Rey refuses to be a pawn for the cause of Darkness. She will not sit meekly as a damsel in distress waiting to be rescued. Passivity goes against her nature. And so, she rejects her role as bait for Ben's downfall.
It helps that she is emboldened by Darth Sidious' reaction to her destruction of his clone collection. Pretty much whatever she does, Rey thinks, she will get away with it. She is too integral to his plans—and to Lady Abeloth's schemes—to be punished too severely. That means she might as well attempt escape. Who knows? She might even succeed if the Force is with her.
Conveniently, the flagship she's on has a hangar bay full of transports and starfighters fueled up and ready for takeoff. Since Rey has the run of the ship unguarded, it will be easy to slip away and steal one. Will the Final Order shoot her down? Rey is betting they will not. But when she launches from the flagship, will her ship remain unharmed by the awesome destructive power of the black hole they're in? Again, her hunch is that she'll be fine. Whatever it is that the Force or Lady Abeloth does to forestall the laws of physics for Darth Sidious, Rey hopes that she too merits the same treatment.
And if not? Then, she dies. Since she is a survivor at her core, that's not her preferred outcome. But she can accept it. Death is inevitable at some point, and Rey would rather take charge of her life than live trapped and in dread of what will happen to her. Why remain passive to watch yet another Republic fall to Lord Sidious? Would life be worth living in a galaxy ruled by fear and Darkness? Could she even go on without Ben in her life? Could she pick up the pieces alone without the support of her friends back on Coruscant who are no doubt marked for execution as well? Worse still, could she stand by and watch her children suffer abuse and indoctrination? Rey decides no. And that makes her decision clear. It's time to take action.
The decision isn't simply about her. It's also about saving Ben and saving the galaxy. And that means Rey has to do more than elude her captor. She also has to find a way to blunt the threat of the mighty fleet that the Star Forge has built. What's its weakness? She mulls over the situation before the answer comes to her: manpower. She has to find out where the Final Order clones are hidden. For without personnel to staff the fleet, Darth Sidious' armada is just a bunch of empty ships.
For some time now, Rey has been listening closely to the chatter on the bridge, hoping to glean some useful information. She overhears quite a bit about the fleet under construction. It helps that Darth Sidious is proud of his war machine and very willing to brag about it. But the location of the clones to staff the fleet seems to be a well-kept secret. The clones themselves are seldom ever alluded to.
So, Rey raises the issue. "You'll never run this fleet with a bunch of brand-new clones," she taunts Darth Sidious. "It's too large."
"Do not underestimate the capabilities of clones. Their technology and training have been refined a great deal over the past sixty years," he informs her.
"Do these clones have a chip in their heads like the old ones?"
Darth Sidious flashes a sinister, superior smirk. "Free will is overrated. Good soldiers follow orders."
"So they are hybrids of a droid and a man?" she guesses.
"It's not quite that literal, but that's the general idea. I like to think of them as an extension of my will," Lord Sidious purrs. She notes that the Sith himself stands before her in a clone body. There are levels of irony to this conversation that he is blithely ignoring. "Clones are engineered for submission and obedience. They wish to serve."
"I see," Rey replies, even though she doesn't. She can't imagine being that easily led. It's not in her nature.
"For years, I attempted to clone Force sensitives. It didn't work. But then it occurred to me that I don't need an army of Force-strong clones. I have Force enough for an army. I merely need the army to be receptive to my Force."
"What do you mean?" she probes.
Darth Sidious is pleased by her interest. Clones are his obsession, on par with the Force. His voice takes on what Rey thinks of as his 'teaching tone' as he speaks about the intersection of his two favorite subjects. "There is an old technique called battle meditation used by both the Jedi and the Sith. With sufficient concentration and practice, you can use the Force to coordinate and command large scale conflicts. It was originally developed with independent thinking soldiers as subjects. But clone soldiers are easier to direct. Mine are designed to adapt seamlessly to a hive mind way of thinking."
