Rey woke with a start to find herself in unfamiliar surroundings, when suddenly the events of the previous day came flooding back to her.

Her soft brown gaze fell upon Ben, who was fast asleep with adorable little snores escaping him every now and then. To see him like this, looking so peaceful, content and carefree without the burdens of the world upon his shoulders was a sight that she wished that she could lay her eyes on forever. Yet, Rey knew that that just simply wasn't possible. She had responsibilities and duties… to go guard and keep an eye on Palpatine.

That murderous snake.

So, with one last look at Ben, Rey forced herself to her feet, before quietly opening and then, closing the door behind her, as to not accidentally pull Ben from his peaceful sleep.

Anakin and Ahsoka were already waiting for her at the exit to leave the Temple, so she sped up her pace, as to not hold them up much longer.

The walk to the Senate building was surprisingly pleasant. Anakin who normally grilled her in a full-out interrogation mode the whole way over, was actually being surprisingly friendly, as he just chatted with her about this and that, along with thanking her countless times for agreeing to teach him how to do her healing ability from the previous night.

The whole time Ahsoka just stared at them perplexed, as if trying to figure out how the whole dynamic of their relationship had changed so drastically, seemingly overnight.

Upon finally reaching the Senate building, Rey bid the two Jedi farewell, while silently hoping that Anakin would now be so kind as to not stalk her, before heading off towards the Chancellor's office. It took her about 5 standard minutes and then, she was there.

Ready to go in.

For a moment, hesitation filled her, because honestly, without Ben at her side, the notion of being face to face with Palpatine filled her with dread. Still, she knew that this was something that she had to do. For the galaxy and everyone in it. Plus, Rey knew that she didn't have much of a choice after all, because if she wanted to do what was right, then she'd open the door and "guard" Palpatine.

Simple as that.

So, pulling her shields as tight as she could around her mind, Rey opened the door and strolled into the Chancellor's office, any prior fear or uncertainty now wiped from her face.

"Good morning, Chancellor Palpatine," she greeted him warmly, a pleasant smile resting upon her face.

"Good morning to you too, Master Rey," the Chancellor greeted back with a smile reflecting her own.

Briefly, Rey watched as his gaze flickered to the empty space next to her, before flicking back to her gaze, "it's a quite the pity that Master Solo isn't here," the Chancellor sighed, before giving a small pause, "is he at least on his way to recovery?"

Never before had Rey maintained a conversation this long with the Chancellor, as she took her place besides his desk. Part of her brimmed with pride at how far they'd come, but another part of her found herself put off by Palpatine's question, because it left her drifting off into dark thoughts, as she wondered why he was asking and what he wanted her to say.

Rey answered with the truth, "yes Chancellor, he's currently in recovery and should be active again within a few days."

The Dark Lord of the Sith gave a small nod of his head, "good… good. I am happy to hear it."

"As am I."

A couple of hours passed with the two locked in their usual silence until Palpatine finally spoke once more, turning to her.

"I must say, my dear," Rey had to physically stop herself from cringing at the endearment, "that I was quite impressed by your feat against Asajj Ventress yesterday. I found it quite… inspiring," Palpatine spoke with a politician's smile, leaving Rey feeling unsure of the situation and what exactly Palpatine meant by "inspiring." "However," Palpatine continued, "never before have I seen or even heard of white lightsabers or a Jedi being able to heal with the force to the extent that you did. I am just truly left in awe by the ability of your power."

At the mention of her incredible power that she now realized that Palpatine had most definitely picked up on, Rey felt a chill go up through her spine.

Still, Palpatine wasn't done yet.

"You and your Jedi companions saved my life, Rey… may I call you Rey?" Not wanting to deter the mission from its course, Rey just gave a small nod of acceptance. "Yet, most of all, you were the one to save my life. In the face of adversary, you were the last one standing and able to take charge, even when the probability of success was slim," Palpatine paused for a moment, as if sorting through his many thoughts, "so, because of this I wanted to thank you and invite you to the join me at the Galaxies Opera House tomorrow night to see 'Fallen From Grace.' It'll be on me and I must say that it is quite honestly, a breath-taking performance," the Chancellor's eyes fell upon her curiously, as he awaited her response.

