Trigger Warning: This chapter features youths confronting fears, including some common phobias. Fear of the dark, of heights, and of insects among them. There is also a youth who has memories triggered of a past abuser and slave owner.

Other Note: I do not have Disney Plus, and have not seen the latest Kenobi Series, or any other streaming series for that matter. This means that any new Canon data revealed by these shows, unless they make it to a wiki before I do my research, will not be used in my piece. It also means that this Fic will remain spoiler free!

Chapter 41 - The Gathering

"We should go this way," Anakin said. Making decisions on which way to go at first was easy. Anakin could feel the Force pulling him in a certain direction, and none of the others had yet had any inkling of needing to go any other way.

"No wait." Ramu protested. "I hear waves. I think they're coming this way." Everyone looked at eachother.

"Okay," Alex nodded. "We'll go that way, then circle back to get Anakin's."

"But. Will we have time? We need to get our crystals before the door closes again." Freya questioned.

Anakin looked towards his own crystal, then back to Ramu. Anakin didn't want to leave his friends to travel alone through the dark caves. He feared what might happen to them. "Not if we stay together," he pointed out. "If it takes a combined effort to reopen the doors, then it doesn't matter how long we take. As long as we are there together we'll be able to get the doors open."

"Are you sure? But what if…?" Freya questioned.

"That sounds like a good idea." Ramu said. "I know I will feel a lot braver with all of you by my side."

Freya looked back and forth, doubt in her eyes. Then slowly she said, "Okay, if you promise not to leave without me, I'll promise the same." All the others soon nodded.

"It's down there." Ramu pointed over the edge of where an underground stream flowed through the caves.

Anakin could barely see a speck of stone down below the water, but Ramu's eyes went wide like it was all he could see. Anakin held his hand out and tried to grab it with the Force. "Its. Not. Coming." He gasped for air when he finally stopped trying.

"It's not meant for you," said Leeta. "It's meant for him."

Ramu nervously eyed them all before he went up to the side. "I'll never be able to do a Force-grab from up here."

"You'll just have to dive in there to get it." Alex suggested.

Ramu looked around, his face blushing a deeper green.

Anakin could understand his friend's nervousness. To dive down there, Ramu would have to pull off his wintersuit, and dive in just his undertunic which would make his gills and youth fins visible. They were parts that would eventually disappear as he grew older, but now marked him as a youngling. And there are girls present. "It's okay. We'll all turn around," he suggested.

The others nodded, and soon they were all facing the wall. They could hear the sound of a splash a few moments later as Ramu jumped into the water. Anakin suddenly got fearful and he imagined his friend splashing fruitlessly to warn them as a beast from below tried to swallow him up. He turned slightly and tried to discreetly check on his friend, but he could see nothing.

Ramu knew his friends promised not to look, but he still felt naked in just the undertunic. Infact, he'd rather be naked, as that sight would distract from the bulbous fin that was half-way reabsorbed on his back, and the puffy gills on his neck. But he didn't have time to pull off any more clothes. He jumped into the water as fast as he could, and dived under.

Sometimes Ramu was jealous of his human peers. They didn't have half as many things to worry about marking them as a youngling. Still, he'd acknowledge, most of his peers would have been terribly lost in that cenote. As an amphibious species, Ramu spent a lot of his youth underwater. In the Jedi Temple creches, they have a whole nursery tank where he lived, until his legs began to develop and his lungs were able to breathe air. Ramu could still feel the Force pulling him to his kyber crystal. He located it in minutes and began to swim to the surface again.

Ramu was about to climb out of the water when he heard movement from where his friends were standing. Not thinking, he dove back under the water. In his imagination, he heard Alex and Anakin laughing, and he saw Kate, Freya, and Leeta point at him with wide eyes. Ramu's right hand clutched around his kyber even tighter. 'Did I just feel it move?'

Ramu took some deep breaths before he was able to think about trying again. There were no other options but to stay down here, and even though Ramu loved the weightless feel of water, he did not want to stay in this cave. Even being a Nautolan, eventually he'd grow weary of the cold.

Alex reached out a hand and blocked Anakin's face from spying on their friend. He whispered, "This is his trial. Only Ramu can finish it."

