Rey sat in the conference room in the hard metal chair by the table. She didn't miss that both Luke and his sister intentionally took the chairs opposite her. Every so often, she was struck by their resemblance, not in their features, but in the set of eyes and mouths, even the way they folded their hands. They'd come to the knowledge of their family relationship well after they'd become friends. Rey ignored the lurid rumors about them that floated through the base like oily bubbles on stagnant water. She cared more that both fixed her with the same cool, penetrating stare now as she fought not to shrink into the cold back of her chair.

"Had you seen those ships before?" the General asked, briskly getting to the point.

"No."

"But you knew their weaknesses."

"I could see it, yes."

Leia turned to her brother. "You said you've been concerned about her. Care to share?"

Rey asked, a little miffed, "You talk about me?"

This earned her a head tilt. The General said, "We talk about all of you. Luke?"

"You've been using techniques I never taught you. I've noticed you're trying to hold yourself back, which only makes the absence more obvious. It's happened before. Old families have a line of practical memory from their forbears they can access. I have some, which helped me along my path." He was thinking aloud as he spoke. They weren't threatening her. They were worried.

"I saw the ship design in a dream. I was the one who designed them, but there were too many flaws. I never would have put the fuel lines there."

"Prophetic visions?" Leia asked, but not to Rey. Luke shrugged.

"Maybe. Rey, you said you were sure you weren't seeing the future. You were adamant."

"I'm sure." A dull pain throbbed whenever she thought about Han Solo, and she knew it was nothing compared to what the pair across from her were still going through. She'd thought to spare them, but that was no longer an option. She placed her hands on the table, felt the chill of the metal soaking through her. "In my dream, Han's still alive. That's how I know it's not the future."

She held her flinch as she read the matching hurt flash across both faces.

"Ghost?" Leia asked, a shard of hope in the question.

Luke shook his head. "I haven't been able to locate him. I've sent out as far as I dared." Some who passed into the Force could maintain themselves, could return and advise those still living. Luke had told her about the many conversations he'd had with the spirits of his own Jedi masters. Han wasn't out there, wouldn't appear in a sparkle of Force energy to offer sage wisdom or a tender joke.

"It's just a dream," Rey said. "I dreamed of my parents, and the ships. I nearly drowned once. They don't mean anything."

"That's not true." Luke watched her. "You're also discovering things you can't possibly know. There's an element of prophecy involved. I don't know how to guide you. But I would like to know what you're avoiding telling us. You said you were having nightmares, bad enough to ask me how to control your own dreams. I know you haven't obtained any Cayad root, because there isn't any on this planet. Rey? What was your nightmare? Who died?"

She squirmed without moving, feeling the hot guilt eating at her belly. "No one died." The words pulled out of her slowly. "It's the same dream every night. But it goes on. I was in the hospital, then I came home. I've recovered. I'm learning how to swim, and yes, I'm practicing my training. In my dream, I'm about to make level twelve."

"That's the same level you've been showing me," Luke said. "But I never told you what those levels were."

"Maybe it's a Force memory," the General suggested. "Like you said. Rey doesn't know anything about her family. They may have been Jedi for generations."

"Could be," said Luke. "That doesn't sound like a nightmare." He remained gentle. He could see how uncomfortable she was.

"I was scared the first few nights. Now I'm used to it."

"Every night?" Leia asked. Rey nodded. "And you're seeing blueprints of First Order ships?"

"And learning to swim," said Rey. Ben wasn't a great teacher. He grew impatient too quickly, pushing her hard to improve, be it in her breaststroke or in her posture for the sixteenth stance.

"We'll focus on your mental exercises," Luke said. "If you do have a talent for precognition, that's a useful skill to develop." He looked at the door, where someone knocked a moment later.

"Right," said the General, standing. "Time to join the rescue ships. Come on, you two. You can bandage people as well as I can. Luke, have you taught Rey that healing trick yet?"

"I'll show her along the way."

She wouldn't tell him she already knew.

