LIGHTSABERS
^ With great delight, he held them in his long hairy fingers in front of
Em Teedee's optical sensors. He growled with pleasure, and a hint of
smugness.
Em Teedee replied with some degree of petulance, "Well, of course I
could be wrong."
^
------------------DAYBREAK FOUND TENEL Ka atop the Great Temple
limbering up in preparation for her new exercise routine. After tying
back her wavy redgold hair with a few simple braids, she stretched each
muscle slowly, deliberately, efficiently. Her lizard-skin bodysuit was
even more abbreviated than her usual reptilian armor, so as not to
restrict her movement. The sparkling blue scales rippled with every
flexing of her muscles.
Standing barefoot on the ancient weathered stone of the temple, Tenet Ka
reached toward the sky, stretching first with one arm, then the other.
She felt her body begin to loosen up, as the jungle around her blossomed
with the scents and sounds of the dawning day. A light breeze stirred
the leaves, and Tenet Ka took in deep breaths, letting her mind focus on
what she needed to do. She would make her new routine as rigorous as the
calisthenics Master Skywalker himself performed each morning.
She had been surprised by her reaction to the Jedi
^ LIGHTSABERS
^ teacher's instruction for them to build their own lightsabers. Despite
her fierce pride at knowing she would soon begin earnest training for
real battles, Tenet Ka had resented the implication that she would
somehow be judged on the basis of the weapon with which she would fight.
Earlier, she had scaled the Great Temple using nothing more than her
grappling hook, her fibercord, and her own muscles. Wasn't the warrior
who wielded the weapon much more important than the weapon itselp she
asked herself. Even holding a simple stick instead of a dazzling
lightsaber, Tenet Ka was capable of defeating an enemy.
When she felt truly timbered up, Tenef Ka hefted the meter-long wooden
staff she had carried to the top of the temple. For half an hour she
practiced throwing the stick into the air and catching it, alternating
between her left hand and her fight, first with eyes open, then closed.
Next, she practiced twirling the wooden rod over her head and jumping
over it as she swung it beneath her feet.
Perspiration glistened on Tenet Ka's neck and forehead, and was
trickling down her spine by the time she moved on to the next challenge.
Finally, once Tenel Ka was satisfied that her reflexes were as finely
tuned as she could wish, she grasped one end of the staff with both
hands as if it were a lightsaber and began sword drills.
After an hour of that, Tenet Ka was ready for more exacting physical
activity. Taking a deep breath, she sprinted down the steep outer stairs
of the pyramid to ground level and began her tenkilometer run for the
day.
The breeze felt cool against her face as she ran.
Glancing down at herself, she assessed her lean muscular arms and long
sturdy legs, reveling in the unrestricted motion and complete control.
She sped up, pleased to note that her muscles were more than equal to
the demands she made on them.
Yes, she decided, the warrior was what mattered, not the weapon.
After her fifth day of intensive drilling to hone her skills as sharp as
any weapon, Tenel Ka felt ready to begin fashioning the handle of her
personal lightsaber. Still glowing with perspiration from her morning
workout, she decided to swim in the warm jungle river while she
considered her next task.
She thought of the many materials available for her lightsaber handle,
as she stripped off her exercise suit and dove with easy confidence into
the swift current.
Tenel Ka was a strong swimmer, trained on both Hapes and Dathomir, at
the insistence of both grandmothers. It was one of the few times she
could remember that her parents' mothers had ever agreed on anything.
Augwynne Djo, mother of Teneniel Djo, Tenel Ka's mother, had taught her
to swim, saying that the LIGHTSABERS
^ strongest hunters and warriors were those who could not be stopped by
a mere lake or river. Ta'a Chume, on the other hand, matriarch of the
Royal House of Hapes and mother of Tenel Ka's father, Prince Isolder,
had taught swimming as a defense against assassins or kidnappers. In
fact, her grandmother had once escaped an attempt on her life by umping
from a wavespeeder into a lake and swimming for shore underwater, so
that the would-be assassins assumed she had drowned.
Tenel Ka surfaced from the river, drew a deep lungful of air, and struck
out upstream against the current. It was difficult swimming, but she
used the added strength she had gained in her recent lightsaber training
. . . which brought her back to the task at hand.
She supposed she could fashion her lightsaber handle from a piece of
metal pipe, or even carve one from hardwood, since a lightsaber gave off
little heat. But somehow those did not seem right for her.
Tenel Ka propelled herself forward with long smooth strokes, keeping a
steady rhythm. Left.
Right. Left. Right.
Stone would be too difficult to shape, and too heavy for her purposes.
