Even before Rey and Luke entered the atmosphere of Ossus, she understood why the First Order wanted to steer clear. The planet seemed to be teeming with volcanoes, some reaching high into the sky, some collapsed calderas, and everything in between. They flew past a pair of mountains that had clearly erupted quite recently—smoke and ash made the visibility poor, but Rey could see that lava was still streaming down the cliffs and across the ravaged ground below.

Luke led her through the smoke, until finally the sky began to clear. From here, they continued to fly for what felt like an eternity. Rey was discomfited by how unpleasant everything appeared.

"There really used to be a Jedi temple here?" she asked over the headset.

"There's a more hospitable region on the southern part of the planet where the temple used to be, but even so, this place looks a lot different than it did then. A Sith Lord attacked the temple and rendered the entire planet toxic for centuries. Now the air is breathable enough, and the temperature will be hotter than you're used to but nothing dangerous."

You told me I wouldn't need a coat, but I didn't expect this.

He chuckled.

They landed near one of the tallest mountains they'd come upon, on rock that was a deep shade of black—it must have been lava centuries, perhaps millennia before. Rey stumbled as she jumped from the fighter, taken aback by how uneven the ground was, but as she steadied herself, she made a face at Luke, who was strolling toward her with an amused expression on his face. Can I help you?

I didn't say anything.

"You think you're pretty funny, Skywalker, don't you?"

"I know that I'm funny." Luke nodded to her satchel. "Do you have your canteen? The caves will be cooler than the surface, but you'll still want to stay hydrated."

Rey sighed heavily and gestured him onward. "Yes, father, I have my canteen."

"Just checking."

Luke had been on Ossus once before, not long after the end of the war. At the time, he was still trying to learn everything he could about the Jedi, which was what led him to the remnants of one of the oldest Jedi temples… and to the Rammahgon along with it, the text buried under disintegrating rubble in a cavern near the land where the temple once stood.

On that journey, he discovered a map on some remnants of tile in the temple. He followed it into the treacherous region of volcanoes and was astonished by the caverns of kyber crystals that he found there. He'd known that several planets in the Adega system had a wealth of crystals, but he could find no accounts of Ossus among the planets that the Jedi went to in order to retrieve them.

It wasn't until years later that he learned the truth—after the Sith attack, Ossus was considered bad luck. No Jedi wanted to rely on a weapon whose crystal came from the ravaged planet.

Eventually, the planet's crystals were practically forgotten, lingering only in the recesses of history.

"Do you think it's a bad idea for me to get a crystal that the Jedi thought was bad luck?"

Considering that they'd been trudging deeper into a cave for the better part of an hour, it seemed a strange time to ask. But Luke took the question seriously. "I think the danger with kyber crystals is that you get what you're expecting. And after what happened to the temple… I doubt they would have expected much good to come out of the crystals here. No wonder their sabers disappointed them."

Rey glanced over at Luke in the dim light of their lanterns. When talking with Finn and Poe, he tended to soften his tone, so she forgot, sometimes, how matter-of-fact he could get about the Jedi.

"When this is over, are you going to try to reestablish your school? Not as Jedi, but as… something new. Whatever you think that is."

Luke scoffed. Rey thought at first that he was going to reiterate that the Resistance's win was not set in stone, but she'd noticed that he hadn't really said that as of late. In fact, more and more since they returned from Yavin, he'd talked about after as an inevitability. But that didn't mean that he wasn't still disillusioned. "Maybe I didn't react properly to what happened with Ben, but I stand by one thing: my Jedi Master days are over. Or, I suppose, whatever arbitrary equivalent of Jedi Master role I tried to step into."

Except for this.

You don't count.

She bit her lip and nodded, more to herself than to him. "What about all of the Force-sensitive people out there? That's not going to go away even if you don't try to train them."

"I know that," Luke agreed softly.