They worked long into the planet's night, and almost to the dawn of the next day. The First Order had been kicked out of the Ventooine System, but several buildings in the main city had been demolished. Resistance forces helped locate people, pulling the survivors free. Rey reached out with her senses, using a mental trick she'd learned a few nights ago, and found a small space with five people still alive under half a ton of rubble. The power that had fixed Finn's arm reset a dozen bones.

They pitched tents wherever they could find space, Rey grabbing one with Finn and Poe and two other pilots she didn't know. This planet was warmer than Basteel, allowing them to spread out a little instead of pile on for shared warmth. She found she was used to huddling, and pressed comfortably against her friends despite the lack of need. Finn's arms around her were the best part.

Rey considered him. Finn was her closest friend, the first real best friend she'd ever had. Everyone she'd known growing up on Jakku had their own needs and agendas, and the few she'd grown closer to had vanished or been killed. Finn had shown up, and tried to impress her from the start. He'd been devoted to her since, had even come back for her, the first person ever to do so. If nothing else, she'd love him forever for that.

They found time for each other at meals, and here at night where the goal was heat rather than fire. If she suggested they go somewhere private the same way she saw other pilots do, she was sure he'd agree. They could move into a more complex relationship than this. She felt they certainly would. Someday.

In her dreams, he and Poe had promised to come visit. Her dream Finn said her time with him had passed them by. She wondered if that was her own fear they were moving too slowly.

She turned in his arms. They couldn't be together here, not with three other people in the tent. Outside, the night was pleasant, brisk but not cold. She could take his hand and go somewhere with him, and they could figure out what this was. Other couples and moresomes had had the same thought.

"Finn?" she whispered.

He greeted her with a soft snore, face gone peaceful in his own dreams.

Rey kissed his nose, and lay her head down. Not tonight.

"You're looking better," Poe said, dropping his bag and picking Rey up in a hug. Finn followed him into the house.

"I'll drop these in the guest room," he said. "Then hugs." He made a direct line for the second bedroom. Clearly they'd been here before.

Poe asked, "How are you feeling?" BB-8 bumped at Rey's legs until she reached out a hand for a friendly pat.

"Much better. You know where the charging station is?" The droid twittered in the affirmative and rolled away, making a delighted welcome noise when the other BB unit rolled out to say hello.

"Still don't remember anything?" Finn came back from the hallway and enveloped her in a huge hug.

"No. I'm relearning. It's fine. How have you been?"

Finn told her about the program he'd started, apparently some time ago, to help rehabilitate other former Stormtroopers. "We grew up hearing orders in our helmets every day. It's hard to get used to civilian life."

"When are you coming back to work?" Poe asked. "Everyone's asking about you."

"I've wanted to visit the shipyard. Can we go while you're here?"

"Sure."

Finn asked, "When's you-know-who getting home?"

"Tomorrow. He's helping Han with a supply run." Which worked out, because she didn't have to explain today why Ben had been sleeping in the guest room, or why he'd be on the sofa when he got back. "When you've unpacked, do you want to go for a swim?"

They'd returned to the base on Basteel, Rey shivering into her coat unhappily. The base here was more secure, everyone said. The First Order wouldn't dream of looking for them in such an inhospitable place. She agreed. No one should be here.

As she trained with Luke, she found it harder to keep to her original training cycle. "You have to focus on the present," Luke told her, as once again she moved into an advanced lesson. "You won't be able to build on skills you don't have if you continue to jump ahead."

"I'm sorry. It's hard to keep them straight."

"Have you seen anything else you'd like to share?"

"I'm getting very good at swimming."

At dinner that night, Rey sat beside Luke as Finn and Poe talked about their day. Finn was nearly qualified on the X-Wings. "Another week should do it," Poe said proudly. "We'll have you out there with us."

Rey smiled to see them, thinking about her dream last night. They hadn't been much different from how they were now: gentle teasing and easy camaraderie. Poe liked to place a friendly hand on shoulders and elbows and backs. No wonder her brain had paired them.

"What's that smile?" Poe asked.

"Nothing."

"Dream?" Luke asked.

