𝕮𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗢𝗡𝗘
━━ 𝘼 𝙉𝙀𝙒 𝙈𝙄𝙎𝙎𝙄𝙊𝙉

Selyn Val'aeon is a force to be reckoned with. And she knows it.

It is what drives her out into the temple each morning to practice in solitude; a lonely figure standing in a sanctuary of sky-high pillars with the first golden rays of sunlight falling through tall windows – the training room in the Jedi temple lies vast, it is too early for any other padawans to be up yet.

A girl, eighteen years old, with platin blonde hair and blue eyes – feet are in a wide, relaxed stance of a warrior that trusts in their own strength - as she lowers her head, focusing on the force humming around her and the guidance of her ancestors, the very essence of her culture, of her home. A fragment she had taken with her and refuses to let go. 

Najih. Zar'rez. At'naay.

Words older than she will ever know, passed on from generation to generation by the people on her homeplanet Crylles.

Birth. Fire. Destruction.

Words that provide guidance, a mantra – and conflict.

Selyn exhales slowly, balancing the lightsaber in her hands at the height of her stomach. Her fingers tighten around the hilt, feeling the wood and the golden ornaments and the warm presence of her kyber crystal, slumbering between her palms and now flickering with warmth as she closes her eyes.

A sunlight-colored blade cuts through the air from the right side of the saber, sizzling with electricity.

Selyn opens her eyes again.

Another plasma blade awakens to life on her left side, balancing the weapon perfectly - two slim rays of golden fire with Selyn in the centre.

Inhale. Najih. Birth.

Her right leg lunges forward, slowly and controlled, and her saber hums as it moves through the air.

Exhale. Zar'rez. Fire.

Another step, faster this time, her feet light like feathers over the chestnut marble floor of the temple. Selyn's platin blonde hair floats around her, blue eyes locked on the opposite wall as she turns and jumps. Again.

Inhale. At'naay. Destruction.

She reaches for the force, for what's deep inside her, eyelids falling closed again, searching for the seething flame that flickers in her chest. It is well-tamed that flame, a product of her masters gentle teaching and patience.

The fire warms her ribcage, orange and golden flames caressing her cheek as she lets it grow more untamed, let's it breathe and fill her with it's energy.

Heat boils in her centre, and she whirls around, eyes still closed, but more powerful this time. Selyn tilts her head to the side, listening to what the force whispers in her ear, trusting in her surroundings, small flames and blurred lines of honey-colored light everywhere.

She doesn't need her eyesight as she starts moving, flying through a pattern of steps, her golden twin blades burning through the air, blocking, striking, attacking. Hitting enemies right in the centre and moving on to the next in the following heartbeat.

Najih. Zar'rez. At'naay.

Selyn's lightsaber forms a cocoon of fiery light around her, as she picks up even more pace, her motions elegant and smooth, a well-known choreography - she won't even trip, doesn't allow herself to. A girl like a hurricane, whirling and dodging and jumping as high as she can. Between the high pillars of the jedi temple she becomes an inferno of a warrior, pushing herself further and further, reaching for the extreme.

Birth. Fire. Destruction.

The flames inside her grows and she allows them to - it is a dangerous balance between using their power and letting them take over. For Selyn, the force is fire. Raw, untamed, hungry fire at first, but she can mold it, control it, use it for whatever she needs.

She jumps, higher this time, her feet leaving the ground entirely. And for a second she is weightless, high in the sky and floating on her back, the hand with her lightsaber behind her spine, the other arm outstretched and head turned to the right. The force is all around her and so are her ancerstor's words as she becomes one with this cosmic energy lighting up her mind, blazing infinity and the fire stars are made of, first rays of dawn on a face tormented by night's shadows.

Selyn pivots to the right, sending all her will into landing on the ground again with both feet and completing half a turn.

The force is vibrant around her, humming with power, in a duet with her thrumming heartbeat and it is so easy to reach for it, to let it push her further, higher, faster.

Najih.

She exhales again, sweat glistening to her forehead and her motion slows down.

Zar'rez.

