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darthxerxes17 · 2 years

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Ziverah’s Gathering (a star wars fan fiction)

(please note, that these pictures are of them as teenagers and padawans, but the story takes place in during their gathering, so as of the story Ziverah is 10, and Azera is 9.)

Light shone through the large pillars leading out of the Jedi Temple. Creating an ethereal light that made it difficult to see out. As if the whole temple was surrounded in a bath of light. Five younglings stood in a row facing the exit, the centermost youngling was the blue-skinned Irizi’Ver’Aheldi, or by his core name, Ziverah. His red eyes glowing faintly, illuminating his face. Next to him, another blue-skin, but this one lacked the red eyes, and had yellow face tattoos. He was a Pantoran, named Azera Faris. On Azera’s right was a taller youngling, a girl though it was hard to tell, with pale gray skin and bulbous black eyes reflecting the image she saw like a mirror. She was a Kaminoan, one of the few to ever be taken to the Jedi temple. To her right was a boy with red skin, and long horns protruding from his forehead, a Devaronian, impatiently tapping his foot.

To Ziverahs right was another boy, human with light tan skin, and brown eyes, with a never ending cocky smirk plastered on his face. Terav Emiris. Ever since Ziverah had gotten to the temple, he had been relentlessy bullied and abused by Emiris, who gave him the uncreative name, ‘Blueskin’.

And finally, to Terav’s left was a sluglike being, with slime oozing out of their many pours. A wide emotionless mouth with big eyes looked around impatiently. They were Bymba Narugo. A Hutt who had been taken to the temple after displaying rare force capabilities. Rare for their species that is, Hutt’s generally had no connection to the force, but Bymba was the exception.

“hey, Zi!” Azera whispered to him, “Do you know why we were called here?”

Ziverah shrugged, “Not a clue.”

it continued on for awhile, the younglings chatted to eachother, about the circumstance, people offered up theories but most where quickly dismissed.

“isn’t it obvious?” Emiris spoke up, “me, Bymba and Vrogen are all gonna become padawans, and you three are getting kicked out for being such massive failures.” the human, Hutt, and Devaronian starting laughing.

“Psh, if anyones getting kicked out, it’s you three for being such massive Nerfherders all the time” Azera said, rolling his eyes.

“No Bimbi kanogo ti ma sleemo mo kopcha ka” the hutt spoke up as he laughed.

“yeah, shut your mouth blueskins!” Terav said.

“You’re only insecure because you know you’ll never be good enough to face up to blue power! We were always better in the force than you.”

Ziverah saw heat rush to the humans face, which caused him to let a small smirk out.

“as if two Pantorans could ever match up to me in anything!” Terav stammered out.

“I’m not Pantoran, Terav, I’m Chiss.” Ziverah finally spoke up.

Terav chuckled annoyedly, “oh yeah what’s the difference, you’re all blueskins!”

“The difference,” Ziverah said, approaching the human, “A Pantoran will fight you, and leave you on the ground, with scrapes and bruises, you will be humiliated and beaten.”

“tch” Terav let out as he was about to rebuttle, but was silenced,

“But a Chiss, will watch, and wait, and when the perfect oppurtunity arrises, we will strike, with such veracity that you will not even know what happened until it was too late. And you will be broken. Nothing left of your will to drag you from the floor and back to whatever hole you crawled out of. That, is the difference between a Chiss and a Pantoran. “ Ziverah finished.

Ziverah turned away from the now frightened human, to find his Pantoran friend beaming, and cheering him on. Everyone else just watched. When Ziverah returned to his place at Azera’s side, he asked,

“Zi, is that stuff you said about the Chiss true? Are your people actually that scary?” he said smiling at him,

“I wouldn’t know, Az. I’ve never met any other Chiss before.” he replied, “I just said all that to get him to finally shut his mouth for once.”

Azera chuckled, “well it worked!”

they both glanced over at Terav, now standing at attention, slightly trembling.

“Maybe a bit too well…” Ziverah admitted.

“pah!” Azera waved his hand dismissivly, “He had it coming!”

Ziverah just nodded, without saying another word.

Ziverah and Azera were friends since they both arrived at the temple. They came around the same time at the same age, and bonded quickly over their similarities. Their similar sounding names and blue skin for two. But ever since then their personalities just meshed. Azera was always ready to stick up for Ziverah, he never took any word lying down which lead to him getting in trouble many-a-time. Whereas Ziverah acted as a calmer voice of reason for the pare. Helping to get Azera out of trouble whenever he could. They grew so close that the other younglings started calling them, ‘the blue duo”.

