A/N: I know it's no real excuse, but I've delayed this chapter because of just how busy life has become! I have a moment now to draw it all to completion, however ! ;) That's a good thing I suppose, but I wanted to give this its proper due. Was everyone as excited as I was by "The Last Jedi" Teaser Trailer?" And with the film's upcoming release, who can't wait to see what they finally do with our favorite characters and the mysteries of the plot? :) ;) Thank-you for this journey, lovely readers!

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There was a sense/ a knowing/ discernment from chaos . . .

Finding her footing among the boulders, Rey leapt lightly along the mossy ledge and glanced down at the iridescent beach. Rey watched Luke continue to converse with Poe Dameron and members of his small squadron that had flown into their hermitage of Ahch-To, his intent expression never betraying what Rey was sure was a mixed-up fear and desire to return to the Resistance, to heed the call of his sister, General Leia Organa and mother of their universal enemy and tempter, Kylo Ren.

She may have succeeded in first finding and getting to know this newly re-discovered Luke Skywalker, and she knew how she felt about him, but how did Poe and his fellow pilots feel? Luke was a legend, one of a kind, and he didn't have as much patience as he liked to project. Rey hoped for his sake and her own, that he could withhold a certain bitter, brittle edge when asked to reach a decision, and not treat their visitors like invaders . . .

She, after some time on Ahch-To, had already decided on her own course of action, whatever the elder Jedi's choice.

Rey had excused herself from the visitors to take this walk on her own, however much BB-8's obvious disappointment, finding she needed a break from the masked pleasantries, even as her eyes took in the charismatic band of pilots in their uniforms and helmets with a mixture of envy and admiration. To have such a clear, designated calling within the Resistance! Such purpose was something she could have only dreamed about on Jakku.

Poe Dameron was a lucky bastard, and he knew it; blessed with preternatural fortune in his military career, that confident smile and the absolute best friend anyone could have in the galaxy, BB-8, he had every reason to be arrogantly standoffish, but he wasn't, and for this Rey was grateful. He had been nice to her before, rampantly curious to hear of his droid's exploits and her rescue of him on the blistering sands of Jakku.

There was something about his presence that was warm, soothing to her aura, and she had felt relief overcome her when he mentioned how far Finn had recovered. "Soon he'll have special, covert assignments."

"Assignments? That sound's promising," Rey shielded her eyes from the glare of sun and metal machine, the ships strikingly silver lined up on the beach.

BB-8 had chorused his own excitement as he buzzed about Rey with dizzying, joyous speed at their reunion, and hoping for the possibilities of a reunion with everyone. "Yeah I wish I could go with Finn too, buddy, but there's a multitude of other dangerous things to attend to. Have you enjoyed Ahch-To? I know Finn would have loved to come here." Poe proceeded to redirect his attention from BB-8 and ask Rey.

Wondering desperately after Finn's mysterious assignment, Rey just nodded, and then underneath Poe's beaming glance found herself blushing. "The inhabitants are unlike any other," she returned, carefully smiling as she shielded her thoughts from Luke. "For where else do you find hermit Jedi's, long-lost to the galaxy and reality?"

It was true that even Luke's work with the Force was not always Rey's blunt style or reality instinctively, however much she valued and trusted the elder Jedi; she needed her own space to access the threat of Kylo Ren straight-on, who to her resounding concern, had been causing too many recent disturbances in the Force. She doubted Luke would approve of her mental link to his nemesis-nephew. Rey hadn't chosen the link; the link had chosen her.

Rey pulled in her thoughts and eyes from the current visage of Luke and Poe Dameron below her, their light and dark heads speaking of General Leia, all the while observed by the rest of the at-attention squadron. No one had followed her, yet . . . even though Luke's Force signature pulled tendril-like, every so often at the back of her mind, curious, concerned. Rey enjoyed this concealment however temporary, and she jumped back to the soft ground unseen, landing in a crouch, her hair spilling in loose waves down her back, barely pulled back from her face, unlike her old favorite of the three twists at the nape of her skull. A cloud drifted across the boundless sky and Rey looked up.

Ren

"I will come to you." As always it was more than a whisper.

"You will not hurt anyone here." Rey didn't know how she was so calm or how she believed her own words, but she did.

"What does it matter?" so blasé, as if there were no consequences that applied to him.

"It matters a lot Ben Solo, because I think you'll be curious to know that I'm leaving to be active in the Resistance." Let him chew on that truth.

"I sense your profound confusion and disillusion, scavenger Rey." Rey straightened, stood as still as she could , processing those taunting, reverberating words.

"I will no longer hide and shrink from my calling, and if I am confused I will find it and console it in myself." Her eyes flashed but she swallowed, rocking back on her heels and swiftly scanning the green plateau of the hill upon which she stood.

Kylo Ren seemed to be trying to find something of import to say, and if he sought to tempt her again, Rey felt that for the moment, his mind had retreated back on itself, calculating . . . "Self knowledge is important," he said finally.

"Not your kind," quipped Rey, edging forward.

"What is between, though?" This was deja vu, Rey walked to the edge of the cliff, skirted by the crashing sea-foam.

"Yes, now I know what is." Rey closed her hazel eyes against the stinging spray of the surf. "Everything." Sounds, sensation floated through the air, and in a motion Rey had unsheathed her light-saber, watching it reflect back into her eyes, up into the sky, and into the ocean.

For now the path beneath her feet was emerald, solid ground, solid color, and all her focus was in her feet, in her speed, as she whirled, racing towards the rocky steps. Rey had shutdown the link. In her mind she was already swimming in the unending constellations of water, and there were no limitations in sight . . .