It didn't take long for Obi-Wan to answer the door. For almost as soon as Anakin's knock reverberated against the frame, the red-haired Jedi pushed open the door and invited them both inside with the offer of tea.
While Anakin declined, Rey ended up accepting Obi-Wan's most generous offer and watched as he proceeded to disappear into his kitchenette.
After a couple minutes, Obi-Wan returned with the tea and they were ready to begin.
"So," Rey began, "before I teach you how to use such a method of healing through the force, I just want you both to know that it took me quite a while to actually figure out how to do it myself. So, don't be surprised or disheartened, if you can't do it at first," she encouraged.
"Where did you learn this ability?" Obi-Wan inquired and for a moment, Rey gave pause, as she worked to come up with a satisfactory answer.
"From some ancient Jedi texts and a bit of improvisation" her gaze dropped, "you have to know how to adapt where I'm from."
Although he seemed intrigued by her answer, Obi-Wan, unlike Anakin, didn't pry anymore. Instead, he seemed to be able to sense that she didn't want to talk about it and so, he respected her boundaries.
"So basically how it works," Rey began again, "is you take pieces of your own life force and push it into others who need it. It's only limitations are that it's very taxing and you can't use it on yourself."
Anakin seemed to ponder this, "can it bring back the dead?"
Rey watched as Obi-Wan shot his former Padawan a look of surprise for asking such a question, before settling back into his cool, calm façade. Then, her stomach twisted, as she worked on coming up with a response for Anakin.
She thought of Ben. Remembering how he had sacrificed himself for her on a day that now seemed so long ago and yet was still so fresh in her memory.
She remembered what it had done to him.
Ben had just been so cold, lifeless and still. His bounds of energy, his loyally protective nature… his laugh, which she'd only just heard for the first time ever that day, and everything else that had made Ben Solo, Ben Solo, were just gone.
Quick as that.
"Rey? Rey, are you alright?"
Realizing that she'd been lost in her head for a couple moments too long there, Rey jolted back into reality to see both Anakin and Obi-Wan shooting her worried looks.
She did her best to pay them no heed.
"Yes, it is possible to bring back the dead with this power," she began once more, ignoring the inquiry on her current state of mind, "however, it's very taxing, so if you do do such a thing there is a very high likelihood that it'll probably kill you."
A silence fell over the room and Rey did her best to remind herself that Ben was here now and no longer just that dead body on the cold hard ground of Exegol.
Everything was okay now and would continue to be.
Finally, Anakin spoke, effectively breaking the silence, "you know someone who died, because of it then, don't you? That's why you drifted off," Anakin murmured, almost like he was more so talking to himself more than anyone.
Obi-Wan momentarily gaped at his friend, before chiding him, "Anakin! You can't just pry into other people's lives."
"Well, I'm right, aren't I?"
Rey did not much like the direction that the conversation was taking. This was her life that they were arguing about and a dark part of her life at that. Anakin had no right to ask that question and she even kind of wished that Obi-Wan hadn't even moved to get involved either, despite him seemingly attempting to rescue her from having to answer Anakin's terrible question in the first place.
A mix of emotions, including anguish, anger and annoyance swam through her. Still, no darkness surrounded her, for Rey felt these emotions without any holding any true hatred within her. Still, not being one with the dark side didn't prevent her from snapping back, fueled by her emotions.
Rey's now steely gaze turned to meet Anakin's sharply. "Yes," she hissed, "someone very close to me died saving me after someone who should've been my fam-" Rey stopped herself dead in her tracks, realizing what she'd almost given away, "after I'd been killed… in an effort to save them. So, I wouldn't much like to talk about it, if you'd just like to happily concede and move on."
Her gaze flickered between the two Jedi to see them both eyeing her with apologetic expressions, but also a small flicker of curiosity.
While Obi-Wan remained respectful of her wishes, Anakin, seemingly paying no heed to Rey's previous words, continued to let his curiosity get the better of him and thus, continued to pry into her life. "You died and came back?" Anakin whispered thoughtfully, eyeing her with wonderment, before suddenly he seemed to remember that she didn't want to go over this anymore, making him look downcast and apologetic, "sorry."
