Ice Cave Spelunking

[Mereel Vaun]

Mereel's eyes glossed over when she said she had seen herself. It was something he had experienced too, ​"I had an incredibly similar experience back in the Jedi Temple I found that holocron in, but my memory of it is still all too clear."

"I saw a small fraction of what you saw me do today from my own view, and I had to stop myself from killing me by killing me - if that makes any sense."

Mereel exhaled as the vivid image of his own face dissolving bit by bit into pure blinding light returned to the forefront of his mind. He thought he had learned a lesson all of its own that day, but now it felt like it had just been preparation for what Syrin had told him today.

Bit by bit, lesson by lesson.


Mereel went silent as his eyes fell on the huge expansive space now in front of them. The center of the huge chamber was guarded by two dilapidated rock statues, and tunnels branched off from the main chamber.

He had no doubt that each of the tunnels lead much further away from the chamber, possibly connecting in a massive cave network unknown kilometers long. Getting lost in this place would be an explorer's worst nightmare.

Despite the seemingly high probability of becoming lost and dying horribly, he hadn't imagined seeing anything so grand in the crystal cave. "Woah."

"..How do I choose where to start? And how the kriff am I going to find my way back here?"

[member="Lilla Syrin"]

 

[Lilla Syrin]

Lilla listened – self-discovery was always more powerful than a lecture. It was why, she now understood, Jedi Masters were often so inscrutable. It would be easy to provide an answer. Easy but entirely unsatisfying.

It was better to provide the right questions that allowed the learner to come up with that self-same answer themselves.

“It does makes sense,” she said, once he had finished and both of their heads now faced the back of the chamber they were now standing in.

But sometimes clear instructions were necessary, and so Lilla spoke quietly but clearly.

“You will learn to trust the Force. You might say you do now, but I suspect you do up to a point. To a degree. If you are prepared to trust it completely, it will never let you down. But second guess it, override it, and you will end up blaming it for something outside of its control.”

“I use the third Form. And I trust the Force to guide my actions. It took a lot of time to reach that point, and most do not. But I was committed to putting my faith in the Force. 100% - and it has never let me down.”

“Which is my long-winded way of saying that, if you trust the Force, it will guide you to where you need to be – and guide you back here. You do not choose the crystal. The Force chooses it for you. That is why one will stand out among all of the others. It will be attuned to you – and therefore perform better for you than anyone else.”

She smiled and put a hand on Mereel’s shoulder. “I’ll see you when you need me, not before.”

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Her smile and shoulder pat did not at all reassure him. Today's lessons had all been about control - controlling his emotions, controlling his behavior, controlling his body weight to prevent himself from falling off the side of a kriffing cliff, but now she was telling him he had to embrace the force fully.

He was initially annoyed, but his head cooled off as he realized that was what he did whenever he used the force to sense what was around him. As with everything today, Lilla had been right. He may have been her senior in age, but the girl packed some serious Jedi wisdom.

"Alright, I'll hold you to it though. You better be here when I get back."


With a renewed sense of adventurous energy, he began opening himself to the force and marched forward, he loosened his backpack straps and let the heavy bag fall to the ground behind him. He had every intention of coming back before he needed any of the foodstuffs in the bag, according to Lilla, he just had to trust the force.

As he walked between the two crumbled statues, he turned and gave his Master a brief mock salute, "May the force be with you, and me."

Not waiting for a response, he cleared his thoughts and slowed his breathing. Between the two statues, Mereel stood entirely still with eyes shut, beckoning for the force to direct his next path.

[member="Lilla Syrin"]

 

[Lilla Syrin]

Lilla smiled at his words. “I’m not going anywhere, believe me.”

She was pleased he jettisoned the backpack. The less he took with him, the easier he could move – and the less he had to focus on. In truth, there was nothing he needed that he couldn’t fit in a few pockets.

“May the Force be with you,” she replied and sat down cross-legged on the hard floor. As Mereel disappeared, Lilla began to meditate. Of all of the things that were traditional for a Jedi, this was the one she enjoyed most – emptying her mind and connecting with the Force.

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

After several moments, he felt an odd sensation in the force utterly different from anything he had ever sensed before. He opened his eyes to see that his legs had already taken him down one of the tunnels branching off of the main chamber, and he now found himself standing dead center in the middle of a new chamber.