Suddenly two pares of boots tapping against the marble floor echoed through the hall, and two men moved to the front of them.

“greetings younglings, no doubt you wonder why we have called the six of you here.” the man said, in a deep smooth voice.

he had long brown hair tied into a loose ponytail that draped around his back, bleeding into his brown robes, It was Jedi Knight Qui-gon Jinn.

“That will be answered in time. This,” he gestured to his right, “Is my new Padawan. Obi-Wan Kenobi.” the teenager smiled, and waved at the group, “he and I will be guiding you on a special trip to the planet Illum.”

As Qui-gon said this, the group errupted into a cascade of questions, as all but Ziverah vied for Qui-gons attention.

“all your questions will be answered in time, but please keep this orderly”, Qui-gon said.

Suddenly, giving Ziverah as slight startle, Azera’s hand shot up, as he jumped up and down to get Qui-gon’s attention. The Jedi pointed to him,

“youngling, Azera Faris?”

“Yes, Master, Qui-gon, what is on Illum?”

Qui-Gon chuckled warmly, “patience young one, that is a suprise.”

more hands shot up in the air, and Qui-gon called on the devaronian,

“Youngling, Vrogan Nalnast.”

“Is it true that you took down the famed bounty hunter, Shenda Mol on Numidian Prime?” Vrogan said,

the question confused Ziverah, until he looked at Vrogan and saw the extatic smile on his face at the sight of Master Qui-gon Jinn. Then he recalled something he told him a few years ago, ‘My favorite of the Jedi masters? Well he isn’t a master yet, but I’ve always looked up to Qui-gon Jinn.’

“Yes it is, but can we keep the questions about the trip?” Qui-gon said, if he was startled by the question he didn’t show it. Except a subtle increase in temperature around his face.

The flurry of hands continued, and this time, called on the Kaminoan girl who has thusfar been silent.

“Yes, Youngling Kari Konlu?”

“can you atleast tell us wether the trip will be for education or entertainment?”, she said in her monotone voice

“I suppose you could say education.” Qui-gon said, “but now I think it’s time we move on, don’t want you to be late for transport.”

and with that, they walked off, wiith the younglings following close behind.

The transport ship vibrated as it whirled through hyperspace. As a youngling, Ziverah never traveled often, but when he did he always layed his head on the wall and closed his eyes. Feeling the vibrations, he imagined it as the force moving through the ship as it did everything else, and connected to it. Putting himself in a meditative trance that made the trip take less time. But he was roused from the trance, by the shifting of the seat next to him, he looked up and saw the Padawan from earlier, sitting next to him.

“you were very quiet earlier,” he said, in a silky, melodious voice.

His hair was short everywhere except the braid hanging from behind his ear and dangling past his shoulder, he had kind eyes with ocean blue iris’s starring back at him.

“I usually am.” Ziverah said, “you’re Obi-wan kenobi, correct? Master Qui-gons padawan?”

he nodded, “and you are?”

Ziverah paused for a moment, “Ziverah.”

“Ziverah, what an interesting name for a Pantoran-” he began to say,

“I am not a Pantoran.” Ziverah interrupted.

“My apologies.” Obi-wan said sencerely, “may I ask then, what you are?”

“I am Chiss.”

“then it is a perfectly normal name for a Chiss.” he conceded.

And then, as if apparating out of nowhere, Azera ran up, jumping himself on the seat next to Ziverah, nearly bouncing him off, due to the soft cushions.

“hey Zi! What’chya talkin’ about?” he said, as he panted to catch his breath.

“are you Chiss as well?” Obi-wan asked Azera,

“Nope! Pantoran.” he said still taking in heavy breaths.

“Oh well thats just confusing.” obi-wan said grinning.

As he said that he glanced his eyes somewhere else, transfixing them on it. Ziverah followed his gaze to see Qui-gon beckoning him over.

“it was very nice to meet you, Ziverah, and… Azera was it?”

Azera nodded, “Nice to meet you too, master Kenobi!”

Kenobi grinned and walked toward his master.

Ziverah turned to Azera, who had finally caught his breath,

“on the subject of your name, Zi,” he said, “I’ve been meaning to ask, what does it mean?”

“how do you mean” Ziverah asked, cocking his head?

“well most species in the galaxy have two names, a first name and a last name, but I’ve only ever called you Ziverah, so I can only assume it’s a nickname.”

