A/N: A big thanks to SirenBanshee. You are one amazing beta!

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The next morning, Ember found her way to Kylo's office.

"What the hell happened with Hux?" she demanded in her usual brusque and slightly arrogant manner.

Rey narrowed her eyes at her. "Taking his side?" she asked. "Do you think I'm wrong?"

Ember looked at her. "Depends on what you did," she snarked back.

It caused Rey to blink at her in surprise. "He didn't tell you?"

"No. So I demand to know what it is you did."

There was a clear challenge in her voice and Kylo rose from his seat to prevent the situation from escalating.

"Do you remember what it was like to have me in your mind so I could see your memories?" he asked.

"Yes." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Is that what you did?"

Rey didn't say anything but stood as well. A clear token of support and one that didn't go unnoticed by Ember.

"I already asked Phasma," Ember continued, "but she said she wasn't here at the time." She threw Kylo a glare. "Did you revert to your old self?"

"Ember," Rey snapped.

"She is protecting the one she loves," Kylo interjected, causing Rey to look at him. "I did not," he answered Ember.

"You're thinking of showing her?" Rey deduced.

"It would be easiest," Kylo confirmed.

"Show me?" Ember asked, looking between the two of them.

"Derek, I believe work today will have to be cut short," Kylo said.

Derek nodded once, gathered his things and left. Kylo summoned three cushions from Rey's pile and arranged them so they could comfortably sit on the floor.

"As you know, it is possible to use the Force in order to enter someone else's mind and search it," Kylo started once they were all seated. "This can be used for various means. The mind control Quicksilver uses and that I thought you to defend against is one of its possible uses. Another, as I presume Hux has told you, is to place illusions in one's mind. I entered yours and the other Knights' minds in order to look at your memories and reconnect you to the Force.

"The lightest form of mind-invasion is when two Force users decide to share a memory. This requires the user who has the memory to allow the one who wants to watch it into their mind. There's no need for the viewer to use strength while touching the sharer's mind. A light touch is sufficient as the one sharing the memory will keep it at the forefront and will immediately present it once the viewer has made the connection.

"In order for you to fully comprehend what happened yesterday, I believe it's best that you see my memory of it. I will teach you how to make the necessary connection and then do exactly that; I'll show you what transpired."

Rey picked up the cushion he'd put next to his own and brought it back to her corner. There, she promptly returned to her tablet.

"Rey?" he asked.

"You don't need me for this, right?" she asked. "Just tell me when you show her so I'm prepared in case she decides to attack me."

"She won't."

Rey looked up at him. "If she thinks I wronged him? You said so yourself, she's protecting someone she loves."

"You didn't wrong him and she'll see that for herself."

"I may have broken him."

Kylo gazed at Ember. "She's not angry enough for that."

Rey snorted a laugh, causing Ember to narrow her eyes again.

"If you're quite done discussing me?" she demanded, clearly still on edge.

Kylo shook his head and started his explanation. After some trial and error for about an hour and a half, Ember managed to make the required connection—in a light enough manner that she didn't slam into Kylo's head—and managed to uphold it.

"Good," Kylo said. "One more time and I'll share the memory."

He could feel the way Rey tensed at his words. Ember merely nodded and focussed. Once the memory ended, it stayed quiet for a long time. Rey didn't ease up, becoming fidgety the longer the silence continued.

Eventually, Ember cursed, short but powerful, before looking up at Rey. "Was that truly necessary?" she demanded.

"Was I wrong? He's uncaring. Cold."

"You little-"

Ember shot up towards Rey but Kylo slammed her down with the Force.

"Ember of Ren!" he barked. "Are you planning on committing treason? Will I no longer be able to trust you?"

"Let me up," Ember demanded of him, glaring but her tone subdued. "On my honour, I will not attack the Supreme Duchess."

Kylo eased the pressure on Ember and she sat up again. It was clear she was trying to pretend her outburst hadn't happened, but he could see how her shoulder sagged slightly and that there was a touch of weariness in her eyes.

