gentle readers, you are currently reading the ballad of . . .

𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓 &&. 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒖𝒏

( a tale favoured by the gods )

MEGARA: You love the light ( obi-wan ) so much?

AMPHITRYION ( illyria ): I do, I love its hopes.

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✧.*  ILLYRIA . . .

✮⋆˙ OBI-WAN . . .

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YOUR FAITH WILL SAVE YOU.

These words have been uttered by every Corellian preacher and priests Illyria has heard, and then by her eldest brother when he became one ( a thoroughly calculated placement, courtesy of their father ). Her faith will save her, they say. Her faith will lead her to the path of the righteous, avoid the damnation of the Nine Corellian Hells, and immortalise her in Valinor where paradise awaits. Eternal afterlife, they called it, the end of all ends. 

And while Illyria was deemed a bright child, with a dazzling wit and a diamond-cut mind, unparalleled in her yearning for knowledge, these teachings have never stuck with her. Like seeds planted on gnarly bushes, fighting and clawing their way out for oxygen and growth, but ultimately dying, failing, sunless and lost, choked by life-taking thorns before they could take their first breath of air.

After all, she has seen her mother: bitter, heart razed to ash, with glacier-like eyes and brittle bones that have never been warm enough to comfort her. Eyta Kreldin has always held faith with the Corellian gods, and they have infinitely failed her. They are not real, Illyria surmises. They are illusions, phantoms, cruel tales made up to give the people hope and wrench it away from them. False idols created so the people had something to believe in, a greater power to cling and pray to. ( For some reason, her mama is stubborn. She insists that they are real; tells Illyria at every opportunity that she lives only by their grace ).

She is fortunate, then, that her father has never allowed these nonsensical ideologies to foster inside of her, shielding her from the very same falsities he doomed her brother to. Instead, she thrives under his doctrines, bows in true deference to science and logic. This is the way of Kherena, her father's perfectly crafted homeplanet, where no lines are blurred, and nothing is corporeal. Everything must be clear-shaped, real, palpable. There is no room for error, no room for confusion. All hypothetical theories must be proven true, all equations demand answers.

Lucius Andali decides this is how Illyria Haemera Andali's soul shall be nourished, constantly watered by fact over the fictitious nature of the gods and religions. And these are several of the undisputed facts Illyria has compiled over the course of her life:

ONE. Soft hearts are the rarest commodities to be found, and they have no place within the galaxy. Bleeding, thumping, and raw; vulnerable and unprotected, so easily trampled under callous iron feet. The pain multiplies tenfold when they are done by those closest to you; the people who are meant to protect you and nurture that pink-soft bud of a heart until they bloom into garden-wide flowers. 

Illyria should know, she speaks from experience, after all. 

Alienated by both her planets, living in the midst of her parents' constant hostility, seen as a potential tool by her father, having a mother whose arms are frost-clad when they must hold her in front of the HoloNet. Her gold-bright heart has exhausted its limits and has splintered into knife-edged claws, looming over the galaxy in its hunger and vastness for more, ready to cradle the world in her fingertips and make them bow at her feet. At her family's will. 

Her father weaponises her and she gladly accepts the task.

TWO. Ambition is the true driving force of nature. When democracy rots and its residue trickles over the galaxy, it is personal purpose that keeps the system running. Everyone has ulterior motives, blade-sharp hidden agendas that they sheath in their scabbard of politicking and righteousness. Their common cause is enriching themselves, fulfilling their own coffers, benefitting their own houses, and Illyria will not claim innocence. 

She becomes the famed fixer, repairing people's problems so she can reap the rewards of their allegiance to her and her family, calling in favours when the time is right, utilising people's weaknesses against themselves when it is for the good of House Andali. 

Besides, if she cannot make her planets — her homes, the soil she was born in, the earth she walked and grew upon — love her, she decides she will make the entire galaxy dependent on her.

THREE. Peace will never last. It is ice-frail, flimsy, and breakable, and someone will always shatter the glass of tranquillity. The people of the galaxy have been trained for the inevitable cycle. War is a cage, and like starbirds, the people will always take flight for freedom, for safety, for what they think is a better life. But the escape is always fleeting, always temporary. 

War is in their veins, they are entrapped in it, with sticky tar weighing down their wings. Soon, they will flutter back to their gilded cages, to the predictable chaos. The shackles to their own destruction become chains they willingly bind to their blood-red, bone-thin wrists, steered by the longing for familiarity ( it is a shame that ruination is all they have ever known ).

SURPRISINGLY, IT IS OBI-WAN KENOBI that shakes her beliefs. Destined protector of the light, a Jedi, believer of the all-encompassing spirit of the Force — everything Illyria was taught to stand against. Glorious, righteous, and impervious, everything she despises merged into one, singular being.

