She stood alone on the balcony, which faced out over the Palace gardens. She watched as Anakin and Amidala spent their last evening together, speaking parting words of love and swearing their unconditional devotion to each other in tender, broken voices. Too lost in each other to realize they were being watched, locked in a sweet embrace, exchanging kisses like wind-swept leaves.

'Just as well,' Sabe thought sorrowfully, turning her gaze from the young pair to the stars above. 'Just as well that they have this uninterupted time together.'

With the Republic's desparate need for Jedi looming on the horizon, Anakin would be off early the following morning. And with him would go his Master.

Sabe sighed in a sad, hopeless sort of way. Obi-wan. Just the thought of him sent an involuntary shiver down her spine. His strong, handsome features, beautiful eyes, and gental, yet commanding voice... everything about him made her heart melt.

During his and Anakin's visit to Naboo, Sabe had spent a good deal of time in his company. At first she had watched him in silence. Then, as time passed and emotions grew more perplexing and bothersome, she had begun putting herself at his disposal whenever possible, doing all she could to be near him. He seemed to enjoy - or at least, not mind - her company and proffered friendship. He had even, on occasion, engaged her in friendly conversation.

He had no idea, or so she fervently hoped, that he drew her in a way that no other man had drawn her before. In less than three weeks in his frequent company, she had felt completely convinced that she was falling in love.

Experiencing an overwhelming sense of helplessness, she had almost gone to Amidala for advice. They were the best and dearest of friends and Sabe would have confided her misery to no one else. But the Queen had been tied up with negotiations those past few weeks and with Anakin. Often, she returned to her chambers at night with heavy eyes and an exhausted countenance. Sabe knew how stressful things were for the young ruler at that point, so she had opted to keep her problems to herself for now and help Ami solve hers first.

It was a welcome distraction, caring for the Queen. But no matter how she tried, Sabe's restless mind could not stray from her Jedi for long. Often she would forget what she was doing and drift into blissful daydreams, sitting at her bedchamber window and gazing out over the beautiful world of Naboo.

But now, after three weeks of Obi-wan, he was leaving. Leaving to stop the Sith, leaving to save the galaxy...

"And break my heart," she murmured to herself, unbidden tears rushing to her eyes. She made no attempt to stop them from rolling down her pale cheeks as she continued to absentmindedly loose herself in clear the night sky.

"Sabe?" a voice said softly from behind her, causing her to jump, sniffle loudly, and turn. Amidala stood outlined in the balcony entryway.

Taking one look at Sabe, her friend opened her arms invitingly and said tenderly, "What is it, dear?"

Ami's gentle tone made Sabe burst into a fresh wave of tears and rush into her arms. She couldn't speak for several minutes, but she felt the pent-up emotions drain away with the tears, leaving only the unspoken sorrow.

Holding Sabe at arm's length, Amidala gazed into the young handmaiden's anguished eyes. "Tell me, dear. Tell me you trouble."

Sabe sniffled, wiping vainly at the tears on her face. "Tell me what to do, Ami. I'm so confused." Then she confessed everything to her friend. Her love for Obi-wan, her fear of loosing him to the dangers of a galaxy in turmoil, and worst of all, her fear of his rejection.

Her anxiety was evident as she said, "What if he doesn't return my love? Oh, Ami, I don't think I could bear it!" Down went the girl's head to her Queen's shoulder once more.

"Oh, my poor dear!" Amidala exclaimed softly, stroking the hair of the torn girl weeping in her arms. "To think you've been suffering alone all this time and you didn't tell me. Didn't let me help you. Why, Sabe? Why didn't you tell me until now?"

Her voice waving, Sabe answered slowly, "Well, you... you were so busy and worried over the Senate issues you were dealing with and Anakin going away. I didn't wish to burden you with my own issues when you were dealing with so many of your own."

Taking Sabe's head in her hands, Amidala looked into her eyes once more, with mild reproach. "You know I want you to come to me, no matter what is happening, with your problems and heartaches." The reproach suddenly found a new target. "How could I not notice all that pain? I never thought to ask why you were more quiet than usual or why you were so distracted or why you spent so much time roaming the gardens alone. What a selfish beast I've been!"

Now it was Sabe's turn to look earnest. "Oh, no, Ami, don't blame yourself," she cried. "It was my fault. I know I can come to you and I should have. But that is past, the mistake has been made. Now you know. Please help me, I've no experience in matters of the heart. I feel so lost..."

Amidala took her friend's hand and led her to sit on the stone guardrail of the balcony. "My only advice to you is if you really love him, tell him."

Sabe's heart sank. "But I'm afraid to," she said innocently. "I can't just come out and say, 'Obi, I love you.'"

"Why not?" Amidala asked, with a smiled as she noticed Sabe's unconscious nick name for her love.

"I'm sure he'll say something like, 'I'm sorry, Jedi don't have time for love' or 'I've already got someone' or - "

"Wouldn't it be worth the risk if he DID care for you?" Amidala broke in, with a significant look.

Sabe considered. "Yes, I believe it would be."

