Confronting Fear

Nerit

But love heals, love feels alive
Cause love's here when you're by my side
And love frees, love's real this time
And love sees the man here inside

W.E.T - Love Heals

Poe's feet were aching in his tightly laced boots when they finally found the temple. They'd had to park the ship several miles back and trust Finn to lead them to wherever the fuck this was. It sure didn't look like much, a small stone door set into a bowed canopy of green trees beneath Nerit's orange sky.

"This is it?" asked Rose, obviously disappointed.

"Yeah, it is!" Finn said in awe, obviously aware of something the other two were not.

"I thought it'd be like the temple on Coruscant." Rose added.

Finn shook his head. "The temple on Coruscant is the biggest one, but there were many smaller ones scattered throughout the galaxy in places where the Jedi felt the Force very strongly. The first temple on Ach-To is small like this one."

In his first display of Force abilities to the group, Finn waved the doors open revealing a small chamber beyond lit with an unidentified light source. The door was small enough that Chewy had to duck to enter.

In the very center of the room was a huge tree of a type Poe recognized, an unetti tree like the one Luke Skywalker had given his mother. It's long branches flowed down creating the interior walls of the room. Now, Poe was impressed.

Rose seemed equally impressed as she stared around in awe. "It's beautiful."

Finn walked around the perimeter of the room. On small plinths set into the branches were relief carvings of Jedi Healers treating patients. He took careful note of the various meditative poses the Jedi used though he had no concept of the meaning behind them.

Once his circle was completed he turned towards the center of the room and the giant tree that created it. There was something there, something more than just the already impressive tree that Poe and Rose stood gaping at.

He came up behind Rose, placing his hand tenderly on her shoulder. "Finn, this place, it's, it's beautiful. I feel so... light."

"Me too." Poe mumbled, quiet for perhaps the first time since Finn had met him.

Finn stepped forward placing his right hand reverently on the old tree. He could feel it, more strongly than ever. This was his destiny. Almost as if of its own accord, his hand slid down the knobby trunk of the old tree, straight to the tangle of thick roots at its base. Something was definitely there.

With his bare hands he began to dig at the rocky soil beneath the roots. So intent was he that he didn't notice that Chewy, Rose and Poe had added their hands to his.

It could have been an eternity or a second before his hands found the sealed durasteel box, small enough to hold in his hands. He dusted it off leaving a bloody smear across the smooth surface. He hadn't realized he was bleeding until then, his skin nicked in multiple places by the rough roots.

The box didn't seem to have a latch or button or any other means of opening. Of course not, he chided himself. Laying his hand on it reverently, he focused the Force on the seam of the lid, working it open. Inside sat one of the most beautiful things Finn had ever seen. It looked like orange fire had been encased in the cluster of crystals, the flickering light amplified by the facets of the smooth rock.

Was this Kyber? he wondered dully.

"They're beautiful." Rose whispered.

Poe's rough voice broke the trance of the hypnotic crystals. "Hey Finn, there's something else in here."