"Initiates, tomorrow is the start of a very special journey for you, it will only last a few days but to not mistake me when I say that this is what your training so far has culminated to because tomorrow you will embark on your Gathering."

Master Liam Dentiri's words inspired awed murmurs among the eight Jedi-in-training that were called to meet the Jedi Master after their first meditation session. Tarys was no exception, he would get his kyber crystal! More than that, however, it meant that his masters had found that he made for a good enough Initiate to progress onto being Padawan soon, at least he hoped.

"Count yourselves lucky younglings, you're among the first few dozen initiates to undertake the Gathering in over a decade since the Sith attacked Ilum during the War," Master Dentiri continued.

All the initiates were bursting with excitement at this point and had to be reminded of the serious nature of the ritual but more importantly that they had to be ready by the small hours of the following morning; no one was overly fond of the idea of waking up even earlier but if it was to take the first step in building a lightsaber it would be worth it.

Following their lesson in history and politics in the afternoon, Tarys entered his customary meditation session and began reflecting on what Master Dentiri said, he was lucky when he came to think about it. He had just turned twelve, which meant he was at the best possible time to be selected as a Padawan and he'd worked hard enough that he was probably one of the better fighters in his cohort and his skills with the Force weren't anything to scoff at either, he was a member of the Dragon clan, after all, to be the best was in their nature.

He was lucky to have great friends too, even if the competition they gave him was too good for his liking sometimes, especially Ishra Datharr, her ability with the Force was something Tarys was jealous of if he were honest with himself. Not too jealous though, that leads to the dark side. Nonetheless, she was fun to be around and a great sparring partner to boot.

Master Satele was very helpful as well, he remembered seeing her a few times when he was very young but not as much as after the war ended though, which made sense, after all, she was the one who rediscovered Tython and led the entire Order's relocation here. She seemed like she should've been busy all the time but she always seemed to find time to help the initiates and she'd been a great source of advice for Tarys, and was always there for a kind word when he needed it. It still feels strange when the other initiates ask him how he knows her though, he never knew what to say, she'd just always been around.

He thought about the tournament, it worried him. The yearly Jedi Apprentice Tournament was the opportunity for initiates to show off their skills so that someone would pick them as their Padawan. Tarys had to do well, he had to become a Padawan as soon as possible, he had to if he had any hope of surpassing Master Satele. He probably could have trained better for it though, thinking about it. He knew the rules: initiates from all the classes would be pitted against each other one-on-one until there would be a free for all as the final round.

The problem was only one of the rules: they had to use one training saber. Tarys had only been training with one saber during his proper lessons in the afternoons. Everyone else was needless to say training away and getting better and better at using a lightsaber but Tarys was just so good at using two. It had been almost two years since he learned about Jar'kai and he was almost obsessed, he'd asked some practitioners in the Temple to teach him and they did, but they cautioned him not to be overambitious and maybe he was about to feel the sting of that truth.

If he went up against Ishra he was done for, that girl was probably trained in her own time just as much as Tarys did but she probably didn't entertain any funny ideas about using two lightsabers, and she told him she was practising something secret to prepare as well but what that could be escaped him. If he wasn't meditating he probably would've begun pacing by now, thankfully the serenity of the Temple garden he was in relaxed him, he focused for the remainder of the hour on the calming sounds of grass dancing in the wind and water flowing in the nearby waterfall.

Tarys was late.

He was so so late, he only had ten minutes to get ready and have breakfast and do his morning lightsaber practise and meditate before lessons started. Nevermind, the practice and meditation, and while he thought about it, he would have to skip breakfast too, he quickly put on his robes and grabbed the bag he'd prepared the day before, wait no he'd forgotten his toothbrush. Another minute. He counted each second as it passed to keep track of just how late he was, so far it wasn't looking good.

Everyone else was probably there five minutes early, what was Master Dentiri going to say? Could he be kicked off the Gathering? Hopefully not, he swallowed his anxiety and sprinted to the Temple courtyard, where they were supposed to meet up. A lump of shame formed in his throat as he felt the eyes of every Master, Knight and blade of grass on him as he ran for his life.

"Sorry, I'm late!" Tarys declared, bowing to show just how apologetic he was.

"You're two minutes early Initiate Valerys," Master Dentiri responded, "The letter I gave you had the time ten minutes early on it. Everyone and their mother knows to tell you the wrong time if they want you to be on time anywhere."

