A/N: Hey all! The next couple of chapters have references to my first story, Rising, which is posted here on . It's a short one-shot that kind of sets up Rey's future, leading to all my other stories. There's a conversation in it that is mentioned toward the end of this chapter and in the next, so if you have time you might want to read it (or re-read it!). And now, time for one last dream…

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Rey could not believe she had agreed to this. She and Poe had been invited by the Queen herself to this shindig, and Poe had told her it would have been an insult to refuse, but Rey really wished they could have found a reason not to be here. It didn't help that Poe had a private conference with the leader of the Republic Navy right beforehand, so he was meeting her here; she would have felt a bit more comfortable if he had been with her when she got here. As it was, she was standing off by herself watching the dozens of strangers milling around her, eating, drinking, dancing, and socializing, all of them dressed to the 9's.

Rey shifted her weight from one foot to the other, wishing she had worn her Jedi robes rather than the dress Poe had picked out for her. He had assured her she would look wonderful in it, but had told her he wouldn't mind if she chose to wear the robes. Wanting to dress up for him, something she rarely did, she had chosen the dress and was now regretting it. She felt almost naked, even though the dress was far from immodest. It was a lovely indigo color, made from some soft, slinky material that shined under the lights. It was held up by thin straps, and hugged her lithe frame from chest to hip where it flared out in a full skirt that ended just below her knees. She had worn simple flat sandals (no heels for her; she hated wearing them, though she had to admit they had landed her a husband) and a small amount of makeup on her eyes and lips. Her hair was loose, also something she rarely did in public. The dress had come with a lovely shawl that she had tied around her waist, just so she could keep her lightsaber unseen on her hip.

The only good thing about the get-up was the fact that nobody seemed to recognize her. She looked nothing like the Jedi Skywalker that had spoken at the conference she and Poe were here to attend. While she was happy she had not been recognized, this also meant more attention from people who were seeing her just as she looked. She was being ogled by strangers of all species and genders, but mostly human men, and it made her extremely uncomfortable. One young man was actually making his way toward her now, an earnest smile on his face, and she knew he was going to ask her to dance.

Her Force sense jumped to attention at that moment, and she breathed a sigh of relief. The young man reached her, and she thought he actually looked rather sweet and very sincere. "I don't mean to bother you," he said quietly. "You are looking rather lonely and I wondered if you might like to dance?"

Taking a deep breath, she gave him as polite a smile as she could muster. "Thank you, but no. My date just arrived." She looked at the door just as Poe Dameron walked in. She felt her breath catch. Damn, but he did look fine in uniform. His eyes searched the room and quickly found her. His smile appeared immediately and he headed her way through the crowd.

Rey was barely aware of the young man next to her recognizing the man walking toward them and realizing just who she was. He stuttered an apology and moved away quickly. She saw Poe give him a glance, then he focused on her again, his gaze sweeping the length of her body and appreciation filling his eyes. "Damn," he whispered when he got to her. "You look incredible." Suddenly, Rey was glad she hadn't worn her robes after all.

"You owe me, big time, Dameron," she replied, remembering how uncomfortable she had been before his arrival.

"I'll make it up to you when we get back to our room," he said in a low voice that sent heat shooting through her. He reached out and touched the shawl around her waist, his hand finding the shape of her lightsaber underneath. "Just can't be without, huh?"

"Did you expect otherwise?" she asked him, moving into his space. She could feel more eyes on her now than when she had been alone; people recognized her now that she was with her husband.

Poe shook his head. "Nope," he told her. "I think I'd worry something was really wrong if you didn't have it." He glanced around the room, noticing all the stares. "Let's dance. Then we'll have something to eat, say 'hi' to the Queen, and get the hell out of here."

Rey liked most of that idea. "You know I don't dance," she told him.

"You never watch yourself with that lightsaber, do you?" he responded. He took her hand and led her to the dance floor. "Just hang on to me and move with the rhythm; it's not a waltz."

She did, and wondered why they hadn't done this more often. Rey loved music, and she especially loved listening to her husband perform, but she had never realized how lovely it felt to be in his arms and move to that music she enjoyed. "This is nice," she told him honestly. "We should do this more often." She gave him a flirtatious smile. "In private."

