Twilight is falling, the fighters have begun to pant. Our tale is nearly over now, leave your comments at the last.

Chapter 21

Jakku

Unkar Plutt waddled around his junkheap, grumbling to himself about the new batch of salvaged parts that had come in. Since the war had neared Jakku more often, he had seen an uptick in good merchandise, meaning that he needed to dole out more and more full portions. Not good for his end, but then again he could always gouge the system more. Unkar scratched his stomach and belched, looking through the night as he moved. Scavengers usually came around midday to twilight, hoping to-

Rey smacked him with her staff, knocking him onto his rear with a muted thud!

"What on earth?" He grumbled, forced to move his entire body to his side to press a paw to his nose.

"You knew, didn't you?"

He rolled back and started in the dust. In the back of her mind, Rey wondered how she looked to him. Tall and robed, wielding that staff of hers that levelled so many that dared to confront her, standing over him with a look she reserved only for Teedos and drunkards looking for some "fun" at her expense.

"Well," He grumbled, rocking back and forth, back and forth, until he could give her some of his attention. "Brought back my ship, have you?"

"You knew," She insisted, jabbing her staff into his fat chest as she spoke. "You knew my mother came looking for me." Her chest heaved, her eyes seeing red as this Crolute struggled before her, "And you said nothing."

"For what purpose?" Unkar belched. "She was dead when we found her."

A part of Rey's being died at his words. What filled it was pure rage. "Why did she sell me to you?"

"Get this thing off me!" He whined, pawing at the staff.

Rey lifted her staff a foot off his chest, but demanded again, "Why did my mother sell me to you?"

"Good sale that was!" He scoffed, moaning as he wiggled to his side, trying to stand. "You've been nothing but trouble to me since that day!"

Rey speared him, thrusting him to the dust. "Tell me!" She shouted.

"How should I know?" He squealed, legs kicking near to her. "I didn't ask! I just saw a pretty little girl that could earn me an even greater payday."

Rey dropped her arms, staring at him. He had no reason to lie, and that was the part that killed her the most. She swallowed, she had forgotten how the dry air was so absorbing. "Then where is she buried?"

Unkar groaned, able to pull himself to a proper sitting position after a time. He exhaled, looking like a pile of Bantha dung.

"We gave her body to Jank Mallo to deal with."

Rey looked at him. She hadn't seen Jank Mallo since she was a girl. Without another glance to him, Rey turned her heel and walked away, leaving him hollering and cursing at her as he struggled in the dirt to stand.

Jank Mallo's Hut was a sight unlike anything seen on Jakku. About thirty minutes from Neema Outpost, it shone like a ruby in the night, or a hot coal. As Rey drove close to it on her "borrowed" hovercraft, she could hear music twanging among the stars, and the laughs of patrons and residents ringing out like they were music themselves. Rey exhaled deeply, turning to park her hovercraft among the lot of others, hearing another patron drive a short distance behind her.

The smell of incense hit her the moment she neared the door, the same smell that had revolted her when Unkar Plutt brought her here the first time. It was incense mixed with another smell, one that she had not disgraced herself with, for what this place was was disgraceful. She inhaled, summoning her strength, and wrenched the door open.

Lanterns hung from the ceiling in dozens of red lamps, illuminating fine woven rugs from local animals' fur. Around her, women danced in intoxicated wispy movements, dressed in skirts that looked more of loincloths and tops that revealed as much of their breasts as possible while keeping the important parts covered. Rey stiffened at these women, glad of her robes that covered her perfectly. At once, these women flocked to her, caressing her face and arms, daring her to touch them back, urging her to let herself go. Rey shouldered away from them, in time to see a muscular man with a gold collar around his neck step forward, flexing his muscles at her and smiling. His eyes were blue, but he seemed intoxicated, almost dead inside.

"Where is Jank Mallo?" Rey asked him.

The man swayed at the name, his intoxication evident as two thinner men came forth, both with collars, one more aware than the other.

Rey tried again, a little louder this time, "I need to speak to Jank Mallo."

