Private Not the Most Conventional Pair

[Cato Harth]

Cato couldn't help but laugh at the epithet he was given. It was hardly unwelcome. After they shared in a bit of PDA, he and Gatz made proper introductions, "Ah, that's right. They got you apprenticed up quick," He glanced at Inanna, before looking back at her pupil. He quickly laid the groundwork with self-deprecation. As one who used it as a sense of humor, Cato couldn't tell if the man was himself joking or being genuine, "Good to meet you too, Gatz. If it's a lightsaber you need, I'm something of a specialist." An understatement, coming from the lead artificer of the Enclave.

"Well, first things first, when it comes to lightsabers, you need a crystal." He stepped away into a back closet, and returned just a few seconds later with a large container in his hands. It seemed a bit heavy, but he quickly hauled it over to one of the working tables and plopped it down with a reverberant thud. Once the others approached, he would unlatch it and reveal a trove of gleaming, colorful crystals inside, "These are artificial kyber. It'll do the job until you get a proper one. Take your pick."

Inanna Harth - Gatz Derrevar​

 

[Inanna Harth]

Gatz’s self-deprecating introduction was meant as a joke. Well, Inanna assumed it was, same as Cato. Her Padawan seemed a bit out of his element, thrown off by his surroundings and uncomfortable with the level of familiarity on display between the couple, but not enough to cause concern.

She let the Lead Artificer take over for the time being, watching as he hauled a container full of artificial kyber crystals onto one of the workbenches. “Pretty,” she commented, reaching into the box and swirling the contents with her hand. She admittedly had a fondness for gemstones, having kept a rock collection over the centuries with specimens ranging from the beautiful to the weird. She picked out a purple crystal and held it up to the light, admiring its facets.

Inanna had made a lightsaber on two different occasions: first when she initially trained to be a Jedi (she left it behind when she abandoned the Order) then again while she was trapped under the barbed lightwhip of Sith Lady Vanessa Vantai. The process of assembly was more or less the same; they all needed the same parts in order to function, that had never changed in the millennia since the Jedi and Sith split. She managed to escape having to bleed a kyber crystal because she had already amassed a collection of gemstones, among them the one she would choose for her lightsaber.

“I never had a Gathering,” she revealed to Gatz, and probably Cato as well. “When we go to get you a real kyber, it will be a new experience for me as well.”

Gatz Derrevar Cato Harth​

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons:
Tag: Inanna Harth Cato Harth

The self-deprecation was mostly a joke. It was funny, really: he was half self-doubt and half bad humor. In a way, he'd just put his full self on display for his Master and her husband. The totality of all there was to see of him—except, Master Serys-Organa had told him that there was always more to see.

He wanted her to be right.

Cato dropped a hefty case down on one of his many workbenches. Gatz was curious what it might contain. Parts? But the artificer unlatched it and opened it for their eyes to see, and boy was it a sight: crystals in every shade and tint Gatz could conceivably dream of. Artificial or not, they were beautiful. Genuine artistry.

"Incredible. You can fabricate these?" Gatz asked the older man.

Inanna plucked one from the case, a beautiful vibrant amethyst—or the false kyber equivalent of one, anyways. He loved the color, but far be it of him to just snatch it out of her hands. So he let his eyes fall back to the collection, and gently picked up one that caught his eye.

Gatz raised the crystal up to the light, and got a good look of it's deep blue hue. It was so dark that he might have confused it for a genuine sapphire.

"I didn't think something manmade could be so... beautiful."

Inanna revealed, then, that she had never experienced a gathering either. That didn't surprise Gatz. Considering that he was pretty sure he'd been assigned to her because of their similar situations, it almost made perfect sense that she'd missed it too.

Maybe, by taking him on, she was meant to experience her own gathering at last. The Force had a Will, after all.

Or maybe coincidences did exist. What did he know?

"I never thought I'd come this far..." He wasn't sure if he was muttering it to Inanna, Cato, or himself.

 

[Cato Harth]

"Sure," Cato said, "It's not exactly the same. An artificial crystal doesn't really give you the same connection to your weapon in the same way a genuine crystal does. But otherwise it's pretty damn close." Inanna and Gatz took their time examining the box of pretty rocks, Cato picked up one himself to study, holding it up to the light. After the padawan had seeming chosen his crystal, he mused on his journey. Cato kept silent, leaving it between him and his master.

