The Gathering. The event in which Jedi younglings travel to the ice world of Ilum to construct their own lightsabers. Today is such a day for a youngling named Ethnos, who while excited for the event, is one of the very few who know what they will face in the cave. Ethnos was eleven years old and the typical height for his age. he had shortish black hair and green eyes. He wasn't very talkative and always focused on the task at hand.

"Hey, you've been awfully quiet throughout the trip."

Ethnos turned his head to one of his only friend in the order: Alvya. Her brown eyes had a hint of concern. Alvya had been Ethnos' friend for as long as they could remember. They'd been there for each other during thick and thin.

Alvya was ten years old and about four feet five inches tall.

"I'm just nervous. This is a pivotal moment for us as Jedi."

Alvya sighed and turned away.

"Point. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous."

Ethnos absentmindedly levitated a small ball of wood up and down, side to side, etc. He often did that when he was out of it. That ball of wood was all he had to remember home. The Jedi council had never told him where they found him, but they did give him the ball of wood, saying that it was carved from a tree only found on the planet he was born on.

He was ten years old and was the typical height for his age, human, and had black hair with green, obsevant eyes.

Ethnos was brought back to reality when the pilot announced their arrival on Ilum. The younglings were escorted out of the ship, and across the frozen wasteland to the hidden entrance. The group gazed in awe at the splendor of the chamber within.

"Welcome, younglings. A great day for you, this is."

The younglings bowed to the master they had all at some point been taught by. Yoda sat on a flat piece of ice, calmly surveying the group in front of him. After a brief explanation of the trial they faced, he opened the path to the crystal caverns. The younglings quickly entered the cavern and came to a crossroads.

"We'll each have to take a different path." Alvya observed. Ethnos cast his eyes down a corridor. Something was beckoning him to go down that path. Everyone else was busy looking down their paths, so they didn't notice Ethnos walking down the most ominous of all the paths. After several long moments, they all went down their chosen corridors, towards the trials before them.

Alvya walked for some time. Her cave was very twisted and constantly slanted up or down. She past several crystals, but none of them really 'spoke' to her.

I'll bet it's waiting at the very end of the cave.

Then, she came to a grotto of sorts. Several crystals were imbedded in the ice. She cast her gaze around, inspecting them. Finally, her eyes came to rest on a blue crystal on the far side of the cave. This one seemed different. She began walked forward, but a voice in the back of her head was screaming that this was too easy.

Too right she was, for at that moment, the ice began to crack and break. She watched in horror as the pieces of ice all flew together and formed a goliath made of ice.

"I hate it when I'm right." She muttered as she hurled herself to the side to avoid being crushed.

Ethnos walked down a relatively straight path towards the heart of the cave.

"I have a feeling my trial is going to be the shortest and hardest." He murmered as he finally came to a large sloped room. At the far end was a strange looking contraption that had a strong pool of Force emanating from it. As he approached it, he realized what it was.

It was a crystal forge. He wouldn't be finding his saber crystal. He'd be making it. He sat down in a meditative postion and reached out to the Force. He felt the forge hum to life. He sank even deeper into meditation. The Force began to coalest into a rhombus shape. He breath was slow and measured. The process could take twenty four hours.

Alvya darted around the ice beast as it swung it's limb at her for the hundredth time. She was beginning to tire out. If she was unable to pass the trial, she would die or have to try again. Suddenly, it's other arm whipped around and smashed her into the wall. She had never known such pain. The beast lumbered towards her, a strange gutteral noise coming from it's throat. It was laughing at her.

Something changed in her. The fear and doubt vanished. Acceptance that she would die permeated her being. The Force began to gather around her hands. She stood up and released a Force blast, completely obliterating the creature. She was dumbfounded. Where had that come from?

Then she remembered that the crystal was waiting for her. She pried it from the ice and looked at it. It felt warm in her palm. She closed her hand and turned around, ready to leave this place, and hoping to high heaven that she never had to come back.

It took her half an hour to pick her way back through the winding tunnel back to the crossroads. She was the first one back. She looked down the paths that the others had taken and saw some of them returning. She leaned up against the icy wall and waited. She rubbed her hands together and tried to keep warm. She could feel the temperature slowly dropping.

One by one, the other younglings all returned from their caverns, all holding saber crystals. Everyone except Ethnos that is.

Alvya was getting anxious. There was only one hour left until the door froze over once more.

"Alvya, we have to go! We can't do anything for him if were trapped!" One of the younglings called to her. Alvya looked down Ethnos' path, then at the exit. She reluctantly turned away and closed her eyes.

"I will come back. I promise." She whispered to herself. She began to run to catch up with the others and made out short minutes before the entrance froze over.

"Ah, good to see you have retrieved your crystals, it is." Yoda said when he saw them.

"Master Yoda, one of is didn't make it out." One of the younglings called out. Yoda rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Hmmm. The path our lost youngling follows... unclear it is. Tomorrow, if the future remains clouded, enter I shall. Track down our missing youngling, I will."

Alvya sat with her back leaning against a pillar of ice. She felt broken. Ethnos had been her only friend in the order for as long as she could remember. He was as close to family as she would ever know. Yoda took notice of her behaviour. He hopped off his seat of ice and walked over to her side.

"Concerned you are, for you friend's wellbeing, yes?"

Alvya closed her eyes.

"Yes master."

Yoda closed his eyes and stretched out to the Force.

"A strong ripple in the Force, I sense. Powerful your friend is."

Alvya smiled.

"He doesn't come off as strong, not like other Jedi. But there is a strength to him."

"Hmmm. Maybe..." Yoda was silent.

"Master Yoda, is something wrong?"

Yoda shook his head.

"No. Nothing wrong. Wait, we must, until tomorrow."

Alvya lowered her head, wishing the Force be with Ethnos.

Ethnos had been sitting absolutely still for at least eight hours, forging his crystal. The rhombus had become more solid and taken on the color black. Then, it began to rotate to the left, revealing a second semi finished crystal behind it. The two crystals began to rotate around a small orbit, which had the physical appearance of a galaxy. They began to spin faster. Then, they stopped.

Ethnos opened his eyes, to see two crystals floating in front him. They were as dark as space. He reached out and felt his hand close around them. His crystals were forged. He had not intended to make two, but he guessed that the Force had guided him in his endeavor.

Alvya and master Yoda stood in front of the entrance to the caverns.

"The time is now." Yoda announced. Yoda prepared to break the ice to find Ethnos, though was surprised when the youngling was standing in front of the ice, looking chilled to the bone, but alive. A faint glow was emanating from his closed hand.

"A great trial, you have overcome. For you, hold great things, the future does."

Ethnos merely nodded his head and followed the rest of the younglings back to the ship. Once there, he immediately lay down in his bunk and fell asleep. Yoda and the Jedi chaperone met in private.

"What do you think made him take so long?"

"Hmmm. Powerful he is with the Force. Greater power means greater trials."

The two continued their discussion for some time. The other younglings, in the meantime, were describing the trials they had faced. Ethnos joined them a few hours later, after a well earned rest, but refused to tell them that while it was the most difficult, it was probably the most boring.