Hello all! Slightly shorter Chapter this time. I had a whole plot of this chapter in my head and started writing and...well, that never happened. I feel like this was a bit of a fluff chapter, but I will leave that up to you all.
As I usually say...HOLY! You all are AMAZING and your comments and likes for this story just blows my mind some times. For those who didn't notice my comment last time, I try very hard to make sure I send each review a thank you...you take the time to share your thoughts, so I think it's fair to take the time to send a message.
I have been super inspired by some music I have stumbled upon lately and I have about 4 future chapters already written in my head because of it, so, don't dispare, I plan to keep on this for a while yet!
Thank you all again, and keep it coming! ox
Chapter 24
At some point during the night the storm worked itself out and the morning dawned bright and clear. A small rustling drew Ben out of his deep sleep, snapping him awake in an instant as he listened. The rustling came from just above his head and he froze, keeping his eyes closed as he tried to focus on the location. He reached out with the force but found no sign of anyone else but Rey's mind in the soft pattern of sleep.
The rustling sounded again and he shifted to free his arm from under Rey ever so slowly, keeping his eyes closed as he did, waiting to strike. There was silence for a few very stretched out few minutes before the sound happened again and he snapped up, hand extended grasping with the force for the faint source of the noise.
A trilling squawk filled the hut, causing Rey to bolt awake and sit up, "What?!" as she looked around frantically.
"KREFFING HELLS!" Ben roared, making Rey turn to see a baby Porg floating in the air, squawking loudly in complaint with cracker crumbs down the front of its feathers.
Ben's face was a picture of pure fury as he regarded the small creature complaining as it continued to be suspended in the air above their pillows, his focus singular as he held it.
The initial shock was replaced by the hilarity of the situation and Rey couldn't help but start laughing. It wasn't a small laughter though, it was a side splitting, tear inducing laughter that had her on her pillow gasping for air as she held her sides.
"Oh! Stars….Ben….Let…the poor…thing go!" She wheezed between gasps. She felt the flitting thought cross his brain about just squeezing his hand shut, just before she heard the bird softly thud as Ben tossed it gently out the slightly ajar window by their heads.
Rey had finally got a small amount of control to her laughter and turned to look at Ben, hair completely disarrayed, eyes flashing with frustration, shirtless on the bed. All control went out the window and she fell back to the bed in another fit, while he scowled at her.
He watched her laugh as she hugged her sides, tears streaming out of her eyes and his anger melted away, slowly replaced by the humor that bled through to him. Before he knew it, he was laughing with her lightly and flopped back on the pillow as hers started to ease off.
Rey rolled on her side, flopping an arm and leg over Ben as he started to sober, "At some point we really should get locking doors and windows." She commented with a grin.
Ben nodded with a small grin and dragged a thumb over her cheek, wiping away the last of her tears. The suggestion of a place for just them touched his heart and he leaned down to place a light kiss on her forehead.
"I suppose we should get dressed." He frowned flicking a look back to the bright sunlight filtering through the window.
Rey grinned, her face full of mischief, "I don't know," she said tracing a finger across his bare chest, down his sternum to his washboard stomach, "I wouldn't mind if you stayed like this for a little."
Ben's stomach clenched and he involuntarily doubled over, grabbing her hand, "Hey, that tickles." He grumped and moved to return the favor.
He was about to mercilessly tickle her when the door banged, but didn't open and grumbling was heard from the other side.
They untangled themselves from each other and Rey headed to the door as Ben moved to get his shirt on. Rey tried to open the door, but it seemed the rain and storm had swollen the wood in the frame, making it worse, Ben hadn't quite got it hung straight. The combination had Rey reefing on the handle until it finally gave way popping open with a groan.
Tsaro was standing on the other side with her cart, her expression critical as she eyed the door and then Rey.
"I, ah, this wasn't my fault." She mumbled as the caretaker wheeled her cart passed her with another look.
Ben held back his grin and moved to help Tsaro, "Is everything alright? We were expecting you yesterday." He asked softly.
Tsaro huffed and moved about grumbling about the mess left when she hadn't been around for a single day, "Counsel need to deliberate. Took longer than thought. What happen here?" She asked incredulously taking in the state of the bricks and some items still under some of the furniture.
"We were hoping to talk to you about that. We had something happen when we tried to contain the darkness." Ben said as he helped her unpack her items.
