𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐔𝐄
༉ ‧₊˚✧ ─────
written in the stars

( ❝ — some consequence, yet hanging in
the stars, shall bitterly begin — ❞ )

༉ ‧₊˚✧

She was so close. She could feel it.

She could feel the hands of the Force becoming more insistent, urging her on through the unforgiving desert.

The fickle wind grasped at handfuls of sand and tossed the grains around in an oddly mesmerising dance, before tiring of its games and pelting the sand mercilessly into the travellers' faces.

But Kaia, all of eight years old, pressed on after Qui-Gon and Padmé — both of whom she had formed an immense respect for over the course of this disaster — through the pitiful excuse for a town. Because she had to get there. She had to.

Kaia didn't exactly know where 'there' was. But something, something was waiting for her on the other side of this string.

It was the strings that pulled her to come along in the first place; tugging at the the corners of her consciousness, whispering honeyed, enticing words in her ears. So she had reached out in the Force, and felt the string, the connection, and made the decision to follow it.

Leyla had told her it was a bad idea. But Leyla always said that and it only made Kaia more eager to go. Now, she was beginning to think her friend was right. Of course, she'd never admit that. She could only deal with so many I told you so's in a week.

So, heedless of Leyla and Carlo's hissed reproaches, she had slipped into the shadows and followed the string onto Master Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan's ship.

It was right. It had to be. She had never felt so sure about anything in her life.

Whilst curled up in a compartment, she had reached out through the Force with intangible, ghostly fingers and made contact with the connection, a warmth spreading through her as she did. Kaia had noticed many of these connections in her life and they always had a specific feeling she could never describe.

This particular one conjured in her mind aquamarine blues and emerald greens, lakes sparkling like azure diamonds, cities of domes and pillars perched on chalky cliffs, sprawling lazily between luscious forests and jade-carpeted plains. It was made of cerulean water and sapphire skies, golden temples, wisdom and peace.

It all made sense when she got to Naboo. The string had been guiding her towards her home planet in all its picturesque glory.

Kaia had been grateful to the Force for that. Despite the quickly spiralling mess she had got herself into, she seized the opportunity to gather her home planet's beauty and elegance into her memory. She barely had any previous memories of her home — she had been taken when she had not yet seen five summers.

Kaia had swiftly discovered the strings between herself and her new companions.

Padmé's string was crushed velvet and silken stars, it was small smiles across rooms and hand squeezes obscured by dresses. It was wisdom and courage and kindness. Kaia couldn't fathom why she was so connected to the handmaiden but she embraced their blossoming friendship with a hopeful heart.

Obi-Wan's string was delicate but immensely sturdy, made of pure silver. It was spun from comfort, from rare embraces at difficult times, affectionate eye rolls, sarcastic remarks bounced back and forth. It felt like a bond which could never be broken, no matter what was to come. It was security and pain and solace and family. Like home. Kaia hoped he would one day become her master.

Qui-Gon's string was strange. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something was wrong. The bond was much weaker than the others, as if it was fading into the Force from which it came. But despite that, it still made her think of warm smiles, and sunlight filtering through trees at the solstice of winter. It was the thrill of doing something wrong, but also the peace of finding someone you're truly comfortable with. If she could remember her father, Kaia thought, that would be what he felt like.

Currently, though, as she trekked through the harsh landscape of Tatooine, she was seeking the other end of the strongest bond of them all.

It was made of pure golden light, blazing and powerful, hot to the touch but enticing her to touch it again. It felt like sparks against the night sky, of pure joy and chaos, of laughter echoing down silent hallways. The incandescent glow was almost blinding, but to Kaia, it felt like home.

It felt like catching someone's gaze from across the room and smothering a laugh at inappropriate times. It was running hand-in-hand away from authority, bursts of laughter tumbling from lips.

It felt like knowing someone, their hopes, their dreams, their fears, so completely and perfectly that it seemed you knew them better than yourself. It felt like stolen glances and secret smiles. It was lying on the grass, pretending to stare at the stars, but instead watching the other soul with a soft smile. It was clutching a hand in a death grip when they were injured. It was being perfectly at peace with each other's company.

It was loving someone so much it hurt.

Of course, Kaia only realised all this in hindsight. Whilst she was still eight years old, all she could discern was that whoever was on the other side of this bond was Important — with a capital I.

Qui-Gon halted abruptly, and Kaia slammed right into him. He tilted his head, warm coffee eyes analysing the possible routes.

Kaia brushed her golden-brown curls out of tired eyes, then made a split-second impulse decision (something she was very skilled at).

"Master Qui-Gon? I think we should go that way." She extended a finger as she spoke, words rushing out faster than she meant to, tumbling over each other in a waterfall in order to be heard.

Qui-Gon raised an eyebrow and stared at her for a few moments, and Kaia got the sensation he was staring into her soul. "Do you sense something, young one?"

"Mhm," she hummed. "Something important." She didn't elaborate. When she had tried to explain the fantastical way she felt the strings and bonds connecting everything to her soul through the living Force, Leyla and Carlonn had shared a glance and brushed it off, claiming it was a strange idea, and impossible. It sometimes irked Kaia how fact-orientated her two friends were.

Azira had just scoffed and told Kaia to get her head checked out. That was Azira for you. Kaia had payed no heed to her friend's coarse nature. Theo had merely looked at her with sympathy pooling in his inky eyes. Perhaps he believed her, but he didn't say anything.

So she never bothered telling anyone else about the connections. But she had to reach the other end. She had to. Kaia could feel the burdensome weight of the galaxy resting on her slender shoulders.

Qui-Gon watched her for another moment that stretched into forever. It felt like a lifetime before he said, "Alright. I trust your judgement, Kaia. Lead the way." He motioned a hand towards the right fork in the road and Kaia suddenly got the impression that something else was gesturing in that direction too, something callous and casually cruel.

