Notes: This story happened when I started thinking of a canon divergent AU in which Ben managed to resist Snoke's manipulation, eventually left Luke's temple and decided to follow in his father's footsteps. The rest of the details and character stories sort of followed after that. Hopefully the end result is enjoyable. Feedback is always welcome!

When the ship had first crashed – or landed rather roughly, enough to wake her up from where she'd been dozing off over her dinner – Rey hadn't even bothered to go check out the wreckage that remained. Any occupants it might have had had probably evacuated earlier and ended up too far away from here for her to see and she could try to pry something out of the leftovers tomorrow morning. It was getting dark already; at this time of the year, the sun set altogether too quickly and she wouldn't do herself any favours if she wandered off now.

It was exactly as she was preparing to go back to sleep that Rey heard the voices. An age-old, well-worn part of her sparked up with hope, but— no. The same nameless, strange sense inside her that always tipped her off about people crushed the idea before it had managed to fully take shape. It's not them.

She tried to make out the details of what she was seeing in what little light was still left from the day. It was just two men, their voices too loud and foreign-sounding to have anything at all to do with her. The reluctant realisation was confirmed as soon as they got close enough for Rey to be able to make out words.

"—could have sent a distress signal early on if that's what you wanted is all I'm saying."

"And tell them what?" They'd ended up on top of the nearest dune. Rey didn't need to hear anything more to know how the rest of her evening would go – or at least, what they would attempt to do.

"I don't know! This was your idea!"

"Look." The one on the front stopped, turning around to face his companion. "I'm sorry. We can find the parts we need tomorrow. I think I saw a trading post nearby before we crashed."

"What are we trading in? We have nothing left." A moment passed. "That's not gonna work here, Ben."

"It will." The silhouettes grew clearer as the men came even closer and it was easy to see all the tell-tale signs of where they'd come from now. It was all there, in their grease-stained fingers and dirty, messy clothes. Mechanics. Whatever was left of their ship, they were apparently determined to fix it. It hadn't sounded fixable, but it made sense for them to want to leave – no one liked to stay here longer than strictly necessary. "I read about the locals when we realised we'd have to land. They're primitive."

"It won't work exactly because they're primitive." She was definitely in their field of vision now; something that could've easily been avoided if she hadn't been so curious. It wasn't easy to see that someone actually lived here. "Listen, I've seen this before and— Hey! Wait!"

Rey groaned, but stilled on her way back into the AT-AT. It was no use now, they'd spotted her, and plus, it wasn't like she had it in her to turn them away. It was late, the temperatures were starting to drop rapidly and, since they had no way of knowing that, they'd probably freeze to death out there. "Yes?"

"We were looking for Niima Outpost," the one who had called out after her said and Rey suppressed a sigh. They'd never make it to the town in time to spend the night there and they were likely aware of that fact, but they wouldn't ask for shelter directly. It was typical for off-worlders – she could see the pattern even if they had no idea that there was one in the first place.

"You're going in the wrong direction," she informed them as she moved away from the entrance. They didn't look too dangerous despite the mildly alarming conversation they'd had until now and if she was lucky, they'd want to pay her back somehow. There was a ritual to this too – few people were ungrateful enough to just leave and humans in particular, she had noticed, rarely were among them.

"We have food." The younger one, who hadn't spoken to her directly so far, pulled out of his pocket something that could have been a sandwich in a better time. Rey almost took a step back at the sight of it and vaguely wondered if she'd ever be desperate enough to accept absolutely any payment for the shelter she was offering. "If you want—"

"You don't need to," she hurried to say and motioned them both towards the interior of her makeshift home. "You can stay the night."

"That would be great." Another familiar sight – the relief mixed with the apprehension that usually came from the sight of both her home and Jakku as a whole. "Thank you—"

"Rey," she supplied and motioned them both inside. It would be a tight fit, no question about it, but she could make it work.

"Thank you, Rey. I'm Han and this is Ben."

The lack of last names wasn't the slightest bit encouraging, but Rey wasn't really in the right position to point that out. She nodded.

"Get in. It'll be start getting colder soon."

о.О.о

Rey had never spent much thought on the size of her home – it had always been just her in here, ever since she'd first found it – and she had never realised just how much space two fully grown men could take. The place was almost crowded now and she only stayed awake long enough to make sure the door was secured again before she retreated to the corner again and left them alone with the sandwich they'd apparently decided to split between themselves at some point. It didn't really help any, but with her back to them, it was easy to pretend that nothing had changed while also knowing that she'd done the right thing.

Going back to sleep, however, was going to be a challenge.

It wasn't that they were being problematic in any way. If anything, their hushed conversation was an almost soothing background and it would have been ideal if not for the anxiety still lurking at the corners of her mind. They had both been very quiet since they'd come in and while Rey didn't think they were planning on attacking her (first, she knew how that looked, and second, she didn't really have anything worth stealing), it was strange, even for Jakku. Without really planning on it, she strained herself to tune in on what they were saying.

"—But she has to know about it first. We're not stealing anything from one of my oldest friends."

"That a new rule? I don't remember it being a problem when—"

"Ben."

"Father."

"I mean it this time."

An indignant huff followed.

"Fine. I'll ask. But I don't see why she'd want to keep it to herself."

"It doesn't matter; if it stays, it stays. I don't see why you would need it either, to be honest, so it shouldn't be much of a problem."

"It's no good. The crystal's cracked. Luke would have a stroke if he ever saw it."

"I think he nearly has one every time I tell him about the books you keep prying out of libraries to teach yourself things he could've told you. Luke'll be fine." More silence. "But that's not what worries you."

"No."

"How would the new one be different?"

They'd stopped making much sense. It was either because Rey was falling asleep or due to their communication happening mostly with the same undefined looks they'd kept exchanging over their makeshift dinner. She wasn't sure, but it didn't really matter – somehow, her guests seemed even less intimidating than before.

"It just is."

Another sigh, soon followed by the sounds of them trying to make themselves comfortable on the hard floor. It was no easy feat, Rey knew, and smiled into her blanket.

"I will find out, you know."

"Yeah." The younger one – Ben – sounded strangely detached now, without a trace of his lighter tone from just moments prior. "I know."