Thanks to everyone who supported the story! Here's chapter 2. Be warned, however, that next week there's a fandom event I hope to contribute to (Fëanorian Week), so chapter 3 will take a bit longer.
In fact, mostly I wanted to put this up today because it's my birthday :) Enjoy!
You must be the girl.
The words ring in Rey's ears as she gapes at the figure in shock; briefly, a part of her wonders if she imagined the note of curiosity in the voice, yet before she can decide, the black-clad man raises his voice to address her.
"Will you come inside?" he asks, so plainly it strikes Rey that the question doesn't have the inflection of an invitation she would have expected. And now it has been asked, she ponders – should she come inside?
Should she risk coming close to this person?
(Is he the monster?)
(If you come into the monster's house by day–)
(But night is already falling.)
The two of them watch each other from the opposite sides of the ajar gates.
"If I step through," she asks slowly, "will I be able to go back?"
"That will depend on you."
"What does it mean?" she presses.
"This is a place of hospitality," he says. "If you do not abuse the hospitality extended to you, you may come and leave as you please. Unless you decide otherwise."
(What does it mean?)
If he is the monster – is he trying to lure her in? Why, if he could just attack her straight away?
The staff feels heavy in her hands.
"Are my friends inside?"
At this, the masked figure makes a sound that could, perhaps, be a growl of annoyance.
"You are referring to those thieves?"
"They're not—" Rey begins, but pauses. "They wanted to see—" the monster, if it was real.
She bites her tongue.
"Are they inside?" she demands. Are they all right, she thinks.
"They are in the house," he informs her. "Alive and well," he adds dryly, sensing – or guessing – her unspoken concern.
(Should she trust him?)
The man gives a tired sigh, as of exasperation.
"Come inside," he repeats, and this time there is a definite element of request to his tone as he moves aside and gestures expansively towards the door. "Please."
Making up her mind, Rey steps through the gates.
As she does, she senses a sudden difference in the air; the parched quality is gone, replaced by a sweet heaviness she cannot quite place; it is almost stifling.
It takes her a moment to recognise the scent of roses.
The masked man waits for her to approach, then turns to lead her towards the door, his long cloak sweeping about him as he walks. Rey observes him carefully, at the same time endeavouring to keep an eye on her rapidly darkening surroundings; it is no time to let her guard down.
Her guide holds the door open before her; she walks in without pause, ignoring the stab of unease at the idea of entering the house or, for that matter, turning her back on him.
(She won't back away now.)
The door closes with the barest sound – soft and final; the host's footsteps follow after Rey's. The moment they pass through the threshold, the hall erupts in light, revealing panelling-covered walls and vaulted ceiling.
"I welcome you," the man says with a new air of formality, "to this household. Do you wish to rest after your journey? Are you hungry?"
(She does, and she is.)
"No," she spats, annoyed and disoriented by what appears to be pointless charade. "I want to see my friends. Where are they?"
(Are they really here?)
The masked man nods.
"Very well. Follow me," he says, and heads inside the house, Rey trailing half a step behind him. Once again, it occurs to her to worry whether she is being led into a trap; yet what would be the purpose of it, now that she is already in the monster's den? Behind the gate and the door, could she be trapped further?
(Probably yes.)
She tries to memorise the sequence of corridors and turns she is being led through, but quickly loses count.
Finally, they arrive at a door, at which the man knocks, then opens for her as he did the front door; and inside, Rey sees Finn and Poe.
"Rey!"
They are on their feet in a split second, evidently alarmed; Rey, however, is overcome with relief, and so her first instinct is to run to them. She very nearly flings herself at Finn's neck before altering her course to include Poe as well, resulting in a somewhat awkward scene in which Rey embraces as much of either friend as she manages to, while they stand stiff, clearly uncomfortable.
"You shouldn't have come here," Finn says immediately, with Rey's one arm still around his neck. He touches it gently, a substitute of a hug. "Why have you come here?"
Rey withdraws slightly, looks from one to the other, takes in their expressions.
(She has come to save them, hasn't she?)
"I've been worried about you!" she protests. "And then the rose, and – there was a woman –"
"The rose," Finn repeats. "Oh, Rey, I'm so sorry, I really wanted to give you the rose, to – I didn't mean to draw you here."
"It's not your fault," Rey says, entirely out of reflex; only after the words are out does it occur to her to wonder what the fault is here, or whose it is. But this is not the moment for that. "Are you all right?" she asks, deciding she needs to steer the conversation towards them – she is the one on a rescue mission, after all, and so not the one they ought to be primarily concerned about.
She learns they are both all right – unharmed, rested, provided for; Rey feels both reassured and mystified at this.
"Why haven't you come back?"
"Why?" Now they both look at her in numb surprise. "He won't let us go," Poe explains, in a tone which suggests it should have been obvious.
"He?" Rey glances back towards the door, but the host is nowhere to be seen. "Why not?"
"Because of the rose!" Finn bursts out.
"The rose?"
The rose from my gardens.
You are referring to those thieves?
"...Oh."
For the second time, Rey raises her hand to where the rose rests cosily on her collarbone.
"Yes," says Poe, glaring sullenly at the flower. "Turns out he's quite protective of them."
"It appeared on my doorstep-"
"He said he would send it to you," says Finn gloomily, "since we'd already plucked it. He said it shouldn't go to waste."
"And then he said we couldn't leave here," Poe adds.
"Said I couldn't leave."
"And I said I wouldn't. We've been over this."
