The crew sat in the Millenium Falcon's break room. Han, Finn, and Chewbacca all gathered around the holographic game table playing that strategy game with the monsters. Finn faced Han, who had just made a move. The younger man attempted to counter him, but Chewbacca made a grunt and smacked his hand away. He then gestured to another piece and moaned out some instructions. Finn, unable to understand the odd language, cautiously moved the piece, an action that brought an approving wail from Chewbacca, and an annoyed shift in position from Han.

Rey watched them with a smile on her face. After playing him just once, Chewbacca decided Finn was so bad at the game, it was his personal duty to help him improve. Thus, the scene before her. She never said anything about it, but the girl felt positive this was really a ploy to while away the hours. Now that the business on Aruza was finished, they had a two day journey to their new destination. They had to do something with that time.

Ahsoka occupied the little engineering desk in the opposite corner. A tool in each hand, she had that newly acquired blaster of hers in pieces. Rey watched her for a moment, the meticulous motions of her hands, the ever-so-subtle lip bite she probably wasn't even aware of, it reminded her so much of all the time's she'd seen the older Togruta working on speeders back home.

Home. That was an odd thought. It had struck her a few times, the way she referred to that dustball planet she grew up on. For so many years, Rey had wanted to escape from it, to be literally anywhere else. She always hated it. Now that she was away, however, that she'd finally achieved her goal, she couldn't help but feel a sense of nostalgia for it. If she were honest with herself, there were plenty of good moments to be had along with the bad. Interesting ships, lucrative finds, good fights, long talks with her friend, there were plenty of positive things about the place. Now, Rey doubted she'd ever have a desire to go back, but forgetting about it entirely felt wrong. She learned many lessons on that planet, and did a lot of growing. Ahsoka herself said knowledge could always be gleaned from the past. It was probably smart to do just that.

A thump sounded from the game table. Rey missed what happened, but Han clearly had just smacked it in frustration. Finn had a smile on his face, one which faded just slightly when Chewbacca clapped him on the back. Han muttered something about how unfair it was to play two versus one, but he still hit reset. The pieces disappeared for a second, and were back in the their original places when they returned. Finn made the first move, one that Chewie must've approve since he made no attempt to correct it.

Rey looked back at Ahsoka to find her putting the weapon back together. This part, honestly, was even more fascinating that what she had been doing before. There were so many little bits inside a blaster, even a smaller one like the kind Ahsoka currently messed with. Rey had taken plenty of roached old ones apart to get at the good stuff inside, but she'd never attempted to reassemble one, mostly because she knew there was no way she'd be able to. They made less sense than speeders, to her.

The game seemed to be going well. Finn needed less instruction, though Chewbacca still had input on most moves. Watching them made Rey realize she had nothing to do herself. Through a confluence of circumstances, she had been left out. She enjoyed watching her friends get along, sure, but a part of her—perhaps a more juvenile one—railed against the boredom creeping in the back of her mind. She yearned for something to occupy her time with. As Ahsoka stood from her desk, maybe Rey should've been more careful with what she wished for.

"That should do it," said the old Togruta. "Ready for a new lesson, Rey?"

"Always," she quipped. As Ahsoka passed her by, she stood and followed her.

"Go to the other side of the room," the Jedi ordered. Rey spun on her heel and did as instructed.

"Don't tear up the ship," Han said as Ahsoka stopped next to him.

"You mean more than it already is?" Joked Finn. He and Chewbacca both laughed. Han did not.

"We shouldn't 'tear up' anything," reassured Ahsoka. "Get you lightsaber out, Rey."

The scavenger girl did as told, hiding her excitement as she dug the weapon out from where it lived between the folds of her clothing. She made sure to hold it at arm's length, pointed away from her face, before switching it on. The stark white blade jutted from the emitter with that strange, crunchy undulating sound it made. The sudden flash made her blink, but her eyes adjusted after a second.

"Don't forget to turn the power down," cautioned her master.

"Right." Rey set about doing just that.