Rey shoots him a quizzical look. "You're saying that one person can fight a battle with just their mind?"
"Yes. In the old days, Dark Lords would build meditation chambers inside their starships. They would retreat there, sealed inside, to direct the assault. The Jedi developed their own version of the skill. It was puny by comparison," Darth Sidious sniffs. For, as always, he disdains the Light Side. "The Jedi focused less on domination and more on encouragement and determination, but the concept is the same."
"Did you do this at Exogol?" Rey wants to know.
"It was not necessary. I had plenty of loyalists embedded within the First Order back then."
"But not now," she points out. "This time, you need the clones. When do you plan to collect them?" she fishes for more information.
Darth Sidious puts her off. "All in good time, Daughter. You are rushing things. First, I need to deal with Kylo Ren and my old Master. We have unfinished business," the Sith rasps with chilling menace.
That unfinished business is a brewing problem, Rey knows. The longer she remains here in the Maw, the greater the risk that they will appear and the awful five-way showdown between her, Ben, and Plagueis versus Sidious and Lady Abeloth will occur. What happens then is anyone's guess, but Rey doesn't like the odds. If even half of what her goddess mother claims to be true is accurate, then Rey worries Team Skywalker is heading for a crushing defeat. She and Ben always knew that they would have to confront Darth Sidious for a rematch, but the wildcard Lady Abeloth is a new threat to contend with.
For years, Rey dreamed of finding her family, living blissfully ignorant of the significance of her parentage. But there were plenty of recent opportunities to be enlightened of the truth. When Rey next meets Plagueis, she plans to confront him on that point. He obviously knew who her mother was and he outright lied about the issue. Darth Plagueis the Wise has turned out to be secret protagonist behind the Clone Wars, the fall of the Republic, the Rebellion, and now the resurgence of the First Order. That Muun is responsible for the upheaval of the last seven decades. As far as Rey can tell, he's been on both sides of every issue at one time or another. It makes naturally paranoid Rey suspicious of his motives. For what else did the Muun lie about or omit from the story? She's confident that Plagueis is opposed to Sidious and therefore opposed to the goddess. But she's less confident that her and Ben's quest for balance lines up with what the Muun envisions. Lady Abeloth even speaks of balance, but who knows what she contemplates?
Balance, Rey increasingly worries, means different things to different people, much like truth and fairness. Those are abstract concepts that sound like virtues everyone can agree upon. Except, they're not. Because the devil is in the details and your personal experience tends to influence your perspective. If the war has taught Rey anything, it's that truth depends on your point of view. That explains why Kylo Ren is a hero to the Rim but a villain to the Republic.
Fairness has the same complexity. Your priorities determine how you understand it. The issue arises in everything from allotting people their fair share of taxes to meting out criminal justice. What facts and circumstances should matter in the decision? What societal values do we wish to promote? How much should we value the individual versus the collective good? There are no easy answers to those questions. There are as many different opinions as there are people. Rey's experience at the Republic taught her how hard it can be to coalesce around consensus . . . but also how important building consensus is. Because despite all its inherent inefficient messiness, Rey still champions freedom and democracy. Letting people determine their future is best, even if there are mistakes along the way.
She's absolutely terrified by the thought of a galaxy full of sheep-like clones who are blindly adherent their leader Darth Sidious. That's taking Ben's autocratic First Order too far. No one wants a life in which everyone looks, acts, and thinks the same way in some echo chamber of conformity. The richness of the galaxy comes in part from its clash of cultures, species, and perspectives. The trouble is that lately, there is far more discord from those differences than enrichment. So while the Republic and the First Order have a fragile peace in place, its longevity is far from certain. Even before the threat of Darth Sidious' new fleet, war was a reasonable possibility.
Rey is determined to do all she can to avert it. She might not be an old-school Jedi, but she is a peacemaker. So while Finn and Poe might call her actions treason, she refuses to regret them.