"But that doesn't frighten you? Countless generations won't benefit from what you've learned. They might recreate the mess of the Jedi Order. Or they might build something even worse."

"Oh, is that so?" He raised his eyebrows. "I have a hard time believing that you would let that happen."

Rey let out a laugh before processing the sincerity that radiated from him. It sank into her bones, and she swallowed hard, looking down at the ground. "I wouldn't know where to start, Luke. It's one thing for you to tell me, Poe, and Finn that the old system was broken. It's another to even think about rewriting all of the myth and legend around the Force."

Luke hummed. "But you think this old man could do it?"

Her voice was quiet. "You're not such an old man."

For a few moments, he allowed those words to linger in the air. "You won't be doing it alone. I think Finn will be an excellent teacher. Dameron will probably be busy filling Leia's shoes, but he'll make sure that you're respected and have the resources you need. And I'll still be there to support you, in my way."

"You really have it all figured out, don't you?"

"Enough, yes."

She was inarguably pleased by this vision that he had for the future of the not-Jedi; as long as she, Poe, and Finn pulled through this war, she would be happy. That said, it didn't escape her notice that Luke seemed to see little place for himself in this post-Resistance world.

Just as she was on the verge of calling him on it, they emerged from the tunnel into a massive cavern, which took Rey's breath away. They stood near the edge of an underground lake that stretched off into the darkness. Despite the lack of light from anything save the lanterns, the surface of the water seemed to shimmer, and it only took an instant for Rey to understand why—she looked up and saw that, high above them, the ceiling of the cavern was speckled with hundreds, perhaps thousands of crystals. "Oh, my stars," she whispered.

"There are countless more in the connecting tunnels," Luke told her, gesturing to their right. Rey looked over and saw two apparent off-shoots from the cavern, leading deeper beneath the surface of Ossus.

"Somehow I'm supposed to find my crystal amongst all of these?"

He smiled gently; his eyes were warm in the dim light. "I guarantee you will."

Neither of them spoke for a few long moments. Luke's gaze shifted from Rey's face to Leia's saber at her side, and then to her satchel. She had two days' worth of water and food with her—the plan was for Luke to check in with the Resistance every six hours from his fighter, rest in the main cavern, and make sure that she got more food and water after two days if she was not yet ready to leave.

"I'm not sure how well the commlinks will work once we're separated," he warned her. As though they hadn't already been over this four or five times. "We're pretty far underground now…"

"You're not allowed to be worried, too," Rey said sternly.

Luke tried to brush her off. "I'm not worried, I'm just—"

"You're going back up to the surface to reassure Leia that we're not in the First Order's clutches. I have plenty of water and food, and I'll see you back here once I've found my crystal." She raised her eyebrows. "At this point, that's the best we can hope for, isn't it?"

He let out a long breath and nodded.

"And here I thought you were here to give me some emotional support."

"Gods." Luke set the lantern down at his feet, then he reached out gingerly and settled his hands on her arms. An echo of her childhood hit her, hit them both, and something in Luke's expression… "As convoluted as the Jedi Order was, they were right: finding your crystal is incredibly personal. There's no place for me at your side through this. So I just- I want to remind you that trusting yourself is the most important thing. Trusting your heart and your strength and…" He trailed off, before weakly reiterating, "Just. Trusting yourself."

Rey's brow furrowed. His words warmed her heart, but it also unnerved her, for him to be talking so solemnly. That said, she felt moved, as she knew Luke did, by the fact that he was sending her off to find her kyber crystal where countless Jedi had searched for their own crystals millennia before. "Of course I'll trust myself, Luke."

Something is off about you, she didn't say.

"I'm just proud of how you've grown," Luke told her.

Sap, Rey thought to herself, or to Luke, or both. Then, out loud, "Give me a hug before I venture into the mysterious underbelly of Ossus?"

Luke didn't need to be asked twice.

