Ben Solo

IX

After two years of intensive training, Luke had decided that his apprentices were ready to search for the crystal for their light sabers.

He was taking them on their quests one at a time, and then would teach all of them together how to assemble their sabers.

Han Solo had been bringing numerous shipments of parts requested by Luke for weeks.

And it was finally time for Ben to find his.

Ilia had found hers, which was blue, and Poe's was yellow.

Luke and Ben climbed into The Expedition again, after the two years since Ben had last been in it.

Ben put his hands over the gunner's controls.

"Don't touch them," Luke warned.

He put his hands in his lap.

Luke typed in some coordinates and they were off. They jumped through hyperspace and emerged in front of a large moon.

As they came in closer, they saw that the planet was made up of a grey igneous rock. Scattered around on the surface were dark green bushes.

They landed on a large rock and the two climbed out.

"This is one of the few places in the galaxy where you can find Kyber crystals," Luke said. "Close your eyes and feel the Force's pull on you. It will lead you to your crystal."

Ben nodded and closed his eyes. He heard Luke sit down behind him.

And then it all faded away.

Something was tugging at his soul. He stepped forward in that direction.

The Force led him along the rocks for nearly an hour before he entered a cave.

The tugging stopped and he opened his eyes.

Sticking out of a bit of rock was a crystal, colorless. A flow of water slicked over the rock, splitting an inch above the crystal to flow around, and combining again an inch below.

Ben tried to dislodge it with his fingers, and saw it turn slightly green as he touched it. He couldn't move the crystal, so he grabbed a bit of rock and chipped away until it broke off, intact.

As soon as Ben picked it up, it began to glow and rise into the air.

Then, with an explosion of green light, it fell into his open palm. The crystal glowed green, illuminating the cave.

Ben scrambled out of the cave to find his uncle, and realized he had no idea where he was.

He panicked for a moment, then closed his eyes and focused on Luke's Force footprint to find him.

It took him longer to find his uncle than it had taken him to find his crystal, because he had to pick his way over rocks and determine the best path for himself.

He showed his uncle the crystal proudly once he reached him.

Luke smiled and they climbed into the TIE-fighter to go back to Dantooine.

They jumped through hyperspace, and landed on the planet again.

Poe ran out to The Expedition excitedly.  "What color is your crystal?"

Ben held it out.  "Green."

Poe whistled softly.

Averann ran out.  "Are you alright to leave right now?  Can we go now?" she pestered Luke.

He nodded and she climbed up, flashing Ben a grin as he stepped away and inside.

Ben put his crystal gently on the shelf in his room and went to the mess hall. Onya and Poe switched off making meals when Luke couldn't, and he was happy to see that the Twi'lek had made dinner.

He couldn't tell his best friend, but he was an awful cook. But Poe really enjoyed it, so he ate the food and smiled.

Onya had asked Han to bring her food from her home planet of Ryloth. It was far out of his way, in the Outer Rim, but he went anyway, which had surprised Ben, as he usually didn't like making things unnecessarily longer.

The Twi'lek, who had stayed a consistent head taller than Ben, had prepared a dish made of cut root vegetables and meat native to Ryloth.

Ben sat down and ate his food hungrily. Ilia, who had become more comfortable over the last two years, and wasn't as quiet, sat down next to him.

"Slow down. You might choke on your food."

He swallowed and gestured with his eating utensil. "I haven't eaten anything good all day."

"But I thought you said that breakfast was good?" Poe said, sitting across from him.

"Erm, it was fine, Poe, just not spectacular." Ben said guiltily.

Onya laughed as she sat down.  "He means it really wasn't cooked well enough.  It was a bit raw."

Poe frowned.

Ben shrugged apologetically and shoved another load of food into his mouth.

"So what color is your crystal?" Onya asked, pulling her lekku out of the way so she could eat.

"Green," he said around a mouthful of food.

"I hope mine is green, too." Onya said, putting another bite of food in her mouth.

"I think yours will be blue," Poe predicted.

"We'll see then."

Ben cleaned his plate and went to his room.

He sat on his bed and looked at his crystal, glowing on the shelf.

Then he laid down on his bed and fell asleep.