Tenel Ka needed something that would suit the image of a warrior from
Dathomir. She pictured Augwynne Djo's proud form clad in reptile skin, a
ceremonial helm on her head, riding a domesticated rancor. The taming of
these ferocious beasts was an appropriate symbol of the courage of her
rugged people, since the huge beasts were powerful and their sharp claws
deadly.
Tenel Ka allowed herself to sink below the surface of the river and
changed to a new stroke, recalling that she had kept two teeth from her
grandmother's favorite rancor when it had died a few years ago. They
were not the rancor's largest teeth by far, but each was the perfect
size and shape to be a lightsaber handle. . . .
A week later, Tenel Ka studied her handiwork with justifiable pride and
etched another deep groove into the pattern she had carved on her rancor
tooth.
Lowie, sitting ahead of her in the tiny cockpit of the T-23 skyhopper,
turned and roared a question at her. She waited for a moment for Em
Teedee's translation. "Master Lowbacca wishes to inquire whether you
have any preference as to the volcano in which you hope to search for
crystals."
Tenel Ka glanced out at the rich green jungle canopy rushing beneath
them. "You may choose," she said.
Lowbacca gave a short bark. "It makes little difference to Master
Lowbacca," Em Teedee told her. "He has already assembled the components
he intends to use for his lightsaber. The primary construction on his
instrument is complete, and he has only to tune it now."
LIGHTSABERS
^ Tenel Ka blinked in surprise, not only at the length of Em Teedee's
translation after Lowbacca's short reply, but also at the thought that
Lowbaccaand perhaps Jacen or Jaina-was so far ahead of her. Well then,
she would have to make her search quickly and assemble h
er lightsaber
without delay.
"The closest volcano," she said, reaching forward and pointing. "There."
Then, gruffly, because she felt foolish for having asked Lowbacca to
take her out on this effand, she said, "I apologize. I would not have
troubled you with my request had I known your lightsaber was almost
complete."
The Wookiee growled and dismissed this with a motion of one
ginger-fuffed hand. "Master Lowbacca wishes to assure you that you have
not inconvenienced him in the slightest," Em Teedee supplied. "It has
been many days since he enjoyed solitude and meditation out in the
jungle, and he delights in the opportunity to assist you in this manner.
The Wookiee snorted and gave the little translator droid a flick with
one finger. "Oh-that is to say," Em Teedee amended, "it was Master
Lowbacca's intention to take a break anyway, and he's pleased he could
help."
The young Wookiee sniffed loudly, but accepted this translation. He
brought the T-23 skyhopper down on a patch of hard-packed volcanic sand
between the jungle's edge and the base of a small m volcano. After
Lowbacca woofed a few words, Em Teedee said, "When you have completed
your search, successful or not, simply return here to the T-23. Master
Lowbacca and I will watch for you from the treetops."
Tenel Ka nodded curtly. "Understood. Thank you." Without further ado,
she turned and hurried up the slope toward the volcano.
Though none of the volcanoes near the Jedi academy had erupted in quite
some time, tendrils of white steam still curled from this one's peak.
Skirting the sharp black rocks on the perimeter, Tenel Ka soon found a
gaping lava tube leading in toward the core of the volcano, as she had
hoped.
A pungent sulfurous odor filled the warm tunnel.
Tenel Ka pulled the finger-sized glowrod from a pouch at her belt and
ignited it to light her way.
Black crystalline sand crunched under her feet and glittered like
thousands of fiery sparks, throwing back the light of her glowrod. As
she trudged farther in, the sandy floor became hard rock, glassy like
obsidian. Ahead of her the rocky corridor radiated an eerie red light,
and the heat grew stifling.
Occasionally she heard a rumbling, rushing roar, as if the volcano
itself were breathing deeply in its sleep. The stony walls around her
took on a cracked, broken look. Some of the larger fissures ran from
floor to ceiling and leaked puffs of acrid white steam. But she saw no
embedded crystals.
LIGHTSABERS
^ The lava tube wound on and on. Losing patience, Tenel Ka had just
about decided to turn back when she rounded one last corner and
encountered a wave of searing heat. She had found what she was looking
for.
"Ali," she said. "Aha."
She wouldn't be able to bear the heat for long, but she had to risk it.
On the floor of the tunnel lay a huge slab of glossy black rock that had
broken free from a crack on the tunnel wall. Ripples of scorching air
danced before her in the dimness.
Rivulets of perspiration ran down her forehead and into her eyes,
blurring her vision. Even so, she could not mistake the chunks of spiky
crystals that grew on the broken slab, glittering and hazy.
