Now that Rey was truly alone with Ben Solo, she had absolutely no idea of what to say to him. All her former imaginings seemed inordinately silly now that she was walking alongside the man in the flesh. There was no easy way to begin conversation, and the stony set of his features wasn't encouraging. Annoyed as she had been at her recognition of his overconfidence, she rather thought that spending a month in silence was far more unbearable than weathering that triumphant look in his eye when she had to concede his point.

Besides, despite Luke's understandable warning, Rey was still more inclined to trust Ben than not. Setting aside his murky past, nothing he had done with regard to her had been dubious. She knew she shouldn't take it for granted, but Luke himself had instructed her to judge with compassion and wisdom, and she was determined to be certain of Ben Solo one way or the other. Of course, neither compassion nor wisdom could be satisfied if Ben refused to speak to her the entire length of the journey.

It was possible, she mused that first afternoon, that now they were on their way with plans more firmly settled, Ben was at a loss for words just as she was. But she cast aside that thought rather quickly. He'd had no problem expressing himself during difficult moments so far; why should he be so suddenly changed? No, the fault for the awkward silence between them now must lie with her. So must the remedy be her responsibility.

"How long," she asked, once the fire was lit that first night, "will it take to reach the mountains? Will we follow the coastline all the way north?" She thought that perhaps she should already know the answer to this, but Ben had spoken only of their route beginning at the Gallo range. He had said nothing about reaching the mountains from Luke's home.

Ben sat down with a grunt beside his pack, which he searched through as he spoke. "Only a couple of days. They'll be in sight by tomorrow noon, once we leave the coastal woods. If we followed the coastline, we'd end up going east into Corellia, and that's the opposite direction of where we want to go."

"So I never actually left Alderaan?" Rey asked.

Ben looked up from his pack in surprise. "They never told you where you were?" He looked annoyed and amused in equal measure.

Rey bit back an ornery retort. She wasn't in the mood to have her ignorance rubbed in her face again so quickly. "I knew we'd gone east - the sea gave that away if nothing else did -, but I couldn't tell how far south or north Chewie took me. We didn't exactly walk a straight line. And," she looked away, a little ashamed, "I never bothered to ask once I was there."

Ben said nothing, which spurred Rey on to keep talking. "I'm sure Luke would have told me had I asked. I knew the name of the village and the abbey. But it was all so secretive; I wasn't sure I should know exactly where I was."

He grimaced. "Luke is unreasonably protective of his whereabouts. If he gave it any thought at all, he'd realize nobody cares where an obsolete, former hero lives."

"I thought he did it for Mara's sake," Rey countered gently.

Ben pulled up, his eyes wide. The grimace disappeared into a blank look. Was that shame? He considered her words with something approaching leniency, at least. "That may be part of it," he relented. "But it's been many years since she died. There's no purpose to his anonymity now."

"Why was he so worried about Snoke knowing his location, then?"

Ben rolled his eyes. "Some nonsense about Snoke taking revenge on him, or making an example of him to the remnants of the Empire." He shook his head, muttering, "Snoke had no interest in Luke."

"Only in you," Rey prodded quietly.

Ben's head snapped up at her comment. "What of it?" he asked in a menacing tone.

She forced herself to remain calm. "Nothing. Just . . . making an observation," she replied in as neutral a manner as she could.

His upper lip curled. "Oh, I'm sure you've heard plenty of 'observations' about me by now."

Rey's lips pressed into a thin line. "Considering your part in my life lately, can you really be surprised that your family has told me more about you? It could hardly be kept secret that the man who effectively smuggled me out of Naboo was the Crown Prince of Alderaan."

"That's not a title that applies to me any longer," he murmured.

She huffed. "That's beside the point. The point is that once they knew who was responsible, really responsible, for my escape, it was natural that the connection would be made known to me."

"Then you know everything you need to know," he replied simply.

"No," she responded just as shortly. "I don't. I couldn't possibly. And you seem to have the wrong idea of what your family told me about you."

"I'm sure I don't."

"You might be surprised. If you could have heard your mother, the way she spoke -"

"That's enough!" he shouted, one hand closing into a white-knuckled fist that shook on his knee. His jaw clenched. "What do you know about it?"

Rey, startled by the outburst but determined to hold her ground, said, "Only what they've told me."

"And that's all you'll ever hear," he muttered, his eyes intense.