Small tunnel tubes branched off in every direction.

I don't remember which one I came from.

Worry began seeping in at the fringes of his mind. He remembered how Syrin had said that the construction of a lightsaber could take several days, but it would only feel like moments for the Jedi constructing the saber. Surely, he hadn't been walking in a trance through the cave for over a day? He tried to check his helmet's HUD chronometer, but of course the HUD failed to respond to his query.

What had originally only been small traces of worry grew to moderately-high levels of distress, and as Mereel rushed through possible practical solutions to his problem in his mind, darkness began creeping in. First the edges of his sight dimmed to blackness, then the void entirely consumed his vision as he felt his back rush towards cave ground.

---

Mereel awoke in the same position he had fallen in, but his surroundings were different. Low hanging cave-rock ceiling had been swapped for high-vaulted, arched stone. Familiar petroglyphs and murals of ancient warriors locked in various states of combat with an order long passed littered the ceiling. He was home.

And he was paralyzed.

He tried to move his arms and legs to stand, but to no avail. He was completely helpless as if the very molecules of his being were frozen by Cryoban.

The shallow clunking of armored-footsteps reverberated throughout the grandiose central stone hall of the Vaun Estate. "Welcome home, my son. I have missed you."

Mereel tried to open his mouth to call the man approaching him a liar, but his lips did not part to grant him his wish. He lay on the ground a mute stuck staring at the ceiling as Detrik approached from beyond his vision.

"My sources told me that you went to the Jedi for help. We both know why you did that, don't we? Still, it would seem that all of your efforts have amounted to nothing, but you should have known better from the start my boy."

The sound of the footfalls stopped, and the sound of a vibroblade leaving its scabbard rang coldly throughout the hall.

"You were raised to follow the Resol'nare. You should know better than most that the Jedi aren't one man armies."

The black Mandalorian helmet of his father peered down at him from directly above and behind his own head. Detrik raised his cortosis vibrosword above his head with two hands, preparing to plunge it into his son's neck-glove. With all of his concentration, Mereel tried to sweep his father's legs out from under him with his arms, but they didn't budge an inch.

As the sword reached it's peak, moments of Mereel's life flooded his memory, some were pleasant, others dreadful, and some life lessons he had learned along the way.

But I was committed to putting my faith in the Force. 100% - and it has never let me down.

The vibrosword began its descent.

Mereel slowed his breathing and let go of his thoughts of revenge, memories of loves and regrets, and forsook his primal will to fight - to survive. He surrendered control of himself to the force instead of his own physical strength. He stretched out his right arm, sending a massive wave of force energy cascading out toward the vision of his father. Before the wave of force energy connected, his father, the sword, and every inch of his home simultaneously burst into blinding blue light.

---

His vision slowly returned to normal, and he found himself standing on his feet, eyes staring at the heart of an ocean-blue chunk of adegan crystal. He wrapped his right armored hand around the top of the crystal and broke off a small brittle fragment of the crystal formation.

He deposited the blue crystal in a pouch on his belt. He looked around the room he was now in, green and blue crystal formations surrounded him on all sides. Walls, ceiling, and floor were all heartily sporting crystal formations along the cave chamber. The earlier drab look of the cave had been entirely replaced by a spectacle of beauty.

Without intentionally trying to sense her, he could sense his Master in the force nearby - he was no longer shutting it out, no longer only utilizing it as a weapon only for when he needed it. It felt refreshing.

Because he had such a hard time prying his eyes away from the crystal formations all around him, he slowly followed the crystal-filled tunnels until he arrived in the chamber where he had left Lilla. True to her word, she was still in the chamber, sitting cross legged in meditation. He was almost 100% sure she hadn't even moved while he was gone. He picked up the backpack still on the ground as he approached her and pulled the deep-blue adegan crystal from its belt pouch, holding it up in his open palm.

He had experienced so many emotions during his trip here that he wasn't even sure what to say. He wouldn't let the past feelings control him though. He would start at the beginning, "Thank you. You've helped me in more ways than you can possibly know in the last few days."