The caves on Ilith were home to their fair share of small insects and rodents, seeking refuge from the bone-chilling cold of the surface. But nothing about this region of Ossus seemed particularly hospitable, and as a result, Rey encountered very few creatures as she wandered the caves. She was more isolated than she had ever been.

She had been nervous about what this solitude would mean for her Force bond with Kylo. Would he appear to her again the moment Luke left her alone?

Kylo did not appear. And in Rey's heart, in the back of her mind, she felt a pull—not to their Force bond, but deeper into the caves. Her crystal guided her feet effortlessly, and eventually, she realized that its call filled her until there seemed to be no room for Kylo's voice to reach her.

A number of times, she found herself at a crossroad. At one point, she knew at once that she needed to veer to the left; at another, she knew she needed to follow the tunnel that almost seemed to double back on the direction from which she'd just come. But she also needed to pause several times. She sat down in the grime and closed her eyes, breathing slow.

There. It came from that way.

Rey would rise to her feet, marking a tick above the passage from which she had come, and she would continue onward.

Her feet ached, and she continued onward.

She found herself in another cavern. This one was far less impressive than the one that they'd entered through, but here, too, the walls and ceiling of the cave were adorned with countless crystals.

It was here that Rey felt, with absolute certainty, she needed to stop. The cavern seemed to be vibrating – humming – singing with energy. It felt like the voice of everyone she loved, calling out to her at once.

"Where are you?" she whispered, turning round and round in place as she took in all of the crystals. Again, she experienced a moment of skepticism, and her words to Luke crossed her mind again: she was meant to find her crystal amongst all of these?

But there was Luke's voice in the back of her mind: Trusting yourself is the most important thing.

Taking a long, deep breath, she closed her eyes. She focused on the call, and her heart pounded as it got stronger. Clearer.

Rey's eyes popped open, and it was like she was being pulled by a magnet. She skirted around stalagmites and holes in the ground until she arrived at a stalactite; the ceiling on this side of the cavern was so high up that she could hardly make out the crystals in the darkness above her. And there, just barely out of reach, was one kyber crystal.

Nested into the side of the stalactite and pulling her closer.

"Hi," she breathed. As though it might say something back.

(It would. Not in that moment, obviously, but she knew it would, that that was the point of meditating with it.)

And standing on the tips of her toes, her fingers found purchase on the crystal and pulled.

"Luke?"

For nearly a minute, she received no response.

"Hey, kid. I was just wondering about you." His voice was scratchy and far away.

"I found my crystal."

The smile was audible in his voice. "That's great news, Rey."

"I'm coming back to the cavern where you left me. I figured it'd be better if I did my meditation closer to the surface."

"Sounds good. I'm about to head up to call in to the Resistance. I have to nearly clear atmo for it to go through, the volcanoes distort the signal so much. It's a pain in the—"

The signal briefly went out, and Rey smirked to herself. "Promise me you'll get some sleep while you're waiting on me?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it. I assume there's no point in asking whether you've slept at all."

"I've been busy, Luke," Rey scoffed.

"Thought as much." Pause. "I hope you give yourself a moment to feel excited about this."

"Can't you tell I'm excited?"

"Believe it or not, it doesn't transfer too well through voice and commlink."

She felt her heart pounding. The crystal pulsed gently in her satchel. "I don't even know how to say how excited I am."

"Good. I'm… I'm really glad."

To herself, Rey murmured, "Me too."

As promised, Luke was asleep when Rey arrived. He'd curled up on a travel mat near the entrance to the cavern, his cloak bundled under him as a pillow.

Rey heard him snoring before she saw him.

She smiled softly as she approached. This was the youngest that he'd looked in years; Rey had never noticed just how tired he appeared during waking hours. From feeling as though he needed to carry the weight of the galaxy. She could just hear Poe's voice in her head: I knew you must have gotten that from him.

