can look after the child and still—”
    “No, I can’t,” Ben said, firmly. “I must be here.” He turned to leave.
    She looked about at the shadows. “Then we’ll stay! We don’t have to go offworld!”
    “You have your destiny, Annileen. I have mine.”
    Annileen looked back at the landspeeder. “That’s what this was all about? The university? You’re sending me away?”
    “I can’t have you here,” Ben said, walking back to his house. “And you can’t stay.”
    Annileen stared blankly at him as he opened the curtain that covered the front doorway. None of it made sense. Since before dawn, it had been the vision of a life with Ben in the picture that had gotten her through the craziness. Events had been so extreme that the lifeline he represented had taken on the feeling of a long-held dream.
    And that made it all the worse.
    “You lied to me,” she said, her words barely audible.
    Ben turned in the doorway. “What’s that?”
    “You lied to me,” she said, feeling numb. “You lied to me. It may have been for fifteen hours rather than for years, like Orrin—but you lied to me. Like Orrin said.”
    Ben’s eyes widened. “I never—” he started to say, before stopping. After a moment, he spoke again. “Yes, I guess I have been lying to you.” He looked off to the side. “And not just about tonight, or the child. I’ve been lying to you about other things. A lot of other things. From the beginning.”
    Annileen closed her eyes. “Well,” she said quietly,