Luke is sitting on the semi-circular seat surrounding the holotable in the lounge on the Falcon. Rey and Ahsoka are resting in the crew cabin, preparing to take over cockpit duties from Han and Chewie in a few standard hours - Luke couldn't help but notice when he wasn't given a shift to look after the cockpit. Honestly, it kind of burns him up that Han doesn't seem to trust him with the Falcon, hadn't he proven himself as a decent pilot in the Battle of Yavin?
He tries not to dwell on it, instead, he pours every ounce of focus he has onto the fruit in front of him which just won't move! He narrows his concentration not on the bitter red skin or the soft flesh inside which shifts from a blood-orange near the rind to a bright, sunny yellow near the large pit, but on the field of energy that surrounds it. He pokes at that field with his own energy, prods it, begs it, to move, even just a little - nothing.
"C'mon, move you stupid muja fruit!" He whines, his hands balled into tight fists at his side.
At his outburst the fruit topples slightly, rolling around on the flat surface of the table in front of him. For a moment, he is delighted, until he realizes that it only moved because Leia had bumped the table with her hip as she slid into the seat beside him. He hangs his head as he begins to peel the fruit, deciding that if he can't practice using the Force as Rey had suggested, he can at least fill his stomach
"Sorry," Leia says as she sits.
"Don't worry about it." He says with a shrug, his mouth full of fruit - it tastes like defeat. "I wouldn't have gotten it anyway."
"What were you trying to do?"
"Use the Force to manipulate this fruit." He shakes the disobedient piece of food accusatorily, its juices snaking down his arm, likely staining the sleeve of his jumpsuit. Leia's eyes widen in what might be disbelief, so he adds, "I should be able to, in theory, but I just can't. It's…" He stops himself short. He'd promised Rey and Ahsoka that he would stop saying that things are 'impossible.' "Really hard."
"Hmm," Leia hums thoughtfully. "It seems like it would be a useful skill to have."
"Oh, definitely." Luke agrees, nodding and taking another bite of the fruit. "I just wish it was easier, you know? Ahsoka says I let myself get frustrated too easily, that I should meditate more - but, honestly, it's just really boring." He admits with a laugh.
"Well, don't let yourself get too discouraged." Leia says with an encouraging smile. "You've only been at it for, what, a few weeks?"
"Yeah," Luke agrees with a puff of laughter. "I didn't even know what the Force was a few weeks ago." He looks at Leia who smiles knowingly. Both of their lives have changed so drastically in such a short span of time. "Or who my – our – parents were outside of the name 'Anakin Skywalker'," Luke watches his sister's jaw set at the mention of their father's name, but she says nothing. "I'd never even heard the name Padmé before our meeting with your father."
"I had," Leia reveals softly. "She and my father were good friends and he spoke of her, but he never mentioned… He never told me." She shakes her head, her tone only slightly bitter.
"What do you know about her?" Luke asks, ravenous as ever for any and every scrap of information on his parents.
"She was a senator." Leia says with a small smile. Something warm, something like pride rolls off of Luke's sister, fills the room. "And a queen before that."
"A Queen?" Luke balks. "Does that mean… are we… am I…" His voice lowers to a whisper. "A prince?"
"No," Leia says and Luke can tell that she is struggling not to laugh. "'Queen' on Naboo, where Pad - our mother - is from is an elected position, not passed down through families like on Alderaan. She served her terms and then was asked to represent the planet in the Galactic Senate by the next Queen."
Luke nods, though he's not really sure he understands. His head is swimming. His mother had been a queen, his sister is a princess, and he's… just Luke - a farmer from Tatooine, a nowhere planet which has always seemed to him to be the furthest point from the bright center of the galaxy. Nothing of any significance ever happened on, or came from, the old dust ball, and yet, here he is.
Luke is so lost in his own mind that he doesn't hear R2D2 beeping something just to his left.
"Huh? What was that?" Luke asks.