“well, Chiss have different naming systems to other species. We have a family name, and two personal names. I don’t know any others, but my full name is, Irizi’Ver’aheldi. From what my note said, each name is given a core name, something quicker to pronounce. Mine is Ziverah.” he explained.

“Yikes, I’ll stick to calling you Zi!” he said giggling.

Ziverah giggled too, “And I’ll stick to calling you Az.”

the rest of the trip was uneventful, the younglings talked amongst eachother, coming up with more theories as to what was on Illum. With the theories slowly increasing in asburdity. Until it was Azera’s turn,

“ok what if, theres this ancient snow serpent living forgotten under the ice? And theyre gonna make us fell the great beast! Using only sticks.” he said, dramatically acting out each word.

Everyone cackled out in laughter, as Qui-gon came into the room.

“Looks like your all having a good time.” he commented, “please be seated, we’re about to land.”

as the shuttle landed, Qui-gon and Obi-wan opened the ramp, letting the younglings out of the ship. The cold air hit Ziverah like a landspeeder. Though after a few moments he got used to it. The others didn’t have the same luck. Though they all wore thick layered, wool jackets with hoods, they still shivered and complained, Bymba most of all. Zivera and Azera stayed close, practically huddling together for warmth, even though Zivera didn’t truly need it.

They followed the Jedi who seemed as unphased by the cold as he was.

After ten minutes or so of walking, they came to a cliff face, covered in thick blue ice. Qui-Gon knelt down and wiped away the snow at his feet.

“de sa no dedee, choy? Kankee a teeksa?” Bymba said.

“Bymba’s right! You’ve lead us into a dead end!” Terav yelled over the roaring snow storm.

Obi-wan turned to face the younglings, “Oh, Is it now?”

“everyone, focus your energy to the cliff. Only together can we open the way.” Qui-gon said, as he and Obi-wan stretched their hands out to the cliff.

Reluctantly everyone did the same, including Ziverah. He stretched his mind out to the force, ‘lift’ he commanded, ‘lift’ he said again, ‘lift’ he said one more time, this time hearing the voices of the others in his head, thinking the same command.

And as he opened his eyes, the cliff began to shift, square pillars shot up from the peak rotating as they did so, revealing an enterence leading further into the cliff.

Obi-wan looked back at the dumbfounded Terav and Bymba.

“Quite the dead end, isn’t it?” he said, smiling at them.

Inside the cliff, was a large room made of ice, it seemed almost a mile tall, with a giant crystal hanging by chain in the center ceiling. The ground was blanketed with powdery fresh snow, coming in by a large hole high up on the wall above the enterence, which let in a beam of light. In the center of the room was a stone pedestal, atop which meditated the green alien, Master Yoda. Behind him a massive wall of ice cascaded from the ceiling to the floor, in a wavey waterfall like pattern.

The group approached Master Yoda, Qui-gon and Obi-wan stepping to his side, as the younglings got closer, Yoda gestured for them to meditate with him. Ziverah, Azera, Terav, Kari, and Vrogen all sat in the lotus position, Bymba just closed their eyes.

A few moments passed, and Yoda finally spoke.

“A long way, you have come. Curious, you must be.”

Ziverah was the first to stand back up, followed by Azera then the rest.

“you are here to undertake the Gathering.” qui-gon said.

“protectors Jedi are, and yet, protect can you, with no weapon?” Yoda said.

“as you know, all jedi are equipped with a lightsaber. Ever wonder how they work?” Obi-wan said.

The group murmured,

“power, a machine needs to function, a battery, provides it, machines, lightsabers are, batteries are the kyber crystals.” yoda said.

This time, everyone but Ziverah and Kari gasped, and began murmuring with more excitement.

“excite you, I thought that would” Yoda said, as he giggled to himself.

“To get a Kyber crystal, every Jedi goes into the cave, there they’ll walk until they feel the call, then they harvest it.” Qui-gon said,

“trust in eachother, and trust in the force, and you’ll find your way out.” Obi-wan finished.

Yoda stretched a hand toward the sky, straining as he latched on to the giant hanging crytal on the ceiling, and started to turn it. As the crystal turned, it hit the beam of light, redirecting it on the ground, the other younglings ooed and awed as the beam danced across the ground, eventually landing on the massive wall of ice, which melted near instantly into a puddle of cold water on the ground.

“hasty, you must be, in an hour, the ice will reform.”

Ziverah then chose that moment to raise his hand,

“Yes, Irizi’ver’aheldi?” yoda said,

for a moment, he was taken aback, not only had master yoda known his full name, he used it and pronounced it correctly, he stammered into the question,

“u-uhm I was wondering what happens if we don’t get out before then, Master Yoda.”

