A/N: This fic contains references to past food insecurity and grief. Hope you enjoy!
Rey sat in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon and wondered what to do.
It was dinnertime. She was hungry. Not starving like she'd been on Jakku, but hungry all the same. She wanted food. She had an easy way to get it. That wasn't the problem.
The problem was where to eat it.
The Millennium Falcon had no dedicated mess area, so people could theoretically just eat wherever, but everybody always seemed to eat in cargo bay. Well, everybody except Rey. She always ate in the Falcon's cockpit, alone or with Chewbacca or Finn. She'd gotten an invitation from just about everyone to come eat with them, but so far, she'd declined. She hadn't gotten the chance to spend much time with the Resistance, and she just wasn't comfortable eating with relative strangers. She was worried they might try to take her food. Which she knew was probably a silly thought-she'd met most of the Resistance people in the five days they'd been aboard the Millennium Falcon, and so far they all seemed like nice people and not at all like thieves-but you could never tell.
Finn didn't seem to share her concern. They had an agreement where he ate lunch with her, but dinner with the Resistance people (nobody gathered for breakfast, it was mostly just caf and sometimes sweet bready things). For a couple of days now, he'd been asking her, gently, if she was ready to come and join them for a meal sometime-she hadn't gotten to know Finn's new friends well. She'd been busy flying the Falcon, taking it in shifts with Chewbacca (it didn't even help that every surviving pilot wanted a go, since either Rey or Chewbacca had to be co-piloting. By mutual agreement, they weren't about to let some random person, no matter how skilled a pilot, fly the Falcon alone). Everyone else was usually pretty busy outside of mealtimes. You wouldn't think there'd be a lot to do in transit between bases, but you'd be wrong. There were planets to be vetted as possible new bases, maintenance tasks to be done, and-especially-friends to grieve. At mealtimes, though, everyone shrugged off their sorrow, came together, and, for a precious hour, pretended things were all right.
At lunch, Finn had been particularly interested in Rey coming to dinner that day. "Rose is better now," he'd said. "She's going to be at dinner tonight. I'd really like you to meet her. And it's totally okay if you're not ready, you can meet her some other time, but I've told her about you, and she's really excited to meet you. So, just come if you're up to it?"
Rey had nodded. "I will," she'd said. Finn had been talking about Rose since they'd left Crait, and she seemed like a good person. Rey was excited to meet her, too, but also nervous. She hadn't told Finn that there were exactly two people on board the ship she felt comfortable eating with: Chewbacca and him. But then, she'd never been comfortable in her life. Why start now?
Today, Rey decided, she was done hiding in her cockpit. She'd faced down hungry scavengers, the Sinking Fields, death-defying climbs through the insides of derelict starships, Kylo Ren, and Snoke himself. She could handle dinner with a few of Finn's other friends, thank you very much.
Not to mention, she'd made a promise to Finn, even if not in so many words. She intended to keep it.
When Chewbacca arrived, Rey got up from the pilot's seat, seamlessly handing off the controls, and started towards the door. After a moment's consideration, she even left her staff behind. It wouldn't do to seem aggressive.
When she arrived in cargo bay with her food, pretty much everyone was there. Everyone was seated in clusters, facing inward and chatting. Immediately, Rey scanned the room for Finn. She saw him sitting with Kaydel and a young woman Rey didn't recognize. The woman had a round face, medium skin, and dark chin-length hair that turned out at the ends. She started walking towards them, and Finn looked up, smiled, and waved her over.
"Rey, this is Rose," he said. "Rose, Rey."
Rose's eyes went wide. "You're Rey?" she exclaimed. "Did you really lift a whole rockslide with your mind? I mean, Finn told me you did, but-wow. What's it like being a Jedi? I mean, if you don't mind me asking," she said.
"I'm not really a Jedi yet," Rey replied. "I still have a lot to learn." She paused. "What it's like?" She thought for a moment. "When I meditate, I can feel everything around me, and I mean everything. I can feel-the life around me, and the death, and the warmth, and the cold, and the joy, and the suffering, and all the facets of light and dark that flow together in this-balance. And it's beautiful," said Rey.
"Wow," whispered Rose.
"And yes," said Kaydel. "She did, in fact, lift an entire rockslide with her mind. It was awesome."
"And you're Rose," said Rey. "Finn's been talking about you."
"He has?" Rose asked, apparently pleased with the news. "What's he been saying?"
