Ben surveyed the grocery section of the supply group with a sinking heart. Dinner with Rey's friends was tonight and the two of them had no idea what or how to cook. A small basket of root vegetables caught his eye, and he picked them up with an unexpected sense of confidence. "I can cook these," he assured Rey. "But only if we build a fire."

She stood over a rack of other produce, clearly at a loss. "I don't know what any of this is," she groaned. "I have no idea what to do with it."

Ben joined her. Some things he recognized from the dinners at his parent's house, but their meals had always been prepared by staff. He shrugged. "My mother was a princess on the New Republic council. My dad was a smuggler. She knew how to order food and he knew how to smuggle it. I don't know where to begin." He put his arm around her shoulder. "We need help."

Rey touched her commlink. "Rose? Are you busy?"

Rose sadly informed them that she was about to go into a staff meeting. "Don't worry though. I'll be at dinner," she assured Rey cheerfully.

"Who else can we call?" Rey asked, looking up at Ben with desperation on her face.

"For what?" a voice asked from behind them. Poe stood over the selection of proteins, picking over them with a look of knowledge on his face.

"Dinner," Rey grabbed him by the arm. "Do you know how to cook a dinner?"

Poe laughed. "I'm a guest! I'm not supposed to cook! That's for you guys to do. Or just use the synthesizer."

"It's down again. And there's all this real food to eat. Come on, Poe," Rey begged. "We don't know where to start." Then her eyes brightened as she pointed at Ben's basket. "Except we know how to cook these. Ben does."

Poe shook his head. "Trust me, you don't want those. They're too bitter this time of year. You buy them and age them for a few months. Then they're good."

"Then we'll store them for later," Ben stated, determined to leave the stand with something he could contribute. "Thank you," he added probably more delayed than he should have, but at least he remembered to try to be polite. It felt like a victory.

Poe watched them poke aimlessly around the selection of starches. "No. Neither of you know anything about cooking." He sighed. "I'm free this afternoon. I'll help." Rey squealed her thanks and threw her arms around him. Poe just nodded back at her and patted her arm. "What do you want to have?"

"Anything but rations," Rey stated with a look at Ben. He nodded in agreement, delighted by her enthusiasm.

Poe wandered around the stand, Rey following closely, and selected several items. "I'll teach you two helpless infants how to make stew. It's hard to screw up, lasts for days, and gets better the longer it's stored."

They headed back to the little house at the school where Poe began to pull out knives, wooden boards, and a large pot. "You two start chopping these into pieces this big." He held his finger and thumb about two centimeters apart. He passed them each several vegetables. "Peel those," he instructed Ben, pointing to a pair of long purple things.

"How do you know how to do this?" Rey asked as they tackled their piles.

"Just growing up at home," Poe replied matter of factly. "My mom had a special recipe. So me and my dad made it pretty often." He glanced over to where Ben was attempting to peel the purple things. "No, you're taking off too much of the good stuff," he complained, then dug around in the storage unit and gave him a smaller knife. "This will help."

He watched the two of them for a minute then yelled, "Stop! I swear you two might be lightsaber masters but you don't know anything about using a knife. Where did you even come from?"

"Desert planet. We didn't have real food. Just rations," Rey stated as she watched Poe begin demonstrating how to hold the knife.

Ben had no idea how to answer. Childhood state dinners followed by student dining followed by First Order meal service? "No place that cooked," he answered finding himself just as fascinated as Rey by the pilot's skills.

"Where did you grow up?" Ben asked Poe after the demonstration, taking over the peeling duties again, now more comfortable with what he was doing.

Poe swirled some oil into the pot and began stirring in some very aromatic items over the heat. "Yavin 4. Mostly with my grandfather when I was little. Then with my parents from when I was about six."

Dameron. Yavin 4. Ben frowned, searching his memory. "Who were your parents?"

"Shara Bey and Kes Dameron," Poe answered. "Why?"

"Shara Bey is your mom?" Ben couldn't help the admiration in his voice.

Poe nodded, but there was a bit of hesitation. "Yeah."

"Who's Shara Bey?" Rey asked as she chopped.

When Poe didn't answer, Ben continued, "Shara Bey is a legend. I grew up hearing all kinds of stories about her and Kes. Dad called her the best pilot in the Rebellion. And that's saying something from him because he regularly told me he was the best pilot in the Republic."

Poe stopped stirring. "You know some stories about my mom and dad?" he asked Ben curiously.

