Arya panted, trying to understand how she had ended up into her Master's arms. The tall man did not move as he waited for the girl to calm down. Once he knew her breathing had evened, he took a small step back to look at his Padawan. Arya looked at the floor.
"Padawan." Jedova's voice was quiet but stern. Arya did not look up.
"Arya, look at me," Jedova commanded. Arya crossed her arms over her chest and tensed, as if trying to make herself smaller. Jedova sighed and let go of the girl's left shoulder, releasing his right hand for raising Arya's chin in order to have her eyes meet his. He did not receive any resistance, which allowed him to be gentle in his motion.
"Now why don't you explain yourself, Padawan?" Jedova cloaked every bit of anger to a calm but cold tone.
"I-I..." Arya tried to speak up, but everything started to distort. Suddenly, her Master's eyes were not the dark brown human eyes but something that blinded her so that she could not look at him. She struggled away from the grip and heard all the voices distort around her. The floor tilted drastically without a warning and Arya fell.

Arya threw her hands up in front of her to protect her head, vaguely feeling something leave her hand. Then she heard a clang, like something metallic hitting the Temple's floor. Then she fell on her side on the stone floor. She could not see in her disorientation, so she picked a direction to move away to randomly, trying to scramble on her feet to no avail. Her sense of balance had no idea which way was which, not even what was the actual straight down. A voice called out but she did not understand the words it said.

Suddenly, strong arms wrapped themselves around Arya's collarbones and pressed her back to something warm, locking her arms to her sides and straightening her so that she was upright. The girl wriggled, trying to get away from the grip.
"Arya, stop! Calm down, Padawan!" a deep voice called out, but her brains could not register the command. The grip was strong enough to make Arya's attempts to get away completely useless, yet she could not help panicking. Without a warning, the right arm of her captor let go and retreated, although the left arm kept holding her still. Arya felt fingertips press her right temple lightly. Something entered her brains through the Force.
"Arya, calm down," the voice's command was enforced by the Force. A strong, calming and slightly numbing wave passed through her.

Arya stopped wriggling upon the wave and just whimpered. Her eyesight was slowly sharpening, and she already understood that she was no longer in a corridor even though it was dark. The right arm returned back around her.
"It's ok, Padawan. I'm right here." While Arya vaguely registered the voice as her Master's voice, she could not fully realize it through her confusion. She tried to say something but all she managed to get out of her mouth was odd, guttural whimpering.
"Sssshhhhhhhhh," Jedova shushed softly. He held the girl in his embrace with care, sending soothing waves through the Force to calm the girl. He was not sure what had happened; nothing had been out of the ordinary while Arya had been finishing her lightsaber in the very same meditation chamber in which Jedova had both created his purple kyber crystal and finished his newer lightsaber – until the point where the lightsaber had been finished and Arya had had to resurface from the depths of meditation. That was when she had suddenly gotten an abrupt convulsion, like a seizure.

Jedova moved his right arm to take hold of Arya's left hand. The girl gripped his hand lightly when she felt the pressure around it, letting the Jedi Master's thumb caress the back of her hand. The disorientation was slowly leaving but she still could not think. What had happened in her mind was now on a playback, repeating itself swiftly, as if processing itself in a sleep-like state. Jedova waited, but Arya did not react to him or his presence or proximity.

