Rey relents to Mrs. Faris' recommendation to go shopping once the daily washing of her meager collection of workout clothes starts to take its toll. Rey really does need a few new things if she is going to keep up her grueling schedule of twice daily workouts during the week. But when the housekeeper catches her tallying up the balances remaining on the few credit cards Rey has stashed in her underwear drawer in preparation for her shopping trip, Mrs. Faris takes over.

"I'll set something up for late this afternoon when you're back from the Senate. There's no need for you to go out. We will have them come to you."

"Here?" Rey blinks.

"Yes. Here."

"Oh. Well, in that case, maybe I should just order a few things off the holonet," Rey muses aloud. "It would be less trouble."

"That won't be necessary," the housekeeper sniffs. "Is there anything in addition to workout clothes that you wish to see?" she inquires.

"Maybe a cloak," Rey decides. "It's getting colder." Coruscant has a temperate climate, but even its comparatively mild winter feels chilly for a desert girl.

"Very well. I will ask them to bring a selection."

And that's how Rey finds herself standing stiffly in one of the living rooms greeting two salesladies from one of Coruscant's most famous department stores. The women are scrupulously polite but Rey feels very judged as they survey her critically head to toe, sizing her up in one long look in the way only women can. Suddenly, Rey is mindful of how the dress she's wearing was bought on sale at a discount retailer. And can they see the small stain by the hem? Fashion is not Rey's strong suit, although she is learning how important appearance is for a woman in the public eye. Still, Rey reflexively doesn't like these fashion ladies. With their perfect hair and slick outfits, they make Rey feel every bit the country bumpkin from the Rim.

And just how did Mrs. Faris explain her presence at the Palace to the salesladies? Everyone starts calling Rey 'Senator' and euphemistically alluding to pleasing Leader Ren, and now Rey is pretty certain that these ladies have read Hux's planted tabloid rumors. And that's embarrassing.

As if sensing her alarm, Mrs. Faris intersperses smoothly, "Everyone who enters the private quarters, including tradesmen, sign non-disclosure agreements. Rey, none of this will find its way to the press."

The two women nod reassuringly and smile.

It doesn't make Rey feel any more comfortable. She glowers and warns, "Good. Then if I see my shoe size in some tabloid next week, I'll know who to tell Kylo to kill." It's a biting comment designed to make a point. But after more reassurances, Rey is mollified.

The salesladies have brought a large mirror, a rack of clothes, and a slick hologram projector that shows a computer-generated model of Rey produced from her scanned measurements. It's a virtual mannequin that can 'try on' selections from the department store's catalog of fashions to show Rey how they might look on her.

"Wow, that's creepy," Rey says at she peers at her hologram self, rotating in 360 degrees wearing a black cocktail dress.

"Oh, that's just an approximation. You're much prettier in person," the lead saleslady hastens to remark. "But this way, you can see the fall collections in their entirety if you wish. Shall we get started?"

As the meeting gets under way, it becomes clear that whatever Mrs. Faris told these women, they seem to have gotten the wrong idea. Because they are under the impression that Rey wants fancy clothes. Their rack of sample clothes is mostly evening gowns, and that's totally unsuitable for Rey's actual life. Do these women think all she does is lounge around in sequins all day? Nothing could be further from the truth. They must be trying to make a big sale, Rey decides. The commission on these designer dresses must be far in excess of what they get paid for selling her t-shirts and workout leggings, Rey presumes.

She is getting irritated and impatient as she listens to the women gush using prissy fashion-y words like 'curated' and 'bespoke' and 'couture.' Listening to them laud her slim figure isn't helping their case either. Maybe fashionable Coruscant ladies are flattered to be called skinny, but not Rey of Jakku who once starved. All things considered, Rey would much rather have well rounded Twi'lek curves than her own narrow hipped athletic build. But that's not her body type and Jakku left her with way too many food issues to ever put on weight.

"What I really need is a warm cloak," Rey suggests, hoping to change the focus of the discussion. She could care less about box pleats and she refuses to wear anything that requires something called double sided tape, whatever that is.

"Oh, yes. We were just getting to outerwear," Rey is told. She is directed to the far end of the rack of clothes that holds a selection of cloaks. Rey pokes through them, rejecting them one by one. Too shiny, too fancy, too crazy, too aging-lounge-singer-with-a-residency-at Canto-Bight. "Who wears this stuff?" Rey asks in amazement as she holds up a billowy one in gold lame.

She catches Mrs. Faris' eye. "Oh, I can think of someone," the older woman remarks with a smile twitching at her lips.

"Snoke!" Rey laughs out loud. "Snoke would love this!"

