It was the ugliest shawl anyone would ever see. The yarn was a moldy green that could best be described as rotten cheese. A shop owner gave the entire lot to Rey for the price of one skein, pleased that someone was moving the eyesore from her sight.
Knitting had come in handy on Jakku, and Rey had never quite let the habit go. She needed to do something with her hands in quiet moments. Relaxation was even better when it was productive. Rey was patient, leisurely moving loops of yarn from one needle to the other over and over, trusting that each tiny movement was a link in something larger.
Unfortunately time was all she seemed to have these days. A piece of parchment on her desk had six tally marks on it already. Six days in self isolation. Each morning Rey reminded herself it wasn't the same.
The Force rumbled to life. "You knit?"
Rey didn't need to look up. Ben was always there, whether it was in the periphery of her mind or the solid touch of his fingertips on her arm. The Force was a strange thing, but she didn't dare complain about the thing that allowed her to spend time with Ben though he was lightyears away. His gaze felt more urgent lately as it lingered on her face, his dark eyes smoldering coals. They hadn't seen each other in the flesh since Crait, but Rey was beginning to wonder if that was really the truth. When their bodies collided, Ben sure felt solid. Still, tension between them ebbed like the waning and waxing of the moon. It was hard to stomach that one's soul mate was leading the opposition.
She squinted at a flaw in the yarn for a moment. "You know the different between knitting and crocheting?"
Ben smirked. "I'm well versed in more than you know. What're you making?"
"Shawl." The clicking of the needles provided a pleasant background for the comfortable silence. Ben looked nearly hypnotized. The swatch of wool began to resemble a swatch of moss. Rey felt guilty for using all of her other yarn up before settling for the green. She finished a row and set the project down in her lap. "I'm sure you have something more pressing than sitting her watching me knit."
"You've felt… calm. But anxious."
"The country's shut down. I'm more or less a prisoner in my own quarters." She glanced at the tally sheet.
Ben raised an eyebrow. "First Order?"
"Pandemic."
"Ah." Ben nodded, then froze. His face dropped. "Are you sick? What do you need?" Urgency cut through his tone, giving the syllables an intense bite. "Tell me."
"I could use some company, to be honest," Rey muttered. A smile tugged at her lips. "I'm not sick. It's for everyone's safety if we just hunker down."
Without missing a beat, Ben folded his long legs under him and sat cross legged beside her on her bed. Another one of their tricks. Where once Ben could only see Rey, now he could see items near her. The bed was a popular one.
Rey moved her knitting aside as Ben unclasped his cloak and made himself comfortable. "The officers are intolerable," he quipped. "I could use a change of scenery." A sidelong glance suggested another scene all together, but Rey ignored him. "You could have just asked. I would have come."
"I'm an adult. We're quarantining by ourselves." Realization hit her like a thunderclap. "Ben!" She jumped from the bed, her shawl falling to the ground. The row of neat loops sliding off of the needle. "You can't be here." She backed away until she bumped into her workbench. "You might get sick. You're endangering everyone you come into contact with!"
"A ship of First Order officers." Ben wadded up his cloak and stuffed it behind him to use as a pillow. "I don't think that's how this works. Besides, you said you weren't sick."
"A medical droid now, are we?" Rey scoffed. "You admitted you don't have any idea how this works, anyway."
"I've been doing research." He stretched out but made sure to leave enough room for her. "Come here and I'll tell you."
She lingered on the opposite side of the tent. There was suddenly a lot of responsibility on her shoulders. "You promise you'll wash your hands when you get back?"
"I'll even shower, sweetheart," he drawled. "Come here."
Rey gingerly settled at the head of the bed. "What did you research?" She had the ancient Jedi texts, but Ben had access to the entire Sith records and more. The Empire was shockingly invested in record keeping and archiving. To have so much knowledge at one's fingertips must be intoxicating. Rey pushed away her jealousy. It was too late. Ben had already noticed and was smirking.
"It's about us," he said coyly.
Rey snorted. "Research about us?"
"People like us. There hasn't been anything like us for a generation. We're a dyad in the Force. Two that are one." His eyes sparkled in the way that always benefited him. "A power like life itself."
"Stop." Rey swatted as his forearm, but froze when Ben didn't laugh. He was dead serious. She felt bad for her playful attitude. Sitting up straight and nodding solemnly, she asked, "What's a dyad?"
"There haven't been any for centuries. We're supposed to be together. Rule together," he corrected himself quickly. The tips of his ears burned red, but he pushed on. "I know. It takes… it takes a second to digest. This is fate. All of it. I used to hate that my choices were made for me, but they all pointed here. Don't you see?"
"Ben. Kriff." Rey stood up and crossed the room. She stared out the door and scoffed, more of a show than true disdain. There were no secrets when someone could read your every thought and emotion. She was one half of some Force being with Kylo Ren. Of course she was. As if her life wasn't bizarre enough. What would Leia say? And Poe? Oh, kriff, she realized. Telling Finn would be horrible.
Rey paused. Whoa. She skipped straight over the questioning and moved straight to wondering what her friends would think. It made sense, though. She was part of a dyad with Ben Solo. And he was asking her again to join him. Rey chewed at her lip. Perhaps she should have fainted or screamed or cried. Instead, she was coolly pondering the fact. Probably not the reaction Ben expected. "A dyad," she tried out loud.
"Rey?" There was a manic edge to his voice now.
Sanity returned and Rey rolled her eyes. "We're fighting a war. I can't even leave my tent. My place is here." Still, her feet walked back to the bed. Was she talking about the quarantine or her duty to Leia or the light? Did it matter when a pair of amber eyes were silently offering her the galaxy? She reached out and brushed the hair back that had fallen out of place into Ben's eyes. "I never thought I'd hear you raving about something some Sith wrote a million years ago," she teased.
"It was a Jedi," Ben confessed.
"Kylo Ren reading Jedi scrolls? Why, Supreme Leader. You'll get in trouble." Rey feigned scandal. She jumped over one of his legs and landed with a plop beside him. It felt good to be with someone. It felt better that it was Ben. Yes, she thought, he had always been comfortable, like pulling on an old sweater. She gave him a gentle push, if only to let him know he hadn't scared her. "Fraternizig with the enemy, then reading Jedi propaganda?"
He pulled her into his lap. "Rey the scavenger about to kiss Kylo Ren?"
She squirmed in his grasp. She couldn't let him have the satisfaction of tempting her that easily. "You know I might be carrying a virus that takes out your whole ship. Maybe this is all my ploy to seduce you and win the war."
"I better quarantine here with you." Ben pressed kissed along the side of her neck. "For safety," he added, his voice velvet against her ear.
Rey settled into his grasp. Ben's hands were large enough to wrap nearly all the way around her waist. They were comfortable. Compared to her, he was such a huge human that embraces like this left her feeling utterly secure. Where was he when she slept with one eye open every night on Jakku? She toyed with his hair as his lips dipped to her collarbone and lower.
"You didn't bat an eye when I said we were a dyad," he muttered against her skin. "You knew." There it was. The glimmer of Solo charm. "Didn't you?"
"Of course I knew."
"Hmm." Ben dragged the tip of his nose up her neck as he pulled her body closer. "I need to study this connection more."
"Ben Solo," she sighed. "You're the worst."
"Say my name again," he purred against her chest.
"Ben Solo. Asshole."
