“Oh good,” said the padawan upon hearing that Kere would not be flying them to their destination. He was not a fan of needlessly turbulent flights, and it showed on his expression of relief.
When Kere pressed for his Kyber crystal story, he gave a firm nod.
“Alright,” said Colwyn brightly, as if the young padawan needed an excuse to talk about himself. As Kere and Adley would inevitably find out, he didn’t.
“This was a few years ago, you’ll find. It was a group of six of us that had been picked to fly to Christophsis, where we’d have to venture into a crystalline forest, find a kyber cave, and retrieve our kyber crystals from inside. Oh boy was I excited to prove myself to my Masters! I knew I had it in me. I just needed to find a way to show it. As if the pressure wasn’t already enough, I remember well that I was the youngest youngling of the group—possibly the youngest youngling ever, am I right?” A proud huff and an eyebrow wiggle.
“Anyways, so there I am, thinking to myself that this is something I’m supposed to be doing on my own, but these kids cling to me. I decided to go left to find this place, and where do they go? Left! I pivot, they pivot. I run, they run. Listen, this keeps happening even at the point where we find and go into the cave. I’m thinking—okay, they’re going to stick to me like glue this entire mission—and that’s when things start getting weird.”
Colwyn leans forward on his seat, resting his elbows on the table as he tells his story.
“One second, the younglings are behind me, but then a second later, they’re gone. I’m thinking that this is perfect—they’ve gone out on their own, and I’m no longer lugging around this heavy weight with me. So I go on my merry way, trying to let the force lead me to where I have to go to find my crystal, but somehow this feels different. The crisp air feels different on my skin, and it feels like I am witnessing the force through a muddy filter—like if the very source of life is distorted. When I finally see my companions through the crystalline walls, I believe what they tell me—and they try to help me—but I know better than they do.”
“So as the smartest person in the cave, what do I do? I thank them, but I ignore what they are saying. They tell me to go left, and I go right. They tell me to keep going, and I go back. These kids are older than I am, but there isn’t a single thing that they can do that I can’t do better.” At this, Colwyn sighs, and instead of his typical smile, his face wears a slight frown. “At least that is what I thought at the time. And there was no convincing me otherwise!”
“Before I know it, my pride causes me to lose my way within the cave, and then things get scary. The more that time passes, the more that I feel like I’ve failed. My mind is jumbled, and I suddenly can’t retrace my steps. What’s worse is that my companions have now left me, and I am alone wishing that they were still chained to me. What a hypocrite, right?”
“It shames me to admit to it, but it takes me way too long to realize that my own brain is working against me. I stop in my tracks, and I sit down to meditate and become one with the Force. This is my last resort, and I know not what else I need to try. What I realize then isn’t that the Force can answer all of my questions, but that it was never really my last resort at all.”
“I couldn’t really see me, but I guarantee you that my face was red with embarrassment when I called to the other younglings for help. The same idiot youngling that had wished solitude in this task was now asking for assistance. Go figure,” he breathed out and shook his head.
“Needless to say that it was a lot easier to find my crystal after that. The mist that had settled on my mind had lifted, and when I made it back outside, I realized that I was one of the last ones to leave the cave. We decided to stick together on our way back to the ship.”