A/N: Look, a quick update! (Please pick yourselves up from where you've fallen off your chairs in shock.) I thought that to leave you all hanging around after the last chapter would be too cruel, so I worked extra hard to get this one finished quickly. Those of you that have decided to hate me following the previous chapter, I hope this one will help you get over it : ) Don't hurt me, I'm only little.

Chapter Fifty-Eight – The Future In Motion.

Sabé Kenobi was buried in an unmarked grave near Ben Kenobi's home on Tatooine. The former Jedi was finding it difficult to cope with the loss. He had had to deal with the unpleasant task of informing those who knew of Sabé and Saché's survival after the war. Beru and Owen were told, the latter for once letting Ben into the homestead. He may have been strict and wary, but the moisture farmer was not completely cold and did not have the heart to send the distraught man away. Using Beru's address, Ben sent out messages to Bail Organa and Maré. His mother-in-law's letter was particularly hard to write.

After this brief contact with civilisation, Ben returned to his home and was rarely seen after that. He no longer went by the name Obi-Wan. Every time he heard or read it, it reminded him of the last time Sabé had spoken it. Not only that, but Obi-Wan Kenobi was a Jedi. Ben Kenobi did not feel much like one. He did not tap into the Force much following Sabé's death. Nor did he mourn her as a Jedi. She deserved more than to be passed over and forgotten about quickly, as a Jedi with no attachments should. She had worked too hard, suffered too much for that kind of treatment.

He visited the Lars homestead every day, always unseen. It was for Luke's sake that she had died. Ben checked on the boy often, determined that Sabé would not have died in vain.

It was several months, perhaps even years before Ben used the Force again. He tried light meditation, a simple and easy way in. Qui-Gon, however, was not going to let him off easily. He appeared almost at once, half standing, half floating above the sand. "You need not explain yourself to me, Padawan," the Jedi's blue spirit began, using the affectionate name as Master to former-student. "I know everything that has happened. But neglecting the Force was not the way out."

"Please don't lecture me, Master."

"I'm not here to lecture you."

"Why didn't you warn me?" Ben snapped suddenly. "You must have known it would happen."

"You know full well that I could not. To tell you the future is to disrupt time."

Something occurred to Ben and he glanced up at his Master's ghost. "Master, are you aware of her? Of her spirit?"

"No," Qui-Gon answered truthfully. "I'm sorry. Nor am I aware of Mara."

"Does Master Yoda know?"

"I have told him everything."

Ben sighed. "Did you mention that I turned into a complete wreck? I'm sure he regrets allowing me to flout the Jedi rules."

Qui-Gon's translucent figure smiled gently. "A lesser man would have crumbled completely. You've always been strong."

"It's all my fault. I should never have left her alone. If I had been there–"

"You might have been killed too. To take on Vader and the Emperor at once is not your task," Qui-Gon told him in gentle tones. "You know this. Your place is here, as is your responsibility. The fault is not yours, nor hers."

"But I miss her," he whispered. "I feel as if a light has gone out in the galaxy, in my life. I miss them both. Sometimes I wish I had died with them."

"I know," Qui-Gon said simply. "But you will heal from this. Trust me, old friend. You have more to do in this galaxy before your time is done."

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Sabé was neither awake nor asleep. She was floating, surrounded by light. It was white, the brightest white she had ever seen. Wispy white clouds wrapped around her, luminous and misty and cool. She felt tugged in two directions at once. She could not explain it. She felt as if she had been here forever.

Moving on instinct she glanced below her feet, convinced she was standing on nothing. This indeed proved to be the case, but she did not seem to weigh anything. She drifted downwards, the light growing dimmer the lower she went. She found she could control her direction. She simply floated where she wished to go. It was rather like moving underwater. It had the same ethereal quality, the same ever-graceful movements.

As she descended, memories came back to her one by one. She remembered her life and her death. She remembered friends passed on, her adoptive cousin Padmé, her dear and loyal friend Saché. She remembered the way her daughter had been stolen from her. She remembered her husband.

"Obi-Wan." She was unsure if she could talk and the name came out as a whisper, light as summer breeze.

