Their sharing of laughter seemed to ease the moment.  The fact that he had caused her to blush was not a bad thing...after all...one blush deserved another the way he saw it.  Laughter was good for many things which ailed the heart and mind.  Yet, among the laughter was also what was going through Alethea's mind.  Courtship, as with him, had never occurred to her.  Why should it?  After all, her days had mostly been spent training to be a Jedi Knight, and such days rarely allowed for one to think of much else outside of said training.  It was the same for Thal-ion, and had been for many years.  Courtship was something that simply had never come up before, and was most certainly not a part of their training.  It wasn't that they didn't know it existed...Luke and Mara made sure to show it did, and it wasn't exactly absent from Tionne and Kam.  Just...it had never seemed like something that would happen to him, and this seemed just as true for Alethea.<br/><br/>Now, here they both were in the desert of Tatooine in the middle of a mission they had not originally been going on, stuck half a century in the past, and facing a crisis like no other Jedi had ever faced before.  Yet, in it all, this of all things has crept into their lives, and not separately, but for each other.  No matter how unexpected this was; it was also truly pleasant to share such warmth with the woman who was across from him.  Who better would understand him than a Jedi woman?  Yet, it went beyond that simple connection between them.  For him, he truly was attracted to Alethea...not just her physical presence, but her presence in the Force.  Was this how it was for Mara and Luke or Kam and Tionne?  He closed his eyes...sensing her deeper in the Force, and a smile played across his face as he did.<br/><br/>Just as he was feeling protective of her...so she was for him as well.  She had as little desire to see him hurt as he had to see any harm come to her.  The duel with Maul worried her for him.  There was the fear of something truly happening to her which would cause him to lose it, or to which he would never recover from.  He understood her concern, and let his presence in the Force flow over her warmly with reassurance.  While it was true he would let nothing happen to her - he was still a Jedi, and he would do his duty.  It was important to sooth this concern Alethea had, because one thing swiftly came to his mind...he believed from the Force.<br/><br/>Fear and love could not live together.<br/><br/>"We shall do our duty," he told her with complete sincerity and faith, and his smile never wavered.  "Do not be afraid, Alethea.  No matter what is to come...no matter what happens...we shall not falter," Thal-ion continued...his voice warm and reassuring.  The way he said her name was so reverent and kind, but it was not on the level of worship.  He saw her as an equal...not someone higher than himself, nor as someone to possess.  She was his equal in all things...no matter what their various skill levels were at.<br/><br/>"You know," her companion went on after finishing his food, "I would love to know more about you.  I know we both grew up as Jedi...to learn the ways of the Force, but there is always more to us.  Perhaps those things we do not share with others, or of which few inquire about.  Like...um...what is your favorite color?"<br/><br/>It was an awkward attempt at getting to know her - or so he thought, and it made him blush all the more, but he really did want to know more about her as they waited.  It would do them no good to practice when they would need to conserve their energy for the battle to come.  He was, however, unable and unwilling to look away from her.  "My own is emerald," he confessed with a slight shrug.  Why was this so difficult?  He actually was chuckling inwardly at how strange it was to simply converse with anyone on this level, but he supposed such was normal and would get better over time.