A time to build...

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Mariella landed her ship near a mountainous outcropping. She had been to Ilum once before in her childhood, and this was where her master had taken her. Ce'dran Garrion had taught her many things, and among them was where to find the adegan crystals necessary for building a lightsaber. She landed at the base of the mountain.

Part of the ritual was the climb. The trail of the flesh was necessary, that her mind would be pure when she reached the task she had before her. She pulled her cloak around her and removed the emergency pack from the fighter, taking up the rope and the ice-claw. She began her climb, drawing in the force around her, to steel her for her what was to come.

The going was tough at first, but she didn't mind much until she had ascended about a hundred meters. Even with her gloves, hands, the ice was cold and rough enough to make the skin raw. Mariella had always kept her hands soft, and it wasn't long until they began to bother her. She pressed on, the cold cutting into her every time her cloak flapped open. She fell into a meditative state, letting the force guide her upwards.

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Her mind moved quickly, just as her body did. The journey went quickly, though it drained her stamina significantly. Within three hours she had reached the ice-shelf that she had climbed to along-side her master so many years ago. It was only slightly different than she remembered, and the difference was not in the landscape.

As she pulled herself to her feet, she leveled her fierce green eyes at the Gorgodon at the mouth of the cave. She would have to circumvent it if she were to gain entrance to the cave. The force presented her with a hundred different paths to take. Many of them led to her own death...most did not. There were four that ended with her holding a lightsaber. She did not like three of them, so she went into action with the last.

Stepping forward, Mariella lifted her hands gently, allowing the force to flow through her. The beast now noticed her as she stepped forward carefully. The beast did not know what was going on, only that it now felt a strange calming sensation that it had not felt in all of its years of struggling for survival. The beast began to lumber toward her before stopping. She was not a threat. She was a friend. He was safe, and he could let her pass.

It took several minutes, but using the force Mariella was able to lull the gorgodon into sleep at the mouth of the cave. She skirted it carefully, not wishing to spook it from its dreamy haze. With that, the young knight entered the cave.

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The cave was cold. As she had when she had come here with her Master, Mariella discarded her cloak near the edge of the cave. Her tunic did not provide much protection against the bitter air, but she knew that the cave grew warmer as one went further down. Taking up the casing of her lightsaber, Mariella stepped forward, holding the familiar shape in her hand. It fit as though it had grown there. A natural extension of her own being.

It was different now that her sight was sharper. The fault-lines in the walls ran deep, and converged in unexpected ways. They would lead her to her weapon's core.

Each echo from her footsteps sent new ripples through the world around the young knight. Mariella was not as anxious as she had been the first time. The force showed her what was to come. She battled with the future now. Form, shadow, lightning...the flash of green against red. Sdon's death. Her own. The force tested a knight in strange ways. Mariella stepped through her doubt and into the main chamber.

Levitating her lightsaber in front of her, she flipped the secret lever in the hilt and the casing fell apart, dismantling itself in front of her. Kneeling down, Mariella allowed the parts to lay themselves on the floor. After looking over them she stood once more and moved to the walls of the caves, letting the force guide her through the shimmering light of blue and green. The force led her hand to an ugly green crystal.

Taking it in her hand, Mariella moved back to the place where she had laid her hilt, sitting down cross-legged. The room took up an odd resonance as crystal and Jedi fell into tune with each other. Mariella sat still for five hours. When she awoke from her trance it was to the familiar snap of a lightsaber springing to life. Her own lightsaber, whole once more. Examining her work, she saw that it was good; she had set the crystal perfectly after cracking and shaping it with the force.

Deactivating the blade, Mariella clipped it to her belt and walked back to the mouth of the cave, donning her cloak once more. She found that the gorgodon had moved elsewhere, and was glad for that. The descent was slower than the climb, but Mariella's spirits were higher now. She reached her fighter and returned to Corbenic.