Epilogue
In their time as lovers, Kylo Ren taught her many lessons—but this one, Rey finds, is the most important: there is no room in a warrior's life for a weakness like love.
She reminds herself of this on a warm spring morning, when she visits Ben for the first time in three years. The war is long over, and the galaxy has known peace for two decades. She and Luke defeated Snoke, but not without cost; her master now lies beneath a cairn at the first Jedi temple, and Rey walks with the uneven stride of someone with one robotic leg. The First Order was vanquished and scattered, its remnants forced to the fringes of the Unknown Regions—in no small part due to the efforts of General Organa, Finn, Poe, and many other Resistance fighters.
She returns to the island once every few years, to pay her respects to her master, and to visit Ahch-To's only inhabitant. Ben lives in the old underground temple, and he drinks fresh water from the moisture collector Luke constructed half a lifetime ago. Rey knows that he keeps a vigil by his uncle's grave every sunrise, sometimes for just a few minutes, sometimes for hours, but he never says anything to the dead man.
This is where she finds him today, sitting quietly beside Luke's resting place.
"Hello, Ben."
He looks over his shoulder and nods. "Rey."
She takes a seat on the grass next to him. Reaches out and places her hand on the sun warmed stones that make up her master's cairn.
Ben will turn fifty at the end of the year, and his age is beginning to show. Silver streaks through his dark hair now, crow's feet perch at the corners of his expressive eyes, and frown lines bracket the mouth that taught her the pleasure of kissing.
"How's the academy?" Ben asks.
"Busy," Rey says.
She's been teaching Force-sensitives how to wield their powers for the better part of twenty years, but lately she's been feeling restless. Ready for a change. Half a lifetime stranded on Jakku gave Rey an appreciation for travel, and teaching a new generation allows few opportunities for exploration.
"I think I'll be handing the reins over to Voss soon," she says.
Ben looks at her, clearly surprised. "Are you sure about that?"
"I'm always sure," Rey says.
"Don't I know it." Ben smirks—and how is it that, even after all these years, that expression still makes her want to kiss him?
They sit together and watch the sun rise over the blue ocean, casting its rippling waves in shades of bronze.
"How long will you stay this time?" Ben asks.
"A week," Rey says. Any less and she'll hate herself for the next few years; any more, and she might never leave this island.
She takes his hand in hers and gives it a gentle squeeze. "After I help Voss take over, I'm going to visit Kashyyyk. Then maybe Dantooine. After that, who knows?"
"Hm," Ben says. "Are you sure that rust bucket will get you there?"
"There's no finer ship in the galaxy than the Falcon," Rey says, bristling. "You should know that better than anyone. It made the Kessel Run in fourteen parsecs—"
"Twelve," Ben says.
"Whatever." Rey squeezes his fingers again, suddenly nervous. "I could use a co-pilot."
He frowns, staring at his uncle's cairn as if the secrets of the galaxy might be written on its stones. "My place is here," he says.
Rotting on this island, endlessly atoning for his sins in isolation. Only one thing might persuade him to leave, but Rey refuses to give it to him.
She stays for the promised week. Except for his daily treks up the hill to mourn Luke, Ben remains by her side. They spar, share meals, drink Corellian wine, and fuck like two youths in their prime.
The night before she's set to leave again, Ben kisses her breast, right over her heart, and says, "Marry me."
He asks every time she visits. And every time, it's more and more difficult for Rey to find the simple word no.
"I can't," she says.
"You won't," Ben corrects, but he doesn't seem angry or disappointed. Merely unsurprised.
"Why do you keep asking?" Her refusals tear at her conscience, and Rey wishes he would stop forcing her to voice them.
"Why did you stay on Jakku for nineteen years?" Ben asks. "Even when you knew, deep down, that no one would ever come back for you?"
"Hope," Rey whispers, blushing. "Love."
"Well there's your answer," Ben says.
She kisses him goodbye the next morning, a sweet farewell that she can still feel on her lips long after the Falcon has left Ahch-To. It's not enough to sustain her heart for another three years, but it will have to do.