The First Lesson

The first Jedi Temple,
Ahch-To,
34 ABY

She had been here for weeks when Luke finally came to here with an answer she wanted to hear.

She had been sleeping, as she always did, on the slab of rock just before the entrance to his hunt, waiting for him to rise against and resume his daily routine. Tonight though, he was waiting for her though he didn't wake her; it was more like she… sensed him, hovering. "Tomorrow," he said. "At dawn. Three lessons. I will teach you the ways of the Jedi…" he turned to return to his hut. As he made to close the door, he turned back to her to finish his sentence: "… and why they need to end."

Rey felt a strange mix of elation at having finally worn the old Jedi down… and a sense of foreboding at his words. It was progress. But was it the kind she sought?

Relieved at no longer having to sleep on the hard slab of rock, exposed to the unforgiving elements of Ahch-To's climate or the judging stares of the Caretakers, Rey moved into one of the stone huts of the small village, and made herself a bunk on a stone bench in a dry corner. But sleep eluded her, as she pondered the mystery that Luke Skywalker remained for her.

For some reason she didn't quite understand, he seemed to place great importance on his chores. He did them diligently, almost gleefully, and appeared to take amusement from her growing frustrations as she had followed him all over the island as he fished, harvest milk from the strange creatures on the other side of the island, and collecting materials to make clothes, blankets and other necessities to survive on this island. But, if Jakku had taught Rey one thing, it was perseverance; she never gave up and, while the Jedi Master might have a strong will, so did she.

Their interaction in the whispering tree had been the only time that they had had a true heart-to-heart, and Rey had believed that she was finally getting through to the reclusive hero. And she had gotten through to him… only for him to disappoint her: he did not intend to help. In fact, he seemed to no longer care about anything that went beyond his hermitic life in the ruins of a once mighty Order.

It hadn't hit Rey until the next day what it truly was about, and why the Jedi Master refused to engage her: Luke Skywalker was in morning. Maybe this was why he had come this far and this remotely, where no soul could find him: he wanted to bear his grief alone. A few days after she had arrived, Rey had heard him getting up in the middle of the night and heading to the cliff ledge where she had first met him… where two small rock carvings had been made. They resembled memorials of sorts, Rey had thought at first. She had seen the Anchorites build similar ones in their holy places on Jakku. Luke had busied himself for a time, building a third stone next to the other two. The next day, she had returned out of curiosity.

They were memorials to three different people. One name, she didn't know. But the other two, she did.

Hedala

Ben

Han

Even now, as she lay on her bunk in her hut, as a pang of grief overcame her as well, Rey regretted interfering in the Jedi Master's mourning.

-0-

As Luke rose from his sleep, he felt something he had felt in a very long time. He couldn't quite call it 'excitement', but it wasn't far off: 'anticipation' would have to be a better word.

As he pulled on his worn coat and prepared a small meal, he wondered about the young girl who had burst so suddenly (or so it seemed to him) onto the island. This had never been meant to be a pleasant retreat, and there were days when Luke could barely get up when the wave of regret, grief and responsibility crashed over him. But he always did, finding comfort in small things, such as the chores that had so exasperated him as a youth. Sometimes, he partook in the work of the Caretakers. And the rest, he gave over to his training. Even to this day, there were instances when he needed to spend a whole day focusing. But they were few and far between. In the years he had spent here, he had mastered the art of becoming 'small'. A sad smile came to his lips as he thought what Hedala would think if she could see him now.

But Rey's arrival had brought something new to his routine, and to his feelings. At first, she had followed him wherever he went, surprising him with her resolve and her patience. He would have given a lot to have her as a student when he had still been training apprentices. But that time had passed.

After they had spoken in the library, he had sensed something change in her. She still followed him, but less frequently. Sometimes, she would work on the Falcon, sometimes she would train with her quarterstaff; yet other times, she tried to use what he guessed were the rudimentary powers in the Force that she could use at will. Once, he had fallen upon her as she trained, but she had forgone the quarterstaff… and had taken up his father's lightsaber. She used it with a skill born of someone who had learnt to fight early on, wielding in a meld of her own style and the style of a novice. Much as Luke himself had started his own training, when he'd had no Master to teach him. This was one skill that he had not considered essential when he had built his Temple; swordplay might be important, but it had not been swordplay that Yoda had taught him. It hadn't even been what Obi-Wan had been teaching him when they had had their one lesson aboard the Falcon. That was what Luke had tried to teach his own students.

