Chapter 4: Huyang & The Caves of Ilum

Baylan planted his feet and braced for the incoming barrage attack from Master Tapal. When it came, the young Jedi Padawan had to channel the Force just to remain upright, much less keep himself from being driven back.

Master Tapal was not holding back as he twirled his double-bladed blue lightsaber like a baton. Like it was an extension of his bulging, purple arm. If his kyber blades clashed with Baylan's training blade any harder, there was real fear on the apprentice's part that the training saber would eventually be severely damaged, if not outright destroyed. How was Baylan supposed to spar with his Master effectively, if he didn't have a lightsaber, much less a real one?

Jaro let up, stepping back while twirling his double blades again.

"You have to learn to be versatile in your styles, Baylan. A Jedi must be able to adapt to any situation, especially in battle."

Baylan took a deep breath, trying not to have it leak out of him like a sigh. "Master, don't Jedi adhere to styles they favor? Do they not favor certain lightsaber forms?"

"Yes….. but remember, my young apprentice: the greatest Jedi do not allow themselves to be constrained by things like battle form. Only temperament should a Jedi show constraint. While you may favor one lightsaber form, even master it, a true Jedi must demonstrate mastery in all lightsaber forms."

Baylan lifted an intrigued eyebrow. "Even Form V?"

Jaro nodded. "Even Form V. Master Windu has shown great skill and balance while using Vapaad, which leaves the Council wary." He paused. "It leaves me wary too, but I do not question another Master's methods. It is not the Jedi way." He gestured to his apprentice. "Now, you, young Baylan – take your grip, for instance."

"What about it?"

"Notice how, in favoring Form V, you are gripping your saber in both hands."

Baylan looked. He had always favored a double-handed grip, going all the way back to sparring sessions with the Bear Clan. True, it might feel a little ridiculous, considering how his training saber was so light, but eventually…

"My real lightsaber will be heavy than this, Master. I want to be prepared for when I must take up its weight."

"Practical logic, perhaps, but not flexible," Jaro wagged an admonishing finger. "In battle, or while keeping the peace, you will achieve maximum adaptability and effectiveness if you leave at least one hand off your weapon. The better to let the Force flow through you. Keep your saber in your dominant hand, and your dominant hand only." He stared at Baylan heavily.

In the six months he had trained with his new Master, Baylan had come to recognize and know that look. When Master Tapal gave an order, it was to be obeyed without question. In this, he was more stringent than some Masters. Baylan left his training saber in his dominant hand – his left – while dropping his right and keeping it free.

Jaro came at him again. Baylan ducked, then parried. He could feel his muscles burning through the saber lock as Jaro pressed the advantage, eventually bending back Baylan's arm beyond its range of motion and he could hold his ground no longer. As Jaro closed in, Baylan threw out his right hand and summoned the Force. He was able to repel Jaro, but only by a few feet and only just barely.

The training saber let out a disconcerting spark and Baylan powered it down. The crystal emitter must have fritzed. Baylan now allowed himself that sigh.

"… When do I get my own, Master?"

"When you've earned it," Jaro replied curtly. "A lightsaber is a Jedi's most powerful weapon. Indeed, it is a Jedi's very life. You must treat it like the tool it is, rather than a toy." Studying Baylan's crestfallen look, he softened – a rare moment for the stern Lasat. "You are an eager student, Baylan Skoll…. but do not confuse eagerness with impatience. You must learn to let go of such youthful whims."

Baylan bowed his head and nodded. He tinkered, fiddled with the emitter on his training saber, and when he powered it up once more, the blade was smooth and whole.

He and his Master sparred again, Baylan concentrating on a one-handed grip. By the end of the match, his forearm muscles were burning… but over the course of weeks, his dominant hand became even stronger.

Baylan also did not mention building his own lightsaber again, deciding to follow Master Tapal's advice and have patience. As much as it irked him to indulge in these more mellow instincts, he also knew his Master was right, and respected this.

It therefore came as quite a surprise when, just a few months after his thirteenth birthday, when they had been working together as Master and Padawan apprentice for the better part of a year cycle, Master Tapal decided that Baylan was ready to embark on his first test.

It was not the boy's first Jedi mission, no – that would come later. But this was still an adventure, and a solo one at that.

Master Tapal was sending Jedi Padawan Skoll to the Crystal Caves in the Jedi Temple on Ilum. To locate his kyber crystal. To build his first lightsaber.