"You're still having those nightmares?" Finn looked worried.

"It's fine," she reassured him. "They're not scary any more."

"What was the scary part?"

Rey played with her rations. "Nothing important."

"She was dreaming about Han," Luke said. "Drop it."

Finn reached out his hand and patted her. "Sorry. Forget I asked."

"No, it's fine." She closed her eyes a moment. This was come to come out eventually. She may as well tell her friends. "That wasn't the nightmare. I was married."

Finn's hand snaked away. "That was a nightmare?"

Poe fixed her with a stare, his mouth trying not to smirk. "To who?" She wouldn't answer, the hot flush moving over her face as good as a reply. Poe said, "Oh my stars."

"I don't get it," Finn said, as Luke stared at her.

He said, "You didn't mention."

"I wasn't going to mention."

Luke took a drink of his water. "Thank you for keeping that from Leia. She wouldn't have reacted well."

Finn asked, "Why wouldn't..." His eyes grew big. "Really?"

"I told you it was a nightmare." Rey finished her food without meeting anyone's eyes. She shouldn't have said anything.

"I know," Finn said, taking his tray to put away with hers so they could be alone for a moment. "But I told you that you always wake up with a smile."

They sat in the great room overlooking the lake and watched swoop racing on the HoloNet together. Rey loved the slick ships zipping past each other with quick grace. Poe wouldn't say he'd placed a bet on one of the racers, but she saw his eyes gleam as number five crossed the finish line intact and first.

"I'm getting dinner tonight," he announced a few seconds later, checking his private datapad.

"You're not thinking about racing again, right?" Finn asked, fitting him with a hard stare.

"Of course not. You said no." He tapped his pad. "Just supporting those who do."

They took a shuttle into the city and found a table at a restaurant Rey had visited twice with Ben. She was learning the menu, sampling new tastes each time.

"I thought I'd find you here," Ben said just as their drinks were served. He sat next to Rey, placing his hand on the small of her back. He didn't kiss her, and hadn't since the night of the concert. She allowed the touches, no different from when he was guiding her into a new position for meditation.

"You're back early."

"Father always loves his shortcuts. Good to see you," he said, nodding to Rey's friends.

"Ben," Finn said amiably. "How was the trip?"

"Fast. We cut a good deal with the Guavians."

Rey said, "I thought they were criminals." Ben shrugged and didn't comment. He took her menu and scanned it as the waiter droid brought another place setting.

"Your mother has told him he can't continue dealing with the underworld, right?" Poe held Ben in a confrontational stare.

"I don't interfere in their relationship, and they don't interfere in mine."

C-3PO was hovering around her today. Rey suspected he was acting under orders from General Organa.

"We really don't need any help, Threepio," Luke said. "Thanks, though." He was always kind to the droids, more so than other people around here tended to be. Droids were there to work and to serve. Luke had made friends, and often spent hours in the evening talking with R2-D2. "Why don't you go see if Leia needs help?"

"That was mean," Rey said after Threepio wandered back to his mistress.

"Leia's good at finding him busy work. She loves him to pieces. I'm glad he's been here for her."

"They're friends, too?"

"Yes. When the rest of us left, he stayed with her. I'll always appreciate that."

"Is he her droid? He calls you Master."

"He's his own droid. He's been with our family since he was constructed. He served her father for years, and before that, he belonged to our birth family. It's been decades since any of us really owned him or Artoo. They stay with us because they want to. If either chose to leave, they could go."

"Other people give him orders."

"He's used to following them. I prefer to make suggestions and requests."

Threepio joined her again after her Jedi lessons were finished. He happened to be around the ship she preferred. "Ah, Miss Rey! How may I be of assistance?"

"Did General Organa ask you to keep an eye on me?"

"I am not capable of answering that question." Which meant yes, and Leia had instructed him not to say so.

"You should go help her," Rey said, pitching her voice into the command tone she'd been practicing.