She practiced every single day with the saber. In most of those instances, the blade power was set to its lowest, just so one incorrect move didn't slice her in half. The last thing she'd been doing, however, was practicing her cuts against some of the new stray boxes aboard the ship. To do this required a full-power blade. It's good Ahsoka remembered, because Rey certainly had not.

"Ready?" Ahsoka asked.

"Yeah," confirmed Rey. For emphasis, she hit her blade against the floor. It bounced right off, instead of going through.

"Perfect. You'll need it as low as possible, because today you're gonna be learning how to deflect blaster bolts."

"Really?" Rey lit up at the notion, no longer attempting to hide her joy.

"It's the first practical thing most younglings learn, because it connects the Force to the lightsaber, through the person, in a very tangible way. I kept telling you to work on your Force Sense, because it's what you'll be using for this exercise."

"Is this what you took that blaster for?" Rey pointed at the device Ahsoka held at her side.

"It is," she confirmed with a nod. "I was just tinkering with it to turn the power down. It shouldn't hurt you, now."

Ahsoka leveled the blaster at the wall to her left and let off a shot. The sound reverberated around the room. Han stood up and took a step toward her, likely an instinctual reaction. When all eyes turned to the targeted area, however, they found the bolt didn't even leave behind a scorch mark. Rey had no idea blasters could be tuned to such a low strength.

"You're lucky," Han said, dismissive. He began to retake his seat, but Ahsoka stopped him.

"Don't sit back down," she said, and then held the blaster out to him. "Care to do the honors?"

Han looked at Ahsoka, to the blaster, and back again. "You want me to shoot her?"

"Yeah, I thought you were gonna do it," echoed Rey.

"I need to observe and coach you. I can't do that and shoot at the same time," reasoned Ahsoka. "Besides, Han is a better shot than I am."

"Well, when you put it like that..." Han trailed off as he grabbed the blaster. Ahsoka stepped to one side so he could occupy the spot directly across from his trainee.

"Okay, Rey?" Ahsoka asked.

"Yeah." Rey said. She was never not okay with it, just a bit surprised.

"Okay. Let the Force flow through you, and tell me when you're ready."

Rey closed her eyes and opened herself up to that energy field that flowed within all living things. At this point, doing so was second nature. All she needed was to think about it, and the feeling of life itself coursed through her veins. She couldn't help but grin as it did. She locked Han in a steely gaze and held her saber out in front of her, stance wide, tip pointed at his nose, just as she'd seen Ezra do in her vision.

"Ready," she said.

"Good. Try to anticipate the shot before it happens. If you react after the trigger is pulled, it's too late. The Force can give you glimpses of the future. Let it guide you," instructed Ahsoka.

"Right."

"Whenever you're ready, Han."

With a sideways smirk, the old smuggler raised his provided blaster pistol in much the same stance Finn had demonstrated back on Duath. Rey reached out to the Force, let it flow through her extremities, just as Ahsoka had taught her. However, she also watched what Han did. Just because she trusted the Force, didn't also mean she couldn't use her own eyes, right? She watched the hand which held the weapon, the arm and shoulder attached to it, searching for any tell of an impending attack.

Han squeezed the trigger. Rey saw the movement and whipped her blade up to where she thought he aimed. The latter instinct was correct, but too slow. A green bolt connected with her left shoulder long before the blade would have met it. She gasped at the sting, momentarily horrified as memories of the last time she'd been shot came rushing back. However, an inspection of the impact site revealed that not only was she uninjured, the bolt hadn't even damaged her clothes.

"That's okay, try again. No one gets it the first time," said Ahsoka in her best encouraging voice.

Rey resumed her ready stance. She locked eyes with Han, who nodded, an unspoken agreement that they both were prepared. He fired another shot. Rey tried to repeat what she'd done on the previous attempt, but faster. For the second time, she failed. This one impacted with her right kidney, which hurt markedly more than the first. She took up her stance again, but this time Han gave her zero preparation before shooting again. This one slid right past the lightsaber blade to bite at her sternum. Even when the move was a matter of centimeters, Rey was still too slow.

"Let the Force guide you," Ahsoka said. "I can see your eyes darting around. You'll never do this if you rely on your own senses. Just open yourself up, and let go."

