"Thank you, Master Finn for allowing me to accompany you, today. Are you sure they do not have blasters?"
"I keep telling you, they do not have blasters. You'll be fine." Finn was actually not sure if they had blasters or not, but the droid didn't need to know that. He was hoping C-3PO could reach out to some of the more reclusive ex-stormtroopers; if anything, he'd annoy them enough where they'd want to speak just to get the droid to stop.
The campsite was full of activity as people were bustling around with their morning routines. Jannah was sitting on one of the logs by the campfire leaning against Lando, their backs towards Finn. Finn marveled at the undertakings she and Lando had made so far. They had built a rather nice community, everyone coming from similar backgrounds and having similar dreams of starting the next chapter of their lives.
"Good morning, Jannah!" he said cheerfully. She turned, her face glimmering with tears and obvious signs of distress.
"Oh dear, what's wrong?" asked the droid.
"Jannah…"
Lando got up. "I'll give you two a minute to catch him up. Mind if I take a look around the Corellian corvette?"
"Suit yourself. Rose might still be asleep though."
"I'm not," said Rose, as she came up behind Finn. "R2 is still on the ship, so you might want to forewarn him before you go poking around."
"Thanks for the heads up," said Lando.
"I'll accompany you, if that's all right with Master Finn."
"It's fine." Whatever was wrong with Jannah, Finn knew his mission with C-3PO would have to be put on hold. Did he do something wrong to upset her last night? He didn't think so, but what would have made her so distraught?
"Oh, good. I feel this current situation does not warrant a protocol droid," said C-3PO, corroborating with Finn's presumption.
"Just come back when you're done. I need you."
"Of course."
Finn watched the droid and Lando depart as he sat down next to Jannah while Rose took a seat on an adjacent log. Finn cringed uneasily. If his theory was right, Rose's presence would make things even more…awkward….
"Rose, do you think you could give Jannah and I a minute?"
"Actually," sniffed Jannah, "I'd rather Rose be here, if you don't mind, Finn."
Maybe he was mistaken? "Ok…" He cupped her right hand between his. "Talk to me, Jannah. What's wrong?"
Jannah wiped her face with her sleeves as she looked down at her knees. "Everything. I thought I was really getting through to people, you know? I thought everyone was happy, but I guess I did something wrong, but I don't know what."
"What are you talking about? That doesn't make any sense!"
"I know it doesn't. I found this in my tent this morning." Jannah handed Finn a crumpled-up piece of paper. "Pass that to Rose when you're done." The ink on the paper was smudged, but it was still legible.
"Kylo Ren is alive, and he is coming." It was short, simple, and threatening. Why? Why would someone write this? Who would want to jeopardize all of Jannah's accomplishments? None of it made sense.
"How do you know this was meant for you?"
"Look at the back." He turned the paper and saw her name clearly written on it. The questions floated through Finn's mind again, but he had no logical answer to them. Nobody Finn had met seemed disturbed enough to do something like this. He thought he had been introduced to everyone, but perhaps there was someone he missed who had resentment for Jannah? Or maybe he didn't read someone right? They'd only been there a short time, so that was a likely possibility.
"Finn… is it…is it…true?" Jannah stuttered as he handed the paper over to Rose. Finn was beginning to get a better understanding of where Rey was coming from. If he told Jannah the truth, it could cause unnecessary panic and unravel her hard work. If he didn't tell her, they were going to eventually find out when Ben arrived, and that would inevitably result in her distrusting him. There was no easy answer, but Finn knew the right one; he wasn't going to make the same mistake as Rey.
"Let's talk somewhere more private."
They reconvened in Jannah's tent. Rose handed Jannah back the note and tried to leave, but Jannah gently took her arm.
"Please stay, Rose. You and Finn know more about this than I do."
"Yeah, you can fill in anything that I miss," Finn concurred, as Rose hesitantly took a seat next to Jannah. Finn took a deep breath. "This is a lot to take in, Jannah, so here it goes." He then explained everything Rey had told them, focusing on the more important facts Jannah should be aware of. Rose piped up here and there, but otherwise she just nodded in agreement.
"So that's the gist of it," said Finn as he finished up the story.
"Let me get this straight," said Jannah, "Kylo Ren, the persona, is dead, but the actual person is alive and goes by Ben Solo now, correct?"
"That's one way to put it," said Rose.
"That is … mind-boggling. How many people here know about this?"
"Just me and Rose."
"Then the person who wrote this note doesn't know the truth." Jannah let out a frustrated sigh. "Which means we're back to square one. This note was meant as a threat, just an empty one."