"Oh, what are you on about now, Artoo?" C-3PO asks as he waddles over. "Oh, well! Don't go spreading lies, you old rust bucket!" C-3PO reprimands the astromech droid who warbles heatedly in response. "Why, I never!"
"What's he saying, Threepio?" Luke asks. His fruit is all but gone, only the pit remains. He rolls the brown seed between his fingers absentmindedly.
"Nothing but nonsense, I assure you, Master Luke." C-3PO explains, turning to Luke and Leia. "I sincerely apologize for his behavior." R2D2 beeps something rapidly that Luke is sure he wouldn't be able to follow, even if he understood binary. "No, I will not tell them that, you rolling trashcan!"
"Why don't you just tell us, Threepio?" Leia says, sounding amused.
"I, well - He's saying that he knew your parents." C-3PO says. "Clearly, his circuits are fried."
"He knew our parents?" Luke asks. "How?"
"He did not…" C-3PO starts but is interrupted by R2D2's annoyed beeping. C-3PO emits a sound like a sigh before continuing. "He says he belonged to your mother before she gave him to your father as a wedding present and that I - well, that's just not true! I would know who my Maker… What do you mean 'full memory wipe?' I think I would remember something like that, you rusted out -"
"They were married?" Leia gasps, sounding just shy of horrified.
"You really knew our parents, Artoo?" Luke asks, leaning down to get closer to the old astromech, placing a hand on his domed head. R2D2 warbles something and Luke wishes he understood what all of the beeping meant.
"He says that he was your father's astromech during the Clone Wars, but that's impossible because during that time we were…" C-3PO trails off for a moment. "Well that's strange, that data seems to be corrupted."
"Wow," Luke says, an amazed smile spreading across his face. His father's droid! What were the odds of it ending up with him? "Leia, isn't this…" Luke looks up, but Leia is gone.
Leia leaves Luke and the droids to their conversation without a word and if any of them notice her departure, they don't mention it. She is quite done learning about her 'parents' for the day, perhaps even for the rest of her life. She knows for a fact that she is more than done learning about the Clone Wars hero, Anakin Skywalker. She doesn't want to hear any more of it. What do his heroics under the Republic matter when she knows of the atrocities he's committed in the name of the Empire? How could it matter to her that he was the Hero Without Fear when she knows that he is now the Fist of the Empire, a brutal man capable of heinous, violent acts in the name of tyranny? It makes her sick to hear about him at all.
Her mother, on the other hand… Leia has heard of Padmé Amidala, the senator and beloved former Queen of Naboo. Her father spoke of his old friend often - Leia now wonders if he'd had some ulterior motive in this, if he'd wanted to tell her about her mother, only he could not do so directly. Leia has always had a healthy amount of respect for the woman, but now, knowing that she is her mother? It fills Leia with a sense of pride, but also deep confusion.
Padmé and Anakin had been married, they'd been in love, and Leia just doesn't understand it. She doesn't understand the woman who could love a monster. How could a woman who had loved the Republic so much, who had believed so deeply in what it stood for, fall for the man who had help see to its destruction?
Leia knows that Ahsoka and her father would tell her that Padmé had loved Anakin Skywalker, not Darth Vader, but Leia doesn't see much of a difference. Anakin Skywalker is Darth Vader, whether he's changed his name or donned a mask matters very little in Leia's opinion. The same man lives behind that mask, the same heart beats within that chest, and she just does not see how a heart can change so drastically.
Leia hates Anakin Skywalker, hates Vader. She hates him for the terrible things he's done, for his atrocities, his crimes, but what she really hates him for is his blood – her blood, the blood they share. She feels unclean, sullied, knowing that she is of that monster, like she is covered in stains that can never wash clean no matter how hard she scrubs at them.
