A/N: Day two after the wedding.

"Tell me about your religious beliefs."

They were walking back towards the Kes farm, having taken a break from jogging so Poe could catch his breath. The top of the uneti was visible. "Uh, you said not to talk about the Force. The only time I've mentioned it since then is if you brought it up or I had to, to be understood."

"You're saying you believe in the Force?"

"Yeah?" That sounded hesitant, so Poe amended more firmly, "Yes."

"The Force exists with or without your belief." There was a faintly snotty tone to Hux's voice.

Poe gave him an amused look for the haughtiness. "Yep. Sure does."

"Tell me about the tenets of your faith."

"It's a belief in the cosmic and living Force as put forward by the Jedi, because they're the most in touch with it."

"Do you doubt the Sith's connection?"

"Well, uh, no, but …" Poe blinked at him as he realized the gaping hole in his philosophical framework. "Okay … well … then I guess what I was taught was mainly light side Force stuff. I'd never thought of it that way. I just thought … the light side was the only one that counted." He blinked off into the distance, trying to sort out how he'd managed to overlook this in all the conversations with Rey about the Force, and his months of association with the knights, who were openly dark side users.

Hux gave him a long look as they walked. "Do you mean you took for granted that the Jedi position was accurate, all others flawed, and claimed the Jedi's word on the Force was more valuable than that of Palpatine, Snoke, or even Ren, all of whom were indisputably masters at using the Force?"

"Um … yeah." Poe chuckled. "And you're right. I just now realized that. All it took was that one question from you and I saw it. You just skewered thirty years of being taught to see things one particular way and being told that was the only way, when it obviously wasn't, and if I'd ever stopped to think about it, I knew it wasn't."

"Good."

"Are you going to advocate the dark side to me now?" That would be funny.

"No. But I didn't notice Luke Skywalker leaving behind him a trail of goodness or light."

"Maybe you weren't looking closely enough," Poe said, a little irritated by the slight to Luke. His family had served Luke Skywalker personally. As far as Poe knew, Hux had no such association. He didn't know what he was talking about.

"Maybe you weren't," Hux said back with a teasing tone. "You were months with Ren. Did he seem well-adjusted to you?"

"That was because of Snoke."

"Why did he leave Luke for Snoke?" Hux asked in the tone of a teacher asking a leading question.

Poe was quiet for several strides, trying to decide if that was rhetorical, and who knew what in the Skywalker family drama. It occurred to him that he actually had no idea what Hux did and didn't know about Luke. In a low voice, he finally asked, "Do you know?"

"No. He never shared that and I never asked. We didn't have that sort of relationship. But I know these facts – he was previously Luke's student; he left; he became Snoke's. Either Snoke snared him, bought him, blackmailed him, or duped him; or Luke drove him off, annoyed him, was insufficient, or inept. But in any of those circumstances, Luke failed to retrieve his wayward apprentice from Snoke's claws and as far as I know, never even made an attempt to contest it." Hux gave Poe a meaningful arch of one brow. "It wasn't just Ren, either, but Ren and a half dozen others. Yet Luke did nothing? I see that as a distinct lack of loyalty to those he took on as his students. Indifference, even."

Poe licked his lips uneasily. "It was a complicated family situation."

"Yes. I'm sure. The Resistance headed up by Darth Vader's daughter? And she was no advocate of light, either. She was a warhawk. When the Senate wouldn't endorse her aggressive policies, she went outside the bounds of law to create her own band of militant terrorists, whose existence made peace talks impossible. Without the Resistance as a thorn in our side, we might have settled this conflict years earlier and without deploying Starkiller at all."

Poe stopped to stare at him for a moment with his mouth open. It was stunning to hear someone have such a radically different opinion of her, even as he was remembering the disagreement with Steel and Kylo over him idolizing Leia. Then he said with an angry edge, "The Hosnian Cataclysm was not her fault. And peace on Snoke's terms would have been tyranny."

Hux gave him a disbelieving look, then wiped it away between one second and the next. "The Skywalkers are a tiresome subject. Let's go back to the principles of your faith. Are there any practices, prayer times, holy days, or other functional aspects I need to honor? I am married to you, Poe," he said seriously. "You have said your faith is important to you. I will … swallow my words and that might require some assistance, reminders, and patience from you, but I will do my best and show respect on this. Tell me what I should do and I will fall into line."

"That's not-" Poe shook his head. He was frustrated. "This is just like the droids."

"What about them?"

"Last night! You just agreed. And I know you don't feel that way, but you're going to act like it for my sake and I don't-" He shook his head.

Hux looked at him quizzically. "Let's jog again," Hux said diplomatically. "It will give us both time to think and be better with one another."

"We'll be almost home, then," Poe said in a complaining tone. He gestured ahead of them. "We won't have any time to talk."

"Then we go past and you show me what's in the other direction. Or we stop there and discuss it under the tree. It's part of this. It might as well hear."

Poe drew in a deep breath and let it out in a huff. "You're really trying not to argue with me, aren't you?"

"Definitely."

Poe scrubbed at his face. "Okay. Alright. You're right. I'm being an idiot. Let's just run for a while."

They ran. It worked to help him clear his head and reset. They stopped at the turnoff for Kes' house. Poe gestured forward along the footpath where it extended further off into the country, walking that way himself as he caught his breath. Hux moved next to him without comment.