Rey shot her teacher an inflammatory glance. She'd already opened up and let herself go. How could she go any further? But, still, Rey closed her eyes and focused for a second. She took a deep breath in, held it, let it out. In doing so, that warmth she'd come to associate with the Force crashed in her veins like wind over a dune. Perhaps she did have more to give after all.

"Okay," she said, and locked eyes with Han.

Han fired. Rey lowered her blade slightly and angled it to defend her left side. This time, instead of annoying pain, she felt nothing at all and heard a sharp sizzling sound. Steam rose from where blade had met bolt. It smelled vaguely of ozone. BB-8 made a noise, and Finn stirred in his seat.

Then, her vision seemed to shift. One moment she were about to celebrate her first success, the next she was moving her blade to block the attack she had just seen herself successfully defend against. Steam rose from where blade had met bolt. It smelled vaguely of ozone. BB-8 made a noise, and Finn stirred in his seat.

Rey blinked and shortly shook her head. What just happened? It was so weird, she completely forgot to celebrate. Instead, she narrowed her eyes and focused on Han.

"Good job," praised Ahsoka.

"Again." Rey didn't even look at her.

A shot rang out. Rey moved to intercept it. The bolt fizzed against her blade. And then it happened again. The shot, the move, the block, but this second time it was real. She wasn't sure how she knew, but she did. The first time had been fake, almost like a dream. The second was when it actually happened.

Two more bolts, one at her left thigh, the other at her right arm. Rey managed to dip her saber low to stop the fist one, but the second got through. The events then repeated. The hit on her arm failed to surprise her like the others had. She barely even felt it.

"Don't worry about that, you're gonna miss a few. You're doing great," Ahsoka said.

"Wait, this is weird." Rey held up the universal sign for stop and let both hands fall to her side. Han lowered his weapon.

"Everything alright?" Finn asked.

"No," Rey said. "I don't know. It's weird. It's like... like everything is happening twice. Han shoots at me, and I block it, but then it happens again, only real."

"Like daydreams jutting into reality?" Ahsoka said.

"Yeah." Rey's expression brightened. "Yeah, exactly like that."

"That's Foresight, one of your most basic Force abilities. It's one of the Force Sense abilities. It allows us Jedi to see what's about to happen a second before it does, and then allows us to act accordingly," explained the Togruta.

"Foresight," Rey echoed. "So, I can see the future?"

"Only a second or two at a time, but yes," Ahsoka said. "Actual future-seeing is a different skill, but still possible within the Force."

"Can you teach me?" Rey felt herself growing more excited.

"Later, when you've mastered the basics. Focus on bolt defense, for now."

"Okay," Rey beamed.

She knew from experience that excitement could be distracting. A deep breath tramped it down. She pointed a determined glare at Han. He fired, she blocked in her Foresight, and then actually did it in reality.

They practiced for what felt like a few more hours, though it was hard to know exactly how much time passed on the ship. Long enough, at any rate, for Han to get tired and pass the weapon on the Chewbacca, who looked utterly ridiculous holding such a small thing in his giant hand. Whether human or Wookie as her training partner, the results were the same. Rey continued to trust in what the Force told her. She still took a fair amount of hits, but was able to defeat most.

The effect Foresight had on her vision, her sense of place in time, was disconcerting to say the least. She always needed a second or two in order to recover between shots, which was normally fine given the pace they were training at. However, Rey remembered her little sparring session with Ahsoka, how quickly the aged Jedi had moved, and she wasn't even really trying. A few seconds could be a lifetime in a real duel. She had to get better.

With that in mind, Rey set herself about trying to acclimatize herself to the odd sensation of experiencing something right before it happened. Her efforts were moderately successful. She could feel herself flowing better with the onslaught of information. The downside was that it pulled focus away from the thing she should have been doing. Many bolts got through during this time.

Battered by the intruding lasers and frustrated with the ordeal, Rey decided to do the thing Ahsoka always told her to. She trusted in the Force. It guided her movements, calmed her heart. The more of it she let in, the more natural her motions influenced by it became. It was still jarring to lapse between moments in time, but she knew enough practice could help ease that discomfort, and maybe even eliminate it entirely. If that happened, it would be the surest indication so far of how her training had progressed.

