Rey is waiting for him on the landing platform with Vanee as his shuttle descends to the castle. That's a good sign, Kylo thinks. He is careful to shed his surcoat and helmet before he arrives. But it turns out that isn't necessary. Because when Kylo exits the ramp, Rey is far more interested in his shuttle than in him. The first time he met Rey, he had been upstaged by Darth Vader. And now he's upstaged by his own ship. Kylo watches amused as Rey walks the shuttle, looking it up and down with a mechanic's experienced and appraising eye.

Kylo catches Vanee's attention and the sly old retainer winks at him like they share an inside joke. Which they sort of do.

Kylo crosses his arms over his chest and drawls out to Rey, "Do you approve?" He's in a good mood. He has been looking forward to this.

Rey nods. She's impressed. And curious. "This shuttle looks like it's military grade. You have a lot of heavy shielding and weaponry here. And is that a small ventral canon I saw off the back? I didn't know you could support that sort of firepower on a ship this size. Is that legal?"

"Who cares? There's a war going on, remember?" Kylo reminds her.

Rey is looking at the landing struts now. "There's some carbon scoring here," she calls over her shoulder. "Looks like you have seen some action during liftoff and landing." She raises her eyebrows and looks to him for an explanation.

He just shrugs. Much as he would love to tell Rey some war stories, that's not an option yet. "Now and then I come upon hostiles. Not all my dealings are amicable."

Rey puts her hands on her hips and looks to him. "People shoot at you in your business deals?" she asks point blank. "What are you—an enforcer for the Hutts?"

He smirks at this and shrugs again. "It can be rough out there." And that's the understatement of the year from the Master of the Knights of Ren. But Rey doesn't know that.

"So how did you get your hands on this ship?" she wants to know. "You can't exactly buy this sort of thing off the lot. This is heavily customized. Are you some sort of arms dealer?"

He laughs and at his side Vanee smothers a chuckle.

Rey keeps talking. "I do like the color. The black is very fearsome. Slick too." She cocks her head. "It's very First Order looking. Don't they fly black TIEs now to confuse visual scanning in space?"

"You are very perceptive, Rey," Kylo acknowledges with more truth than she knows. "There is only one other shuttle like this in the galaxy. It's owned by the Supreme Leader of the First Order."

"Really?" Now Rey is very impressed. "I knew your ship looked very First Order. So that redheaded screaming Leader guy has this ship, too? Nice. You'll get great resale on yours then, I bet."

Redhead? Screaming? He frowns. "The guy you're thinking of is General Hux. He is not the Supreme Leader of the First Order," Kylo informs her stiffly and sternly.

But Rey isn't listening. "I wonder if screaming guy has this same souped up hyperdrive," she muses aloud. "This looks like you could go point eight beyond lightspeed."

"Point nine, actually." And that's a point of pride for Kylo. He likes a fast ship. "This ship could make the Kessel Run in less than nine parsecs," he brags. Because, well, he's Han Solo's son, like it or not.

"The Kessel Run?" Rey grins. "So now you're a drug smuggler and not an arms dealer, is that it?"

"No. I am definitely not a smuggler, Rey. I am not a criminal," Kylo grumbles as Vanee suddenly succumbs to a dignified coughing fit. Rey doesn't seem to notice, she's still so awed by his ship. His scavenger girl is quite a techie, he's learning. And the random thought occurs to him that Han Solo would love this girl. They could talk hyperdrive motivators and power couplings for days, he suspects.

Vanee interrupts to announce that dinner is ready, if he wishes. That sounds good to him so they all troop into his castle.

Kylo busies himself looking Rey up and down as they follow behind Vanee. Evidently, her new clothes must not have arrived because Rey is wearing a workman's jumpsuit that looks suspiciously like a First Order uniform with the rank patch and insignia torn off. But evidently, Rey doesn't know that. Vanee must have improvised for the interim. The results aren't pretty-the jumpsuit is huge on her with both arms and legs rolled up-but it's an improvement over her hospital gown. And this girl could wear a paper bag and still be attractive, he thinks. There's something about her.

A few days at his castle have made Rey much more relaxed and at ease now, and he likes it. It emboldens him. "So, did you miss me?" he leans in to ask sotto voce. He's doing his best to be smooth. He has limited experience with women. And usually they are trying to please him and not the other way around.

"Miss you?" Rey looks amused at this suggestion. And then she shoots him down. "Mostly, I have been missing Jakku."

"Which part-the isolation, the starvation or the thirst? Or the sand?" Kylo makes a face. "I hate sand. Please don't tell me you miss the sand."

