Chapter Seven


He was down at least fifty credits—fifty credits more than the one hundred credits he had been down an hour earlier. Normally Poe was an ace hand at sabacc, but tonight just didn't seem to be his night. Finn, however, seemed to take to the game like a fish to water. Finn, Poe, and four other Resistance pilots all sat at the makeshift sabacc table, drinks and credits scattered amongst the cards.

"Damn it," Poe said after his hand was dealt. He had no choice but to fold. He slapped his cards down with more vigor than he'd meant.

"Woah there, Commander," Snap said, a cigar hanging out of his mouth, the hint of a smile on his lips. Tendrils of smoke filled the air. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you've finally ended your winning streak at sabacc."

Poe shot him a look through narrowed eyes. He smiled sarcastically. "I don't know what you're talking about Wexley."

"And if I didn't know any better, I'd say that you've gone soft," Jessika Pava spat, under her breath.

"Now Jess," Wexley chided, clapping the petite girl on the shoulder with enough force that she nearly spilled her drink. "If I'm not mistaken, I counted, what… fourteen TIE fighters that Poe took out this morning? Fourteen to your seven, I believe. If anyone's going soft, darlin' I'd say it's you."

Jess was silent. She seethed in her seat, and sipped at her Corellian wine. They had taken a shipment that was intended for the First Order, and distributed rations and cases of wine to the Resistance fighters. No matter how good the wine was, it still took none of the bitterness out of Jess.

As the rest of the table conversed, Snap leaned over to Poe and murmured into his ear. "Think there's a nerve that's been hit somewhere?"

"Dunno what you mean, Snap," Poe said with a sigh.

"Uh huh…" Snap said in disbelief. "Wouldn't have anything to do with that scavenger you've been pining over these past few weeks, would it?"

"Be that as it may," Poe admitted, lowering his voice so Jessika could not hear him. "Jessika has only ever been a troop to me."

"Oh, buddy…" Snap said, tapping the ash off the end of his cigar before putting it back in his mouth. "I'm sure she hoped that wouldn't always be the case."

"Well, it is. I think I'm out for the rest of the night, guys." Poe scraped the chair back, and grabbed his drink before he left.

"You're not leaving already?" Finn asked, now flush with credits.

"Sorry Finn, I'm busted for the night," he added. It really didn't matter anyway—credits weren't much good to Resistance fighters. It was a rare chance that any of them would be able to use their credits in First Order controlled territory. Even then, it was for people who were deep undercover, or Resistance supporters who didn't have such a high profile as he and most of his friends did. Whatever currency they confiscated as part of their victories, they gambled for the sheer fun of it.

Poe turned and left his friends at the table, laughing and joking. He needed air anyway. Jessika's testy nature only cemented his desire to leave. BB-8 rolled behind him, chattering at his back as they walked down a hallway.

"Yeah, I miss her too, buddy," he muttered to the droid behind him, exiting the cargo bay of the base.

Running his hand through his thick brown curls, Poe breathed in the thick, humid night air of Felucia. It hadn't done much to help tame his unruly hair, that much was certain. Why Felucia had been chosen as the next base was beyond him. He knew that the structure they occupied had been a smuggler's warehouse before the days of the Clone Wars and had largely gone unremembered since then. So he understood it from a pragmatic stance.

It wasn't all terrible. There were the rains, which cooled the air significantly. But at night, it wasn't much help. The terrain was beautiful, and Poe had never seen anything like it. Giant plants that, on any other planet, would be about two feet high, stretched fifty or sixty feet in the air. Bright purples and greens. At night the sound of wild rancors in the distance both terrified and ensnared one's imagination. He only wished that Rey was here to see it.

Poe looked out at the graveyard of starships that littered the jungle bed. The jungle had overtaken the ships that had been shot down during the Clone Wars, leaving an eerie marriage of nature and man. Silently he finished the contents of his flask, and tucked it away in his new bomber jacket. He'd had his old jacket repaired for Finn. It had been repaired using red leather laces. He could have had it repaired to near-pristine condition, but Finn said that he wanted it to stay as a reminder.