Something, she was not sure what, informed her of his life without her. She knew how he had grieved for her, how he had forsaken the Force and his true name. She was plagued by guilt. She wondered how it could be that she was recalling all this when she had died. She wasn't even sure how long she had been dead.

Something was definitely pulling her downwards, not just her own movements. It did not take her long to realise that it was words, a phrase from the realm of the living.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi…Obi-Wan. Now that's a name I've not heard in a long time…a long time."

The voice was familiar and yet not. Sabé was curious as to who could be speaking about her husband. Her curiosity burned a hole in the remaining mist and she saw a clear scene before her. She was on Tatooine, somewhere in the Jundland Wastes if her memory served. A young man faced her, speaking to another figure, perched on a rock.

She could not help smiling as she recognised the man as Luke Skywalker. He had grown up to be a sensible lad, good looking in a boyish way and most definitely Anakin's son. But it was not he who had spoken that phrase.

Sabé moved around to see the other man, instinctively knowing that she could not be seen. It was Obi-Wan himself, older but recognisable. Sabé did not find it as much of a shock as she had thought she would, seeing him with white hair and a face that was more haggard and worn. When he looked up, his crystal azure eyes were exactly as she remembered.

"I think my uncle knows him," Luke said, breaking her reflections. "He said he was dead."

Owen, Sabé thought. He's become paranoid in his old age.

Ben Kenobi chuckled. "Oh he's not dead. Not yet."

"You know him?"

"Well of course I know him. He's me."

Sabé smiled to see the look on Luke's face. Judging by both men's appearances she'd been in her stasis for about twenty years. She wondered just how much the galaxy had changed in that time.

She sensed a figure beside her and turned. "Master Qui-Gon," she greeted, surprised.

"Hello, Sabé. I've been waiting a long time to speak to you."

"What's happened to me?" she asked. "I know I died, I remember it clear as day."

"You became much like your cousin."

"Padmé?"

"You could not cross over, same as she."

Sabé glanced at the Jedi Master's ghost. He did not appear translucent blue to her, but as real as Obi-Wan and Luke. "Have I been haunting somewhere?"

He smiled. "No. If you had been, you would remember it. You were caught between life and afterlife. You did not deserve to die that day."

"How long have I been dead?"

"Nearly seventeen standard years."

Sabé raised an eyebrow. "The Empire?"

"Still flourishing, I'm afraid. But so is the rebellion. I feel the Empire does not have many more years left."

Obi-Wan interrupted their conversation. "I haven't gone by the name of Obi-Wan since, oh, before you were born."

Sabé turned to Qui-Gon. "Has he forgotten the true timing?" she asked. "Or is he trying to avoid complicated explanations?"

"My former apprentice may have grown older, Sabé, but he's not senile," Qui-Gon said smiling. "He has forgotten nothing, least of all the last time he went by the name of Obi-Wan."

"Well then, the droid does belong to you," Luke said, getting to his feet.

It was only then that Sabé noticed the blue and white astromech droid that stood nearby. "That's R2-D2!" she exclaimed.

"I don't seem to remember ever owning a droid." Obi-Wan frowned. "Very interesting." It was clear by the expression on his face that he did indeed recognise the little robot.

There came an echoing growl across the rock valley that caused the two living figures to look up. The spirit couple exchanged a glance. "You needn't worry," Qui-Gon reassured her, "he's still as sharp as he ever was."

"I think we'd better get indoors," Obi-Wan announced, almost on cue. "The Sand People are easily startled but they'll soon be back and in greater numbers." He turned to walk back to a landspeeder parked nearby, but Luke had other plans.

Something important had just occurred to him. "3P0!" He darted off around a corner.

Obi-Wan looked at R2. "Wait here."

The droid beeped at him in a decided tone and rolled forward.

"He has still got the memory wipe, hasn't he?"

R2 bleeped affirmative and Obi-Wan nodded before hurrying after Luke.

Sabé looked over at Qui-Gon. "Why have I come back at this moment?"

