Rey's staff blurred above her head like a hurricane as she spun. Her vision was narrowed as she trained, laser focused on the invisible enemy in front of her. She finished her spin by striking downwards toward the ground with all her might, her body shaking from the momentum.

"Uhhhhhhhhaaaa!"

Rey's exertions were louder than normal as her yells bounced off the pavement of the open balcony. She had been spending most of her time here - an empty, open terrace above the west wing of the capitol - since they first arrived on Chandrila. It was a free and peaceful place to train and clear her mind.

Afterall, keeping her body in constant movement was the only thing that kept her mind off of the reality of her current situation. Their current situation.

Her muscles ached from yesterday's training, but she worked herself harder today, harnessing the pain to give her focus.

Yet, as she trained, she still couldn't escape her own thoughts of the stupid mistake she had made of bringing Ben here to Chandrila. She knew it was too soon after the war to return to a galaxy that wasn't ready to accept Ben Solo, but she had been so eager to see her friends that she had been blinded by the inevitable.

Rey twisted, her staff growing hot in her hands as she moved. Sweat was pouring down her face and stinging her eyes. Tears began to wet her cheeks, boiling her frustration, and she yelped and struck the air again.

She was distracted. She turned too quickly, lost her footing, and stumbled to the ground, scraping her bare knees and elbows on the hot pavement.

Rey landed with a huff, tossing her staff to the side in exasperation. She let it roll away from her as she laid there, defeated, letting the warm Chandrila sun bake her and silently wishing it would set her afire.

She closed her eyes, the tears streaming down her face as her breath came in full sobs. She let out a loud wail and pounded her fists against the concrete.

Three weeks.

It had been three weeks since they first arrived on Chandrila. And it had been three weeks since Ben was snatched away and arrested shortly after they arrived.

Though she was surrounded by friends, she felt utterly alone and had been alone for three weeks.

Finn and Poe assured her they had not told a soul about his arrival and had taken every necessary precaution to keep it a secret. She believed them. It wasn't at their advantage for Ben to be arrested by the authorities here.

But she had underestimated the small government in Hanna City. Though hardly existent after the war, they were still present and understandably wary of any First Order sympathizers who remained. Somehow, word had gotten out, and here was the former Supreme Leader of the First Order in their city, handed to them on a silver platter.

She cringed every time as she remembered how the enforcers had crashed into their room, stealing him away from her as she stood wide eyed and confused.

Ben didn't struggle. His eyes looked knowingly at hers, his expression blank and hauntingly calm as they dragged him away. Rey stood watching, mouth gaping and helpless. She knew he could crush them with a twitch of his hand if he wanted to, but he didn't.

And now, as he sat beneath the city in his dura-glass cell, he could break out of that prison if he wanted, but he didn't.

Didn't they see that?!

Rey had pleaded with him, begged him to break out, escape and leave Chandrila. They would find each other again, as they always had. He refused, saying he was not going to run away from what he had done and he deserved to atone for the darkness he had spread.

Rey had been so angry at him as he fell on his sword, insisting to stay and wait for trial - or worse. She had screamed at him, her voice ricocheting through their connection, questioning what all of this had been for if he was just going to let himself be executed in the end.

And leave her alone. Again. She might as well have gone back to Jakku to live out the rest of her days.

The bond between them kept her only partly sane. Not being physically near him was draining, as if Palpatine was sucking out their life force again. She hadn't been herself these past few weeks, hardly eating and incredibly irritable. She felt her skin pale and her eyes sink in with dark circles as the days passed.

As she lay defeated on the hot ground, she suddenly sensed soft footsteps approaching from inside the capitol. Rey didn't bother to look over and waited until the shadow of a figure standing over her blocked the red sun from behind her lids. She cracked her wet eyes open, squinting.

Rose.

Her presence was soothing. The girl sank down next to her, touching Rey's shoulder. Rey sat up abruptly, suddenly embarrassed with herself and wiping her face with the back of her arm.

"Rose, hey. What are you doing here? Hope you didn't see-"

"I didn't see, only heard." She smiled softly, looking over at Rey's staff which had rolled clear across the balcony. "Pretty sure the rest of the city heard too."

Rey frowned, shaking her head, "Ah, I'm sorry. I'm being so selfish-"

"Selfish? You're being human." Rose settled herself down next to Rey, taking her hand.