At the sight of Rey's puzzlement, Poe sighs. "We thought about this –- at first, I wanted to deliver the rose to you. I meant to warn you. But this guy said he wouldn't trust me with it. Don't know what his problem is. Anyway, after he said that, I got this weird feeling and decided I couldn't leave Finn alone here – and that even if I went to warn you, you'd have my hide for abandoning him."
Rey's lips quirk in a small smile, which disappears as soon as it forms.
"I wanted him to go," Finn supplies.
"I'd come anyway," Rey says, striving to sound dismissive. "I couldn't leave you, either. So it's all right."
Except for the fact Finn is still imprisoned here, she thinks.
They fall silent.
"Does he keep watch over you, or what?" Rey asks after a while.
"No." This time it is Finn who answers her with that note of exasperation. "There is a barrier. Magical barrier. I can't go beyond the gates, even though they are open."
Rey nods, her fears justified.
"But only after you picked the rose?" she probes further.
"It was odd," Poe begins. "We went into this house – open gates, open doors, no-one in sight. We searched, called – but all we found was a note saying welcome and a laid table. We stayed the night – nothing happened. So we pretty much gave up on finding the monster here, and were ready to go."
"We went out of the house the back way – and there was this huge rose garden. I picked one rose, and there he leaps out, all but roaring, how dare I pluck his precious roses."
"Finn," Poe cuts in, "tried explaining, very reasonably, I thought, that he'd promised a rose to a girl, to which this guy was somewhat understanding, but not enough to actually let him go."
"So… what is it he wants to do with you?" Rey asks, frowning. Despite all the impression of a serious danger, the actual threat appears to be hidden.
"Didn't say."
"Nothing, if you believe him."
"Do you?" Rey wants to know.
"Hard to say. Unless..."
"What?"
"He said, if the rose was intended for a lady, then the lady should receive it. And if she cared, she would come."
A shiver runs down Rey's spine.
"Rey," Finn whispers into the silence, "you shouldn't have come here."
No, I really should have, she thinks, but doesn't speak.
"Who is he?" is what she asks instead.
Her friends look at her helplessly.
"He's the monster, Rey."
(It crosses Rey's mind that she knows; but it is just a word.)
(It explains nothing.)
"All right," she says, reaching a decision. "I need to talk to this monster."
Waving her friends' protests aside, she stalks out of the room and shuts the door behind her; she half-hears their raised voices as she breaks into a run, emerging out of the corridor and onwards, into the hall.
"You!" she shouts. "Show yourself! Where are you hiding?"
"I am not hiding," says the familiar, deadened voice to her right. "Why are you shouting?"
Rey halts and turns on him, eyes flashing in rage.
"What do you want from me?" she demands.
"What do I want from you? You are the one screaming at me."
The audacity of this statement takes Rey aback, momentarily stalling her outburst.
She rearranges her thoughts.
"Why did you make me come here?"
"I did not," he says, brusquely. "You came of your own volition. And, in case it is not clear to you, you are free to leave at any moment."
"You sent me the rose! You expected me!"
"I sent you the rose because your friend plucked it with the intention that you have it," he retorts coldly.
"So you were doing him a favour," she says, voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Yes," he snarls. "Have I expected you to come? Based on the way your friends spoke of you, I have. But I certainly did not force you to."
"You imprisoned them!" she finally blurts.
"They took something that was not for the taking, and thus cannot leave the house," he says coolly, in a manner that suggests he's correcting her.
She glares at him.
"So what is it you want me to do?" she asks at length. "What do I have to do to free my friends?"
"To free them? It is simple," he says. "You merely need to take their place."
Rey gapes.
"Take–"
"Remain here, in this house," he clarifies. "If you do, your friends will be free to go."
"I– Stay here? For how long?"
There is a sudden shift in the atmosphere; where it has already been strained, it darkens perceptibly.
"I cannot say," he says, and it seems to Rey is he angry, now. "Stay."
Stay.
Panic sweeps over her: she cannot, cannot, cannot stay.
She needs to go back.
She pictures herself walking away, leaving Finn and Poe behind in the monster's mansion; going back to Jakku, to her small hut on the edge of the world, with the knowledge that her only friends will never visit her again –
– or just Finn. Then she and Poe will go find someone to help free him, overpower the monster –
– she pictures Finn, alone in the house, all for a rose he plucked for her.
She pictures herself going alone to seek help – searching for a powerful magic user, perhaps; persuading them to help; all the while worrying for her friends and the fact her family –
Cold fear coils in her stomach.
(She has already been away for too long.)
She has to come back – she can't leave her friends – the family she doesn't know – the only friends she's ever had –
Unless you decide otherwise.
For how long?
I cannot say.
Rey remembers the rope in her backpack, the rope she plans to tie a knot on for every day she is away.
She opens her mouth, yet finds no words to speak.
"Well?" the monster urges. Is he impatient? expectant? curious? – Rey can't decide.
(She won't back away now.)
"If I do stay," she says, narrowing her eyes, "what will you expect of me?"
"Nothing." The answer is immediate. "I will expect nothing of you. You will be my honoured guest," he adds, with a strange tone that sounds almost like sincerity, almost like a plea.
"Rey!" Finn. He is panting. "Rey, don't!"
But the masked figure is focused solely on Rey; she can feel his attention, centred on her, overbearing.
"Rey." He pronounces it carefully, as if testing the sound of her name. Instinctively, she straightens, her gaze boring into the dark mask. "Will you stay here, in your friend's place?"
"I will," she says.