Padmé and Sabé confessed their worries to each other after Obi-Wan and Anakin had left for Jabiim. Padmé claimed she had a bad feeling about it and took Sabé on a detour after the Senate adjourned. A look on the Senate building's computer terminal had told them that Jabiim was a rain-soaked, mud-drenched planet, currently occupied by the Republic Army due to the natives contemplating joining the Separatists.
"This is awful," Padmé commented in a low voice, as she and Sabé read the screen. "How can they possibly fight to their best ability in pouring rain?"
"Not easily I wouldn't have thought. But you're forgetting something. It's Kenobi and Skywalker. The public are already beginning to see them as war heroes."
"Good point. But that doesn't stop the worry does it?"
"Do you think we're foolish, Padmé?" Sabé asked carefully. "For fretting so much over two men who don't feel the way we do?"
Her cousin was silent for a long while before answering, staring at the holo of Jabiim. Then her brown eyes flicked side-to-side, observing how many people stood nearby. Seeing that the number was too many for her liking, she turned to Sabé and said neutrally, "Lets go for a walk."
They strolled in silence out to one of the Senate building's quieter corridors. "Sabé, I'm so sorry to tell you this, it makes me feel so bad, knowing what your situation is, but I can't keep it from you anymore."
"What?"
"Anakin and I…we…are married," Padmé spat out in a hushed tone. "It happened the afternoon after he brought me back to Naboo, after Geonosis. We fell in love while staying at the Varykino Lodge in the Lake Country. Oh Sabé, can you forgive me?"
"For what?"
"Having this fortune when you've loved Obi-Wan far longer than I have Anakin."
To the Senator's surprise, Sabé looked unusually happy. "Padmé, I think it's wonderful!"
"That's just like you. You're far too nice for your own good sometimes, you know that? I can't think–"
"Padmé!" Sabé took her startled friend's hands and gave her a shake. "Don't you see? We're the same, we've always been the same and we still are!"
Padmé stared at her, clearly believing her to have lost her head. "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."
"I can't believe it. After he took you back to Naboo, did you say? That means…at the same time. That's unbelievable!"
"What? What's unbelievable?"
Sabé stopped her frantic stream of comments and smoothed her skirt down. She opened her mouth to speak, but the only thing to come out of it was a short little laugh.
"Padmé to Sabé, please return to Coruscant!" the Senator said in exasperation. "If you don't tell me what in the Gods' names you were talking about, Naberrie, I'll have to pull rank and order you to! Now start making sense!"
"Kenobi," she said, meeting her eyes. "My name is Sabé Kenobi." It was the first time in her entire life that she could remember seeing Padmé's jaw drop.
"No," she whispered. "When?"
"The evening after you went back to Naboo."
Padmé went over everything her cousin had said over the past few minutes, then looked at her with a smile. "That is unbelievable. Who else knows?"
"Saché. That's all. Who knows about you and Anakin?"
"R2 and 3P0. They were there bearing witness. And the priest of course." A thought struck her and she frowned. "Who married you?"
"Oh…Yoda. I forgot about him. He knows too." It took quite a bit of explaining for Padmé to fully understand why Yoda had consented to the Kenobi's marriage.
"So if Obi-Wan is an exception to the rule, do you think Anakin is too?" she asked at length.
Judging by hints that the diminutive Jedi kept giving, Sabé would say not. But how would she tell Padmé that? "I don't know. We didn't talk about him."
"Hmm. Should we tell them? What we've found out, I mean?"
Sabé was torn between loyalty for her best friend and loyalty for her husband. On one hand Padmé was eager to keep her marriage a secret, as it would not do to have the information leak out. On the other hand, Obi-Wan deserved to know what his Padawan was up to. The logical part of her thought pattern worked its way forward, and she was forced to consider the fact that Anakin's knowledge of his Master's nuptials would strongly contradict everything that Obi-Wan had told him about the Jedi Code. She doubted very much that the impulsive Anakin would listen to Yoda's explanation. "No. We should keep it to ourselves. For now at least."
Padmé nodded. "I agree."