"She said I should help you." He tilted his body. "Miss Rey, Jedi mind tricks don't work on droids. Master Ben tried many times." Threepio's face kept its permanent golden impassive expression, but she sensed a sudden emotional response. Droids could feel, despite what some other species held. He'd missed Artoo when his companion had gone into low power mode. He was pleased when he encountered old friends. And now she heard a quiet sorrow in his words.

"Were you close to him?"

Threepio said nothing, and that was strange.

"If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine."

"I have been ordered not to mention Master Ben. I forgot."

Rey considered this. There was only one person who would have given that order. "Threepio, if I asked you to talk about him just with me, would that be all right?"

"I believe so."

"But you mustn't mention him to the General."

"I won't. To answer your question, yes. We were close. I was often given the role of caretaker. When Mistress Leia's job moved, the household followed from world to world. I provided instruction for Master Ben when he was between tutors, and I minded him when he was between nannies. I believed that when he reached adulthood, I would follow him, much as Artoo often followed Master Luke on his adventures."

Rey tried to imagine a different man from the murderer she'd met or the reformed turncoat in her dream world, a Jedi who'd stayed on the path of the Light, his golden-hued nurse droid following behind with mild complaint.

"How many places did you go with him?"

"We lived on six different worlds when Master Ben was small, before he left with Master Luke for his Jedi training. The longest time we spent anywhere was three and a half years before the capital of the Republic moved again."

"That must have been hard."

"It's a droid's life, Miss Rey. To be plucked from one home and sent to another across the galaxy, never to see the same star again!"

"It couldn't be easy on a child, either."

"I suppose not. Master Ben was always upset when it was time to move. When we left Altara, he ran away from home. Chewbacca found him and brought him back." That made sense. Chewbacca could track a stink beetle through a dung factory, even if he'd whine about it the entire time. He would have no problem finding a lost little boy.

As the day lengthened into night, Rey found herself reluctant to crawl into bed. Sometimes she skipped ahead in her dream, bypassing days. Other times, she fell right back into the same moment she'd left. She wanted to skip past the night, wake up when her friends were departing. She would see them in the real world plenty. They'd both climbed into the cold bunk already, and held a warm place just for her between the other bodies, but Rey waved them good-night and didn't stay.

Other late nighters had set up a sabacc game, which Rey invited herself to watch. The heaters were turned down low, leaving the players to huff clouds over their cards, rubbing their freezing fingers. Rey snuggled deeper into her jacket.

"You want in?" asked Snap, ready to deal the next hand.

"I'm just watching. I've never played, and I don't relish losing my shirt tonight. Too cold." That got her a laugh as she settled more comfortably into the chair. The hours stretched by. She didn't even notice when her eyes closed.

She sat in the shuttle on the way home, blinking herself awake. Finn poked her shoulder. "I thought you said you could hold your alcohol."

"It was only one glass of wine," said Ben. "And it wasn't good wine." This was said to Poe, who'd ordered.

"You weren't invited to dinner. You don't get to complain about what we had."

They continued to pick at each other the rest of the ride home. Finn and Rey exchanged frustrated glances, finally getting out of their seats and finding a new one to share. "You said he wasn't coming back tonight."

"I was sure he wasn't."

"You're looking better." He rested against her, and Rey returned the half-hug. Physical affection hadn't been a large part of her life before she'd met him. Finn had taught her not to be afraid of other people, taught her to accept help without feeling weak. In a different dream, they'd be going back to their house with their friends bickering, although she couldn't imagine Poe Dameron anywhere near any version of Ben long enough even to elope.

"Did you come to my wedding?"

"Yeah. I was one of several people who doubted your mental state and told you that you could do better than him. General Organa's speech on the same topic had footnotes. Ben was furious with her." He chuckled and Rey laughed. "But you insisted on going through with it, and I figured if you were loony enough to marry your idiot, I could be loony enough to marry mine."

The idiots had reconciled, or at least had ceased fire, by the time the shuttle dropped them at the end of the road from the house. They walked together in the darkness, watching for the lights. Inside, Ben made drinks, and they sat and talked, Rey happy to be piled in with her friends just like at home.