And Anakin knew he was right. He nodded and turned back to the wall.

In a few minutes, they all heard another splash as Ramu came out of the water. "Alright, you can turn around now," he said, once he'd dressed.

When they turned, Ramu was wearing his winter suit and holding something in his hand.

"Let's see it." Kate ran over to him.

"Yeah, did you get a crystal?" Kent asked.

Ramu opened up his hand, and then his mouth opened in shock. A tear started to slide down his cheek.

"What's wrong?" Anakin asked. Then he got close enough to see. The crystal Ramu held was broken into three shards. "Huh? How did that happen?"

"I don't know. It looked whole when I pulled it up. Maybe I gripped it too tight." Ramu said. "I b-broke my crystal!"

"Maybe you'll find another one." Leeta suggested. She lifted a hand to stroke her friend who was still crying.

"It can't all be your fault. Kyber is made from stuff a lot tougher than that. Maybe if you were a Mantellian Savrip." Alex tried to laugh, but Ramu didn't so he awkwardly stopped.

"You should still take these. You might be able to build something with them. Not a whole saber, but a smaller blade, atleast" Anakin tried to make it sound positive, but he could tell based on the tears that still flowed down his friend's face it wasn't having that effect. "And Leeta's right. If the Force wills it, you will find another one before we leave here today."

The group would have turned back to go get Anakin's crystal, only Kate claimed she could feel hers, and only a few caverns past where they were now. It seemed easier to get hers first, then to turn around and head the whole way back.

Eventually Kate stopped in the middle of a pathway. She looked up. "Oh my Bantha!" she exclaimed.

The others looked up and squinted where she pointed.

"It's up there," she said.

"I'd offer to get it for you, but last time…" Anakin said.

"He's right. If it's your crystal, only you can get it." Freya said.

"But how am I supposed to get it all the way up there?" Kate asked.

"Over here. It looks like you could climb this." Alex pointed to a section of the wall that looked climbable.

"I was afraid you were going to say that. I hate heights." Kate walked up to the edge of the wall and fought with herself to calm her beating heart. She took a deep breath and grabbed one of the hand holds in the rock wall. She felt dizzy just looking up at the wall. She was always that way with heights. In the refectory back on Coruscant, if she merely looked up at the tall ceiling, she would shake. In their physical classes, whenever Master Ti told them to climb up the ropes, her clanmates would help her fabricate an illness so she wouldn't have to do it. 'It figures that now the Force would conspire to make me climb a wall twice as high.'

Kate grit her teeth as she started to climb. There was no way she was going to endure the shame of failure. If this wall stood in her way, it was coming down.

Half way up, Kate went to move her foot to a new step, when suddenly her other foot was sliding out. "EEEEEEEK!" She shouted as her hands gripped tight to the wall. Adrenaline filled her system as her feet kicked against the wall to get another grip.

"Wait for me. I'm coming up there!" Anakin shouted from below. His panic filled Kate's brain and made it harder to concentrate.

"No you're not," said Alex. Anakin was stopped rather comically when the other boy grabbed the back of his suit and held on as he walked forwards towards the wall.

"This is Kate's trial. It's up to her to do this," Freya said next. "You hear me? You've got this! Take your time and remember to breathe."

'Breathe, got it.' Kate inhaled at the reminder. With her friend's encouragement ringing in her ears, Kate reached out and tried again to pull herself up.

When she reached the top, she stuck her hand out and grabbed the stone that was sitting there.

With a "Yipee!" Kate jumped down from the top of the ledge that held her kyber. The rest of the group clamber around to see it. Even Ramu looked happy for his friend.

Anakin felt very proud as he tapped her shoulder. "You did it. You conquered your fear!"

As they were celebrating, Kent stopped and stared off into a nearby tunnel.

"What is it?" Anakin asked him.

"Why is it so dark down in that tunnel?" Kent asked.

"I don't know. Why is it lit anywhere else in this cave?" Alex asked.

"Well, the Kyber produces light." Freya said.

"So, why is it dark down there?" Kent repeated his question. "Before you say it. I know there is kyber down there. I can feel it."