She set her own jaw in response. "I sincerely hope not," she spoke deliberately, her eyes focused on him.

That caught him off-guard. "What does that mean?"

"It means," she said slowly, "we've got a long journey ahead of us, just we two. And I don't intend to spend it being totally ignorant of who you are."

His eyes remained hard, but the shifting of his mouth revealed some discomfort. "You don't want to know who I am."

"Well, I'm not going to travel with a stranger," she challenged. "And like it or not, what your family has told me isn't enough."

He stared her down, but she wasn't finished.

"And like it or not," she repeated, "I won't stop telling you how your family feels about you."

A blatant flinch of his eyes showed she'd shocked him again, but at least he didn't shout this time. "I can imagine what Luke said. That I'm too stubborn in thinking I'm always right. He told you not to trust me, didn't he?"

Close enough, but Rey wanted him to know Luke's exact wording. "No. He did tell me to be careful of trusting you too much. Was he wrong to say that?"

He tilted his head a little, those lips in constant, twisting motion. "No." It seemed to physically pain him to agree with anything Luke said. "It's foolish for anyone to place absolute trust in anybody else."

Rey's brow furrowed. She didn't entirely agree with his statement, but she didn't think now was the time to debate such a thing. She settled on saying, "But you expect me to trust in what you're leading me to. And if I'm to give you that much trust, be it absolute or not, maybe you shouldn't yell at me and keep me from making my own judgments. And stop assuming you know what your family has told me."

"I don't want to talk about my family," he said, his voice on the rise again.

"Fine," she agreed, and the fire in his expression cooled a little. "But this isn't over. I'm beginning to discover you're a stubborn man, Ben Solo," he jerked violently at her use of his full name, but she went on, "but you'll find I'm not a docile creature myself. You don't survive nearly twenty years in Jakku without gaining a little stubbornness of your own. And if I want to talk about your family, I will." She paused, easing a little gentleness back into her voice. "You deserve to know how they feel about you. It might help you."

There was outright pain in his eyes now, but he was making a valiant effort to mask it. Maybe this was why he had kept that helmet on so vigilantly before, the thought struck her. His face was a medley of emotion, and that could easily have been a weakness in Snoke's court. "It's not your place to help me," he said thickly. "I'm beyond help."

She was sure to provoke another shout if she pushed too hard, but she couldn't resist one last comment. "I don't believe that."

To forestall further argument, she bent and reached into her own pack. There, lying atop her meager supplies, was the folded cloth containing the ginger biscuits Roland had whispered to her about. She pulled it out fondly, and unbound the wrapping, keeping her eyes fixed on her task. Ben might want to engage in more fighting if she looked his way too quickly, or he might wish for the little privacy he could get to school his features. She wanted to give him that chance if it was so.

"Have you had these?" she asked, balancing the biscuits carefully so they would not topple to the pine needle-encrusted ground.

"What are they?" he asked gruffly, and she chanced a glance up at him. His face was composed once more.

"Roland's ginger biscuits. He packed them especially."

A corner of his mouth lifted, quite beyond his control. "I remember them."

Extending her arm carefully across the fire, she held them out to him. "I doubt he meant for me to eat them alone."

Their rocky start notwithstanding, Rey had at least broken the ice, so she didn't feel so uncomfortable as they traversed the remaining woods. The air was cold, and as they moved farther away from the sea and the trees thinned, Rey could see spots of white where snow lingered in the clearings. Finding a dry place to sleep would likely be a challenge the remainder of their journey, though she was a little comforted by Ben's knowledge of the mountain caves.

Sleeping outside was not a novelty for her, but in such conditions as they were in, she had trouble adjusting. They took turns keeping watch at night, and as she burrowed into her woolen cloak, hoping for warmth to cocoon her into sleep, it was difficult to give way to slumber with Ben right beside her. When her turn to keep watch came, she wondered if he had the same trouble. Likely he wasn't as distracted by her presence as she was by his, but he was not a trusting person. Did he actually sleep, or did he feign it in case she dared attack or leave him behind? And considering the possible offence she caused him, what did he think of her personally? These and other questions haunted Rey in the darkness.

The supplies they carried were limited; her satchel contained dried food, a couple spare tunics to wear underneath the leather jerkin that covered her torso, and healing herbs and balms Luke had provided her. She didn't ask if he had contributed to Ben's pack. Her water skin dangled on one side of her, bouncing into her hip as they walked. Her sword hung on the other. In her belt was tucked one of the knives she had trained with; the other was hidden away in her boot. All this was partially concealed by the hooded cloak that now served her for a blanket during those uncomfortable hours of attempted sleep.