"Yes, he would," Mrs. Faris confirms as the two uncomprehending salesladies blink. "Try that black one on the end, Rey. It's more restrained than the rest."

Rey pulls out a heavy black velvet hooded cape. It is positively stark compared to the others, with only an embroidered trim for adornment. It feels very warm, too. The lead saleslady helps to settle it about her shoulders and then Rey views it in the mirror, pulling up the hood to get the full effect. Maybe if she pulls the hood down low enough, she will be more incognito when she walks the halls of the Senate, Rey hopes. She's tired of people pointing and whispering when they think she doesn't notice. Lately, she's feeling rather notorious.

That's when Kylo stomps in and yanks off his mask. He looks her over in the cape, ignoring the salesladies who both take a knee in formal greeting and Mrs. Faris who bobs her head in acknowledgement of the galaxy's Supreme Leader.

"I'm shopping," Rey explains the obvious.

"Bad girl, eh?" Kylo smirks. "That cape is very Darth Sidious." And is that a good thing or a bad thing? Rey can't tell.

She reaches up to finger at the heavy hood that partly obscures her face. "It's warm and it's a neutral color. And it hides my eyes," she explains self-consciously.

"I suppose," Kylo considers anew as he walks around her to get the full effect, "but it also accentuates them. When you're covered up like that, all anyone sees is your face. Still, I like it. It says Empress to me. Not like that." He points to the hologram 'Rey' who is currently displayed wearing a low-cut shiny gold evening gown that looks like it might match the Snoke cape. "That says Hux's hot trampy girlfriend who I stole."

Rey cringes while everyone else in the room makes a point of looking down and saying nothing. "You read that?" she asks weakly.

Kylo glowers. "It's everywhere now." He reaches over to pluck the hologram control from the hands of one of the sales ladies courtesy of the Force. Kylo starts clicking through their offered selections that Rey has already rejected. "Get that white one," he decides, stopping briefly on an elegant long-sleeved white gown with an unusual neckline. "That looks like you. And the red one. I like you in red. The red one says mystery woman with a scandalous Resistance past." He slants a glance over to Rey and smirks. "The kind of woman who would never date Armitage Hux."

"I don't need evening gowns. What I really need are workout clothes to train in. Clothes I can move and sweat in." Rey sends yet another pointed look at the women from the department store. They are wasting her time with all this finery.

"Yes, Senator," they dutifully respond.

"What else is on here?" Kylo keeps clicking.

"I don't know. I stopped at all the fancy stuff," Rey replies grumpily. Maybe some women find shopping to be fun, but not Rey. This is taking too long and she's not finding what she wants.

Kylo keeps clicking and now the 'Rey' hologram mannequin is wearing lingerie. He chuckles. "Oh, now we're talking." Kylo clicks past the demure bridal looking peignoirs and stops on a sexy, strappy corset with garters and stockings. "Hello Hux's hot girlfriend." Kylo lets loose a low whistle and leers at her. "I would definitely have stolen you if you'd worn that to Empire Day. Now, that's an outfit for my Senator sex slave if I ever saw one-"

"Gimme that." Rey grabs for the controller but comes up empty handed.

"On second thought, all you need is the Sidious cape and that get up," Kylo decides with a rare grin.

"Gimme that!" Rey lunges for the controller again.

"Does it come with shoes? It needs spiky high heels," Kylo suggests.

"Yes, Sir," one of the nervous shop girls pipes up. She's taking him seriously.

Rey shoots her a sharp look. "I am not wearing that," she grumbles.

"Fine. You can wear just the shoes and the cape," Kylo compromises.

"Don't you have a galaxy to run or someone to kill?" Rey complains as she finally succeeds in grabbing the hologram controller.

"This is more fun."

"Maybe for you," she grouses. "But I don't want any of this. I want some workout clothes." This all began because she wanted workout clothes. How they ended up with Kylo picking out lingerie is beyond her.

"Fine," Kylo nods. "But you should buy something that looks like it belongs in my Palace. Buy some new Senator dresses that don't all look alike. I can tell what day of the week it is by whether you're wearing the red, the navy, or the grey one."

"It's my uniform," Rey explains testily. "You have your uniform and I have mine."

"Well, up your game and buy some new ones. The galaxy thinks you're my concubine now, so make it look like I'm keeping you in style. Right now, I look cheap. A leader should be magnanimous."

Rey makes a face. "I should have issued a denial when that story came out."

"Yes, you should have. But it's too late for that now." Kylo turns to her, ignoring their audience as he suggests, "Why don't we come clean and go public? The tabloids are going to keep speculating until your presence is officially confirmed or denied."