Azera looked at Ziverah in surprise at the sudden stutter. Ziverah gave a glance to Azera that told him all he needed to.

“Then you’ll be trapped in the cave until the next rotation, in seventeen days.” Obi-wan answered for him.

The crowd let out another gasp.

“hurry you must” yoda said, “trust in eachother, and trust in the force.”

and with the that, the whole group rushed into the hole, with Bymba being the last to enter as they slithered along the ground leaving a trail of warm slime, melting the snow beneath them.

The group came to a set of three open doors, each door leading off into a different direction. The cave walls surrounding them were dark, and blue. With ice coating every inch. The group stopped and looked around.

“Great, a fork. What are we gonna do now?” Terav said, as he rubbed his hands together.

The group bickered for a moment about the correct course of action, until Ziverah spoke up,

“It’s obvious.” he said, “we split up. I’ll go with Azera, Terav will go with Bymba, and Vrogan will go with Kari.”

Azera tugged at Ziverahs jacket, getting his attention.

“are you sure about this Zi? You heard what master yoda said, we need to trust in eachother.” he said,

“he also said to trust in the force.” Ziverah replied,

Azera nodded,

“and I trust you.” he said finally, “you’ve never lead us wrong before.”

the Chiss smiled,

“then let’s get moving.”

The cave looped endlessly. Every wall was the same, it made it hard for the Ziverah and Azera to find their way. What made it more difficult was having no set destination. Ziverah had no idea what to look for, or if he’d even know It when he found it. All he knew was that Azera had trusted him, and he needed to make sure that trust was not missplaced. If he steered him wrong he could end up trapped in the cave for seventeen days. Ziverah would never forgive himself for it. He had almost given up hope, when he felt a glint, something pulling at him. He perked up slightly.

“this way!” he said, “I feel it.”

the two came into a room, two flat walls of ice converged into a narrow dark hallway. At the end, Ziverah swore he saw light, glinting as if shining off a stone.

“Do you see that?” Ziverah said, pointing.

“No, I don’t see anything it’s too dark in there. Chiss can see heat right? Is it that?”

“no, this is different. There is not a source of heat in this whole network. All I can see in the heat spectrum is you and I, and Kari and Vrogan a few feet that way.” he said gesturing in the right hand quadrant of the room, “no, this is more like a glint of light at the end of the hall.”

Azera bumped his shoulder with his fist.

“I think that’s your crystal Zi! That would explain why I can’t see it.”

Ziverah nodded, as he stepped toward the hallway. He slowly layed one foot in the pitch black darkness, tapping the ground and then put his weight on it, he did it again, testing the ground, then stepping forward. He did it a third time, but now there was nothing there. His was dragged down by gravity forcing him to cling to ground with his other and grabbing the walls with his hands to stop his movement. But they were too slippery and he was wearing gloves, he struggled to find friction as gravity started to overtake him, and soon his other leg gave way, his heart jumped into his chest as he fell into the black abyss, he faintly heard his name being called,

“Zi!” Azera yelled out.

He thought it was over, cause of death falling into a hole before he even became a jedi. But suddenly, he felt his descent slow, ceasing until it was stopped all together. Then, he began to rise, and return to the lighter cavern. As his head came over the cliff he just tumbled down, he saw Azera, struggling to hold him up with the force. He physically strained as he held out both hands stretched towards him, he began to pull Ziverah towards him when he gave out, and the Chiss grabbed the ledge with both hands, and clung for dear life. His burning red eyes wide with fear as to what just happened.

Azera clambered over to him and grabbed his hands, heaving as he pulled the boy up to safety.

Both blueskins layed for a moment, catching their breaths. Ziverah put a hand over his heart trying to calm it’s tempo as it beat rapidly. As he calmed, he steadily returned to his feet. And walked over to Azera, still on the ground.

“Thanks Az…” is all he could think to say, as he offered his hand.

“don’t do that again!” Azera said between breaths as he took the offer.

Now both back on there feet, Ziverah pondered. ‘how do I get across if there is a chasm? One I cannot see no less. There has to be a plan…’.

“Maybe….” Azera spoke up, breaking Ziverahs concentration, “you gotta just jump.”

“what?” Ziverah said, taken aback.

“Zi, every time you must do something you make a meticulous plan. It usually works but here, maybe the force wants you to go on instinct.”

“but I can’t see, I have no idea how far back to go, how fast to run into it, or if I’ve got to use the wall!” Ziverah retorted.

