𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐧'𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞 ✶ torbin

Prologue

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'I would defy the stars to keep you by my side.'

No one ever plans to fall in love. It's simply something that happens. Some who find themselves falling are too afraid to act on it. Others devote every single flicker of their passion for the rest of their lives. For a Jedi, there is no choice. Love is forbidden. Love is dangerous.

Love breeds attachment and desire, a path tainted with the temptation of the dark side. And when that love is lost, it can ignite a blaze of anger, from which hatred will almost inevitably emerge.

That is why a Jedi must never fall in love. Torbin was not the first to break that oath, nor would he be the last. The young Padawan hadn't anticipated it—hadn't sought it out—but love, nonetheless, had found him.

It came in the form of a girl named Kandra, a fellow youngling in the Jedi Order. Like Torbin, she had been chosen at a tender age, her potential recognized and nurtured under the watchful eyes of the Jedi Masters.

When you're taken from everything you know so young—loosing the only family you've ever known—you look to the people around you to rebuild. It's a natural instinct, not wanting to be alone. Now the Jedi, they are rarely alone. Yet their oaths against emotional attachment might just make them the loneliest in the galaxy.

The other children—younglings—around you become your friends, your brothers and your sisters. They become your new family. Sometimes, against everything they are taught, they become something more.

Against their oaths, Torbin and Kandra had fallen in love, a notion foolish in the eyes of the Jedi. Love made you reckless. It could make you do horrible things. But love, in it's most basic form, is pure. It is full of light and life. For without love, there is nothing good in the galaxy. So how could it be so strictly forbidden?

That is the question young Torbin asked himself many a time when searching for answers. The Force gave him no answers, only more questions. Strange dreams and fleeting feelings. Ever curious are the Jedi, curiosity in love was no exception.

Through years of rigorous training, sparring sessions, and shared lessons in the Force, Kandra and Torbin grew closer—their bond forever strengthening, silently but steadily. Yet, within the sanctity of the Jedi Code, their burgeoning affection was a forbidden ember, flickering quietly but persistently against the backdrop of their sworn duty.

Before long, stolen glances and the brief, electric brush of hands in passing turned into tender confessions shared in the shadowed alcoves of the temple.

Anyone can fall in love—even a Jedi—but nothing quite compares to the affairs of the young. In youth, even the smallest thing can encompass your entire world, and feelings as strong as theirs were no small thing.

They had been sucked into it in it's entirety, drawn to one another so passionately that it felt as though the stars themselves had brought them together. Even when he would meditate he thought of her, hearing her name whispered around him in the Force.

She was more. More than his friend, more than his lover, more even than his oath. She was his lifeline in a galaxy that at times could feel so cold.

As each year came to pass, their secret moments together became the centre of Torbin's universe. The sound of Kandra's laughter was like music, the touch of her hand a solace that no amount of meditation could bring. In her eyes, he found a reflection of the man he wished to be, unbound by the strictures of the Jedi Code, free to embrace his emotions and live fully.

They spoke of dreams and futures that could never be, the weight of their forbidden love weighing heavily upon them, yet neither could imagine a life without the other. In the quiet hours of the night, when the temple was still and the galaxy seemed at peace, they found their own corner of happiness.

But the galaxy is a harsh place, and happiness for a Jedi is often fleeting. Duty called, missions separated them, and the ever-present danger of discovery loomed over their heads. Still, in those rare, stolen moments, they were free—if only for a heartbeat in the vast expanse of time.

If only they knew the harm that love could do...

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