"If I tell you a secret, will you promise to tell him how you feel?" Ami asked. When Sabe nodded eagerly, her friend continued. "He confessed his feelings to Ani the other day, finding it impossible to hold them in any longer," Amidala explained, her eyes shining. "He didn't swear Ani to secrecy, so of course Ani told me. Just now, in fact. In the garden." She paused. "He DOES love you Sabe. He has for quite a while now."

Sabe was speechless for a full thirty seconds. He LOVED her? Impossible! It was too good to be true. And yet, he had told Anakin...

Before she had time to properly process this new information, they heard male voices echoing in the hallway.

Her heart leapt into her throat. Amidala suppressed a laugh at her friend's terrified expression. "I think I'll just go up to bed," she said. "You'll talk to him, dear?" Meaning, would Sabe keep her word and tell Obi-wan her feelings.

Sabe's only answer was to hug her Queen tightly for a moment before turning back to face the stars.

'How lucky I am to possess such a friend as my Padme,' Sabe thought gratefully as Amidala's footsteps receded into the Palace. After a moment, she heard someone else step onto the balcony and a deep blush spread across her face. It could only be one person.

When she didn't turn, she heard him clear his throat hesitantly.

"Mistress Sabe?" Her disappointment was acute. Why was he being so formal with her? Weren't they at least friends?

"Jedi Kenobi," she said stiffly, turning from the night sky to face him, fervently hoping he couldn't see her cheeks in the darkness.

He advanced towards her, stopping at a polite distance. "You left the banquet early. I hope you're well." He sounded genuinly concerned.

"I'm fine," she assured him as firmly as she could.

"Good," he said, stepping past her to the guardrail. An awkward paused followed. Finally he said, "We're leaving tomorrow, Ani and I."

"I know," she whispered, desperately wanting to say something to him, anything to express to him how she felt.

He turned towards her abruptly, an earnest expression in his bright blue eyes, which made her heart begin beating itself hard against her ribcage.

"Sabe," he began, his expression nervous, his voice conveying deep emotion of some kind. "I... um..."

"Yes?"' she straightened reflexively. He was so close to saying something. She could almost taste the tention between them. He stepped closer and raised his hand to brush a strand of hair from her cheek. Her stomache fluttered as though she'd swallowed quite a lot of butterflies.

A sound from the hallway caused both to jump apart and turn away from eachother. A moment later, Anakin's head popped around the edge of the entryway.

"Master?" he called, squinting into the darkness. Spotting Obi-wan, he said, "Would you come up soon? I've got something I'd like your advice about."

"Of course," Obi-wan said. Turning back to Sabe, he said hastily, "I'll be back to the Palace soon. You won't forget me?"

Her expression gave him a definite affirmative, her eyes unconsciously begging him to come back. This was evidently good-bye.

Slowly, he made himself turn and following Anakin back into the Palace. Sabe felt her heart breaking, wripping out of her chest as if to follow him. 'I thought you loved me!'

She felt she could have died right there. He was gone. He'd be leaving on an early transport to Coruscant.

'Why didn't you just tell him, or kiss him, or something?' she berated herself furiously. 'What is wrong with you?'

Suddenly, she heard footsteps coming onto the balcony. She whirled. There he was.

"Sabe... I..." he faltered, his entire being calling her, his eyes begging her to make the move.

Summoning every ounce of courage and knowing she might not get another chance, she forwent any uncomfortable speeches, closed the distance between them with a speed suggesting she feared he might escape again and, wrapping her arms around her Jedi, she pressed her yearning lips to his. It took only a few seconds for him to return the kiss, his arms slipping possessively around her waist.

Sabe's heart soared. Not in her wildest dreams had she expected this return of affection, even when Amidala had told her that Obi-wan cared for her. Her lips were on fire and when his arms tightened around her waist, she felt a shiver play it's way down her spinal cord.

When they parted, breathless, he whishpered hoarsey, "Oh, Sabe, I..." she silenced him with another passionate kiss. And another.

Her eyes finally rose to his face. Those gorgeous blue orbs were full of a burning, decidely un-Jedi-like desire, and something else... 'Oh, my gods,' she thought. Was that... no, it couldn't be...

It was. "I love you, Sabe," Obi-wan breathed, resting his forehead against hers, kissing her nose. "I have since we first met," he was forced to pause while she found a vent for her jubilant emotions in another kiss. When their lips parted and his forehead was resting on hers again, he continued. "I don't know why I didn't tell you sooner. I guess I was just too wrapped up in being the perfect Jedi to acknowledge the fact that I was falling for you, head over heals. Anakin's actions with regard to his feelings for the Queen made me realize that true love is not something to turn down if you are handed it. In fact, love itself is just as much a part of being a Jedi as selflessness and inner peace." He paused to kiss her again. "I had no peace while fighting my feelings for you. Especially as I've begun to really get to know you over the past few weeks. Now I see that it's because we are destined for eachother."

