Rey was spent, and the Wookiees could see it, yet they needed to get back to their own treehouse. Tonight was Lump's gerferrr, and they all wanted to be rested enough to enjoy it. Chewie broke down and rented two speeder bikes, swift means of travel, and soon they were zipping back. Rey was seated behind Lump, while his parents shared the other; she was grateful to have to do nothing but hold on. As they passed by, Lump noted aloud that Hasheth's body was gone, along with Karsi's, taken, no doubt, by the Trandoshans.

When they arrived back home, Rey could barely climb the ladder up into the house. She moved slowly back to the bedroom she and Lump shared, lay down on her pallet, and slept until the smell of lunch woke her. Even then, she lay face up, trying to gather up the desire to move.

Lump hadn't to school that day at all. Instead, the family sat together in the house, talking quietly. Only after a while did Rey realize they were speaking Shyriiwook; she'd been asleep in her room, and they had switched back to their native tongue in her absence. It was just as well. She wasn't going to be much good company that day. Rey was conflicted over bringing Lump into it; he was almost four times her age, but only in terms of standard rotations, and for his species may as well have been her baby brother. She'd fought in a war, fought literal demons, and had lost nearly everyone she loved, just as soon as she met them. And there was no pain as sharp as the thought of Ben; her soul felt like it was split in two without hm. She supposed it was.

Listening to the gentle conversation of Chewie and his family in their house made her heart glad; she was grateful that he had Malla and Lump and this community that so respected him. He had lost humans he loved, but at 234, he had so many years ahead and behind him to love his little family. Saving Malla was the very least gift she could offer him.

Finally, Rey rolled onto her side and pushed herself to her feet. Only then did hunger materialize in her stomach, and she wandered back out into the main room to join them.

Her belly filled, Rey sat on the floor for a while with those who were her Wookiees. Malla coaxed her to take a second helping of food before she put it away and began getting ready for everyone's baths, but Rey refused with thanks. She went back to her room instead.

A few minutes later, Lump pulled aside the curtain and came in to join her. She knelt on her pallet, two lightsabers laid out in front of her. They were such elegant machines, now that he saw them in person and not just in his father's stories. Lump sat down on the floor beside her, staring at them. He hadn't known she possessed an actual lightsaber, though he realized he should have.

I guess you are a Jedi, he said.

"I don't know what I am," Rey replied. He wanted to ask her to show him the lightsabers, but her face was so sad that he didn't want to make her feel worse, and he didn't know what would do that. Instead he sat in silence, waiting for her to speak. "These are Luke and Leia's," she said at last. "My masters. They … they made the way for me." Lump nodded, understanding, thinking of his gerferrr that night. "I want to honor them, and I have an idea how."

What are you going to do?

"I want to bury them on Tattooine," she said, and Lump wasn't sure he'd heard her correctly, so soft was her voice. "That was where Luke grew up, and it was their father's homeworld too. I don't know anything about their mother, but …" She paused. "But Alderaan is gone so maybe Leia would like it too."

Rey had dreamed of being a Wookiee and living here on Kashyyyk, but, seeing Malla's love for her boy and how it moved her to so identify with the other mothers – seeing Chewie's subsuming love for his wife and how it made him a better man – she realized that for her to stay on Kashyyyk was to die and not to live.

Lump was quiet for a moment, thinking about her words. You're leaving, he said at last.

And Rey nodded.

~/~/~

The road to the Rookaroo's treehouse was full of Wookiees gathering to celebrate the newest adult among them. When they realized that Chewbacca and Mallatobuck and Lumpawaroo had joined them on the way, a cheerful buzz rose up from the crowd. Wookiees congratulated the parents on their very fine young man, and spoke encouragingly to Lump. They smiled politely at Rey, but she knew that this was not about her. She was just a guest, an observer among them, and that was as it should be.

The treehouse was decorated richly, hung with sashes and buntings and ribbons. The fire in the center was high, burning coals that let off sweet smoke that curled up to the eye in the roof and made everyone's hair and fur smell softly of it. The air was thick was welcome and friendship.

Rey was not the only non-human in the room, however. She spied Jace, standing alone in the back of the room, the smoke from his hookah mixing with the sacred smoke of the fire. He was watching her, already watching her, when she arrived. Rey squeezed away from Lump and picked her way back to where Jace stood. "What the hell?" she hissed, trying to look casual despite the anger that rose in her. "That girl died."

"Lamentable," Jace replied, a puff of smoke exiting his mouth with the word. "But I understand the others have arrived safely in their new home, along with the egg."

Rey was relieved to hear it, but she didn't let that show on her face. "Do you think that was worth it?"

Jace tilted his head, a mocking gesture of deep thought. "I think they do. I think she did."

Insufferable Twi'lek.

"I suppose you're just going to keep working for them, even though you know what they're doing?"

Jace sighed a little, as if he were talking to a dull child. Then he leaned in, conspiratorially, so that she could feel the warmth of his skin and breath. A little crackle of energy popped between them – or perhaps she imagined it. "The known galaxy is not a safe place for us who know the Way of Life, Child of Darkness," he said, his voice a low hiss.

Rey leaned back, away from him, as his words took shape in her mind. We who know the Way of Life. Jace To Abbo was Force-sensitive and he had known her from the moment he laid eyes on her. Maybe the moment she'd arrived on Kashyyyk. He was afraid and he'd needed her. "You're in hiding."

He shrugged, slightly, as if to minimize the burden. "My power is not so great as yours. It would serve for little if someone took me. But," he said, lifting her eyes to hers again, "I know what became of the Jedi before my time. I see what happens to those who are … different in a time of turmoil. You should be hiding too."

I am, she wanted to say, but obviously, she wasn't. Where could she go? The Rookaroo had seen it in her, and Jace had seen it too. They may not see the hideous blood that flowed through her veins, but the power it contained could not be concealed. Not really.

"Why get involved at all then?" she asked, at last, feeling the flames in her cheeks cooling.

He shrugged again and drew in a long drag. "I believe the Jedi called it … compassion." He released the smoke from his lungs, letting it curl around him. His deep blue-green eyes met hers, and he held her gaze for a long moment. And then, without a further word, Jace To Abbo turned and left the Rookaroo's house.