Thank you for your reviews, they're really helping me accept the tones I've been giving the characters!
I don't want Kylo to appear too soppy, or Jay to appear too whiny, and getting the right balance is a lot more difficult than I thought it would be!
I'm so glad you're enjoying their journey!
JL x
Jay awoke just before midday, feeling refreshed and more energised than she had in months. She had been right about one thing, once the initial trepidation had passed she found she was able to take a breath of relief and finally rest, and she knew that it was mostly due to her conversation with Kylo last night.
She sat crossed-legged on her bed, thinking back to the look of regret in his eyes when he admitted his invasion of her personal thoughts, and the tiny dimpled crease of his cheek when he relaxed his jaw and smiled at her, such an enormous change from such a tiny action.
Smiling herself, she rose from her seated position and made her way into her shower room, allowing the steaming water to melt away her stresses and prepare her for the day. Stepping out into the contrasting coolness of her bedroom wrapped in nothing but a large white towel, she was just about to reach into her reserve of clothing when the chime of her door sounded. Throwing her discarded robe over her body she hurried to the door and signaled for it to open, revealing the same young man that had brought last night's meal to her, an identical tray in his hands.
Motioning for him to cross the threshold of her rooms she led him to the same table that yesterday's tray still carried, and he quickly exchanged it with the fresh one, before bowing his head to her and hurriedly exiting the room.
As he left, another figure entered, whipping its head around to watch the boy scuttle away quickly, and eventually turning back to Jay.
Kylo was back
He stepped out of the way of the doors as they closed behind him and raised an eyebrow at her
"Am I ever going to see you in full attire again, or is the robe all that you brought with you?"
His voice had a certain level of playfulness to it, and she couldn't help but smile and exhale an amused breath
"I'll change, just give me a moment"
And with that she made her way back to her bedroom, pulling a knee-length fitted black dress from its hanger and throwing it on, unconsciously wondering if he might like the look of it.
When she entered her lounge once more she found Kylo sitting on the sofa, nose buried in the book she had been reading the night before, he'd picked up where she had left off and seemed fascinated in its story of lust and betrayal. Another thing she had never expected, perhaps he loved a good fiction novel?
Upon the noise of Jay clearing her throat he looked back to her, shutting the book and standing from his position.
"Now that's much more appropriate for today's activities" he said, looking her up and down approvingly
"Oh?" she questioned, "and what is it that you have planned?"
She was quite surprised, her assumption had been that he would leave her confined to her quarters for days on end before speaking to her, and then only as a formality. She was learning not to be so assuming of Kylo Ren after all.
"I thought I might try to get you more involved with the planning discussions, after all we need to create quite the spectacle, representatives from the far corners of our universe will be in attendance and perfection has always been my policy. Plus I thought it might serve you better busying yourself with something like that rather than playing prisoner in your own rooms"
It took her a fair few seconds to realise that he was talking about their wedding, she had been so preoccupied with her memory of last night that she had almost forgotten why she had woken up on board the star destroyer and not in her own bed at home.
Taking a breath she nodded, it was thoughtful of him to want her to be involved, and to realise she may not want to sit idly twiddling her thumbs while she waited for their ceremony to arrive.
Pulling on some plain black flat shoes and a black chiffon cover-up, she motioned for him to lead the way, completely forgetting about the meal that sat waiting for her.
As soon as he had crossed into the corridor she saw his demeanor change instantly, he stood at his full height, chest puffed out slightly and taking large, confident strides through the passageways with his cloak billowing behind him. His 'Lord Ren' facade was fixed firmly in place, and he adopted his usual stern expression while passing employees from various departments, all of whom jumped out of his way and avoided his eye.
Jay couldn't believe that there were two completely different sides to this coin before her. She couldn't ever imagine this Kylo Ren cracking a smile or supportively holding her hand in his, he was an incredible showman, she had to give him that.
Before long they had reached a small office to their left and Kylo stood aside to allow her to enter first. Inside she saw it was quite plain and uniform, apart from the few large and flowering plants dotted about the room, standing on various surfaces. Sitting behind the only desk was a woman clearly a few years younger than herself, with flaming scarlet hair and heavily-outlined green eyes.
The woman stood as they entered and bowed her head before Kylo motioned for her to sit and pulled back the chair Jay was to sit upon herself.