When Poe asked him what it was a reminder of, his eyes grew serious.

"That I have to be ready next time."

Ready. Poe had lived in a constant state of ready for most of his adult life. Even in the safety of the Resistance base, he was carrying a blaster. He always knew the fastest way out of a room once he entered. But no amount of preparation could have readied him for the feeling that grew inside him. He had only had a handful of exchanges with the enigmatic scavenger girl, but they had left their mark.

He wondered if she had found Luke. He did not think they had fallen into the hands of the First Order, or else they would have heard about it by now. He hoped that she was with Luke, training. He hoped that she would bring Luke back and they could really start to chip away at the armor of the First Order. He also knew that he wanted her to come back just so he could see her.

He had always had a soft spot for strong women. Independent women. He had his mother to thank for that. Having been raised by a female pilot, and mentored by a princess, rebel and general, Poe had a strong appreciation for women. It was this reason that he had not yet garnered a reputation as a cad or scoundrel in the fleet. He let others assume that responsibility.

There had been opportunities, small romances. But they were always short-lived, if only because of his responsibilities as a commander. Perhaps Rey would be another one of those passing opportunities. But something deep inside him hoped that their opportunity had yet to come, and it was only a matter of time.

"It's late, Dameron," the voice came from behind him. He turned, knowing exactly who it was.

"It is," Poe said, taking his eyes away from General Organa, who stood at his side.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

"I should say the same to you, general," Poe said, a twinkle in his eye. "I just finished a few hands of sabacc with a few others. They wiped me out."

"Ah, yes, the oh-so-useless credits I hear so much about."

Silence passed between the two of them for a moment.

"You think about her a lot," Leia said.

"That obvious, huh?"

"To anyone with eyes, Poe," Leia chuckled. "That, and I sense it. I may not be as strong as Luke, but he taught me enough."

"You've never told me exactly how much," Poe said, glancing at the much-shorter general beside him.

"And I don't intend to," she smiled coyly. "No, some tricks are better left up your sleeve. You never know when you might need them."

"Right you are, general." More silence passed. "Do you think she's made it?"

The general sighed. "I know she has. I can feel that too."

"Good," Poe said gently, turning to leave. "Goodnight general."

"Goodnight Poe." Once Poe was gone, Leia smiled to herself. She had never seen her best pilot so affected before. She might have been more concerned if it had started to affect his skills and leadership, but it hadn't. With fondness she recalled the longing she had felt for Han when they were fighting the Empire. She recognized the same feeling in Poe. Leia knew Rey could bring Poe happiness. It was just something else that Leia was more concerned that she bring back from Ahch-To.


Rey had always considered herself physically fit. It was a hard life she lived on Jakku. Scavenging took her to physical limits she never thought a human could have. But even that could not have prepared her for the rigors of Jedi training. She carried buckets of water up and down the treacherous steps of the island. She ran them again and again, strengthening her leg muscles.

Luke had made a point of feeding Rey more than she'd ever grown accustomed to. He explained that if she was to put on muscle, she would need to eat more than quarter portion rations and bread. So, Rey began to put on more weight, and put on more muscle.

Just as her body started to adapt to its new purpose, her mind also was stretched to its limits. Luke taught her how to meditate, how to move objects with the Force. He taught her the basics of lightsaber combat. Luke complimented her technique, but commented that she would need to adapt her fighting style to that of a single blade rather than a staff, or construct her own lightsaber staff.

"How do I do that?" Rey asked, her interest piqued. Though Luke's blue bladed lightsaber felt right in her hand, it did not feel quiet as natural as a staff. If she could alter it in some way, she wanted to consider it.

"Creating a lightsaber is not an easy task," Luke had told her, giving her a bowl of stew with unidentified hunks of meat in it. "It takes days of meditation. Crystals over which you meditate. And you must form the mechanical base for it."

"Is that what you did with that one?" Rey inclined her head to the green bladed lightsaber at his waist.