"Who's asking?"

Rey whirled around, seeing an elegant woman about one hundred years old, wearing the same attire as the women but in purple, her hair piled high on her head. She sat half resting on another muscular man, smoking a pipe while the man massaged her shoulder.

Jank exhaled a puff of smoke and grinned, showing her two missing teeth and the rest either black or extremely yellow. "I remember you," She rasped. "You're Safi's Rey."

A lightness touched Rey's shoulders. Safi, her mother's name was Safi and she had told Jank about her daughter. Rey moved towards the elegant woman. "I need to know where my mother is buried."

Jank coughed what Rey knew to be a laugh. "Still demanding, I see." She turned to the big man behind her and caressed the side of his face. "And why should I do that? You ran away from here, you owe me your life."

"Show me where my mother is," Rey demanded, lowering her chin. Her chest was unbearably tight, as were her fists. She flexed them as the elderly woman turned back to her.

"I think you'll earn your keep, first."

The Force screamed alarm at Rey and she ducked as a pair of arms swooped at her. Pulling from her robe her broken lightsaber Rey ignited it, sheer rage keeping the pain from distracting her from slicing the big man's legs out from under him. He barely had time to scream when Rey stood tall, bringing her lightsaber with her to slice the man perfectly in half.

The music halted as quickly as the man's parts hit the exotic floor, and Jank's cool stature tightened as she sat up, admiring more the lightsaber than her halved slave.

"Well, when you put it that way."

Rey turned to see her rise shakily from the couch and headed to her side.

She was a short thing that only came up to Rey's shoulder, a drastic change to when Rey was left here. Jank was a fearsome creature, loathsome to be sure, but she had frightened Rey the most. Her cruelty had been the reason Rey escaped as soon as she could. Rey's resourcefulness, her ability to identify key parts of ships and her willingness to go where some scavengers wouldn't, that's why Unkar Plutt revoked his deal with Jank. No one owned Rey, everyone who had tried, failed. Miserably.

Jank moved down a corridor, her ancient hips swaying as though she still had something to offer patrons herself. Rey knew this place, committed it to memory because it was so scarring on a little girl. In nearly all the rooms on either side, moans of men and women huffed and cried out in pleasure. Through the red lit corridor, Rey had known that this was to be her life if she stayed another night there. A room not her own, a man from who knew where, and doing….

She shook her head, focusing on Jank's direction. She wanted to do what these women were doing, yes. But with Ben, it was… better. Right. Love… This wasn't love, this was disgusting.

Jank fiddled with her skirt, and withdrew a long, iron key, (from where Rey had no idea). "This is locked, because of you." She grumbled, peering at Rey from over her shoulder.

Rey smiled in her face, though she felt no joy in it.

The door was unlocked, revealing a more cared for desert space outlined with rock and tiles from the interior of old Empire ships. Rey had seen this place, come to think of it, but it never registered what it was until now.

A cemetery, where the women who couldn't escape were buried. "Well come on, then!" Jank bossed, jerking her head towards the cemetery. "Some Teedos found her in the desert," Jank continued, "Brought her to Unkar, wanted to see if there was a bounty on her. None, really. Just the necklace she stole."

A hole punched through Rey's chest as she moved passed pebble outlined grave after pebble outlined grave. They had no names, most likely imitating death as in life, but Jank moved on, halting at a particular grave. "There she is, Little Miss Stupid."

Rey glared at her, "Why do you call her that?"

Jank scoffed, "Because she earned it! Or didn't you know?" She leered at Rey, her beady eyes sweeping her frame for any sign of prior knowledge. "You don't remember, do you?"

Rey inhaled, thinking back to her days as a girl. No, not to then, to when she built her first hovercraft to better scavenge. When she fought her first Teedo with the first generation model of her staff. Not when she was held as a loved child. Not when she ran to her father's arms. Those memories were obscure to her, nonexistent even. She dropped her chin, and shook her head.

