The garden on Commenor was quiet, absent of the usual hum of voices pressing against her psyche, even Vess presence was gone, though hers was one that she made a point of shutting out, not because Vess was a mind that gave her anything but joy, but because listening felt like a violation of trust. One that she had already broken on Humbarine.
Lily took a breath, settled cross legged on the floor with an array of parts collected laid out on the ground before her. She closed her eyes before slowly and carefully she began to let go of the restraints she had built up around herself out of habit, not just to protect herself, but to protect those around her.
She let the force flow though her, listening to the quiet song it weaved through the worlds around her, following it as it touched the trees, swaying gently in the wind down to the deep thrum of their roots to the soft whisper of insects across the soil at and the sharp scurry of feet as a squirrel bounded along their branches. The song of a thrush cut through the air, its melody echoed by another and then another.
For a long time she just listened, letting the balance of the natural world around her settle the disquiet in her own soul before she pulled her attention to the parts before her, she didn’t think, she just moved lifting each piece as it called to her the same way the song thrushes called to each other.
Her fingers paused on the crystal, sliding it into her palm and closing her hand around it. It was warm in her palm, the song that weaved around it felt so much like her own. Unfolding her hand, the crystal moved away from her, slotting neatly into place within the casing she held with the force before her with a soft click.
The corner of her mouth lifted into a small smile as her hands moved to manipulate the last parts, encasing the crystal, the emitter settling into place, before she reached to pluck it from the air, carefully wrapping the hilt with a soft leather strip.
Only when everything was in place did she open her eyes, letting her gaze roll over her work. It wasn’t pretty, a lightsaber crafter from parts she’d cobbled together, random parts she’d found on the ship, some purpose built, some simply adjusted to fit the design. It bore scratches and marks already but for Lily, it was perfect. It wasn’t something handed to her, or thrust upon her, it didn’t carry the weight of death and darkness that wasn’t hers.
Slowly, she got to her feet, extending her arm her thumb settled over the switch and watched as the orange blade hissed to life. The melody she’d been listening to fell quiet, like it was watching too. And maybe it was, maybe it was waiting to see exactly what path the street rat from nowhere would carve.