Unsure of what angle Palpatine was trying to play, Rey found herself digging through every nook and cranny of her brain trying to figure it out. Still, while she was sure it was most definitely nothing good, Rey couldn't pinpoint Palpatine's exact motives… at least not yet. For while Rey knew what Palpatine had witnessed the previous night, what with Rey's powerful healing ability and how that must've easily fueled his desire to build up a stronger connection with her. Still, she found herself confused as to why she was the only one going to the Opera House with him, for if any Jedi were to be given the offer to go with him, she'd expect it to be Anakin. After all, he was arguably the closest of the Jedi to the Chancellor, as told by the history of Rey's time, along with how Anakin had literally been stalking her to make sure that she didn't have bad intentions, regarding keeping Palpatine safe. Although, arguably she supposed that Anakin truly did have reason to believe that she might have bad intentions with her current position at the Chancellor's side… since she most certainly did. Though Rey hoped that at least in this stage in his life, Anakin would be able to see things from her point of view, if he knew what Palpatine had done and planned to continue to do.

One could only hope

"Of course Chancellor," she told him with a kind smile, "I'd be honored."

"Wonderful," Palpatine replied rather cheerfully, "I am delighted by the news," he then paused momentarily, "we shall head out tomorrow evening, straight from my office."

With a brisk nod from Rey and another mutterance of thanks, the two fell back into silence, once more, as the day proceeded, leaving Rey with little to do but fall into her thoughts, which were not a fun place at the moment, as they fell, tainted with darkness and foreboding, surrounding all the possibilities of what the next day could bring.

Eventually hours passed and nightfall came.

Happy to finally be able to move her legs again, Rey made her way to the door, just as Palpatine stood and dismissed her for the night with a silent wave of his hand.

Anakin and Ahsoka were already there waiting for her, just like earlier that morning. Although this time, Anakin appeared to have the energy of a three year old child, as he eyed her with barely concealed anticipation.

"Are you still up for that lesson?" He asked her, as he continued to shine with energy, while they made their way out.

"Of course," Rey replied simply to which Anakin smiled brightly.

"Great!" He exclaimed.

Finally, seemingly done with being left in the dark, Ahsoka raised her voice and joined the conversation.

"What is it that you are teaching my Master, Master Rey?" The young Togruta asked her, while her wide blue eyes bore into her own, brimming with curiosity.

Rey opened her mouth to explain, but before she could even utter a sound, Anakin dove in, answering for her, as he worked to explain the events of the previous night and Rey's mysterious healing ability that had managed to bring Ventress back from imminent death.

By the time Anakin had managed to finish, they had just arrived back at the Jedi Temple.

Ahsoka simply stared up at Rey in amazement.

"Wow, you managed to do that, Master Rey? That's incredible, I've never seen or even heard of anyone else doing that," Ahsoka told her in awe with almost the exact same cookie-cutter phrasing that Rey had heard from pretty much everyone else upon hearing about the events of the duel.

"Thank you Ahsoka," she told the Padawan with a small smile, before turning her attention back to fully resting upon Anakin, as they reentered the Temple halls.

"Now," Rey began, "should we get to the lesson?"

Anakin nodded, as the excitement in his eyes seemed to heighten, if that was even possible. She'd noticed that for a Jedi, he really wasn't all that good at hiding his emotions. Then quickly, as he was very eager for their lesson, Anakin dismissed Ahsoka back to their quarters, before suddenly, his eyes widened as he seemed to remember something.

"Oh umm, Rey, I forgot to tell you, but umm would it be alright if Obi-Wan joined us?" A hopeful look entered his eyes, as he awaited her response.

Seeing no harm in it, Rey simply nodded, accepting Anakin's request, despite wishing that he'd told her of his intentions to have Obi-Wan join them a bit sooner.

"Great!" Anakin happily shot back. "Here, come with me. I'll lead you to his quarters and then we can go from there." So with a quick pivot of his feet, Anakin marched off in what Rey assumed was the direction of Obi-Wan's rooms, while she rushed after him in hot pursuit.