Chapter Ninety Eight

How long the various battles had lasted in that odd, in between place, none of them knew. It had certainly been days before Master Giiett, who was the first to awake, did so. At least it was judging by how long his nails had noticeably grown, and he looked as if he was attempting to grow a beard. The others were no better after they woke up in turns, first Quinlan, then Alecto in quick succession.

It was then that they realized that some of the wounds they had taken wherever their spirits had been had also crossed over. Quinlan had a new burn scar right over his stomach and on a corresponding spot on his back. Alecto had bruises all over his arms and shoulders as if he had been struck numerous times by blunt objects rather than lightsabers, but he seemed quietly smug about it, and Micah was pleased with the changes he sensed in his padawan.

Although how much longer I will be calling him that is up for debate, he thought, while running his fingers through his beard. His nearly solid gray beard, Micah idly noticed, looking at his hands. Hands which, like his hair, pointed to the fact he had somehow aged during that battle. Micah could tell his body was at least a few years older somehow, though thankfully there was no sign to indicate they had been meditating that long.

The three of them watched over their friends for a few hours, feeling somewhat helpless, a feeling Jedi were decidedly not used to. Micah also noticed that their bodies were showing signs of the battle within, without, wherever. Even Micah wasn't certain how to describe where they had been fighting. It wasn't in the Force as a whole, but calling it the place between life and death was both a mouthful and didn't seem quite right either.

The changes for the two youngsters were much the same as it had been for Quinlan and Alecto: wounds and the natural growth of hair and nails for Harry and nails for Aayla. Their wounds were more numerous, but Quinlan pointed out why that would be very simply. "If you were an evil Force Ghost and had to decide which of us to try and take over, who would you choose? I have to wonder if it's a battle of two sides in there or an all-out brawl with all of them trying to fight off everyone else for the so-called prize."

Alecto nodded, sighing. "Master, before this journey began I must admit that I had felt a kernel, just a kernel, mind you, of jealousy towards Harry for his good fortune, and for his power and abilities. Since then I've realized that there is a major downside to being so talented. That from those who are gifted with the Force, much too is also demanded. I wish I could help them."

Keeping a smile off his face with difficulty, Micah nodded. "I know, but I can no longer sense any of the spirits in the Force here, and believe me, their presence was rather obvious before this. The Force font is still there, and very, very powerful, but the spirits are no longer…accessible, I suppose, from out here. Whether that means the fights occurred all in our own heads, I have no idea, but…"

Shaking his head, Micah looked down at Master Fay. Unlike the two youngsters, her body was showing no wounds at all. No, the change within Fay was something else entirely. As the hours passed, her body began to look…not frailer, but somehow transparent. It was as if her body was becoming a clear glass, filled with the Power of the Force for those with the ability to see.

He was still looking down at her when Fay's eyes blinked open, her eyes filled with the power of the Force to what would have been a frightening degree in anyone else. She blinked, and the next moment she opened her eyes they were back to normal. She shook her head slowly before looking first down at her body, then up at Master Giiett. "Well, this is…interesting."

"How are you feeling?" he asked quickly, grabbing a water bottle from nearby and handing it to her. Quinlan and Alecto quickly joined them, smiling at the ageless master.

"Odd… Very odd. I…feel more one with the Force than I have ever been before, but…not as if I left some of myself out there… More like I am… Hmm… This will take me some time to get used to, I think…" Fay knew herself and her connection to the Force better than any Jedi alive save for perhaps Yoda himself. She knew something was different now. Her physical body felt…cumbersome, enclosing. It fit poorly now for some odd reason. And her connection to the Force was… Best to think about that later, Fay. There are some implications there that I need to think about. But first…

Turning her attention back to the physical, she smiled at the trio of youths. (And yes, she included Micah in that assessment.) "I am well. How are Aayla and Harry?"

Just then Harry and Aayla began to groan, drawing all attention to them. An instant later Lily appeared between them as if coming out of a spit of nowhere. But Lily too was changed. Before this the Force Ghost had been a shade, almost colorless besides her eyes and hair for some reason, like an old picture left out in the sun too long and made translucent. Now she was more solid looking, more colorful. They could still see through her, but it was like looking through a waterfall rather than thin mist as it had been before.

Looking down at herself, Lily smiled grimly. "Huh, would you look at that? There seems to have been a upside to seeing off those specters."

"Specters?" Fay asked, quickly standing up. The move was awkward, like a marionette, almost, as her body fought to respond to her commands in a way she'd never felt before, even after being injured or meditating for days on end.

Lily explained what she had been doing, while below her Aayla and Harry finished waking up, wincing as they felt their wounds. They quickly began to use the Force to heal themselves. Slowly, burns and broken ribs healed as the others crowded around, trading questions.

Eventually everyone settled down, exchanging stories one after another in a more organized fashion. As they did, the two Masters became aware of the non-physical changes in the others. As they had dealt with the spirits, the power those spirits had contained had flowed into them, and, though for the most part they had rejected that power, Harry in particular having done so entirely, the others had not.

Alecto had changed in power the most. Before this he would have been termed a mid-to-low level Jedi in terms of power. He had gotten by with control, but that was now no longer the case. He would now be rated as a mid-to-high level Jedi in terms of power. Between that and the mental and emotional changes Alecto had gone through, both in this most recent challenge and throughout the journey, Micah knew Alecto was ready to be a Jedi Knight.