“exactly, you’ve got to go off of faith, and trust that the force will guide you.”

Ziverah, pondered it, and finally nodded to Azera.

“great! In the meantime I have a Crystal of my own to find.” Azera said, walking away.

“You won’t stay to catch me again if I don’t make it?” Ziverah asked

“trust in the force” Azera responded, doing a bad impression of master Yoda, and giggling as he turned the corner.

Ziverah was now alone, he stood at the back wall facing the chasm, first he measured in his mind the distance from his position, to the hallway, then he did the math as to how fast he’d need to run in order to do the jump. But he recalled what Azera said, ‘go off of faith and let the force guide you.’, and as much as he didn’t like doing something completely blind, he resigned himself to it. He discarded the calculations from his brain, and closed his eyes, and reached out to the force, asking it to guide his steps. He breathed in deeply, and exhaled. And he took off into a sprint, in each step he felt the force flow through him, and into his feet. As he got closer to the chasm he felt another tug, ‘jump’ he heard in his mind, as if whispered to him, and he did. Then another tug, and, ‘run the wall’, he heard again. And he obeyed, planting his feet into the wall and running along it as he had done the ground, sliding his hand against the other wall for balance. Another tug, ‘jump’, and he pushed off the wall into open air.

Meanwhile, Azera is still wandering the cave tunnels.

“crystals crystals everywhere, yet not a one to use.” he said to himself. The blue walls continued on, as if neverending. The same ice everywhere and he still didn’t see a glint like Zi had. ‘what gives?’ he thought, ‘there ARE crystals in this place right?’. Just as he was about to give up hope, he turned a corner and saw it. A glinting crystal at the end of the hallway, poking out of a pedestal made from blue ice. He felt the crystal call to him, almost singing for him. His eyes went wide at the sight of it,

“yes!” he celebrated, pumping his fist into the air.

He broke off into a sprint beaming at the thought that he and Zi were gonna leave the cave together, and they were probably gonna be first ones out too. And Yoda’s gonna say, ‘Good job, you have done. Crystals you have found. Spectacular jedi you will become’. He imagined the last part in his terrible Yoda impression from earlier. All that faded into fear, as he felt the ground give way, and fall inward. He fell into a slide as he came down with broken pieces of ice mixed with snow, until the landed at the bottom, almost covered in snow, he dug around, until he finally found air, he took a sharp inhale as he breeched the mound of snow covering him.

Azera looked around, attemping to reorient himself, behind him was a steep ice slide, slick and slippery. ‘yeah, I’m not gonna be able to go back up that way.’, he thought. In front of him, a sheer iced cliff face, with jagged rocks jutting out of it, in a pattern that seemed almost intentional. He sighed,

“I’m gonna have to climb you, aren’t I?” he said to the cliff,

the cliff did not respond.

“very well.” he said rolling his eyes as he started up the cliff face.

He grabbed a sturdy looking rock, and placed his foot down on another, and hoisted himself up, putting all his weight on the rocks, but the second rock gave way, crumbling like sand causing him to fall back down.

“oh it’s gonna be like that is it?” he said to the cliff.

Again the cliff did not respond.

He rubbed his hands together and started up the cliff again, this time he got about half way before he again grabbed the wrong rock, and fell back down into the snow, which padded his fall.

He growled, and started back up again. And again he fell, back into the snow. He tried four more times, each with the same outcome. He grew more and more frustrated at eacch attempt.

On the seventh attempt, he fell back into the snow,

“This is a bunch of Krayt Spit!” he yelled out angrily.

He sat up,

“I wish Zi were here right now. He would know what to do!” the Pantoran said to thin air, “what would he do, he would probably look meticulously at each rock, and calculate the best path to the top.”

he got up, and pat the snow off of his jacket.

“it’s better than doing the same thing over and over.” he said to himself.

And began analyzing the wall, looking at each rock, noting in his mind, that some appeared cracked, he noted each one and slowly he came to what he believed would be the best path up. Finally finished, he approached the wall.

“alright wall, prepare to be climbed!” he said,

it might be snow fever, or it might be the caved playing tricks on him, but he swore the heard the cliff snicker at him. He put the thought aside and began his ascent upward. Careful to only step on and grab sturdy rocks, one by one, rock by rock he made his way close to the top. His heart came into his throat though, when he accidentally grabbed a cracked rock and it broke away. But he quickly grabbed a different rock and yanked himself forward.

“Kriff!” he expleted to himself.

A second to calm himself and he was back on his way, now double checking each rock to be safe, until he eventually came to the top, pulling himself up with every ounce of upper body strength he had left, he rolled on to the ground, letting out a sigh of relief as he realized he was finished.