Tsaro's head snapped around and she regarded them, "Darkness out? You should get me. Must alert counsel." She said flustered and gathered her skirts to leave.
Rey stopped her, "No Tsaro, we managed to contain it again, but it was….different this time." She said, unsure of how to describe what happened.
Tsaro narrowed her eyes at them both, "Different how?" She said as if there was something she was suspecting, "No, wait. Describe after eat."
Ben opened his mouth to protest, but she shot him a look that quickly closed it, and he frowned before moving to help her to speed up the process.
It didn't take long before they were all finally settled as was their routine, and were eating a delicious breakfast.
"Now, talk." Tsaro ordered as she settled on her stump, stirring the fire occasionally to get the hottest coals around the kettle.
Ben glanced at Rey and she shrugged in silent communication as to who should start. Finally Ben sighed and relented.
"It started with a dream." He said and described the sequence of events that followed, from his dream, to the meditation and then the release of power that damaged the hut.
Tsaro sat through the whole explanation completely silent and contemplative as she listened and stirred the fire. When he was done she just sat, and watched the flamed for a few minutes processing the information.
With a deep, resigned sigh, she got up and rifled through her cart, pulling out the holocron and setting it on the table between Ben and Rey before returning to her stool.
"Dyad power you tap into. More on holocron we unlocked." She said ad Ben and Rey leaned in eagerly to hear the news.
"Lanai always been on island, force always here, balanced. Air, water, fire, earth as one. But know dark here too. Long ago we ask for help, banish dark and keep us safe. It came at great cost to force users and dyad who gave lives to bind great darkness. As honor, we agree to care for place, but if no teachers left we to pass on legacy." She said sadly.
"But your people have been silent, kept to yourselves for so long!" Rey said, trying not to have it sound like a judgement on their people.
Tsaro nodded regretfully, "We not aware of this. It in pages taken out. Counsel greatly regret loss of much to the darkness and time." Her tone sad and filled with grief.
"But you took us under your tutelage regardless of what had been done in the past. If you wouldn't have…." Rey trailed off, unable to care the woman blame herself when she had truly made all the difference.
Tsaro huffed out a bitter laugh, "Yes, I made point too. Got needed apology from counsel." She said, anger over it still coloring her voice.
"There was something else we found." Rey said looking at Ben, asking him to get the book through the bond.
They showed her the plan and discussed, at length, what it could mean and how they could apply it to binding the dark for the future when Tsaro rose and indicated to them, "Time you check on darkness."
Ben and Rey moved together and closed their eyes, focusing their breath and slipping into the grey. The space seemed to be back to the way it had felt when they first visited, calm and serene. And they both were minutely hopeful that they had actually stopped the darkness when the mirror came into view as the mist seemed to clear.
It was cocooned in a tight wrapping of grey that was hard and shiny as if it were a hard veneer over the entire thing, but the surface was fluid and swirling like the storm had been the night before. Underneath the surface they could see a fluid, black inky darkness churning angrily against the barrier, the wall gone and only fragments in the frame of the mirror.
It was mercifully quiet in the grey, the darkness seemingly muted by their cocoon of force and Ben moved to reach a hand to touch it.
Ben don't. Rey cautioned realizing what he was about to do.
Can you feel it? This one hardly draws on us. I can barely feel it in the back of my mind. He said astonished at what they had done without even trying.
You're right. But how strong is it? How much time do we have? Rey asked leaning close to the cocoon while staying in contact with Ben as if her were a tether.
I don't know, but I don't think it will be to long. Hopefully Finn and Poe will contact us soon. Ben said, turning back to Rey as a signal they should slip back out of the grey.
As they opened their eyes, Tsaro was cleaning around them, but stopped as soon as they exited their meditation.
"Safe still I assume by faces you make." She said with a sharp nod of her head. And she began to pack up her cart. ""Must do chores. You both have work. Go train on outcrop, will be back for supper." She said as her final directions, leaving them no room to argue as she headed out, grumbling at the door still sticking.
Ben and Rey headed out and trained with their sabers until their limbs were jello and clothes were soaked from the amount they had worked. Ben had bested her three matches out of five, but Rey had made him work for each win. He secretly figured that if they sparred for just a little longer, that they would be completely matched.
