Cheers and overlapping congratulations greeted the returning sky pilots. Once again, hope had triumphed over impossible odds. Poe did not share in this celebration, though. Instead he stood on the dock and watched Chewbacca carry Finn from below deck to a waiting gurney and medical team.
Poe looked at his unconscious friend with deep worry.
"We've got a heartbeat," one of the medics called out.
Poe followed the medical team as they rushed Finn through the crowd.
Rey stood alone at the base of the Millennium Falcon's gangplank, still trying to process everything that had happened in Ilum. An older woman slowly walked out of the crowd towards her.
Rey did not know this woman, but she could sense an aura of the Force around her and the feeling of great loss in her heart. This, Rey deduced, must be Han's wife and Kylo Ren's mother.
Leia looked into the eyes of the young woman before her. She couldn't place her finger on what it was, but something about her eyes reminded her of Ben's. A tear that had been gathering for some time finally rolled down Leia's cheek. The two women quietly embraced, comforting each other's mutual loss.
Poe chewed his gloved thumb as he watched the medics tend to Finn's injuries. Each of those gashes ate at Poe's conscience, but he couldn't find a way that he would have been able to stop Finn from receiving them.
Poe looked up as the chief medical officer approached. "Be honest, doc."
The officer smiled. "Your friend's going to be just fine," she said in a calm, motherly voice.
Poe breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
"He'll need a good long soak stay in bacta and there will be heavy scarring, but I see no reason why he won't make a full recovery."
Poe nodded. "Thanks, doc."
Chewbacca sobbed over the command bunker's map table. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Leia. The Wookiee stood and wrapped his arms around his old friend as he continued to cry.
Off in a back corner, Artu-Deetu beeped as he came out of standby. Bibi-Eit rolled over to him, chirping with excitement. The two nautomata introduced themselves to one another.
The chirping and beeping caught Threepio's attention and he walked towards his counterpart. "Artu-Deetu," he cried out with joy. "You've come back!"
Artu whistled.
"You've found what?"
A blip and two beeps.
"How dare you call me that?"
The nautomaton chirped and warbled.
"Find Master Luke? How?"
An explanatory sequence of beeps.
If Threepio could have gasped, he would have. "We must go tell the others at once!"
Leia, Rey, and Chewbacca all sat silently around the map table staring at the cups of tea one of the aides had made for them. Poe and Bibi-Eit stood to one side making small talk with Snap.
Threepio approached Leia in a hurry. "General? Excuse me, General."
Leia looked up and gasped at seeing Artu rolling towards her.
"Artu may contain some much needed good news."
"Tell me."
A compartment on his chassis opened, revealing a small pine box. Leia took it and opened it carefully. Inside were two lenses; one made of emerald, the other of ruby.
"The other map lenses," Leia said turning them over in her hand.
Bibi-Eit nudged Poe's leg. Poe took the sapphire lens from the the map table and placed it over his eye. He projected the blue map piece onto a nearby wall.
Leia placed the emerald and ruby lenses over Artu's eye and their maps joined Bibi-Eit's. At first, the image was incomprehensible, but after turning the lenses to line up the images, a brilliant white map of the world formed.
"The map," cried Threepio, "it is complete!"
Rey looked at the completed map in awe. Strange long lines of pale blue and red crossed the entire world, looking like a spider's web. At the center of it all was a bright yellow starburst surrounded by a circle of runes.
Rey remembered back to the fairy tale of the island of Ahch-To at the center of the world. Countless people searched for it, but none could ever locate it. The tale told that only those who knew exactly where it was could find it.
Leia read the circle of unbinding runes and smiled. "Luke..."
Threepio turned to Artu. "Oh, my dear friend... How I've missed you."
Rey knew that she had to go, not just for the future of the Resistance, but for her own as well. Before she left, she went to the medical bunker to see Finn.
He lay unconscious on his back, dressed in a clean white gown. The chief medical officer smiled at Rey.
"Could I have a moment with him?"
"Of course." The medical officer stepped away.
Rey looked at Finn sadly, wishing that she could have helped him more. "We'll see each other again. I believe that." She leaned over and kissed his forehead. "Thank you, my friend."
With that, Rey left the bunker.
On board the Millennium Falcon, Chewbacca and Artu made ready to set sail. Rey, freshly changed out of her worn and stained tan robes and into clean steel grey ones walked across the quay towards the ship.
Leia called out Rey's name and Rey looked back. The princess-turned-general smiled and placed a silver bracelet with a blue stone in Rey's hand. "May the Force be with you."
Rey smiled back and thanked her before boarding the Falcon. Once on board, she took the helm and nodded to Chewbacca. Less than two minutes later, they were out to sea and passing into a Hyperion gate.
The next morning, the Millennium Falcon emerged into the cloudy sea near the world's center. As they passed through the rocky ring of barrier islands, Rey stared at the central island in amazement. It was almost exactly how she had seen it, from the rocky shoreline, to the craggy grey cliffs, to the glowing golden tree at the center that nearly reached the clouds. She let Chewbacca take the helm while she headed below deck to gather her staff and other belongings.
Chewbacca brought the Millennium Falcon in next to an impeccably maintained stone dock and dropped anchor. Despite being directly under the path of the sun, the island of Ahch-To was temperate leaning towards cold. Rey stepped off the ship and took a look back at the Falcon before adjusting her poncho and following the winding cobblestone path leading inland.
Rey hiked the twisting path around the island, using her staff as a walking stick. Ancient stone steps led ever upwards past weathered standing stones, nests of squat seabirds, and a village of huts made from stacked rock.
After following the path for nearly half an hour, it ended at the top of a grassy cliff overlooking a small cove. Standing at the edge was a solitary figure in a grey cloak that billowed in the wind.
As Rey drew closer, the figure raised his head and slowly turned, revealing himself to be a man of Leia's age with a greying beard. With one flesh hand and one blued steel hand, the man pulled his hood back and stared at Rey with an expectant gaze.
Rey slung her staff over her shoulder and reached into her satchel. Slowly, she withdrew the silver Lightblade hilt and held it out before her.
Luke's face hardened at the young woman and the weapon she held in her hand. Little did either of them know what would await them in the days to follow.
