A damp and heavy breeze shook the tall trees.
Rey watched General Hux and the boy that clung to his side.
Where she expected to see a villain and a would-be dictator, Rey found a tired man instead. Rey sensed a contained panic rolling off Hux. She had expected fear, anger, and all manner of darkened emotions. She had expected him to do something brash to defend himself, or to try and bargain with her for his own benefit. She hadn't expected him to be worried for the safety of his son. She hadn't expected to find him with a child at all, and the shock of it still hadn't worn off.
"Take the boy home." Rey called from her place at the forest's edge, not moving as she did.
Armitage didn't appreciate being ordered around. He liked the idea of bringing a Jedi to his home even less. He and Lori had worked so hard and spent so long eking out a quiet life at the edge of civilization, he refused to do anything that would put that life in danger.
Keeping himself firmly between Lark and the Jedi, Armitage called back, "And if I don't?"
Trying and failing to hide a grimace, Rey could see clear as anything that the general was hiding something else.
The boy at Hux's side, Lark, cowered and barely chanced a new look around his father. She could tell that the boy wasn't yet ten. Whatever he might have been told, Rey was sure he hadn't seen the misery his father had caused.
Before Rey had the chance to decide on her reply, a small question spoken at a whisper that everyone could hear came from the boy, "Who is that?"
Armitage tried not to scowl as he kept his voice calm for the child, "Someone from a long time ago."
He was much more quiet in his response, but Rey heard him as well.
The war wasn't so long ago, not to the rest of the galaxy. Rey had seen dozens of planets torn to pieces, most of them still not made whole again. But this place seemed like it hadn't been touched by the First Order. Too far out of the way to matter or purposefully left alone, Rey wasn't sure.
While Rey mulled over her response, the wind rustled through the trees once more, leaving the air to shake with a nearly crushing noise.
Rey's moment of thought wasn't only interrupted by the wind, as the unmistakable feeling of being watched washed over her skin. Not giving any hint that she was on guard, Rey reached out through the force.
Largely serene, the woods muttered with small beads of life. Mostly birds and tiny creatures, the slow commotion of the town had been lost to the forest. Just beyond the tree line, behind the general and his son was a third bead of energy.
"Who else did you bring with you?" Rey shouted over the wind, though she tried to keep her question from sounding like an accusation for the little boy's sake.
What does she think she's playing at? At first thinking that the Jedi was making some sort of bluff to knock him off balance, Armitage didn't say anything in response. Unless…
Rey's expression hardened as the rumbling wind died down, sensing something like a realization picking at the edge of the general's mind. At the same time, Armitage could just make out the rustling of a bush over the babbling stream.
Unless Ardis decided to come along after all.
Realizing what would happen a split second before it actually did, Armitage didn't have a chance to do or say anything before Ardis shoved her way out from the same overgrown trail that Lark had just come down.
Rey didn't bring a startled hand to settle over her lightsaber this time. Instead, she watched the newcomer appear, her confusion growing along with a sinking realization.
Looking to be twelve or so, the girl that barged through the undergrowth had bright red hair woven into two long braids, one on each side of her head. Rey thought that there was something hauntingly familiar about the girl, something beyond the features she shared with the general.
So caught up over the unexpected visitor, Hux hadn't even considered that Ardis might have been following them. Now his innards twisted in a panic that he didn't dare show on his features. He knew full well that the Jedi fancied herself a hero, but he didn't trust that self-declared label to be of much use to him.
Completely unaware of how dire the situation might be, Ardis looked beyond her father and brother to see the hooded woman at the edge of the woods. Ardis didn't consider for a second that the woman might be dangerous. After all, the lady was speaking with her father, and Ardis knew that he wouldn't let anyone dangerous near her or Lark.
"Who's that?" Ardis asked.
"I'm only a visitor," Rey called back, quashing down a feeling of guilt over what she had come there to do.
Frightened as he was at the situation, Lark shakily added on, "Ardis, I think she's a Jedi. She had a lightsaber."
For a second, Rey was struck by the girl's name. Coupled with the look of her, Rey was left with no doubts that this was the same Ardis as the infant that had been with the Resistance for nearly a year. Gripped by a growing list of questions, Rey kept them to herself while the others in the clearing went on.
Ardis looked back up to the woman at the edge of the woods, this time getting the sense that something was wrong.
Seeing his daughter's eyes go wide, Armitage turned to face Rey once again, "It should be very obvious by now that I won't be leaving with you."
Rey didn't like the sudden confrontational tone on the general's words, despite the fact that she could feel it was faked, "Are you so sure about that?"
Hux hid his fear well, but Rey could still sense it rolling off of him in waves. The two children were much more obvious with their emotions. While the boy had been scared into silence, the girl had an obvious mixture of anger and confusion, and was more than ready to act on both.