"It's my home. I miss my home." She gives him a plaintive look. "I still want to go home."

"Yes, I know. But it's hot here, just like the desert. Let the heat remind you of home."

"Yes, it's hot here like living inside a volcano. An angry, erupting volcano."

"You have to admit that it's dramatic," he says offhand. "I think my grandfather must have had a flair for the dramatic." Vanee excuses himself to check on dinner and Kylo turns back to Rey. "I missed you," he says softly. And it's true. He can't stop thinking of this girl.

Rey looks skeptical. "Did not."

"Did too." He shoots back like they're six years old and bickering on the playground.

Rey changes the topic. "So, how long are you here this time?"

Is she anxious to be rid of him? "Just tonight. Duty calls."

"So what do you do exactly?" Rey asks. "You never did tell me. Vanee just told me that your business is the Force."

He gives her a cryptic but true non-answer. "You could say I'm in the family business. And, yes, everyone in my family has the Force."

Half an hour later, he and Rey are eating dinner. She's gobbling her food just like he remembers. Her table manners ought to be off putting, but they're not. Because Rey doesn't know any better. It will be a long time before he erases the bitter legacy of Jakku, Kylo realizes. And maybe he will never erase it and these peculiar habits will just become Rey's eccentricities. He's fine with that, he decides. He has his own eccentricities. And besides, for a girl with a nearly feral upbringing, Rey has a strange nobility about her. She is very self-possessed. Kylo decides that he will take the bad with the good. And he's never been one for prissy girls.

But quietly, he tells her, "Rey, there will always be plenty. You never need to worry that there won't be enough." It's gently said, but it's still the wrong thing to say. Rey looks down. Suddenly, she looks like she's about to cry. He hastens to smooth things over. "Rey, you will never want for anything. I did not bring you here to harm you."

"Yeah, ok," she mutters. She looks embarrassed now.

He changes the topic. "Did you practice the Force any while I was gone?"

Rey brightens at this. "Yes." Then she closes her eyes and the water pitcher at the center of the table raises and floats over to hang in the air before him.

"Good, Rey, good." He is impressed. His words break her concentration and the pitcher starts to shake a bit. But then, she regains control and pours water in his glass. Now, he is really impressed. He's about to tell her that when suddenly the pitcher crashes down. It hits the tabletop and the dishes jump and clatter. While the pitcher lands upright, the water inside sloshes out to splash him.

"Oh!" Rey leaps out of her chair and over to him. She's biting her lip and looking awkward as she weakly offers her napkin. "I'm sorry!"

She looks horrified, but he's laughing as he dabs at his face. "You have been practicing."

"I have," Rey admits sheepishly. Her face is flush from her accomplishment. "It was fun actually."

"When I was younger, my Master used to make me uncork and pour his wine with the Force," Kylo suddenly shares. "He drinks a lot of wine. I would pour two full bottles worth each night as a kid."

"Was that your Jedi Master or your Sith Master?"

Kylo shoots Rey a look. "What do you think?"

"The Sith," she decides as she sits back down. "Definitely, the Sith. Drunken Force-using sounds kind of wicked."

"Correct," he chuckles. "Although, Luke Skywalker probably would have been more fun if he drank," Kylo adds dryly.

"Tell me more about the Light," she asks. "Tell me more about the Force." Yes, he sees that Rey's practice has piqued her interest. It is as he had hoped.

"The Force is a continuum from Light to Dark. People are like that too. We are each a mix of Light and Dark. The two sides coexist in the universe and in ourselves. None of us is all Light or all Dark."

"But you said that I was the Light." Rey looks puzzled.

"You are. But there is some Darkness in there too, I'm sure, if I look hard enough." He smiles absently at her. Rey looks girlish in her ponytail with her elbows on the table and her chin propped up in her hand. She's cute like that as she listens closely to his words. "We all are a mix, and the mix can shift over time. When I was younger, I had more Light. But Darkness has overtaken it as I have matured as a Sith."

"What does that mean exactly?" she asks. "To lose your Light?"

"It means that I feel the call to the Light. The Darker the Sith, the stronger his call to the Light." And that truism is his lifelong struggle, his forever weakness, Kylo knows.

Rey shakes her head. "I don't understand."

"The Force defaults to balance, Rey. In the aggregate and in an individual. When you get too far to one extreme of Dark or Light, the Force calls you back to the center. And so a Dark Sith like myself is moved now and then to mercy and compassion. Maybe even forgiveness now and then." He flashes her a wry smile. "And to whims like saving a tortured innocent stuck in a First Order cell."

