Rey sat down and pinched the bridge of her nose to try and stave off the impending headache. She groaned. She knew that it was in vain, having had the same type of headache before.
Still she couldn't help but wonder if the headache was in part because of how stuffy the library was. Rey would look for another room, but with younglings who always had a question to ask running around, the library was the only safe haven.
She pushed at her temples, her arms supported on her lap, and tried to massage the pain away. She threw her arms back, frustrated that it didn't help.
"Problem?" Ben asked, seeing that display.
Rey jumped in her seat. She was certain that no one else was in the room.
"How long have you been here?" she asked, suddenly on the defensive. "I didn't hear you come in."
"I was here when you got in," he replied, taking a seat on the chair across from hers. "Headache?"
"Yes," she bit out, grinding her teeth against the pain. "You seem to make it worse."
"Please," he scoffed. "It might just be a tension headache."
It was Rey's turn to scoff. At least she tried to, he made it look classy. She only managed to make what sounded like a puppy's sneeze.
She blamed the headache.
"And what makes you think that, oh wise Jedi Master Solo?" she teasingly asked.
"You're stressed," he explained as a matter of fact. "What with teaching younglings and your own studies, anyone would be stressed."
"You're reaching," she laughed. "Besides, I've been having these headaches ever since. So you're little theory on the cause of my headaches is invalid."
She sat there, smug for having one up on him. Despite being better than him at sparring and mind tricks, he just knew more about a lot of things than she did.
He sat there, deep in thought. His eyes scrutinized her. A thoughtful look crossed his face.
"It's your hair," Ben told her slowly.
Rey blinked in confusion. The smug look on her face fading as she gave him a puzzling look. She thought that he was reaching before, now he was just taking shots in the dark.
"Pardon?"
"Your hair," he waved his hand in the general direction of the top of her head. "You tie it too tight, it pulls on your muscles, causing your headache."
"It's not tight!" she protested. "It's perfectly fine to tie it this way. It keeps my hair out of my face when I'm scavenging."
"You're not a scavenger anymore," he reminded her. "It's perfectly fine to change your hair."
"It keeps my hair out of my eyes during training too," she said. "Keeping it this way is convenient."
Not to mention it was the only hairstyle that she knew how to do, not that she was ever going to tell him that. Sure she knew how to pull it haphazardly into a loose bun or ponytail, but nothing elaborate.
He misunderstood her silence and changed his approach.
"You are allowed to change," Ben assured her. "You are allowed to let go of your past."
"I know that," Rey nodded. "It's just…"
She sighed. If she couldn't tell Ben, who was the closest thing to a friend she had on the planet, probably the entire solar system they were in, who could she tell?
Finn and Poe were off on an errand for the General. They had rooms in the school, but they weren't really Jedi and they felt out of place in her new life.
"Idon'tknowhowelsetofixmyhair," she mumbled quickly, embarrassed.
"What did you say?" he asked.
"I don't…" she hesitated.
"Yes?" he encouraged.
"I don't," she sighed. "I don't know how to fix my hair any other way."
"Oh."
"Right," she gave him a wry smile. "Pathetic aren't I? For a girl that is."
Ben shook his head. Given how she grew up, he understood it perfectly. She never had the need to do anything elaborate with her hair.
"Not at all," he shook his head slowly. "You had no reason to."
"Ben…"
He gave her a shy smile. A comb materialized from somewhere in his robes. At her surprized look, he shrugged.
"May I?" he asked, motioning to her hair. "It won't hurt to try."
"Sure," she nodded.
He stood and walked behind her. His hands were gentle as he untied her hair. He did it systematically, from the bottom tie up.
Rey enjoyed the feeling of having someone else tend to her hair. It was a hassle that she usually just gave the perfunctory brush and tied off. Her time was better spent crawling through ruins of a long-forgotten battle, just to make sure she'd have something to eat that day.
She moaned in pleasure, feeling the headache going away for a bit. Ben paused.
"Sorry," he apologised. "Was I too rough?"
"Oh no," Rey guaranteed him. "It just felt good."
"Ah," Ben blushed, grateful that she couldn't see him. "I'll just continue, then shall I?"
Rey hummed in agreement. He continued combing her hair, more than he actually had to, but she didn't need to know that.
"How do you know how to do this anyway?" she asked. "I don't see how hair care is covered by the Sith Training manual."
"Oh no," Ben chuckled. "I learned this from Chewie."
"Chewbacca?" Rey asked, looking at him over her shoulder. "Chewbacca taught you?"
"Does that really surprised you?" he said, tilting his head to think about how he was going to fix her hair.
"No, I guess not," she agreed. "He does have amazing hair. Or is it fur?"
"I don't know," he admitted, loosely braiding her hair. "I guess I never really thought about it."
Rey just chuckled. Over the time that they spent together, she learned little bits about his childhood. While she envied him a little bit, it was nice to hear about a childhood that was so different from hers.
"Is this why your hair is so…?" she asked.
"So?" Ben prodded, tying off her hair. "Done. How does it feel?"
"Glossy," she said. She tilted her head from side to side, and turned it both ways. "This is good. Thank you."
"Not a problem," he said, stepping away from her.
"Why do you know how to do this?" Rey asked, feeling the back of her head.
"Chewie thought that I should know how to fix my hair," he told her. "It was necessary I guess. Mother always had some function or another. I had to look neat. Sometimes Mother needed me to fix her hair at one point or another."
"Really?" she asked, not being able to imagine a young Ben Solo fixing the General's fair.
"Really," he nodded, smiling down at her.
He checked the time, and saw that it was late.
"We should get going," he said. "Dinners going to be ready soon."
"You go on ahead."
Ben nodded and left the room. She watched him leave. When she was alone, truly alone this time, she slumped down in her seat.
Her head did feel better. She should really just cut it, it was quite inconvenient. Then again, if she could get Ben to fix her hair more often the long hair would be worth it.
70% of headaches are tension headaches caused by stress. This was supposed to be a drabble. I have no idea how this happened. What did you think? Leave me a comment?