"I'm glad everything's out in the open now," Sabé remarked. "We'll understand each other's strange, pining behaviour until they come back."
"Yes. Gods, I hope it's soon. I can't tell you how glad I'll be to see them safe."
Both women kept count of how many days the two had been gone. On the forty-fifth day Padmé found herself called to her apartment's comm unit by an excited C-3P0. "Mistress Padmé! You must come quickly, Master Anakin is waiting to speak to you!"
Padmé leapt to her feet, sending data pads and sheets of flimsi crashing to the floor, and ran past the animated protocol droid. "Ani! You're alright!"
But her husband's face remained sombre. "Hello, Padmé. It's good to see you."
"What's wrong?" she asked at once. "Did we lose Jabiim?"
"Yeah," he sighed. "We lost Jabiim."
"And?"
"At least nine-thousand clone troopers killed."
"And the Jedi?" A horrible feeling of foreboding was starting to swamp her stomach.
Anakin paused far too long for comfort. "All…dead."
"Apart from you."
"Yes."
"And Obi-Wan?" There was another long pause, and Padmé raised a hand to her mouth. "No. No I can't believe it."
"Neither can I. But he's gone."
"How?"
"He and an ARC trooper were helping clone troops escape a fallen walker. They'd just called for backup when it exploded. No survivors, we checked."
"Oh Ani." Much as Padmé felt sorry for herself for losing a friend, she felt sorrier for Anakin for losing a Master. Sympathy, she knew, was going to be wasted on Sabé. It was at this moment she realised that the task of telling would fall on her. As soon as she signed off with Anakin she rose slowly from her chair and turned, hands clenched in agitated worry. The sight of a cloaked figure standing silently in the middle of the room made her jump out of her skin, and she exclaimed, "Saché!"
Saché pulled down her hood, and looked at the Senator with mournful eyes. "I heard," she said. "I heard everything."
"What are we going to do?" Padmé gushed, relieved that she had someone to ask for advice.
"I don't know, Senator."
"This probably isn't the time, but how long have we been friends now? Please call me Padmé."
Saché nodded calmly, and swiftly put the procrastinating politician back on subject. "Who's going to tell her?"
"I will. But you can help. Take Moteé and go and get the droids cleaned up. That way, there'll be nobody else here. Should make it a bit easier. Don't tell them anything that they shouldn't know, only that Obi-Wan is…"
"I understand. What about Captain Typho?"
"Tell him that I'm distressed over the loss of my good friend and I don't want to be disturbed."
"Right. I'll go now and get Moteé." Saché hurried away, and in the space of five minutes the apartment was empty save for the Senator and her assistant.
Sabé came out of her room as the handmaidens bustled 3P0 out of the door, and asked, "Who was that?"
"Saché and Moteé, with the droids," Padmé rattled off. "I need to speak with you, Sabé."
The older woman's brow furrowed, but she nodded. "Ok, what is it?"
"Well…I heard from Anakin a few minutes ago."
Seeing Sabé's face light up was one of the most painful things Padmé had ever observed. "Really? I can't believe you didn't call me in! Where are they? What happened on Jabiim?"
"We lost. Nine-thousand troopers dead, all the Jedi killed." This was proving much harder than Padmé had feared.
"All of them? How did Anakin and Obi-Wan escape?"
Tears were beginning to well up. "An…Ani was called away by Chancellor Palpatine. He wasn't on the planet when the last Padawans died."
"And Obi-Wan?"
"He…he was killed. Almost two weeks ago. They tried to contact us, but nothing could get through. I'm so sorry, Sabé…Sabé?"
But Sabé's mind had gone blank. Her love, her Obi-Wan was dead. There was nothing, only a cold, unfriendly emptiness. Her heart was shattered. There was no-one to love her now. No-one one to keep her feeling safe. No-one to calm and comfort her.
And there was no-one to catch her as she fell, overwhelmed in darkness, to the floor.
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A/N: That's the problem with prequels. We know Obi-Wan isn't really dead, Alec Guinness proves it. However, hopefully it will be interesting for you to read what happens with Sabé : )