Disclaimer: I am not George Lucas or J.K. Rowling.
Enter Luke, Han, and Leia, in Teyr Cottage.
Enter Alema.
Alema. He's too weak.
Luke, Han, and Leia stare at Alema until she walks away, uncomfortable.
Exit Alema.
Luke, Han, and Leia enter Ko Sai's room.
Enter Ko Sai.
Luke. Ko Sai. I'm sorry to disturb you.
Ko Sai. My dear boy. You rescued us. I thought we would die in that place. I can never thank you enough.
Luke. We were glad to do it.
Luke takes out the remains of his lightsaber.
Ko Sai. I need some help.
Ko Sai. Anything, my boy, anything.
Luke. Can you mend this? Is it possible?
Ko Sai takes Luke's lightsaber.
Ko Sai. Green and synthetic core, eleven inches, nice and supple.
Luke. Yes. Can you . . . ?
Ko Sai. No. I am sorry, very sorry. But a lightsaber that has suffered this degree of damage cannot be repaired by any means that I know of.
Luke returns the halves to his miriskin pouch, then removes Isard's and Marek's lightsabers and hands them to Ko Sai.
Luke. Can you identify these?
Ko Sai. Silver and stygium core, twelve and three quarter inches, unyielding. This lightsaber belonged to Ysanne Isard.
Luke takes back Isard's lightsaber.
Luke. And this?
Ko Sai. Aqua and Adegan core, ten inches precisely, reasonably heavy. This was the lightsaber of Galen Marek.
Luke. Was? Is it not still?
Ko Sai. Perhaps not, if you won it from him. I sense its allegiance has changed.
Luke takes back Marek's lightsaber.
Luke. You talk about lightsabers like they've got feelings, can think.
Ko Sai. The crystal chooses the Force user, Master Skywalker. That much has always been clear to those of us who have studied lightsabers.
Luke. A Force wielder can still use a lightsaber that hasn't chosen them, though?
Ko Sai. Oh, yes. If you are sensitive to the Force at all, you will be able to channel your power through almost any instrument. The best results, however, must always come where there is a strongest affinity between Forceful and lightsaber. These connections are complex. An initial attraction, and then a mutual quest for experience, the lightsaber's learning from the Force user, the Force user from the lightsaber.
Luke. I took the lightsaber from Galen Marek by force. Can I use it safely?
Ko Sai. I think so. Subtle laws govern lightsaber ownership. But the conquered lightsaber will usually bend its will to its new master.
Han removes Gunray's lightsaber and hands it to Ko Sai.
Han. So I should use this one?
Ko Sai. Red and synthetic core, nine and a quarter inches, brittle. I was forced to make this shortly after my kidnapping, for Nute Gunray. Yes. If you won it, it is more likely to do your bidding, and do it well, than another Force wielder.
Luke. And this holds true for all lightsabers?
Ko Sai. I think so. You ask deep questions, Master Skywalker. Lightsaber knowledge is a complex and mysterious branch of the Force.
Luke. So, it isn't necessary to kill the previous owner to take true possession of a lightsaber?
Ko Sai. [swallows] Necessary? No, I should not think it necessary to kill.
Luke. There are legends, though, about lightsabers that have passed from hand to hand by murder.
Ko Sai grows, if possible, even more pale, her already wide eyes bulging with fear.
Ko Sai. Only one lightsaber, I think.
Luke. And the Emperor is interested in it, isn't he?
Ko Sai. I . . . How . . . how do you know this?
Luke. He wanted you to tell him how to overcome the connection between our lightsabers.
Ko Sai. [terrified] He tortured me. You must understand that. Sith lightning. I . . . I had no choice but to tell him what I knew, what I guessed.
Luke. I understand. You told him about the twin cores? You said he just had to borrow another being's lightsaber?
Ko Sai nods.
But it didn't work. Mine still beat the borrowed lightsaber. Do you know why that is?
Ko Sai. I had . . . never heard of such a thing. Your lightsaber performed something unique that night. The connection of the twin cores is incredibly rare, yet why your lightsaber should have snapped the borrowed lightsaber, I do not know. . . .
Luke. We were talking about the other lightsaber, the one won through murder. When the Emperor realized my lightsaber had done something strange, he came back and asked about that other lightsaber, didn't he?
Ko Sai. How do you know this?
Luke does not answer.