Harry, like the two Masters, hadn't taken in any of the power. Quinlan had taken some, but not much. Aayla had rejected most of it too, but she had been given power by Githany after the woman had willingly rejoined the Force. And somehow, her hands weren't empty either, something which the others had noticed but not commented on until the stories were done with.

"…She seems to be have left me her plasma whip," Aayla said slowly, holding the weapon in one hand and activating it to let the light whip slowly curl down to the ground next to the chair Harry had conjured for her.

In the shadow of one of the nearby statues a small opening had somehow appeared during that battle, the lightsaber having been hidden within. Nor was it the only one: other alcoves beneath other statues had opened, though the vast majority of those statues had crumbled into dust during the battle.

"The Force works in mysterious ways," Harry mused, shuddering a little at the light whip. "Um, you're not really going to keep that, are you?"

"You already have controlling interest in my privates anyway, love. You don't need to become a full-on dominatrix," he sent via their bond.

Aayla laughed but looked at him seriously while the others moved off to investigate the heretofore hidden alcoves. "Actually, Harry unless the crystal in this is the one you're here to get, I might scavenge it. I don't know, I feel a connection to it, somehow.

Holding out his hand over the lightsaber, Harry once more sent his psyche out into the Force. After a moment he turned away, shaking his head absentmindedly as he stared up at the statue of Lord Hoth. Like the one across from him, a statue of another Jedi rather than Skere Kaan of course, it still stood unchanged, unlike many of the others. He stared hard and then pointed up there. "The crystal I'm here for is up there. I have no idea why."

"Well then, I suggest you go and get it," Fay said mildly, having come back just then.

Lily, however, reached down to brush her fingers through Harry's hair. The feeling was quite a bit more solid now, like a hand made of liquid touching his head, and he didn't need to try and channel some of the Force to the area to let Lily touch him for more than a brief second. "Let me go up and see if there's anything first, Harry."

With that she floated up, feeling the air around her far more than she had normally. But when she reached the statue she couldn't find anything, no sign of another hidden alcove or anything else. Returning and reporting that was a letdown, but Harry was undaunted. "I know it's up there. It's practically yelling at my Force senses now," he reported.

While the others looked on, Harry moved over to the statue and climbed up it, still using most of his Force Senses to home in on the crystal. Eventually he was perched on one of the statue's shoulders, his hand moving around to rest on its forehead. Why it was there he still had no idea, but the crystal he was here to find, the one that practically vibrated with his Force power already, was within the statue's forehead.

He and the others all noticed that it was in precisely the same place on Lord Hoth's forehead as where Harry had had his scar. That was both bizarre and creepy in his opinion, which he voiced to several shouts of agreement. Fay alone simply shook her head, while Micah smiled. "The Force works in mysterious ways, Harry. We already knew cleansing this Force Font was your task above all of ours. Is it really so strange that the Force, or at least the Light Side of it, would also make certain you were rewarded for your efforts?"

Micah looked at Fay sharply at that. It wasn't the first time that Fay had differentiated between the Light Side and the Force in general, but he had never called her out on it before. Perhaps after this would be time to do it.

Somewhat mollified by his master's words, Harry held his hand over the forehead, slowly shifting the rock so as not to distort or harm the statue. He could have just blasted the crystal out of the rock or simply used a overpowered Force Grab to wrench it out. But that felt wrong, somehow, and not just because he didn't want to damage the statue. Harry didn't want to start his interaction with the crystal in such a violent manner.

It took him a while, but Harry eventually pulled the crystal out of the rock, the rock acting almost like water for a moment as he did, before he let it solidify once more, transfiguring a stone in his other hand into a bit of the statue to replace what was lost by the crystal being taken out. Once that was done he hung there for a moment, looking at the crystal he had come so far and spent so many years, to get.

It was a bright yellow color, almost like citrine or jasper, but not quite, and it looked the size of the gems he'd seen in pictures about lightsaber construction. It would take very little work to get it ready to be used. It was unlike any gem Harry had ever seen before. Not that I have a lot of experience with gems, Harry thought sardonically. Yet already he could feel his connection to the gem growing. It had taken years for the lightsaber Quinlan had given him from Sing's collection to feel like his own. The crystal already felt more like Harry's then that had.

Hopping down to land lightly on the ground in front of his master and the others, Harry held out the gem to them all. Master Giiett and Quinlan simply nodded, while Lily stared closely at it, her face hovering right above the crystal for a moment. Aayla smiled as did Alecto, remembering how they had found their own crystals, or, in Aayla's case, one of her two.

Fay took the crystal from Harry, smiling as she felt it thrumming gently with his presence already. Handing the crystal back and wondering what the color of the blade would be, Fay smiled. "Well done, Knight Potter. I believe this mission can be considered a resounding success."

"Knight Potter?" Harry asked in shock. After all, he, Aayla, and Alecto, for all their abilities and adventures up to this point, were still only twenty-five. Padawans did not normally become Knights until they were in their early thirties.

"Indeed. I think you, Aayla, and Alecto are all ready for your ascension to Knighthood. You have long since passed the Trials of Skill, Courage, and Flesh. This easily was more onerous than any Trial of Spirit, and between this and our finding our way through the nebula easily surpasses any Trial of Perception. You are ready, more than ready for your Knighthoods, all of you," Fay said, Quinlan and Micah nodding in agreement.

"Well, then," Harry said after a moment, while Aayla's mouth began to twitch as she fought back a laugh. "At least I won't need to deal with any more Peepee jokes!"

At that Aayla lost it and began to laugh, falling to her knees and just laughing loud and long in joy as the others all broke down and laughed too.