She shivered at the feeling, but continued. Meanwhile, the Fates and the Force watched on, anticipation building and building and building—

"Here." Kaia drew to a halt outside a junk shop, a shop much like the hundred other lining the dusty path. Tremors shook her small hands and her heart began to accelerate — she was here, finally nearing the end of the blazing gold string.

The raggedy group crossed the threshold.

Now they could never go back.

Qui-Gon and Padmé left to talk to the owner, a strange little winged creature that was the colour of spoiled blue milk. Jar Jar, meanwhile, began to fiddle with a droid head coated in rust.

Kaia swiftly made her way to the centre, eyes of blue-grey crystal scanning the room, searching desperately for some kind of sign.

She reached out with trembling immaterial fingers, gently searching for the string of light, trying to find the end.

Kaia looked up.

Her own silvery eyes locked with a pair of sapphire ones.

The Fates watched, holding their breaths, wicked grins sliding across misshapen features.

The boy spoke, stunned.

"It's you. You're the one."

And the Fates' cackles reached a crescendo as the two who would destroy the galaxy shared their first fleeting moments together.

They had doomed themselves.

༉ ‧₊˚✧ ─────

Kaia felt like impossibly heavy weights were pressing down on her in all directions. She had known heartbreak before, but never like this. Nothing like this crushing, leaden hopelessness that she do would do anything to never feel again.

She had felt it the moment Master Qui-Gon died; the moment their bond made of winter warmth and fatherly smiles was severed so harshly.

It had been cut, broken, cleaved so easily by a pair of shimmering shears made of stars as the Fates began their cull.

Kaia was curled up in a corner of the Naboo temple, listening to the guests from the funeral leaving. Her first funeral. She had hated it. It felt impolite to openly cry in the deathly silence filled with nothing but the crackling flames, so she held her emotions in. She kept them in a tight death-grip lest they overflow and pour down her cheeks in floods of pearly tears.

Qui-Gon had always been her role-model. She had idolised him and his disregard for the Jedi Code. She thought he was so courageous and daring, and admired how he always did what he felt was right. Kaia had always had a penchant for rule-breaking herself and found him to be a like soul.

Now she had properly got to know him, he was so much more. Stoic, but kind. Wise, but mischievous. Brisk, but so very gentle.

It hurt. So much.

As Kaia sat numbly, huddled in her corner, she was dimly aware of someone sitting down beside her. Some part of her consciousness recognised the blazing light of Anakin's presence.

"Mind if I join you?" His question was tinged with a deep sadness, and the desire to not be alone.

"Course." Kaia's voice was rough from lack of use, but she only needed to speak one word. In the past few days, Anakin and Kaia had discovered they understood each other perfectly.

Kaia could tell he missed his mother deeply. She could sense how heart ached through their bond, which felt much colder to the touch. Anakin had said space felt cold. Kaia supposed death felt cold too.

"He'd be proud of you, you know. Of both of us." Anakin's bright blue eyes were filled with earnestness and pain and hope, and suddenly Kaia felt a little better knowing that he was here.

"Yeah. Thanks." Her voice was a whisper, only for the two of them to hear. A tiny smile began to pull at her lips — tiny but with the force of a thousand blazing suns. "We did pretty good, don't you think?"

Anakin mirrored her smile. "We made a good team. We should stick together."

And Kaia had every intention to. His companionship had brought her laughter and comfort and joy to the past few days, a real, true friendship. She had never been more grateful to call someone her friend.

"Speaking of which, did the Council allow you to be trained?" She sat up slightly in anticipation for the question they had wanted the answer to for a while now.

Mischief and wildness crept in to Anakin's toothy grin. She found his smile captivating, in the same way she watched the sunlight sparkle off the Naboo lakes or the stars scattered across velvety skies like diamonds.

"Obi-Wan is going to train me as his Padawan. I'm a Jedi now!" His hand brushed his hair, evidently reluctant about the inevitable cut.

Kaia's own grin grew, a hint of her usual carefreeness slipping onto her face. She felt a twinge of jealousy — she had wanted Obi-Wan to be her Master — but she swiftly shook it off. She wasn't usually the jealous type and she was too overjoyed for Anakin to care.

"That's fantastic! I guess I'll be seeing a lot more of you now." Her smile pulled up on one side, morphing into a smirk. She was so happy for him. They had become inseparable and was glad to keep her new best friend.

"Yep," he said, popping the P. "I'm your problem now. I'll always be here. Foreverrrr." He drew out the sound in a joking manner, accompanied with an amusing expression and a teasing poke.

Kaia began to laugh, a pure, melodic sound, and Anakin couldn't help but marvel at the sheer joy her laugh exuded despite the heartbreak that weighed her down. "And always?" She added, an amused glint in her eyes.

His smile softened. "And always," he whispered, unaware of the weight of the promise he had set in stone.

༉ ‧₊˚✧ ─────

( CATE SPEAKS ! )

༉ ‧₊˚✧

hey lovelies! how are you all doing?

the prologue was more of a set up of the themes and plot as opposed to characters, but don't worry, we'll get to see anakin and kaia in their full chaotic glory in the coming chapters.

so someone from the discord server (update: it was the lovely emma) sent the link to this incorrect quotes generator ages ago, and obviously i spent hours doing that instead of writing, so i'm putting one at the end of every chapter because why not.

behold
an actual conversation from their teenage years
they literally stole anakin

anyways, this book will be on a semi-hiatus since i go back to school next week and i want to focus on that. i might update randomly if i feel like it lmao, but there's a chance i won't update for at least a month.

oh well, hope everyone else who's starting/has already started school is doing alright.
love y'all.