"Yes," Rey snapped, "and thank you," the young force-user sighed, "let's just move on." Her gaze flickered between the two, "I'm going to let you learn the way that I did," she paused, "by practicing with scars. It's the easiest way to start, from what I'm aware and I'm sure you both have enough, what with the Clone Wars anyways.
"So," Anakin began, deep in thought, "I can get rid of this?" He gestured to the scar that swooped down over his right eye.
Rey simply nodded, "although it'll be Obi-Wan who will have to do it."
Obi-Wan himself had rolled up his sleeve, revealing a fairly new seeming scar curving over his arm. "I suppose I'd be fine parting with this," he remarked.
Glad it hadn't taken them too long to figure things out, Rey spoke once more, "who'd like to go first?"
Within seconds, Anakin had exclaimed that he'd like to start, as he reached his hand out tentatively, before touching Obi-Wan's arm.
He turned to Rey, "so, how exactly do I transfer life force?" Confusion wrinkled across his handsome features.
"Just fall into a meditative state," Rey curiously eyed Obi-Wan as he almost seemed to momentarily hide laughter at the notion of Anakin being forced to fall into a meditative state, "and then imagine carefully tearing away a piece of yourself… but not too much, only a sliver, and giving it to Obi-Wan, while simultaneously focusing on what you want to heal. In this case, the scar."
Rey watched as Anakin's sky blue gaze filled with determination, before he slipped into a meditative state, seemingly working on trying to follow Rey's directions.
Several minutes went by and finally, seeming agitated, Anakin opened his eyes once more, his shoulders incredibly tense. "This isn't working," he pouted, "I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong."
Rey found this statement pretty odd, because to her, it was perfectly obvious.
"You're not relaxed," she pointed out with a shrug, "it'll only work if you relax."
Again, Anakin tried and again, to no avail. He simply sighed, seeming to give up for the moment, as he fell out of his meditative state and his eyes flickered to his former Master. "I suppose you could try giving it a shot Obi-Wan," he sighed, before suddenly his eyes turned more playful, "although if I can't do it yet, then I highly doubt you can, old man."
Rey watched the banter amusedly, as Obi-Wan simply rose a brow, before pressing his fingers lightly against Anakin's own arm and slipping into a meditative state of his own, as he seemingly worked to follow Rey's directions, just like Anakin had already tried to.
While Rey could tell that Obi-Wan was the much more relaxed one out of the two, several minutes still went by with nothing to show for his efforts, just like how it'd gone for Anakin. Finally, he opened his eyes with a sigh,
"Well, this is much harder than I expected it to be."
This went on for another couple of hours with Anakin and Obi-Wan each taking turns in their respective attempts to figure out how to do the Force Heal that Rey had instructed them on.
Finally, as Rey found her eyes starting to droop, she decided to call it a night. So with a few quick goodbyes and a promise of a repeat sometime later that week, Rey disappeared down the hallway, as she made her way back to her own room.
Count Dooku observed the man that his Master wanted him to hire. He was a Duro with cerulean blue skin and perceptive red eyes. Cad Bane, his Master had called him.
It took everything in Dooku to prevent him from wrinkling his nose in disgust. Bounty hunters were such lowly beings, after all, as they seemed to scavenge for work every day like pesky little beggars with no allegiance to light their way. To Dooku, they were simply scum of the galaxy. Not that he would tell this one that though, because the job still needed to be done.
However… Dooku decided that he would rather enjoy removing this bounty hunter's head from his body if he so failed. Then again, the Count decided that he'd probably kill the bounty hunter anyways, no matter the outcome. After all, he had to tie up all loose ends.
"I'm hiring you to eliminate a target," the Count began, "and since you claim to 'specialize in Jedi,' the Jedi that I wish for you to eliminate is named Anakin Skywalker."
Dooku showed Bane a hologram of the Skywalker's appearance.
The bounty hunter nodded, his expression hungry. "Of course Count, I would be honored to carry out such a task."
"Good, because I very much doubt that you'd like to pay the high price of failure."