They washed up first before heading back to the hut in the early evening twilight to find their com's unit beeping with a message from Poe.
"Ben, Rey. I met with the counsel and explained to them what could be coming, and our conversation with Maz. They were pretty skeptical to start, but the vote passed. Finn should be to you guys in the next four days with the first group as Maz wanted. The Resistance is spread pretty thin right now trying to establish the new government, while eradicating the last of the First Order. Keep in touch when you receive the first of the new recruits."
Ben glanced at Rey for a moment with the news, feeling her mind close a little as she was working on something.
"We really should talk about something." Rey finally said, her face serious and her thoughts still shrouded.
"Alright." He said sitting on the edge of his bed to regard her. His anxiety spiked as he figured she was going to say that they shouldn't be together any more with new recruits coming to the island.
Rey could feel a sense for what Ben was trying to hide by his calm façade, and she moved to stand in front of him, taking his hands as he frowned.
"We are going to need as many force sensitive people as we can get. I think that means we really need to talk about having Finn stay here and train." She stared intently at their hands as she spoke, not wanting to meet his eyes for the moment.
Ben blinked a couple of times to process what she was saying as it wasn't what he thought, but then he felt the rising anger of jealousy heat it's way up his middle, "You want him here for his connection to the force, or his connection to you?" Ben said, his voice cold and detached, eyes narrowing at her.
Rey huffed a breath in and out as her temper flared and her eyes flashed as she met his dark stare. He was acting the way she feared he would and she had thought they had moved passed that.
"What was last night to you?" Rey bit back, pulling away her hands, unable to help herself in the moment, due to how she felt his anger merge with hers.
Ben's mouth floundered open and close for a few seconds as she blew the anger out of him with one question, "I…ah…what…" he stumbled, suddenly feeling very off balance.
Rey closed her eyes and took a deep breath calming herself a little before she moved and sat beside him, "Ben, I have made it very clear to Finn where we stand. He is, and will always be, my closest friend." She said gently and reached over again to tuck her hand into his again.
"You are….like….gravity. I have always been drawn to you, even before I knew anything about a dyad. You have a pull on my very soul." Rey nearly whispered, trying to get him to move passed Finn.
Ben closed his eyes and felt very sheepish for his reaction. He knew all of this, and more importantly he felt the same way and he turned to face her, "I know that, I do. He just…." He started trying to explain how Finn rubbed him the wrong way.
"He just, can't keep his mind off you." Ben said through tight lips and Rey tried not to laugh.
"You aren't the only one who can get that from him you know," Rey bit her lips together trying not to smile, "All the more reason that we need to train him to keep his thoughts to himself." She said finally smiling.
Ben's lips twitched up involuntarily at her humor and the last of his anger melted away, "That would be one advantage." He agreed with a small chuckle. "You are right, we need everyone we can." And he leaned in, kissing her on the forehead as Tsaro came banging through the door.
She paused eyeing them as they moved apart slowly and sighed, shaking her head, "Worried for you both." She finally said softly as Ben scowled at her and Rey's mood turned dark at her disapproval.
"What exactly is the problem Tsaro?" Ben's tone was cold with his defensive posture. He didn't appreciate feeling like a scolded school child.
Tsaro turned her sharp stare on them both, "You like children to me. Scared you not survive if use all your power." She bit back suddenly then sighed and sat on her stool.
Her words were like a light on both of them. Of course she was scared of losing them to the darkness. She wasn't just there teacher or caretaker, she had become a motherly figurehead that they both relied on and Rey's eye filled with tears as Ben tried to find the words to comfort his elder.
"Oh, Tsaro. We are going to do everything we can to stop the darkness, and I don't plan on giving my life to this thing. Not when I have survived so much to find you both." She said kneeling beside Tsaro and taking her had as she glanced at Ben.
"Because of you, we have a chance. No one would have been able to stop the darkness if you hadn't gone against the counsel and taught us." Ben said honestly, moving forward to take her other hand, noticing the tears on her face.
"Oh…" Tsaro sniffed and patted their hands in her lap. "My young Master's, I pleased you have love," she started and reached up to pat Ben's cheek addressing him first, "Heart of mush you have, blessing for peace and calm you find in her."
Tsaro turned to Rey and gently wiped a tear from her cheek, "Home you found with him, blessing for family to you." She said softly causing Rey to blush furiously with the suggestion.