"Tell us one!" Rey seemed very excited.

Ben began retelling the one he always asked for. Shara Bey had led Leia and Queen Sosha Saruna in a fighter attack on Imperial satellites that were going to destroy the planet of Naboo. His mother had told it very dramatically, highlighting the narrow misses and the daring maneuvers pulled off by Shara. He loved the story as much for his mother's enthusiasm in telling it as for the excitement of the adventure.

As Ben recounted the story, Poe became more and more interested to the point that he pulled the pot off the heat to listen. Rey had completely stopped chopping.

When Ben finished, Poe fixed him with a hard stare. "I never heard that story before. Not like that."

Ben shrugged. "That's how my mother told it."

Poe turned back to the cooktop. "She died when I was eight," he said after a moment. "My dad told me all he could, but I guess he never heard it from that perspective."

"Is he still alive?" Rey asked.

"No. He died while I was acting like a stupid kid on Kajimi. Same disease got them both. I think maybe from exposure to Imperial explosives during the Rebellion," Poe stated as he poured a large measure of liquid into the pot.

"I'll be glad to tell you all the ones I can remember," Ben offered. "My mom never told me that Shara died. Or that she had a son. Just that she was a fantastic pilot and your dad was a great warrior. You know he blew up the shield generator on Endor, right? With my parents?"

Poe never looked up as he stirred. "Yeah. Funny, isn't it? Our parents were so close, and I had no idea you existed until you tried to rip that map location out of my head."

Ben went back to his chopping, head down.

"So your moms saved Naboo?" Rey broke the long silence that followed. "I might be from Naboo. Well, my parents might be."

Poe glanced over his shoulder at her. "Really? We should go find out."

Rey smiled at him. "Yeah. We should." She looked over at a very confused Ben.

"Naboo?" he mouthed at her behind Poe's back.

She tilted her head meaningfully at him and started humming an old lullaby his mother had learned on Naboo. For some reason he kept thinking of looking at stars in the desert.

Poe began to add ingredients into the pot. Rey watched carefully, but Ben just watched Rey. She was so excited by everything, asking questions and helping out.

"Now we wait," Poe announced. He glanced down at his chronometer. "I guess I can go home and come back closer to time to eat. Just stir it ever so often so it doesn't burn."

"It can burn?" Rey sounded horrified. "Just hang out with us and make sure it doesn't," she suggested casually, but Ben felt genuine fear in her.

Ben knew his presence was making things awkward. "You two visit," he suggested and washed his hands at the prep sink. "I'll go work on the … thing…we were talking about earlier."

Poe just rolled his eyes. "No, don't go anywhere. I'm sorry about bringing up the whole map thing."

"You shouldn't be," Ben replied. "It was the truth."

"No, I am. You didn't have to dismantle the Order. Granted you made me crazy the entire time, but you worked really hard to make it happen," Poe stated and took a seat at their little dining table.

"How are the troopers doing?" Ben asked, taking the seat around the corner. "I believe you called them demented babies at one point."

"They are!" Poe leaned in conspiratorially. "I can't say it around Finn—Rey, don't tell him any of this—but they are!" He threw out his hands dramatically. "In some ways they are hopelessly naïve. They need orders for everything. And they are so touchy-feely with each other." He looked over at Rey. "I thought Finn was some kind of weird exception to the rule, but they are all huggers. And Force help you if you cross one of them." He shook his head. "You get the entire squadron ready to rip your head off."

Rey laughed, but Ben understood. They were loyal to a fault. He'd been one of them, loyal to the Order and its leader, loyal to the death. Truth be told, he'd always be one of them, now maybe more so since the evil leadership was gone.

Poe had apparently only begun in his airing of stormtrooper grievances as he stood and started to pace the floor. "They know one thing and one thing only—blasters. They can strip one, clean one, fire one, or rebuild one not an issue. But ask most of them to do anything else and they just look at you confused. They can't fix a machine or fly anything—well most of them are okay on a speeder but heaven help them if it gets much deeper than that." He groaned. "The big thing is they don't know how to just live on a planet in a community. They're so-I can't believe I am saying this-they are so sheltered!"

Ben was dismayed by this, but Rey laughed. "I kind of understand why. Growing up on Jakku was nothing like this—here. Whatever I learned I had to teach myself and if it wasn't available on my datapad, I didn't even know it existed. That's why I can't cook," Rey sighed. Then she gave them both a very determined look. "But I am going to learn."