[member="Lilla Syrin"]

 

[Lilla Syrin]

Lilla waited patiently. It was an attribute she had in abundance. And given her interest in meditative techniques, it was a match made in heaven.

Lately, she had been focussing on Heji tal. It was a meditation technique incorporated into Jedi training many centuries ago by Grand Master Luke Skywalker in his establishment of the New Jedi Order. Sinking into this meditation and surrendering completely to the Force, Lilla was able to establish inner peace, gain knowledge, and bring about serenity.

Using the abilities of control, sense, and alter, in different combinations, she was learning to achieve a state of restful clarity.

One eye opened, as the Force indicated to her that Mereel was close. Once he’d reached her, she opened both eyes, but remained in her cross-legged position. She fished into her pocket and drew out two high-energy ration bars. She threw one to Mereel.

“We should eat before we leave and I have some water too.” She’d filled her flask from the ice near the cave and it would be pure, cold and refreshing.

Nibbling on her bar, she spoke again. “I am, at best, a sign-post. One giving options as opposed to directions. You are responsible for your own decisions, your own destiny. Take credit where it’s earned and due.”

“I sense a serenity in you that you did not have when you entered the cave – and a stronger linking to the Force…or rather a stronger background connection. Before I sensed bursts of a union, now there is a consistent link – and that will serve you well.”

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Mereel caught the ration bar from the air with his left hand and sat down across from Lilla. As he popped off his helmet he held out a hand and pointed at his own flask attached to his belt. "I'm good on drink."

He broke the ration bar's wrapper and took a hearty chunk out of it as he reclined to lay on his back. Part of him wanted to hurry and grab the components in his backpack to start building his saber now, and another part of him just wanted to lay there staring at the ceiling forever.

From her actions, the words Lilla spoke on her teaching methods seemed completely true to him. He appreciated it to no end.

"How long did I keep you waiting?"

[member="Lilla Syrin"]

 

[Lilla Syrin]

Lilla laughed softly. One of Mereel’s most endearing qualities was his selflessness. He was here, facing some inner demon only he would know of – and he was worried about keeping her waiting!

“You did not keep me waiting at all. I was meditating, learning. I never waste time – so nobody can steal it from me. I would, and could, have remained here days longer if you were not ready. And I would have been busy.”

“Now, your saber. Did you want to construct it now, or later? And if now, did you want me to recite the Crystal Code once finished, as is customary?”

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

After finishing his ration bar, Mereel un-clipped the flask of Mandalorian tihaar from his belt and took a quick swig. Perhaps because of the cold, the spirit's burning sensation felt stronger than normal.

"Yeah, no kidding. You could have stayed in here for at least a week with the amount of foodstuffs I crammed in that pack."

It wasn't an exaggeration. Mereel had packed three days' worth of food for the equivalent of two hims, and with the way she had been nibbling on the ration bar he could easily see it lasting her longer.

He returned the flask back to its home on his belt and propped himself up on an elbow to look at Lilla, "You said you built your saber here, right? I think it's high time I've adopted some new traditions starting with today, 'Crystal Code' and all."

[member="Lilla Syrin"]

 

[Lilla Syrin]

For Lilla, food was a fuel. Yes, she could appreciate the taste difference between quality spicing and bland military rations – but she believed, deep down – it served the same purpose. So, she ate what she needed to – and no more. Certainly her protein and calorie intake had increased since becoming a Jedi – she no longer had to scrounge for food, but through necessity only.

“Better to be prepared than unprepared,” Lilla said, “As long as you don’t over encumber yourself.”

She took a final bite of the ration bar and put the remainder back in her pocket. “If you have all the parts you need, there is no finer place to craft your saber – and once you complete the assembly, and attune the crystal to you – I can recite the Crystal Code. So…ready when you are.”

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

"Unprepared, encumbered. I don't even know what either of those words mean, Master." He muttered as he pulled the backpack toward him with outstretched arms.

He rummaged through the pack's middle storage container, clumsily moving the IV tubing out of the way to pull out a drab grey hollowed-out durasteel cylinder. "Alright.. there's that. And now -"

Mereel unzipped a small inner section of the middle part of the backpack, and proceeded to turn the backpack upside down before shaking it vigorously. IV tubing, an assortment of ration bars, flasks filled with either water or tihaar, and some thermal det-tape came crashing to the ground first.