"Oh."

"It's also why the purest among the Light are drawn to show compassion for those in Darkness. Find any prison or slum, Rey, and you will find agents of the Light ministering there. Social workers, teachers, the religious, the do gooders among us. They are compelled to try to help, to forgive humanity's worst examples, to save souls and soothe hurts. It's a fool's errand, for the sins of the world persist. But hope springs eternal for those in the Light."

Kylo learns forward in his chair now, holding her attention. "You, Rey, are the Light. And that's how you appear in the Force to me. Gleaming and pure. Radiant and strong. Your power is blinding in my mind's eye."

"And you like the Light? You like my Light?"

"Yes," he admits plainly. "I am Dark, Rey. But still, I can admire the Light and appreciate it."

"What does it mean to be Dark?" He can see Rey struggling to understand these abstract concepts.

"Darkness is the triumph of emotion, Rey. The Dark Side embraces the full range of experience and desires. From love to hate, from anger to sorrow, from pride to shame, from power to helplessness."

It's best understood as a comparison, he thinks. So, he explains: "Historically, the Jedi served the Light and the Sith wielded Darkness. The two traditions were a counterpoint to one another. The Jedi commune with the Light Side of the Force through calm patience and understanding. The Sith do not cultivate calm, instead we encourage passion. We draw our power from our feelings. Our goals are different too. The Jedi prize self-sacrifice and community. They put the needs others before their own. We Sith prize power and ambition. We extol the virtues of the individual. And, of course, our means are not the same. Occasionally, the Light is righteous. But usually, it is peaceful and defensive. The Sith are aggressive. We can be obsessive and relentless." He cocks his head at her, realizing that this speech is a lot to take in. "Is any of this making sense, Rey?"

"Sort of," she hedges. "How am I to know the Light from the Dark?"

"You will know. Trust me, you will know." She looks skeptical now. Kylo rushes to be clear that there is no forbidden knowledge in his version of the Light. "Rey, I will never limit how you use the Force. You may experiment as you wish. There are no rules for you. Luke Skywalker and his precious Jedi have lots of rules for the Light. They are unnecessary burdens. I won't ask you to be a nun."

"A nun?" Rey looks flabbergasted. Like that is not at all what she thought she had agreed to. "What rules are you talking about."

"Stupid rules leftover from the Old Republic Jedi Order. Members of their cult were taught to avoid emotion. To bury their feelings deep and sublimate the personal for the universal. It's a prison, Rey, and a recipe for unhappiness. The Jedi tradition was extreme. They went so far as to forbid all attachments."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that Luke Skywalker would make you a lonely nun, Rey. Jedi are not supposed to love. They can't love their family, love a partner, or love a child. It is a life of sacrifice for the good of others. All of their teachings reinforce this. They even call the Force the 'Force of Others' because they only want to use their power to achieve happiness for others. Never for themselves."

"I don't want to be a nun," Rey grumbles and it makes him smile. "And if I find my family, I intend to love them, Ben."

"Then stay away from Luke Skywalker," Kylo tells her pointedly. "There is no need to limit your life experiences like the Jedi teach. Study the Light with me, Rey. Only with me."

"And what about the Sith?" she asks. "Do they forbid-what was that word?"

"Attachments. No. The Sith permit attachments." He grins as he tells her, "We are a possessive, obsessive and emotional bunch. Our tradition has long had allegiances to lovers, wives and families. I think my old Master Darth Plagueis has had something like five wives already."

"And is it true that the Jedi and the Sith are ancient foes?" Rey wants to know. "That's how it is in the fairytales."

"Yes. Our views and our goals are generally in opposition, even if Dark and Light must forever coexist."

Kylo watches now as understanding dawns on Rey's face. It's a eureka moment as she puts it all together. "This is why the First Order lets you carry me off and supplies your castle-because you are a Sith who will can help them find the Jedi Luke Skywalker!" she accuses.

"Yes," he agrees to that half-truth. "The First Order wants my help."

"Is that what you do when you are away-search for Luke Skywalker?"

"Sometimes. Mostly, it's more routine work. But yes, I have searched for Skywalker. It's how I came to know you, Rey. Because I was helping the First Order find the map."

Rey looks down now and mutters, "I knew there had to be a reason the First Order would do you favors." When she looks up, she demands, "Why are you teaching me the Light if you want to kill a Jedi?"

