[Leia]

"So," Leia said once the door was shut and it was just her and Rey. Even Chewbacca had been sent out. "What other secrets are you keeping?"

"Erm. Nothing. No secrets."

Leia blinked a few times. She studied her drink, considering strengthening it a bit more and knocking it back. But no. She needed her wits for dealing with this young woman. She rose and moved to a seat next to Rey. Gently, she said, "I know you're lying."

"I'm not!"

Just as gently, she repeated, "I know you are." Rey was silent. Leia went on, "You went to the island to get Luke. You said he trained you. And he told you things that had wounded him so deeply he hid himself away from the entire galaxy, including me. I'd suspected it was something like this, especially after I realized who Kylo Ren really was. Why would he tell you that, though?"

"I … I asked … I tried to get him to come back. He wouldn't. So I thought if he would at least train me, maybe … maybe I could help."

"You did help. You saved us on Crait. But you're still not answering the question."

"There's no answer," she said too quickly.

Leia tried a different tact. "My son seems very taken with you." Rey swallowed hard. "How do you feel about that?"

"What?" Rey said faintly.

"You heard me."

"I should … be somewhere else." Rey made to rise.

Leia laid a hand briefly on Rey's forearm. "No. You should be here, giving me some answers. If you hated him, you'd say so. If you were afraid of him, same. If you were indifferent, you'd tell me. That really only leaves that you care for him, too, which changes the reason you left Ach-To and went to him. And maybe that's the reason why he came here – to see you and not me. I saw how he was looking at you when he came off that ship."

Rey swallowed again and sank down in the chair. "He … There … There's … something … between us."

"Go on."

"A … a bond … in the Force. Like, like what you had with Luke? I think?"

Leia nodded slowly. "Did he … do this to you?"

"What? No!" Rey animated suddenly as she realized the implication of Leia's question (more like an accusation). She rallied to Kylo's defense without hesitation. "He did not! Snoke did it! Snoke said he did and Kylo knew nothing of it!"

"Why would Snok- Snoke wanted both of you," Leia said in realization.

"What?" Rey asked.

"Snoke wanted both of you as apprentices. Or at least having both of you kept you out of the hands of the Resistance." He wanted anyone who was young and impressionable, while at the same time wanting to destroy anyone who wasn't, like Luke. Or perhaps even herself.

"He wanted me dead! He tried to kill me," Rey spoke with anger seething up inside her, finding release after too long of keeping this part secret and silent within her. Leia was glad to see it – finally, Rey was opening up. "He … violated every part of my mind and being. He took-" She shook her head, her whole body shaking. "And when he was done, he threw me in front of Kylo Ren and ordered him to murder me. He knew we were bonded and he knew what that would do to … Ben." She wiped at her eyes furiously.

Leia put a calming hand on her shoulder. Everything was making sense now. "And Ben didn't do it."

Rey shook her head. "No. He didn't. He killed Snoke instead." She let out a shuddering breath. "But then he wouldn't make them stop firing on … on you. On the fleet. The Resistance. So he and I … fought. We ended up struggling over the lightsaber you saw me with."

"The broken one."

Rey nodded, swallowing again. "We tore it apart. It happened just as the ship was hit by the Raddus. I woke up first. And I ran. I didn't know what else to do. Chewbacca … helped." She sighed. "And then we went to Crait." Rey put a sloppy, fake smile on her face. "And I smiled. Again."

Leia hugged her. Rey leaned into her heavily. "Was Luke the one who told you why he was on the island?" Or had Rey figured it out for herself?

"Sort of," Rey said, still embracing her. "He told me one version that made him sound entirely in the right. But then Ben told me how it had seemed to him. So I confronted Luke." She pulled away, lips pressed together tightly for a moment.

Rey said, "And Master Luke finally told me the truth. Which is what I told everyone here, today. But he wouldn't come with me to the Supremacy, so I went alone. I'd … had a vision – that Ben Solo would turn to the light if someone came for him. And he did. Sort of." Rey smiled again and this time it was genuine instead of the fake one she so often wore.

"How did Ben tell you his version?"

"Oh." Rey looked so flummoxed that Leia laughed. "I … shouldn't have mentioned that part." Leia raised her brows, calling Rey out on it until Rey finally crumbled and said, "Through the Force bond. We can talk sometimes."

That introduced so many questions – could they sense where the other was, when they were in trouble, could they talk to one another as needed? But Rey didn't owe her answers so Leia only asked, "Do you trust him?"

"Yes." Rey said it without reservation or hesitation. But then she turned it around: "Do you?"

Leia sighed. "I haven't seen him in years. And I can't say I saw him very often even before that. But on behalf of the Resistance and the galaxy we're trying to protect, I'll play his game and beg if I need to."

Rey's brows drew together. Seriously, she asked, "What about on your behalf?"

Leia was quiet. It was just like Lando's answer to why Ben might want to see her. She finally admitted, "I don't know that I deserve him."

"Your son?"

"There was a time when I told Mon Mothma that I would burn down the whole galaxy if I thought it was right." She paused. "In the meantime, I've burned down more than my share of the galaxy and as much as I want to say it was right … was it?" Rey didn't answer. Leia continued, "I've wronged Ben. Kylo, if he wants to be called that. And that's a big sign there, isn't it? He's trying to say he's not my son."

"That's- It might not- You don't know that."

Leia gave Rey a knowing look. Because she did know that. They both knew that. Rey winced. Leia patted her forearm and took pity on the girl by saying, "I have a lot to think about. Thank you for what you've told me."

Rey nodded and pulled away. If she had other secrets (and Leia had no doubts that she did), she wasn't volunteering them.