A Diary Lost

2

Fives shivered as the cold, harsh Illum wind hit him. He glanced over to Shaak Ti as she pulled her cloak tighter around herself, the hood over her lekku and montrals.

"Let's try to make this quick. I don't know how long we will be alone for. And the cold is horrible," Shaak said and dryly chuckled. Fives smirked and followed the Jedi to a huge, icy cliff.

"Where's the cave?" Fives asked, slightly yelling over the howling wind.

"We have to open it. Usually there'd be a Jedi and six younglings to do it, but we will have to make do." Shaak swept the ground with a foot, clearing the snow and uncovering a patterned circle. "We need to work together. Hold your hand out and grip the cliff and pull upwards."

Fives did as he was instructed. He grimaced as he felt the weight of the ice.

"How in the galaxy are we going to get this open?"

"We have to work together. We need to pull together and only together will we get this open." Shaak outstretched her hand further and grasped the ice with the Force, Fives doing the same. The ice, now more looking like a door, slowly lifted. Fives almost dropped it in surprise of their efforts actually working, but adjusted himself to keep doing upwards.

Shaak breathed out a sigh of relief when the door was fully opened, it staying up. Fives dropped his hand down from in front of him.

Shaak motioned for Fives to follow her into the caves. "Now, we have only a slight more to do. You do the most though," she explained. "I need to move this magnifying glass in a way where it melts the waterfall so you can get inside to the crystal caves. Then you will go inside by yourself to find your crystal." Shaak took her hood off as they were out of the wind.

"By myself?" Fives asked, slightly afraid. He did not like the idea of going into the dark-seeming caves all by himself.

"Yes. It is required you do so as the cave will test you."

"I don't like the sound of this."

"It will become clearer once you have your crystal."

"Lovely."

Shaak gently shook her head and leveled herself in a position to move a huge magnifying glass on the roof. In the time, Fives took a proper look at his surroundings. The Force seemed to ripple in the cave. He couldn't tell if it was because of the crystals, or the vast history this place held. He found a particularly strong spot, it seeming to illuminate a small area. Fives walked over to it and held his hand over it, feeling in the Force the strength of this particular spot. He found he could go deeper into the spot, it almost feeling like meditation. Fives suddenly jumped back and shook his hand as images washed over his mind, almost blinding him for a moment.

"Fives? Are you ready?" Shaak asked, casting Fives a look as he shook his hand again.

"Huh? Oh, yeah," he confirmed, still a bit dazed from the experience he just had. He heard a crashing sound, very similar to the sound of the water on Kamino when a bad storm was raging on. The waterfall that Shaak had mentioned was melting and crashing down, flooding the steps and being washed into something. He couldn't tell what it was from where he was standing.

"You have until the waterfall completely freezes over. Otherwise you will be trapped in the cave. Day only comes around every nineteen standard rotations." Fives swore he saw Shaak smirk.

"I should be able to break through the ice if it freezes over." Fives crossed his arms.

"Yes, yes. Go on now. I will wait for you here."

~~~~<+>~~~~

Fives ran a gloved hand over the icy walls of the kyber crystal caves as he wandered them. They seemed to never end. He had no clue what a kyber crystal even looked like, making this whole journey seem near impossible. Shaak had been very cryptic about what would happen and it was making Fives feel very uneasy.