He struggled to his feet, and now saw the crystal up close. It was jagged, thin towards the top bulging at the bottom, glinting at him, flashing as if excited that he finally was able to take it. Azera smiled, as he reached forward and yanked it out of it’s socket in the ice pedestal.

He turned back towards the sheer cliff, this time he jumped forward as hard as he could and used the force to boost him the rest of the distance, and he landed safely into a roll, on the other side.

Ziverah tucked into a roll, as he hit the ground hard. He came out of the roll into a knealing position, in front of an ice pedestal. He stood, and on the pedestal was his crystal. He gently grabbed the shard from it’s socket, and held it up to the light shining from the other side of the chasm. Through that light he saw the crystal slowly change color, going from a clearish blue to an opaque green color. He placed the crystal in his pocket. Satisfied, he repeated the steps to get to the crystal, to get back, landing on the otherside into another roll.

Ziverah exited the room back out into the tunnels. He made his way through running his hand along the left wall, hoping to find Azera and leave. But as he did, he noticed that the caves seemed different than before, as if the tunnels had shifted, leaving him lost. He was about to worry, but then a thought occurred to him, ‘trust in the force’. And he closed his eyes, reaching his other hand forward, and let the force guide his steps. ‘left’, he heard, and he moved left. ‘right’ he heard again and he obeyed, ‘up, right, right, left, left, down,’, the voice stopped, and he opened his eyes, to find the door where he’d come in at, half way frozen. With Master Yoda, Master Qui-gon, and master Obi-wan standing patiently, a warm smile graced Qui-gons face upon seeing him. He stepped back out of the cave, ducking his head slightly below the ice-wall.

“first out,” Qui-gon said, “Did you find a Kyber Crystal?”

he rummaged into his pocket, and pulled out the green crystal from before, holding up for Qui-gon to see.

“Ah, Green. Just like mine, and master Yoda.” Qui-gon said,

as he did so he reached into his robe and pulled out his lightsaber, it ignited with a loud buzz, startling the young Chiss for a moment, Ziverah looked at the beam of the lightsaber, and compared it with the color of the crystal, then he smiled.

“What does the color mean, master?”

“no one truly knows,” Qui-gon answered, “Some believe that green represents one with good will, one who is always willing to lend a hand.”

“That it represents the mind, others believe. Blue, you will find in those who train in the saber, green you will find in those who train with the force.” Yoda said.

Ziverah looked down at the green rock in his palm, and thought back to how he’d used the force to get it, ‘very fitting.’ he thought. He turned to face the cave, and then sat down, crossing his legs, the other Jedi did the same.

He waited for a few minutes, and grew worried. Vrogan, Kari and even Bymbi had come out, with their crystals. The only two remaining, where Terav and Azera.

“master, is Azera alright?” he spoke up,

“sense him, I still do, fine he is.” Yoda said

“Do you think he’s coming out soon?”

Yoda giggled, “trust your friend, do you not?” he asked.

“I trust Azera with my life.” Ziverah said, a slight dramatism in his voice.

“Hmm, then trust the force you do not?”

“Trusting the force is what allowed me to harvest my crystal.”

“then trust, you must, that your friend will be fine.” Yoda said, bobbing his head slightly.

Ziverah said nothing further, he knew that master Yoda was right. But the thought crossed his mind, ‘what if he’s injured, what if he needs help? What if he’s screaming out for us right now? Can master Yoda even sense an injury?’, he was about to speak up again, but before he could he heard a tapping sound echo out of the cave, and Azera appeared from it, unscathed.

Ziverah lept up from his seat and jogged over to his friend, and embraced him in a hug.

“woah, how long was I in there Zi?” Azera asked, slightly shocked.

“Long enough to make me worried.” Ziverah replied, dusting snow off his hood, “can I see it?

Azera perked up, as he shoved his hand into his pocket, yanking out a Cyan crystal, and holding it up for Ziverah to see, as Ziverah did the same.

They both returned to the group, as they talked to eachother about what had happened to get the crystal. Ziverah telling Azera that he was right, and that he just needed to trust the force, and Azera telling Zi about the rock cliff, and how he took his time and plotted the course to the top. After a while of them talking, it became apparent that Terav was lost. The door was almost closed and still he hadn’t come out. Ziverah approached the door, but Yoda stopped him, placing his cain in front of him.

“Exited you have, enter again you may not.”