The Jedi Master's sigh didn't relay disappointment so much as resignation that Tarys would never be on time. As he tried to catch his breath, Tarys noted that if he was two minutes early that meant he didn't need to run as fast. His friend Jodal asked him once why the Jedi fosterers hadn't placed him in Squall clan if he was fast, which was something he prided himself on during physical training, Tarys suspected that it was because they foresaw that he would never be on time.

Sure enough, everyone else arrived promptly, to watch Tarys recover from his near-death experience of course, not the Gathering. He wasn't surprised in the least to find Ishra among the faces in the group bound for Ilum but in his excitement, he did forget she was coming. Once they were all here, the initiates boarded the Crucible, the ship that was newly built to ferry initiates to and from Ilum as they did their Gathering for the foreseeable future.

It was a brand new Defender-class corvette purpose-built for the Jedi Order, which was infinitely cool in Tarys's opinion. What he wouldn't give to pilot one of those. Once he was inside he noticed just how new everything looked, he was almost hesitant to touch anything because he might ruin it. With them was someone Tarys noticed was wearing a Padawan's braid, they probably came to lead them in their Gathering under Master Dentiri. He spent as long as he could exploring the ship, just staring at its insides in the hopes he could glean some secret about its inner mechanisms, to no avail, of course.

The Padawan then beckoned them all to the centre of the ship, a circular room with a holotable in the centre and had all the initiates sit down in the surprisingly soft sofas in a semicircle so she could address them. Ishra found a seat next to Tarys and he was thankful for it, she was the only one he knew of the eight initiates on the ship.

"Hello initiates, it's a pleasure to meet you all, my name is Kiva Cedrest and I'll be leading you through your Gathering over the next few days, the trip to Ilum will take about an hour which is perfect for you to meditate over what you're about to do and what it means to be a Jedi to you because your answer to that question will be tested when you get there," the Padawan was resolute in what she said, after all, she had been through it herself.

"Well said Padawan Cedrest," Master Dentiri said, placing a hand on her shoulder, "She's right, younglings, the Gathering will likely be the most difficult thing you've done in your entire lives so far so it's best if you used this time to mentally prepare."

"I thought we were just supposed to pick up our crystals?" Ishra whispered into his ear, "What's all this about testing and mentally preparing?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, I guess we'll find out," Tarys whispered back.

They followed Padawan Kiva to the meditation chamber on the ship where they were left alone with their thoughts until the ship reached its destination.

He did as the Padawan asked and centred himself, beginning meditation.

What does being a Jedi mean?

Guilt washed over him, realising he'd never really given the question any thought, always taking his presence in the Order for granted. The instructors always said the purpose of the Jedi was to preserve life and to uphold the values of the Republic, justice, freedom, and honour. It was a difficult question but Tarys agreed it was one worth answering.

He racked his brain for an answer but he was at a loss? What was a Jedi? What was he? What did he want to be? Tarys knew he wanted to be a Jedi, and a good one, but what was that? He kept thinking and thinking until he was interrupted by Padawan Kiva to let them know that they'd arrived. She told them to put on their coldest warmest clothes before they went outside and so all the initiates put on the thick coats that they were provided before they headed out.

Tarys was very glad he'd put his coat on.

Ilum was covered in snow. Scratch that, Ilum was snow. As soon as he stepped off the Crucible the biting cold threatened to freeze him then and there, he thought it was a wonder anyone made it off the ball of ice alive. His peers felt the same as they were all shivering and chattering, their bodies hoping to keep some semblance of warmth. Master Dentiri and the Padawan led the group, with the former being somehow unfazed by the cold, he couldn't have been human, even Padawan Kiva was hugging herself for warmth.

The group of ten marched through the thick snow to make it to an enormous wall that stretched in either direction as far as the horizon. Despite the cold Tarys was awed. The Temple wasn't a building like any other he'd seen before, it had been carved into the terrain itself, it was essentially part of the planet. Two giant statues like the ones back at Tython and Coruscant guarded the entrance to the Temple, each holding their lightsabers in front of them as a warning to any intruders.

The scale of the Temple continued to impress him when the party reached the main chamber. To say it had high ceilings would be a gross understatement and from that ceiling hung a giant kyber crystal, positioned in the middle opposite a hole on the side they'd just come from and another wall of ice that seemed to seal the passage forward.