The Jedi Master met her gaze. "This is the beginning of an important development. I had a feeling you might be present to witness it with me."

"I have so many questions."

He nodded. "Understandable. Before you ask any, however, I must tell you that Saché is at peace with her husband."

Sabé smiled. "I'm glad. She deserves it. Who else has passed over since I was alive?"

"Sadly, a number of people. Your mother passed away about ten years ago."

"What happened?"

"An illness, unpreventable. Breha Organa died fifteen years ago. Ruwee Naberrie about three years ago and General Panaka just last year. Queen Apailana was assassinated by the Empire, she was under suspicion of helping the Rebel Alliance."

Sabé took all this in with a surprising amount of composure. She had thought that hearing of friends passed would upset her, but she found herself understanding. "What about Master Yoda and Bail Organa?"

"Both alive and well."

"What about Leia?" Something even more important struck her and she asked, "Mara? My daughter! How is she?"

Qui-Gon took his time in answering her, looking over at where Obi-Wan and Luke were picking up the pieces of C-3P0. She knew then that it was bad. "Leia is well, as you will soon see. She entered the Senate last year as the youngest Senator on record so far. She's certainly her mother's daughter." He paused. "Mara is well too."

"But Palpatine, he took her from me!" Sabé did not bother to curb her anger.

"He has taken care of her. It is surprising, perhaps, but he does have his reasons."

"What reasons?"

"She's very strong in the Force."

Sabé narrowed her eyes. "So he wants to use her for his own ends."

"He has trained her. Trained her well."

"But she does his bidding?"

Qui-Gon nodded with a sigh. "Yes."

"She's so young," Sabé muttered. "I can't believe that she would have become…like Vader."

"She is not like Vader. She's not Sith, but nor is she a Jedi. In time she will realise that she is not truly dark."

Sabé looked up at him in hope. "She'll join the light side again?"

The wise Jedi nodded. "I believe she will. In time."

From around the outcrop of rock, Obi-Wan and Luke appeared, carrying 3P0 with them. Several of his limbs were separated from his metal torso. Sabé once more turned to her guide as something else occurred to her. "How much of the future do you know? You've mentioned some things to me but not others. Why should anything have to be kept from me? Especially now."

Qui-Gon glanced down at her. "The Force is a most meticulous mistress," he said lightly. "She only reveals what she wishes."

"I see. So it is the will of the Force that has brought me back in this form?"

"Yes. For some reason of her own, I presume. One thing I can promise you is that all will become clear."

"But not until the time is right?" Sabé supplied. "I'm starting to see how these things go."

Qui-Gon smiled and turned back to watch his former apprentice trying to bundle the droids into Luke's landspeeder. "Fate is a tangle of threads that must come together to form a picture," he said. "Many of the threads are moving. They are drawing in."

Sabé nodded once, thoughtful. Then she gave him a sideward glance. "Is it part of your territory to be so enigmatic?"

He chuckled. "It was the best metaphor I could come up with. But come, they are moving. We should too if we want to see what is going on."

Sabé never knew how it was that they managed to follow the speeder, but somehow they had made it to Obi-Wan's home. It had changed somewhat since Sabé had last been there, but she had been expecting that. Obi-Wan, Luke and the droids disappeared inside while she surveyed the house, remembering various times she had come home to it. Qui-Gon watched silently, allowing her a moment of reflection. It was ironic, she thought to herself, how he had ended up her mentor now.

Eventually, she was ready to go inside and he looked up expectantly. "I have another question," she said. "Why can't we be seen?"

"We can only be seen when we want to be. Or when the Force decides it."

"How will I know when I want to be seen?"

"I will teach you that. For now, we're just observers. Obi-Wan is not ready to see you yet."

Sabé took in this potentially hurtful remark with acceptance. It did sting her a little to hear the words, but inside she knew that if it had been the other way around, to see the ghost of a spouse nearly twenty years passed would be a bit of a shock. She inclined her head and followed Qui-Gon, drifting through the closed door.

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A/N: I'm really not sure at all how people will like this development, so I'll be interested to read your reviews. Hope you stick with me.