Like her, Ben wore a sword and dagger on his belt, and his forest-green cloak. However, the dark jerkin he wore was sleeveless, under which was a hauberk of chainmail that she had not seen in their previous encounters. Additionally, slung across his back was a quiver of arrows and the crossbow she had carried with her from the Bacca pass, to Aldera, and to Luke's home. She had thought it best to return Ben's property to him, especially since he seemed to be more familiar with the weapon than she was, her lone shot of it having gone astray. And they had need of Ben's expertise with it, if they had any hope of catching a decent meal.

"We won't be in dire straits, if that's what concerns you," he said on the second evening. The shelter of the woods was behind them, and she could see the mountains in the distance, just as he said she would. Thankfully, there was no rain that night. "We have enough coin to stop occasionally in one of the mountain villages to restock or take in a tavern meal."

"It's worth the risk?" she asked skeptically.

He shrugged. "We're in Alderaan. You're not in danger here."

"Except from assassins in the capital," she pointed out ironically.

Even in the dark, she could see his eyes roll. "All right, you're in less danger here than you would be in Naboo." Clearly he didn't appreciate her poking holes in his arguments. Had no one challenged him in so long?

"And the townspeople wouldn't be at all suspicious of a couple of strangers armed to the hilt."

"Have you forgotten what it's like outside of a castle, Highness?" he snapped at her. "Everybody is armed, if not for anything else, to provide food for themselves. We won't stick out as much as you think. And I'm not planning on lingering anywhere. It's still best to keep a low profile; we don't want rumors spreading and giving warning to Snoke's network that you're on the move. But the occasional stop, quick and anonymous, won't do any damage."

"But we'll stay overnight in the caves," she phrased her question as a statement.

He nodded again. "Having a single meal in a posting inn is one thing; taking a room for the night in one is another. And I'm in no mood to invent some story for us to share a room."

It was a mercy it was night, so Ben couldn't see her blush at the thought of sharing a room with him. Somehow being confined within four walls was a far more intimate situation than sleeping out in the wilderness. "We'd have to share a room?"

"I'm not taking any chances, Highness," he replied forcefully. "I can't protect you if we're separated."

Why do you want to protect me? Rey longed to ask. How does any of this help you? He hadn't spoken of every hardship he'd undergone in the past few months, but judging from what he had said and the continual exhaustion he exhibited, Rey could imagine her experiences so far had been less physically taxing than his. What was it that made him willing to bear those hardships? Half a year had passed since she had asked him, "Why?" before separating at the canyon, and his reply still echoed through her.

You are my queen.

But what made her so? His allegiance was no small thing, and she was glad of it. But what had brought it about? If she dared ask, would he bother answering? He was not a liar, but he also blatantly kept his mouth shut when he chose not to answer a question. And she suspected that if she pried into his reasons right now, he would say nothing beyond reiterating her own claims. Nothing of his own motivation to help and protect her.

At this point, perhaps it was best not to question why he went through all this, but to simply accept it and be grateful. But she would not be content to be ignorant forever.

The valley between the woods and mountains wasn't entirely barren, although it was rather dreary-looking with the skeletal trees and bushes that awaited spring's renewal. Patches of snow that lingered in the shade spread into muddy brown sludge that was difficult and slow to move through. The freezing wind that blew heavily through the valley, unhindered by any large barriers, was enough to keep Rey's feet from becoming mired for long, though. It gave her the incentive she needed to keep moving, and she was more than ready to reach the shelter of the mountains so that she could walk without sinking and hear more than just the whistling wind in her ears.

Trudging through the snow once they neared the mountains wasn't much different than the muck of the past two days, and she was afraid of the snow seeping through her boots and cutting off the feeling in her feet. Fortunately, Ben was able to find a well-traveled track along the foot of the mountains fairly quickly, which was still muddy, but Rey preferred the mud to losing a toe. Soon enough, they had even left the track, climbing up rocky slopes and into crevices barely wider than Ben's shoulders.

He walked these unmarked paths with the quickness of someone well-acquainted with them. How often had his father brought him here? Was it odd for him to walk these old trails as though he were a stranger, knowing all the while that this was the land he had been born to rule?

