A/N: Here it is folks, the beginning of the Mullet Obi-Wan period : ) (Although I rather like his hair like that)

Here's an interesting thing I found out. (Well I thought it was interesting!) I bought a baby name book the other day because I'm so fed up of sitting for ages thinking of names for characters, (not Star Wars ones obviously, they really do have to be made up), and I came across Mustafa, which is similar to Mustafar, the planet where Anakin and Obi-Wan fight in Sith. I think it's probably pronounced differently, but the spellings are kinda the same. Anyway, it said it was taken from the Arabic word for 'chosen', which I thought was interesting because Anakin is the chosen one. I wonder if that's a coincidence.

Chapter Eighteen – Eight Years of Memories.

Eight long years had passed since the Trade Federation had sent their blockade to orbit Naboo. For eight years Sabé Naberrie had lived a sort of half existence, never feeling happy or sad, not fully alive nor dead, but somewhere in the middle. She was haunted by the feelings she harboured for Obi-Wan Kenobi. Feelings she was only too aware were hopeless. They scared her sometimes with their potency and angered her by the way they preoccupied her time so thoroughly. But mostly, they saddened her. She hadn't expected to fall in love. It had surprised her, hit her hard and left her reeling. She wasn't at all sure how to deal with it properly.

For eight years, Padmé Naberrie Amidala watched her adopted cousin grow quiet and distant. Not even her friend Saché could make her laugh properly anymore. Sabé seemed, on the surface, as she had always been, perhaps a little more sombre than usual. But anyone who knew her well could see the effect that her unrequited love had had upon her.

However, even someone who knew Obi-Wan Kenobi well would never have guessed that this love was not unrequited, that he loved Sabé with all his heart and soul, or that the rules of the Jedi concerning love were a cause of severe heartache to them both. He was a Jedi Knight, in control of his emotions, and nothing would crack the surface of the barriers he had put up to keep all those feelings secret.

For eight years he had been kept very busy training his Padawan, Anakin Skywalker, who was at the difficult age of seventeen. Anakin had recently constructed a lightsabre completely on his own and was constantly unclipping it from his belt to show it off.

One afternoon, when the pair returned from a mission to Ryloth, they found an unexpected message waiting. Obi-Wan opened it and the holographic figure of Padmé Amidala appeared. Although she was still ruler of Naboo, she was not dressed in her formal robes, but the more simple dress of Padmé Naberrie.

"Master Kenobi and Anakin, with this message I'm sending a holo-vid of a celebration we recently held for Eirtaé's wedding. I know Anakin in particular made friends with all my handmaidens and we thought you would both enjoy seeing her get married. I hope you are both keeping well and that we can one day meet again." Padmé's small figured flickered and vanished.

Anakin sat back from where he'd been desperately trying to make out Padmé's face clearly. "That was nice of her." He smiled.

"Yes," Obi-Wan replied quietly. He'd hoped for a holo-message from Sabé, but she only sent letters. Letters that had become a disappointingly rare occurrence.

"Can we watch it?"

"I don't see why not."

He pressed a succession of buttons and an image of the temple in Theed appeared. It was the same temple that had seen Qui-Gon Jinn's cremation, only this time it was brightly lit with coloured lanterns.

"I remember Eirtaé," Anakin said, watching the blonde woman take her vows. "She offered me Yané's sister's hand in marriage as a joke."

"Just as long as it was only a joke," Obi-Wan muttered, searching the image for Sabé. He finally spotted her, hooded, standing behind Queen Amidala.

The holo-vid led them outside into a plaza, where there was a small stage for people to make speeches. The Queen spoke briefly, praising Eirtaé for her services. After the speeches, which Anakin yawned through, there was dancing and singing. Rabé was the first to sing, a ballad about the beauty of Naboo. Finally Sabé was pushed up onto the stage. With a reluctant smile she shed her handmaidens cloak to reveal a simple dress of green. Obi-Wan sat up straighter, faking a stretch to quiet the suspicions in his Padawan, and watched the woman he loved. Her voice was not particularly extraordinary, but the words of her song touched his soul. She sang of dreams and sad remembrance.

Applause drew a smile and a bow from her as she stepped off the podium to allow for one of Eirtaé's friends to sing. The holo-vid ended shortly afterwards, raising Obi-Wan's suspicions that the Queen had simply allowed him to see how Sabé was doing. Perhaps she was aware of how little her cousin contacted him now. He sighed and sat back. Anakin gave him a questioning look.

"It's good to see Naboo still in a state of peace," Obi-Wan said.

"Yeah," the Padawan agreed, standing up. "Can I have a copy of that holo-vid?"

Obi-Wan nodded and was left alone to his own thoughts of the woman he had never forgotten. He wondered, as he had many a time, if she still thought of him in the same way as she had all those years ago and tried not to curse himself for not telling her his feelings. Still, things were probably better the way they were. He would concentrate on training Anakin and he would not be defying the Council. But he could not help but wonder why those thoughts did not comfort him.

Sabé had thought along the same lines and had minimised her communication with him. It had pained her to do so, but she had thought it necessary. However hard she tried to forget, she could not. Obi-Wan was the one she loved. She doubted she would ever love another.

A/N: Longer and more eventful chapters coming up. This was just an opening prologuey type thing to get us into older-more serious- Sabé and older-bearded-Obi-Wan mode.