"Noted," Poe said simply. The look he was giving her was a combination of amusement and desire; it was a common expression for him, and she loved it. It spoke of both the passion and the playfulness that defined their sexual relationship, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

SUNRISE

Rey was smiling when her eyes opened to the sun that morning. Another fantasy, she thought. They had never gone to a party on Naboo together. In fact, they had never been to Naboo together; every trip they had made for official reasons had been separate. Maybe this was another preview of what was to come. If so, she would make sure to tough it out and wear the dress. It was pretty, and the thought of Poe removing it later thrilled her.

She sat up and began to mediate first thing, testing to see if the Force wanted her to go anywhere specific today. While she felt it all around her, in the animals and the plants and even the earth beneath her, it was telling her nothing. It was all up to her again. She pulled out her last ration pack, wondering if she should just keep camp here for a while and work on hunting. The tiny spring she had camped next to would inevitably draw animals to it. She could set up a snare of some kind. In the meantime, she could simply ride around the area and look for other food, coming back here by the end of the day; she had a blaster, now, if she needed it. This idea appealed to her, and when she was done eating, she rose to search for her companion, who she guessed was grazing behind the rocks she camped next to.

As she climbed up onto one of the many buttes surrounding her campsite, she searched for Sal. She couldn't see him, but she knew with the terrain the way it was, he could be only feet from her and she wouldn't see him. So, she opened up to the Force and searched that way; she knew his presence in it well, now. She found him easily and knew he was quite a distance from her, so she gently asked him to come. His willing response made her smile, and she climbed back down to start setting up a simple snare using some of the whipcord she always carried and some of the wire from the raft's engine. She was attaching it to one of the scrub bushes when Sal trotted into camp. He acknowledged her, then went to the spring to drink. Rey looked over her design, hoping it would work, as she had never done this before. She decided she wouldn't ride too far so as to not be gone too long in case the snare didn't kill right away; she dreaded making anything suffer.

She turned to Sal and hopped on, directing him out of the camp area and back into the rather desolate but beautiful land she was trying to learn to live with. She was finding out that Sal responded to her legs and body weight while she rode him, allowing her to direct him without having to constantly tap into the Force. It was almost as if he was becoming an extension of her own body, as she learned which movements cued him to do what she wanted without hardly any thought. They circumnavigated the area, carefully avoiding the many steep cliffs and drop offs. When the sun was at its highest, she headed back to the camp. Immediately, she saw her snare trap had been sprung, but whatever it had caught had gotten away, leaving only a bit of fur behind. As frustrating as it was, she hadn't really expected to be successful on her first attempt.

A loud, familiar screaming suddenly sounded off to her right and above her. She looked up to see one of the giant birds that she had watched hunt a few days ago. It was circling them, watching her intently. Sal started to snort and dance, and she wondered how safe she was from the thing. She couldn't imagine it would attack Sal, but then this bird seemed to be larger than the one she had seen before.

Everything in Sal's demeanor told her he wanted to run, and when the bird dived at them, she decided she was going to trust his instincts and let him. She hung on tight to the little scrap of mane he had and gripped him with her legs. She had never gone faster than a slow trot since she had started riding him and she didn't know how easy it would be to stay on while he was going fast. She found his gallop was smooth, although the jumps he had to perform over some of the rocks and ditches in his way made it more than a little difficult to stay on. It was exhilarating, but she had no time to enjoy it, as the bird followed, diving at them. She brought out her saber and slashed it upwards, but the bird was smart and after the first fiery touch it knew to avoid the saber.

Rey tried to focus on the Force to communicate with the avian, but it was hard to concentrate and stay on Sal, who had to be running at speeds of close to 55 KPH. The bird made a grab for both of them as Rey struggled to find her balance after a harsh jump, and the huge talon swept over Sal's neck and her leg, almost pulling her off her mount. Sal screamed as the slash left his neck bleeding. The bird's other foot found her and grabbed her, the talons closing in on her as the foot squeezed, one of them raking against Sal's back. The bird lifted upward, carrying Rey with it. She saw a bloody Sal continue racing in fear, the whites of his eyes visible as he watched her taken away from him.