Eventually Ahsoka—who had watched the entire session—called a stop to things. As she had before, the Togruta referenced the dangers of overtraining. If Rey pushed herself too hard either mentally or physically, she would start to see regression, instead of progress. While Rey felt as though she could have gone several more hours, she had learned the hard way to trust Ahsoka's judgment. So, with a word of thanks for Chewbacca, she stowed away her borrowed lightsaber and went to the crew quarters to have a nice sit.

The day passed in a blur of travel and exhaustion Rey wasn't even aware of until she sat down for a moment. An unpleasant trip to the sonic shower and a little bit of time conversing with friends new and old saw her more than ready for bed when the time for it came. Dreams that night of lightsabers and Jedi came to her in spurts between the moments when she were too tired for such flights of fancy. It had been a good day.

...

Late morning the next day, the Millenium Falcon came within visual range of their destination. Takodana was a large planet with a broad green band in the center bordered by polar oceans. It was the first planet Rey had ever seen that didn't have any sort of ice caps. Even Jakku had one. Takodana was either too homogeneous in temperature for something like that, or had simply evolved past the need for one. Either way, the scavenger girl felt a flutter in her heart at the prospect of finally spending time on a warm planet.

As the ship broke through the dense atmosphere, Rey marveled at the scenery. Broad rivers cut through, massive plains and short mountains. Every inch of the planet was covered in either deep green forests or clear water. There were no hints of civilization to be found anywhere. Rey couldn't even see a road or a single building, features which should have been apparent from so high up. It appeared abandoned, completely unpopulated, which Rey assumed was the point. A place like this made for an excellent Resistance base. Why would anyone ever suspect a planet with seemingly nothing to offer?

This illusion shattered when the ship came upon a massive lake, on the shore of which stood an equally impressive structure. It seemed to jut into the water just slightly at a forty-five degree angle. Along this vector stretched two towers—the aft bigger than the fore—into the sky, between which had been built a solid grey stone structure. It seemed to have been built in vertical layers, judging by the reinforcing pillars that rested against the base all around the exterior. It was a structure both magnificent and imposing, and unlike anything Rey had ever seen.

Han put his freighter down around a bend north of the structure. It clearly hadn't been built with space travel in mind, and this appeared to be the only landing area big enough to fit the craft within a reasonable proximity to it.

Upon disembarking, a wave of hot air assaulted Rey's entire being. She anticipated this moment and thought it would be pleasant. The opposite was true. The second she stepped outside, she felt damp, not sweaty or as if she'd just been caught out in the rain, but a sort of sticky moisture she couldn't put her finger on. Duath had felt similar, but not nearly to the same extent. It made the air somehow feel hotter than she thought it was. This warm planet did not make her feel at home as she had hoped. Instead, it came across as more foreign than any she'd been to before.

Seemingly unbothered by this temperature were the people milling about outside the castle. This entire run up had been made into a staging area for various shuttles, and fighters, and other personal craft to set down. There were people unloading cargo, talking amongst themselves, making repairs, and a few even tried to hawk merchandise. While not bustling or crowded by any means—indeed, it probably could have comfortably hosted many more—the myriad aliens and humans made the place feel alive.

"And here we are," Han said as he exited the ship last. "Welcome to Maz's Castle. No fighting, no staring, and no ticking off the droid."

"The droid?" Asked Rey.

"You'll know her when you see her."

With that, Han began to lead the crew toward the castle. Rey had heard of castles, but always expected them to be more grandiose and old looking, less practical and more about showing off. From the outside, this one seemed to be none of these things. But, it could be hard to tell much about a building from the outside. The secrets within would reveal more about its nature.

As they crossed the promenade, passing by various people of all shapes and sizes, something seemed to catch Finn's attention. He pushed past Ahsoka and Chewie—the latter of which gave him a grunt—to stand before them. He lighted there frozen, unmoving, staring off into the distance.

"Something up, kid?" Han asked.

Finn only offered up a single word in response, quiet and confused but full of conviction.

"Poe?"

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Please remember to leave a review.