Once again, Padawan Kiva gathered them all in front of her while Master Liam watched and began talking to the initiates after building a fire to keep them a little warm,

"The temple you're sitting in now has been around for thousands of years, right back to the beginning of our Order. Generations after generations of Jedi have come here to find their kyber crystals, or rather so their kyber crystals find them. You must understand what it is you're going to be leaving Ilum with. Kyber crystals are very special crystals that focus the energy in a lightsaber to create the blade that we use." She took her lightsaber and pointed to its centre, "The crystal is right here, but it isn't just any crystal, it's mine, it's bonded to me and yours will be bonded to you too.

"Every Jedi has a bond with their lightsaber crystal and while you can use other people's lightsabers all you want, it'll never feel right. That's why the Gathering is so important, it's much more than just finding a lightsaber part. It's an important part of what will make you Jedi. And the lightsabers that the crystals will go into are much more than weapons. They're symbols of you being Jedi and they're also part of you as Jedi. Thousands, hundreds of thousands have Jedi have walked through this very hall to claim their crystal and soon you will join them."

The Padawan's impassioned speech couldn't help but bring a bright grin to Tarys's face, he got a little closer to understanding what it meant to be a Jedi, it meant being part of a millennia-old legacy and to walk in the footsteps of countless great protectors of the galaxy who'd come before him. At least that was part of it. Tarys had no idea that kyber crystals meant so much, it all sounded so… personal. He needed to know something though, he raised his hand and waited until Padawan Kiva nodded in his direction.

"Can a Jedi claim more than one crystal?"

The question gave the Padawan some pause, "That's a very good question, I'm not sure actually, Master Liam?"

The Master stepped in, ready to answer, "There's no reason why more than one crystal cannot bond to a single Jedi, although it is uncommon. You'll, of course, have noticed that there are Jedi on Tython who use two lightsabers and of course they have two crystals in their possession. The truth is that it's not the same for all of them. Generally, for a Jedi to have more than one crystal one three scenarios occur: two separate crystals bond to the Jedi, either both during their Gathering or at different points in their life or a single, larger, crystal bonds to them during their gathering and it later splits in two or they only bond with one of their crystals with the other one being in a support weapon they aren't bonded with."

"I see, thank you, Master."

The Jedi Master nodded to acknowledge the thanks before the Padawan continued speaking again, "Now, we wait until sunrise, then the sunlight will be focused through the big kyber crystal above us and will have enough energy to melt that wall in front of us. In a way, this entire room is like the part of the lightsaber that houses the kyber crystal. You'll need to be fast though, the waterfall will freeze quickly after you go in, if you're too slow you'll be trapped inside until it melts again and each day here is almost three standard days so you'll be here for a while."

"That's why Squall clan's the best, we're the fastest!" shouted a Nautolan initiate off to Tarys's right.

"Yeah, right! Dragon's the best," Tarys retorted, it was fact, after all.

"No, Heliost!"

"Bear!"

From there the situation devolved into a heated "discussion" over whose clan was the best, thankfully Dragon clan had two representatives here, Ishra, of course, was unafraid to voice her opinion. They continued and then began exchanging stories and all became friendly, if not friends by the end of it. The initiates only stopped talking once one of them noticed that the ice wall had begun melting, it was strange. Something that big didn't look like it should be able to melt, yet there it was, all from sunlight. Kyber crystals were special.

"Off you go, young ones," Master Dentiri said.

And off they went. One after another each initiate ventured into the cold crystal caves, away from the reprieve that the fire provided and into the unknown. Within seconds he lost sight of everyone else, he felt alone. He couldn't feel anyone else's presence, none of the other initiates not even Master Liam.

Tarys took a few tentative steps into the darkness then he felt a warmth far away, far in front of him, could that be the crystal calling to him. He kept walking toward it, making sure to feel the ground in front of him ahead of every step he took, he couldn't be sure if the ground wasn't slippery and he wouldn't want a repeat of the time he fell in front of the rest of the class during a Force sensing lesson.

Eventually, he saw a faint light, glimmering in the near distance, could that be his kyber crystal? Quickly. Padawan Kiva said to be fast, the ice wall could freeze at any moment and three days in this cold did not sound fun. He became a bit more daring in his steps, not doubting the ground as much and tried to walk as normally as he could toward the light. The closer he got the more he realised the light wasn't his crystal as he first thought, it was an exit. Crossing it he arrived into some sort of open area, the ceiling disappeared and he could see the clear blue sky above him and the path he was on turned into a ring of ice that connected to a circle in the centre where someone was standing. Master Satele?