They crept through a narrow tunnel, and for a brief moment, as the light at the entrance disappeared at a sudden turning, Rey was afraid of being trapped in the darkness forever. She threw out her hand, grasping at Ben's arm as best she could. He halted abruptly at her touch, and the mail of his shirt was cold and unfeeling under her fingers. It did nothing to alleviate the fear that clutched at her chest.

Then his hand, not terribly warm, but strong, calloused, and firm, enclosed itself around hers. And as rapidly as her fear had sprung up, it was gone. He said nothing, but stood there quietly, waiting with her. She wasn't sure how long it was they remained, his hand covering hers, her heart making the swift leap from fear to comfort to breathless anticipation. It could have been a few minutes, or a passing moment.

Doubt nudged at her all too quickly, though, and she drew her hand back, feeling foolish and young for betraying her weakness. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"It's fine," he replied quietly. "Can you go on?"

"Yes," she said with a huff. "Sorry. It won't happen again."

There was a brief pause, and then he said, "Not much farther," and he stepped out of reach.

If she had waited only a couple of seconds, there would have been no fear to betray, as the tunnel wound around again to show the light at the other end. Rey shook her head, berating herself. When had she suddenly been afraid of the dark? And what made her think that Ben would lead her somewhere she couldn't get out again? She was utterly ridiculous.

There was another short climb after they left the tunnel, at the top of which was their destination. The cave was larger than she expected, burrowed far back into the rocks, large enough for at least ten people to shelter comfortably. It was obviously well-used, the ground gravelly and dirt-packed rather than rocky or muddy. A fire pit was situated back a few feet into the shadows, old scratches were etched into the walls, and a few abandoned crates that had probably once held smuggled cargo were scattered throughout the enclosure.

Ben, after depositing his pack on the ground, dragged a couple of the crates closer to the pit, and walked farther back into the shadows. Rey, her feet weary, plopped down on one of the crates far from gracefully. Breathing in a deep sigh of relief, she felt her shoulders relax and let her legs stretch out in front of her.

A thunderous crash broke her out of her brief respite, and she sprang to her feet, drawing her knife from her belt, and whirling to where Ben stood.

"At ease," he said with a smirk, kicking broken pieces of wood out at her. Again, that shameful feeling of foolishness overcame her as she realized Ben, instead of fruitlessly searching for firewood out in the damp mountains, was creating his own by smashing apart the boxes littering the back wall. She stowed her knife back in her belt, and caught hold of a few of the pieces Ben had nudged her way.

"You scared me," she muttered crossly, wishing her hood was up to hide her face.

"Sorry. I should have warned you," he replied, gathering wood into his arms, as well. "If it's any consolation, your reflexes are excellent. No intruder would be able to get the drop on you. Although, we already found that out in Aldera."

It wasn't much of a balm, but Rey wasn't about to deny the scrap of dignity he offered her. She allowed the wood to drop in a heap into the pit. Ben followed suit.

"Now what?" she asked.

He picked up his crossbow. "Have to find dinner somewhere."

Rey groaned. "We have to go back out there?"

Ben snickered, his lips curling into the closest semblance of a smile she had yet seen from him. She felt herself reddening again. "We're well secluded. If you're willing to risk it, I can look for food alone."

"What do you think you'll find?"

"Hopefully a hare or bird. If we had a horse, I'd look for something bigger, but we can't carry much out of here as it is."

Rey nodded. She looked around the cave, already revelling in the protection from the wind. She wasn't eager to go back out into it. "I'll stay here, if you don't mind."

For a moment, Ben looked like he was going to say something, his eyes showing a hint of concern. But whatever he wanted to say, he kept back, settling for an awkward hesitation. He grabbed the quiver, and headed for the mouth of the cave. "I'll be back within the hour, whether I find something or not."

Rey bit her lip. For all it was his suggestion, and she was ready for rest, she suddenly wasn't sure that it was right she stay behind. There was not only the vague uneasiness at being left alone, but a guilty shame in recognizing that he had journeyed just as far as she had and hadn't taken even a moment to recover. But she settled for another nod, and watched him climb back down the short slope to the path. With that mild sense of guilt gnawing at her insides, she sank onto the crate again, and closed her eyes for just a moment.