Ziverah stared at the door, he found himself hoping that Terav made it, rooting for him. He didn’t know why, he had basically tortured him for his entire life and yet he felt sorry. And the ice slowly crawled down, until it reached the ground, and with a bellowing creak, it was done. He was trapped inside.

Yoda shook his head, “Move we must, approaches night does.”

he was about to turn to follow him, when he heard a thump on the wall. And then another, and suddenly he heard muffled yelling. He turned and saw a faint outline of Terav banging and screaming on the wall. He felt a pinch in his heart.

“What are you waiting for, youngling?” Qui-gon asked from behind him.

Ziverah turned to face Qui-Gon, burning red eyes, transfixed on him, a saddened look in them.

“I can’t leave him.” he said.

“and why not? He made your life miserable, and did the same for countless others. You could very easily teach him a lesson.” Qui-gon proposed.

“I can’t. I want to, but I can’t. I feel the force, tugging at my heart, telling me to go back, that saving him is the right thing to do.”

Qui-gon nodded, and gestured, the rest of the group had already gone to the ship, even Master Yoda and Obi-wan. But Qui-gon stayed. Ziverah approached the ice wall, he focused again, and heard muffled sobbing on the other end. He placed his palm on the ice, and closed his eyes. And he concentrated on one word in his mind,’shatter’, nothing happened. He concentrated harder, ‘shatter!’, again nothing happened, one more time, ‘SHATTER!’, and finally the ice wall like a pane of glass shattered into a hundred pieces, revealing the shriveled boy on the otherside, tears streaming from his eyes. Terav looked up at Ziverah, and went wide eyed,

“B-Blue skin? Why?” he said, quivering, “w-why would you help me?”

“Get up Emiris.” he said, putting on a veneer of coldness in his voice.

Emiris got to his feet, and followed behind Ziverah. Who looked at his palm, and noticed a slash across it, bleeding deep crimson blood. Qui-gon noticed, and halted him. He told Terav to go wait with the others while he helped Ziverah, and when he was gone, Qui-gone brought bandages out from under his robe.

“That was a very noble thing, Ziverah.” Qui-gon said, as he wrapped the bandage around his palm.

“It was the right thing to do.” Ziverah replied.

“Indeed,” Qui Gon agreed, “You’ll make a fine Jedi.”

Ziverah accepted the complement without a word,

“Master Qui-Gon,” he asked, “would we really have left him had I moved on?”

“no.” he said smiling warmly, “In the event that a youngling is unable to get out the cave, we normally break the ice ourselves.”

“why didn’t you?”

“because… something told me that you’d do it. And that I needed to let you do it.” he said, thoughtfully.

“just as you didn’t need to wrap my hand, you could have given me a bacta stim, but this way you get an excuse to talk with me.”

he smirked, “you are smart lad.” he said, “come, they’ll be waiting at The Crucible.”

“The Crucible?” he asked, wrinkling his nose, “we’re not taking the shuttle back to Coruscant?”

“no.” he said as he led him along, “first you must build your lightsaber.”

he sat in his seat, next to Azera, in The Crucible. Talking with him about what had just happened. As the engines hummed and hyperspace blazed outside the window. Their conversation was cut off, by Obi-wan coming out from a room on the portside,

“younglings, if I may have your attention.” he said, as all the younglings gathered around him, “You have passed this test and earned your lightsaber crystals.”

at that, Terav slouched in the corner, crossing his arms.

“But there is one more step, you must construct your lightsaber.” he finished, “To help you, may I introduce, Professor Huyang.

a funny droid came out of the very same room, slowly shambling his way towards the group. he had gold plating, and a backpack which was actually a set of tools and machines attatched to him. And a strangly shaped head that overall looked old and archaic in design. His metal hands where held behind his back as he reached the group.

“these are them?” he asked, in a funny accent. “I swear they get younger every year. They have all passed The Gathering?” he asked Obi-wan.

“erm, no, master Huyang, the one sulking in the corner never found his crystal.”

“what a shame, he’ll have to try again next year.” he said, ernestly.

Terav sneered at the words, and the pity. His expression went from that of dissappointment to anger,

“what all could I learn from a droid anyway!?” he lashed out.

“excuse me young man!” Huyang protested, “I have been on this ship for several thousand years! I’ve trained many Jedi before you and I’ll train many Jedi after you! Call me what you wish but these old memory banks contain the knowledge of every Jedi’s lightsaber to ever come on this ship. From Master Revan to Master Yoda himself.” he finished, satisfied with his retort. Which only served to make Terav sulk even more.