"He's trying," she finally said. "I'm not blind to his faults, if that's what you think," she added with a glower at Rey. "But he's been trying. With the staff of this base. With the Guard, us Knights, and the workers that have now left. He's been trying to do better, to show care, but he's never learned how. And I'm not exactly the best person to teach him."

She laughed a small, self-deprecating laugh before shaking her head. "Your words have had their impact, Supreme Duchess." The title was a sneer. "When I returned to our room last night, all he did was wrap me in a hug, state he didn't want me to die, before turning completely inwards and barely responding to anything. Only this morning did I learn it was because of something that happened here."

She glared at Rey again. "Are you happy now?"

Rey was silent for a long time. "I don't understand how someone can be so uncaring," she eventually said. "Even at his worst, Ben was conflicted by what he was doing. But Hux, he never cared at all."

Ember glanced at Kylo. "Our Supreme Leader wasn't born into the First Order, let alone into the military part of it. Hux was." She looked at Rey again. "Do you blame us Knights for being Knights?" she asked.

"No," Rey immediately answered.

"Then don't blame Hux for being who he is," Ember stated. "We are all what we were taught to be when we were children."

Kylo gazed at Ember, surprised by her almost philosophical words. It was very unlike her. Even more unusual was the weary undertone her voice had held while speaking them. He glanced at Rey, who was staring at Ember with a complicated look on her face. The feelings over their bond spoke of a blankness that only comes when you hear something you couldn't possibly have predicted.

Ember stood as it became clear Rey wasn't going to respond. "I'll be going," she said. "Don't expect Hux or me around the base today," she added. "Or maybe even tomorrow."

With that, she turned and left. Rey stared at her hands and frowned. Kylo wasn't entirely sure what to make of the situation either.

"Nature versus nurture," Rey mumbled.

"What?"

She looked up at him. "It's a discussion I overheard at the Resistance more than once," she explained. "They kept debating about which was the most determining for one's personality, nature or nurture, our innate character when we are born or what we are taught when we are a child. I never quite understood the difference. I think I do now." She fidgeted. "Did I wrong Hux?"

"I don't know," Kylo answered. "And I don't know about the 'nature versus nurture' either," he added.

He didn't know what else to say, nor what to think. After about another minute of silence, he folded himself into a proper lotus position and fell into meditation. From the sound of it, Rey followed his example.

When he opened his eyes again, Rey was comfortably leaning against the wall in her nest of pillows, watching him. He raised an eyebrow at her. Meditation hadn't brought any answers, but he did feel calmer than he had before.

"Ben," Rey started, "how do you use the Force to search someone else's mind for their connection with it?"

He gazed at her in surprise, wondering where the question came from. He then realised he didn't really know how to explain it.

"It's a feeling?"

"It's a feeling," she echoed dryly, an eyebrow raised.

He mock-glared at her. "What does the Force feel like?" he asked.

"Uhm…"

Kylo could see her thinking and coming up short. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I know we've only been teaching the trainees meditation for about a month now, but some are already getting quite good at it. I was wondering if maybe we should tell them about the Force and check if they've all fully lost contact with it or if some are still connected."

"And you want to help with that?"

Rey shrugged. "I'm curious."

"Whose minds have you touched so far?"

"Yours. A few people at the Resistance who agreed to help me train."

"Not Temiri or any of the children?"

Rey shook her head.

"Who of the Knights is most likely to allow you to try to connect with them?" Kylo asked.

"Shadow," Rey answered without hesitation. "Why?"

"I think you need to be able to compare in order to understand," Kylo said, rising, "and you can't use me as a reference since we're connected."

He walked to the door and opened it.

"Sir?" Phasma immediately asked. "Can I help you with something?"

Kylo eyed her. "How much do you trust Rey?" he asked.

"Almost as much as I trust you, sir," she answered.

"Almost?"

Phasma shrugged. "I haven't known her that long, sir."

He huffed a laugh. "True enough. Would you trust her with your mind?"

"Sir?"

"Come in," he said, stepping to the side. "Request Shadow's presence, please," he added to Xian, Rey's Guard.

