(A/N)- Set early in my Teen Titans Star Wars AU (other entries including "Forward Thinking" and "Hollow Grief"), about six or seven months after Order 66 and Robin and Starfire have fallen in together for survival.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: HOW 'BOUT THAT AHSOKA TRAILER HUH? TOO BAD I DON'T OWN THAT EITHER.

RobStar Week 2023, Day 3 - Crossover AU

"Focus. Concentrate."

Princess Kory inhaled slowly from her position sitting lotus-style on the floor. Feeling the tingling warmth of the Force on the periphery of her senses, just close enough to reach out and touch, she cautiously opened herself up a fraction, letting the energy seep in.

She felt it like glowing molten light, a sensation similar to her starbolts but brighter, freer. Her lifted hand extended as she kept careful concentration on the object in front of her.

The pebble wobbled once and then began to raise up from the durasteel floor, levitating seemingly on its own.

"That's it!" Robin said with excited encouragement. "You've—"

He yelped and ducked as the pebble shot off towards his head, pinging off two walls with loud metal bang!s before falling back down to the floor.

"—almost got it," he amended, uncovering his head.

Kory opened her eyes again with a frustrated sigh, leaning back a bit. "Apologies," she told him, dropping her hand onto her knee. "It is... difficult... to compartmentalize." Her fingers pinched some of her brocaded blue skirt, adjusting it, fiddling as she spoke. "My abilities as a Tamaranian require me to channel my emotions, and the more freely I feel, the stronger I am." She shook her head, the beads of her headdress jingling slightly. "Using the Force requires more control and... restraint than I am used to."

"Yeah, it's hard," Robin agreed, uncurling from his own lotus position and sitting more comfortably, leaning back on his hands. "I guess that's why your parents decided to keep you with them, instead of giving you to the Jedi," he mused.

A faint smile tweaked Kory's lips. "Tamaranians are known for many things, but our serenity and calm is not one of them," she admitted. "The Force requires much discipline from its wielders. I am not surprised that my people do not have many representatives in your Order. Or," she amended, quickly glancing over at him in concern and correcting herself, "they did not."

He went a bit somber at the reminder, at the correction to past tense, his cream-colored tunic and the dangling braided strand of hair at his shoulder seeming all the more prominent. Soft blue eyes met hers, the young ex-padawan throbbing with concern.

"We don't have to keep doing this if it's too hard," he told her.

Opening her up more to the Force and training her latent nascent abilities had been her idea, but he had been surprisingly into it. Kory guessed it may have been more than a bit of loneliness, of missing someone else who could connect and feel as he could. She imagined it was like being a single tiny candle floating in an ocean of darkness and felt much pity and sympathy for him.

She reached over and placed a hand on his wrist. "If I am to be useful in this fight," she told him seriously, "I will need all the abilities I have the capacity and strength for." Any advantage they could get in these dark times could only help them, and she'd be damned if they ran into another Inquisitor and she wouldn't be able to use either of her powersets to protect him, without them disastrously interfering. She smiled warmly. "Besides," she added, ducking her eyes softly, "I like being able to sense you, feel that you are okay."

She watched his cheeks warm and redden in the cute way that humans did, could almost hear the stumble in his heartbeat.

"Right," he strained out, hyper-aware of his both own and her telegraphed feelings. "That... that could be useful," he allowed.

My but his voice had the most adorable squeak in it when he was flustered.

Smiling wider, Kory shifted, moving to get up to her feet. "I will keep practicing," she promised. "I know it will require much training and dedication."

"It would have been easier if the Temple were still..." Robin slumped in place, sighing heavily. "I'm not any good at this. You need a real teacher."

"Yet, I have you. And you will suffice," she told him, speaking with confidence and brushing off her dress.

"Glad you're confident," Robin muttered.

Giggling, she extended a hand to him. "Let us take a break," she offered. "We should eat. I know it has been hours since we began."

"I'm not hungry," he tried to deflect, already curling in on himself, hands gripping his elbows, masking his expression and retreating into the self-protective shell she'd seen him go into so many times since they first met, since he first begged her for help.

"Do not be stubborn," she chided him, grabbing his arm, her Tamaranian strength easily pulling him to his feet. "Come eat."

His face pinched but he didn't argue, and they made their way to the little kitchenette area. Kory began to rummage in the cupboards and cold storage. It was a long hyperspace trip and they would need their energy. Despite his stated misgivings, she knew Robin would prove an excellent teacher.

He already had the patience of a Jedi, after all, she thought with a smile.