Rey had been startled to see him, destroying a large rock with the saber which fell and almost crushed a few Caretakers. But she had persevered, and he had seen her training more and more with the lightsaber.

Now, as he had finished his breakfast, he needed to teach her an even more important lesson: the wonders of the Force… and its dangers. He needed her to understand what needed to be done. And why he had been wrong to believe the Jedi could return.

-0-

Rey woke with the sun, feeling more rested than she had in the past few weeks of sleeping on a hard slab in the open air. Rising was a struggle, but she did it, forcing herself to sit up while fighting the urge to return to a lying position.

Kylo Ren's microsutures were being removed by a medical droid as he sat in the medical bay. He was pondering Snoke's remarks to him; if 'remarks' was the right word to use in this instance. The scar that was being revealed would never disappear, and that had been Snoke's command also. A reminder of his failure on the ice moon.

Not that Kylo needed any help remembering his humiliation.

It happened suddenly, a sudden sense of otherness and unfamiliarity overcoming Rey as she still sat on her bunk. The feeling grew, and she started to look around her, seeking an explication to what had caused this feeling.

It happened suddenly.

Kylo dismissed the droid as he sensed a change in the Force. The feeling was one that reminded him of hyperspace travel, bringing to him noises that he could hear although the room was utterly silent… a sense of familiarity.

He started looking around him, seeking the source of this disturbance.

Their eyes met as suddenly as the disturbance had begun. The whispers that had marked it ended, and only the sound of their instantly ragged breathing was heard.

Rey saw Kylo Ren sitting opposite her, on the other stone bench of the little hut. Dread filled her in an instant, mingled with utter surprise that kept her paralyzed.

Kylo saw Rey, sitting in the med bay alongside him. He had rarely been surprised by anything in the last few years… save by her. She had surprised him twice on the ice moon, and once more now.

But how?

How was this possible? How could he have found her?

How could she have gotten here without him sensing her?

Rey reacted first.

Seizing the blaster that lay beside her on the bunk, she aimed and fired before Kylo had a change to move. He jumped as the shot hit him… but nothing had happened.

Kylo had disappeared after she had fired. Only a gapping hole in the side of the hut remained where the blaster bolt had hit it. Rey noticed that she could hear other sounds again, but the whispers of the disturbance had not disappeared. Rising to her feet, she pulled back the cape that covered the door and ran outside into the light of Ahch-To's twin suns, her blaster ready to fire again if she ran into her enemy.

But he was nowhere to be seen in the deserted village. Everything was as it should be.

And yet… she could still hear the whispers.

They steadily grew louder once again and, soon, sound had vanished. And there he was again.

He was standing now and looked at her with a surprise mingled with triumph. He extended his hand as he had when he had held her prisoner on the ice moon. "You will bring Luke Skywalker to me."

But nothing happened. Her mind remained her own and she did not feel his invading thoughts scouring hers.

Resigned to his inability to use his powers on her, Kylo pulled back his arm and lowered his hand. "You're not doing this: the effort would kill you."

Anger was starting to rise, replacing the surprise that had overcome her at first. This was the man who had tortured her, killed Han Solo (his own father) and almost killed Finn. And he appeared as though he was merely standing there, enjoying the sight of his surroundings.

"Can you see my surroundings?" he asked as he apparently looked out over the sea.

"You're going to pay for what you did!" she said, her anger finally letting loose.

"I can't see yours; just you. This is something else."

He sounded genuinely curious and Rey's anger abated a little as she saw a different look on his face, one of curiosity and slight wonder at this new discovery. Was that a trace of the boy he had been before?

Then, Luke opened the door to his hut. Rey turned to him and tensed. What if Kylo could see him? Would he be able to find them?

The alarm on her face told him what had happened. "Luke?" he asked, the wonder giving way to a harder look.

"What's that about?" asked the Jedi Master, seemingly from far away. Rey turned to him to see him indicating the place where Kylo was standing and turned around in horror…

…to see he had been pointing at the gaping hole in the side of her hut, which was being fixed by two, very angry Caretakers. In fact, the village was now full of Caretakers tending to various duties. The activity surprised Rey. How long had she been standing there, looking at Kylo? It can't have been more than a few minutes.
Luke had asked her a question she needed to answer. "I was cleaning my blaster. It went off." The lie came on its own. Even had she had time to think, she wouldn't have told him about Kylo. They had reached an understanding and he had finally consented to give her the training she had been asking for. She couldn't jeopardize that precarious truce yet.

