Kylo Ren had successfully hidden the wreckage of his ship underneath the sand. The scavenger girl had recommended he do so otherwise the vessel would be picked clean by morning. And that was the last thing he needed if he was to ever get off this awful planet.
He hated having to accept the girl's offer but he didn't have much of a choice at the moment. If the desert temperatures really got as low as she said at night then it was not going to end well for him. So, reluctantly he entered her home.
It wasn't much of a home but she had clearly made the most of it. A small table, some chairs, what looked like it could be a bed. There were some dried up flowers on the table and a handmade pilot doll sitting near the bed. Kylo cracked a small smile beneath the mask. The little touches were sad but oddly charming, even to someone like himself.
He was looking at the rows of white lines etched on the wall when the girl returned from outside.
"There were a few scavengers poking around out there, but most of them have given up," she informed him, leaning her staff up against the wall by the front door. "Obviously your crash landing didn't go unnoticed. But they're not smart enough to find it underneath the sand."
Kylo said nothing in reply, so she left him standing there and went about preparing her supper. He considered not having any dialogue with her the rest of his time there. Talking led to secrets being revealed, and he had too many of those to take that risk.
Still, he was curious about the wall of lines. "What are these markings for?" he asked, despite his aversion to wanting to talk to her more.
She assessed him for a moment before replying with "My kills."
Kylo was almost impressed before he realized she was being sarcastic. He could be annoyed with her for not answering his question honestly but he let it go. After all, it was in her abode that he was staying. His views and morals might be controversial to some but he was going to remain respectful to someone giving him shelter for the night.
"I see," he murmured. "Perhaps you're the true reason why this planet is largely uninhabited."
The girl was staring at him. Then she suddenly broke into a smile. "You made a joke."
"And?"
"There is a person under there after all," she concluded.
He felt irritated. "What did you think I was? A droid?"
She shrugged. "It's just nice to know that, whatever you are, there's some humanity to you."
While she finished preparing her meal, Kylo Ren mulled over her words. He never really gave much thought to what others might think of him. The only thing he really cared about was making sure they were intimidated enough to treat him with respect. He had never considered they might see him as something nonhuman.
"I am a human," he informed her in a flat voice.
She raised her eyebrows at him. "You sure? Because with that helmet and voice, you don't seem like it."
"If you're trying to get me to take it off—"
"I'm not trying anything," she interrupted "but if you have it on, how are you going to eat?"
Kylo saw that she was gesturing to the portions she had just made. She was offering them to him. An odd feeling came over him when he realized what her intentions were. Not trusting that sort of feeling, he quickly pushed it away.
"I'm not eating that."
The girl rolled her eyes. She seemed annoyed. "Look, it's all I have so you're not in any position to turn your nose up at it."
He shook his head. "No, I mean that's your food. You worked for it today, didn't you?"
"Well yeah," she replied "but you're my guest. What kind of person would I be if I ate while you went hungry?"
Kylo retrieved the bag that he had brought back with him from the wreckage and tossed it next to the table. "I brought my own food. Our ships have about three years' worth of provisions in their cargo holds for situations like this."
Her mouth fell open in an almost comical manner. "Three years' worth of food?" she exclaimed. "And it just sits in there?"
"Yes, for emergencies," he clarified. Seeing the shock on her face, he suddenly found himself feeling guilty. Here was a girl who worked every day just to eat while the Order had food that wasn't even being eaten. From her appearance, she looked like she worked very hard and got very little in return.
Again though, he brushed off the guilt. He didn't like the new feelings she kept awakening in him. The sooner he got away from her, the better.
The girl sat down to eat her portions, still looking pretty wonderstruck by the revelation. "Perhaps I should have joined the First Order," she mused. "At least then I wouldn't have to worry about my next meal all the time."
"Don't say things like that," Kylo Ren snapped at her. When she looked up at him in surprise, he continued. "The First Order does not treat their members well. It is not a group you would want to be associated with."
"You're part of the First Order," she pointed out. "Shouldn't you be looking to recruit new members, not drive people away?"
He shook his head. "I am a master of the Knights of Ren," he corrected. "Recruiting for the Order is not my job nor my concern. I work alongside them only because our interests align."
"What interests are those?"
Kylo turned away from her. He reached into the bag and took out a loaf of bread that was preserved in a container to keep it from going stale. He was done with this conversation, as it was starting to tread into dangerous territory for the both of them. The girl didn't need to know his agenda. The only thing she needed to know was that he needed to get his ship repaired as soon as possible.
"Here," he grunted, tearing off a piece of the bread and tossing it to her. "Since you're allowing me to stay, you can have some of my rations."
She caught it in both hands and looked curiously at the gift. "What is it?"
He almost scoffed at the question. "Haven't you ever seen bread before?"
"I live in the middle of a desert," she reminded him. "We don't have anything like this around here."
"It's called bread," he told her, feeling slightly guilty again that she had no exposure to something so basic. When she continued to stare at it, he sighed. "Don't worry, I didn't poison it."
Rey shook her head slowly. "It's not that. I just—no one's ever given me food like this before. I've always had to work for my meals."
"Well if you want to work for it, you can help me repair my ship tomorrow," said Kylo. "I'll give you the rest of the food rations in my ship if you do."
The girl nearly fell off her chair when he said this. "Three years' worth of food for fixing a ship?" she exclaimed. Kylo was worried she might burst into tears at the offer.
He shrugged a shoulder. "It can be replaced easily in the First Order," was his only response to her outburst. What he refrained from saying though was that she was the one who needed it more.