Poe sat back down with a sigh. "This is nothing like being in the Resistance. I went where Leia told me to go and did what she said. These days I've got way too many decisions to make."

Ben nodded. "These last several months have been one long, uncomfortable staff meeting," he said with a deep sigh. "All talk. No action."

Poe laughed. "Leia once told me some problems can't be solved by-"

"Jumping in the Falcon and blowing stuff up," Ben finished for him. "She used to say that to my dad every time he got impatient with the diplomatic corps. Plus I heard it every time I lost my temper when I was a kid. Which was a lot," Ben commented wryly.

A sudden image flashed through Ben of Leia talking to Poe like he was her son, advising him, berating him. "So you were close to my mom." He couldn't help the hint of jealousy that crept into his voice. Then he reminded himself that Poe had been there for her. He had not. He cursed himself silently.

"She's the reason I was in the Resistance," Poe confessed. "She found me throwing away my life and brought me in. That was about seven or eight years ago. She said I was a hotshot pilot who needed to quit running spice and find something useful to do with my skills."

"You ran spice?" Ben's jealousy increased and it was his turn to lean in conspiratorially. "Did you ever do Kessel?"

Poe looked at him askance. "Why do you ask?"

"My dad told me so many stories about doing the Kessel Run," Ben replied earnestly. "I always wanted to try. Not run spice or anything, just make the trip. He never would take me. I think my mom disapproved."

"Oh yeah, she totally disapproved of spice running—" Poe sounded disappointed at first, then caught Rey's look of horror and backpedaled quickly, adding, "And for very good reason. It's a terrible thing to do."

Poe shook his head but his feigned disapproval was immediately undercut by his next gleeful admission to Ben. "But it is insane how much fun it is! I never did Kessel but I would absolutely love to try it. You'd just need the right ship."

"My TIE Whisper," Ben said reverently. "It was so fast. I had the prototype. There wasn't another one like it."

"I flew a TIE off of your ship with Finn," Poe said, his voice more full of dreamy recollection than horrible memory. "Damn. If I'd known how those things could move, I might have joined the First Order instead. It handled like a wild animal. So responsive and so quick. I mean turn on a credit." He hadn't heard Poe be so passionate about anything. Ben completely understood.

"You should have flown the Whisper." Ben couldn't help the longing in his voice. "Talk about fast and not just sublight—that thing would tear a hyperspace hole like you wouldn't believe."

"I can't believe you two!" Rey interjected in mock disapproval. "Bonding over spice and TIE fighters!"

"We're not bonding," both men said simultaneously.

"Go stir dinner so it doesn't burn," Poe instructed her with a wave then turned back to Ben with renewed interest. "So. Ben. Where might we find that ship now?"

He made sure Rey was busy at the cooktop before quietly replying, "Rey burned it on Ahch-to."

"She what?" Poe sounded heartbroken.

"Hey." Rey turned and shook the spoon at them. "I had reasons."

"Great reasons," Ben agreed enthusiastically, but the minute her back was turned shook his head sadly at Poe.

"Tell you what." Poe patted him once on the shoulder. "I bet I can wrangle us a few minutes of flight time just to keep us sharp. Can you fly an X-wing?"

Ben gave him a dirty look. "I learned to fly in an X-wing."

"I learned to fly in an A-wing," Poe bragged.

"You did not," Ben contradicted him immediately. "Nobody learns to fly in one of those temperamental sons of bitches."

Poe laughed. "Okay, okay, I learned in an X-wing, but my first time up was with my mom in her A."

"Ow!" Rey's sudden gasp of pain and the quick surge of fear he felt from her had Ben spinning away from the table and to her side, his heart leaping in alarm.

"What's wrong?" he asked, checking her over quickly.

"It blooped at me," she complained, wiping at her cheek. "I'm okay." Her face bore a small red mark.

Poe jumped up and adjusted the heat downward, then put a lid on the pot. "It does that."

"I'm not sure if I want to cook after all," Rey laughed. "It seems dangerous." She smiled up at him. "I'm okay," she repeated, her hand on his arm. "Sorry I scared you."

The entry chime sounded. "It's Rose and Finn!" Rey exclaimed. She kissed Ben on the cheek. "I'm okay," she repeated one more time.

Ben sat back down at the table. Poe shook his head and laughed. "You should have seen your face. I swear it's like you saw a ghost."