As Leia slowly stalks the rounded corridors of the Falcon, her fingers trailing along the dingy walls lightly, she decides that she could use a bit of distraction. She's frustrated - for a variety of reasons. She's frustrated with her confusion about her biological parents and Luke's obsession with them. She's frustrated with her father, for his secrets, for sending her away. Mostly, she's upset about her distance from the Rebel Alliance. She's worked so hard to become a trusted member of the Alliance, to make herself an asset, and now she has to run off, flee into hiding. It is all so very, incredibly frustrating and she would like to not think of any of it for a little while.
She's about to turn around and head towards the cockpit of the ship when she passes one of the ship's holds, the door left open. Rey is sitting on a box, her focus trained intently on what looks like a pile of scrap metal and a single blue gem laid out carefully on a crate in front of her. The girl blows at a bit of loose hair falling into her face, her hands too preoccupied with tinkering to brush it away properly. The braids she'd asked Leia about days ago are still there, but only just. They've come loose and are falling limply from their design. Leia has offered to redo them several times, but Rey has always refused. It's almost kind of sweet, Leia thinks.
"May I come in?" Leia asks, one hand rapping on the wall outside of the hold, the other held behind her back.
Rey's head shoots up, her eyes wide as well as a red, the skin around them puffed and irritated. She is clearly startled by the sound, but she smiles when she sees Leia and nods her head, allowing entry.
"Of course,"
"What is all of that?" Leia asks curiously, gesturing one hand at the materials spread out on the crate.
"Just working on my lightsaber." Rey says nonchalantly. She waves her hand in the air and the pieces fly up to meet each other, every bit fitting perfectly with another until they've constructed the silver tube Leia now recognizes as a lightsaber hilt. She smiles fondly, remembering poor Luke struggling to lift a piece of fruit earlier. "Is there something you needed, Leia?"
"Oh, no, I was just…" Leia trails off as the girl starts blowing at errant strands of hair again in a vain attempt to get them out of her eyes. "Can I please help you with your hair, Rey?" Leia laughs, pointing one finger at the girl's tumbling braids.
Rey chews on the inside of her lip for a moment, clearly conflicted, before she nods. Leia sits down on one of the crates and motions for Rey to come sit on the ground in front of her. After moving, Rey just sits there for a moment, neither of them doing anything until Leia realizes the girl is waiting for Leia to begin removing the old braids.
"Do you want to take your braids out yourself?" Leia asks with a puff of nervous laughter.
"Oh, sorry!" Rey says, her hands flying up to her head, her fingers twining in the braids, pulling strand after strand loose, her hair falling to her shoulders in rumpled chestnut waves.
"No need to be sorry," Leia assures gently. "It's – ah," She laughs, feeling a little silly. "On Alderaan, taking out someone's braids is a very… intimate act. I know you're unaware of the custom, but it would feel strange."
"Really?" Rey asks, craning her neck to look back at Leia, looking a little perplexed or, perhaps skeptical.
"Yes, well, many planets have quirks and customs unique to their cultures." Leia says, trying not to sound defensive. "I'm sure there are things like that where you're from?"
"Ha!" Rey barks a dry-sounding laugh as she frees the last bits of her hair. "There's no culture on Jakku." She says bitterly. "Nothing but sand and scavengers."
"Jakku?" Leia asks absentmindedly as her fingers begin to work in the girl's hair. She's heard of the planet, but only in name. Somewhere in the Western Reaches, she thinks? She decides on a simple crown braid, something that will keep Rey's hair from her eyes, though Leia is careful to choose a design with little to no meaning. There's no need to confuse the poor old protocol droid further.
"It's nowhere."
"No place is nowhere." Leia says. "Is your family from Jakku?"
She regrets the question instantly, and, really, she should know better. If there is anything the past few days should have taught her, it's that the subject of family isn't always a safe one. Rey's shoulder's slump and it's like Leia can feel the pain radiating off of her, old hurt and sadness, biting deep into Leia's bones.
"I don't know where my family is from." Rey says and her words are not bitter, that's not the right word, more like hollow, empty, desolate.
"I'm sorry, Rey." Leia says, apologizing both for her lack of tact and for the girl's pain.