Luke nodded and turned to leave the village. "Let's get started."

As they ascended the steps to a destination Luke had yet to go to, Rey wondered about what had just happened, trying to reassure herself. Kylo had seen her and she had seen her. But it seemed that was all they could see. And he couldn't touch her in spite of this link.

But the thought did little to comfort her.

-0-

Luke led Rey up to the Temple, a place he had not visited often past the first few months of his stay on Ahch-To.

The Temple had been built into the mountain itself, the rock being moulded into tunnels, chambers and a few halls. Mosaic figures had also been carved, referencing the early history of the Jedi as well as their evolution during their time on this island. The most prominent mosaic was the one that lay in the centre of the great hall that led to the meditation promontories. It lay in a pool of rain water that came from a drip at the top of the high hall, and represented a figure sitting in meditation and balance. Luke's research had come across such a being in much of the Jedi's recorded history… or what little had not been destroyed by the Empire: it was the Prime Jedi. Luke wasn't sure whether it was an actual person, though some Jedi scholars he had met insisted that the Prime had been the very first of the Jedi. But maybe it represented an ideal, one the Jedi had sought to reach. If that were true, Luke was certain that the Jedi had failed.

He moved slowly through the halls, giving Rey time to take in what she saw. But, instead of waiting for her in the great hall, he went to the nearest meditation promontory. He held a reed he had picked as they climbed in his right hand. He didn't know why but he enjoyed holding something when he taught.

He stood before the stone altar designed for meditating Jedi to behold the view of the vast ocean before them. Such a choice was understandable; although the ocean looked calm and still, it was its own world, one a meditating Jedi could sense through the Force.

Rey joined him there and he turned to face her when she started speaking.

"Master Skywalker, we need you to bring the Jedi back because Kylo Ren and his allies are strong with the dark side of the Force. Without them, we won't stand a chance against them."

Luke was amused at her attempt to speak his language, but it was clear that she spoke with only rudimentary knowledge and was repeating what other people had told her. "What do you know about the Force?"

The question surprised her, more than it should have. Being a teacher wasn't always about giving answers: it was about asking the questions that led to the answers… and to understanding. A good teacher asks as many questions as he answers, Luke had come to think.

"It's a power that Jedi have that lets them control people and… make things… float," she answered, uncertainly.

"Impressive. Every word in that sentence was wrong. Lesson one, sit her. Legs crossed."

After a brief hesitation, she obeyed.

"The Force," Luke started, standing beside her. "is not a power you have. It's not about lifting rocks. It's the energy between all things; the power, the tension that holds the galaxy together."

"Right," Rey said, the uncertainty and confusion plain on her face. "But… what is it?"

Luke had been in this situation countless times, not merely with students, but also with beings who didn't understand what the Force was or how exceptional it was. Because there was only so much that words could convey. Sometimes, it was necessary to feel.

"Close your eyes," he told Rey.

She did so.

"Breathe."

He waited as he breathing steadied and became regular.

"Now… reach out."

And Rey extended her hand.

A tickling touched her fingers and Rey jumped. "Oh, I feel something."

"Really?" Luke asked next to her.

"Yes, I feel it!"

"That's the Force."

"Really?"

"Wow, it must be really strong with you."

Rey was pleased but surprised at the amusement she heard in Luke's voice… and then a sharp slap came over her hand. Her eyes opened as she shook the pain away… to see Luke looking at her sternly, amusement gone… and the reed he had used to tickle her fingers in his hand.

Embarrassed, Rey put a hand on her heart. "You meant 'reach out' like…"

Luke just gaped at her.

"I'll try again."

She resumed her position while Luke threw his reed over the side of the promontory.

He took her hands in his and placed them flat on the stone beside her. "Breathe," he said, drawing out the word. Rey closed her eyes again and did as she was told.

"Just breathe," Luke removed his hands from hers. "Reach out with your feelings."

Rey wasn't sure she understood what he meant but she tried at as she understood it: she became aware of what she felt around her. What she touched, what she smelt, what she heard; everything her senses were telling her. And always breathing.

