Traveling through hyperspace aboard the Crucible, Zell and the other initiates sat in a semi circle on the ground in one of the ship's common areas listening to a lecture from professor Hyuang on lightsaber construction. Once finished Hyuang gathered the necessary parts for building their lightsabers and spread out, distributing them amongst the initiates.
After being given the go ahead the younglings began franticly reaching for and grabbing at the components.
Some initiates even shoved others out of their way in their excitement, to get to the specific parts they wanted.
Master Fay watched from a corner of the room in silence, with a complex smile on her face. That showed a mix of, warmth, from seeing the younglings so energetic, and disappointment, from watching the younglings not practicing the patience they have been taught as jedi.
Once the hysteria died down some, Fay's eyes drifted to the opposite side of the room and caught sight of Zell. who was sitting in a meditative position, instead of rummaging through the pile of saber parts like the other initiates.
"Hm? what is MoonCrest doing? While I'm pleased to see him practicing his meditation, now might not be the best time. If he doesn't hurry he'll have to build his lightsaber using only leftover parts none of the other initiates wanted"
As Fay was about to walk over to Zell and suggest him to quickly collect parts before it was too late she noticed Zell was levitating his newly acquired crystal with the force in front of himself.
As she watched Fay saw several lightsaber component lift up into the air from the assortment of parts the other initiates had surrounded.
Seeing this several of the younger initiates attempted to grab the floating pieces, being drawn to them floating. But all attempts failed as the pieces quickly evaded their hands. Almost as if they had a minds of their own.
Slowly the floating parts converged towards Zell's crystal and began orbiting it. Once all the required parts were gathered, Zell, following the construction steps that were just taught to him by droid professor, he pictured the process fluidly in his mind. How all the parts should fit together.
Soon they began assembling together centered around the crystal, taking the form of a lightsaber hilt.
(image of lightsaber)
Less than a minute passed before the saber was complete.
Zell gripped the hilt with both hands and rose to stand. Igniting his blade afterward. Upon activation Zell marveled at the yellow colored hue of the blade, and a mix of deep emotions swelled within him.
The happiness, of completing its construction. The pride, from having acquiring the legendary tool of the jedi. The caution, from knowing that he now possessed one of the deadliest weapons in the known universe, and so on.
The sound of the saber's activation instantly draw the attention of everyone in the room. Many of the younglings looked at Zell's new lightsaber with sparkling eyes. Awed by its color that was less often seen when compared to the regularly seen blue and green.
"Well done initiate MoonCrest!"
Professor Hyuang exclaimed in excitement as he walked over to congratulate Zell.
"I most say you may have perhaps achieved one of the fastest first time assembly speeds I've ever witnessed. Even in my extensive databanks there are few recorded initiates who manage to build their lightsabers so quickly, and on their first try no less. Great work indeed!"
"Thank you professor Hyuang, however most of the credit goes to my kyber crystal"
"Your crystal? what do you mean?"
"When I was thing about what parts I wanted for my lightsaber, the main thing that came my mind was that I simply wanted parts that would work most comfortably with my crystal. So I simply asked it which parts it would feel most homey in, since its going to be living inside it from now on. I then allowed it to direct me to which pieces it wanted kind over"
"You asked your crystal what it wanted? Hmm, fascinating"
Hyuang said in delight. For thousands of year he have worked with countless jedis in creating their first lightsabers, so he is familiar with the concept that some jedi could communicate nonverbally with their crystals.
"I have heard of such things, of jedi communicating with the crystals but this is my first time witnessing it in person, quite a spontaneous treat!"
"Alright alright professor, I'm sure there will time late for you get into another educational lecture on that topic later, but for now there are still other initiates who still need you assistance with their constructions, that you should be focusing on them don't you think"
Fay asked, stepping forward, interrupting Hyuang before he could start enthusiastically ranting.
"Oh, goodness me you are absolutely right. Thank you for reminding me master Fay, I'll get right back to it. Come now children back to work"
Hyuang returned his focus back to the other children, having them resume their work on their own lightsabers as he guiding them.
Fay having successfully redirected the professor's attention, returned to her previous watching spot. Once back she gave a hard side long glance to Zell.
'For him to form such a strong bond with his crystal so soon after getting it, to the point that they can already communicate is most impressive'
"Something wrong master Fay"
Zell asked feeling master Fay's gaze on him.
"No, nothing at all. I was just taken in by the color if your lightsaber"
"Its color?"
"Yes. A lightsabers color often represent the traits, role, nature and characteristics a jedi embodies"
"Really, that's amazing"
In truth Zell already knew this, but he made sure to play the part of the student who had just learned something new, and remained silent. Not wanting to come off as a disrespectful know it all, by saying something like "I already knew that" to Fay.
"Your blades color, yellow, a particularly rare one"
"It is?"
"Very so. It originally was seen more commonly in the order several centuries ago, but sadly in recent generations this specific color has now become more rare. Currently it normally only seen amongst the Temple guards of the jedi temple"
As Zell continued to listened to master Fay, he thought back on his time at temple. How he have in fact never seen any jedi besides the masked guardsmen wield yellow lightsabers.
It can be reasoned that the few who use them had simply never crossed his path, given that the order numbered roughly 10,000 members which is no small amount. The chances of meeting them from that perspective would be rather low, as Zell had meet every present living member of the order.
Or it could be that they were similar to master Fay. That they just preferred to move about the galaxy, rarely if ever, returning to the temple.
'I hope I have a chance to meet one in the future, maybe they'd be able to tell me why my crystal is yellow'
After finishing their chat master Fay moved back to previous spot and resumed overseeing the initiates. Zell thoughts however started drifting back the conversation he had with the spirits of Ulic and Cay Qel-Droma.
He was still a bit disheartened that they told him not to try preventing the war that was coming, but moping about it wouldn't help anyone. And while though reluctant he understood why they warned him to stop. If everything they said was true any action on his part was bound to draw the attention of those moving in the shadows. And if they're as powerful as his ancestors said, then at present he was no where near strong enough to face them.
And if they really have various groups under their control, it would mean Zell would also have to contend with not only the master minds but also all their minions, pawns, and agents they command as well.
One against an unknown number of enemies was not a battle that could be feasibly won. Zell accepted this fact.
But for Zell acceptance didn't equal resigning to fates whims.
'Alright, so I can't afford to act impulsively. Best I rethink all my future plans and slowly figure out what to do while taking Ulic's and Cay's words into consideration'
He didn't like the idea of doing nothing to stop the war but Zell wouldn't ignore his ancestors advice.
He still had many years left before he had the free range of movement that came with being promoted to a full fledge jedi knight. Only then could he take real action, but until then he would need to brain storm ideas that went along with his ancestors warning.
'If I can't stop the blade from opening the wound, maybe I can prepare the bandage to staunch the bleeding. Then worry about dealing with the blade later, once I'm better prepared to handle it'