"I'm good at fixing things," she told him eagerly. "I should be able to help you get it back in the air in no time."
"Good," he replied. Taking what he wanted of the bread, he turned away from her. "I'm going to eat this over here."
"Why?"
There was a brief pause before he replied, somewhat awkwardly "I don't want you to see my face."
"Why's that?"
He groaned. She was too curious for her own good. "I don't trust you completely yet. I'm not revealing my face to you."
She nearly threw her hands up in frustration. "I live on Jakku! Who am I going to share your identity with? The sand?"
"I have a right to conceal my identity, so respect my privacy, scavenger." With that, he left her there at the table and stalked off to the corner to eat his dinner in peace.
Rey didn't know what to make of the stranger. One minute he was civil, the next he was pulling back from her like she was a poisonous creature he'd encountered in the desert. There was humanity to him, but also a darkness that made her wary yet still curious. He was—well—strange. That was the best word she could use to describe him.
After he left her, Rey put the bread stuff to her lips and took a small bite. The small bite was quickly followed by bigger bites when she realized how tasty it was. It was chewy and somewhat dry, but had a nice hearty flavor and gave her a satisfying feeling while she ate it. Soon the piece he had given her was completely gone. Rey wanted more of it, but she returned to her rations instead. Instinct told her that she should not consume too much of this new food. It could upset her stomach, and that was the last problem she wanted to add to her current list of them.
Though she was itching to see what Kylo Ren looked like under the helmet, she did as he asked and respected his privacy. Maybe when he was ready he would show her but for now she couldn't go against his wishes. Not when he promised her three years of food for the simple task of helping him fix his ship. For that incentive, she could easily contain her curiosity.
Still, another side of Rey, the one that had kept her alive on Jakku, wondered if he could follow through with his promise. Stories about the First Order had made her think that perhaps they weren't too honest. However, those stories had also said that they would kill their enemies on sight. Kylo Ren had given her a chance to explain herself, so perhaps he was not like them after all. He had said that he was only working with them because their interests aligned. Rey wondered what his interests were and why he wouldn't disclose them. But again, if he wanted to keep them private then she would respect that.
Her heart lightened by the thought of not having to scavenge the next day, Rey went outside to sit atop the AT-AT and watch the sun set. She liked this time of day best on Jakku, when the air was transitioning from hot to cold. It was the same in the dawn hours when the sun was just beginning to rise. The air was cool, comfortable to sit outside in. It was very refreshing. Sometimes Rey would even stick her bare feet into the sand, just to see what it felt like when it wasn't burning hot. The soft grains would slip between her toes and bring a smile to her face. Jakku wasn't so bad…sometimes.
While she looked up at the approaching night sky, Rey began to think of how she could make the rations last longer than a year. If she ate just enough to satisfy each day, they could probably last her up to five or six years depending on how much the First Order considered a days' worth of food. She would still have to scavenge just to avoid Unkar Plutt getting suspicious. Tomorrow she was going to have to make some excuse for not bringing anything in. But as long as she worked around it, she could definitely survive for a long time on what Kylo Ren was giving her. At least, until her family came back for her. Some day…
The door of the AT-AT opened and Kylo Ren came out. She watched him look around for a moment before turning around and looking up at her from the ground.
"The communicator in there," he said to her "does it still work?"
Rey shrugged. "It might. This thing has been down for years so I wouldn't count on it."
He was silent, and Rey wondered what he might be thinking in response to her question. She climbed to her feet and hopped down, making him start a little when she landed so close to him.
"Did you want to try contacting the First Order?" she inquired.
Kylo Ren nodded. "I thought it might be worth a try. If we can't get the ship fixed, it would be good to have a back up plan." When he noticed her suspicious look, he added "If you help me contact base, I will still hold up my end of our agreement. I want off this planet more than you know."
"You'd be surprised," said Rey, relief filling her when she heard her intended to keep his word. "Alright, let's go have a look."
The communicator was in with the old control panel of the AT-AT that Rey had left mostly untouched. When she was small, she would play with the controls. She'd pretend to be flying her own ship, having adventures in space and on other planets. When she landed on other planets during her play, she would venture outside and pretend to fight imaginary creatures and discover new worlds. It was a happier, more hopeful time. Rey missed those days dearly.
When she popped open the panel under the communicator, her heart sank to see how much of a mess it was. Everything was burned up, as if it had caught fire when the AT-AT fell. Any hope of fixing it had been severely minimized.
"Damn," muttered Kylo. "Whatever happened to this thing, it seems like it was quite devastating."
Rey closed the panel. "Well, it was worth a try. If you want, someone at Niima Outpost may have a communicator you could use."
He scoffed at the idea. "No one is going to help a member of the First Order. I'm surprised I even got help from you."
"But you can make them do it, can't you?" she asked, turning to face him. "When we first met, you used a power on me to stop me from moving. I've heard stories about people who had a power that could control things, control people. They were called the Je—"
Kylo Ren put a gloved hand over her mouth to cut her off. Her eyes widened in surprise at his sudden movement, and even when he lowered his hand she continued to look at him, look at his emotionless mask in shock.
"You stick to what you know, girl," he murmured, walking away from her and the control panel. "There's things in this galaxy you don't want to get mixed up in. Stick to what you know—scavenging."
Rey watched as he grabbed some extra cloth she had lying around and went about making a bed for himself on the floor. Kylo Ren—member of the First Order, master of the Knights of Ren, and possible Jedi. She wondered if she would ever come to understand him. Or if she would even have time to understand him. Or better yet—if he would even let her understand him.