Jank leaned away, chuckling. "Your mum was one of my girls. Came to me when she was about your age, looking for a way to survive. I gave her a bed, took eighty percent of her take. Life was fine. But then that bastard of an ex officer came up here, drunk to high heaven, and demanded exclusive right to have her. I didn't mind, so long as he paid, which he did for a time. Then Safi got herself pregnant, and told the father. Rule number one of pregnancy: don't tell the fathers, let them figure it out on their own. Anyways, it scared him, but he kept coming around like the idiot he was, and one day, took her from me! Just like that," She scooped her arms in front of her and tossed them over her shoulder.

"Safi must have had you, and your dad…" She trailed off, shaking her head and coughing. "They were on again, off again. He wouldn't commit, you see? Crash landed here, didn't want to stay here. Not even for a girl and baby."

Rey blinked, the truth sinking in.

"When Unkar brought you here, he must have had an epiphany. Wanted your mum, but not you. And your mum was more than willing to let you go to me." Jank leaned her head back as though triumphant that she had remembered a validation.

Rey lowered her eyes, finding the graves. "Which one is hers?"

Jank stepped out of the way, pointing to the grave directly behind her. "Mummy dearest, right there."

Rey stepped forward, looking at the grave, measuring it with her eyes. Taller than her, probably, but that was all. Nothing more to tell her about her mother.

"She came back," Rey breathed.

"What?"

Rey turned to Jank, "She came back for me. I saw it in a dream. I saw the area where she died, I could take you there. She was calling for me."

"What was she calling?" Jank asked, shifting as though genuinely interested.

Rey lifted her eyebrow, "Rey. My name."

Jank stared at her, eyes widening, "You think… you really think your name is 'Rey?'" She tilted her head back to her shoulders and laughed, genuinely laughed until her cackles could be heard echoing off the nearest dunes.

Rey watched her as her entire body shook, yearning to punch her into the next system. "What's so funny?" She shouted, her voice so deep it scratched her throat.

Jank righted herself, and still guffawing, turned over her shoulder. "OIO – REY!" She screeched, almost hurting Rey's ears.

Almost at once, two girls and a boy burst through the back door of the hut and aligned themselves outside of the cemetery, each looking nearly identical to the other.

"Here they are," Jank told her, "Rays of sunshine all, and plenty to go around." She allowed herself a quick snort before continuing. "Born of my girls, with nowhere to go but to serve or lie down… just like you, dear."

Rey stared at them as they peered curiously at her. No, this wasn't right.

"You know what?" Jank said, pointing at her, "Yeah, I remember. You were the only Rey when they brought you, that's why you think that's your name."

The hole in Rey's chest widened, the edges burning her. "What is my name?" A voice familiar to her own asked.

Jank shrugged, "You didn't have one. That or Unkar didn't ask. He usually does, but Safi probably didn't give you one. Didn't want to be attached when she dropped you here."

"But she didn't bring me here!" Rey yelled.

"Nah," Jank agreed, smiling, "But she knew Unkar didn't take girls as scavengers. Don't know what needs selling. She knew the moment she took her credits and ran with that good for nothing where you'd end up, first thing."

Rey turned back to the grave, feeling the tears shoot to her eyes like waves meeting rock. From the corner of her eye, the other Reys scurried off, and Jank swaggered to her.

"Not so high an' mighty now, are you?" She taunted. "Now you're all alone with nothing but the truth."

"She's not alone."

His presence was like a sentinel in the darkness, a pillar of light in the black. A warm hug dozens of feet away that doused the burning parts of Rey's heart, though it didn't completely heal.

"Oh, good sir!" Jank purred, flashing her rotting teeth. "Welcome, welcome-"

"You will leave us alone," Ben's voice commanded. "You will not tell anyone what you said here tonight."

Jank stood tall and serious. Then repeated, "I will leave you alone, and not tell anyone what I said here tonight."

From the corner of her eye, Rey could see her walk away back inside, those swaying hips tamed for a moment. She could feel Ben move closer to her, but she didn't turn. She couldn't face him nor wonder how he hid himself from the Force for so long. The tears came hot with fury from one eye, and cold with loss the other.