Once the moment was done, he closed the container, and gestured to the many tables set up around the room, "Alright. You've got your crystal. Now it's just a matter of selecting the rest of your components and putting it all together. The essentials function the same for just about everyone, unless they've got a specialized lightsaber. Which is an option for you as well, of course. The rest is more a matter of craftsmanship and, well, taste." He admitted, "You'd be surprised how much of lightsaber construction is an aesthetic endeavor. In any case, there's lots of options available. More experienced folks might play around with making their own parts, but I'd suggest you stick to premade components for now." Each table in the room seemed dedicated to a different piece of a lightsaber. Emitters, grips, pommels, and so on.

Inanna Harth - Gatz Derrevar​

 

[Inanna Harth]

Inanna let the purple crystal drop from her hand back into the container with the rest. “Form over function. Or is it function over…” Her brow furrowed as she tried to better articulate what she meant. “It works, but not as well.”

Cato said more or less the same thing. Gatz seemed amazed that it was possible to make the crystals artificially—and even more so that he had come this far. “Me neither,” Inanna said. “But if I think about it too much, I’ll start doubting any of this is real. Best to keep busy.”

She inclined her head toward the other stations, each one dedicated to a lightsaber part. “Been a long time since I’ve done this myself. How does it go… ‘Power cell, casing, focusing lens, emitter, and crystal’, right?” She still remembered all these decades later.

“Collect each of the parts, then bring them back here and we’ll help you assemble them. And in the meantime...” She turned to Cato, lowering her voice slightly. "Could I speak to you in private for a minute?"

Gatz Derrevar Cato Harth​

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons:
Tag: Inanna Harth Cato Harth

“Me neither,” Inanna said. “But if I think about it too much, I’ll start doubting any of this is real. Best to keep busy.”

It was nice to know he wasn't alone in feeling that way.

That was when it really hit him: this was actually happening. He was going to construct a lightsaber, right here in Cato's workshop. This wasn't some half-baked dream anymore. He was a Jedi, even if he was still one who had much to learn. And finally, sixteen years late, he was actually going to build a Jedi's fabled weapon. Sure, the crystal was synthetic, but it was still cool and could be corrected soon enough. Even Gatz, who found no pride in his swordsmanship despite his natural talent, couldn't help but feel a little giddy.

Giddy. When was the last time he'd felt that? Before Dad died? That was nearly a decade ago. Maybe things really were turning around after all.

And finally: something to do with his hands. Building, fixing, fabricating—all things he was actually good at. But... a lightsaber certainly wasn't anything he'd built before. Gatz remembered looking over basic schematics, and gleaming absolutely nothing from it, as was often the case when he had to read. But... maybe there was a way around that.

"Could I speak to you in private for a minute?"

"Before you two go off to canoodle, I have an odd request: Cato, would you happen to have a training saber handy? Something I could take apart?"

He couldn't learn from books. Lectures were usually half effective. But he'd always been good at learning by doing. That wasn't a skill that came in handy with history or philosophy lessons, but constructing a lightsaber? What better way for him to learn, than by deconstructing one. Or, at least, a close equivalent?

 

[Cato Harth]

"Pretty much, yeah," Cato confirmed Inanna's recitation of all the key parts. With instructions laid out, Gatz was more or less ready to go, though Inanna had one more request of her husband. "Oh? Sure…"

"Before you two go off to canoodle, I have an odd request: Cato, would you happen to have a training saber handy? Something I could take apart?"

Cato's expression flattened, though he wasn't exactly embarrassed. "Yeah. See under that shelf there?" he pointed to an industrial rack near his front table, "Got a couple old ones in there. Have at it, just don't break 'em, yeah?" After that, he brought Inanna to his storage closet and closed the door for some privacy, "What's up?" He asked in a hushed tone.

Inanna Harth - Gatz Derrevar​

 

[Inanna Harth]

Inanna gave her apprentice a thin-lipped smirk. She supposed canoodling was as good an excuse as any to slip away.

Cato pointed Gatz in the direction of some training sabers, then led her into a storage closet. Once the door was shut, Inanna’s shoulders seemed to sag and her head bowed. “I admit I brought you in here just because I wanted to have you all to myself,” she said, lowering her voice to a whisper. “Come closer?”