Freya and Alex both looked surprised.

"Do you think it's your crystal?" Anakin suggested. Kent's eyes opened wide. "You can sense it while the rest of us can't."

The others gathered around and nodded enthusiastically.

Kent gulped. Then he whined, "Why does it haveta be in the dark?"

Anakin was going to follow him, but Alex grabbed the back of his tunic. "You've got this Kent. We'll be waiting back here for you when you're out."

Kent looked back at Alex and nodded to him. He would have loved to have Anakin or any of his clanmates by his side, but he understood the need for him to do this alone. A few steps in, he thought he heard something, but it was too dark to see even his own hand in front of his face.

"How'd it get so dark so fast?" he wondered out loud.

"It's the vergence in the Force. It does things to your senses." Anakin's voice came from behind him.

"You can do this! Keep Going!" Kate's voice cheered him on.

Kent tried to do just that. He tried to step forwards, but everytime he let himself think of what was in the dark with him, he imagined stepping off a cliff edge, or bumping into a knife blade. He thought he could feel another lifeform in the caves, and it wasn't a kind one. But standing here wasn't going to get him his Kyber crystal. Being careful enough to feel each step before he took it, he began to walk forward.

"Whoa! Aaah!" Kent stumbled on something.

"What was that?" Do you need help?" Anakin called out from where he waited. Panic was lacing his words.

"I'm alright." Kent answered him. Then he reached his hand out to feel what he stumbled on. It was a small hard stone. And when he touched it, it lit up, and so did the cave walls around him. "Hey, I found it. It's a Kyber crystal." He turned to show it to his friends who were running down the tunnel after him.

Before long the clan was on their way again. They returned to the main path that Anakin felt his crystal on, and were a good way farther on it. Then Leeta held out a hand. "I feel something. That way." She pointed down a turn Anakin had just walked past.

"Oh, I was just starting to feel something too." Freya moaned.

"I'm sorry," Leeta apologized.

"No, remember we talked about this." Anakin said. "We'll go get Leeta's then we'll turn around and go get the others."

"Alright." Freya reluctantly agreed.

They started walking down the path to get to Leeta's crystal.

"Oh Sugar!" The girl stopped suddenly and almost swore. "It's down that way." She pointed.

On the floor of the tunnel where she pointed there was a mound. Anakin had seen similar mounds in caves on Tatooine where Cave Beetles built their nests. Only this was not Tatooine, and Anakin doubted a cave beetle would survive the cold to build a nest down here.

Leeta stared at the mound with worry, and prayed a silent prayer that whatever was at home, stayed inside. "I guess this is my trial." She tried to laugh, but it died in her throat.

Leeta tiptoed into the tunnel. She was approaching the mound, when suddenly she heard the buzz of flapping little wings. "EEEEEK!" she screamed when they collided with her. She brushed them away like mad, and she screamed again, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAH."

"It's okay," Anakin said. "It looks like Prowlers, they're harmless."

The flow of them flying out of the crevice in the rock walls slowly tapered off. "Ach!" One of them found its way under her suit. She could feel tiny feet crawling past her side. Tears came to her eyes as she reached in and pulled it out. It jumped off her and scurried away.

Leeta stood there a second, catching her breath. "It's over." she said. Then she looked ahead and remembered the mound. "Please, oh Force, let it be over."

Just then, she saw an inch long worm crawl out of the mound. Its body was covered in tiny spikes.

"Uh oh! That looks like a Pelko bug," Ramu said.

"It is. Leeta, you're not going to want this one to crawl on you. Those splines are poisonous," Kent added.

"Thanks, guys. I wasn't going to let THAT crawl on me!" Leeta had seen Master Rancisis's collection as well. "Uh, guys! It's following me!" As she stepped to the side, it turned to crawl towards her.

"Use a Beast Trick," Anakin suggested.

"What! I don't know how to do that." Anakin just looked surprised at her. "That's a Padawan course. How do you even know that one?"

"Uh… My Grandmaster Qui-Gon has a book about it. Someone wrote in it a bunch of cliff notes as well. Of course they also added the subtitle 'How to Tame Your Own Pathetic Lifeforms.' Qui-Gon said it was some cheeky padawan's idea of a joke. But the notes were pretty thorough."