On the hike back to the cavern, Rey had lost track of time completely, so she had no clue how long Luke had been sleeping or how long it would be until he had to leave to contact the Resistance again. So, with great reluctance, she decided not to risk waking him. Instead, kneeling in the ground beside him, she traced her fingers through the dirt and ash that had filtered into the cave over centuries.

Didn't want to wake you. Say hi to the Resistance for me.

Creating quite some distance between herself and Luke, Rey sat down. She reached into her satchel for her canteen and the crystal. After taking a swig of her water, she tucked the canteen away and looked down at the crystal in her fingers, taking a deep breath.

"It's time for us to get better acquainted," Rey said softly.

More pulsing from the crystal. Her heart raced. Sitting up quite straight, she eased her eyes shut.

"Where are we?"

Ben stood before Rey, not a day older than when Luke took her away, but adorned in the black robes of the Sith. His eyes were wide, anxious; yes, he's always been such a serious, cautious boy. Leia teases him for it sometimes. He didn't like it. Rey feels like the only one who notices that he doesn't like it.

"Can't you tell?" She gestured toward the temple, the mountain towering above them. It looks uncannily like one of the volcanoes of Ossus. "Luke's told us so many stories of Ahch-To."

Her sight adjusted with Ben's as he gradually understood what was happening.

(What is happening?)

Yes. There was the temple. Standing tall, although Luke informed her that he had burned it down.

"I can't be here." Ben turned away, squinting his eyes shut. "The voice in my head doesn't want me here."

Rey feels incensed. "I want you here. Aren't you looking forward to your training?"

"Like it'll be any different from last time."

She settled her hands on her hips, feeling stern. Gods, she hadn't realized how small her fingers felt—how small all of her felt. Glancing down, she flexed them before her eyes.

"Is this what you see me as?" she asked, pulling on Ben's hand. She has to crane her neck to see him. He always has towered over her.

Ben smiled slightly in surprise. "You still don't realize that this is all you."

With his words, Rey's vision unfocused and refracted abruptly, turning back in on itself to reveal her as a small child, clutching a small toy saber that she had forgotten about. How often has she nagged Ben to play with her, to reenact the duels of the great Jedi Knights that came before them? And never, not once, has he ordered her to leave me alone, no matter how tired, how irritable he was.

"This is me?" she repeated softly.

"It doesn't have to be."

At once, they were standing in the cavern on Ossus. Kylo was at his full height, now, pacing back and forth precisely where Luke was supposed to be. His features were cast in the red glow of his lightsaber, ominous and more than a little frightening.

Rey stood outside of herself. Gods, did she really still look so young? She sat on the ground, meditating, the crystal clutched between her fingers. She can just barely see the bags under her eyes in the soft light of the lantern.

She's tired. So very tired.

"Is it worth it?" Kylo was still on the other side of the cave, and he spoke in a whisper, but Rey hears him as though he is inches away from her ear. "Trying to fix something so broken."

"Yes. If we can create something less harmful than the Jedi Order—"

Kylo's voice rang through her. "I'm not talking about the Jedi Order." He took a few strides closer, and then suddenly he stood beside Rey, stood over her. A shiver went down her spine as she watched him smooth a hand over the top of her head—lightly, his fingers combed through her hair. Rey watched it and she felt it and her throat compressed in on itself. He speaks slowly. Precisely. "Is it worth it to try to fix something this broken."

Rey's heart pounded; she could hear her blood coursing through her. "Isn't that what you're trying to do?"

"Maybe I don't believe there's anything to fix." Kylo begins to pace around the meditating Rey. "Maybe I believe my uncle and my mother showed you their true colors, showed you something that is integral to the light, not a bug in the system."

The meditating girl – the meditating Jedi – hummed. "But the dark side can fix me?"

His exasperation was palpable. It burned. "Who the frag said anything about fixing?" He pointed across the lake, and Rey feels herself moving over the water to a distant corner of the cavern. She stood in the same deep red glow as Kylo, and she took herself in—steely eyes and unpleasant curl to her lip. Rich black robes. "Does that look like someone that needs fixing?"

