Rey was in love.

The plate of food was beautiful beyond words. She could write epic poetry about food, she was sure of it. There was nothing in the entire galaxy more wonderful than a cafeteria buffet. She didn't mind the amused glances that her comrades cast her way as she slide a bit of everything onto her plate and then took it back to her seat and admired it for a moment or two before shoveling it into her mouth.

"Will you ever get tired of this slop?" Poe laughed.

"You try eating water based bread for most of your life and then you'll know how good you've got it here," Rey replied after swallowing a buttery bite of roll.

"No thanks, dehydrated flight rations are bad enough," he frowned.

Rey knew that she ate too much, but she didn't care. She had a lifetime of decent food to catch up on, and she had more than enough physical activity to stay in shape, not that she cared one lick about her figure.

"Hey guys," Finn sat down next to her.

"Buddy," Poe winked.

Rey gave Finn a nod as she tore into another roll.

"Anything interesting transpire since breakfast?" He started to pull apart his own roll. Rey noticed that Finn always tore his food into smaller chunks before eating it. It was weird.

"Nope," Poe slouched back into his seat and brought his arms up behind his head. "All quiet."

Rey shook her head, as she savored the tangy sour slice of kapow fruit she'd just inserted into her mouth.

"You guys are wonderful conversationalists," Finn stabbed at his own food with a fork.

"Sorry," Rey smiled with her cheeks stuffed like a chipmunk. She swallowed. "I really do the same thing everyday. Mediate, listen to Master Skywalker, move stuff around with my mind, and then join the rest of you for combat exercises. I thought that—when I was a scavenger—the days of normal people probably varied, but that's been proven false."

"Yeah," I know the feeling. "I should be in the outer rim, soaking up some sun, getting my rest on, but here I am training to fight the greatest evil in the galaxies," Finn grumbled. "I must be out of my mind."

"You've obviously never been to the outer rim," Poe grinned.

Finn leveled him with a flat stare.

Poe straightened up an looked around the cafeteria. "I don't know, guys. I feel edgy. There's been hardly any aggression from the Order in over a year. Something just ain't right."

"We did destroy their scary Star Killer planet," Rey stated. "I'm sure that was a tiny bit of a set back. Not even the great Order has unlimited resources." This was an old conversation. Everyone had braced themselves for trouble in the weeks following "The Victory" as a few of the Resistance fighters liked to refer to it. When no retaliation came, things settled into a monotonous and weary routine. It was nearly torture not to be attacked at this point. So many people—like Poe—lived on the edge. Waiting for trouble. Maybe the Order was pursuing some kind of psychological terror strategy.

"You also kicked their freaky knight's ass," Finn chimed in brightly, disrupting Rey's musings. Although he spent two months recovering from that particular incident, he always lite up at the thought of Kylo Ren being saber-whipped by the small woman at his side.

And for the thousandth time Rey reminded him, "We got lucky with Kylo Ren." Even his name still gave her chills. She wasn't afraid of him, exactly. But it was hard to shake the feeling of his mind reaching into hers or the ghastly sight of him advancing on her with his crimson blade slashing through forests of green. "It would be incredibly stupid to underestimate him."

"I hope he's toast," Poe inserted. "No one saw him leave the planet."

"If only we could be so fortunate," Rey attacked her dessert, even talk of Kylo Ren couldn't dampen her appetite. "He was very much alive, if a little muddled, the last I saw of him. I am reluctant to believe that his master would leave such a valuable commodity behind before he has something to replace it with. I would bet my last roll on him being on one of the ships that escaped the base."

They fell silent.

"How's your training going?" Finn asked after awhile. It was one of his favorite filler questions. Rey couldn't understand why he was incapable of sitting in silence.

"Same as ever. The Master and I have long philosophical conversations about the forces of light and darkness. He instructs, I follow. Life goes on," Rey thought about going back for thirds.

"Are you going to become a Jedi?" Finn wiggled his eyebrows.

Rey sighed. She wondered if people pestered Kylo Ren about if he were going to become a Sith? Probably not.

"I'll be whatever it is that I'm meant to be," she snapped. All of her life, Rey hadn't needed to think about being anything. She didn't consider the future—aside from hoping that her family might return for her one day—she just lived each day as it came. She didn't like that people wanted her to decide her future so soon. She'd only just begun to live her own life.

"Let up on the inquisition, Finn." Poe cuffed his friend on the side of his head.

"Get off me man, I was just making conversation," Finn fumed.

"It's alright," Rey sighed. "I can tell you what I am. I'm a fighter for the Resistance who happens to be force-sensitive. But, I won't let that rule my entire life. It won't define my existence. I'll use my abilities for the good of the galaxy, but no one will use me."

"Amen," Poe held up his glass in salute.

Rey smiled.

The three friends relaxed, but not for long. A siren went off signaling an unexpected assembly.

This is by far the scariest thing I've ever posted.

Thanks for taking the time to read, I tried to catch the typos. But, I want to be very transparent. I am a new Star Wars fan. I grew up believing that I didn't like things that happened in space, and then I fell in love with Doctor Who...and then Star Trek...and then Firefly, and now Star Wars. Having said that, I've never written anything that even resembled science fiction. I've never worked with so many characters. I am completely out of my depth.

But, I had to write this. It has been crawling around in my head for weeks, and I want to sleep at night.

Please be gentle with me if I mess up canon stuff or terminology. I still think of the force as space magic...so some areas may get bumpy...I may goof up, and I may resort to making stuff up in the end.

Lastly, I am so onboard for some Reylo! I am working under the firm belief that Rey is a new bred and not a Solo or SKywalker. Fingers crossed.

Peace

P.S. I am so open to constructive criticism. You are a valued customer. Thank you, come again.