"Why didn't you want me?"

Ben touched her upper arms, and kissed her hair.

"I want you, Rey," He told her.

"That's not even my real name," She cried.

"Yes, it is." He breathed into her temple. "You are a moon ray, calm and mysterious. Keeper of secrets and of hidden beasts. You draw people to you like the tide, able to let ships land on you because you are firm," He wrapped his arms around her middle, "Safe."

SWSWSW

AT-AT Camp

30 Miles Outside of Neema Outpost

Rey had stopped crying some time ago, and now sat hugging her knees in a position of comfort, the carcass of a long expired, long scavenged AT-AT at her back. It seemed a good enough time to join her, so Ben walked, feet digging in the soft sand, and seated himself next to her, his bottom sinking into the sand almost uncomfortably.

"So, this was where you were," He said, eyes scanning the dunes of sheer blue nothingness. They would be beige in the next half hour, but for now they were blue.

Rey nodded. "This is where I was sold… and born, I guess." She looked at him, prompting him to turn. She was so pretty, especially among the sands. "I… don't know what I'm supposed to do with my life now. I had hoped," Her voice broke, "I had wanted…"

He nodded. "Me too. But, we're only given one family. What they decide to do with it is their affair. Not ours."

"I've felt family with the Rebellion." She turned back to the dunes, hesitant. "And with you," She looked back at him. "You I've felt a deeper connection with."

He smirked, but it faded quickly. "So, what are you going to do now?"

She looked down to the sand between them for a moment. "I've found purpose among the Rebellion. But, I still feel like I'm lost."

Ben parted his lips, "I know exactly what you're going through. You have this feeling inside of you. It's always been there, always spoken to you. But now, you feel like it's gotten out of hand, like it's restless. You find comfort in using the Force, but it's not enough. It's never enough. You were waiting for your family because you were hoping that maybe, just maybe, they felt it too. Your one link to something normal, and now it's gone."

Rey nodded, but said nothing.

Ben continued, "I felt the same thing with Snoke and the Knights of Ren. With the Knights of Ren, I had a family, and in the First Order, I had purpose. With Snoke, I found what I thought was my path. It was his folly to have taken advantage of it."

Her face softened. He knew that she knew he was right. Slowly, he moved from her side to kneel in front of her. He lifted his hands to touch her, but hesitated. This next moment had to be real, as real as the day he first reached out to her. He grabbed his gloves with either hand and wrenched them from his flesh, setting them aside in the dust. She watched him, and inhaled before releasing her knees. Uncertainly, she held her hands above the warm sands, waiting for him to move.

He sat up straight, ignoring the shifting sands beneath his knees. "Rey," He began, "Will you be my family?"

She peered up at him, her eyes wide. "What?" She breathed.

He swallowed, moving his eyes to her shoulder. "We know what it is like to come from failed families, and we know what it is like to be on opposing sides of the Force." He met her gaze, "You and I, we're still learning our abilities. We are perfectly balanced; We don't have to be alone anymore. We can vow to be together, to provide for one another… to love one another. Rey," He slid his palm over her knees facing upward, and pleaded, "Will you be my family?"

Please don't shut me out, He thought. Please don't leave me again. I won't survive a second time.

She looked at his hand, her body quivering. Slowly, her hand lifted from her side, her fingers shaking. She exhaled, and rested her palm above his, adjusting her hand to fit perfectly in his. She looked at him, and smiled, "Yes, Ben. I'll be your family."

Ben smiled, tears ready to hurtle down his face as he closed his fingers over hers. She had chosen him! She had chosen him! He lifted her knuckles to his lips, and kissed her bare flesh.

"I don't even know my family's name," She whispered, looking at him.

He hesitated, "I can help you with that."

She nodded, leaning closer, her attention locked on him. "How?"

"I read it in the textbooks," He told her. "To do this," He began, switching hands to hold both of hers placidly before them, "You need to heed my every word. Do you understand?"