And oh, was Rey's heart racing. A feeling of dread began to sink into her gut. She looked away, not wanting to see herself like that. Instead, her eyes fell on her soft reflection in the water. They focused in—on those same bags under her eyes, the smile lines that Poe had pointed out the other day with great affection. The best proof I can think of that you're happy, he told her.

"Yes, it does," she said softly.

When she looked up, they were on Ahch-To again. The young Ben stood there, irritable as though Han just left for another smuggling trip without saying goodbye. "But I didn't say anything about fixing anyone. You did. Why is that, Ben?"

Ben looked down at Rey's hands, which hold her crystal. His gaze strays across the island, across the temple in ruins, the mountain towering above them. "I'll see you soon, Rey," he tells her at last.

"You want to practice levitation today?"

Luke's hands are clasped behind his back. He purses his lips and raises his eyebrows. "Is that a problem?"

"No, it's just- since Finn and Poe aren't with us, I'm surprised. We stopped focusing on levitation when I was about ten."

"We just did levitation yesterday, Rey." He strides across the training room, standing close so that he could scrutinize her. "Are you feeling alright?"

She stammered through a reply of, "Yes, of course I am, I must have… forgotten."

"It's alright. I almost forgot too." Luke gestures for her to sit in the center of a large assortment of rocks that he'd collected from the surface of Ilith. "I have to go back to the temple tonight, and I don't think I'll be back for a week or two."

Rey frowned. "Already? You just got here."

"The children have me worried. Ben… Ben has me worried."

And this was the moment where Rey felt a pull to rise to her feet. She looks over toward the path down to the small cave where she hid herself away when Luke angered her. All she had to do was tell him that she was too tired, that she didn't want to train today. That is what she did, years ago.

But it's not what she does. She swallows hard and asks him, "Don't I worry you?"

His head tilts to the side. "Why would I be worried about you, Rey?"

"Look at me, Luke. Why wouldn't anyone be worried about me?"

The Jedi Master stares at her. He's bewildered. Kriff, Rey is bewildered. "No one can harm you here. No one can use your curse against you. You're safe."

"What does it matter if I'm safe when I'm this alone? When you took me away from my parents and don't know how to be a dad? So we meditate together and make rocks float and spar with sticks. I don't feel like I can tell you when I miss Leia and Han and Ben. I can't remember the last time you hugged me. If that's the way of the Jedi, I don't want it."

It felt as though Luke's heart was enveloping hers, or hers his. No, it had to have been hers enveloping his, because his features softened, contorting into hers. She was small again—so very small. On the ground cross-legged across from Rey, fingers tracing over the smooth rocks in the way that Rey always liked to do.

And in the most tentative voice, the child asks, "Why couldn't I say that?"

"A lot of reasons," Rey whispers.

"Are you… are you mad that I didn't say it?"

"No," Rey rushes to say. "Gods no. How would you have known how to tell him?"

"You did."

Rey thought of that first time talking to Luke on Ajan Kloss. She thought of countless conversations they'd had since, and all of the things that she still struggled to say aloud—that she relied on the Force to tell him instead. She thought of how she loved him like a father and only recently found the strength to say so.

"It's taken a lot of practice."

"I just got word from Finn."

Rey opened her eyes as though from a long sleep. Poe knelt on the floor, his eyes at her level. The sight of his face made her smile. "Good news, I hope."

"Mhm. Everything is running on schedule, so the kids will be going home soon. You know he was worried about giving them a full month off, but he says those kinks have worked themselves out."

His thumb was on her cheek, and she turned her head, pressing her lips to his palm before taking hold of it. "Why aren't you under the covers with me yet, Flyboy?"

"Bossy," Poe murmured with a grin. But he obeyed at once, climbing into bed while Rey scooted to the side to make enough room.

