Maz Kanata's Journey

The Find

Maz Kanata and young Luke Skywalker sat at a table in her old tavern. The dusty stone floor and wood tables were old and light streamed through the tall windows. The smell of Jaba Juice and Death Sticks hung in the air, and chatter.

"Maz, I need your help," Luke said. His blue eyes were bright with joy. Maz raised an eyebrow willing him to go on. "I'm building my own lightsaber!"

"Well then," she said, adjusting her big round glasses, "Do you have everything you need?" Luke looked down.

"No, I still need a kyber crystal. That's what I need you for." Maz knew what he was getting at. While she had no idea where one could find the rare stone, she was a force sensitive being same as Luke. If she or Luke got close to a crystal they would feel a pull to it. Luke took a sip of Jaba Juice and raised both eyebrows asking her to join him.

"Okay," Maz said. She had nothing else to do, she would have ME-8D9 watch over the tavern while she was gone.

The next day, Maz packed her things, a blaster, some food packets, and water bottles. Luke had told her where the location of a kyber crystal was to be. The icy planet was near the Outer Rim.

She went outside and saw Luke's X-Wing. She made her way to the spaceship walking on the dewy grass. Maz turned around and looked back at the castle. She saw the old colorful flags hanging from the sides of the castle walls. She smelled the natural forest green touched with smoke from the tavern. She and Luke squeezed into his X-Wing, thank goodness for her short height or they would have to take another ship and risk one of them getting lost. As Luke made the calculations for the jump to lightspeed, looked around the ship. The control panel looked older and was marked with debris. Her head was thrust back as the ship went into unimaginable speed. In a few hours, they reached a blue planet with ice caps covering it. It showed that there were little life forms on the ship's charts. As they made their landing approach, she felt the air get colder. The old fighter craft landed on a flat sheet of ice. The two exited the craft and looked around. She felt a pull to an ice cave westward. It wasn't the same pull that she had towards the Dark Side, it felt like more of an invitation to come home. She saw the look on Luke's face, he felt it too.

They approached the cave and went inside. Ice hung from the ceiling of the cave and jagged pieces of ice poked out of the ground. The white walls were shiny and slick and the floor was covered in a thin layer of snow. They creeped to the end of the tunnel. They reached a big open space. Maz looked around at the icicles hanging from the ceiling. At the center of the room sat a podium-like structure. Inside, a small stone emitted a white glow. She watched as Luke held out his hand. Slowly, she saw the ice melt and the crystal sat on the ground. She slowly picked it up and carefully put it in her bag.

Luke sat in the storage room of the old tavern. He screwed on the last piece of his saber and held it in front of him. The silver metal with black and gold accents reflected from the light. He ignited the saber and it cast the room in a green glow. He took his father's saber from his belt and handed it to Maz. She took it reverently and placed it in a wooden box. It sat on cloth as she closed the box latching it from the outside. Luke nodded and headed back to his X-Wing while Maz waved goodbye.