He tells her the truth. "I can kill a Jedi, but I can't kill the Light. Light and Dark are eternal. Each will exist in some form forever. The balance between them shifts with the times and cycles over and over. But there is always some form of rough balance to the Force. When you learn the Light, Rey you will be an important part of that balance."

There is a long silence as a subdued Rey absorbs what he has told her. And he has told her a lot. In time, she will see for herself the meaning of his words. But today was a start. He moves on to a less metaphysical topic. "Tell me more about what you have discovered about the Force, Rey."

This question draws her out once more. "I can feel when Vanee is in the room. Sometimes I think I can sense when he's near."

"Good," Kylo approves. "Everyone has their own unique imprint in the Force. The closer you are to a person-either in emotion or proximity-the easier it is to recognize them in the Force."

"Then how come I don't ever feel you in the Force?" she asks, puzzled.

Ah, she has noticed this. "The Sith cloak their Force imprint," he explains. "For defense and for stealth. It is a longstanding tradition from the Old Republic era when the Sith were surrounded by hostile Jedi. Hiding in the Force is the first lesson of being a Sith."

"Are you hiding from Luke Skywalker?" she asks. As usual, Rey is sharp.

"Yes. I prefer to have the element of surprise when we meet again at last."

Rey nods at this. Then she challenges him: "So show me your real self, Ben Solo."

He grins and gestures expansively "What you see is what you get, Rey."

"I find that hard to believe," she observes with more accuracy than she knows. "Come on, show me. I want to see how differently you feel to my mind than Vanee."

"I'm a Force-user so I will look different than Vanee. Force-users usually have a larger, stronger imprint. More vibrant in your mind. And I am Sith, so I will look Darker."

"What does Darker mean? Show me."

"Careful," he teases with a smile. "Some find the Dark Side to be seductive."

"Really?" she blinks. Then she looks devilish. "Well, now you have to show me."

And how can he resist? He's curious to see how she responds. "Very well then, feel my power." Now Kylo uncloaks his power and lets his Darkness blaze.

Rey closes her eyes to concentrate and then she gasps aloud. Yes, it's an ego rush to see how his power impresses this girl. Ordinary women cannot appreciate his Darkness, but Force-sensitive Rey can. He sees her fingers spread wide as she presses her hands to the tabletop to steady herself. Her eyes are still closed and now her head is thrown back and her lips part slightly as she inhales a sharp breath. But he grins to see the effect he has on her. Clearly, she is awed. Rey is fully clothed and seated across the table from him, but in the moment she's quite possibly the most erotic thing he has ever seen. She's not hot for him, she's hot for his power and that's something a Sith can appreciate.

He dampens his power now and the moment is gone. Rey blinks her eyes open. She looks bewildered and then scared.

"D-Don't do that again!" she warns him. And he thinks he knows why.

Kylo smirks at her now. He's enjoying her discomfort. "Light and Dark coexist, Rey. Sometimes they repel. Sometimes they attract."

"Don't do that!" she repeats with frosty insistence. And perhaps this girl would make a good Jedi nun after all, he thinks.

Now Kylo can't help himself. He just piles on more provocation. "I better not let you anywhere near my Master, Rey. Because if you felt his full power, you would probably melt in a puddle to the floor." He flashes her a crooked grin. "I'd be jealous, Rey. We Sith are the jealous type. And then he might take you for himself," Kylo adds with a sudden frown.

Rey is recovered now and her self-assurance—and indignance—is back. "No one gets to take me, remember? I'm a free woman."

"Oh, Darth Plagueis wouldn't steal you by force. He would lure you, Rey. That's more his style." The old Muun wouldn't need to resort to violence.

Rey raises her eyebrows at this. "Lure me? Huh," she sits back to consider this. Then leans forward to ask, "What's he look like?"

"What?" Really? She's teasing him. She must be teasing him.

Now Rey looks wicked. And a little like a boy crazy teenaged girl. "So . . . is this powerful Darth Plagueis guy hot?"

Hot? Only if you are into three-hundred-year-old Muuns. "Gods, no!" Kylo squirms in his seat. How had they gotten on this topic?

"Oh, so he's no Ben Solo, then?"

What? "You think I'm hot?" The words fly out of his mouth before he can stop them. "Forget I said that," he amends stiffly.

Rey grins good-naturedly.

Yes. He'll take that as a yes. So, she's impressed by Darth Vader and she thinks he's hot. He's going to like Rey. He may even grow to really like Rey. Kylo files that thought away for future consideration. And then he returns to teaching. This is supposed to be about teaching, he reminds himself. "Let's talk about meditation," he begins.