"Is it something you can teach me in a matter of minutes?" Leeta said, taking several steps back, and away from the Pelko bug.

"I don't think so. I never even tried it myself." Anakin said. "Wait. Open up your side of the bond. I'm going to send you something. Let it through."

Leeta lifted her hand towards the bug and when she felt Anakin tug at their bond, she let him have access. She felt a strange twirl of Force leave her and then the bug started to speed up. Her eyes went big.

"Oops. Let me try again," Anakin said. Again a twirl of Force energy left her hand and the Pelko bug turned around. It made it's way back to the nest and crawled inside.

"Wow. You gotta teach me that!" Kate said from beside him. Anakin just smiled proudly.

Leeta walked over and thankfully, nothing else crawled out of the mound. She jumped over it and grabbed her crystal on the other side.

The group returned to the main path and to following Anakin and Freya. They had reached a medium size cavern, and there were two paths they could go. One ahead and one to the left. On the right side the cavern wall opened up then dropped down several stories. Across the chasm they could see another cavern similar to the one they were in, but there was no way to get to it.

"You said your crystal was nearby," Anakin asked the girl beside him. By this time he was settled on the idea he would get his Kyber last.

"Yeah, I feel it…" Freya closed her eyes and turned to point. "That way." She opened her eyes and her mouth dropped when she saw the way she was pointing. Straight across the chasm to the cavern on the other side.

"Are you sure you didn't mean to point the other way?" Leeta joked, but no one laughed.

"Maybe it has a hidden floor. Like in that holo-fic." Kate suggested.

Anakin picked up a handful of pebbles and threw them into the chasm. The stones did not land on an invisible floor. Everyone winced when they heard them crash onto the ground below.

"What are we going to do? I can't leave here without a crystal." Freya was panicking.

Ramu mumbled something, and they all turned to listen. He took a deep breath. "I said, you could float there."

Freya rolled her eyes. "Short of suggesting I sprout wings and fly, does anyone have any ideas?"

Anakin, however, did not dismiss the crazy idea. "Float, you mean with the Force?"

Ramu nodded. Anakin bent over and picked up another small stone. He moved to drop it, but before it could fall, he lifted his other hand, and the pebble was floating. The skin around his eyes tightened with strain a bit and the stone floated backwards to the other side.

Anakin turned and before he could say anything, Freya shook her head. "Oh no! You're not going to push me over there."

Kate's eyes vacillated between her and Anakin. Leeta shrugged, then looked at the floor.

"I won't be able to do it by myself," said Anakin, "but if we all try together."

Freya shook her head. "No. This is my trial. Whatever happened to 'I have to do it myself.'"

There was a moment when everyone sighed in disappointment, seemingly accepting her argument. Then Kent spoke up. "What if your trial is to trust us not to drop you?"

Suddenly everyone looked up and nodded. Alex spoke up, "Master Yoda did talk about trust before we came down here."

"Oh-hhh,"Freya moaned. "Alright, how do you wanna do this?"

"Give us a sec to confer." Anakin and the others gathered in a huddle and started whispering to each other.

Freya paced while she waited. It was not that she didn't trust her friends, but had any of them ever tried something like this? The answer to that is a 'no.' The nearest thing they did try was the one time they floated a plate of Wookiee Cookies to the dumb lift everyone forgot was in the kitchen, then down to Anakin's quarters. That didn't count. First, 'cause no one cared whether the cookies were whole or not. They were happy to eat their pilfered snack regardless of any bumps and bruises. Second, only half of their intended snacks made it to them. The rest will remain at wherever the bottom of the lift goes to. Freya could see the floor below, and she heard the snap as those few stones Anakin threw down landed. She did not want that to be her.

"Okay." Alex said as their session came to a close. "Stand right here, and we'll go on three. Okay?"

Freya wasn't sure who he was asking, because she barely stood where he pointed, in the center of the opening with her back to the drop below, before he was counting.

"One… Two… Three…" And Freya closed her eyes tight before she felt herself move. Her feet kicked, suddenly being without a ground had them unsettled.