37 BBY

The large Jedi transport The Crucible touched down on the snowy and rocky world of Ilum. Drawing his dark hood up over his face, 13-year-old Baylan Skoll took a deep breath. Nearly a year of apprenticing under Master Tapal had helped him to fill out along where he was sprouting in nearly every other direction: he towered over the Mark IV architect droid professor who had been tasked with accompanying him: Huyang.

Nodding to Huyang, Baylan now strode down the gangplank and stepped onto the fresh snow. Looming in the nearby distance was the frozen waterfall that marked the entrance to the kyber crystal caves.

Stealing light-footed across the snow, Baylan slipped past the entrance.

The caverns were numerous and of various heights and widths. For someone as broad as the young Jedi Padawan was already proving to be, navigating these caverns was difficult.

Presently, Baylan came to a cave room that was quite more expansive than the rest. A sheer cliff face of ice loomed ahead; he could just make out the opening in the rock above this cliff, indicating the way forward.

Suddenly, Baylan heard a feminine scream:

"BAYLAN!"

Startled, he whirled, the blue blade of his training saber coming to life in his hand. Wait – that sounded like…. That was Gellayria, his fellow Padawan and sometimes rival. Was she hurt? He felt his chest constrict to hear how she might be in pain.

Baylan forced himself to concentrate. These were mere visions. Dreams and madness. Master Tapal had told him to expect such tests.

More voices, coming from nowhere, assaulted him, the echoes reverberating:

"Sometimes stories are just stories…." The voice of a young woman, unfamiliar, accented.

His own voice: "I watched everything I knew burn…" Accompanying this statement was a hazy visage of what…. oh, merciful universe, what was this?... of the Temple on Coruscant in flames…..

An older man with a white beard poking out from under a dark hood, while wielding the red blade of the Sith. The vision left Baylan at once simultaneously repulsed and entranced. He wanted to flinch from the horrid image, yet he also could not bear to look away.

The dark hooded figure now engaged with an orange-skinned figure in white robes: a Togruta, by the looks of her, who wielded a pair of white sabers.

A trio of shadows loomed up the cliff face, shaped in ways that seemed vaguely…. familiar to Baylan…. Cloaked in this shadow was the figure of a man. A Chiss, blue in color, adorned in uniform dress.

"Bow down to me!" The Chiss seemed to order the Padawan directly.

Baylan flinched away. "No!"

The visions suddenly vanished as quickly as they had come, chased away by the haunting sound of heavy, metallic breathing.

Baylan staggered against one crystal wall, panting, trying to process all that he had seen.

The dimness of the cave was finally pierced by a glowing green light.

Hardly daring to breathe, Baylan crept forward and knelt beside the kyber crystal that now called out to him. Using the Force, he lifted it free from the crystals growing beside it, and floated it above his palm before letting it settle in his gloved hand.

He closed his fingers around it.

Back on The Crucible, Baylan ignored how closely the professor droid Huyang was watching him, as he gathered the pieces necessary to build his lightsaber.

"Remember, young Skoll: the pieces do not need to be built. You must simply encourage them to come together."

Baylan sat cross-legged on the floor in the workshop galley. Closing his eyes, he opened his palm and let the green kyber crystal hover a few inches in the air as he began to meditate.

The Force wills my lightsaber to take shape….

I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me….

As Huyang watched, the various spare parts that Baylan had salvaged lifted from where they were scattered on the durasteel floor around the meditating Jedi Padawan and began to click into place. Bind together as the weapon more or less constructed itself.

Finally, the green kyber crystal sank into the open end of the lightsaber hilt, settling right into the blade emitter.

Baylan lifted his head. When he opened his eyes, there was resolve and determination flashing in his orbs.

Solemnly, he summoned the completed saber hilt into his waiting palm. Exhaling steadily, he ignited it. A green blade leapt to life before him.

"Fascinating," Huyang murmured, stepping forward to admire the young Jedi's craftsmanship. "May I….?" Baylan passed Huyang his lightsaber. "The blade is unusually heavy – more like a giant lightsaber, which would normally be prohibitive for most humanoid species to wield effectively. But for someone your size… I think you can manage it." Huyang presented the lightsaber back to Baylan with a bow. "I've never known it's equal, young Padawan Skoll. And with a green blade… the mark of a Jedi Consular. Why, I expect you will follow in the mold of such great Consulars such as Master Qui-Gon Jinn himself!"

Baylan grinned, pleased. Master Jinn had once been apprenticed to Master Dooku. Baylan appreciated having this connection to the great Jedi who had discovered him as a baby.

He clapped the architect droid professor on the shoulder. "Come, Huyang. Homeward bound. My Master awaits."