AN:
Hello. I still don't own Star Wars.
Ben
"You're late," I comment as she opens the door to the outside, not opening my eyes or changing my sitting position.
"I still don't know where I'm going half the time." She reminds me.
"You will need to work on that."
"I'm trying, General Solo." I open my eyes at that.
"What? Why did you call me that?"
"We're with the Resistance, you outrank me. On Jakku you needed me for survival, here I'm relying on you." Rey, that's not how…okay, it kind of is.
"You don't have to call me that."
"Why not?" she raises one eyebrow. "Rose said that the only people she's ever heard call you by your first name are your mother and Poe."
"You're my friend, Rey, I don't expect you to refer to me as General Solo. Military meetings, yes, but that's different; it's required there. I have to call my own mother 'General Organa'." I guess that's what we are.
"We're friends?"
"What else would we be?" She shrugs. "Sit with me."
She plops down next to me and mimics my sitting position. "What are we doing?"
"Meditating. A large portion of the early training is spent meditating. You clear your mind and just feel. Without your eyesight, your other senses heighten. The more heightened your senses are, the more in touch with the Force you are."
"Does it stay afterward?"
"Not for long, that's why you have to keep doing it. The more times you've done it, the longer it will stay with you."
"So, it just happens or what?"
"Don't worry, I'll help you." I raise my chin and shut my eyes again. The block of concrete we sit on isn't very long, so our knees brush. Which isn't technically a bad thing, physical contact tends to help in this sort of thing.
She takes a deep breath and does as I do.
I focus on her, on her every movement and breath. She's nervous, tense. "Relax."
"Easier said than done"
"I know, why do you think it takes years?" She's impatient, most are. I certainly was and still am. "Look, if we can do this for an hour, I'll start teaching you how to duel with a lightsaber."
She perks up a little at that. My brain is telling me that I should be concerned about how much she wants to learn how to fight, but the rest of me is remembering that I was the same way.
With renewed determination, Rey slowly clears her mind of all trivial thoughts. She's calm, serene. Maybe twenty minutes in, she's practically radiating with the Force. It's incredible, really. No training and yet one of the strongest presences I've ever felt. "What do you see?"
"Light…darkness…a balance." Her voice is somehow strong and light at the same time. "And something else." Something else? "I see you," me, "your left sleeve button is undone."
Well, that was an abrupt turn. "What else is here, around us."
"There are three X-Wings sitting on the landing pad." When she arrived, there were four, two flew away and another arrived. "Someone's watching us."
"Do they have malicious intent?" I know that it's just Poe and Finn being curious, but I don't know if she can sense that.
"No. No, they're just curious." Good. "You're worrying about something."
"Yes, I am."
"You're worried that Snoke will sense us doing this and find us."
"Yes."
"You're afraid that you aren't strong enough." I feel her gently probing my mind. This should anger me, and to an extent it does, but her touch is so calming. "You worry about growing attached to anyone; that something's going to happen, and they'll be ripped away from you. You're a…afraid that you'll turn to the darkness and be the one to rip them away." That's enough.
I try to gently force her out of my mind. It doesn't quite work. "That's enough for now. You're learning incredibly quickly."
She slowly opens her eyes, allowing them to adjust to the bright sun. "Thank you."
"Come on, we need some open space for this." I stand, taking her hand and helping her up.
"Where are we going?"
"There's a field where we can practice without destroying anything. Lightsabers can cut through anything except themselves."
"You might want to fix that left sleeve button."
I know it's short, but I had the first half of a final today.