"Will he come back here? Or does he want us to come to Coruscant?"

"He's coming here. He says he's tired of the city."

"Like you," Rey said softly. Her fingers gently stroked the stubble on his jaw. "You don't want to go to the treaty signing."

Poe sighed and closed his eyes, grimacing. "I was trying not to let that muddle my thoughts, I'm sorry."

"No need to apologize. I thought you and Leia felt good about this. Should I be worried? Do you want to try to renegotiate the terms?"

"That's not it, really. We've been negotiating for almost three years, so it's about time we got everyone committed to something in writing. I just…" He faltered, holding her gaze while he puzzled over what to say next. Rey got the gist, but she waited for him. "Leia said they felt good about where they landed after the Civil War. She tried not to mention it, but I felt it weighing us both down so much that I had to get her to talk about it. I'm having a hard time imagining that we won't just be back here in another 30 years."

Rey nodded slowly. "I'm going to say something you already know." He gestured her on. "They tried too hard to recreate the Old Republic. They literally called it 'the New Republic.' I think it's a marvel that it lasted as long as it did."

"I know," Poe told her. "You're right, I know. So why the hell shouldn't we be the ones to fix it."

"That's what Luke thinks."

Sadness passed through Poe's eyes. "I wish he'd talk to me like he talks to you and Leia. I could use a kind word from him sometimes."

"Why don't you tell him that?"

Poe squinted at Rey, puzzled. She felt a hint of confusion over not being able to pick up on what was nagging at him. That wasn't normal. He didn't close himself off to her about anything—certainly not about Luke. "Do you think that'll work? There's only so long that I can talk into the ether before it starts to feel like he's never going to show up. Finn doesn't see him, either, so it's not like I take it personally."

"Into the ether?" Rey sat up in bed. She felt unsteady, Poe was blurry in front of her—

They're standing beneath the Force tree together, Poe's arm around her waist. Both of their heads are down, their eyes on the small wooden marker. Rey can't remember whether anyone else on Yavin even knows who it's for.

"I know you thought he'd be here," Poe says. "To help you share the Force with the galaxy."

Rey nods. She leans in closer to Poe, suddenly feeling like she can't possibly stand close enough to absorb all of the affection and love that he is sending her way. "Can I tell you something strange, though?"

"Of course."

"I think he knew. That he wasn't going to be here."

Poe hums thoughtfully. "Wouldn't you have known, then? He told you he wasn't going to keep anything from you."

The air positively vibrates around them. "I think I might have known. Or missed it on purpose."

"Why?"

"Because we finally had something good, Poe. I felt whole for the first time in my life. Why- how was I supposed to believe that that was going to end?"

"Maybe you were scared of feeling broken all over again."

Rey tilts her head so that she can meet Poe's eye. "Did I?"

"You knew he was with you the whole time." His voice pours into Rey and fills her.

Rey inhaled abruptly as her eyes popped open. The crystal, previously cool to the touch, now felt pleasantly warm, humming against her skin. Rey loosened her grip and looked down—a golden glow emanated from her hands. "Oh," she whispered. It was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen.

Before leaving for Ossus, Luke made sure that she practiced binding a crystal in wire, as Jedi had done for millennia when the need arose to carry a crystal outside of a saber. Now, she retrieved the wire from her satchel and affixed it to her own crystal. Gingerly, she removed Poe's necklace – the first time she'd taken it off since he put it on her neck – and affixed the wire. It slid down, settling perfectly within Shara's ring.

She grabbed her lantern and her satchel, and she rose to her feet, turning around expecting to see Luke still there—perhaps still asleep, or perhaps waiting quietly for Rey to stir.

He was not there. She rushed across the cavern, and as she got nearer to where he'd been asleep, she saw that he'd written an addendum to her note on the ground. Going up to do my check-in. I'll see you soon.

