Our excursion ended a couple of hours after that "incident." The younglings were full of impressions and each took a couple of kathracites for their training swords. They would practice infusing them with the Force. It was growing noticeably colder, so we hurried to leave the Temple. As soon as we took a few steps away from the entrance, an icy slab slid upward, sealing it from sight.
It was already beginning to get dark outside—the sky above Ilum was blanketed with clouds. It looks like it's about to snow.
However, contrary to my fears, nothing happened. Puck and Lucky reported that everything was calm; no one and nothing had been detected. Well, that was for the best.
We boarded the ship and set off on our return flight. The children went to bed, and Ahsoka locked herself in her cabin—probably to assemble her shoto. She had already selected most of the components while we were at the Temple. The shoto's hilt was almost identical to her main lightsaber, but slightly smaller—by about seven centimeters—and less ornate, though the overall style remained the same, with rounded pommels and dual safety-beveled emitter caps.
I, on the other hand, hadn't made any progress at all.
So, after giving it some thought, I headed over to Huyang and explained the situation to him.
"Can you help me?"
"Shouldn't a Jedi assemble his own sword? Hmm?" he asked cheerfully.
"Well… a Jedi and a crystal are involved in assembling a sword. I don't think one more crystal would hurt."
"Excellent, just excellent. It's been a long time since I've met such a quick-witted Jedi. What kind of sword do you want to assemble?"
"Actually… I've seen it."
"Really? Interesting…. Can you picture it?"
I concentrated, and an image of the hilt formed in my mind. Not a single detail was missing; I could almost feel them as if they were real.
"Oooh…" the shard said thoughtfully. "It's been a long time since I've seen something like that. The last time I helped a Jedi named Pong Krell assemble two double-bladed swords… but ones like these… I don't even remember. At least not in the last thousand years. Are you sure of your choice, Jedi?"
"Yes."
"Hmmm. I'll help you. I have something here…"
Huyang hurried over to his shelves.
"Meditate while you wait. Fill the stones with the Force, and I'll look for the components."
"And if you don't find them?"
"Then we'll make them, Jedi. I may not be fully gifted, but I am skilled in the art of Force forging. Who better than a thing to understand the essence of things?"
What a joker. I sat down on the floor in the center of the cabin and began to immerse myself in meditation. The crystals rested in my palm—then I felt them rise into the air…
I don't know how much time passed. I simply opened myself to the Force, letting it flow out of me. It passed through the crystals and returned—but a small part of it remained, trapped within their facets.
"Hey, Jedi, are you ready?" Huyang's voice pulled me back to reality.
I opened my eyes and said uncertainly, "I think so. How much time has passed?"
"Almost ten hours."
"Ten hours?!"
"Yes. And you've completed the task. When infusing crystals with the Force, meditation is the most important part. You seem to have no trouble with that. Now your crystals are truly yours."
"So… how did you do?" I asked.
"Everything is ready. Here, look. I sketched a diagram…. First, four diatium power cells—the primary energy source for a lightsaber and one of the most important components of its hilt. Next… two primary crystals—nothing unusual, standard form. Then the hilts themselves. You're in luck; I've had some blanks lying around since time immemorial… I've already cut them into the pieces you need. The material is songsteel."
I whistled.
Songsteel was an unusually light, luminescent silver metal used in the manufacture of swords and staves. It was reserved for only the most exquisite weapons and was notoriously difficult to forge and shape. Songsteel was highly resistant to lightsaber strikes, comparable to phrik and cortosis.
"Yes, yes, I know—it's rare," Huyang continued. "If I'm not mistaken, it was ordered for a lightsaber pike, but no one ever came to pick it up… Let's continue. Two beveled emitter caps, made of ultrachrome. Well, and the corresponding plugs, true, made of bronzium. Mounting rings and the mechanism for attaching the swords into a lightstaff—suprasteel. Several leather inserts for the grips, made from captoroptorius hide. It has no special properties beyond being rough and grippy, but it's comfortable in the hand."
Huyang scratched his head with one of his manipulators.
"Care to take a few tips from an old, grumpy shard?"
"I'm listening."
"So… your swords have a large usable internal volume, which means everything fits easily inside. But you're unlikely to find training swords like these anywhere, so you'll have to make do with what you've got. The hilt of your primary blade, with its elongated hilt, could easily serve as the basis for a double-bladed saber—but never mind."
"Instead, I suggest installing your fifth crystal—you want to use two crystals to make the blades two-phase, correct?"
I nodded again, and Shard continued.
"Good. Then here's a device. It creates a protective field around the blade, similar to training sabers. The second blade is almost like a normal lightsaber, and you can use any training sword. And when you assemble the staff, the field can extend to the second blade as well—it's just a dual-circuit element in the modulation matrix… ah, I'm getting carried away. In short, you'll be able to train with them—once you assemble them."
"I'll start right now," I assured him, pulling the components closer.
And once again—meditation…
***
Lovingly stroking the hilts of the completed sabers, I bowed slightly to the shard.
"Thank you for your help, Master. I doubt I could have assembled them so quickly on my own."
"You're welcome, Jedi, you're welcome. It's my job to teach you how to build lightsabers. As for speed… I once knew a Jedi who assembled his sabers in four hours. From scratch. With nothing but metal ingots and a pitiful collection of components…"