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“Do you know, my dear, in my experience there is no problem so great that it cannot be solved with a nice cup of tea.”
“With all due, respect, General,” Cody replied, his amusement flashing through the Force. “I doubt that the Senate and the Seppies would agree with you.”
Obi-Wan inclined his head, conceding Cody's point. “Perhaps not problems of a galactic scale, but those of a personal nature.”
Cody stiffened almost imperceptibly. “Do we have a problem of a personal nature, sir?”
Obi-Wan smiled serenely, setting about making them both a cup of tea. “I rather think you are in the position to tell us that, Commander.”
Cody's amber eyes flickered down. “Ship scuttlebutt reaches your ears quickly, General.”
A casual wave of his hand. “Jedi.”
Unless Obi-Wan was very much mistaken, that was a blush colouring Cody's cheeks. “What was said- That is to say, General- I…”
Obi-Wan used the Force to nudge the cup closer to Cody's hand. “Cody.”
Cody collapsed into something a little less than perfect straightness in his seat. “Sir.” The honorific was a capitulation.
“You are considering reassignment?”
“Not seriously.” Cody's head shake was fast and vicious. “I'd never leave you or our men during this war.”
Obi-Wan smiled, he didn't need Cody's assurances to know that. Leaving simply wasn't who either of them were. “Then might I ask why I've had our men coming to me all day? Ghost Squadron are particularly inconsolable.”
“They're interfering busybodies,” Cody replied quickly, tacking on a, “General.”
Obi-Wan leaned back in his seat, regarding Cody over the rim of his mug. If raising Anakin had taught him anything, it was the value of patience.
“The men know,” Cody began, each word dragged out of him slowly, as if Cody were taking great care choosing them. “That if I intended to leave, one word from you would change my mind.”
Cody's eyes left his own tea, meeting Obi-Wan's with no artifice to hide.
Oh. Well, that rather clarified that little matter.
Obi-Wan sipped on his tea, mulling on how to reply.
They were at war and Obi-Wan was a Jedi, on the Council no less. But Anakin had been flouting those laws for years and one could argue that they were more like guidelines anyway.
They were two men of duty, his Commander and Obi-Wan. Strategy, they could discuss easily, care of their men and all those things. Matters of the heart, those were less easily spoken. Impossible if you didn't know how to read between the lines.
Obi-Wan smiled, refilling Cody's cup with a wave of his hand and a nudge with the Force. “And you must know, my dear, if you truly wished to leave, I would not stop you.”
Cody smiled, not quite hiding it behind his cup. “I'm not leaving, General.”
Obi-Wan brushed a smile along the edges of Cody's mind, not bothering to hide the will to do so. “I'm glad, Commander.”