"I'm turning in," Poe said with a giant yawn. "Feel free to stay up and talk about me."

"Nah, you're dull," Finn said, kissing Rey's cheek before he too stood. "See you in the morning." They walked off together towards the guest room. Rey set down her glass. She didn't know what it was, and she didn't feel intoxicated, only warm.

"I'll go change," said Ben, as the droids grabbed the abandoned glasses.

"Thank you," Rey said to them, and followed him into their room. She closed the door behind her.

He already had his shirt off, and was working on his trousers. He shot her a look. "I need a moment." Rey sat on the bed. Lucid dreams didn't mean she could fly, only that she was aware of herself. This dream had lasted for weeks. If she was trying to tell herself something, she had missed the lesson some time ago.

Maybe she didn't have to learn. Maybe the lesson was to allow herself to experience.

"You can stay."

"It won't take that long."

"No," she said, standing and walking over to him. "Stay here. Stay tonight."

"Don't want to have to explain? Fine. I can sleep on the floor but I want the pillows."

Rey pressed her hands against his chest. She kissed his collarbone. "Stay with me." He froze, his only motion the sudden jump of his heart under her palms and a hot shudder running through him as she pressed her lips against the pulse point on his throat.

"Are you sure?" he asked, burying his face in her hair, hands reaching down to hold her elbows. "Please be sure," she heard him think, sensing as his mind opened wide to her. She resisted one last moment, then dropped the mental shields she'd been holding. Instantly their thoughts merged. She felt the months of ache and abandonment echoing inside him, his fear he'd lost her, and his growing understanding that he would never get back the Rey he'd known. She gave him her confusion and her fear, the terror that this was some trap, finally melting into acceptance of this strange second life.

"You still think this isn't real?"

"I don't care that it's not," she said, and now his mouth was close to hers. Rey crushed her lips against his. "Stay."

She felt her legs hit the bed and she fell back as he pushed her. They resumed kissing, Rey relishing the sweet fire she read in his mind, giddy and relieved. He couldn't hide away from her now, could only lay bare his worries, and his love for her, and his desire. She was overwhelmed, and sad that she didn't share his memories of their time together. She wanted him. She could admit that here, in the safety of sleep, as his hands lifted her shirt over her head. She'd been terrified of him the moment they'd met, and of the threats real and veiled he'd made to her. But just as she'd been repulsed by his darkness, she'd been drawn to him, disgusted with herself with her own interest until she buried it under the loathing she bore him. He'd been trapped the same way, thinking about Rey too long and too deeply, until his obsession had driven him away from his found home and back to his first, and to her. He was a beautiful disaster, and so was she.

She gasped when his hands reached for her belt. He paused.

"We don't have to go any further," said Ben, breath coming hard. "If you're not ready, we can wait." In his head, she saw him in the next room over, night after night, pulling up holos of rather tame porn. He'd dealt with his own needs, wishing she would wake up from one of her trances and be the woman he knew, the one who looked at him with the same emotion he felt every time he saw her.

Rey kissed him again, lingering against his mouth, letting him feel her want. He moaned into the kiss, his hands leaving her trousers for the moment to cradle her breasts instead. The touch sent a hot pull of want through her groin.

She wondered what part of herself wished for him to desire her. How long had her subconscious tumbled over his hated face until she could not look away? The real Kylo Ren was a vicious creature, snarling and mad, but she'd created this dream lover from that base starting material. Her mind had blanketed his sins with manufactured penitence and undid the worst of his crimes.

He read this all in her thoughts, pulling away to stare in her eyes. "You think I'm your fantasy?"

"I like this fantasy," she thought at him, and suckled at his throat. She felt his gulp. Her hands traveled down his torso, brushing fingers over each rise and dip of muscle she found. Definitely a fantasy. The man she'd met would be a thin reed under his robes, pale and awful, not this sculpted flesh, pink and warm under her fingertips.

"Maybe this is my fantasy," he thought back at her. "Maybe I dreamed about you, too." Her hand went lower, unfastening his belt. Arousal dampened their argument, sparkling through his mind with a wave of lust. She snaked his trousers down his hips, resting her palms on his firm hipbones.