When he speak comfortably, Poe said, "I'm loosely a member of the Church of the Force. So is my father and so was my mother. We believe the Jedi, or at least the light side of the Force, is necessary for life. Or at least, for a life worth living. The Force is in everything. It binds the galaxy together."

Hux gave him an apprehensive look and said nothing.

"There aren't any specific observances. We respect or revere the Force and those who practice it on the light side. What they can do are miracles. That's how I was raised." Poe scrubbed at his face again. "Then most of a year ago, Rey showed me these books she had. Luke gave them to her. They were ancient Jedi texts, the holy words of the faith. They should have … they do trump everything I was taught." Poe chewed his lower lip and looked at Hux. "They're the real deal. The holy words. But it didn't match up with what I'd been taught."

Poe chuckled nervously, "It didn't emphasize light over dark. It didn't pretend the dark side didn't count or wasn't necessary. It was more about balance. Or at least the parts Rey read to me were. There were, like, several books and …"

Hux smiled. "And when you had the chance, you didn't read the entirety of the original holy books of your faith, critical to the state of your soul and how you view reality itself. You skimmed them?"

Poe blushed and gave an embarrassed laugh. "Well, uh, Rey read parts of them out loud to me. So … yeah. Do you feel any better about me not reading your file now?"

"Immensely." Hux nodded. "Thank you. That does make me feel better. I'd been nursing that as something of a slight. Now I see it had nothing to do with me."

"Good. Because I love you and I didn't skip over it because I didn't care. I cared about the stuff Rey was reading, too. Like I said, it wasn't the same thing I'd grown up with. The weird thing is how little it sank in. I wonder if that has something to do with how I see Leia. I just can't mentally picture her as anything but a light side user."

"Are you sure you have that opinion of your own free mind?"

Poe gave him an annoyed look. "Yes, I'm sure."

"So where does that put you now? Is it a crisis of faith to find that the source material differs from modern interpretation?"

"Not really. The Force is still there. It's just that … I can't dismiss the dark side. It's a valid way of being. I see Kylo, Steel, Nera – they seem fine, doing what they're doing. I met a couple other of the knights. They seemed to be living a life worth living, you know? Leia had some stuff to say about where she thought the dark side's power came from. I wish I'd talked to her more about it, but from what she said, it seemed to come from pain. You get hurt. You suffer. You use all that energy to tap into the Force and it comes out dark."

Hux was looked at him with trepidation, not that different from how he had earlier.

"You okay?" Poe asked.

"Yes, fine. Go on." His voice was even more clipped than usual.

"What are you thinking?"

"That I know exactly what you mean. But I've never been given any power as a result of it. Just equilibrium. A sense that I understood my place in things and it was to …"

Poe furrowed his brow and tilted his head.

"Go on," Hux insisted. "I don't want to talk about me, or think about it."

"Okay. Well, regardless of any difference between the books and the teachings, the Force is still what gives meaning to everything, even if we don't always understand that meaning. People who have studied it and are attuned to it have a better understanding than the rest of us. They can prove that through what they can do."

"Do I … undermine you by forbidding you to study the Force further and develop whatever abilities you think you might have?"

"No." Hux looked unsure of that, so Poe said, "It's been months since Rey told me. I've had other things to do that were more important. You are more important. What I can and can't do might not even amount to much. Rey didn't say if I was strong or weak. And like I said before, I'm not sure that getting personally involved with the Force is my calling in life." He took Hux's hand. "But one thing I am sure of – being personally involved with you is my calling in life."

Hux smiled and squeezed his hand. Poe stopped them in the path, lifting Hux's hand to his lips for a kiss. "I would do anything for you. Do you understand that?" he asked, still holding Hux's hand near his lips.

Hux studied him. "Anything?"

"Yes. Anything."

"I think you're implying that you're willing to turn your back on your faith. If you will do anything for me, anything at all, then do this: never dishonor yourself for me. I have no faith of any consequence. It is I who will follow yours, if I can. I hope that you are generous enough of spirit to allow me to do things for your sake. I can think of no better way to show you that I mean it when I say I love you."

Poe kissed his hand again and shut his eyes. "I know. That was stupid of me earlier. If I'd gone any further that direction, it would have been ungrateful and mean and I hope you call me out on it if I ever do. Thank you so much for keeping your head and having us take a run." He nodded his head in the direction they were walking. They resumed, still holding hands. Hux said nothing, so Poe asked, "Do you have any religious beliefs?"

Hux shrugged. "The strong take advantage of the weak. So it's best to be as strong as possible."

"Is that how you think things should be?"

"How I think things should be has little to do with how they are. Unless I'm strong enough to make it so."

Poe swung their hands a little. "Tell me how you think things should be."

"Oh, in an ideal case?" Hux asked loftily. "Well, then I should be in control of everything. And it should be easy to manage with there being nothing I should be too concerned about. Everyone would appreciate my wisdom and I would solve all the problems, whatever they might be."

Poe grinned broadly. "I'll tell you what, Emperor Hux," he took a quick glance up and down the path – it was deserted – and went to both knees, "I will be your devoted servant."

"Poe!" He sounded scandalized. Poe chuckled, but stayed where he was. He kissed Hux's hand again – his knuckle, like he really was the emperor. Poe looked up at him sweetly. "You're ridiculous," Hux said, but his voice was warm and pleased. Poe stood and they embraced. Poe ran his hand through Hux's hair and Hux kissed him in front of his ear. "I love you."

"I love you, too. Want to head back to the house, or take up jogging again?"

"How about we jog back to the house?"

"Good compromise. I'm up for it."

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