"None of us is completely in control of our heart." he said. "We do what we can, what we will, what we must... guided by our ethics and responsibilities. It can be lonely."

"Have you ever...?" she began, unable to finish.

"Yes." he said, and offered nothing more.

It was a beautiful day. A quiet day, which was all too rare in recent times.

The Chancellor had made a request to the Jedi Council that the general be given a few days off, despite his protestations, the Council had granted the Chancellor's request.

It was good to be back in the Temple.

During these turbulent times, the temple was rather empty, what with the Jedi being stretched so thinly across the galaxy, helping fight the war.

Obi-Wan Kenobi remembers the times when the temple used to be bustling with activity. He walked around the temple, with no particular destination in mind and he found himself in the Sparring room.

Two apprentices had just finished sparring. They were engaging each other in friendly banter, unaware that Obi-Wan had stepped into the room. The girl was laughing together with the boy.

Obi-Wan felt a pang in his heart.

As he stepped out of the room, he slipped his hand into his pocket and took out a warming crystal, deep blue with a star in the centre.

As he looked into the stone, all the memories he'd locked away came flooding back.

---The first time he met her, when she stared at him while she was chewing fruit, showing plainly she disliked him.

---The time they were both captured, when they learned to trust each other and work together. The start of their long friendship.

---The moment when they had both come to the realization that they were as necessary to each other as breathing.

---The day they decided to part with each other. The time when they both realized that they could never be together if they wanted to carry on being Jedi. The sadness he felt in the following years whenever he saw her.

The pain he felt the very moment he lost her.

He'd felt it before he was by her side. He just didn't want to believe it.

She couldn't die.

Just-

Couldn't.

But she did.

That very moment, he felt as if his entire world had collapsed around him. He did not know what living was for, if he had to carry this pain.

For the first time in his life, Obi-Wan Kenobi cried.

That was 3 months ago.

But he also remembers the happy moments he shared with her.

The time when he realized they had the same feelings for each other.

The moments they shared on that fateful mission, protecting a certain boy from bounty hunters.

As he looked into the deep blue warming crystal, he remembers.

Her blue eyes.

The soft touch of her hands.

Her laughter.

Her smile.

She would never leave him.

He smiled even as he fought back the tears forming in his eyes.

Obi-Wan Kenobi had loved Siri Tachi.

He still does.

And he always will.

Forever.