She peeked her eyes to Ben who looked exceedingly uncomfortable with the suggestion before he cleared his throat and stood.
"Ah, well. Shall we, ah, have some food?" He stammered trying to change the subject.
Tsaro glanced at him with slight annoyance, "Yes, yes. We make food now." She grumped and got to shuffling around the hut prepping the night meal.
"We got word that the first ground of sensitive will be arriving in four days. Can we have huts prepped for then?" Rey asked sitting in her chair by the fire.
Tsaro paused for a moment in thought, "Should work fine, but need to get building if we want space for all who come."
Ben frowned, having moved to his chair as well knowing he would only get in her way if he tried to help, "There's lots of huts. How many do you think they will find?"
Tsaro chuckled, "Better ready for lots than cram together." She said with a knowing wink.
Ben shrugged, finding no fault in her logic, "What are your thoughts on instruction?" He asked, partly assuming it would be up to him and Rey.
She hadn't thought of that. She felt like she had just started learning about the force and her own powers, how was she supposed to teach others? Rey thought to herself as she worried her bottom lip with her teeth.
Tsaro served them and settled on her stool to play with the fire, "You teach what you do. We teach what is balance. Counsel already set up instructors, will advise tonight of arrival."
They sat and ate, discussing possible training strategies and processes for most of the meal, before relaxing into a comfortable silence as tea was made and handed out. Both Rey and Ben watched the flames as Tsaro finally got up with a groan and went about cleaning and getting her cart sorted.
"Will arrange repairs tomorrow." She said waving her hand in the air to indicate the whole of the hut.
Ben nodded and moved to help her to the door with her cart, "Thank you Tsaro, for everything." He said with an unusually gentle tone.
She nodded at him, her gaze flicking for a moment at Rey's smile before heading out into the, now dark night. Ben sighed, closing the door and returning to his chair.
Rey could feel his mind chewing on something, working it and obsessing over it and she waited patiently watching the fire until he decided to share it.
He finally shifted a little in his chair, "I've been thinking about the passage in the book and what happened here." He stared waving his hands around to indicate the hut as Tsaro had done.
Rey continued to wait as he paused, rolling his mind over it again, trying to find what he was thinking, "The passage where it says; after the darkness shines through the light. We have a physical manifestation of our power here when we make something in the grey. What if we have a physical manifestation of actual light when we reflect out? Or do you think that is off?" He said, starting to back-pedal from his vocal thoughts.
Rey mulled it over too, taking her time before she answered, "It's entirely possible. No one has ever really seen when we have those moments." She said nodding her head in agreement of the description, then adding, "Resolving of gray...what if...what if that means we use the grey from in between to create the light?"
Ben was a little surprised by the suggestion, but slowly nodded his head as he thought it through before his features darkened a little, "There are just so many unknowns. I think we need to start working with the grey, like how we figured out how to make the bricks and the cocoon."
Rey smirked a little, catching his eye, "Ben Solo, are you suggesting we just try, and not have a plan?" She asked teasing him.
Ben's brow knit together, his eyes narrowing at her, "Only so that we can have a plan when we really need it." He said with only a slightly offended tone.
Rey grinned fully at him and moved to the spot in front of him as he watched her curiously. Grabbing and extra pillow, she dropped it at his feet on the floor and dropped to her knees, batting at his one knee until he moved his legs slightly apart, feeling suddenly warm and nervous.
Rey turned on her knee and flopped down with her back to him, and settled with the warmth of his legs on either side of her, her arms resting lightly on his thighs. She felt his sudden nervousness shift across their bond, melting away to humor as he reached out and shifted her hair over her shoulder on the one side.
Ben, bent forward and placed a feather light kiss to the bare skin at the base of her neck, "Comfortable?" he whispered against her and being rewarded with her skin breaking out in goosebumps.
"Hmmm, very." She hummed back, her body twitching as a shiver ran down her spine all the way down to her crossed legs.
Ben sighed happily against her again and just took a moment to breath in the scent of her, his lips turning to a frown as a thought wandered through his mind, "Things are going to change very soon aren't they?" He whispered.
Rey shifted to be able to lean on his leg and look him, his nose dragging across her cheek lightly till he was resting his forehead on hers, "This won't change." She whispered back against his lips as he leaned in and closed the gap.