"Since when do you care about the press?" she grumbles as she jabs at the hologram controller to turn it off. She doesn't really want to look at herself rotating endlessly in the virtual black dominatrix bustier any longer.

"When? Since your pal Hux started looking like a sympathetic victim. Why don't we tell everyone that you dumped Hux and we're married? It's happily-ever-after First Order style."

"Army and I were never together in the first place. We're just friends," she corrects.

"No one is going to believe that now. Come on, let's tell the galaxy who you are," Kylo cajoles. And Mrs. Faris meets Rey's eyes and nods her unsolicited agreement with this idea.

But Rey's not going for it. "I like things the way they are."

"As my woman of mystery?"

"Yes."

"That's going to earn you more attention, not less," Kylo observes.

"Who cares? I'm just going to ignore it. I am above the press," Rey proclaims haughtily as she lifts her chin and throws back the hood of her Sith cape dramatically.

"Oh, you are every inch my unofficial Empress now," Kylo smirks. "That reminds me. I have something for you. Are you done? Come in my office."

Rey now shrugs out of the velvet cape and leaves Mrs. Faris and the fashion ladies behind as she follows Kylo into his messy private office. He starts rummaging around in a drawer behind his desk before he locates what he seeks. It's a small box he shoves at her.

"I want you to have this. I want you to wear it."

Rey opens the box and recognizes the ring immediately. "This was Leia's. I sold this for credits to pay for her care." She looks up in disbelief. "Where did you get this?"

"I bought it. It surfaced here in Coruscant a few months after you pawned it in the Rim."

"How did you even know?" Rey wonders aloud. What are the chances this trinket would find its way home?

"I've been searching for pieces of the surviving Alderaanian crown jewels for a while now," Kylo reveals. "That ring is part of the collection."

"Oh," Rey responds as she fingers the large gold ring with two blue stones, remembering the very formidable woman who wore it. In the waning weeks of the war from Crait until her eventual death, Leia Organa had been the closest thing Rey had to a mother figure in her life. And she's someone Rey hasn't thought about in a long time.

"My mother had a small cache of the jewels on her when Alderaan blew. She sold the tiara, the big necklace and the matching cuff to contribute funds to the Rebellion after Yavin. But she kept several of the smaller pieces. That ring was one of them."

"It was the last thing we sold. She never took it off," Rey recalls.

"I remember. Years ago, she sold everything but that ring to get seed money to start the Resistance. I've had feelers out to the major auction houses and dealers for a few years now. I've been able to amass some of the original surviving set. That's how the ring came to be mine," he explains.

"What prompted you to collect your mother's jewelry?" Rey asks.

"I'm the Crown Prince of Alderaan. The jewels are all that remain of my birthright." Rey shoots him a skeptical look at this proud speech and Kylo gives an awkward little shrug. "I grew up hearing stories of Alderaan. My mother loved to talk about it. But it's gone, she's gone, and only these are left. Will you wear it?"

"I've never worn jewelry before."

"It's a wedding gift," he tries again.

"It's really big."

"I want you to have it," he persists. "She would have wanted you to have it. You stayed with her until the end."

It's true. Rey had been holding Leia Organa's hand when she faded away into the Force. Rey swallows hard at the uncomfortable memory. What would Leia Organa think of her now? Rey had been very churlish with those fashion ladies in the other room, but truthfully that's the best she has acted in days. The Dark Side has made her bitchy in addition to violent. Recalling Kylo's always composed princess mother now makes Rey feel ashamed.

"Will you wear it?"

Rey looks up and meets Kylo's eyes. "Okay." She slips the ring on.

"Wrong hand."

"Oh. Right." Rey shifts the ring to her left hand. It fits better there actually. "She said no one's ever really gone," Rey remembers aloud. "But I never sensed her again in the Force after she died. And now . . . well, now I doubt I would be able to sense her even if she were alive." Rey wets her lips as she looks down at the striking ring and remembers the staunch Light Side Skywalker princess who wore it. Leia Organa is big shoes to fill. "She would be so disappointed in me," Rey whispers.

Kylo pretends not to hear. "It looks good on your hand."

"It's heavy. It's going to take some getting used to. And people are going to notice."

"Who cares? It will look nice with your new dresses." Kylo tries to lighten the mood now. "I'm entrusting you with both sets of the Skywalker family jewels," he smirks. "Mine and my mother's."

That does make her smile a little.

"Do you need to go back to your dresses?"

"Not really. I was glad to leave," Rey confesses. "I'm not much of a shopper. You're still fiddling with the holochrons," she comments, changing the subject as she picks up a pretty blue and gold cube laying on Kylo's cluttered desk.

