Clink.

The entire forge is silent, brimming with reverence as Professor Huyang lays out the parts of a lightsaber on the cold worktable, the sound of his creaking joints matching his appearance of an aging droid. I observe the parts, committing the angle of every piece to memory, even though I do not know their names nor their functions.

"Do not rush to construct your lightsaber," Professor Huyang warns in his robotic voice, no doubt having noticed the anticipating faces of the clan. "Or the only thing you will end up exploding is yourself."

He then trundles into a section of cabinets where he proceeds to pull out various lightsaber hilt designs. Numerous arms shoot out from Professor Huyang's form to grab them.

The architect droid shakes the hilts at us. "Concentrate, and feel which hilt calls to you. It will be an essential part of your lightsaber, especially in a duel."

Behind me, Lee-Ara groans. "More concentrating. Everything about being a Jedi is about stiff focus."

To my left, Kela side-eyes her. "How did you become a Padawan without concentrating, then?"

Lee-Ara mumbles incoherently before falling silent.

Professor Huyang points an almost skeletal finger towards the projection in front of the forge, a series of images depicting lightsaber construction. "You are not to use your hands, only the Force. Follow the diagram and everything will go smoothly."

"You may begin." He gestures to the worktables around the forge, each similarly stocked with spare parts.

I slip onto the seat of one of the worktables at random, immediately levitating a nut-shaped part for inspection.

The way it floats in the air reminds me of the Ilum-

"Nerf-herder."

I turn to the worktable to my right at the sound of Immorri's insult, just in time to witness her storming off to another worktable.

Lee-Ara giggles gleefully from the worktable behind me, the one she does when a sinister plan of hers has been set into motion.

That girl cannot be too far off from joining the dark side, I swear... What is she up to now?

Then my gaze lowers to the person sitting at the worktable where Immorri had wanted to sit, and all makes sense.

Him again?

Despite the mischief radiating off Lee-Ara and my tense embarassment filling the air, Haris studies his tools with great interest, as though he does not notice.

Either that or he's faking it. Members of the Radulan family always have high contents of midi-chlorians in their blood.

I throw Lee-Ara a peeved look, but she merely shrugs back.

Persuasion is her advantage. She expects me to believe she had no hand in this?

I raise another part into the air, the crystal energy chamber this time. As I tilt my head to look at the diagram, I feel eyes on me.

One glance to my right is all it takes to confirm. Haris's gentle, inquisitive eyes stare back at me, devoid of emotion and utterly unsettling. A sliver of panic crosses his pupils as we lock gazes and he diverts his attention to his crystal.

Which we claimed together from the cave-

I quickly look away, visibly rattled by my thoughts as I study the diagram.

The power cell should be in the conductor...

I set to work, harnessing the Force and willing myself to only look at my tools and at the diagram.

Especially not to my right.

I fit in the cycling field energizers and the energy channel into the base, easing them in ever-so carefully.

A brown hand lands on my worktable, right next to where I had placed my crystal, and it takes all of my willpower not to drop my creation.

"Jo, maaf kalau kacau," Haris apologises, discreetly moving into my sightline. "But how, do you move the crystal into the... energy chamber?"

"Ooh, Jo." Lee-Ara snickers from her worktable.

I wish Jedi mind control would work on her.

Haris holds up his crystal and the chamber, a small white hollow cylinder.

I frown. "I'm not sure. Try asking Professor Huyang."

Haris tilts his head towards the far side of the forge, where the droid is monitoring the Zabrak boy who had cheered us on in the caves. "Professor Huyang is... preoccupied by Arhan."

A sharp intake of breath behind me indicates Lee-Ara holding in her laughter.

This has your handprints all over it, Ara.

I swivel and shoot her a dirty look, but when I turn back, Haris is still there, his gaze expectant.

I sigh. "Let me try."

I single out my crystal energy chamber and control it with the Force. At the same time, Haris puts down his and mirrors my movements, bringing his chamber into the air.

My crystal leaps off the worktable, and his follows suit. I gingerly push my crystal into the hollow crevice, coaxing it deeper and deeper until it is fully encased by the white object.

When I check on Haris, his crystal is fully embedded into the chamber too.

That was fast.

"Thank you, Jo." He smiles at me, striding back to his worktable. I nod my head in acknowledgement and resume working on my lightsaber.

☆☆☆

"Ow!"

My nails dig into Immorri's fur, channeling my anticipation as Professor Huyang inspects our assembled lightsabers one-by-one.

"No. Do it again." The droid's fingers clasp around one with an almost regal-looking hilt, handing it back to its creator.

My fingers grasp fur harder, and Immorri grits her teeth. "That's not even yours, Joelle."

"Mine's next," I reply, grabbing more fur as Professor Huyang scrutinizes my lightsaber, the one with a polished Arbiter hilt.

He shakes his head and my stomach drops.

"Who made this?"

Hesitantly, I step foward. "I did, Professor."

Instead of a lecture or an instruction to rebuild it, Professor Huyang lowers his head. "It seems that I have miscalculated the stock in the forge. Your lightsaber is missing its energy modulation circuits and I have no more. I am sorry, but you will have to wait until the next shipment arrives."

My shoulders drop.

This is even worse than having to reconstruct my lightsaber.

"When will the next shipment be, Professor?" Kela asks.

"Tomorrow," replies Professor Huyang.