Inhale. The fire grows smaller, softer, and the heat vanishes from her limbs, the flames fade from before her eyes.

At'naay.

One final push, elegant and powerful. Her right hand stays in hovering in the air before her hips as both feet hit the ground.

And the golden light vanishes, leaving Selyn standing in the centre of the training room, breathing heavily, but smiling.

The morning sun still shines through the high windows, enhancing the dust particles floating in the air and making it seem like she is surrounded by a stream of tiny golden lights. Selyn feels the warmth on her face and arms, she senses the Jedi slowly waking up now, and she hears the little fountain murmuring quietly at the back of the training room.

"Selyn?"

Her head whips around, finding a boy standing a few metres apart, back leaned against a pillar.

She recognizes the golden hair, the padawan braid over his right shoulder, the amethyst eyes glowing in the sunlight.

"Anakin." she tilts her head. "Are you up for a training fight?" For some reason she has set her mind on being better than Anakin Skywalker, mentally declaring to compete with him in every way possible, and she is not afraid of letting him see that.

The chosen one. His title is already challenge enough for her.

He shakes his head. "You should give yourself some rest. You've been training all morning."

"I didn't realize you were that worried about my well-being."

His cheeks flush as she raises an eyebrow, approaching him.

"It looks good though," Anakin says after a few seconds, clearly trying to break the silence. He shrugs towards her hands and the saber in them. "Your fighting."

"Thanks," she replies, oddly surprised by his compliment. Their rivalry – even though it comes rather from Selyn's side, is well known by both their masters by now as well. "Wait, have you been watching the entire time?"

"No, of course not. I-"Again, slight redness creeps up his cheeks, but before he has a chance to explain himself another voice echoes from behind them.

"Selyn? Anakin?"

Selyn turns around to find Nadia Vandaar, her master walking towards them, her brown hair already braided neatly around her head.

To Selyn Nadia is the most beautiful woman she has ever seen. Not only because of her kind, pretty smile which always glow so softly, so warmly, or because of her delicate, trained figure or the elegant way she moves. It is because she is the softest strength to exist in this world, a gentle goddess descended from whichever heaven she came from to grace this universe. A power of nature, she is the warm wind singing in green leaves, the bright amethyst water murmuring under a roof of emerald trees, she is summer rain cooling down hot, dry earth. 

For Selyn Nadia is more than just her mentor – she is her friend, maybe even an older sister to her. She means home for a young padawan that is so scared by this wide world, a warm hand squeezing her shoulder reassuringly. She is calm, she is peace, and she is unyielding strength.

And that strength is even amplified by a small piece of leather that covers Nadia's eyes from time to time – eyes that are unseeing and whose irises are blurred with milky white. It's not to hide her blindness, Nadia says, on the contrary: she wears it proudly, like a battle scar. And Selyn had never thought of it as a disadvantage – because Nadia was blind, she could see even more than others sometimes.

"Look at me, Selyn," Nadia had said when they had met for the first time. "People pity me for being blind. But what they don't know is that despite my disadvantage I'm still able to see more beauty in this world than they do. And do you know why that is?"

Selyn had shaken her head, and Nadia had taken her hands in hers.

"It's because they can't open their heart. And I would choose being blind a million times over their fate. It must be truly, truly horrible not to be able to see with your heart."

And so Nadia had taught her how she sensed the world, how she navigated it and in return Selyn had helped her envision the world as she saw it.

It is a beautiful trade, and Selyn feels as if it binds them closer together than other padawans and their masters. 

"Good morning!" Nadia's lips part into a bright smile as she stretches out her hands towards the two padawans. "Has Anakin not told you?" she asks Selyn. "The council is awaiting us."

"Nope, he hasn't," Selyn answers, lining up next to her master as they make their way through the corridors. The Jedi temple lies still quiet, and outside the wide windows she can see Coruscant lit by the first rays of sun. "But why?"

Nadia winks, gesturing Anakin to follow them. "Looks like they have a mission for us."