Ben forced himself to take a deep breath before answering, "For over a year she was a ghost. Nothing but a ghost whispering in my head every few days or showing up when you guys did or haunting my dreams that I couldn't remember."

Poe turned solemn immediately. "I didn't mean anything, Ben. It must have been awful." He paused and glanced back through the doorway to the other room where Rey was excitedly chatting with Rose. "She seems so normal. Like it never happened."

"Good," Ben stated firmly. "I will be the nervous wreck for both of us."

The girls entered the kitchen, still laughing. "Smells good in here," Rose exclaimed.

"If it is, Ben and I made it. If it isn't, Poe made it," Rey declared.

All the adrenaline that had hit Ben's system when the stew splashed Rey gradually faded and left him happy to sit back and watch her. She set the table, poured drinks, chatted with Rose, welcomed Finn when he showed up, and tasted stew for Poe. She was so happy she practically glowed.

Maybe it was the afternoon of conversation with Poe that finally broke down some of his reserves, but he found himself laughing and smiling and participating far more than he expected. Finn even asked him some technical questions about lightsaber construction, and he found himself getting into a very deep conversation about kyber crystals.

"You'll need one if you're going to continue down this path," Ben finally declared. "Rey, you too." He paused, and his brow wrinkled a little as he felt the aura of the Force surge around her. "Especially you."

The group continued to visit and chat, but Ben found himself lost in thought. His crystal had come from Tatooine on his only visit to the planet. He hadn't known anything about Anakin Skywalker at the time, and certainly had not heard anything but rumors about the legendary Darth Vader. For him the trip had been about finding a crystal for his padawan lightsaber and entering the next step of his training.

Once he'd discovered his heritage and began hearing from his grandfather—or the presence that posed as him—he expected to make a return trip. The voice however had been adamantly against it. He hadn't understood why at the time, but now he wondered if perhaps going to Tatooine might have brought him a little too close to the real Anakin Skywalker and not the imposter in his head.

"Ben? You okay?" Rey touched him on the shoulder. "Are you finished?"

He looked up to see that the others had finished their meals and were sitting there looking at him expectantly. "Oh. I'm sorry. Yes." He pushed back his half-eaten bowl. When she reached for it, he grabbed her hand. "We have to go to Tatooine."

"Who? You and I?" she asked. He nodded. "Okay. Sure."

"Finn too," he added.

Finn blinked at him in confusion, his eyebrows raised.

"Rey, I need you and Poe to fly the Falcon. So Rose has to come to keep it repaired," Ben announced, feeling a sudden deep need to keep the group together for this, to be surrounded by people he could trust, stunned by the fact that he actually had people he could trust, possibly for the first time in his life.

"I am not at all interested in making a trip to Tatooine," Poe stated. "You fly. You said you've been missing it."

"No. I won't fly the Falcon." Ben shook his head firmly. "But I would like to take it. I think it might be appropriate."

He looked around the room at his friends-suddenly realizing just how much he wanted to call them his friends too, not just Rey's friends. "I mean, if you all will come. Will you come?"

They all looked at each other. Deep inside him Kylo Ren reminded him of how wonderful it had been to just order people around. None of this awkward, uncomfortable asking business. Ben shushed him.

"I guess so." That was Rose.

"I've never been there. I don't think." Finn frowned and looked at Ben. "Have I?"

Ben shook his head no, feeling more responsible than ever for making sure Finn truly embraced his abilities.

"Fine. All right. We'll go to Tatooine." Poe threw up his hands in resignation. "Now, what's for dessert?"

-0-

When they landed in an empty hangar bay at Mos Eisley, Ben felt the Force lurch around him. "Did you feel that?" he asked Rey. She shook her head slightly, then reached over to take his hand.

"Whatever it is, it's centered on you," she said quietly. "Do you know where we need to go?"

"I think so," he answered. "I think I'm being pulled there."

Poe asked BB-8 to stay behind and watch the Falcon. When the little droid chirped a protest, Poe said, "I know, I know. But it took a month and half to get all the sand out of you after Jakku. Just watch the ship for us, okay? We'll be back in a few days."

BB-8 beeped an assent and they disembarked, basic supplies in tow.

They paid the harbor master for the bay and hired out a large landspeeder. Ben drove, possibly a little too fast, based on the white knuckle grip Rey had on the windscreen and Poe's repeated calls of "Woohoo!" from behind him. But he felt driven to get somewhere, a place he knew he'd never been.

