Private The First Spark

[Veyla Krinn]

Morning light spilled through the high windows of the forge, catching suspended motes of dust that drifted lazily through the warm air. The heart of the furnace already glowed a deep orange, filling the workshop with a familiar heat that settled comfortably against Veyla's skin. It smelled of coal, hot steel, and well-used oil, scents she had known since childhood.

The forge had always been a place where the rest of the galaxy faded away. Today, however, it felt different.

Upon the central workbench rested two small cloth bundles. Veyla unfolded them with deliberate care, revealing the kyber crystals they had recovered from Oralis Prime. Morning sunlight caught their facets, scattering tiny fragments of color across the scarred wood beneath them. Even after the journey home, she found herself pausing every time she looked at them. They still felt almost unreal.

Around the crystals lay the beginnings of another kind of puzzle. Sheets of flimsi covered with hand-drawn sketches. Measurements written and rewritten in neat script. Cross-sections of locking mechanisms. Telescoping sections for a collapsible haft. Emitter assemblies. Power routing. Balance calculations. She had spent more than one evening refining the design, determined that the weapon should feel less like a conventional lightsaber and more like an evolution of the pike she had carried for years.

Nothing had been built yet. Today was for decisions.

Lengths of phrik and beskar alloys rested neatly beside the anvil, each carefully selected for its purpose. Precision tools waited where she had arranged them the night before. Nothing had been left to chance. If they chose to begin, everything they needed was within reach.

Her fingertips brushed lightly against the larger crystal before she withdrew her hand again.

"Not yet," she murmured with a faint smile.

Some things deserved patience.

Stepping back from the bench, Veyla crossed to the peg beside the forge door where her well-worn leather apron hung waiting. Today she had chosen comfort over ceremony, dressed in a simple linen shirt with the sleeves rolled neatly to her forearms, sturdy dark trousers, and worn leather boots marked by years spent beside a hot forge. It was clothing made for long hours of work rather than battle.

She slipped the apron over her head and fastened it securely behind her waist before taking one final look around the workshop. The furnace burned steadily. The tools were laid out in careful order. Metal waited beside the anvil, and the two kyber crystals rested quietly upon the bench.

Everything was ready.

Now all that remained was waiting for Kallous to arrive.

Kallous

 

[Kallous]

Kallous had been curious to see the process of making the saber in this manner. Most often, in his experience, the components had been made ahead of time by another craftsman, or specially ordered and then assembled by the practitioner. This would be the first time that he'd ever see anyone take hammer to anvil to craft the entire thing from scratch. It would be a curious thing to witness.

He would be there more to observe than anything. He wasn't going to be instructing much, more likely he would be doing most of the learning here. He wasn't a metalworker, and he'd never done anything of the sort before. But, his curiosity had been piqued, and he considered this an opportunity to practice the enchanting arts he'd learned from his friend Seren Gwyn some time ago. He'd practiced the theory every so often with small carved trinkets, though he hadn't actually had the opportunity to do anything real with it. Everything he'd made thus far only made ripples in the force, presences that could be sensed, they didn't actually do anything. But if he could learn to craft from steel like the mandalorians did... well... that would be a good start.

He allowed his mind to ponder the possibilities as he strode through the streets towards his friend's forge. What sort of weapon might he craft? What would it look like? How would it compare to fighting with a lightsaber? He doubted it would be as utilitarian, but it had its own kind of appeal. For one... he could put some serious weight behind his swings with a weapon crafted from steel, rather than a blade of weightless plasma which was little more than his strength mixed with leverage. But a top-heavy steelwrought sword? Now that could hit with some force.

These were mere speculations for now, he would have to experiment some, optimize, practice, theorize and do a great deal more work before he did anything. For now, it was his apprentice and friend's turn to craft her weapon.

He would approach the forge, and politely knock on the door to be let in.

Veyla Krinn

 

[Veyla Krinn]

The knock drew Veyla's attention away from the workbench. A smile found her face almost immediately.

"Come in."

The heavy door swung inward, allowing the familiar silhouette of Kallous to step into the warmth of the forge. Heat rolled gently through the workshop while the steady crackle of the furnace filled the brief silence between them. Veyla wiped her hands on the front of her leather apron before walking over to greet him.

"Welcome to my workshop." There was a quiet pride in her voice as she gestured around the room. "It isn't the largest forge on Concordia, but it's mine."

She stepped aside, inviting him farther in.

The workshop had been arranged with almost obsessive care. Every hammer hung in its proper place. Tongs of different sizes rested within easy reach of the anvil. Bars of phrik and beskar alloys occupied orderly racks along one wall, separated by material and purpose. On the central workbench, the two kyber crystals rested beside carefully drafted plans, measurements, and partially completed mechanical sketches.

Veyla noticed his attention settle on the drawings and smiled.

"I've been refining it since we got back."

She lifted one of the sketches, revealing the design from several angles. A single emitter crowned the hilt while, beneath it, a telescoping haft would extend and lock into place. Collapsed, it would ride comfortably at her belt. Extended, it would become the natural successor to the pike she had carried for years.

"I didn't want to abandon everything I've spent years learning." She set the drawing back among the others. "This lets me fight the way I always have while still giving me the option of carrying it like a more conventional lightsaber when I need to."

Her hand rested lightly against the anvil.

"I've forged plenty of weapons." A quiet chuckle escaped her. "Just...never one that would become something like this."

She looked back to Kallous, her smile warm and welcoming.

"If you're curious about anything, just ask." She gestured around the forge. "Most people only ever see the finished weapon. You get to see how it's born."

Kallous

 

[Kallous]

Stepping into the workspace his eyes immediately began to scan the environment with unmasked curiosity. Kallous was as new to this as he was to normal life, and his desire to know more and learn was impossible to contain. He scanned the racks of tools, the larger implements and the smaller. Wondering how some of the, frankly dainty, looking implements could possibly be used for shaping metal even when hot. And simultaneously wondering how the process from the heating to the shaping to the tempering.

He had only a cursory understanding of metallurgy, heat to soften, hit to shape, quench to harden. The kind of knowledge that the average layman knew from simple conversation and answer. Though he didn't really understand anything beyond that, and he doubted it was so simple as that even for the simplest of projects.

"It's quite the place." He commented, a mix of approval and wonder in his tone as he took it all in. "And it's apparrent that you take very good care of it all. Not bad at all. An impressive collection of tools by my unprofessional reckoning."

Kallous didn't have much by way of work or forge clothes. He wore his usual attire, though he'd gathered his sleeves up toward his shoulders and secured them with a cord wrapped around his torso, leaving his arms bare but removing any danger that his shirt would catch fire while he was there. And as he secured the cord at his left shoulder he approached the plans she drawn up to give them a look over. Which he did with a nod of approval.

"Looks like you've got all the mechanics figured out." He said with a nod. "Do you know what length of blade you're going to want? And have you gotten yourself any focusing crystals to refine the blade any further? Or do you just plan to start with whatever the blade turns out to be and tinker with it later?"

His questions were born out of his own curiosity. He had assembled his saber, but he hadn't actually customized it much. So he wondered what a professional smith would end up doing with their expertise.

Veyla Krinn