The Legend of the Jedi Queen

64. The Sword of the Jedi

After a few reassurances from Ben and Rey, Nellith left to take a walk down the beach. She could feel Jaina's presence there, like the coals of a fire that would either flicker out or turn to inferno. Her presence was as unstable as her father's lightsaber.

Every step felt uncertain, like it all would crumble beneath Nellith at any second. Never had her future felt so uncertain.

On the beach, there were many ledges with little caves inside. Nellith glanced up at the seawall, filled with porg nests and the like. She took off her boots, feeling the sand beneath her toes, like she did as a child.

She continued further, following the trail of embers within the Force, down a part of the beach Rey and Ben had never taken her to. The rocks were jagged and cold, and Jaina's inner fire was the only warmth, a beacon of hope in a place that reeked of death and darkness. Before Nellith could glimpse the source of the darkness, she came across a dark slope of wall.

She frowned and touched her hand to the cold, rough surface. Jaina can't walk through walls. . . I think. There has to be another way in.

She turned to the tide, starting to climb into the beach. She looked back to the rock wall, and then to the tide once more before making her decision. With a running start, she leapt into the waves and swam into a lagoon, sheltered by a cave.

Nellith gasped for breath as the water suddenly became frigid as she entered the cave. Kicking wildly, she grappled for the rocks and pulled herself up onto shore. She stood and saw Jaina, sitting in front of a rock covered in ice that looked like the caves of Uphatu.

"Aunt Jaina?" Nellith called.

Jaina jumped, and looked over her shoulder, hand to her lightsaber hilt. Once she realized it was Nellith, she instantly calmed.

"How did you find this place?" she asked as she got to her feet.

"I followed you." Nellith shrugged. She then looked up and around. "What is this place?"

"A test," Jaina said. "The Jedi who first occupied this temple, they believed that a Padawan must go through trials to become a Jedi Knight. One of these was entering a place like this, filled with the Dark side of the Force. It was supposed to reveal if a Jedi could resist temptation and be brave, even against their greatest fears and insecurities. Rey came here once, as did Ben and I."

"What happened?" Tired, Nellith sat down at the edge, dipping her bare feet into the cold ocean water.

Jaina perched beside her.

"We were both nineteen at the time," Jaina said. "We'd only been training for four years at that point. The other students, they thought we were legends in the making, just like Uncle Luke."

"Luke was afraid it was all going to your head," Nellith guessed.

"No," Jaina said, as her long brown hair swished forwards to hide her face. "He believed them."

Jaina took a deep breath.

"He took us here, expecting us to pass our trial," Jaina began. "Ben went first. I don't know what he saw. But he took out his lightsaber and slashed at the ice on the wall. It broke, temporarily, but reformed as soon as he touched a hand to it. He hated that he'd failed, and begged Luke to try again. But it was my turn, then."

"What did you see?" Nellith asked.

"My brother. . . He didn't look like Kylo Ren, though," Jaina said. "He had the long hair, and black robes, but they were elegant, triangular. His lightsaber was a normal red one. He kept shouting at me that it was my destiny to kill him. I didn't. I refused to."

"Did you fail or succeed?" Nellith asked.

"Succeed," Jaina said, finally tucking some hair away from her face. "That's what being a Jedi is about, Nellith. It's being able to forgive, and it's knowing when to fight and when to lay your lightsaber down. Do you understand?"

"I understand." Nellith's hazel state was unblinking.

Jaina sighed. "I love your father, but Ben. . . Ben's always had trouble with the dark path. And Rey's strong, but I think even now she's become so used to being with Ben all the time, she finds it easier to slip to the dark with him. It's all strange and complicated. But I have to keep trying, to keep them both from falling."

Nellith thought of Tallis, and how he had fallen because of her.

Jaina tilted her head ever so slightly as she gently glanced at the surface of her apprentice's guilt and grief.

"That isn't the same," Jaina insisted. "We all knew Tallis had the capacity to become what Palpatine was. We can't always escape our blood or our pasts. I've tried all my life."

"I'm sorry," Nellith said.

"No, I'm sorry," Jaina said, looking her dead-on. "All of this happened long before you were born. You shouldn't have to carry that."

"But I do," Nellith said, shrugging once more. "That's all I can do."

Jaina pursed her lips and said nothing. She pulled a lightsaber hilt off of her belt that Nellith had never seen before, and placed it in Nellith's hands. Nellith pressed the button on the side, and an emerald green blade emerged, driving out the darkness.

"It belonged to Luke," Jaina said. "I thought you might need a weapon for this war, since they took your lightsaber. You're going to be a legend, Nel. Might as well start carrying the weapon of one."

Nellith turned off the lightsaber as she held the legacy of the saber in her hands.