Dorn watched her arrive on the island, the freighter touching down just on the edge of the southernmost cliff. As soon as the ship landed he raced off up the cliffside to alert his master. Dorn found him meditating on the small altar-like cliffside that overlooked the water with a view of the horizon. "Master, a ship has just arrived."

The master remained silent so long that Dorn began to think he had not heard him. "Go to your quarters, Dorn," the master said, his eyes lingering on the horizon. "If I haven't returned in fifteen minutes, burn down the tree and leave."

"R2, stay here with Chewie. Keep the ship idling just in case…" Rey didn't know why she wanted the ship ready to go but the thought of it comforted her. "Just in case," she said and smiled faintly at Chewie, hoping that was enough to let him know that she knew what she was doing. Chewie grunted in understanding. "I'll be back," she said and walked over to the cliffside to begin climbing it.

Ten minutes she'd been climbing the steps and already her legs were begging for rest. Sweat was beginning to drip down her face and arms, her clothes stuck to her body and when she looked up from the stone steps she expected to see the sand wastelands of Jakku. Instead she saw the vast, endless ocean stretching out toward the horizon and she kept climbing.

When she made it to the top, where the stone turned into a platform of lush green grass, she was so tired that she almost didn't notice the figure standing at the edge of the cliff. She couldn't see their face, or any part of them for that matter thanks to the robes. But she didn't need to see their face to know who it was. "Luke Skywalker," Rey said, the words leaving her mouth with a certainness that made herself uneasy.

The figure at the edge of the cliff slowly turned to Rey, its hands raising to lower their hood.

Rey didn't know what to expect. A glint of sunlight caused her to briefly squint her eyes. She saw the robotic hand the sunlight had reflected off of and for a second thought Luke was entirely robotic. But then she saw the salt and pepper beard on the rough and wrinkled face of the man who brought down the Empire.

"Who are you?" Luke said but his voice serious.

"My name's Rey. You-"

"Rey what?"

She thought about whether or not she should lie, to give him a fake name. But then she shook her head, "Just Rey."

"Okay, Just Rey. Why are you here?"

"Your sister Leia sent me. She needs your help."

The sound of his sister's name alone made Luke want to go down to whatever ship Rey arrived on and go to her now. But he knew he couldn't, not now. Maybe not ever.

"I can't help her." Luke moved past Rey towards the cliff steps.

Rey turned and watched him go, stunned by his response. She was sure that he would agree to help without a moment's hesitation.

"Wait!" she called after him.

"No," Luke said, starting down the steps.

Rey followed after him, trying to catch up to him as they both descended the steps. "Leia needs you. The Resistance needs you. Without you the First Order will control the last remaining free systems within months. Maybe even weeks. The galaxy needs you."

About thirty steps down the cliff Luke stopped and pressed both of his hands against the cliffside. A small portion of the rockface, about five feet high and four feet across, pushed inward revealing an opening to a tunnel. Luke went through without another word. As soon as he was out of sight the rock began to shift back into its original spot. Rey raced down the steps to slide inside before it closed but it was too late. Just before she reached the proper step, the rock settled. She pushed against the cliff just as she'd seen Luke do before but it didn't budge. She closed her eyes and pictured the door opening in her mind but the stone remained still and locked.

"We need you!" she yelled at the wall.

No one responded.

Then she said seemingly to herself, her voice meek: "I need you."

It was raining now and harder every second. Grey clouds rolled in from the south and settled above the island. Rey sat in the pilot seat of the Falcon with her legs kicked up onto the console, watching the rain slide down the windshield. Slumped in the seat beside her, Chewie snored with his mouth hung open. Outside the cockpit window she could see the ocean waves crash against the rocky shore below. Off to the left was a small dirt landing that wrapped around the side of another cliff.

