I don't want to argue, just discuss, so feel free to ignore. I think Obi-Wan and Satine's thing happening at 15 makes perfect sense. They'd be each other's 'first' so important as nostalgic reminders, childhood friends. But not the True Love, Epic Romance, Destined Soulmates that fandom has somehow made them? It would make sense that 15yr old Obi-Wan would want to leave for her (especially if his relationship with Qui-Gon was bad), but Master Kenobi wouldn't.
I mean, obviously, this means we need to fight to the death in the Fandom Arena of Superiority ;)
So the way I feel about it is this - maybe a 15-year-old Obi-wan Kenobi was fed up with Qui-gon (To be fair, I think a 15-year-old-anybody would have been fed up with Qui-gon “Prophecy” Jinn. But I digress...) And maybe a 15-year-old Obi-wan Kenobi would be looking for an excuse to get out. I mean, adolescence sucks, adults are perpetually uncool, and long-term planning isn’t always a thing. But the proclamation adult, Jedi Master Obi-wan makes is telling:
If this were a nostalgic “oh, she was my first serious crush/love/relationship”-type thing, I doubt he would have admitted this in such terms in the Mandalore arc. Padawan Obi-wan, from what we can tell, adhered to the Code (possibly to spite Qui-gon, but he still stuck to it.) For him to reaffirm, in his late-30s, that he would have left the Order for Satine - this is a huge confession. And evidence of something a lot deeper (even if misplaced through the hazy lens of nostalgia) than a teenaged infatuation.
Add to this the fact that Qui-gon makes no reference to this at all in “Master and Apprentice” (and Claudia Grey had to know the backstory, even if the book was far more a Qui-gon-centered novel than an Obi-wan one. Which...come to think of it, we get very few novels that are directly Obi-wan’s POV. John Jackson Miller’s tale is one (and a damned good one). Parts of “Siege” and “Gambit” also count. He’s a slippery one, our Obes.)
Qui-gon is not the type of person to let hypocrisy go to waste. He totally would have dragged Obi-wan over this despite whatever mysterious being on Felucia Rael had been referring to in the book.
And I just think...Obi-wan’s a pretty well-balanced Jedi, on the whole. He’s elected to the Council at an extraordinarily young age, is a General, is basically a trusted moral figure within the Order. Yes, he’s certainly hiding things (and emotions), but for him to cross so many boundaries with someone not even closely affiliated with the Order (or the Republic), it makes sense to me that it had to be a little more recent than being fifteen.
After all, Qui-gon does eventually bring it up when he and Obes are on Naboo with Padmé in the midst of TPM:
(via Queen’s Peril)
I feel like Qui-gon wouldn’t have brought that up unless it was relatively recent. And a 20-23 year-old Obi-wan getting involved with Satine just - to me - makes a lot more sense than a 15-year-old.