"It's not so bad," Lee-Ara shrugs, but I can feel hints of her persuasion wrapping around me.

"But that means you won't be able to join the lightsaber training this afternoon when we get back to the Jedi Temple," Immorri says, worried.

"The Jedi Temple on Coruscant has a lightsaber forge too, doesn't it? You can finish your lightsaber there." Professor Huyang adds.

But it won't be the same.

I heave a breath. "As long as I get it done."

☆☆☆

"The same as training sabers, your lightsabers are not," Master Yoda reminds as bright beams of green and blue clash across the courtyard. 

I lean against the Great Tree not so far away, masking my covetousness with a blank stare.

The first training with a real lightsaber... and I am the only one without one.

I observe Immorri and Lee-Ara spar with each other, green against green. Lee-Ara is laughing the same way she used to do during saber training, but with less malice, as she knows that real lightsabers do not merely cause welts or burns the way sabers do.

My eyes flit to Kela, who sits cross-legged on the ground beside Master Yoda, disassembling her lightsaber again and again. Her face scrunches up in harder concentration each time, although her lightsaber seems perfectly usable and even more elegant with each redo.

I sit up straight as I see Haris sparring with Arhan, both boys chuckling as they parry and thrust, Haris's blue versus Arhan's green.

Haris's eyes swing to meet mine by accident, and he smiles reflexively. I begin to return his smile when I realise that Ilhan has not stopped sparring.

I jump to my feet. "Ris!"

SHOOM!

At the sound of my voice, Haris ducks, and Arhan's lightsaber sails harmlessly over his head. Haris wrinkles his nose at his friend, the latter shrugging unapologetically before they both fall back into the classic sparring footwork we were all taught.

I stand and ask Master Yoda for permission to leave.

There is no point staying here when I do not yet have my lightsaber.

☆☆☆

KNOCK.

My eyes snap open, immediately assessing my surroundings. In the bed bunk above me, Immorri is still sound asleep, with no indication that she had heard anything.

Perhaps I imagined that.

I proceed to close my eyes and pull up my covers.

KNOCK.

I definitely heard that. Who could be knocking in the middle of the night?

Carefully, I slip out of my bed, my tunic still ruffled from a few moments of sleep. I grab my training saber and creep towards the door.

My senses are tingling.

It does not feel like a foe, nor a friend... Why am I feeling flustered, of all things?

I switch on my saber, reaching for the door handle.

Steady, steady...

I pull open the door and exhale in relief.

"You scared me. I thought it was an intruder in the Temple," I whisper to Haris, the light from my saber illuminating our faces.

He chuckles, though not as loud as usual. "Would an intruder, knock?"

I scan him up and down, realising that he has both hands clasped behind his back.

What is he up to?

"Why are you here? You're supposed to be sleeping."

Haris does his dorky grin, dimples highlighted by the dim light. "I thought you might want to go to the roof to spar." He brings his hands forward, revealing two lightsaber hilts, one Firebrand and one Adept. "With real lightsabers."

Yes!

I regard him warily, firing questions at him. "Why would you do this? Did Ara put you up to it? How do I even know those are real lightsabers?"

Haris shrugs, shoulders falling abruptly. "I just thought it would not be fair if one of the clan did not get to experience their first lightsaber spar. As for the lightsabers, it's up to you to decide."

My gaze falls on the lightsabers, the hilts beckoning to me. "Let's go."

☆☆☆

Once we reach the courtyard, Haris tosses me the Firebrand hilt. "Here, use mine."

I catch the hilt, weighing it a few times in my hand. "Whose is the other one?"

"Arhan's. A small price for nearly severing my head earlier." Haris switches on the Adept hilt, green laser shooting upwards to form the blade. He raises an eyebrow at me. "Shall we begin?"

I press the button on the Firebrand hilt and the blue laser emerges. I charge at Haris, bringing the blade down.

He deftly moves his lightsaber to a horizontal position, taking a step back as our blades clash. I pull my blade away, swinging and attacking once more.

"Whoa." Haris blocks my blow, stunned. Then he grins and lunges.

I go for his feet, swiping and dodging back as he jumps, his blade narrowly missing my throat. I bring my lightsaber upwards, the two laserbeams chafing against one another as we both pause to catch our breath.

"Having fun?" Haris asks, panting. I smile back. "Of course."

My foot hooks around his ankle, sending him sprawling backwards to the ground. I hold my blade to his chest.

"Victory."

Haris merely beams at me, bright eyes twinkling. "Round two?"

I nod, and he springs to his feet with an almost cat-like battle cry.

"What was that?" I question as our blades meet once more. I slash upwards and whirl away.

Haris's eyes widen. "Nothing."

"You sounded like a cat," I laugh as I parry, Haris diving aside to dodge the attack. "Mat Kucing," I tease, smoothly stopping a blow to my shoulder.

"I'm not the one, who initiated an attack without warning," Haris retorts. "Wildcat." He breaks into another dorky grin and thrusts forward.

I suppress a smile at the nickname as the light of our blades dance under the dark night sky.

A/N: 2000+ words. Now for the images:

Firebrand hilt (Haris):

Arbiter hilt (Joelle):

Adept hilt (Arhan):

Professor Huyang:

Arhan (Zabrak species):

Please note that none of the images belong to me. Okay, I'm done.

- Scarlet