"Yes, sir," he promptly answered.

He closed the door again and turned to look at Phasma. In the background, Rey was giving him a confused look.

"Rey wants to learn how to spot in someone's mind whether or not they are connected with the Force," Kylo explained. "It's a difficult thing to explain, and I think the best way for her to learn the difference is by entering the minds of someone with and without the connection in close succession, and try to feel the difference. I've requested Shadow's presence because Rey can't use my mind as a Force user given that we're connected. I was wondering if you would be willing to be the non-Force sensitive for comparison. You have every right to deny us; this is not a command."

Phasma reached up and took off her helmet. "What does it entail?" she asked.

"Rey will enter your mind like I did with the Knights when I reconnected them. She will enter the space between memories. If all goes well, she won't see any of your memories at all. We'll practice that on me first."

"The space between memories?" Phasma echoed, sounding sceptical.

Kylo shrugged. "I don't know how else to call it. She'll be in your mind but won't be interacting with anything you remember."

"If your mind were a building," Rey spoke up, "I'd technically be walking within the walls while the rooms are your memories. I promise to pull out if I make a mistake and I start seeing something. And, like Ben said, you're free to decline."

"Anything I have to do?" Phasma asked.

"Try not to think too much," Kylo answered. "The more actively you think, the more difficult it is to prevent from getting sucked into a memory."

Phasma hummed, then nodded. "Alright," she said.

"Thank you, Phasma," Rey beamed.

"Sit," Kylo said, motioning to the cushion Ember had used earlier. "Try a few times with me first," he told Rey when she walked over with a cushion of her own.

"Your bond doesn't interfere with that?" Phasma asked.

Kylo shook his head. "It only makes it easier for her to enter my mind. We're quite used to sharing memories as well. It's often faster than trying to explain."

Rey settled down and Kylo went to sit in front of her. "Remember," he said. "In between the memories."

"I know, Ben."

He chuckled and leaned a little into her touch when she reached for his temple. She neatly entered in between his memories and he chuckled again at her smugness.

"I'll activate a few memories," he said. "Try to avoid getting sucked into them."

It took a few tries but she eventually managed to resist the pull. By the time Rey pulled out of his mind, Shadow had arrived. She was already sitting on a cushion next to Phasma.

"What's this about?" she asked after a greeting. "Phasma said you need a training dummy, Miss Rey."

"Drop the 'Miss'," Rey protested.

Shadow glanced at Kylo. "No," she answered. "Miss Rey."

Rey groaned. "See what you make them do," she blamed Kylo.

"Just as it should," he shot back.

She threw her hands up before turning to Shadow. "I want to know how I can sense if someone has a connection with the Force or not by entering their mind," she explained. "Ben says I can only learn by comparing."

"I see," Shadow said, a bit hesitant.

"She won't see any of your memories," Kylo supplied. "It will be like when I entered your mind but right before you activated your first memory."

"You can also decline to do this," Rey added.

"Oh," Shadow said. There was comprehension dawning on her face. "And Commander Phasma is your not-sensitive test dummy?"

"It would seem that I am," Phasma dryly agreed.

"Well, I can't possibly be less brave than Commander Phasma, now can I?" Shadow started. "I mean, I'm a Knight. It would be unbecoming. We're supposed to be fearless, no? So how can I possibly decline? There's my pride on the line. This is really-"

"It's got nothing to do with being brave," Phasma interrupted.

Shadow blinked owlishly at her. "It doesn't?" she asked. "Surely it does?"

"No. There's only whether or not you're comfortable with the idea. Miss Rey promised me she'll pull out as soon as she accidentally starts seeing a memory. I'm sure she will do the same for you."

"Of course," Rey exclaimed.

"Oh," Shadow said. "Okay then."

"Thank you, Shadow," Rey said. She beamed just as much at Shadow as she had at Phasma earlier. "So," she asked Kylo. "First Phasma, then Shadow?"

"And back and forth again if you don't notice the difference. Remember how it feels to connect with the Force and try to find that feeling in their minds."