The Legend of the Jedi Queen

5. Twin Suns

"We're going to make your lightsaber," Rey said, a sad sort of smile on her face. "You're going to need it when you meet your mentor."

"Who is my mentor?" Nellith asked, forgetting why she had been sullen and upset for a moment. Besides, the excitement of a lightsaber of her own was a great deterrent.

"You'll know soon enough, I've kept the secret on your grandmother's orders for a very long time," Rey said. She twisted the ring she always wore on her left hand. Two stones, dark diamonds, twinkled, connected by two gold bands.

Nellith looked to the box in the old Kenobi house. There were crystals, and materials with which to make a lightsaber.

"How do we start?" Nellith asked.

"Close your eyes, and reach out your hand," Rey said. "There will be a crystal that calls specifically to you."

Nellith stretched her hand out, eyes closed, and sensed a pull from one of the crystals. She shifted her hand to reflect that, and when she opened her eyes, it was hovering and glowing. Rey opened the trunk and the lightsaber parts flew out.

"Very good," Rey said. "Just breathe, and trust in the Force."

Nellith nodded, and closed her eyes again. She sensed order and harmony, and repelled chaos and uncertainty. There was simple trust in her abilities and the power of the kyber crystal.

She felt everything click together, and opened her eyes. Before it could drop to the floor, Nellith grabbed it. The cylinder was cool to the touch, and the hilt was surprisingly smooth, as if all nicks had been worn away by the sand. She stood up and backed away into an open part of the room. Then she hit the button to turn it on.

A magenta blade ignited, matching the hue of the crystal, and it hummed in a way that felt intrinsically right to Nellith. Entranced, she waved her saber around. The way it moved, the sounds it made— it was like dancing with a partner made for her from birth. Everything felt right in a way she could not describe otherwise.

"I haven't seen that color before," Rey admitted. "Purple— but not that pinkish color. Interesting."

Nellith suddenly felt an uneasiness as she looked at the blade. She found it pretty. . . But there was something about the color's rarity that unsettled her. She turned it off, and hooked the lightsaber onto her belt. She sat on the ledge that allowed her to look out at the horizon. The twin suns were setting, glowing pink and orange.

A glimpse of one of the suns reminded Nellith of her dreams. It was a sharp contrast, the dream being a moon from an icy forest, and the reality being a sun on the barren desert,

"It's even worse than Jakku," Rey said as she sat down beside her daughter. "At least Jakku had a little bit of greens peeking out of all that sand. . . And it was cold. Not like here."

Nellith turned to Rey. "You never talk about Jakku."

"I never want to go back," Rey said, staring straight ahead at the sunset. "Not even in memory."

"Was it that horrible?" Nellith asked. She studied her mother's features, seeing the little girl and insecure young adult she once was.

"I was fighting for my life, every single day," Rey said. "I had no one. I was no one, living as close to nowhere as you get. I wasted so much time there— when I left, that was when I became someone, when I found my real family."

Rey turned and reached a hand out to her daughter's face. "You're the most important part of my family."

Nellith felt tears bubbling up in her eyes, at the past her mother hinted at, at what Rey had told her.