The Tavern that Ranulf had mentioned was a decent size, tables and chairs strewn everywhere with a small bar counter off to the left side, with the only light coming from the windows on either side of the walls, giving it the feeling that it was bigger on the inside than it actually was. There were only four people currently sitting at one of the tables in the back, one of them being Ranulf.

"There you two are! Why don't you come and have a seat with us?" Ranulf called, waving them over.

"Alright," Rey said with a nod, and Ben let her pull him forward so that they could sit at the table with the others. There was something about Ranulf that was unnervingly familiar to him, and he didn't like it. The older man was definitely someone to watch out for.

"It so good to finally met you!" One of the two women that were sitting at the table suddenly burst, a wide grin on her face as she grabbed Rey's free hand, shaking it vigorously once they had sat down. "Ranulf said you were Rey, right?! And you're Ben!" She reached out to grab his hand as well, but he pulled it away before she could.

Why is she so loud?

"Calm down before you scare them off, would you?" The other man at the table said, pulling the first girl back into her chair, forcing her to let go of Rey's hand. "I apologize on behalf of her, it's been a long time since anyone new arrived and she's easy to excite." He shook his head with a sigh. "Anyways, since you've already met Ranulf, I guess I'll start off with the introductions: I am Amir."

"You can call me Vikki!" The loud one introduced, "I'd tell you my full name, but no one's been able to pronounce it, so I've given up trying."

"Which really means that she likes you enough to not try and make fools of you by trying." Ranulf added, shaking his head. "Because you certainly had no problems with us."

"That's only because it actually made Squeak over there laugh!" Vikki tried to defend, motioning over to the last person who had yet to introduce themselves.

Following where Vikki was looking, it was not yet another adult; instead a small girl was sitting there who couldn't be any older then eleven or twelve. She was sitting there as if trying to make herself as small as possible, hands between her legs and eyes on the floor. At least that's how she probably appeared to everyone else; but Ben could see that she was actually watching them closely out of the corner of her eyes.

"What's you're name, little one?" Rey asked the child softly. The girl didn't answer, instead looking away when attention was brought to her.

"I'm afraid she doesn't speak," Ranulf said, lightly placing a hand on top of the girl's head. There was no force behind then gesture, but there was a barely visible finch from her that didn't escape Ben's notice. "We don't know what happened before she came here, but we haven't gotten a word out of her."

She's been abused

He glanced at Rey, who nodded.

"We've gotten a few sounds out of her, but that's about it." Amir continued for Ranulf, "When we first found her she made this small surprised squeak, so Vikki started calling her that. Since we didn't have anything else to go by, it just kinda stuck."

"I see…"

Here was a child that was like they had been, alone in the world without her parents. Ben didn't know if the girl had been abused by her parents or someone else, all he knew was that he felt an unfamiliar sense of sympathy for the girl, along with a pang of guilt.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was something that I caused

I wonder if we could -

"Ok enough sad talk!" Vikki suddenly exclaimed, jarring him from his thoughts. He shot her a look, but she either didn't notice or didn't care. Or both, with how her type seemed. "Let's get to the juicy bits! You have got to tell us what's been going on with the war."

"What do you already know?" Rey asked, and Ben could tell she was nervous. He felt it too; this was the part where they would sink or swim. He would've avoided talking to them about it entirely, but Rey had brought up the point that it would be more suspicious if they didn't.

Ranulf is still suspicious

What if he figures it out?

"We know that Snoke is gone from when Vikki arrived here." Amir said, "And that Kylo Ren had taken over."

"Honestly I still don't understand how a punk kid like him got so far." Ranulf sighed, shaking his head.

A punk kid?!

I'll –

"The war is over." Ben had been about to protest, but Rey beat him to it. While she didn't do it physically, it still felt like she had placed a hand over his mouth to keep him from speaking. He sat back in his chair, annoyed.

"Really? I hope you being here doesn't mean that the resistance lost." Ranulf said.

"Actually, the resistance won and the First Order is no more."

"How so? I didn't think there would be anything would stop Kylo Ren's rampage."

"It's simple: he died." Ben glanced over at Rey, watching as a triumphant smile started to slowly slip onto her face as she spoke. "We were on the front lines and saw the Scavenger run him through with her lightsaber."

Well, she's technically not wrong

"That does make sense," Amir began with a thoughtful look, "I'm pretty sure she was the only one who could give him a run for his credits."

"Yay! Does that mean I can go out adventuring again?" Vikki looked like she would burst at any moment from excitement, staring at Ranulf intently.

"Don't look at me, I don't control what you do." Ranulf said, sounding a bit exasperated.

"Ooohhhh but wait I think I just figured something out!" Vikki turned her attention back to Rey and Ben, and he got ready to be annoyed with whatever crazy idea the woman had gotten. "You said the two of you were on the front lines, right? I bet the two of you were on opposing sides but then decided to run off together! That would explain why you had to steal whatever ship was closest to you like Ranulf told us earlier!" Her eyes sparkled as she spoke, "I'm right, aren't I?"

On second thought, it's scary how close she is…

"Good grief woman, not everyone is a hopeless romantic like you." Amir said, rolling his eyes. "Did you ever stop to think that maybe they're just friends who wanted to get away? Resistance life isn't easy, you know."