"Wooh," Ramu yelped, and she felt herself fall a few feet.

"I've got you." Anakin said through his teeth, and she was righted.

"Try not to move." Alex told her.

Panic filled Freya's mind, though there was nothing she could do. She wrapped her arms around herself, so she wouldn't reach out, and upset their flow again. Eventually she felt something kick against her foot. No, it was the ground. She rolled and stood up as she opened her eyes. Breathing fast, she looked around. There, in the middle of the cavern sat her crystal.

As she picked it up, the floor began to shake. Freya yelled as she covered her head. She could feel the panic from the others in the Force. When the shaking stopped, she looked up again, and an opening in the wall had formed. She walked through and could see a path that led to the area where her friends stood. Saying a quiet prayer of thanks to the Force, that she didn't have to float back, she ran to join them.

Before long the group was on their way again. Anakin knew his crystal would be next. It was really close. He could feel it in his bones.

They got to a place where the tunnel twisted off in two different directions. Past the one on the left, was an open cave, and in it Anakin could see his crystal in the middle of the room. But he stopped at the doorway and looked around him warily. The others all had tests. Some physical challenge to get to their crystal.

Beside him Alex stood staring into the right side tunnel. "Mine's in there," he confirmed.

"Alright," Anakin turned away from his crystal again. He'd come all this way, there was no reason it couldn't wait a few more minutes.

"No. Your crystal's right there. There's no reason to wait for me," Alex said. "We can go at the same time."

"But…" Anakin tried to object.

Alex turned and stared into his eyes. "This is your challenge. To walk away and let us face these dangers without you." His eyebrows rose up. "Since you came down here, watching us face our challenges has been the hardest for you. Why else is there no other challenge surrounding your crystal?"

Anakin felt a surge of panic as he imagined his friend's head bashed in from falling a great height, or his guts chewed on by some beast hiding down here. But he also sensed the other's impatience waiting, and their desire to get out of these caves before the entrance froze over again. "Okay," Anakin went back to his door and took a deep breath. He made a show of reaching out with the Force to try and sense any dangers within, but what concerned him the most were the dangers he sensed down Alex's path. He felt Anger there. A deep dark rage that he recognized as being deadly.

Anakin tried to turn with a look of horror towards Alex, but the boy urged him on. "Go. I've got this. Whatever lies in there is my challenge. Now you do yours." Alex entered his tunnel without looking back.

Anakin took a few steps into his side. 'It should be simple. I'll grab my crystal, then go back and check on Alex,' he told himself.

"M-mmm-master" Alex's voice wavered with fear. Despite the distance, Anakin could hear him clearly.

"Pathetic youngling!" Anakin heard another voice shout from the tunnel outside. He almost turned around. The voice was that of Watto, his old master, not the Jedi kind, from Tatooine.

"Get back! Or you'll never see your friends again!" Watto shouted, presumably at Alex.

Anakin recognized the threat his old master would use when things got the worst. Like the first time he lost a race. Following it, he beat Anakin til he was black and blue, then threatened to sell him so far into the outer limits he'd never see his mom again. Anakin felt his back habitually bracing for the first painful strike.

His crystal was just there in front of him now. Drawing from his desires to defy Watto, Anakin reached out and grabbed the crystal. Then he turned to run back to the others. They felt the ground shake again, and he got there in enough time to see the tunnel Alex had gone through collapse. Anakin turned around frantically. His friend was still on the other side!

Hello Again

In making this I tried to give each youngling a fear or challenge to get their crystal. Ramu had the social phobia, his fear of embarrassment. Kate, the fear of heights. Kent was afraid of the dark. Leeta was afraid of bugs. Freya was reluctant to trust the others. Alex had the angry voice, And Anakin was afraid of his friends getting hurt. He had to learn to let go.

I'm sorry to end this on a cliffhanger, but it already is too long. In the next chapter I hope it will only take a little bit for them to get out, and I hope to at least be able to introduce Huyang. But then with my writing, who knows.

Anyway, we will find out later what color their sabers will be. And what I have planned for Ramu's broken Kyber. It might not be canon, but I think it sounds cool, at least in my own head.