It was her, Tarys was sure of it. What was Master Satele doing on Ilum? Was this part of the test Padawan Kiva mentioned?

"Master Satele?" asked Tarys, unsure of what was going on.

"You could have been so much more."

"Master?" He was unsure of what was going on.

"Tarys Valerys, I had such high hopes for you." Master Satele didn't look at him, she just looked down, like she was meditating. "I spent all that time with you, helping you and for what? You have nothing to show for it, you are nothing to show for it."

"I-I I'm sorry master," Tarys struggled to get the words out, did Master Satele really feel that way? Was he that much of a disappointment?

"Apologies won't change the fact that you are wasted potential initiate. Sadly, that is all you ever will be."

She never referred to him by his rank, she always called him by his name, what was happening?

Then someone else appeared from behind her and stood next to the Jedi Master, it was a familiar face: Ishra.

"Take Ishra here, she's so much more skilled than you and dedicated to the Jedi code at that. I should've invested my time in her instead." This time Master Satele raised her gaze to meet Tarys's eyes, they were full of contempt. He was a disappointment to her.

Ishra then unhooked what looked like the hilt of a lightsaber from her belt, it wasn't her usual training saber, Tarys knew that one well. Had she already built a lightsaber? They hadn't even made it off Ilum yet though. She pressed a button and a vibrant green blade materialised, different from the blue that the initiates usually used. This was her lightsaber, she'd beaten him, again.

"You told me you wanted to surpass me one day, you promised you'd show me what a great Jedi you'd become." Master Satele's eyes never left his, "How wrong I was to believe you."

She'd always been so kind to him, was he such a letdown that he caused her so much disappointment? Did he fail that badly?

"Work hard and stay true to what you've told me and you'll be one of the greatest Jedi of your generation Tarys. I believe in you, don't let me down."

That was what she had told him. Those were the words Tarys had betrayed. That was why Master Satele was so disappointed in him.

"You may as well give up now Initiate. I'll simply take Ishra as my Padawan instead of you and train her into a far better Jedi than you ever could be."

Ishra, her apprentice instead of him? The thought made him jealous, angry even. Anger leads to hate, and hate leads to the dark side. Then let it be determination. He'd never thought about who his master would be, of course, the initiates would ask and he would always say he just wanted a good teacher, that wasn't true. He wanted to be the Padawan of Master Satele Shan, he wanted to learn from her and show her what he was made of. He'd work harder, he'd become the great Jedi she said he could become, he would not let her down.

He was Tarys Valerys, Jedi Initiate of the Dragon clan and Dragons didn't back down unless they willed it.

"No."

"No what, initiate?"

"You're won't take Ishra as your Padawan, you'll take me. You'll take me and I'll show you that you didn't waste your time on me, Master, you weren't wrong to believe me. I will follow through on my promise to you. Jedi don't break promises."

Without a word, Master Satele stood and walked towards him, never breaking eye contact, this time Tarys looked back, truly looked back, unafraid of her judgment, and saw that this wasn't the same Master Satele he knew, there was no kindness in those eyes. Just emptiness. She approached him until she stood over him and clasped his hands. Finally, warmth.

He blinked and when he opened his eyes, it was all gone, the ceiling was back, the circle of ice was gone and he was back in the crystal caves but this time his hands held something. It felt warm. He opened his hand and saw that he was holding a kyber crystal. His kyber crystal, it was bigger than he'd thought it would be and light blue, it felt just right. As he held it in his hand, absorbing the fact he'd just gotten his own kyber crystal it got warmer and warmer and warmer and hotter and hotter until crack.

A fissure appeared at the bottom of the crystal and kept growing until it reached the other end and then it just split. The crystal split into two, he'd think something went wrong if it didn't feel so right. He had two crystals, well, not really, Tarys knew that they were part of one whole. Whatever lightsabers he'd make with these crystals wouldn't be two different and separate objects, they'd be two parts of one entity.

The warmth of the crystals in his palm instilled confidence in him and he walked out of the cave. He retraced his steps, following the light on the other side of the wall but he saw that the main chamber was blurred, he couldn't see clearly, like it was on the other side of a wall of ice, for example. He was too late. The waterfall had already frozen over, just how long was he in the caves for?