Rey nodded her agreement. "Amir is right. After everything that happened in the final battle, we really did just want to forget it all. It would be hard to explain, so we took the closest ship available."

And it's scary how good she is at telling half truths

"Something's been bothering you ever since we met Ranulf; what is it?" Rey asked Ben after they had left the tavern and were alone once more.

"He's familiar and I don't like that I can't place from where." Ben answered after a moment.

"Do you think he could be from the First Order? Could he have been a stormtrooper like Finn?"

"It's more likely he was one of the officers stationed at one of the bases." He sighed deeply, watching the ground as they walked, letting Rey led the way. "It's only a matter of time before he figures out who I am."

"Who, Ben Solo?" She said, looking back at him with a grin.

"No, that I'm-"

"I meant what I said earlier: Kylo Ren died on Kef Bir." She stopped walking suddenly, and he very nearly ran into her. She turned around to face him as she spoke, reaching up to place her hands on either side of his face. "You're just Ben now."

He sighed, closing his eyes and placing a hand on hers, leaning into her warmth, her light.

She makes it sound so easy

He had really hoped that it would be, but it wasn't. Years of mistakes and bad habits didn't just disappear overnight after all. "No one else feels that way but you."

Even if he had been freed from his rage, it didn't erase all the things that he had done as Kylo Ren. If anyone else found out the truth, he would be hunted down, no longer able to enjoy the life that he was just beginning to enjoy.

"Then it's a good thing Eir cut in when she did. She said this place was a new beginning, and Ranulf was fine with that."

He breathed, opening his eyes to look at her. She was constantly amazing him with her strength, still so bright after everything that had happened. It was that light that had first attracted him to her; they were both so lonely, he had thought that maybe, just maybe she could be the one to take away his pain.

Instead she hated him at first, determined to kill him. He wasn't entirely sure when that changed, maybe the first time their minds touched, maybe later. Whenever it had happened, he was grateful. No matter how much he messed up, how mad she became at him- she never gave up on him.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For not giving up on a monster."

/

She smiled softly up at a him. "You're not a monster. Not to me." She wrapped her fingers around his, and began to pull him forward once again. "C'mon, I want to explore the village more."

Ben's fears certainly weren't unfounded as Rey knew that should any one come that knew who he used to be and actually cared that there would be trouble. But that was the joy in having found such a secluded planet; they were allowed to simply be Rey and Ben, no one else. She pulled him through the village, both as a genuine curiosity and in the hope that it would distract him from darker thoughts.

The village was small and besides the four that they had just met, populated with the same feline race that Eir was appearing to be the dominant species, each with their own unique color and markings. Besides the tavern, there were a few other small shops, but none of them accepted credits; instead, everything was done in trade.

It was late in the evening when they made it back to the Falcon, and she had decided that she wanted to see for herself what was written in the book that Eir had given them. But the moment she took it from Ben and her hand touched its spine –

She was in Eir's house, the woman looking much younger and kneeling before a figure in a chair, hunched over and crying.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have asked." Eir was saying, moving to grab a familiar book off the table and put it away.

"No-no, it's ok. I want our story to be told." The figure – Kaine – managed out between sobs, "If there is ever anyone else like us, I want them to be prepared. I want them to know everything."

There was nothing but pain, deep seated and unbearable.

The scene changed suddenly and Kaine was lying lifeless on a bed, Eir crying over her.

"Kaine, KAINE!"

A different pain, one of loss and unrequited feelings.

Eir traveled then, taking the book and writing in it wherever she went. "I've met them both now," she heard Eir's voice as the scene continued to flicker between moments in time, overlapping with the image of Eir writing in the book, "Both the Sith and the Jedi. One wants nothing but light, the other darkness. Kaine spoke of balance, of being one with both sides. I will find that balance, even if neither of these factions will help me."

Without warning, the forest of Ekair was on fire, children screaming mother's crying stormtroopers everywhere – Eir was collapsed outside a ship, watching in horror

I didn't want this, I didn't want this!

They were

"Rey?"

Rey gasped when she felt a hand on her shoulder, stumbling back and crashing into a sitting position on the bed, breathing heavily.

"Are you alright?" She was suddenly aware of Ben's presence, sitting next to her. "You saw something, didn't you?"

"I would very much like to know how to control that." She grit out instead, still reeling from all that she had seen, gripping the fabric underneath her tightly and staring intently at the floor. "But I'm not even sure why it happens."

"It's a rare force ability." He said, placing a hand on top of hers. "Did no one tell you?"

She shook her head. "No, it's not something I told anyone about. It's only happened a few times, and with some of the things I saw I was almost afraid to."

"It should just take practice to control it. I could...I could help you if you want."

"You need a teacher!"

She idly remembered back when they hadn't known each other long, back on star killer base when during their first fight he had offered to teach her the ways of the force. But back then they were the most at odds; back then she hadn't even had the thought to try an save him.

It's amazing just how far we really have come

"I'd like that." She said, leaning against him.

There was silence for a moment, but just as Rey could feel herself slowly slipping off to sleep, he spoke up again, voice a bit uncertain. "Do you…would it help to talk about what you saw?"

She didn't answer at first, unsure. At one point she definitely did, but she wasn't sure if she fully understood everything that she seen just yet. "Eir's been through a lot I can tell from it but…maybe tomorrow. I think I just want to sleep on it for now."