"Yes. I like it," he admits. "They teach useful skills. Try one?"

Rey shakes her head to decline. She replaces the cube back on his desk. "I gave up on those."

The words come out a bit wistful and suddenly Rey feels choked up. The Light had become something of a self-identity for her, and its loss has Rey still processing the significance. Who is she if she isn't the former Resistance fighter who stands for the ideals of the lost Republic? What does it mean for the last student of Luke Skywalker to turn Dark? She might drive a speeder with a JEDIGRL license plate, but these days Rey is the Light forsaken. In private moments, she mourns an indescribable innocence lost and her commitment to goodness forgotten. It's like her moral compass is completely adrift. Suddenly, Rey sniffs and wipes at a stray tear. For though she is Dark, she has not completely lost her conscience. She remembers keenly four men she threw to their deaths on a whim. She is still very guilty about that.

Kylo steps closer, plucks up the cube, and presses it into her hands. "Don't give up on the Light." He traces over his mother's ring on her finger with his and adds, "She wouldn't have wanted that for you. I don't want that for you either."

"She never gave up," Rey remembers the petite Resistance matriarch whose experience and commitment made her a force of nature. Among her followers, Leia Organa had been a living legend. "She opposed you to the end."

Kylo nods ruefully. "There wasn't much compromise in my mother."

"No. There wasn't," Rey agrees.

"You will never achieve balance without the Light," Kylo says solemnly. "I can continue to give you Light like you once gave me the Light."

"Your healing?"

"Yes. But the only true balance will come from the Light within. You said it yourself to me months ago: you told me that I needed to be the Light, not steal yours. You were right."

"I can't do this," Rey laments, looking down at the small cube in her hands. It's too late for her. She's damned to Darkness whether she likes it or not. She has done terrible things and, what's worse, she knows she won't stop. She has violent urges now and then that she struggles to suppress. Exploding coffee cups isn't nearly enough destruction to vent her emotions when they surge. It can be frightening how much she lusts to kill now and then.

"You can do this," Kylo cheerleads. "Try again. Stretch out your feelings and try again. Coax the Light from within." He looks so sincere that Rey goes along with it despite her misgivings. She closes her eyes and concentrates, but her efforts yield nothing.

Rey sighs and hands back the cube. She feels as disappointed as Kylo looks. "I don't know what I would do without you," she confesses to him in a hushed voice. "You're the only one who can understand how I feel and the only person left to teach me. You know because you are conflicted."

"You are conflicted, too," he persists. "And that means there is Light in you. Don't give up hope. Try again."

She does. Rey tries so hard to quiet her mind and let go of her emotion. To leave the turbulence of the Shadow Force and the immediacy of her current state behind. And that's when she hears the voice again.

Daughter, hear me. Daughter, help me. You are my only hope.

"It's him," Rey whispers as her heart starts to race and her body starts to tremble.

Daughter, hear me. Daughter, help me. You are my only hope.

Daughter. The word is utterly beguiling. "W-Where are you?" she wonders aloud.

Find me. Release me. Reunite our family.

"Tell me where you are!" Rey insists as Kylo draws closer, looking fascinated.

"It's the Sith, isn't it?"

Find me. Release me. Reunite our family.

"What does he say?"

"I can't help you if I don't know where you are!" frustrated Rey demands into the air.

Kylo takes issue with that statement. "Wait—no one said anything about helping him—"

"Shhh!" she hisses.

And again, the gravely baritone echoes through her mind.

Daughter, help me. You are my only hope.

"What is he saying?"

"Shhh!"

Find me. Release me. Reunite our family.

Then, the voice fades out and the connection is broken. Rey blinks fast to clear her head. In the wake of the connection, Rey feels a rush of emotions.

"Is he still there?" Kylo demands. He's in her face now, insistent.

"No. No, he's gone," she breathes out. "He's gone." She can't hide her disappointment. The connection had been so fleeting. It had barely begun before it was over.

"Good. What did he say?"

Insight dawns on Rey as she turns wide eyes on Kylo. "I don't think he knows where he is," she says slowly. If he could tell her where to go, surely he would, right? Could he be lost? Is that possible? "He wants me to find him . . . "

Skeptical Kylo now looks very focused. "What did he say? Tell me exactly what he said. Word for word."

Rey does, remembering the precise words as best she can. "Release me?" Rey frowns as she echoes the phantom words she heard, feeling puzzled. "Do you think he is in a prison somewhere?"

Kylo smirks. "Let's hope so. If so, he can stay there."

"He says he needs help," Rey recalls aloud.

Kylo gives her a sharp look. "Don't let him manipulate you. He's not your father."

"How can you be sure?" she challenges.