"Jay, this is Officer Chamberlain, who will be assisting you with your preparations. She is at your service, any manual or administrative duties you do not wish to perform may be passed to her, any decisions you find yourself unable to reach you may bring to me and I will discuss them with you when available. I'll be here to collect you at the end of Chamberlain's shift"
Looking back at him uncertainly as he prepared to leave, Jay found herself wishing he would stay. As he caught her eye he softened his expression slightly and nodded to her
"You'll be fine" he said, with slightly more compassion than he meant to. He quickly caught himself and plastered the serious look over his face again, looking over her shoulder to Chamberlain and finishing with "Ensure she is well tended to Chamberlain, you know of my high expectations"
With that, he left.
Jay turned back to the redheaded woman and chanced a small smile at her, which she returned politely, if rather nervously.
"Well, your Highness" she started, "as Lord Ren has already outlined, I am here to make sure that all of the plans you wish to make run as smoothly as possible. I've been reassigned from my usual duties for the moment, so I will be at your beck and call twenty-four hours a day, even if you should have an idea or amendment to make in the middle of the night, please inform me and I will do whatever is possible to help you with it. Now, I know that your ceremony is scheduled to take place one week from tomorrow..."
Jay's eyes widened and filled with panic at the news of her wedding date. Eight days?! Eight days was absolutely nothing, there was no time for her to grow much closer to Kylo, no time for her to come to terms with what was happening, eight days was impossible!
Chamberlain appeared oblivious as she continued
"...and there is a lot to organise, we need to think about guests, dining, speeches, dances, music, decorations, vows. We should get started as quickly as possible"
She finished with a smile and Jay could sense that she was genuinely excited at the prospect of planning a grand wedding. Jay wasn't. One slip-up, and she could seriously upset the Order, she couldn't afford to make any mistakes, not with the universe watching.
Chamberlain could sense her nervousness and toned down her excitement, giving Jay a kind and understanding look
"If you like, I could handle the bigger things like guest lists and decorations, and you could just concentrate on a few personal tasks, such as your vows and what you might like to wear?"
Jay smiled gratefully at the young girl. "Thank you, I'm not really prepared for this much involvement, I'll try to help where I can but it's all very daunting with such a small time frame"
Chamberlain nodded and set about assigning herself various tasks while Jay moved her seat into a corner of the room, she would concentrate on her vows in a few days, after she'd had the opportunity to know Kylo a little better and write something suited to him, for now she concentrated on her dress.
She had never dreamed of her wedding day as most little girls around her had, she had always been prepared to end up in an unhappy marriage, with no choices or opinions of her own, so after some personal deliberation she settled on something simple. Chamberlain had explained to her that she was expected to wear white, a symbol of her purity and innocence, so Jay designed a simple sketch of a long, flowing A-line dress that would fall vertically without fanning out too much, a Sabrina neckline that would just catch at the edge of her shoulders, and a flattering satin, fitted, long-sleeve approach. She didn't want anything exquisite or detailed, no veil or gloves, she wanted something similar to a lot of her own dresses that she would feel comfortable in while still keeping up appearances for Kylo's sake.
After getting the nod of approval from her assistant, she busied herself with helping to organise food and drink menus for the, in her opinion, pointless evening reception, yet another charade, there only to put on a show. Lunch arrived and left as the two women chatted about dances and traditions that would need to be included, and after a long afternoon there was a chime at the door.
Kylo returned as promised and escorted Jay from the room, after she had said her goodbyes to Chamberlain.
They walked together down the endless hallways, far emptier than before, and arrived at her doors. The journey's back and forth were starting to feel shorter to her, partly, she suspected, because she wished she had more time to spend alone with him.
Kylo turned to her and started to wish her a good evening, but stopped short halfway through his sentence. She gave him a quizzical look, and he met her eyes, before taking a short breath and starting again
"I have no duties to perform for the rest of the evening, and it will be like this for a while, at least until our wedding is over, we will not continue dealing with the Rebellion until after that. I wondered if you might like to spend our evening mealtimes together? We have so little time during the day, we can barely speak a word to each other, this time together could help us...connect?"
She tried not to smile again, it was becoming a habit of hers when his First Order mask dropped, but she couldn't help the involuntary action.
"I'd like that very much"
And with that, they were both through the doors and settling into her sofa.