Yes, he asked. He wanted to know everything I could tell him about the lightsaber variously known as the Enhancement Jewel, the Mantle of the Force, or the Kaiburr Crystal.
Luke glances at Leia, who looks flabbergasted.
The Emperor had always been happy with the lightsaber I made for him - red and synthetic core, thirteen and a half inches - until he discovered the connection of the twin cores. Now he seeks another, more powerful lightsaber, as the only way to conquer yours.
Luke. But he'll know soon, if he doesn't already, that mine's broken beyond repair.
Leia. [frightened] No. He can't know that, Luke. How could he . . . ?
Luke. Psychometry. We left your lightsaber and the white-bladed saber on Vjun, Leia. If they examine them properly, they'll see yours broke mine. They'll see that you tried and failed to mend it. And they'll realize that I've been using the white-bladed one ever since.
Leia pales, and Han glares at Luke.
Han. Let's not worry about that now . . .
Ko Sai. The Emperor no longer seeks the Kaiburr Crystal only for your destruction, Master Skywalker. He is determined to possess it because he believes it will make him truly invulnerable.
Luke. And will it?
Ko Sai. The owner of the Kaiburr Crystal must always fear attack. But the idea of the Emperor in possession of the Enhancement Jewel is, I must admit, formidable.
Ko Sai's cold eyes almost seem to be enthralled by this idea.
Leia. You . . . you really think this lightsaber exists, then, Ko Sai?
Ko Sai. Oh, yes. Yes, it is perfectly possible to trace the Crystal's course through history. There are gaps, of course, and long ones, where it vanishes from view, temporarily lost or hidden. But always it resurfaces. It has certain identifying characteristics that those who are learned in lightsaber knowledge recognize. There are written accounts, some of them obscure, that I and other battlemasters have made it our business to study. They have the ring of authenticity.
Leia. [hopeful] So you . . . you don't think it can be a fairy tale or a myth?
Ko Sai. No. Whether it needs to pass by murder, I do not know. Its history is bloody. But that may be simply due to the fact that it is such a desirable object and arouses such passions in beings. Immensely powerful, and in the wrong hands, dangerous.
Luke. Ko Sai. You told the Emperor that Rahm Kota had the Kaiburr Crystal, didn't you?
Ko Sai. [gulps] But how . . . how do you . . . ?
Luke. Never mind how I know. You told the Emperor that Rahm Kota had the Crystal?
Ko Sai. It was a rumor, a rumor years in the making. I believe Kota himself started it. You can see how good it would be for business: that he was studying and duplicating the qualities of the Kaiburr Crystal.
Luke. Yes, I can see that.
Luke rises.
Ko Sai. One last thing, and then we'll let you get some rest. What do you know about the Deathly Hallows?
Ko Sai. [confused] The . . . the what?
Luke. The Deathly Hallows.
Ko Sai. I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about. Are we still talking about lightsabers?
Luke senses no deception in the Kaminoan.
Luke. Thank you, Ko Sai. We'll leave you to get some rest now.
Ko Sai. He was torturing me, Sith lightning. You have no idea . . .
Luke. I do. I really do. Please get some rest. Thank you for telling me all of this.
Luke, Han, and Leia depart from Ko Sai's room.
Exit Ko Sai.
Luke, Han, and Leia pass Ganner, Alema, Qwi, and Lando as they head out into the garden.
Kota had the Kaiburr Crystal a long time ago. I saw the Emperor trying to find him. When he tracked him down, he found that Kota didn't have it anymore. It was stolen from him by Darth Plagueis. How Plagueis found out that Kota had it, I don't know. But if Kota was stupid enough to spread the rumor, it can't have been that difficult. And Plagueis used the Kaiburr Crystal to become powerful. And at the height of his power, when Yoda knew he was the only one who could stop him, he dueled Plagueis and beat him. And he took the Kaiburr Crystal.
Han. Yoda had the Kaiburr Crystal? But then . . . where is it now?
Luke. On Tython.
Han. But then, let's go. Luke, let's go and get it before he does.
Luke. It's too late for that. He knows where it is. He's there now.
Han. [furious] Luke. How long have you known this? Why have we been wasting time? Why did you talk to San Hill first? We could have gone. We could still go . . .
Luke. No. Leia's right. Yoda didn't want me to have it. He didn't want me to take it. He wanted me to get the clones.
Han. The unbeatable lightsaber, Luke.
Luke. I'm not supposed to . . . I'm supposed to get the clones. . . .
Exit all.