The moment dragged on, and she jerked into consciousness before toppling onto the ground. Looking outside, she saw the sky had darkened, which meant she must have dozed off, but for how long she wasn't sure. Ben hadn't returned yet. She hoped it wouldn't be too long before he did.

The voices from below the cave didn't sound terribly friendly.

Rey jumped up, alert and afraid. The voices, accompanied by the occasional grunt, were approaching, the group making the climb up to her hideout. She could make out three distinct voices, though there may be more. She glanced around the empty cave walls, fruitlessly looking for help. The rocks displaced by ascending feet could be heard clattering down the hill. She drew her sword.

A black-haired man appeared, hoisting himself onto the rock shelf without noticing her at first. Once he straightened, though, and Rey could see a woman's head appearing in the same manner, he saw her.

"Looks like we're not alone up here," he said conversationally, taking hold of his companion's arm to help her up the rest of the way.

"Oh, just our luck," the woman replied sourly, wiping her hands on her gray leggings once her footing was secure.

So they weren't a group out to follow her. This was a little bit of a relief, but she wasn't about to sheathe her sword just yet.

"Wes!" the man called down to an unseen companion. "Leave the stuff for a bit. We've got a squatter."

"Shouldn't be hard to clear her out," the woman muttered with a smug sneer. "Not much to her."

The slight was enough to get Rey's blood boiling, especially since the wiry woman was several inches shorter than her. "You might be surprised," she replied coldly, raising the sword by a fraction. "You care to try?"

The woman laughed, and another man appeared over the ledge, this one heavier-set with light-brown hair, and a solid-looking quarterstaff hanging off his back. "Go on, girl," she said in a mocking tone. "Don't make this harder on yourself than it needs to be."

"Just you clear out, and we won't harm a hair on your pretty little head," the second man said, whipping his staff out in a quick motion. "This is our place."

"I was here first," Rey said stubbornly, her eyes narrowed.

"Not the way I see it," he replied, stepping toward her menacingly. "We consider this our holiday spot, if you get my meaning, and you're trespassing."

She lifted the sword higher, digging her toes into the dirt experimentally. "You want it back? Come and claim it."

Something in her voice must have hit a nervous vein in the dark-haired man, as he said with some concern, "Wes? Maybe it's best to leave off. It ain't her fault we came on the same night. What if we kick her out and she goes to the deputy in Istabith?"

"Yes, Wes," Rey said, drawing out his name like they were old acquaintances. "What if I did just that?"

"You'd have to be able to speak," the woman said, her pale eyes turning into slits as she unearthed a long knife from a hidden scabbard. "And you can't speak too well with your tongue cut out."

Rey stamped back the tremor of dismay that ran through her. These people probably did nothing more beyond scaring off potential enemies, but she didn't doubt that they were entirely capable of following through on their threats. Was this the kind of smuggler Han Solo had been, with deadened eyes and cruel smiles? And where in the world was Ben?

Still, she held her ground and channeled all the bravado she could muster. "I wish you luck. No one's been able to beat me in years," - best not to admit that she hadn't been in a real fight in nearly three years, and none of her former fights had been with the sword - "and I doubt I'll even work up a sweat handling you." She spun the sword once in her hand to stretch her muscles, and rather hoped the flourish would show them she was no novice.

The nervous man backed up a step, but his companions weren't impressed in the least. "You'll regret not listening to us, girly," the woman warned, and lunged forward with her knife raised. Rey lifted the sword to parry her attack.

A familiar thwap sounded, and the woman let out a horrific scream as her knife dropped to the dirt. She cradled her hand against her chest, shrieking still at the arrow lodged in her palm. Rey's eyes shot out the cave to the opposite slope where Ben had appeared, reloading the crossbow as he hurtled down it.

Wes lost no time, and didn't seem to care that Rey wasn't actually alone. He leapt forward, swinging his staff wildly. Rey jumped out of the way of the first strike, but the weight of her sword slowed her movements, and she wasn't able to avoid his second swing, brutally landing on her arm and knocking her into the cave wall. She managed to avoid hitting her head, though she nearly lost her grip of the sword as she ducked out of the way of his next attack.

He stumbled forward, losing balance as she spun out of reach, and as he turned to face her again, she kicked out, her foot landing solidly in his large stomach. The lurching of his body in such quick succession was too much for him, and he fell onto the ground with a heavy thud. His grip on his own weapon was tenuous, and Rey quickly closed the gap to whack the staff out of his hands with her sword.