Kylo's tone is stern. "Your parents are dead. Your father sold you to Unkar Plutt before he died a drunk in the desert."

"What if the guy who sold me wasn't my real father?" Rey presses. "What if this guy in my head is my real father?" Could it be true? Could she still find some part of her family? Could her childhood dreams of a reunion still come true?

"How is that possible?" Kylo scoffs. "Sidious was searching for him long before you were born. Do you think this guy just happened to wander by Jakku unnoticed to knock up your mom and then disappear back to wherever he is now?"

It does sound preposterous. Rey relents in the face of logic. Deflated, she sighs, "No, I guess not."

"Whoever he is, he's not your father."

"I know," Rey agrees mostly to let the topic go. Because the words in her head sound so true. They feel true. Maybe that's wishful thinking, but still . . .

"This could be good news," Kylo declares grimly. "If he's trapped somewhere, we may be able to ignore him. Maybe that's what Sidious and Snoke did in the end. Maybe they found him and left him wherever he is. Perhaps he's not a credible threat after all," Kylo reconsiders.

"I want to find him," Rey says her thoughts aloud.

Kylo immediately pulls rank. "Leave that to me. And if we do find him, I must deal with him alone. Stay out of this, Rey."

She is a bit taken aback. "You don't trust me?"

"I don't want you hurt," Kylo retorts. "He will only manipulate you. We have no idea who this guy is or what he wants."

"He wants help," Rey recalls vividly. "He wants me." He wants his long-lost daughter left to die as a preschooler alone on Jakku.

"He wants a pawn to use," Kylo snaps.

"But it might be true—"

"It isn't." Kylo grabs her upper arms, looks her squarely in the eyes, and starts spouting a Dark Master's wisdom in the form of tough love. "Rey, you deluded yourself about your parents for fifteen years in the desert. Don't delude yourself again. Listen to me—the Sith were masters of manipulation. They discovered what you needed or what you wanted and then they twisted your desire to fit their ends. People went willingly into their control," he warns. "Sidious didn't seize the galaxy—the Republic happily handed it over to him. That Sith lured people to do his bidding again and again, Darth Vader included. Don't you do the same for this guy," Kylo urges, "or you will put us all in jeopardy." His expression hardens. Kylo is every inch the Supreme Leader as he orders, "If you hear from him again, I want to know immediately."

"I only hear him when I seek the Light," Rey realizes suddenly. "That must be why I haven't heard from him in weeks now. We stopped messing with the holochrons when you started training me."

"If you hear from him again, I want to know," Kylo repeats his order.

"Why is he doing this?" Rey looks to Kylo for answers.

"Isn't it obvious? To get to me." Kylo's eyes narrow as his voice rises. "If he gets you, he's got me where he wants me. He'll make me choose you or my Empire, and then we all lose."

"Choose me or the Empire," Rey parrots his words as the risk sinks in.

"Yes. It's a classic Sith play. Choose family or power. Choose love or ambition. That's how these guys operate."

"Oh." Rey swallows hard. And maybe she should be scared to hear this news, but she's too distracted by the connotation. "Love or ambition," she repeats Kylo's words, looking to him. "Does that mean you love me?" she asks before she can think to stop herself.

"Of course, I love you," Kylo snaps back, sounding irritated. "I wouldn't marry you or train you if I didn't love you." The words are hardly a romantic, heartfelt declaration like on the holonet. If anything, Kylo sounds pissed about it.

"Oh."

"I love you and you're just going to have to deal with that," he informs her. Kylo sounds determined. "I'm an emotional guy. I'm Dark and you knew that, so get over it. I love you and we're going to rule the Empire and balance the Force. I'm not my grandfather. I'm going to get the girl and the galaxy, and no random leftover Sith is going to take either one from me."

"Right." Is this the moment when she's supposed to reciprocate? Because somehow yelling that she loves him back feels about right. They got married in a rush by disapproving lawyers, their wedding night was preceded by a fight about the Force, so this is how they do things. They are not a sentimental couple who stand on ceremony. She's been married a month and today she finally got her ring. And yeah, it's a family heirloom but it's also a relic of a doomed world his grandfather blew up to spite his rebel daughter. Apparently, nothing says 'forever' like some Death Star bling.

Rey wants to tell Kylo she kinda-sorta-maybe-does-love him back. But the words just won't come out. And besides, Kylo has moved on. The moment is lost. He's back to grousing about the mystery Sith. "Do not get involved. Stay out of this."

And that seems highly unlikely given she's the one with his voice in her head. "Then what do I say to him the next time?" Rey demands.

Kylo thinks a moment. "Find out how to find him. But reveal as little information as you can."