Rey looks back at her, more affection in her eyes than one should probably have for someone they only met a few days ago, but Leia cannot find it in her heart to care. She continues braiding and tries to think of a change of subject, something lighter, perhaps.
"So, who's the special person?" She asks after some time.
"Who is who?" Rey asks, sounding genuinely confused.
"You know," Leia nudges the back of Rey's shoulder playfully. "The one who gave you the braids – I have to admit, I was surprised. I mean, you and Ben seemed pretty cozy on the Falcon, but I'm not –"
"It was Ben." Rey explains, laughing a little awkwardly, though Leia hardly understands why.
"But… how?" Leia asks, her hands have stopped working in her confusion. "You said that he never made it off of Yavin, that he would be meeting us…"
"I did," Rey agrees, her shoulders tensing noticeably. "It's – the Force. Ben and I… We have a bond, it's hard to explain, but it was him." She assures.
"Alright," Leia says slowly, deciding not to ask the thousands of questions screaming through her mind. She thinks that she is quite done learning about the Force for a little while as well. "So Ben, is he from Alderaan, then?"
"Um, no – no he's not." Rey responds a little tightly.
"A relative then, perhaps one of his parents?" Leia knows at this point that she is prying, that she is toeing the line of rude yet again, but her curiosity has gotten the better of her. There is something about this Ben, something she recognizes. If one of his parents were from Alderaan, perhaps she would have seen him at a gala or an event years ago – that would explain the recognition, surely.
"I, uh…" Rey stutters a bit, her shoulders going rigid. Leia's stomach drops in shame, she opens her mouth to take the question back, to apologize, but Rey speaks again before she has the chance. "His mother – I think." The girl says stiffly.
"Well, that makes sense." Leia says, keeping her own voice light to distract from Rey's discomfort. "From what I remember, Ben has wonderful hair – no Alderaanian mother could resist braiding that, I'm sure."
And any good Alderaanian mother would teach her children how to braid, even a few simple things – though Leia wonders what kind of woman would teach her son the royal braids? Perhaps his mother would braid them into his hair when he was small, crowning him as her little prince. Yes, that makes sense, Leia decides.
"How did the two of you meet?"
"Who? Ben and I?" Rey asks. She laughs and, again, there's that awkwardness that Leia cannot explain. Perhaps Rey is simply unaccustomed to 'girl talk'.
As much as she would deny it if someone asked her outright, Leia misses her friends back home. She lives for her work in the Alliance, she loves fighting for justice and making a difference and would not give it up for the galaxy, but sometimes she misses the simpler pleasantries of her life back home on Alderaan – But that line of thinking… it's silly and stupid, two things that Leia Organa is decidedly not.
Leia sighs audibly. Here she is, forcing poor Rey into a conversation she is clearly uncomfortable with, all because of how nice it feels to be able to speak with someone her own age, not about the fate of the galaxy, but about something as inconsequential as a boy the girl likes. It makes Leia feel a little foolish and a lot like a child, and her frustration is back. She tucks the last strands of Rey's hair into the completed crown of plaits.
"All done," Leia says a little too somberly. Rey looks back with questioning eyes and Leia tries to give her a smile but is fairly sure she fails. "I'm a bit tired. I think I'll head to the cabins to get some rest. Thank you for speaking with me, Rey." She turns and leaves before Rey can say anything more.
Rey frowns as she watches Leia leave the hold. She's not sure exactly what she has done to upset the princess, but she knows that she's done something. Likely, it was her inability to answer any of Leia's questions like a sane person. She'd stumbled over nearly every answer she'd given, but the longer she spends in the past the harder it becomes to hold even a simple conversation with someone out of fear that she will reveal too much of the future.
She brings a hand up to her face to rub at her eyes. She can tell they are still a little puffy and they still have that dull sting from crying.
