Star Wars_ Young Jedi Knights 04_ Lightsabers - Kevin J. Anderson [9]
The Wookiee growled and dismissed this with a motion of one ginger-fuffed hand. "Master Lowbacca wishes to assure you that you have not inconvenienced him in the slightest," Em Teedee supplied. "It has been many days since he enjoyed solitude and meditation out in the jungle, and he delights in the opportunity to assist you in this manner.
The Wookiee snorted and gave the little translator droid a flick with one finger. "Oh-that is to say," Em Teedee amended, "it was Master Lowbacca's intention to take a break anyway, and he's pleased he could help."
The young Wookiee sniffed loudly, but accepted this translation. He brought the T-23 skyhopper down on a patch of hard-packed volcanic sand between the jungle's edge and the base of a small m volcano. After Lowbacca woofed a few words, Em Teedee said, "When you have completed your search, successful or not, simply return here to the T-23. Master Lowbacca and I will watch for you from the treetops."
Tenel Ka nodded curtly. "Understood. Thank you." Without further ado, she turned and hurried up the slope toward the volcano.
Though none of the volcanoes near the Jedi academy had erupted in quite some time, tendrils of white steam still curled from this one's peak.
Skirting the sharp black rocks on the perimeter, Tenel Ka soon found a gaping lava tube leading in toward the core of the volcano, as she had hoped.
A pungent sulfurous odor filled the warm tunnel.
Tenel Ka pulled the finger-sized glowrod from a pouch at her belt and ignited it to light her way.
Black crystalline sand crunched under her feet and glittered like thousands of fiery sparks, throwing back the light of her glowrod. As she trudged farther in, the sandy floor became hard rock, glassy like obsidian. Ahead of her the rocky corridor radiated an eerie red light, and the heat grew stifling.
Occasionally she heard a rumbling, rushing roar, as if the volcano itself were breathing deeply in its sleep. The stony walls around her took on a cracked, broken look. Some of the larger fissures ran from floor to ceiling and leaked puffs of acrid white steam. But she saw no embedded crystals.
The lava tube wound on and on. Losing patience, Tenel Ka had just about decided to turn back when she rounded one last corner and encountered a wave of searing heat. She had found what she was looking for.
"Ali," she said. "Aha."
She wouldn't be able to bear the heat for long, but she had to risk it. On the floor of the tunnel lay a huge slab of glossy black rock that had broken free from a crack on the tunnel wall. Ripples of scorching air danced before her in the dimness.
Rivulets of perspiration ran down her forehead and into her eyes, blurring her vision. Even so, she could not mistake the chunks of spiky crystals that grew on the broken slab, glittering and hazy.
The rock surrounding her was too hot to touch, so Tenel Ka worked quickly. Holding her glowrod in her teeth, she pulled a small scrap of lizard hide from a pouch at her belt, wrapped it around a clump of the crystals, used her grappling hook to chip away at a few of the crystals, then pried them loose.
Tenel Ka tucked the crystals, still wrapped in their protective lizard hide, into her belt pouch, then headed back up the tunnel at a trot. Holding the glowrod high above her head, she raised her voice in a loud ululating cry of triumph that echoed down the length of the lava tube.
Back in her quarters, Tenel Ka sat at a low wooden table with the components of her future lightsaber spread in front 'of her. Everything she needed for assembling her weapon was here: SW itches, crystals, the covering plate, a power source, a focusing lens, and the rancor-tooth hilt.
She ran a light fingertip over the intricate battle etchings she had carved on the ivory lightsaber handle. The markings had turned out even better than she had hoped.
After returning