"Yes," he said simply. "We will continue to train using my old lightsaber. After we complete your training, we will consider which weapon is best for you. If you choose to make your own… there are crystals here on Ahch-To. It is, after all, the First Jedi Temple."

"Here?" Rey's eyes lit up. She nearly choked on the stew she had been eating.

"It's very dangerous, Rey," Luke warned. "That is considered part of the rite, for a padawan who becomes a Jedi. The journey to acquire the crystals is considered part of the challenge. You are not ready yet."

"Yes, Master Luke," Rey responded. She had proved to be a very compliant student. Then again, most of Luke's requests had been reasonable, and Rey was very motivated to succeed. At night sometimes she dreamt of her fight with Kylo Ren.

Luke would also wake with her, for he saw what she saw. It happened every time she dreamt. She would wake up in a cold sweat, and walk out into the night air to find Luke already sitting on a rock, waiting for her. Waiting to give her another talk.

A talk much like she would receive that night.

This time, she was in his interrogation chair. She had been shocked to find that beneath his mask, he wasn't just some ugly creature. Caught off her guard, he was free to invade her mind. She felt the Force flowing through her, and she pushed back. How had she learned to do that?

"You're a very intuitive girl, Rey," Luke said, legs crossed atop the rock, face inclined to the night sky and its thousands of stars. "But it wasn't intuition that guided you through the Force."

"What was it?" she asked, relishing in the cold breeze on her hot skin and sweaty clothing.

"A Force bond," Luke admitted reluctantly. "It's common among a Master and padawan. It allows for easier training. It's why I wake when you have these dreams."

"We have a Force bond?"

"Yes. We do. But it seems that you also have one with Ben." Luke never used the name Kylo Ren. He hadn't explained to her why that was.

"With him? That monster?" Rey's face contorted in disgust.

"I taught him well, Rey. It's clear that he's grown stronger since the massacre at my academy."

"But, I don't want a Force bond with him," she protested.

"A Force bond is not easily broken, my young padawan. All the same, they are not easily formed, either. That is why the speed at which you formed even the smallest of bonds with Ben is troubling."

Rey ran her hand through her loose hair in contemplation.

"To break a bond, your feelings for that person have to undergo change. My bond with Ben was broken in this way. The question then before us, Rey, is… how do you feel about Ben?"

"Disgusted," she said immediately. "How he could do that to Han. To your padawans. I'll never understand."

"And yet," Luke prompted.

Rey did not want Luke to lead her down this road. But she had known that it would go this way eventually. "He wasn't cruel to me. There was something about the way he treated me that was almost… reverential?"

"Ben was always a respectful young man. It's why I just couldn't believe he was capable of such an atrocity. It's very likely that Ben respects you. I don't know why, Rey. I don't want it to disturb you too much. Nor should you fear it. Fear is a Jedi's worst enemy."

"Fear is the path to the Dark side," Rey reiterated.

"Rey, we've been training now for a month." Had it been that long? Rey had lost all sense of time on Ahch-To. "I wonder… what do you remember of your family?"

Thrown off her guard, Rey sputtered, "why do you ask that?"

"Your… Force sensitivity. As you know, it tends to run in families. What do you remember of your family?"

Rey's heart rate quickened. It was such a closely guarded secret. The image of her tally marks flashed in her mind as she recalled how long she'd been waiting. Twelve years.

"I was so young when they left me," she said quietly. "But it's like there's a block. I can hear their voices, and I can see the shape of them, but it's fuzzy. A man left me on Jakku. I know that much."

Luke paused a moment. "Rey, it is possible to erase memories from someone's mind using the Force. You were very young, so it would have been very easy."

"But why?"

"Because of who you are." Luke uncrossed his legs and stepped down from his rock. He came to Rey's, where she remained seated. "There's a reason you can't remember. I had wanted to wait to tell you, but transparency is best with circumstances as they are with the First Order."

"Tell me what?" Rey was now scared. So much confusion, so much ignorance over the years, had actually turned into a blanket of comfort. Now that she came to it, she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

Luke reached his hand out and gently grabbed one of her hands with his, the comforting gesture of a mentor. "Who your parents are, Rey."