PURPOSE | The Mandalorian

XVIII

After letting the gloriously hot water run over my body for at least twenty minutes, all feeling in my limbs and extremities returned. The ice in my hair melted a while ago and my skin was flushed red from all of the hot water. Reluctantly shutting the water off, I stepped out of the shower and began to towel myself dry.

A knock on the bathroom door startled me. Din's voice carried through the door, "You good in there?"

"Yep," I piped cheerfully, "Almost done."

"Good," He mumbled and I stifled a laugh, "Soleil is getting impatient."

Slipping my shirt over my head and pulling my hair out from under it, I pressed the open button on the door panel. The door slid open, revealing the Mandalorian standing in the doorway.

He reached out, brushing his gloved thumb over my cheek. "Your cheeks are red," He noticed.

I smiled sheepishly as I pointed out, "I did just take a hot shower."

He huffed a laugh, leaning against the doorframe. "You better get in there," He said, motioning to the cargo bay, "Before she starts yelling at me."

Rolling my eyes, I patted his beskar chest plate while I walked past him. I felt his eyes boring into my back as I walked away, so I put an extra swish in my hips, just to taunt him.

He grunted to himself before marching towards the ladder and launching himself into cockpit.

Once I reached the cargo bay, Soleil was sitting cross legged in the center of the floor with different scraps of dark metal placed before her. Her bright yellow eyes flicked to me and she smiled, motioning me to sit across from her.

I slid onto the floor in front of the metal scraps, sucking in a sharp breath when my muscles ached. Soleil straightened her back, lifting her chin.

"Do you have the crystals?" She asked.

I reached into my pocket, squeezing them in my palm. When I opened my palm to her, the yellow light within them began pulsating again, increasing and decreasing their intensity.

"Wonderful," She breathed. "Place them on the floor in the center, here." She pointed to the open space in the middle of the circle of scrap.

Gently setting them on the floor, my heart jumped when they left my possession. It was like they were just as reluctant to leave me as I was to leave them.

Soleil inhaled a deep breath. "The next step is meditating with your crystals," She instructed. "You need to imbue yourself into them so they they know how to best serve you as your weapon."

I laughed to myself. "You act like they have feelings," I said.

Soleil did not seem amused. "You'll see," She said scornfully. "A lightsaber is more than a weapon. It is a part of you. It needs to know who you are and what you can do so it can serve you well."

She obviously was not in the mood for my sarcasm, so I just nodded along as she explained what I needed to do next. Her job was to combine the metal parts in front of me while I let the crystals enter my mind, absorbing the deepest parts of who I was. Once the crystals were imbued with my life force, then she would combine them and activate the saber.

"Now," She said, lightly resting her fingertips on the metal floor as she closed her eyes, "Let us begin."

————————————————————

I calmed my heartbeat as I inhaled a deep breath. As soon as I reached out to the crystals, their life force slingshot into my mind and all of my memories began flying in front of my eyes. The first one was a happy memory, one that I kept close to my heart.