"Only good things!" said Finn. "Not that I have anything bad to say about you. I don't."
"There was that time I stunned you..." said Rose.
"You were just doing your job!" replied Finn. "You thought I was deserting."
"And weren't you deserting?" Rose asked in a teasing tone.
"I told you, I was just trying to protect her," said Finn, tilting his head toward Rey.
Rey smiled. She could see how close they were, and she was glad Finn had had people while she'd been away.
"But really," Rose asked, looking at Finn, "what've you been saying?"
Finn was quiet, so Rey spoke up. "That you're smart, and kind, and incredibly brave, and that he couldn't wait for you to feel well enough to leave your bunk so I could meet you," she answered. "He seriously thought about trying to bring me by, but I think he thought you needed your rest."
"Yeah, he mentioned that to me too. Bringing you by, I mean," said Rose quietly, looking slightly awed. "He really admires you."
"Feeling's mutual," Rey asserted.
They continued to chat, and Rey felt warm, relaxed, and happy. Suddenly, she was seized by a feeling of something wrong. She looked up...
...to see Kaydel stuffing a bite of bread into her mouth.
Bread that had come from Rey's plate.
Rey didn't think, she just acted. She didn't have her staff, so she improvised. With a cry she sprang at Kaydel, and within seconds Rey had her pinned to the floor, legs squeezing Kaydel's midsection, arm around her throat.
Just then, a voice rang out. General Leia's. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! There is no infighting in the Resistance! Rey, let go of Kaydel." Her tone left no room for argument.
Slowly, Rey disentangled herself and sat up, letting Kaydel do the same. Rey snuck a glance at the other woman's face. She didn't look guilty. She looked... confused? Hurt? It didn't matter. She was a thief. Why would someone do that, in the Resistance? There always seemed to be enough food for everyone. Sure, she'd overheard whispers about what would happen if they didn't find a base soon-they hadn't had time to bring any supplies when they'd evacuated Crait, and the Millenium Falcon wasn't meant to support this many-but she couldn't imagine anyone would be that hungry yet. But Kaydel had taken her food, and now she would be dealt with however they dealt with thieves in the Resistance. And, it occurred to her, she would probably be dealt with however the Resistance dealt with people who fought other Resistance members.
"Okay," said General Leia. "What happened here?"
"She took my food," said Rey, at the same time as Kaydel said "she attacked me!"
A sudden look of comprehension came over General Leia's face. "Rey," she said. "Would you care to tell Kaydel where you're from?"
"Jakku," Rey said, and a matching look of comprehension spread across Kaydel's features.
"Wow, Rey," she said. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know."
"Didn't know what?" asked Rey. "That it's wrong to steal?"
"I wasn't-I expected you'd do it back to me. In the Resistance it's kind of a thing, we take food off each other's plates-you know, what's mine is yours and all that. It was a way of saying welcome to the team." Kaydel gave Rey a long look. "Plenty of us come here from places where food is hard to come by, and I definitely should have asked first. I'm sorry. I promise I'll never touch your food again unless you say it's okay. And-here." Kaydel tore off a chunk of her bread and tossed it to Rey.
Rey sized it up. It was definitely bigger than what Kaydel had taken. "Thank you," she said.
"No, thank you," said Kaydel with a sideways smile, "for making me realize I need to work on my sparring." Rey didn't need to ask why someone who worked in Communications would need to spar.
"I could help you with that sometime, if you like," said Rey.
"Sure!" Kaydel replied.
"Good, looks like that's sorted," said General Leia. "You two going to be all right?"
Rey and Kaydel nodded.
"And, no, before you ask, there won't be any punishment for this. We all have enough problems these days," General Leia added. "Rey, I'm glad you're here." She turned her head slightly. "Rose. Rose Tico?" Rose nodded. "It's good to see you up."
Finn watched her go. Then he turned back to the group. "So," he said, "where do you think we're going to land?"
The four of them soon discovered that, due to their wildly differing experiences, they had vastly different ideas of what sorts of qualities (beyond the basics) might be good in a base, and therefore what planets the base might be on (they also differed in the number of planets they knew about, but if someone didn't know about a planet under discussion, someone else would fill them in). Soon, they were happily chattering away, and Rey was once again feeling warm, relaxed, and happy.
There were four people on the ship Rey would comfortably eat with: Chewbacca, Finn, Rose, and, yes, Kaydel.
As for the rest, she was confident she'd get there soon.