What she really wanted was for him to hold her, as made clear by her reaching toward him. “Gatz isn’t your typical Padawan,” she went on, her brow furrowing. “I suppose that’s why they paired us together. I wasn't average either... I want to do right by him, but I’m afraid I’ll make a mistake. I’ve never done this before. It’s overwhelming.”

Gatz Derrevar Cato Harth​

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons:
Tag: Inanna Harth Cato Harth

"Got a couple old ones in there. Have at it, just don't break 'em, yeah?"

"I think I can manage that much. Thank you."

He let the married couple sneak off to the storage closet without any further disruption—far be it from him to stop them from playing Seven Minutes in Heaven. With the two of them temporarily out of the room, Gatz allowed himself a long sigh. Unbridled anxiety ran through him, encompassing nearly his whole being. A Master? It was a huge step up from the last two months... but it also frightened him.

Inanna was just one more person to let down. He had a real shot at being a Jedi now, and he was going to take it. He wanted to do right by her, and he was going to give it all he had. But he so often failed at everything he tried to do. That's what he was, really: a cavalcade of fuck ups and failures.

"Come on, Gatz," he tried to hype himself up, to some amount of success, "let's give a good showing on your first day, at least."

As his newfound Master and her husband had their little chat in a closet not ten feet away from him, Gatz turned his attention to the training saber he'd pulled off the rack, and slowly began to take it apart.

He'd always been good with his hands. It was one of his few skills. Time to prove it.

 

[Cato Harth]

Gatz went to work, while the Harths snuck off under less innocent pretenses. In the storage closet however, they were merely talking. "Oh," Cato mirrored Inanna's smile, and gave her the hug she requested.

"Every Knight starts somewhere," Cato said, "But you wouldn't be here now if you didn't have the skills and experience necessary to lead him. I won't tell you there won't be mistakes, cause there probably will be," He leaned back a little to face her more clearly, "But that's part of the process, right? Nobody really learns without a few road bumps along the way. Knight or Padawan."

Cato kissed her forehead, and squeezed her a little tighter, "I know you'll do right by him." A smirk crossed his lips, "And y'know, you technically got a padawan before I did, so which of us is really on the right path here?"

Inanna Harth - Gatz Derrevar​

 

[Inanna Harth]

Inanna melted into Cato’s embrace, resting her head against his shoulder. Already she felt more grounded and secure. She had definitely needed this.

The pep talk was helpful too, though she pouted when he spoke of the necessity of failure. “I guess everyone being perfect would be boring,” she assented, tracing her thumb over the scar on his cheek. “There’d be no point in training if you can’t get better.”

Hopefully Gatz understood that, and wouldn’t expect too much from his master—or himself. No one deserved to have unfair expectations set upon them.

"I know you'll do right by him. And y'know, you technically got a padawan before I did, so which of us is really on the right path here?"

“As you are so fond of saying: skill issue.” She giggled. “But for what it’s worth, I think you’d make a great master. Now, if you’d come just a little bit closer…”

A few minutes later, Inanna emerged from the storage closet. She paused for a moment to fix her hair, then scanned the workshop for her Padawan. “Hey Gatz, how are things going?”

Gatz Derrevar Cato Harth​

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons:
Tag: Inanna Harth Cato Harth

By the time Inanna and Cato had returned from their little escapade, Gatz had the training saber disassembled on the workshop table in a neat and organized fashion—right down to labeling what screws went into what holes. It was both amazing and frustrating: he'd spent hours trying to look at a basic schematic of a lightsaber, only for the knowledge to find no purchase in his mind.

It took ten minutes of disassembling to completely understand what he was looking at.

“Been a long time since I’ve done this myself. How does it go… ‘Power cell, casing, focusing lens, emitter, and crystal’, right?”

He had almost scoffed that it could be this easy. But it really was that easy.

"I'm not sure if I feel like a moron, or a genius," Gatz began to answer Inanna's question, "but I'm pretty sure I understand how to build one of these. At least, a barebones version, without any added gizmos or flair."

But before he went to grab for the basic parts, Gatz turned back to the training saber he'd disassembled. It'd be kind of rude for him to just leave it in pieces, after he tore it down. It took him a few minutes, and Cato probably could have done it in half the time, but Gatz reassembled the weapon using his carefully laid out organization to make sure he hadn't missed any screws or pieces.