"Oh." Excitement spreads in Selyn's chest and her eyes light up, eager to prove herself. "With him?" She points with her thumb at Anakin.

"Yes, with me," he answers before Nadia does. Since Selyn has chosen him to be her personal rival in order to push herself further, he has become more bold in her presence from time to time as if to challenge her ambition even more.

Nadia seems to have sensed the arising tension between the two padawans, and so she adds softly: "Me and Master Kenobi have been chosen on a mission, and so we are going to bring both our padawans."

"Where to?" Selyn asks eagerly, briefly glancing at Anakin who seems just as curious as her.

"I guess we will find out," a new voice answers her question. Obi-Wan Kenobi waits a few metres apart from them, arms crossed as he surveys the trio. His auburn hair has grown longer since Selyn has seen him last, and with his light brown robes he looks like the embodiment of a perfect Jedi, radiating pure wisdom and strength. "Shall we?"

Nadia beams at him. "We shall."

What a beautiful couple these two would be, Selyn thinks as she watches hers and Anakin's master. What a shame that Nadia probably never will form an attachment like this after everything that has happened in her past – Selyn knows how hesitant she had been on taking her as a padawan in the first place and committing fully to another person again.

And there probably would never be someone who could ever bewitch the Obi-Wan Kenobi enough to screw the Jedi code.

Selyn abandons the childish thought, straightening her posture and doing her best to look confident as they cross the hall leading to the elevator towards the council chamber. Four pairs of boots sink into the crimson carpet and their quiet conversation echoes throughout the wide ceiling. The sand-colored, circular pillars reach up high above them, and the peaceful aura of the temple envelops Selyn tightly, putting her mind at rest. In moments like these she truly understands why the temple is a sacred place – it is a concentration of the light side, of bright sunlight and the smell of old books, of muffled conversations and knowledge.

Is it a home though?

Home for a five-year-old child with wide frightened eyes? Stripped away from her parents, from the only home she has ever known before?

It is not. But as Selyn walks next to her master, feeling her calm aura wash over her like a gentle stream of warm water she once again realizes that it was Nadia all this time since she became her padawan that has filled this place with light and love for her.

Attachments are forbidden, Selyn knows it and so does Nadia. But her master doesn't let this stop her from tightly holding her young padawan's hand as they enter the surface of an unknown planer for the first time, or from gently stroking her hair in reassurance after a devastating training session with the others that has left Selyn only with the burning desire to be better than the others, to beat every single one of them.

Sometimes, Nadia has said upon Selyn asking her about attachments and their place in the Jedi order, attachments are the only thing that make it worth fighting for. Sometimes they are the only thing that let you overcome the fear and stand strong.

Selyn knows the sadness that accompanied Nadia's words back then all too well now, she has seen her master's eyes stained with it too often.

But Nadia's smile is bright and warm as she turns to Selyn in the elevator now, touching her hand reassuringly as the cabin shoots up into the bright blue sky. She looks like the jedi Selyn aspires to be, the perfect embodiment of the living force.

Anakin and Obi-Wan to their right stand quietly, the auburn haired man's hands are folded before his belt as he shortly glances towards his padawan while Coruscant's landscape of glistening glass and grey metal vanishes more and more, giving space to the endless blue as they rise higher.

The elevator comes to a halt, shuddering gently as it reaches the highest floor. Selyn swallows, trying to conceal her excitement as the doors open, revealing the council chamber and it's members awaiting them.

✧･ﾟ:* 𝕬𝘜𝘛𝘏𝘖𝘙'𝘚  𝘕𝘖𝘛𝘌 *:･ﾟ✧

hey hey HEYYY

welcome to another epic of lola stays up too damn late to keep up with her updating schedule!

but here we go, chapter oneee!! i hope it was a nice introduction to selyns character as well as her relationship to anakin and her master! please tell me what u think i'd love to hear your thoughts as always 💗

very excited to get this really going, next week we start with the mission and plot n stuff so yesss stay tuned! 🤩

thank you so so much for reading and for giving this book a chance, i hope you will enjoy!! 🥺❤️

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