"What do you see?" Luke whispered.

At first, she saw nothing.

And then, gradually, she began to see.

Her senses were so much more than what she could feel and see. It was life, all around her.

"The island," she said. As she saw the island, not merely as it was but as it had been, battered by storms and winters, populated and uninhabited. Maybe even as it would be one day.

"Life." Plants, insects, the Caretakers, the porgs, Chewbacca and countless other creatures. Some she didn't even known had existed. And the vast world of the deeps that, for all the stillness of the surface, was teaming.

"Death and decay…" The remains of long dead creatures, both hunters and prey. Bones buried in the cold earth for times gone by.

"… that feeds new life." And she saw the plants that grew, the birth that came from demise. A cycle never ending of tragedy and joy, as plants grew anew and beasts feasted on them and the ones who had been there before them.

"Warmth." Not the searing swelter of Jakku, but the heat that warmed rocks and turned water into mist.

"Cold." The swirling cold of the ocean, which was home to those whose blood ran as cold as it.

"Peace." Porgs pouring over their younglings, content for a brief instant that may seem to last for an eternity.

"Violence." The broken nest beside the violent waves or fallen prey to sky-bound predators.

"And between it all," a voice came to her from far away. It was Luke, and she could tell by the tone in his voice that he understood. What her words had failed to say, to explain, to convey the depth of what she was experiencing, was not lost on him. He knew what she knew. He had felt what she felt. He had known what she would see… and that she would understand.

"Balance, an energy…" The word came to her in its truest sense. "… A Force."

"And inside you?"

"Inside me…" she smiled. "… that same Force."

"And this is the lesson. That Force does not belong to the Jedi. To say that "if the Jedi die, the light dies" is just vanity. Can you feel that?"

She could. And it was wonderful. They may not no it, but no one was ever truly alone. Rey remembered the times she had spent on Jakku and wished she had known then what she knew now: loneliness was a choice...

…but there was something else.

"There's something else," Rey told Luke, and he heard the sudden tension in her voice.

She had felt it, what he had also felt when he had first come to the island.

"There's a place," she said. "A cold place. A dark place."

Luke nodded. "Balance: power from light, power from darkness."

"It's calling me," she said.

Luke heard rumbling around him and turned to see rocks falling from ledges, or jumping up from the once still ground. Some continued their jumps while others remained in the air as the Force in Rey began to work. The tremoring promontory cracked as the shacking strengthened.

Anxious, Luke turned back to the girl. "Resist it, Rey."

But she wasn't hearing him. She was pushing too far, no longer carried by the Force but trying to force it to part for her. She was seeking the darkness. "Rey," he said again, turning to face her. Sweat was matting her face as the tremors in the promontory grew stronger and the crack widened to reach the ledges.

"Rey," Luke shouted at her.

For a terrible moment, he thought that he had lost her, and that they would soon be tumbling down to their death when the promontory would break.

And then it ended.

Rey was violently pushed pack, off the altar and hard onto her back. She was drenched, not in sweat, but in water. Where it had come from, Luke did not know. But he knew one thing: the Force had struck back. As it always did.

Panting, Rey pulled herself up into a sitting position. Luke remained where he was in front of the stone altar, his back to sea. An expression of dread on his face.

"You went straight to the dark," he told the shaken girl before him.

"That place…" she said, urgently. "It was trying to show me something."

"It offered something you need," the Jedi Master said. "And you didn't even try to stop yourself."

He turned around the altar, passed Rey and made to leave. As he was entering the great hall, she said something that stopped him in his tracks.

"I didn't see you. I saw everything. But nothing from you. No light, no dark. Nothing. You've closed yourself off from the Force."

The horror in her voice was unmistakable. She had had her first taste of what the Force truly was. And, as many before her, she was entranced with what she had seen. It was inconceivable to her that someone would voluntarily separate themselves from the Force.

But that was what Luke had done. After months of training, he had made himself small until he could no longer feel the call of the Force. Nor could he use the powers that it granted him. But that was a small price to pay.

A price Rey would have to learn to accept.

Luke turned back to look at her. "I've seen this raw strength only once before, in Ben Solo. It didn't scare me enough then. It does now."

He turned away, leaving Rey alone on the meditation promontory.