The Jedi Master let go carefully. Arya swayed a bit but otherwise she showed no signs of reaction. Jedova moved right in front of her, quickly glancing at the lightsaber which had been flung from her hands when the seizure had begun.
"Arya?" Jedova asked and waved his hand in front of the girl's eyes, receiving only a blink. He snapped his fingers only a couple of centimeters from Arya's eyes, this time receiving a start as a response. Suddenly Arya woke into life, gasping. Her left hand jumped to her forehead, as if someone had hit her there.
"Arya? Do you hear me now?" Jedova asked, his voice calm. Arya blinked rapidly and stared at him, seemingly horrified. The girl did not dare to say anything. Jedova realized suddenly that Arya was afraid of him for a reason he could not figure out.
"You have been in deep meditation for four days, nonstop. Are you aware of this?" Jedova asked. Arya shook her head. She did not understand what had happened and how she had gotten there from the dark corridor after the chase.
"Something disturbed your meditation and you came out of it, convulsing violently. Do you have any memories of this occurring?" Jedova asked, articulating every word as clearly as he could.
"I..." All of a sudden, the abrupt and odd ending in Arya's memories of what had happened seemed to make sense. "I... think something went wrong and... wait... Have I been meditating for four days?"
"Yes, you have," Jedova told. "I brought you to this meditation chamber, knowing that you wouldn't be disturbed here for a period of time that building a lightsaber takes, and helped you get started. You have been meditating since and I have been guarding this chamber."
"So... I did not tell you about the visions I got when I attuned the crystal to the Force, right? Or anything after that?" Arya asked.
"None of that happened," Jedova assured.

Arya processed this information for a while. If it had all been a vision in deep meditation, it meant that she had not said anything rude to her Master in the dining hall or that the chase in that low level of the Temple never happened. When the realization hit her, she buried her face to her palms, sobbing. The sudden relief tore her apart.
"Arya? Did something happen when you meditated?" Jedova asked. Arya tried to answer but she could not utter any intelligible words through the sobs.
"It's all right, Padawan. Whatever happened was not real," Jedova comforted. He had no idea what the girl had seen but he could do his best to comfort her. Arya nodded.
"It just felt so real... I thought that... that I had really... I had really..." she gasped, moving her hands away from her face. She fought against the tears, but she was already losing that battle.
"Do you want to tell me about what you saw?" Jedova asked softly. It had been a long time since he had been in a situation even slightly similar to this; he found it difficult to find good words.

Arya shook her head, sniffling. Tears were now slowly escaping from her lacrimal ducts.
"There is nothing wrong in crying, Padawan," Jedova said. "Go on. It's ok."
"Is it... Would you mind if... if I cried on you, Master?" Arya asked timidly.
Jedova blinked in surprise. He had not expected that. "No, I would not mind."

Relieved by the answer, Arya moved closer to him, her moves hesitant. Jedova took her to a hug and held her against his chest. Arya broke into tears, wrapping her arms around him. Jedova wanted to say something to comfort her but he still did not find any words. What could he say when he did not know what exactly had upset the girl?
"No words... Just... just hold me close, Master... please," Arya whispered. Jedova nodded and moved his right hand to stroke the girl's hair. He thought that it would be the best course of action he could take in this rather awkward-feeling situation.

He knew that Arya had matured ever since the time they had met on Kiros but it was clear that the girl had not lost everything she had had as a child; there was still the innocence and the sensitivity of a still developing person, one not yet toughened by all the years of training. Somewhere inside was the vulnerability she tried to hide. The vulnerability Jedova himself was well acquainted with.

He had hidden it himself in Arya's age through all of his apprenticeship, and such a thing had barely ever been a topic of discussion between him and Xurego. Jedova had worked so little with that vulnerability with anyone else than himself that he did not know how he should handle it now that Arya showed her own vulnerability to him. He did not want the girl to feel that she could not trust him with it, but what should he do? What should he say? He did not know.

Arya fell silent and thus shook Jedova from his thoughts. She moved her head to look into Jedova's eyes, meeting his compassionate gaze.
"Does my closeness alone make you feel better?" Jedova asked.
"It does. You're so warm," Arya told. "So warm and gentle. You didn't push me away when I needed you."
Jedova blinked. He had never heard anyone call him "gentle" out of all words. However, now that his own apprentice who actually barely knew him did so, he was touched. "Padawan, why would I ever push anyone, let alone my own apprentice whom I have chosen to train, away when they need me?"