She'd dreamt she was back home and her friends were there, Finn, Poe, Rose - everyone in the Resistance. They laughed and joked with her, but something was missing. Ben was nowhere to be found. She'd searched for him in the Force, through their bond but he wasn't there, he was gone. She'd awoken from that dream, her heart racing, her stomach churning with nausea, her face covered in tears, and knew that she'd be getting no more sleep any time soon.
She misses them all. She misses Finn, her first and best friend. She misses Rose who she has only recently met but has grown so close to in such a short time. She misses Poe who can be extremely difficult but always has a kind heart and the good of the Resistance in mind. She misses Leia, her mentor and master who is here but also isn't. She misses her friends dearly, but can she keep them and Ben? When they get back to their own time, if Ben does decide to go with her, leave the First Order, will her friends accept him? She thinks she might know the answer already and it makes her feel sick again.
She'd decided to work on her saber, Ahsoka had given her a few tips on how to improve some of the repairs Rey had made after the hilt had been split, when Leia had come in. Leia who had been so kind, who had only wanted to talk - and Rey had gone and upset her. She sighs as she clips her saber back to her belt.
She wanders the halls of the Falcon, tired, confused, and feeling a little empty. She has no destination in mind, but she finds herself in the cockpit after not too long. Han is alone, his feet kicked up on the console in front of him, his arms crossed over his chest, staring out into hyperspace.
"Where's Chewie?" She inquires. Han swings around and rolls his eyes, a half-smile smirk on his lips.
"Old guy was tired, so I sent him off early." He gestures to the co-pilot's seat beside him. "Could use the company if you wanna stay."
Rey nods in agreement as she sinks down into the familiar seat. Something beeps on the console in front of her. She leans in to get a better look. It's nothing, really. She presses a few buttons to silence the sound.
"So, how long you been flyin'?" Han asks from the seat next to hers.
"Actually flying?" She begins, leaning back. "About six months, but I ran a lot of flight simulators back on… back home."
"Sims ain't nothin' like the real thing." Han says with a laugh.
"No, you're right about that." She agrees with a sigh.
"You're a pretty alright mechanic too. You do a lot of that back home?"
"Yeah," Rey huffs.
"So, you goin' back home when this is all over?" He gestures around himself with his hands.
"No - I, uh, there's nothing to go back to." Rey says softly.
"Hmm," Han hums in agreement. "I know what that's like."
"Where are you from?" Rey asks.
"Corellia - it's a real hellhole, I don't recommend it." He laughs but Rey thinks there might be something bitter under the humor.
"I'll take your word for it, but it can't be nearly as bad as Jakku."
"Jakku?" Han sits up, his eyebrows raising to his hairline. "You're from that trash-heap?... No offense."
"None taken." Rey says flatly, rolling her eyes.
"Well, then I can see why you wouldn't want to go back." He shakes his head as he leans against the back of the seat. "So, you're not going home - you got plans at all for after you've saved the galaxy, Rey?" He asks with a sarcastic smirk.
"I don't know." She answers truthfully, shrugging her shoulders.
"Well, you're a decent pilot and a pretty good mechanic." Han shrugs dismissively and brings one hand up to his chin to rub at the scruff there. "I'm sure you could get a job on a ship… somewhere."
"You offering?" Rey asks with a laugh even as her heart constricts remembering the offer Han had made her once. I wouldn't pay you well - I wouldn't be nice to ya. She'd wanted to accept his offer almost as much as she'd wanted to take his son's hand only days later, but she'd had to refuse both.
"Nah," Han says with a laugh of his own. "Nothing against you, kid." He reassures her. "But Chewie's all the crew I need - and anyway, I'm pretty sure you and Ben are a package deal, and I don't think he likes me very much."
"Ben likes you!" Rey says quickly without thinking too much of the words coming out of her mouth. Han raises one eyebrow speculatively, one corner of his mouth still turned upwards.
"Well, the big guy's opinion of me notwithstanding, I'm not looking to take on one crew member let alone two, and I'm pretty sure that big lug'd follow you anywhere."
