Disclaimer: If I was George Lucas, I wouldn't be posting on I'd be off counting money.
Summery: Sequel to my other ficlet, Last Moments. (thank you for the reviews :D) Obi-Wan goes back to find Sabe, like he once promised he would.
The Promise.
He stands alone, at the window. He watches in silence as the last of the procession passes below. Even though the crowd is thinner now, the heavy sense of sadness remains just as intense as it was when hundreds had lined the streets.
He wishes he could join them in their mourning, but he knows that once started, his grief would never stop. He has to be strong. His mind is in turmoil. It wanders back to where his latest journey had begun, and taunts him. If only he had listened to his heart and started the journey sooner.
ooooo
The decision to leave had not been an easy one. He had thought about it every day since he had arrived. But now, as he watched the boy, Luke, play in the sand as he did every day, something inside of him finally said that now was the time.
Of course it would be dangerous, these were dangerous times in the galaxy, but the nagging voice inside of him would not give in.
"The boy will be fine. It will only be for a short while. You gave her your word."
ooooo
Still he remembers how he waited. Waited until that little nagging voice had become a scream within his mind. A scream that had plagued his days and nights and echoed through his dreams. If only…
ooooo
His journey from the desert planet had taken lifetimes, but finally it had ended. He found himself standing on streets that he hadn't seen for so long. He remembered every corner, every building. But things had changed.
A sense of dark anticipation hung in the air, a sign that even this once peaceful planet of Naboo had become jaded by the empire. His heart ached for those long ago days when this had been such a beautiful place.
His feet traced a journey he had made before, one that had been etched on his memory, and he found himself standing once more in the imposing presence of the place.
It was older now, parts of it were cracked and crumbling, and it looked more forlorn than proud.
Slowly, almost respectful of the quiet building, he climbed the steps. Hesitantly, he entered it.
The corridors lay silent and empty, making him feel like an intruder, as if he was an unwanted participant of some private event.
He was almost at her room before he stopped. Stopped and realised. He had assumed that she would still be here. She could be anywhere in the galaxy by now, and yet he had come here. Was he expecting her to be waiting, after all this time, in the place where they had shared their forbidden love? Still in the place where hearts had been wounded, and forgotten promises made?
With a heavy heart now he carried on. Maybe she wouldn't be there, but he had no other place to start. With a head full of memories, he peered around the doorframe and into her old room.
ooooo
He stands there now, at the opposite wall to the door. He remembers so clearly the sight he beheld then, so beautiful and so private. He wishes now that he had turned away, left the scene alone, and returned to his life on Tatooine.
Perhaps he would have been happier thinking of her with a new life somewhere in the galaxy with her family.
But he knows now the truth of the scene, and no matter how wonderful the lie seems to him now, he cannot go back and believe it. Part of him is glad he knows the truth.
ooooo
The room itself is almost empty, save a sleeping couch in one corner and a small table and chair in the centre. The large windows opposite him show the cloudy sky outside and shine a dim light on the two inhabitants.
A woman sat on the chair at the low table, her eyes intently watching the small child. They were both dressed in sombre velvet clothes.
Obi-Wan watched as the little girl, doll clutched tightly to her chest, walked over to the woman. Even though the light was dim it shone onto the child's soft brown hair and made it shine. She turned big brown eyes towards the woman, who stroked her hair and looked back at her with sad eyes.
"Don't worry Marie. Everything will be alright."
The woman looked familiar, and the child seemed even more so.
"Excuse me," Obi-Wan almost whispered as he walked softly into the room. The child turned her large eyes towards him, and a thrill of a memory ran through him, unsettled him.
"Yes?" The woman replied just as softly.
"I'm looking for someone. A friend. I wonder if you could tell me what happened to a woman who used to have this room. It might have been quite a few years ago now. Her name was-"
"Sabé," she finished for him.
"Yes, do you know her?"
"You could say that." The woman stood up. "I'm her sister. Rini. You're too late. She's already gone."
Obi-Wan face showed his confusion. "I'm sorry, I don't understand, what do you mean? Where has she gone?"
"You must be Obi-Wan," Rini said, ignoring his questions. "You look exactly as she said you did. She spoke of you often. She always said you would return to her. Your last promise to her. Now here you are, just in time to see her last journey."
Obi-Wan's heart leapt in his chest as a terrible realisation dawned on him. "Last – no, it can't be. Tell me where she is!" His words became more urgent as he fought to stop himself from grabbing the woman and shaking the truth out of her. "Tell me what you mean!"
"I'm sorry," she said, her voice breaking, "you're too late."
ooooo
Obi-Wan remembers how his heart had raced as he ran towards the little building that Rini had pointed out. He remembers how he refused to believe her. How he wanted to find Sabé there, alive and warming him with her beautiful smile. And he remembers the site that he cannot forget, no matter how much he tries.
ooooo
There was a small crowd of people in the small, darkened room. They crowded around something Obi-Wan couldn't see, didn't want to see. They were all dressed in mourning robes, stunning and sad. One or two of them noticed his presence and gave him questioning looks.
The urge built within Obi-Wan, and before he could suppress it he found himself shouting at the crowd to get out, to leave.
At first they didn't know what to do, what to say to this intruder, and then they began to protest to ask who he was.
Obi-Wan couldn't answer them. He couldn't move.
"It's alright," came a calm, soothing voice from behind him. "He's an old friend of hers."
Slowly the angry confused crowd filed out, leaving Rini and Obi-Wan alone in the room, with Sabé laid out before them.
Obi-Wan felt dumb. He had never felt such a loss as this. He had seen his master slain and been asked to do the same to his pupil. But nothing compared to this.
Finally he managed to stagger towards her. In his mind her traced the lines of her face, made even more beautiful by the faint lines of the years that he had missed. With a shaking hand he traced her features, her eyes now closed forever.
"So, you finally fulfil your promise."
ooooo
He still winces from the sting of Rini's words. He still remembers making the promise to Sabé. "I will find you again. I promise you." It had been said so long ago, more than a lifetime ago. Those words would now forever echo in his mind. If only…
ooooo
"You know, she never gave up hope that you would do as you said, and find her."
Obi-Wan tried to speak, to apologise, but Rini wouldn't let him.
"She didn't stay here, after you left. She moved from planet to planet with Jamel and… But she always left a message for you. A hidden message that she said you would find, so you could follow her. Finally she did return, but you never came."
"I wanted to. I wanted to every day. But I thought she would get on with her life."
"She did. But, in the end, you were still a part of that life."
"The child," Obi-Wan's voice was barely a whisper now, "that's her daughter isn't it. I knew she would have a daughter."
ooooo
The funeral procession is finally over and everyone vanishes from the streets. Obi-Wan turns his back on the window and he leaves the palace alone, to live out the rest of his days watching over someone else.