He pulled up to a cluster of low domes, tall machinery studding the landscape around it. "What kind of place is this?" Rose asked.

"Moisture farm," Rey replied as they exited the speeder. "They were all over Jakku. The vaporators collect water from the air to sell and to irrigate underground farms." She shaded her eyes and peered at the horizon. "It won't be long before sunset. We probably shouldn't be out at night."

"How can you tell this is evening and not morning?" Finn asked curiously. "We didn't ask local time when we arrived."

Rey reached down and ran her hand into the sand. "The ground is still hot a few inches down. If this was morning it would be cool." She glanced around the compound. "My guess is the vehicle bay is that one," she said pointing across to one of the domes.

They all looked identical to Ben but he climbed back into the speeder and drove over to it. Sure enough, a door opened in the side to reveal a garage, mostly stripped but with what had once been a workbench on one side, the floor dotted with the tell-tale grease spots of any vehicle bay. He secured the speeder and stepped out.

"Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope." His mother's voice echoed in the Force around him.

Obi-Wan. Ben Kenobi. The Jedi he was named for.

Ben ran a hand over his face and wished he hadn't come. He felt Luke's presence as well, but the Force signature felt like a much younger version than he'd known, young and frustrated. Then he heard Rey calling him through a doorway in the back of the room.

"In here," he called back and closed the door to the outside, grateful that the passive lighting still worked in the building.

The door opened and Rey entered. "I feel him everywhere here," she said in awe. "Master Luke. How did you know this was his home?"

"I didn't," Ben admitted. "If I had, I would have stayed far away."

"Why? Luke is your family. Don't tell me you haven't made up with him," Rey sighed.

Ben remembered his encounter with Luke in Canto Bight, just after Exegol. "We did. Mostly. But I still feel like I'm intruding in a place I have no right to be."

"Well, come on inside. There's not much here, but at least it's a shelter for the night. You can tell us why we came all the way to Tatooine," she said, taking his hand and drawing him through the doorway.

The house was made of domes interconnected by arched hallways of the same manufactured stone substance. The rooms were mostly empty, clearly long scavenged for any valuables. In the main family area the floor was bare apart from the remains of broken furniture.

The group gathered around and all took a seat on the cool surface.

"So why are we here?" Poe kicked off the discussion. "I mean I know I'm only the pilot, but I still want to know."

"Finn and Rey both need a lightsaber. Their own," Ben said. "That means finding a kyber crystal-their kyber crystal-and Tatooine was where I found mine." He patted the hilt of his lightsaber, feeling the familiar, yet now changed thrum of the crystal answer him.

"I still don't see why I need my own," Finn said. "You gave me Luke's to use. And Rey has Leia's."

"Exactly. Neither are yours. A Jedi's lightsaber is more than a weapon or even a tool. It's an extension of who you are. Kyber crystals are Force-sensitive-maybe even sentient," Ben explained. "They pick their wielder. You don't pick them. You both need to be chosen before you can move to the next level of your training."

"So do you know where to find more kyber crystals?" Rey asked.

"It won't be easy. Tatooine is one of the few places left that still has them. The Empire and First Order harvested most to use in their weaponry." Ben ran his hand over his face. "Kyber crystals used to be the most plentiful on Ilum but Palpatine mined out most of them to power the superlasers of the Death Stars. They dug a gigantic trench that pretty much encircled the planet to get at them. "

"Let me guess, then they turned the remainder into the powerplant of Starkiller Base," Poe surmised. "That's how they made a weapon out of a planet."

Ben nodded. He had not been part of any of those plans and activities, but still felt the weight of guilt settling over him. He'd been part of a system of evil that perverted and destroyed millions of these very special crystals that never willingly served anything but light. He shook himself out of the past with a shiver. "Exactly," he agreed with Poe. "But Luke brought me here to Tatooine along with several other students. We searched in the caverns along the ranges for weeks to find all the crystals we needed.

"I bet you were the last one to find a crystal," Finn commented knowingly. "Tell me I'm right."

"You're right," Ben admitted. "And the one I found was flawed. Luke told me it would never be usable, but I knew it was for me. I had to try. It took me months to build a housing that would contain the power without allowing it to fracture."

"So you proved him wrong," Rose stated. "You've proved a lot of people wrong, Ben. I think that's a good thing."

Her assurance made him happy. He smiled.