Arya smiled and closed her eyes, feeling Jedova's heartbeat, letting it soothe her. Neither Jedi said anything. They just listened to each other breathe in the silence. Then Jedova asked, "So, you feel better now?"

Arya nodded. Relieved, Jedova let his stroking hand fall to her shoulder. Arya opened her eyes.
"It's good to know that there is something I can do to comfort you," Jedova said. "It's been ages since anyone has really thrown themselves to my arms to seek comfort. If that actually has ever happened, that is. I'm not used to this at all."
"There's nothing wrong with that, Master," Arya noted. "For me it's enough that you are here, that you accept me even when I am not as calm as a Jedi is supposed to be."
"You're still growing, Padawan. Calmness, just like maturity, comes with age and experience. You're at the beginning of the Jedi path. It's a rough path, even if you wouldn't with me but someone... less unfortunate as me, and you will grow during these years. Don't you even dare to waste your youth, though!" Jedova gave a light laugh. "If you do, you will regret it when you're relatively as old as me!"
"Did you waste your youth, Master?" Arya asked in curiosity without thinking before blurting the question.
Jedova chuckled at the sudden mortified expression that came to Arya's face. "I do feel that I wasted it at least a bit, even given the circumstances of my training, but since it was so long ago, I think it's useless to keep that regret. I mean, it doesn't bring my youth back or anything!"

Arya giggled and moved herself away from her Master so that she did not need to twist her neck so much to look into her Master's eyes. "Wouldn't it be crazy if it actually did?"
Jedova nodded, smiling. "I guess it would be indeed. Just imagine if one morning I came out of my room with my body suddenly a couple of decades younger and had it wear out in a few days!"

They both laughed at the image they had in their minds.
"Thank the Force it's not possible! It would really mess up the Master-Padawan relationships here," Arya said. It took some effort from them both to suppress the laughter. Then Arya's stomach roared hard.
Jedova chuckled light-heartedly at the girl's embarrassef expression. "Trust me, Padawan, that is something that'll happen a lot even under normal circumstances and not just when you haven't eaten for four days when you've been too busy building your lightsaber. There's no reason to be ashamed of it."

That reminded Arya of what she had seen during the meditation. A shiver from the thought of what had happened because of her unthinking talking in it ran through her back. Jedova felt it there.
"What is it?" he asked.
"That meditation," Arya whispered.
"What happened in it? Or maybe it's better to ask: what upset you in it?"
"Well... with the rest of what happened in it put aside, I... really said something horrible to you and... it felt so real... Like I had screwed up my only chance to become a Jedi Knight just because of... because of getting my lightsaber finished... Just for one stupid lightsaber," Arya told, her voice still only a whisper. The feelings she had harbored in the vision of the meditation threatened to take over her again.
"But it did not happen. Besides, even if such a thing ever happened, I doubt it would end everything instantly," Jedova told. "You can let go of it. All harboring it will do is to clog up your mind. Just let it go."
"It... it is not that easy," Arya said with a trembling voice.
"I know. It is one thing that will become easy with experience and knowledge. Nevertheless, you already have the ability to let go of it in you," Jedova encouraged her. "Trust me. You can do it."

He locked up his eyes with his Padawan, letting the waves of encouragement pass through their fresh bond.
"You can do it," he repeated. Arya took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Concentrating on the Force, she reminisced what she had been taught about letting go of the feelings. The anguish from the vision started to flow away. Arya forced herself to not resist it even though it felt like something vital was evaporating and vanishing out of her.

Jedova did not let go of his apprentice's shoulders. He let himself ponder how Arya had already started to trust him with her feelings. Such was not unheard of at all among Masters and their young Padawans, but Jedova had expected Arya to be far more stubborn and withholding with such feelings after fighting against them for so long. Even Degu had not been as open with him as Arya had been, after all, and he had not had to struggle to become a Padawan.