Rey stared out of the water, contemplating what she should do next. She considered powering up the Falcon and heading back to D'qar. But then they'd be in the same position as before she left. Already she imagined a second encounter with Luke, most of them going as unsuccessful as the first. In one possibility, the one she liked the most, she'd fall asleep and wake to the sound of knocking on the Falcon's main door. She'd open the door to find Luke telling her that he would help. That-

A knock came from the back of the ship. It startled Rey but Chewie snored on. She sat up in her seat, her mind torn from her fantasies, wondering if the knock she'd just heard was real. The knock came again and she got up from her chair, unholstering her blaster. She approached the main ship door and said, "Who's there?" She was mostly sure that she wasn't in any danger but her long stretch of fantasy and the current weather sent a surreal, unsettling atmosphere.

"A friend," the person on the other side of the door said.

Rey pushed a button beside the door and the metal portal slid open. On the other side was a robed figure, their face darkened by their hood. In either hand they carried two bowls, steam rising from both of them.

"Food. Should keep you satisfied until you leave in the morning. You can't leave now, not with the weather the way it is. Trying to get through the atmosphere now would be suicide."

Rey took the two bowls from the person. As soon as she did, the stranger walked down the ramp of the Falcon and back into the rain.

"Wait," Rey called after. She looked around for somewhere to set the bowls down but didn't want to lose the mystery person to another series of hidden caves so she set the the bowls onto the floor and chased after them.

Immediately the rain drenched her. At first she thought she'd already lost the stranger to the weather, the darkness of the clouds and the intensity of the rain made seeing more than a few feet ahead difficult. But then she made out the muddy, ghost like shape moving through the downpour and she started running. She called out for them to wait again but her voice was drowned out by the rain. She ran after them, nearly slipping from the muddy surface several times. She saw them round the corner of a cliffside and disappear. She thought surely they'd be gone by the time she too rounds the corner.

She flinched, startled when she came around the cliffside and nearly ran into the person. They faced her. Rey could see their gray eyes beneath the hood, their young complexion. "Leave here first thing the morning. The master won't help you. You're wasting your time. I'm sorry." The stranger walked away.

"Why? Why won't he help me?" Rey said, her voice raised to be heard over the rain.

"Because the Galaxy has enough problems without adding you to the mix."

Rey stood alone in the rain, watched the stranger disappear into the gray. A grunt came from behind her. When she turned she saw Chewie standing there.

"I'm alright," Rey said. "I'm…" she looked in the direction the stranger had took to leave. "I'm alright."

The next morning Rey climbed the steps to where she first met Luke. At the top of the steps she went straight across the flat grassland and back onto a rockier terrain. For half an hour she traversed the hard and uneven land of the island, climbing rock walls and jumping from ledge to ledge. While she could appreciate the island's beauty, the sight of grey rock and the occasional patch of grass was beginning to annoy her. Another fifteen minutes passed and still she saw no sign of where Luke or the stranger might be.

She sat on a rock and dabbed her face with a cloth. She pulled out a small loaf of portion bread and ate it while looking out over the terrain. While she ate she thought of Finn, wondering if he'd woken up yet. She wondered when she'd see him again and that when she did she'd hug him like she'd never hugged anyone in her life because he was family. She wondered if he thought of her as family too.

Before she knew it she reached down for another bite of bread and found that there were only crumbs left. She wiped her hands off, shouldered her bag, and stood on top of the rock.

When her eyes fell on the tree she didn't react immediately. It took her a few moments to recognize that it in fact was a tree and not a tree shaped jut of stone.

Not wasting any time she quickly climbed off the rock and started to carefully navigate her way through the small valley of white rock that separated her from the grassland where the tree stood. A small stone path wound its way through the grass up to an archway in the trunk of the tree.

A few minutes later she dropped down from a small cliff and landed in the grass. The tree loomed over her, its shadow stretching west over a hillside.

This is it, she thought. This is where he lives.

She started up the narrow stone path, each step filling her with a mix of nervousness and excitement. When she reached archway she saw how dark it was inside. "Hello?" she called into the tree. She took her first step inside and immediately the sounds of the world seemed to fade. The birds stopped chirping and calling, the waves of the ocean seemed so far away. She stood in a narrow hallway no more than four feet across and six feet in height.

Her eyes began to adjust to the darkness inside and the interior came into view. She reached the end of the hallway and it opened up into a small circular room. Luke wasn't here, neither was the stranger she'd met yesterday. Instead she found a small shelf bearing eight books.