Rey was shocked. Rose was always a close acquaintance, a friend even, but they hadn't ever been this close. Now that she thought about it, she had never been close to any other woman before. All her close relationships had been man or wookie - or droid.

As if reading her mind, Rose continued, squeezing her hand, "Woman to woman. The boys aren't here now. Talk to me."

Rey looked at Rose, her lips parting slightly as she felt a sense of warmth and welcoming. She felt suddenly drawn to talk about how she was feeling, to open up to Rose.

Rey felt her lips tremble and the tears began to overflow again, "I'm not ok, Rose. I'm not." She shook her head and took a deep breath, "I should have never come here. I should have never brought him back, not this early. I was so stupid. It's my fault he's down there..."

Rose was silent as she let her finish. Her words drifted off with her sobs.

Rey had never talked to Rose about her connection to Ben and had hardly spoken to Finn about it. So how could she possibly understand what she was talking about?

Rey quickly realized that she had underestimated the innate ability of a woman to see through another woman's desires like glass.

"You love him." Rose replied. It wasn't a question.

Rey's mouth gapped slightly and her voice shook terribly as she replied, "So...so much." She nodded.

Rey expected an onslaught of questions from the girl, but they didn't come.

"You couldn't have known what was going to happen when you got here." Rose shook her head and her eyes burned intensely, "You made the best choice you could have made at the time given the situation you were in."

Rey could see why Finn adored this girl so much. She was kind, tender, and smart, yet strong and you certainly didn't want to cross her. She could hold her own and could fix anything better than any man could.

Rey was silent, only her soft sobbing filling the void between them. She was struck by how wise the young girl was.

"Force, why won't he just break out of there and leave this place." Rey blurted.

Rose shrugged, "Maybe because he wants a normal life. Maybe he's remorseful now. He's like Leia, in that way."

Rey bit her lip and nodded. The pain that seared her heart was like a hot knife dug deeper each time she thought about Ben alone in that cell.

Rose sighed and continued, "Rey. You really do love him."

Rey nodded, though it was more than that. She had always felt 'love' was too simple a word to describe what she and Ben shared, but it would do. After all, they were the only known dyad in the entire galaxy. It was a bond that ran far deeper than love.

Rey sighed, wiping the tears away and suddenly feeling foolish.

Rose leaned in, embracing her in a warm hug. Rey's eyes closed tightly as she buried her face against her shoulder. She hadn't realized how much she needed this, needed to speak to another woman and to not have them question why the hell she was in love with Kylo Ren.

They pulled away, Rey smiling at her new dear friend.

"Tell me something good. Tell me about you and Finn, about what you're working on right now. Anything. What can I do to help you?"

Rose sat back and smiled, "Finn's great. Things are..." she laughed to herself and shook her head looking down, "...amazing." She sighed, blinking rapidly as if to clear a memory and continued, "But, uh, yes I'm staying busy. Currently working on restoring power to the rest of the city."

Hanna City was powered by a central oscillator that had been damaged by the First Order during the war. Only half the city currently had power, which was sufficient in the short term, but if they had any plans of making this a serious capital, they had to restore power to the rest of the city.

Rey smiled and cocked her head to the side, "That's a dangerous job, but knowing you, you're the one to do it. You got people helping you with that?"

Rose grinned, nodding, "Yeah. The mechanics here have been very helpful. It's been so interesting, getting to work on something so huge! I mean, yeah I know it's what you'd call 'dirty work' and a little bit dangerous, but I love it. And once we're done, it will have a huge payoff."

Rose's excitement about her work made Rey happy and took her mind off her own worries, if even for a moment.

"That's great, Rose. I'm happy for you." Rey replied, sincerely.

Rey began to stand, grunting slightly as she felt the ache in her muscles. She turned and walked towards her staff, snatching it up off the ground and slinging it back around her shoulder.

Time to stop moping around, she thought.

She turned back to her friend, "Thank you, Rose. Really. For...listening, and for everything. You have no idea..."

Rose took a step closer to Rey, looking up at her with her big, warm eyes, "I'm always here for you. Anytime."

The girl grinned and turned, heading back towards the capitol. "And you know where to find me!" She called to Rey before disappearing back into the towering steeple to return to her work.