"Wow! Ben Solo in a good mood!" Poe exclaimed. "How the hell did that happen?" They all laughed together, the sound echoing around the room. "So where do we start looking?" the pilot added after they'd indulged their good humor.

"I think maybe we meditate," Rey interjected thoughtfully. "We can each try on our own and if that doesn't work, we might pool our resources." She looked at Ben, one eyebrow raised slightly.

"Good idea," Ben agreed.

"So, Finn," Rey said as she stood up and reached down to help him to his feet, "let's each find a quiet spot and go to work."

"In the meantime, the rest of us can unpack the supplies from the speeder and set up base camp here," Poe declared. He got up and pulled Rose to her feet as well.

Ben watched them all scatter but something else had caught his attention. The Force wavered around him, leading him out of the room, past the old kitchen area where Rey had taken a seat, past the side room Finn had chosen, and down a long hallway to what appeared to have once been a storage area.

Nothing much was left apart from some broken shelves and a pile of what appeared to be random items pushed into a corner, half covered in the sand that seemed to creep in everywhere. He knelt and picked through them, his fingers searching for something he couldn't name. At last he found a small holodisk-its tech decades old. He sat down cross-legged on the dusty floor and began to tinker with the power supply.

Finally it flickered into life and what appeared to be some kind of memorial began to play. Holos of a dark-haired woman of middle age began to loop. Some showed her with a man; some included a younger couple; some were her on her own. He tried to bring up the data file but it was corrupted. Eventually it froze on an image of her. She was smiling, but her eyes were still sad somehow. He felt as if he knew her.

"My mother, Shmi Skywalker," came a man's voice behind him, a voice he knew entirely too well.

Ben spun around to one knee, lightsaber ready in hand. "I don't know who you really are, but get out of my head," he growled.

"It's not Darth Sidious this time," the man said sadly. The Force ghost that stood before him was not helmeted and clad in black as he'd been in every vision Ben had ever seen before. But the voice was the same and the Force itself whispered the man's identity to him.

Ben just stared at him suspiciously.

The ghost stepped toward him and pointed to the holodisk in his hand. "That's your great-grandmother, Shmi. She lived here a long time ago."

All the years believing he'd heard that voice, seeking this man's approval, asking him for guidance landed on Ben at once. "Why? Why now?" he demanded furiously as he leaped to his feet, a deep anger surging in him strong enough to drive tears to his eyes. "After all this time. After everything. Why are you here now?"

"Because I finally can be," Anakin replied gently. "I tried so many times to get close enough to you to fight him. I watched him twist into your mind with my voice but no matter how hard I tried, he had built a wall between us I couldn't break through."

He stepped closer. "Now you are here with my mother's holo in your hand. She was the only thing I loved about this place." Anakin reached out to stroke the image. "You've found her and that made it easier for me to finally reach you."

Ben took a shuddering breath. "What do you want from me?" he asked the ghost, forcing himself to look straight into his eyes.

"Nothing. I just want to tell you that I'm sorry." Anakin put a hand on his shoulder. It was surprisingly solid. "I lost everything to the darkness inside me—my wife, my children. When I realized the same thing was happening to you, my grandson, I was so afraid for you. I watched you turning to that darkness, and I couldn't stop it." A wistful hope came over his face. "But then you came back. You fought back against it."

Anakin's eyes filled with tears. "Master Qui-Gon Jinn believed I was born to fulfill a prophecy. I would bring balance to the Force." He shook his head sadly with a half-laugh. "But that prophecy was never about me, Ben. It was about you. You and Rey together, my grandson and his granddaughter, the children of both light and dark. You bring balance to the Force."

Ben didn't resist as his grandfather put his arms around him. "It was always you."

Anakin's real presence washed over him, pride and love and regret mingled together. Ben hesitated at first, then returned the embrace. "It's alright, Grandfather," he said softly. "It's all going to be alright now."

As his form began to fade, Ben heard Anakin say in quiet assurance, "I know."

The blue glow in the room faded back to the dim passive lighting as Ben stood there alone, the holodisk off now, but still gripped in his hand. He took a long deep breath, held it, then let it out again, feeling something turn loose deep inside him that he hadn't even realized was knotted.

Rey rounded the corner suddenly, fear etched all over her face. "What's happening?" she practically shouted at him. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," Ben answered, but couldn't help the catch in his breath. "Yes," he repeated as she threw her arms around him. He leaned against her, his balance, the light to his dark, the dark to his light. He leaned against her and let go of the past.