Rey struggled in the bird's grip, feeling as if the breath was slowly being squeezed out of her. She was going to suffocate before she was let go, she knew. She had to do something drastic, even if it meant falling. The higher the bird got, the more likely she would die in the fall. She activated her lightsaber and immediately stabbed upward with it. There was no way she was getting out of this situation without killing it. She felt the bird's death almost instantly. The grip holding her loosened, but did not let her go as the big body started falling from the sky. She attached the saber to her belt quickly so as to not lose it, then used both hands and whatever strength she could glean from the Force to pry herself loose. She realized they were over one of the canyons and there was not really any good place to land, but she also knew the bird would crash hard into the rock wall and she didn't want to be with it when that happened, so she let go.

The Force helped her control the fall somewhat, but her fear and adrenaline were high, and her concentration off, so she landed much harder than she had hoped and felt a sharp jab of pain in her left leg. She skidded along the rock and began to roll off the cliff she had been aiming for. She stopped herself with her left arm and leg, but then screamed in agony when the leg she was using barely held her. The pain was low on her leg, so she gripped with her knee and thigh, pulling herself back onto the cliff. She pushed herself up and scooted back against the wall, breathing hard and trying to determine how badly she was hurt. She closed her eyes and searched, finding the source of the torturous pain almost immediately. Her tibia had snapped on impact.

After catching her breath, she looked about her. The cliff edge she was on was wide, but it was at least 100 meters from the floor of the canyon, and there was a rock wall behind her, telling her she was on an outcropping of the canyon wall, not on the canyon rim. She scooted out and looked up, dismayed to see the rim was a good 20 meters above her. How was she supposed to climb up the wall with a broken leg? She felt panic start to build. The sprain on her right ankle earlier had been simple, and had healed moderately well thanks to her being able to ride Sal. This was much different.

Sal. Oh, kriff, she hoped he was okay. At least the bird was dead, so Rey knew it couldn't go after her friend anymore, but he had been bleeding heavily from his wounds when she last saw him. Even if they were not lethal, the smell of blood would inevitably bring other predators to him. She felt tears start to build and she pushed them away. No. You can fix this, she told herself. You are a Jedi, a powerful one. Everyone that knows anything about the Force has always told you that. Use it.

She opened her sling bag, grateful she had had it over her head and shoulder as usual so that it stayed on her person during the fall. She took a long drink of water and then searched the pack for anything she could use. Nothing. The bandage material she had was for soft wounds, not broken bones and she didn't want to take any painkillers, as she couldn't imagine they would help at all as soon as she put weight on that leg. Even the leftover whipcord was useless, because there was no way to secure it to the wall for climbing.

She sat back against the wall and started to meditate. She knew it probably wouldn't do her any good to try and heal the bone herself, but she had to give it a shot. She brought her hand down to her leg. It was already bruising badly, and she could feel the unevenness of the bone, which, thank the Force, had not gone through the skin. She focused. She felt the energy flow. She felt the Force fill her, as strong as she had ever felt it. She felt the pain ease and the blood flow increase in the area of her injury. She became aware of her other injuries: the laceration from the talon on her other leg, the bruises and swollen areas from her struggle with the bird and her fall, the scrapes on her face and arms from sliding along the rocks. But no matter how hard she concentrated they wouldn't heal. Even the slightest of scrapes remained.

Rey didn't know how long she tried, but it was absolute exhaustion that made her quit. Only then did she let the tears flow.

She kept her eyes closed, trying to imagine Poe's face. She tried to hear her daughter's laughter. She tried to envision Finn with the lightsaber she knew he was ready to make. She tried to touch the Others, who had helped her before, but she knew the odds of them coming to her aid were slim. The fate of the galaxy was not at stake. It was just her.

Just Rey.

"You have never been 'just Rey'," a deep voice said next to her.

Rey recognized it immediately, but she refused to open her eyes. "If you're just a dream, go away."

"And what if I'm not a dream?" Ben Solo asked softly.

Rey took a deep breath and opened her eyes, turning her head to look at the man sitting next to her, his legs crossed as if he had just sat down to chat with a friend. He had a small smile on his face, and his eyes were the gentle brown that reminded her so much of his mother. "You're here?" she whispered.

He nodded. "I'm here."

...to be continued...

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