"Can you think of anyone here who might be angry with you for some reason?"
Jannah shook her head. "No, I can't! Like I said, I thought everyone here was happy so far. My only guess is that it's someone who is still wearing their full armor. They seemed to be doing ok, but I haven't interacted with them as much."
"We should go talk to them first. We need to get this settled as soon as possible so it doesn't get out of hand."
"Agree," said Jannah, as she rose to her feet.
"It's not them," said Rose, quietly.
"How do you know that, Rose?" asked Finn. "Unless… do you know who wrote this?"
"Yeah. I do. It was me."
"You wrote this?"
Before Rose could respond, Finn came to her defense; it was clear to him why she was being even more quiet than usual. "No. There's no way Rose would have written this. I know her. She's not that stupid or mean. She has to be covering for someone." He turned to Rose. "That's why you tried to leave; you didn't want to be involved more than you already were, right? So who really wrote the note? It's just you, me, and Jannah here, so you can tell us."
"I'm the one who wrote the note."
"Ok… let's try this a different way. Who told you to write the note?"
"No one."
"No one," Finn paused. "So… no one enticed you to do this? No blackmail?"
"That's correct."
"Rose… why would you do something like this?" Jannah's voice was shaking. Nothing Rose was saying made any sense to either of them.
"I don't know."
"You don't know," Finn repeated. "Rose… Do you know what you've done?"
Rose nodded.
"Do you really? Because I don't think that you do." Finn was surrounded by two distraught ladies, but only one rightfully deserved comforting. He would have put an arm around Jannah, but he was too angry with Rose to give her the consoling she needed right now. "You say you don't know why you wrote this note? What kind of lame excuse is that?" Rose held her head down in shame. She mumbled something inaudible. "What did you say?"
"Nothing."
"You said something, Rose. Out with it!"
"I… I…"
"Just go. I don't want to look at you right now." Rose looked up at him briefly and he could see the humiliation on her face before she dashed out of the tent, pushing Zin aside as she took off towards the woods.
"Zin?"
"I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I was passing by and I heard you talking and…"
"Zin, how much of that did you hear?" asked Finn.
"All of it, I think."
"Please don't tell anyone, Zin," said Jannah. "I need to process everything to figure out what to do next."
"I won't. Would it be ok if I talk to Rose?"
"I certainly don't have anything to say to her!"
"Go for it, Zin. Maybe you can figure out why she wrote the note." Zin nodded and left.
Finn began pacing the room. This was not the Rose he knew. Rose was kind and caring. She wouldn't threaten someone or try to undue all that they've accomplished. It was completely out of character. How could she be so reckless, so stupid, so mean-spirited? And why?
"Finn," Jannah said, as she gently took ahold of his hand.
"What?" he snapped, quickly realizing he was being snippy to the completely wrong person. "Oh, sorry, Jannah. I'm just..."
"Mad at Rose."
"Yeah. She's been acting strange lately, but this… I don't know what's gotten into her."
"I know," said Jannah.
"What?"
"She saw us. Last night." This caught him off guard and made him laugh.
"No. I see where you are going, but Rose and I decided to just be friends a long time ago. Even if she did see us, there's no way she'd be jealous."
Jannah wrapped her arms around his neck while he subconsciously placed his arms on her waist. "How are you sure?"
"Because I know Rose. She's not the jealous type."
"She's also not the type to write threatening notes and stick it in other people's tents?"
"You got me there."
"Look, Finn. What she did was terrible, there's no questioning about that. But there's obviously something bothering her. You should go talk to her. Besides, she might need some rescuing after Zin."
"I'm too upset to talk to her right now."
"I can calm you down," said Jannah, as she pressed her soft lips against his. It only lasted a few seconds, but Finn could feel his anger melt away. "You really have a way with people. Rey, Rose, me. I even got the sense Poe had a thing for you the first time we met."
"We're all just friends," said Finn sheepishly.
Jannah grinned. "So you say, but you've touched a lot of lives, whether you meant to or not. Look, Finn, I'm not in any competition. You have to follow your heart." She put her palms on his chest. "Listen to what it's telling you and trust its guidance."
"What about you?"
"I'll be fine. No matter what happens, I believe everything will work out for the better. I have to believe that. This is just a… hiccup. It could have been much worse."
"Yeah, it could have been…."
"But it wasn't," Jannah quickly added. She smiled, her beauty unquestioningly stunning, inside and out. Whatever man she'd settle down with would be lucky for sure, even if it wasn't him. "Now, go find Rose," she continued. "Good luck, Finn!"