Some lightsaber components fell to the cave floor shortly behind the rest of his junk. "- the rest. Mind the det tape."

Mereel had spent some time with the Jedi holocron the night before, probing it for information on what was needed to build a lightsaber. He was amazed by how simple the components of the blade were, and he was easily capable of finding the parts needed by scrounging around the cargo hold of the Iviin'yc. He would probably have to tell Tucker later that some of his inventory was now missing though... oh well, he could bring it up later.

He gathered up all of the components that he had salvaged from the Iviin'yc the night before and set them off in a new not-so-neat pile before drawing his DL-18 blaster pistol and ejecting the weapon's power cell. He dropped the power cell on top of the lightsaber-part pile. "Alright, I think I remember how the holocron said to do this. If you get hungry, I'm sure you can find something in the pile."

Mereel sat down holding the blue crystal in his right hand. Imitating the pose he saw Lilla doing when he first returned from the crystal caves, he closed his eyes and cleared his thoughts. He let the force flow through him for quiet some time before starting the actual building process.

After some time, the durasteel hilt of the saber levitated in front of the Mandalorian, before breaking apart into three segments. Mereel recalled the saber blueprint he had carefully-studied the night before in his mind as he channeled the force to levitate the parts into their respective positions.

His mind went through a checklist as the parts slowly fell into place, as if building the blade compared to preparing for any normal mission. Modulation circuits, check. Energy gate, check. Power cell, check. Emitter matrix, check... and hopefully not inverted. Emitter shroud, check. Activation button, check.

He felt the crystal lift from his palm in both force and sense of touch as it hovered to its place near the top of the blade. Lilla had said that the crystal needed to be attuned to its user, and so he ran into his first real problem. He had no idea how to go about doing that.

What would a Jedi do?

And so he meditated on the crystal with the words of the Jedi Code taking forefront in his mind. There is no emotion... there is no emotion.. there is no emotion..

Welcome home, my son.

The words of his phantom-vision father sprung up into the back of his mind. Emotion and passion crept in where there had previously been semblance of serenity. The deep blue adegan crystal began glowing white hot as it hovered.

. . You need to learn to control your emotions. Not bury them, not purge them – we all have them . .

. . the past is the past . .

Reel it in, di'kut.

Mereel fought for control of his emotion. Slowly, resentment turned to acceptance, and acceptance turned to serenity. The three segments of the hilt combined, and Mereel opened his eyes and plucked the hilt from the air with his hands.

With a slight haze in his eyes, he nodded at Lilla, silently indicating he was ready for the Crystal Code.

[member="Lilla Syrin"]

 

[Lilla Syrin]

Lilla sat and smiled, every Jedi had their own ways – and Mereel was no different. She would never try to change him. If he amended any of his ways, it would be because he saw the wisdom in it – not for the reason that she told, or even asked him to.

She nodded when he offered her food. Mereel had packed for every eventuality – including a planet-wide famine it seemed.

The she sensed him begin the task in earnest and she made sure she did not distract him, although she observed his actions – sabers had been known to blow up before if incorrectly assembled.

It took a while for the full assembly, no doubt longer than Mereel conceived. But finally he was ready.

Her eyes flicked to Mereel’s . Returning her gaze to the lightsaber, she recited, “The crystal is the heart of the blade. The heart is the crystal of the Jedi. The Jedi is the crystal of the Force. The Force is the blade of the heart. All are intertwined: the crystal, the blade, the Jedi. You are one.”

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Mereel thumbed the ignition button of the lightsaber, his lightsaber. A dim, pale blue light discolored by his anger-interrupted meditation sprung forth from the blade with a hiss.

He hefted the weight of the quaint tool of ancient design around in his hand. He cautiously twirled the hilt of the blade around in his hand a few times, trying to get a feel for all of the saber's weight being in the hilt. Even though it had just been created, he felt a strong bond between himself and the saber already.

It would serve him well in the coming days, and it would do Mereel well to have it at his side. Every ignition of the blade would serve as a reminder of the lessons he had learned in Ilum's crystal caves.

[member="Lilla Syrin"]