“You comming Des?”

  It was the end of the class and more than just Shofo and his friends were hanging back, waiting for him. It was obvious they were intent on questioning him about the spar but Des had something else on his mind.

  “”I need to speak to Knight Hadrin. Go on ahead, I’ll catch up.”

  Understanding, Shofo did not question him, instead she led away his friends and a few others who were eager to quiz Des about his performance. He could not blame them for being curious, he had questions of his own. As far as he could tell his performance was not a result of any void granted power, at least not directly. Somehow it had been him that had dodged and blocked every strike, all while distracted exploring the Force.

  Des had questions about his spar, but he was not waiting to ask the instructor that. No, his question was about what he had done right after his bout. Caught up In the thrill of his success, the Force now open to him and his curiosity already peaked, Des had probed the lightsaber in his hand.

  With his breakthrough in the Force the experience went much smoother. He was able to control the probe to some extent, instead of being overwhelmed, he could adjust the resolution, limiting the amount of knowledge received. He could choose to Focus in, examining in detail the smallest of components or he could pull back to view the interlinking systems they combined into.

  The lightsaber had broken down into three parts in his mind. At the bottom of the hilt was the power source and power regulation, at the top, the beam and containment field emitters. It was the middle section and the crystals housed within that had Des preparing himself to speak with Knight Hadrin. he could only hope she would grant his odd request.

  Des waited quietly for the Jedi to finish her conversation with the Padawan before he approached. Him and the teen both gave a nod of respect when they passed the other.

  “Initiate Cain, you have questions”.

  “I do”. Bracing himself for outright rejection Des made his request. ”Would it be possible to see one of the crystals inside of a lightsaber”

  Caught off guard, the silence stretched before she answered with the obvious question. “Why?”

  Having no reason to conceal his motives he answered freely “I think I’ve seen one before. I need to be sure and Sensing it with the Force, it’s just not the same a seeing it with my eyes”

  Judging by her expression she was not convinced, so Des went on. “I think it's important. Knight Yule, he asked me to try to remember anything from before I came to the temple. I think I remembered something just now, but I can’t be certain until I see one of the crystals inside a lightsaber”

  ”Very well, I will agree to your request. before that however we should discuss your earlier performance”.

  Both became silent for an awkward length of time. It was clear Knight Hadrin was waiting for him to start, but Des had been distracted by the old memory. He had not yet had time to reflect on his experience. Knowing there would be questions he hadn’t even thought of, he chose to go Broad.

  “What did I do earlier?”

  The Zabrak nodded as if that had been the question she had been waiting for.

  “The saber form you and every other jedi first learns is simple, but it is also ancient. Shii-cho was the first lightsaber form created and it’s the foundation all other forms are built on. It has its weaknesses, and they’re not small so most move on to a different form once they reach an acceptable level. Some however choose not to. To those few, the forms simplicity is not a weakness but a strength. In battle, it allows them to focus on their connection with the Force, so they can fight in a meditative state.”

  She stopped there, giving Des time to draw the obvious conclusion.

  “And that's what I did?”

  “Without a doubt, and I will ask you to refrain from using the technique during practice. Using it during training would only stunt your development”

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Agreeing with her point, Des accepted the guidance easily. What he had done in his spar with the Padawan, instinctively he knew that it was not something he would have to practice. The lightsaber on the other hand was a skill he would never stop training.

  Sensing Des’s acceptance Knight Hadrin wasted no time in summoning a lightsaber from her hip, marking the end of that discussion. The hilt nestled in her upturned palm as she closed her eyes. Des could feel the Force responding to her call as the saber lifted, an intricate weave of power he could not follow stripping the hilt apart before quickly reassembling it. Only now it was absent two small green crystals, which now rested on her palm.

  Des had his confirmation.

  Having seen what he needed to, it was time to go. “Thank you. If you’ll excuse me, I think I need to make a call”

  Rising, he made his exit heading straight for the holopad waiting in his room. He doubted the importance of the memory but Yule had asked him for anything, so Des would make this a priority.

  In spite of his intentions, upon reaching his destination and making the call, Knight Yule was unavailable. The droid answering in his stead refused to answer any of Des’s questions, leaving him no other option but to leave a message asking Yule to contact him.

  Thwarted, Des resumed his routine, washing up before heading out to seek a meal. Thus far he had managed to stay mostly unnoticed. When it came time for the nightly group meditation however, he could avoid his interrogation no longer.