The rock surrounding her was too hot to touch, so Tenel Ka worked
quickly. Holding her glowrod in her teeth, she pulled a small scrap of
lizard hide from a pouch at her belt, wrapped it around a clump of the
crystals, used her grappling hook to chip away at a few of the crystals,
then pried them loose.
Tenel Ka tucked the crystals, still wrapped in their protective lizard
hide, into her belt pouch, then headed back up the tunnel at a trot.
Holding the glowrod high above her head, she raised her voice in a loud
ululating cry of triumph that echoed down the length of the lava tube.
Back in her quarters, Tenel Ka sat at a low wooden table with the
components of her future lightsaber spread in front 'of her. Everything
she needed for assembling her weapon was here: SW itches, crystals, the
covering plate , a power source, a focusing lens, and the rancor-tooth
hilt.
She ran a light fingertip over the intricate battle etchings she had
carved on the ivory lightsaber handle. The markings had turned out even
better than she had hoped.
After returning from her crystal hunt, she had applied to the rancor
tooth a paste made of dampened black sand from the floor of the lava
tube.
When she polished the tooth to a soft luster, pigment from the dark sand
had stained every crevice of her carving to bring each etched line into
sharp relief. The decorated rancor tooth was a beautiful piece, worthy
of a warrior.
A yawn of contented weariness escaped her lips as Tenel Ka began to
piece the components together according to Master Skywalker's
directions. She frowned when she realized that the hollow inside the
rancor's tooth was not quite large enough to contain the arrangement of
crystals she had hoped for. She frowned again when she noticed on close
inspection that each of her hazy crystals contained a tiny flaw. She
suppressed another yawn and shook her head in resignation. Well, she
didn't have much choice. There hadn't been time to examine the crystals
more carefully in the searing lava tube, and now it was too late to
search for more.
LIGHTSABERS
^ Tenel Ka thought back over the past two weeks, the drills and
exercises she had put herself through.
Her reflexes were lightning-fast, her skills and senses sharp as a
laser. She shrugged, trying to loosen the knot of weary tension that had
crept into her shoulders. She would have to make do. After all, in the
long run it was the warrior and not the weapon that determined victory.
She nodded to herself as she picked up the lightsaber handle and began
placing the components inside.
^ : ----------------THE JUNGLE CLEARING was alive with thousands-no,
millions!-of living creatures and interesting plants, strangely colorful
mushrooms and droning insects, all of which offered great distractions
to Jacen. He had to work very hard to keep his mind from wandering. At
the moment it was far more important to pay attention to Luke Skywalker
as he set up the first lightsaber dueling exercise for the young Jedi
Knights.
During the construction of their weapons, the trainees had sparred with
dueling droids and with each other, using sticks the same length as a
lightsaber blade. After completing their lightsabers, they had spent a
week Practicing with their real weapons against stationary targets,
accustoming themselves to the feel of the energy blades.
Now, though, Master Skywalker had deemed them ready to move on to the
next step.
The clearing was a burned-out spot where lightning had sparked a brief
but intense forest fire. The jungle dampness and lush foliage had
quickly
^ LIGHTSABERS 37 smothered the blaze, but a huge Massassi tree-its trunk
chaffed and weakened by the searin
g flameshad toppled over, taking with
it several smaller trees and bushes. The rest of the clearing was a
matted maze of pale green undergrowth-weeds and grasses and flowers
attempting to reclaim the burned and crumbly soil.
Because today's exercises would be both mental and physical, Uncle Luke
wore a comfortable flight suit, as did Jacen and Jaina. Tenel Ka's
ever-present reptilian armor left her arms and legs bare, giving her
complete freedom of movement. Her long reddish-gold hair had been
plaited into intricate braids, with special ornamentation on each one.
Lowbacca wore no garment other than his belt, woven of strands he had
harvested from a deadly syren plant in the deep forests on Kashyyyk. Em
Teedee hung in his accustomed place at the Wookiee's waist.
All of the young Jedi Knights carried something new and special this
time, though-their own lightsabers, completed after weeks of delicate
construction.
While Jacen stood with his friends, flicking occasional glances in the
direction of rustling leaves that hinted at the presence of strange
creatures, Luke Skywalker took a seat on the massive fallen trunk. At
last he unslung the mysterious pack he had lugged all the way from the
Great Temple.
"What's in there, Uncle Luke?" Jacen asked, unable to restrain his
curiosity. Since he couldn't investigate the interesting insects and
plants, he needed to focus his mind on something else.
Luke gave a secretive smile and withdrew a scarlet sphere the size of a
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