He kissed her ear, gnawing and nibbling down her neck. His mouth latched at one breast, the other he massaged with his hand. Rey arched as he sucked and licked, blowing cool air at last over the wet peak. He kissed the second nipple wetly, his hands returning to their work on her pants. She moved her legs, helping him to slip the fabric down her thighs and off.

When he kissed her belly, licking a stripe down to her navel, Rey tensed. He stopped again until she rested her hand on his head. She pushed him lower, and she felt his smile against her.

"Greedy."

"Get to work, fantasy boy."

He laughed inside his thoughts, and then there was no room for any thought as he licked his way into her, holding her hips still with his strong left arm while his right hand spread her wide. Rey threw her arm over her mouth to muffle her own sudden cries. He attacked her with his tongue, flicking at her exactly how she wanted him to. Their minds joined, sending the tremors she felt back into him. This Ben had been her lover for years, knowing her needs and her cues, spending night after night merged with her mentally and physically, learning her. Of course he would tease her just as she liked, drawing back then rubbing right up against her pleasure points. His fingers stroked her to either side, shivering through her as his tongue dove inside her, tasting her wet desire. She felt his smallest finger dip down to play with her sensitive entrance, and only his arm pressing her into the bed kept her from rising.

"You like that, too." He sent Rey a memory of herself, spread out before him and groaning as he drove himself slowly into her tightest hole, urging him on. The memory of her own desire startled her as much as the touch, and she came hurriedly, almost unexpectedly, the crashing wave of her climax hitting her hard. He rode the tide with her, writhing against the bed as he kept stroking her with fingers and lips, tugging out a second sweet peak.

"Please," he thought, and he wasn't capable of more thought as he crawled up her body, kissing her with the taste of herself. He bent awkwardly to keep his mouth against hers. She felt him trying to thrust into her, fumbling and desperate in his lust.

Rey shoved him hard, rolling him over. Sitting up, keeping her eyes on his, she took him into her hand and guided him into herself. Ben threw his head back, dark hair splaying around the pillow except what stuck to his sweaty face. He looked silly, and happy, and Rey leaned down to kiss him. Ben clutched at her, holding her as he thrust into her from underneath, rising to meet her. His pleasure moved through her, letting her feel what he felt.

She didn't see his plan in time. Ben pushed her over again, rolling Rey onto her back and shoving himself in even deeper, nerves sparking and body aching to join with her as much as he could. His thoughts rushed by in a jumble of please and more and love you so much. She couldn't capture the stream of his mind, and settled for allowing her body to take point. Her hand slithered between them, touching herself where she was spread open, rubbing at her own clit as he drove into her. He was going to come, she could feel the orgasm building with each motion.

Rey planted her feet, and she met him at every stroke, impaling herself deep as the taut thread in him snapped. His peak slammed into her mind, carrying her over with him. They held to each other, both too intent to speak or even to think.

He collapsed on her, kissing her hair weakly, thinking of nothing but the feel of her body against his. She lay beneath him, trapped and complete, her mind rolled tightly inside his, comforted by their close embrace.

Rey woke in the chair in the recreation room, body stiff and freezing cold. Some kind soul had thrown a blanket over her shoulders, which hadn't helped much. Shivers passed through her having nothing to do with the temperature. There'd been many nights, back before all this, when she'd gone to her lonely bedroll on Jakku. She would send herself to sleep with a practiced hand, or with that clockwork device she'd found, nestled and humming between her thighs. She knew well this out of breath rapid pulse, and the full body glow that lingered. She'd dreamed intensely, and her body had responded in her sleep just like any other pilot who'd woken with a mess in his pants or sweat covering her face.

The dream faded but she felt Ben's hands on her for hours after, and she couldn't stop thinking about the joy in his eyes as she'd kissed him.

to be continued

Reviews welcome. If you are interested in more of this same subject while you wait for the next chapter, please check out "Masks By Moonrise," "Reification," and "On Beds of Asphodel."