Distantly she could hear the whimpers of the woman, who had crouched down to the ground, still nursing her injury. She could also hear the pleading tones of the other man, though her focus on Wes was so strong that she didn't know what he said. Wes was disarmed and down, but he wasn't ready to admit defeat. He backed out of the reach of her sword, his hands scrambling along the ground. Rey stalked after him.

It was then that Ben finally appeared over the ledge, and Rey chanced a look his way. He met her eyes for a moment, but almost immediately he shouted, "Look out!"

As the knife slashed across her upper arm, the first thing she thought was, Stupid girl. She knew well that Wes wasn't done fighting, and nothing, not even Ben Solo, should have made her lose her focus. The next thing that registered in her brain was the searing pain of the wound, and she let out a howl of her own. Her sword was ripped out of her hands, and before she was aware of how it happened, Wes had her in his grasp, her injured arm twisted behind her as he held her back up against his front, the knife at her ear.

Ben had the crossbow trained on Wes, his eyes threatening and furious. "Let her go," he growled, the hushed tones far more alarming than a yell.

"Not a chance," Wes replied, his voice straining for breath. "Put down the bow."

"Not a chance," Ben echoed, taking a step forward.

Wes pulled Rey back with him, and she hissed in pain at his relentless grip. If he twisted any more, he could easily break her wrist. "You got one of my crew; I can take one of yours," he said. "We told her to shove off, but she wouldn't listen. Maybe she'd try harder if one of her ears was gone." The knife pricked at her earlobe, and she tried to squirm away from its point.

"Try it and you're dead," Ben said, his low voice lethal.

"Just an even exchange," Wes said, another twist of the wrist forcing a gasp from Rey.

Ben lifted the crossbow. "This'll get you right between the eyes if you move another inch."

Wes laughed, and Rey was distracted from her pain the instant his foul breath touched her skin, enough to realize his error. "You might hit your little friend here."

"I. Don't. Miss." Ben's reply was slow, serious, and utterly frightening.

Rey jabbed her elbow of her completely free arm with all her might into Wes's paunchy side, and with a grunt of pain, he released her hand. She twirled immediately, sending a punch into his wrist to dislodge the knife from his grasp, and, hooking her foot around his ankle, she wrenched his feet out from under him.

He went crashing down to the ground, and she scooped up the knife as she knelt alongside him. Hurried footsteps came closer, and she felt Ben standing above her. She wouldn't take the risk of looking away from Wes again. With a slow and careful hand, she glided the knife under his nose, and she saw his shoulders shake.

"What was it that would make someone listen better?" she inquired sweetly. "The ear?" She gave a light prod to his fleshy ear, and he positively yelped.

"All right, all right," he exclaimed in a panic. "You've made your point. The cave is yours."

Now she looked at Ben, chancing a triumphant smirk. His lips barely twitched in response, but his eyes were dangerously pleased.

She looked back at Wes, and let the smirk die away. "The cave is anybody's. You've got an injured fellow there, and cargo to keep safe overnight. If your friend there will give me his word on your behalf that you won't try anything stupid," she jerked her head back where the dark-haired man still stood, panic and dismay leeching off of him, "you can stay here tonight, too."

Rey barely had a chance to take in Wes's surprised expression before the other man jumped in, his voice breathless. "Yes, yes, I give you my word. We won't do anything. I promise. Please."

In an instant, Rey withdrew her hand, and leaned back into a crouch. Wes sat up, rubbing tenderly at the back of his head. "Didn't expect that," he muttered.

"Which part?" she asked.

He opened his mouth to quickly retort, paused, considered, and then replied, "Any of it, I guess."

Rey pushed herself to her feet, the acute ache in her arm returning. But she was curious about Ben's reaction to her unexpected offer to Wes's crew, and looked up at him to see if he disapproved. His countenance didn't give anything away of his feelings on the matter, but his eyes bored into her all the same.

"From now on," he said quietly, "no more splitting up."

A/N: I received a comment about how the landscapes I've described are Tolkien-esque, and while this is probably true, another point of influence from Lord of the Rings is how I picture their clothing. Ben is basically in Faramir/Aragorn Ranger mode, which is my favorite mode on both those men. Whichever one you want to picture works for me, but I personally lean a little more toward the Faramir Ranger outfit than Strider in my head. I mean, Aragorn's the man, but Faramir is MY man. (well, one of them. ;) )