"Yes," She nodded.

"One slip, and you will be stuck in the dark and I might not be able to get to you."

She inhaled and exhaled, "Okay. I'm listening."

Ben swallowed, "Close your eyes." She obeyed, the Force snapping to attention around them. "Reach out. Tell me what you see."

He watched her, admiring how her eyes flicked back and forth under her eyelids, her breathing serene.

"Light," She breathed, "Death. And… life. Chaos and peace. And between them all… balance."

He smiled, seeing exactly what she was telling him, feeling her frustration that she could not adequately explain seeing the scorching suns shooting across the sky in trodden ruts or the skeletons of those unfortunate to be caught by their rays. Then the lives of those few creatures that swam among the dunes, and found refuge in the shade. The roughness of Neema outpost criminals hiding from authorities, and the families who worked and thrived on selling scraps scavenged from who-knew-where. Ben dared to look down and away, and saw floating about them were fine grains of sand and small rocks.

"That balance is the Force," Ben continued, returning to her. "Now Rey, are you listening to me?"

"Yes," Her voice sounded lazy, but he knew that she was still attentive.

"I want you to focus on the dark," He squeezed her hands a fraction tighter as though letting her go would open up a hole in the ground and consume her.

Ben closed his eyes, finding the Force she saw until they stood, side-by-side within it, standing over a great sandstone precipice. The wind blew over it, giving the precipice a voice, a raspy, hollow voice, that sounded more like a dying moan than of anything living.

"You're here," Rey breathed, turning to look at him.

"Focus on the precipice," Ben told her softly, immediately turning her head. "What is it doing?"

"It's calling me," She told him.

"How is it calling you?"

She frowned. "It's… calling me. Not my name, just, drawing me near."

"Rey, stay with me. Demand that the dark call you by your name. Speak it if you have to."

"Call me by my name," She murmured.

Ben waited, holding her hand beside her in the Force. "Ask it again."

"Call me by my name," She shivered, "There. It's calling me 'Rey.'"

Ben shook his head, "No, Rey is the name you gave yourself. That woman called you a ray of sunshine. She meant it in spite, but you saw it as a good thing: An end to your bad dreams." He hesitated, then added, "Your mother never gave you a name of your own. But you have a family name. Demand it. The Force knows it and the dark side is willing to speak it. What is your name, child of Jakku?"

She inhaled, a tear hovering in her sealed eyelids. "What is my name?"

Ben squeezed Rey's hands as she leaned forward, "Lean back, don't go into the dark. Only speak."

The horizon over the precipice reddened and yellowed, a perfect flame of lightning cutting across the sky as though in revolt of Rey's audacity to ask once more, "What is my name?"

Beyond the Force, in their own realm, Ben could feel the objects around them begin to billow his hair, but he ignored it. "Child of Jakku," He breathed calmly, "What is your name?"

SW

Rey could hear Ben only faintly now, the result of, she didn't know exactly. It wasn't the roaring of the precipice, but rather she simply, unheard, Ben speaking.

As sudden as the reds and yellows began to darken and growl, the noise followed by the colors and the precipice itself, disappeared.

She whirled around, the movement quick, and panted, seeing only the bleached flatlands of Jakku.

"Ben!" She cried. Only, it wasn't the voice she had become accustomed to. It was a little girl screaming, a little girl flailing about in the desert.

"Hello?" She called, fear beginning to rise in her chest. She had no water. Did she need it here? It wasn't hot at all, but what about shade?

She looked left, and saw the figure of a man walk towards her. His figure was blurry, much like a deadly mirage. Except that Rey didn't feel the usual danger that she used to feel when her mind played tricks and showed her a calm oasis. That meant that this man was real.

The man took his time approaching her, allowing his frame to solidify in the heatless desert. He wore a dark brown cloak and tan robes much like Finn's, however, attached to his belt, clear and glinting, was a lightsaber. This man even had a tan beard, and kind brown eyes that smiled long before he did.

"Well, hello there," He grinned.