Arya opened up her eyes, sighing in relief. It was much easier to breathe now. The vision seemed far more unreal than it had just a moment ago.
"Better?" Jedova asked.
"Better," Arya replied with a smile.
"I told you, you could do it," Jedova said. Arya's stomach protested the prolonged lack of food again.
"Now why don't you go to the dining hall to see if they still have some food left for you? It's past 2300 already but there should be something for the nocturnal Jedi and those who just happen to need food at this hour." Jedova patted the blushing girl's shoulder gently.
"Sure, Master," Arya said. She turned to look towards the door and noticed the lightsaber on the floor.

Her very own lightsaber.

Jedova followed her frozen gaze. Then he, too, remembered.
"Of course, if you are not in that big of a hurry, we could check your lightsaber right away to see that it's working properly," he noted. Arya stood up, walked to the lightsaber and picked it up, first inspecting it herself. She had extremely vague memories of fabricating the hilt, so vague memories that it did not matter much whether she remembered it or not. The only value of those memories was that she remembered doing it. As far as she could sense, it seemed to be properly built.

Jedova stood up and walked to her, taking his own look at the lightsaber over Arya's shoulder.
"Do you believe you made it?" he teased.
"Yeah... I do believe so, Master," Arya said. She could see the activation button and the adjusting knobs right where she had thought about putting them. However, the button was not red; it was a silver-gray metallic piece with an odd bird-like carving on it. She recognized it as one of the parts of Findio Acheta's lightsaber. It had not been a button on it, though; it had been a mere decoration.

At the same time, the lightsaber felt both unfamiliar but yet so familiar, as if she had used it before. It did not look like anyone else's lightsaber although it obviously had similarities with her Master's own. Its design was unique and completely new to her, but for some reason it felt like she had known of this lightsaber for years.

It was her lightsaber, the one she had always been meant to build and wield. The Force had always intended it for her from the very first breath she had taken on Kiros almost thirteen years ago. The Force had always intended it to become real.

And now it was real. She was holding it in her hands. It was just as real as her Padawan braid.

Very, very real.

"That's a glimpse of what one can do with the help of the Force," Jedova said. Arya nodded, turned to him and handed her lightsaber to him to check. Jedova took it and, with the knowledge he had of lightsabers, looked all around it with both his eyes and the Force, checking seams and other critical spots. Then he returned the lightsaber to Arya and took a few steps back.
"Go on. Ignite it so that we can see the blade," he said. Arya nodded and gripped her weapon properly; she had modeled the lightsaber so that her grip was different from that of her training lightsaber. It was a fresh start, but she felt her hands adjust to it well – actually better than the training lightsaber, gripping which had always felt awkward and unnatural to her. She pressed the activation button and the blade came to life.

A light-gray blade, lighter than the button which activated it, lighted up its immediate surroundings. It was just like any other lightsaber blade aside from one thing.
"You know, usually the blade ends straight and does not sharpen there," Jedova noted as he looked at the tip of the blade.
"It's the 'crystal shard' effect," Arya said. "Lightsaber crystals originating from Veledos are known to have that effect on lightsaber blades. Findio Acheta must've chosen them for his lightsaber just like pretty much all VeledosJedi did."

Jedova hummed in understanding. Arya deactivated her lightsaber and put it to her belt, right where her training saber had been for all these years.

No one could ever question her place in the Jedi Order as a Padawan again.

"Go to eat now. I'll go back to our quarters to sleep," Jedova said as he started to walk towards the door. Arya joined him, knowing that she had not left anything into the chamber. Once they were outside, Jedova said, "Good night, Padawan."
Arya bowed. "Good night, Master." Then she left to make her way to the dining hall. Jedova headed towards their quarters.

When he had closed the door of his room, he sighed.
"One can only wonder just what I actually got involved with when I chose Arya," he muttered to himself, remembering the dream he had had in the artisan's workspace. "These will be interesting years for sure."

/Star Wars (c) Lucasfilm, any characters you cannot find on Wookieepedia, Veledos, Veledosians and their language (c) Me/