  The main questions everyone was vying to have answered was ‘how had he done it’ and ‘how did it feel’. For the former he relayed what Knight Hadrin had told him. For the latter he tried his best to sum up the experience

  “It felt like a reflex. Like only realising you had an itch the moment after you scratched it. I was so deep in meditation and the Force that I could just let it happen. So I did, right up until I decided to try something different and you all saw how that went”.

  Des waited to see if their curiosity would be sated.

  “We should get started”. It was Jason who said it and he immediately put action to his words, not waiting for the others to begin. The rest quickly followed suit, Des’s short interrogation at an end.

  Joining them Des closed his eyes, embracing the Force as he dropped into meditation. In truth he had not fully released his hold since the spar with Padawan Kemp. A small part of him held firm, afraid to let go, but a far larger part of him knew his time of being unable to connect with the Force was over.

  The session was approaching the midpoint when the strongest presence in the Force Des had felt yet registered in his awareness. Snapping his eyes open he found Master Jenk patiently observing their meditation.

  When he spoke it was to the whole group, his presence alone having roused them. “Resume your meditation younglings”. Turning his attention to Des he went on, “Initiate Cain, with me”.

  Rising, Des followed the Jedi Master to an empty room where he was prompted to take a seat. Expecting a conversation about his progress in the force or about the technique he had used while sparring, he was greatly surprised when Jenk reached into his robes and produced a training droid. It was the same Marksman-H model they had practised with earlier today.

  A quick glance at the Rodian told Des that Jenk expected him to figure this out on his own. So Des just stared at the little droid as it began floating by his side.

  Not yet understanding, he watched the droid float surprisingly steady, the pieces of the puzzle slowly clicking together in his mind. He wasn’t looking at any random training droid, this was the one he had personally used during lightsaber training. The same one he had reached out to with the Force, the one he had tried to do something he did not understand to.

  In the excitement of everything else that had happened he had forgotten that detail, or maybe blocked it out. The memory of the backlash from having his probe crushed and the resulting headache was not a cherished one.

  In light of his realization, the question of why Jenk was showing him this droid took on a whole new meaning. Had he done something to it? His probe had been crushed so fast it never occurred to him he might have affected it in some way.

  Having already watched the droid for a time he could not deny the change in its behaviour. On screen and in his one interaction these droids were erratic, their movements jerky and unpredictable. Even when stationary they would bob and rotate endlessly.

  This one however, was as close to unmoving as a droid balancing on a single repulsorlift could manage.

  With trepidation at what he might find Des reached out with the Force, enveloping the small droid for the second time. He avoided the technical aspects with his probe, instead seeking the empty space that had felt so wrong to him. When he found it, relief washed over him, the spot remained empty but something else was absent. The feeling of wrongness that had been so strong in his first interaction was gone.

  He was missing something. Straining his new senses, Des tried to draw more deeply on the Force but even with his connection boosted the emptiness remained empty. Gaining no insights, he tried to consider the problem from a different angle.

  Instead of looking for something within the void, he tried to sense the entirety of the blank space. With his perspective shifted, the empty spot within the machines metaphysical presence gained a whole new feeling.

  It felt like a cool spring morning, like fallow ground waking up to begin its cycle of renewal. It felt fresh, it felt new and it also felt fragile. It felt like a newborn.

  Pulling back instantly Des looked to Master Jenk for confirmation but the old Rodian had his own questions. He proceeded to grill Des on every feeling and intuition he had felt during both his interactions with the droid.

  Once the Jedi had drawn every detail out of Des he changed the topic, congratulating him on his recent breakthrough and informing him he would be returning to regular Force classes. The wiry old Jedi then bid him farewell and was halfway to the exit before Des realised Jenk was leaving without the droid.

  In a panic Des blurted out, “What about the droid Master Jenk?”

  “What about it Initiate?”

  Flustered, Des’s response was haphazard, “Shouldn’t something be done?”

  Jenk looked at him intently before responding. “The most qualified person in the temple to answer that question is you Initiate Cain”. With that the old Master spun and made his exit.

  Des just stared at the door for a time, unwilling to comprehend the Masters obvious intentions. He dropped into meditation for a moment to center himself. The Droid was yet to move so he reached out, collecting it easily. It offered no resistance, just as content in his grasp as it had been floating aimlessly.

  With no conveniently sized pocket to store the droid he contemplated popping it into his inventory. Deciding there was a risk that might damage any potential connection the device had with the Force, he opted just to carry it instead.

  Choosing not to return to the clans group meditation, he went to his room instead. He released the droid to resume its hover while he considered what to do with it.

  It was during this contemplation that a chime rang out from his holopad.

  That could only be one person.