"Are you from the dark side?" Rey asked, instantly hating the helplessness of her voice.

"No, little one," He smiled.

"Then are you my family? My father?"

He chuckled and knelt before her. "No, I'm not your father. I am your," He booped her nose, "Grandfather."

Rey couldn't help but smile, and feel warm down to her toes. "I get my name from you?"

"You get your power from me, little one. I was a Jedi, a long time ago."

Rey hesitated, then asked, "Did you know Luke Skywalker?"

"I trained him. He was my last student. My very first was his father, Anakin. Ben Solo's grandfather."

"Darth Vader?" Rey asked, leaning away.

The man's eyes saddened for a moment, and she regretted speaking. "Yes, I trained Darth Vader. He thought the darkness could save the one he loved. It only consumed him. Only when he had a reason to love again did he return to the Light."

"What is your name, grandfather?"

He chuckled, the light returning to his eyes, "My name, is Obi-Wan. What's yours?"

"I'm Rey," Rey answered, looking away. "One of many."

"Oh no you're not," He declared, bringing her eyes to him. "There's only one Rey like you, and you're it." He sat back onto the firm ground and invited her to sit on his lap. "Your mother led a very hard life, little Rey. She was kidnapped from her mother, my lover, when she was as young as you are now," He looked over her childish frame, then continued. "She was a Lady, born to rule over thousands. But that was stolen from her when the Empire came. This desert was all she came to know." He looked out among the vast dunes for a moment, and sighed. "When she met your father, she thought she had found an escape. But that came with an even harder decision." He looked at her, making Rey feel his sorrow as he said, "She chose wrong."

Rey hesitated, then said, "I didn't choose her life."

Obi-Wan smiled. "No, you didn't, did you? Not one decision that you have made was like your mother's."

"Except Ben," She said, swallowing. "I'm choosing to marry the man I love."

Obi-Wan shook his head, "There's nothing wrong with that, little one." He reached up, and moved a stray hair from her face. "You, and Ben, are choosing to learn together. Be one, together. It was something the Jedi did not allow, and so mistakes were made. There will always be passion, but there must also be peace. Serenity, but emotion as well. And love, is the greatest emotion beside rage. Balance them, little one."

"Yes, grandfather." She replied.

He smiled, "You still want to know your name, don't you? The one my daughter should have had?"

Rey nodded, "Yes, please."

SW

Ben looked to Rey in the orange light, willing her to answer him. She muttered something, something incoherent, but her lips were responding.

"Say it louder," Ben commanded, "Say it for me! What, is, your, name?"

"Kenobi!" Rey shouted, her eyes flying open and yanking them from the throes of the Force to the sands of Jakku. Around them, random articles of debris swirled in a deliberate orbit, oblivious to the declaration of the living inhabitants.

Ben stared, watching her eyes turn from restless crimson to oak brown. She panted, her chest pulsing deep.

"Say it again!" He demanded.

"I am Rey Kenobi of Jakku!" She declared, her eyes pointed at his face. "I am the daughter of Safi and Kolpo! The granddaughter of Satine and Obi Wan Kenobi!"

They sat, clasping hands, both panting at this knowledge, letting it seep in that they both knew that this declaration was real, and true. Ben chuckled, wide eyed flabbergasted. Rey smiled, a chuckle bubbling within her chest as well.

As sudden as they arrived, the debris collapsed in a cloud of dust, leaving them sputtering and laughing, hands still firmly clasped together.

"How did you know that would work?" Rey coughed, waving away dust particles.

"That's how the darkness works," Ben answered, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "It needs a name to take hold of things." He smiled, admiring Rey with a brand new fascination. "Rey Kenobi of Jakku," He marveled at the words as they flowed over his tongue. "It's good to finally meet you."

Rey laughed, "It's good to finally meet you, Ben Solo."

Ben leaned forward, ready to kiss her, when a sight caught the corner of his eye. He turned, bringing Rey's attention with him. He could feel her smile the same time she did.

"It's dawning," She breathed.