Then he ignited the weapon—after making sure he had plenty of space to do so—to ensure that he'd put the training saber back together properly. It's dim yellow blade hummed perfectly fine, so Gatz extinguished it and returned it to the rack he borrowed it from.

"Yeah. I think I've got this."

 

[Cato Harth]

Cato emerged from the closet shortly after Inanna, doing his best to give the impression that nothing unprofessional had just taken place inside. Gatz was at one of the tables, with a lightsaber properly disassembled. The artisan approached, noting the proper placement and arrangement of all its pieces. "Nice," He commended him. Gatz reassembled the weapon and put it back good as new, affirming his confidence.

"Alright. Do it then," Cato smirked, challenging Gatz to do just that, "All the parts are in this workshop. Have at it." This kid worked well with his hands. Cato figured his own hands-off approach would be for the best, leaving the proper tutelage to Gatz's master.

Inanna Harth - Gatz Derrevar​

 

[Inanna Harth]

Inanna gazed patiently at Gatz, listening to him without interruption until the answer came at last:

"Yeah. I think I've got this."

She smiled then, proud of him and feeling a little better about her own abilities. If this was what was needed to train him, showing rather than telling, then she could do that.

A smirking Cato urged Gatz to assemble his own lightsaber using the various boxes of parts in the workshop. Inanna nodded in agreement. “Don’t sweat it too much. Your first lightsaber needn’t be the one you’ll carry forever. Mine certainly wasn't. What matters is that it’s functional.” She would oversee it, but for now it seemed best to remain hands off and simply watch him work. He needed to know he could do this on his own without having his hand held.

Gatz Derrevar Cato Harth​

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons:
Tag: Inanna Harth Cato Harth

Challenged by Cato, and emboldened by his Master's encouragement, Gatz set to work.

Power cell. Casing. Focusing lens. Emitter. Crystal. Had he really found this so challenging, only a short while ago? How had his brain not been able to make sense of the schematics he had spent hours pouring over? He felt so silly, a little stupid, and moderately brilliant now: having pulled the training saber apart, he understood now how to construct an actual lightsaber. It was no more difficult than fixing one of R4's stuck motivators, or replacing a bad relay in his ship.

Well, it was a little more complicated. R4 and The Red Night didn't function because of a magical, holistic crystal.

Gatz moved a little slower than when he'd reconstructed the training saber, only to allow himself time to be meticulous about the details of his weapon. The parts might have been prefabricated, but it was still his lightsaber. First of many or not, it needed to be what he wanted. It needed to fit his hand the way he was comfortable with.

Also, he needed to be absolutely sure that he set the crystal perfectly. Shit got real fucked if a kyber crystal wasn't aligned properly. He'd seen a video of that. Gatz wasn't keen on blowing his fingers off when he ignited the thing for the first time.

But then he was finished, with one final twist of the emitter to ensure it wasn't coming loose any time soon. His lightsaber, resting in the palm of his hand. All he needed to do was ignite it to be sure he'd done a proper job.

"Anyone want to say any words? Final ones, perhaps?" Gatz joked, "I'm certain I got it right, but just in case this thing explodes in my hands..."

But it wouldn't. For once, Gatz was confident in his own ability. So, with a flick of the ignition switch, Gatz ignited his lightsaber and was rewarded with the hum of a blue blade. Synthetic or not, the crystal Cato had given him produced a beautiful, perfect blade.

 

[Cato Harth]

"Mhm," Cato nodded in agreement, "I have like a hundred different lightsabers. Probably broke about half that many in the process." An exaggeration, obviously, but he did have something of a collection. And in his youth, he lost… more than the average amount of lightsabers.

"Anyone want to say any words? Final ones, perhaps?" Gatz joked, "I'm certain I got it right, but just in case this thing explodes in my hands..."

Cato just continued to smirk, and didn't say anything. Watching Gatz assemble it, he could tell everything was properly aligned. Then, the room took on a blue hue, as the plasma sprang forth in perfect form. The artisan admired it for a moment, then offered an 'OK' gesture, "Good work, dude." He looked to Inanna next, "Seems you've got a natural on your hands. You two don't have anything to worry about."

Inanna Harth - Gatz Derrevar​