Thankfully for once, he wasn't alone in being late and Ishra joined him,

"Well this is annoying," Tarys said to her.

"Yeah… Did you at least get your crystal too?"

"I did, I'm guessing you did too? What colour is it?"

"Green, yours?"

"Blue but wait, yours is green? So was that you in my trial thing?" It had to have been right? In his meeting with Master Satele, Ishra had a green lightsaber. He thought it was a vision but if it was her then maybe it wasn't?

"What? What are you talking about?" It wasn't her then. Tarys kicked himself when he realised, of course, kyber crystals are attuned to the Force, it made sense that in a Force vision her lightsaber would match her actual kyber crystal.

"Nevermind, I'll tell you later, but first we need to figure out how to get out, I'm not feeling like spending three days here."

"I agree, it's just ice, right? No matter how thick it is we can break it." Ishra adopted her trademark pensive look, he could practically see the cogs turning in her head.

"If the two of us work together we should be able to Force Push it right? Between us, we can probably break it," Tarys offered.

"I was thinking the same thing, let's try it," She walked forward towards the ice and tapped a point in the middle of where they were standing, "Let's both aim for this spot."

They put their new crystals in the pockets in their coats, it would be stupid to lose them at this stage.

Tarys took the lead and centred himself. He felt it would be even easier than normal here, he felt his connection to the Force even more strongly than usual, it was truly all around him.

"Ishra, on three."

"One… two… three!"

The two initiates extended their hands at the same time towards the target Ishra had pointed out and a powerful… well, force extended from them and crashed against the ice with a faint blue hue to it. They heard the ice crack.

"Guess it wasn't enough," Tarys said, "again?"

"Yeah, I think it's working though."

"One… two… three!"

And again the Force responded to their call and attacked the ice once more, this time shattering it into several large chunks of ice that fell to the floor to reveal the rest of the group, Tarys and Ishra were the last ones out of everyone, at least they didn't leave without them.

"About time! We've been waiting for hours for you two!" Shouted one of the other initiates.

If they had to wait three standard days until they could get out why wouldn't the group not have left without them and come to pick them up later when the wall melted?

Master Dentiri then approached him and Ishra, hopefully, he had an answer,

"I'm impressed, initiates, I'd have thought you would call for me or Padawan Cedrest for help, instead you broke through the ice all on your own. I hope you were successful?" Both of them nodded in the affirmative, "Good, I'm glad to hear it, as I explained to the others, it didn't matter if the waterfall froze over, I could've broken it easily, telling you to be quick was more so you understood the importance and urgency of the ritual."

And there was his answer, it was just a ruse. He was glad to know the Jedi wouldn't leave them behind in the cold. At least he understood now what Master Liam meant when he said the Gathering would probably be the hardest thing they'd done so far, it was. He hoped that the Force hadn't somehow shown him Master Satele's feelings about him because if that image of her was telling the truth then he had all that much more work to do to prove her wrong. He'd have to talk to her when they were back on Tython.

Sweet, not freezing Tython, he wanted to be back at the Temple as soon as possible, usually he relished the chance to get out but when "out" meant Ilum, he was good. On the journey back to Tython all the initiates shared stories of what happened in the cave and it appeared that each of them had a completely different experience, it was like the caves themselves knew each initiate inside out and preyed on their deepest insecurities, pretty low if you asked him.

This time Master Liam let Padawan Kiva pilot the ship while he came and spoke to all the initiates,

"You all did very well young ones, you all successfully bonded with crystals and that doesn't happen every time, sometimes the challenges the Force presents us can be overwhelming and some initiates fail to claim a crystal the first time around so you should be proud of yourselves. Unbeknownst to you, however, you eight just completed part of your second Initiate trial. You'll, of course, remember being tested on the Jedi Code and as expected you all performed well and were selected for this Gathering. You will not, however, be building lightsabers yet as that is reserved for when you are ready to become Padawans.

"You will undertake the third and final Initiate trial, it will be different for each of you but it will be a taste of the life of a Jedi and you will be measured on how you can cope. You can be expected to carry out a simple mission, something like helping someone in need. If and when you complete your trials, you will be able to show potential masters your skills with a lightsaber in the Apprentice Tournament, it is scheduled for next month so be ready."

So that was it, he was already two-thirds of the way done with the Trials and he'd only just found out, par for the course for Jedi he supposed. What would his third trial be though?

Either way, he was ready to become a Padawan.