The defender of peace who refuses to let the last star in the galaxy dies, wielding his blue-flamed lightsaber to shield everyone behind him from the cavernous abyss of death and destruction when war mercilessly rages on, protecting her time and time again from the insistent maws of death. It is a wonder to Illyria how he so willingly risks his own safety without asking for anything in return, handing out his soul, untainted and pure as driven snow, to the Jedi Order if only it meant he could rescue another life, safeguard the crumbling galaxy and hold their pieces with his bare, war-torn hands.

He is everything wrong for her, and her hands — her bones — are too stained, too corroded, too corrupted, to even touch his shadow. But, she supposes, if one has lived in the darkness for so long, the light will always draw them in, like an ever-loyal moth to a flame, and Obi-Wan is surely the epitome of it. Sunbright, luminous, the glaze of dawn in the sky that raptures the obscurity of her nights.

That is why, when he asks her to believe ( in the Force, in the sinking Republic, in the good of others, in him ), she takes the leap of faith over the daunting chasm, takes his hand, and she believes. She believes because this is Obi-Wan, her saviour, morning sun in the flesh, the excavator of her long-buried heart, and she will entrust her very being into his root-strong hands. 

Perhaps, those priests were right, after all. Her faith would save her. It has saved her. It has given her him. ( Or, perhaps not. Perhaps, it would be her greatest regret ).

Either way, we are still a long, long way from that.

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natalie dormer
as
ILLYRIA HAEMERA ANDALI

THE FIXER.

❛ I wasn't aware that I'd be accompanied by a shabbily dressed, sword-wielding traitor while breaking my fast, but I suppose all surprises must be embraced with open arms, even the most unpleasant ones. ❜

&&&.

jude law
as
OBI-WAN KENOBI

THE NEGOTIATOR.

❛ That's a tad bit aggressive for a good morning, don't you think, My Lady? I daresay a smile would have sufficed. ❜

"It was like walking into the sun,
being with you.
it was like walking into the sun
for the first time after
a terribly long winter."

— Azra T., You are the warmest place I've ever lived in 

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THEIR ACCOMPANYING HYMNS !

i. house of the rising sun, the animals // ii. paint it, black, the rolling stones // iii. eleanor rigby, the beatles // iv. sonne, rammstein // v. lay all your love on me, ABBA // vi. who is she, i monster // vii. fade into you, mazzy star // viii. francis forever, mitski // ix. old money, lana del rey // x. la traviata, giuseppe verdi // xi. wicked game, chris isaak // xii. i found, amber run // xiii. the family jewels, MARINA // xiv. summertime sadness, lana del rey // xv. fourth of july, sufjan stevens // xvi. after dark, mr.kitty // xvii. una voce poco fa, gioachino rossini // xviii. o sole mio, giovanni capurro // xix. fix you, coldplay // xx. our last summer, ABBA

˗ˋˏ part of the ❛ Mausoleum of Dead Stars ❜ series  ˖⋆࿐໋

HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN
( illyria andali x obi-wan kenobi )
prequel trilogy

OPPROBRIUM
( haera taeda-andali x han solo )
original trilogy

FROM FIRE TO FIRE
( vespera kenobi x luke skywalker )
original trilogy

dts !

courscants saturnsokas moonburrn -undomiels binarysun CassideeMickaelson bananakin-slaywalker

and to everyone who has taken the time to read this, thank you soooo much, i love you all <3

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author's note !

1. okay ik the layout is mid but im editing this till 4 in the morning so pls just validate me. the GORGEOUS cover was made by courscants and her gfx are out of this world so go follow her !!

2. I ACTUALLY DONT KNOW WHAT TO WRITE IN THIS NOTE??? 

3. OKAYY sooo basically illyria is a noblewoman, and her dad is a duke that comes from kherena (my vv science-based og planet) while her mom is from house kreldin of corellia !! they mainly stay in corellia tho bc of Reasons which will be expanded. anw she is a fixer, sorta like olivia pope but on a galactic level LMAOOO and she does it for several reasons, mostly so she has blackmail material on those dirty ass politicians. ive genuinely never read of a fixer!oc in the sw fandom so i thought this would be kinda cool idkkk

4. her and obi-wan's fates and backstory are kinda intertwined bc ive made up new lores and prophecies just for them and i DO think they're *chef's kiss* 

5. im typing this out thru my pc bc wp mobile is aaaaalways glitchy and im wearing nail extensions so it's super hard to write, ignore all my typos pretty pls

6. once again thank you to everyone who's taken the time to read HOTRS, ILYSMMM