Rey looked around the room for some kind of door or entryway that led down into a tunnel system where surely Luke was hiding. When she couldn't find any such door she removed one of the books from the shelf. It was old and leatherbound. It looked more like a journal than a proper book. She opened it to the first page. Instead of words there was a drawing of a sword with a start for a hilt. The second page had words but none of them in a language which Rey understood. She set the book back and removed another. On the first page was the same symbol as the first book. On the second page were words and these she could read. THE JEDI PATH, it read. Excited, she flipped to the next page which detailed the Jedi Code. Her eyes widened and she set down her pack, sat down on the floor and began to read.

Two hours later her mind was filled with parts of Jedi history and wisdom, each part fighting for place in her mind to be remembered. She read of the Jedi's beginnings on the very island that she stood on. She read of ancient Jedi methods of training and ways of maintaining an appropriate temperament.

She removed another book the shelf and flipped it open to its title page. This one read: THE FORCE. Her heart rate quickened and she began to flip through the pages. Her eyes landed on the words: Novice Force Techniques. She opened to the page which bore those words and she began to read. The technique listed was a meditation technique used to focus one's connection to the force. She set the book open on the floor in front of her and crossed her legs. She closed her eyes, breathed deeply, and searched for that sensation she first felt on Starkiller Base.

Perhaps it was the excitement she felt in discovering the books that distracted her but it took her sometime to properly focus. But when she did her mind seemed to reach out and discover an entirely new place inside her.

Darkness filled her mind and she stood alone in the void. The voices of her friends seemed to call out to her but they were distant and their words incoherent. But in those voices was a pull, something tugging her further into the void. She latched onto it and it guided her through the emptiness. She felt a breeze graze her cheek. She could hear it too, this force was guiding her somewhere. As she went the wind began to pick up and soon it was much stronger than before. She felt her hair whipping against her face. The voices were gone, drowned out by the gusts of wind. A crack of thunder startled her and the winds were turning violent. It became hard to move forward, the force of the wind pushing her back, she was not welcome here. She pressed forward, overwhelming the strength of the wind. In response its strength only grew. Overhead thunder boomed and lightning slashed across the black but their light revealed nothing. Their strength was too strong now. Gale force winds held her back from advancing any further.

Then lightning struck only a few feet ahead of her. This one split the void open. A small jagged crack allowed a deep red to seep into the blackness of the void. Another bolt of lightning struck, this one closer than the first. Rey stepped back as the crack in the void widened and stretched toward her. More of the deep red poured into the black. Lightning struck all around in rapid succession like the firing of laser cannons. The void was breached, fissures forming and joining together to create rifts. The red filled the void, overwhelming the black. Rey screamed then. A bolt of lightning struck where she stood and the fissures and rifts were repaired in an instant leaving nothing but an endless, unforgiving black.

Luke sent Dorn to gather fish for the night's supper. He took the sidepath that cut through two hills and bended around a cliffside and then lead straight down to the coastline. About halfway down the path another less obvious dirt path branched off to the left and led up to the Tree. Dorn had only taken that path several times since arriving on the island and he never went on that path with the intention of reading the books that rest inside. In his early days he was constantly tempted to go up to the Tree and learn what the books had to teach but the Master strictly forbade him from such a task.

Eventually the temptation lessened and now he often forgets that the books and the Tree are even there.

He walked down the path, fishing pole and bucket in hand, humming to himself. He froze when he heard the scream. A wave of heat washed over him and he looked toward the Tree. "No," he whispered to himself. He dropped the pole and bucket and raced up the dirt path toward the tree. He reached the grassland but didn't search for her there. No, he knew she hadn't fallen into a ravine or broken a limb while climbing a rock face. He knew exactly where she was.

His eyes had no time to adjust when he ran through the archway but he didn't need them to when he saw her. His eyes widened and he started to back up. He tripped over her bag and fell to the floor but this didn't stop him from moving. He crawled backwards, never taking his eyes off of her. When he finally managed to tear his eyes from her, he bolted out of the Tree and down the path which he came, calling for his master the whole way back.