"You'd be surprised." Rey mumbles, toying at the hem of her tunic.
"I would be." Han agrees. "I mean, he's following you to Dagobah, isn't he?" He watches her for a moment and continues when she doesn't respond. "Listen, I've been around for a while and I'd like to think I know a thing or two about people, how to read 'em, ya know? And I know the look a guy has when he's lost his mind about a girl, it's how your guy looks at you all the time."
"And how does he look at me, exactly?" Rey asks, laughing lightly.
"Like a fucking idiot."
It's not long until Ahsoka relieves Han. She and Rey spend their shift in the cockpit of the Falcon mostly in companionable silence. Rey still doesn't know what she should and shouldn't say to the woman, but they find a few safe topics of discussion, one of which being lightsabers. Rey shows Ahsoka the repairs that she's recently made and the former Jedi padawan give her a few more tips on how to better the design. Ahsoka also takes a bit of time to show Rey her own sabers, of which she has two, which is something that gives Rey an idea.
"Before I had this," Rey jostles the saber hilt in her hand. "I had a quarterstaff – do you think you could make a staff with lightsabers?"
Ahsoka's brows rise and fall in quick succession before she rolls her eyes and laughs, clipping her sabers back to the belt at her waist.
"I know you could." She chuckles.
She listens to Ahsoka speak about different lightsaber forms. There's no room for practical demonstrations within the limited confines of the cockpit, of course, but Ahsoka promises to show her a few moves once they reach Dagobah.
The hours pass without any issues arising. Han and Chewie arrive in the cockpit just in time to pull the ship out of hyperspace. Ahsoka leans into the viewport, one hand on the pilot and co-pilot's seat each. Rey can feel the other woman reaching out with the Force.
"I can barely sense him." Ahsoka says shaking her head, her lekku swaying with the movement. "The Force here, it's too pure, he's not..."
"So, you're saying whoever we're looking for, he could be anywhere on this planet and we have no way of finding him?" Han asks as he pilots the ship low and slow over the dense canopy of trees below. "Great." He growls.
"Just land over there," Ahsoka says with an annoyed huff as she points to a small clearing.
The air on Dagobah is thick with humidity and has a strong, vile odor. Rey practically wretches as she steps out of the ship. The ground is soft with mud everywhere it isn't underwater and much of it is covered with a dense, white fog. Snakes dangle from tree limbs nearby and animals call out into the midday sun as it tries its best to peek through the trees' leaves.
"We should head this way," Ahsoka says, pointing off into the tree line. "I'm sure of it."
"Sounds great, sister." Han says folding his arms across his chest, leaning back on one of the struts of the Falcon's gangplank. He lifts his foot to kick a bit of mud off of his boot. "You all have fun on your little swamp adventure. I'll be here."
"No way, and leave us stranded here?" Ahsoka asks, rounding on the pilot.
Chewie rumbles that they wouldn't leave anyone behind and Ahsoka's rigid posture softens slightly.
"I know you wouldn't, Chewie." She says with a nod. "It's him I'm worried about." She inclines her head at Han who rolls his eyes.
"Hey, I gave you my word. Here and back, right?"
"Yeah, and a smuggler's word's about as good as…"
"Expecting so many, I was not." A voice, one cracking with age, rings out behind them.
Rey whirls around to see a small green alien leaning heavily on a gimmer stick. Deep lines crease his face and thin white hairs poke out from behind his ears. He wears loose, rough spun robes of tan and brown. He considers them all quietly for a moment, his brow furrowed.
"Master Yoda," Ahsoka says, her voice soft, sounding almost surprised.
"Ahsoka," He nods in her direction. "Good to see you again, it is – and you too, Chewbacca."
"Wait a minute!" Han cries from behind Rey. "You know him too?" Chewie only laughs at Han's question. "What the hell, Chewie?"
"Come, all of you." Yoda says turning slowly. "More soup, I must make." He adds with a laugh.