Her eyes filled. It all felt like a wonderful dream. "I've never felt the way I do about you towards anyone else, ever. Since the day we met all those years ago, I knew deep down that you were the one." She laughed a little. "I always thought of you as my Jedi. I even got in a fight with one of the other handmaidens a few days ago who insisted you had a crush on her." Seeing his look of surprise, she added ruefully, "I wound up punching her square in the face."

Obi-wan burst out laughing, though deeply touched by her protectiveness and cupped her face in his soft hands. All of a sudden he stopped, staring intently into her eyes, kissing her forehead. She was caught completely off guard when he said, "Tell me you love me. I can't go to Coruscant without hearing that."

"Then I won't say it," she retorted stoutly. "I'll do whatever it takes to keep you with me, galaxy or no galaxy." Her arms instictively tightened around him.

"Please just say it," he pleaded. "You know I have to leave."

It was a moment neither would forget for the rest of their lives when Sabe looked straight into his eyes, the last glimmerings of fear and doubt about his feelings or her own fading forever as she said simply, "I love you, Obi-wan Kenobi."

Her voice was reverent and full of emotion. Obi-wan's throat tightened, his heart thrilled, and his blue eyes watered. Sabe's beautiful smile only made the tear come more rapidly.

"Don't cry, Obi," she murmured, softly wiping the tears from his cheeks with her pearly fingers.

Obi. Only Qui-gon had ever called him that before and he wouldn't have wanted to hear it from anyone else's lips but Sabe's. She said it so gently, with that soft shine in her mesmorizing emerald eyes that they seemed to hypnotize him with their innocence. He couldn't speak, so he closed the three-inch gap between them instead. Her lips met his eagerly, as if she felt they had always belonged there.

When they parted, gasping for air, he kissed her forehead, her cheek, her chin, her neck. Her taste intoxicated every one of his senses and he wondered how he could ever have lived without her.

"Obi," she whispered. His face lifted from her neck, his eyes boaring into hers. "You can't leave. You can't." Her voice was distressed. "I can't live without you. Not now. Not ever."

His eyes filled with silent agony. "I know, love. I know. I can't believe I survived this long without you." His arms wrapped her in a shielding embrace. "But I must go. The galaxy needs the Jedi more than ever now. I know I'll be back soon, though. I feel it. It's our destiny to be together and our love will keep us stronge. With you in my heart, we'll never be out of reach of each other."

Though his eyes had dried some time ago, hers were aflow once more. "Obi," she said again, softly, pulling back to look once more into his face, her hand caressing it affectionately, "my Jedi, I love you so much. Please, PLEASE don't let anything happen to you."

"As long as I have you, I'll live forever. You will always be my Queen," he whispered tenderly.

Her lips pressed quietly to his. A soft wind picked up suddenly, blowing her loose hair around them, surrounding Obi-wan with her flowery scent.

As they parted, Sabe murmured, "Oh, gods, I can't let you go."

Obi-wan felt right then that he wouldn't be able to get on that forboding transport the next morning, but he took her tear-stained face in his hands, saying bravely, "I MUST go, Angel. You know that as well as I do." She nodded halfheartedly and he continued, "But I swear to you that when I come home, it will be forever." Seeing her smile when he referred to Naboo as 'home' he added, "Home will always be where you are."

She knew it and knew also that he would keep his promice.
 

* * *
When he and Anakin left the next day, only Amidala and Sabe were there to see them off.

Sabe saw, out of the corner of her eye, Ami and Ani's delight when Obi-wan descended the transport's ramp, crossed to Sabe, and took her in his arms. Anakin had known something was going on from the vibes he had been getting from Obi-wan through their training bond and Amidala had seen Sabe's face when she had slipped into her chambers much later than usual that night.

Obi-wan didn't say a word to Sabe, but simply kissed her ardently, both loosing themselves in the touch. When they finally parted, Anakin had already headed inside the ship.

Sabe stared hard into Obi-wan's eyes for a moment, then reached around behind her neck and unclasped the gold chain that hung there. A pennant shaped in a senth hung from it, reflecting green crystalline.

"This will remind you of me when you get lonely," she said, fastening it around his neck.

His hand closed around the pennant, then moved to caress her cheek, tracing every delicate curve. "I don't need anything to be reminded of you, Angel. You will always be in my heart and on my mind."

She smiled, feeling suddenly peaceful. They shared a natural bond that had drawn them together in the first place and was unbreakable, she knew that.

"I love you, Obi," she said.

"I love you, Sabe," he returned, using the hand on her face to draw her lips to his one last time. He pulled away slowly, reluctantly. "Good bye, my Queen."

"Good-bye, Jedi."

As the ship ascended into the clear blue morning sky and the two young women stood arm in arm watching it, Sabe felt a great weight lifting from her shoulders. It was the dawn of destiny. She and Obi-wan, Amidala and Anakin, it all felt so right somehow. They were fulfilling the purposes the Force had created them for and Sabe suddenly knew that everything would be alright.

"They'll be back, Ami," she said, bravely. "And we'll all live together in peace and happiness. In the arms of destiny..."

Finis