“now what will you have? Leather bound? Carbon? Corundum or doonium, purgyll bone to-”

he was interrupted by Ziverah raising his hand,

“May I have Nyix?” he asked.

“Nyix?” Huyang asked, “I have had many strange requests over the years but I have never heard of a Jedi requesting Nyix.” he pondered, “let me see if I have some.”

and with that, he turned the corner of a counter on the far side of the room, which closed off a room lined with storage cabinets, which seemed to go on for infinity. Rustles and clangs sounded from the room, as he mumbled to himself opening and closing cabinets and pulling and putting back drawers before he walked back with a drawer in hand, filled with various metal and leather lightsaber parts.

“you’re in luck youngling.” he said, “we do indeed have Nyix.”

he examined the boy, slotting down a magnifier over his optic lense,

“In all my years aboard this ship I haven’t seen one who looks like you.” he said, “blue skin, like a wroonian or a Pantoran, but those eyes, bright red without even an iris or pupil.”

“I’m not a Pantoran.” Ziverah said, “or a Wroonian.”

“ah then what are you?”

“I am a Chiss.”

“I’ll have to add Chiss to my memory banks.” he said gleefully, as if happy he finally learned something knew after a thousand years.

He didn’t respond, he was tired of having to tell people that he wasn’t Pantoran. He felt bad, saying it too. He felt like it upset Azera, though in actuality, Azera didn’t care.

The lesson only took a few moments, explaining the inner mechanisms that let a lightsaber function, where the Kyber Crystal should slot in, and overall how to put the pieces together. He explained that any mistake in any part of the process would lead to a failure, and that if that were to happen you’d need to start from the beginning. And after the lesson was finished, Ziverah got to work constructing the lightsaber.

Now with the lightsaber constructed, all he needed to do was slot in the Crystal. He fished the green rock out of his pocket, and slotted into the chamber, and slid the handle back on. He backed away from his work, station, held out the lightsaber angling it away from himself, and pressed the button. With a loud skreech it burst to life, lighting the whole area in a bright green glow, it now stood contained in front of him, letting off a dull hum as it held in place. He gently swung it, making sure not to hit anything, as he did it made a faint woosh sound as it collided with the air around it. He turned it off.

Huyang came over to him to inspect his lightsaber,

“quite an interesting design, not many have had the forethought to put a basket on the hilt.” he said, examining the hilt with his magnifier.

“It is just as important to protect your hands as it is to protect your body.” Ziverah replied.

“indeed,” Huyang said, curiously, “what is this symbol you’ve etched into the tang?”

“It is the crest of the Irizi family.” he answered, “It was the family I belonged to, back when I was in the Ascendancy.”

“I see…” he said, trailing off.

He handed the saber back to Ziverah, and left to go inspect Kari’s saber. He was about to set the saber back onto the workstation, before Azera rushed over, lightsaber in hand, his face bright with glee.

“Zi!” he called, “look at my lightsaber.” he said, thrusting out the hilt to be inspected.

It was similar to his, it had a basket hilt, and a leather grip, but the basket was wireworked whereas his was solid nyix with triangular holes punched in, Azera’s basket was Aurodium, shining and glinting in the synthetic light of the ship, as well as the pommel which was etched with filligree unti the small spike that poked out the bottom.

“I based the design off of the sabres and swords that I see soldiers carry when I’m back on Pantora.” he explained,

“Soldiers on Pantora still carry swords?” He asked,

“mostly ceremonial, but yeah!” he said, “now show me yours.”

Ziverah smirked, as he handed Azera’s lightsaber back to him, and held up his, the Nyix shining bluish hues from the lights, casting a shadow on the dark leather grip.

“You have a basket hilt too!” he beamed, “we’re basket brothers!” he said, giggling.

“I guess we are.” Ziverah said, laughing at the joke.

Like a trigger, the smile faded from Azera’s face as he handed Zi’s saber back to him. Ziverah’s heart pinched at the sudden change in expression. He put his hand on his shoulder,

“hey, Az, what’s wrong?” he asked worridly

“It’s just…” he paused, “when we get back to Coruscant, their going to match us up with masters. There going to send us out on missions, we’re going to be away from eachother for months at a time…” he lowered his head, “I’m just worried that when we become padawans we won’t be friends anymore.”

“Hey” Ziverah said calmy, “nothing could ever make me not want to be your friend. You’re my ride or die.”

“promise me.” he said, “promise me that no matter how much time we spend apart, that we will always be friends.”

Ziverah paused for a moment, got a serious look in his eyes and said,

“I promise.”

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