"What?" Ardis looked between the two adults, "Dad, what is she talking about?"
Being a monster in the woods that had come to take some's father away wasn't what Rey had expected to be when she began her morning. Foregoing a response, Rey looked towards Hux, waiting to see what he had to say for himself.
Neither Armitage nor Lori had ever lied to the kids about who they had been, but they had been purposefully light on details. For all intents and purposes, the General Hux that had led the First Order in its invasion across the galaxy was gone, replaced by a simple family man at the edge of the outer rim.
Trying to satisfy Ardis' endless curiosity while also telling the Jedi as little as possible, Armitage answered, "This is about some things I did a long time ago."
"Before Lark was born?" Ardis asked to clarify, well aware that both her parents had fought in a war against the New Republic.
Unsure of how much the Jedi had pieced together, Armitage hid a wince at giving her additional information, "Yes."
"But you lost." Ardis pointed out, much to Armitage's chagrin. "The fight is over."
Feeling Lark's grip tightening at the edge of his coat, Armitage tried in vain to keep him, Ardis, and the Jedi in view at the same time, "You're right. It is over."
Rey felt that the words were directed at her as much as they were to the little girl. Trying to commit to what she had come here to do, Rey echoed, "Yes, what's done is done."
"I thought Jedi believed in second chances." Hux retorted back.
Rey loathed everything about Hux's tone. What she disliked even more was the fact that he was right. She had been more than ready to let bigger monsters than him have a chance to redeem themselves. For all his terrible deeds, he'd done nothing in the past decade to attract any attention.
Tracking him here had been a feat unto itself. As far as Rey had seen, there were exactly two people in the galaxy that even suspected that Hux was still alive. Living in silence for that long was some proof that Hux had abandoned his warmongering ways.
But then there was the question of Ardis' origins. Rey had known the little girl's mother for quite some time, being in hiding for so long together. While Lori had been an intensely private woman, she hadn't done anything obviously harmful to the Resistance, one stolen ship notwithstanding.
Was she also out here somewhere? Living a simple life with a man and their two children? The longer Rey wondered, the more sure she was that the answer was yes, and the more she doubted that ripping this family to shreds was the right decision.
Unsure of where she was going with this, Rey replied, "They do, but I'm not sure if you've earned one."
"What would it take to prove to you that I have?" Something raw, but carefully controlled seeped into the edge of Hux's words.
Making an effort to make her stance less threatening, Rey glanced towards the children. Pointedly ignoring Hux's stiffening figure, she caught Lark's eye.
Sure of what Ardis would say based off her short exchange with her father, Rey asked the young boy, "Lark? Is your father a good man?"
Lark's reaction to hearing his name cross the stranger's lips was to quickly cower behind his father's leg. His finding security and safety in Hux's shadow was nearly enough to answer Rey's question outright.
Armitage opened his mouth, ready to tell Lark that he didn't need to say anything to the interloping Jedi if he didn't want to. Rey felt Hux's intention and made a quick mental note of it.
But before Armitage had the chance to speak, Lark's small, shaking voice barely rose above the babbling of the stream, "Please don't take my dad away."
He hadn't answered her question, but the boy's simple plea tugged at Rey's heart.
"Hux?"
Armitage didn't say anything, instead looking the Jedi in the eye.
Shaking off a dusting of guilt, and letting it be replaced by a sureness that she was doing the right thing, Rey continued, "You'll have your second chance. But I'll be watching, so don't squander it."
Armitage wasn't going to thank the Jedi. Dropping to his knees and extolling her virtues for not ripping his life and freedom away didn't appeal to him. He did keep himself firmly in place, acknowledging the Jedi's decision with a barely perceivable nod of the head while standing guard in front of his children.
While the former general kept a stoic face, an unrestrained flood of relief washed over the clearing. A swirl of confusion and then a realization that the strange woman in the woods wasn't there to drag their father away came from the two children.
The boy still clung to his father's side, but Rey decided to focus on the fact that he put an absolute trust in his father. She had never known such a thing, and to see it -even second hand- let her know that she had made the right decision. The girl quickly recovered the same energetic air she had just before entering the clearing. Though Rey still had her suspicions about Ardis and Lori, she decided that the little girl's happiness was worth more than a decade old mystery.
The near palpable snapping of tension in the air was almost enough to bring a smile to Rey's features. Almost. Rather than do anything to distract the little family from their moment of relief, Rey simply turned away to step back into the thicket from where she came. She might come by to check on them once in a while, but Rey decided that there was no reason to rush and tell the rest of the New Republic what she had found.
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AN: Thank everyone for reading, I hope the ending was as satisfying as the rest of the series.