Immediately, Rey fumbled for her commlink, heading toward the surface—scattered remnants of her Force visions hung over her and left her fraught with anxiety. "Luke? Are you there?"

Again, temporary silence. But this time it only took twenty seconds or so before his voice came over the line and relief filled her. "I'm here, Rey. You all done?"

"I'm all done." She hesitated. "It's good to hear your voice."

Perhaps this surprised Luke, but if it did, he went along with it gracefully. "It's good to hear your voice, too. I'd wait for you to catch up, but I'm actually late for my check-in. I was supposed to call about an hour ago. So I'll let them know that we should be out of here in about an hour?"

"Sure."

Rey thought, briefly, about bringing up what she'd just seen and felt while meditating. Already, her sense of the vision was beginning to fade, save for inklings of feelings, of moments. But she had been certain that Luke was going to die. She'd been certain that Luke knew he was going to die. Was there truth to that feeling?

"Can I ask you something, Luke?"

A pause. "-t's tha- -ey?"

Kriffing signal distortion. Fine. It could wait. Hoping that he would be able to hear her clearly enough, she said, "Never mind. I'll see you soon."

Rey emerged from the cave to discover that night had fallen. There was still a hint of smoke and ash drifting across the sky and a fair smattering of clouds filling out portions of the sky, but she could still make out a brilliant scattering of stars. The sight put a smile on her face; they had not had many occasions to see the night sky in her time on Ilith.

It hit her belatedly—the bad feeling in her gut.

The realization that Luke's fighter was nowhere to be seen, closely followed by the fact that, concealed behind the smoke and ash and clouds, the night sky was occupied by a dark, menacing ship. Unsettling in its size even from so far away.

Rey's heart raced, her breathing grew rapid, and she spun around, thinking frantically that perhaps she could hide away in the caves.

"Don't I even get a 'hello'?"

She tried to steady her breath and suppress the anxious tears that were already threatening to brim over in her eyes as she looked to her right and saw Kylo Ren and a few stormtroopers towering over her from a nearby ridge. With these words, several other troopers revealed themselves from nearly all sides, blocking her way to her own fighter. Save for the tunnel underground, she had nowhere to go.

"H- how?" Rey stammered.

"Please, Rey. Do you really need to ask?"

It took what felt like an eternity for his meaning to register, mostly because she didn't want to believe it possible. But the truth sank in—she felt it from deep within her heart, from deep within him. Perhaps their connection had not emerged while she was searching for her crystal, but her vision of him had connected to their Force bond. And in that vision, she'd shown him enough of Ossus that he was able to find them.

"Where's Luke?" she asked. Gods, her voice was trembling.

Kylo strode closer. His hair tossed around in the sharp wind of the planet's surface. "We didn't hurt him, if that's what you mean. The Supreme Leader wants you both alive." His lips curled into an uncomfortable smile. "So. Are you going to come willingly, or do I have to resort to… less honorable tactics?"

Rey's brow furrowed as she assessed the situation that she was in. She could conceivably ration her food for some time, but in order to avoid getting dehydrated, she realistically only had a day's worth of water left, if that. Even if she could somehow get to her fighter and get away, she would have nowhere to go—not when the Resistance was already clearing out of the base on Ilith, and would no doubt be evacuating for good now that Rey and Luke were suspiciously out of communication.

Just as importantly, she absorbed the implication of how Kylo phrased his question: he was trying not to allude to her curse in front of the troopers.

She looked up at the boy she'd once known, in his dark robes; saber in his hand; troopers flanking him. She turned over her thoughts of broken things, broken people.

"I'll come with you, Ben."

Kylo's expression soured, and he moved into her space, reaching into Rey's satchel and retrieving Leia's saber. "Just to make sure you don't get any ideas," he breathed. His eyes still on Rey, but loud enough for the troopers to hear, he said, "Come with us."

Rey moved at once, as though she was being pulled by a magnet, but the stormtroopers were none the wiser.