Rey has long been unsure of what her role should be in the Republic. But she has come around to the view that the Force calls her to be present as a moral leader. She can't retire from public affairs to teach like Luke did at his temple. Moreover, if she and Ben are going to be counterbalancing equals in the Force, then the Republic needs its own Light Side conscience equivalent to the Dark Side's Supreme Leader. How will that work in practice? Especially if she and Ben are attempting to raise a family together? Rey doesn't know. But first things first: she has to escape the Maw. And before she can make a run for it, she has to find out where the Final Order clones are hidden.
Her opportunity comes when she ducks into an elevator and unexpectedly finds herself alone with Darth Sidious' creepily quiet manservant Milo. This is the guy who duped her into an escape from Republic jail only to deliver her as an unwitting captive of the Final Order. If anyone on board knows the details of Darth Sidious' plan to return to power, this old man will.
Rey immediately punches the stop button on the elevator controls and whirls on the slightly built, frail man.
"Listen carefully," she begins as she employs her power, coating her words with a heavy dose of suggestion in the Force. "You want to tell me about Darth Sidious' clones. Where they are hidden . . . how many there are . . . what they can do . . . Tell me about how the new fleet will be staffed."
Milo does not reply. The man is far from weak minded. She cannot command his disclosures with ease.
Gritting her teeth, Rey focuses harder and repeats her words. But yet again, she is unsuccessful.
Understated Milo merely raises an eyebrow. "Milady, desist. This will not work. Your Jedi mind tricks are ineffective on me."
Nevertheless, Rey is determined. Digging down deep to beckon at the depths of the Light she tapped into on Exogol, Rey persists. "Tell me where the clones are hidden," she intones with maximum focus.
She makes progress. The Sith manservant softly utters the name of an unfamiliar system.
"Tell me more," Rey commands to the suddenly blank looking Milo.
"That's all I know. Information about the clones is 'need to know.'"
The Force tells Rey that he is not being entirely truthful. But there is no use in threatening Milo with a lightsaber. He will never consciously betray the Final Order. Milo, like everyone else on board, is a zealot willing to die for their cause.
So, frustrated Rey stops seeking support from dead Jedi of yore. Enough of this 'Be with me' stuff. This time, Rey summons her anger and forcibly invades Milo's mind. This act is the province of the Dark Side. She's only done this once before and it was unintentional. Her aggressive defense against Ben's interrogation on the Starkiller Base unexpectedly tipped her into Ben's consciousness. She started as the victim, but soon became the attacker. But that was an isolated case. Breaching the privacy of someone's mind is not something Rey would ordinarily do. Still, desperate times call for desperate measures, even Dark measures. And Rey's version of balance will allow for some Dark means in furtherance of Light goals now and then.
"Tell me more! Show me!" she hisses. "Let your thoughts betray you!"
The ploy works. Rey watches Milo's memories of receiving a briefing from his Master. The briefing confirms the name of the system for the cloning operations and reveals its precise location. But that's it, unfortunately. Milo is a recent turncoat from the camp of Darth Plagueis. He hasn't been a longtime member of the Sith conspiracy. His knowledge is limited.
Still, Rey is satisfied. She waves a hand before the old man's eyes and bids him, "Forget," before she reengages the elevator.
Rey exits at her originally chosen level. Then, she promptly heads for the hangar bay. There's no use in waiting around for Milo to recover his wits and tattle to Darth Sidious about what she's done. In the hangar bay, Rey briefly pauses to look around. What's the fastest ship with shielding she can steal? Rey decides on some sort of new-and hopefully improved-version of a TIE Silencer parked near the airlock. Ben flew something similar on Pasaana, and he's a good judge of a starship.
Feeling conspicuous as always, Rey fluffs up the hood of her concealing black cloak. She feels many eyes trace her movements, but no one accosts her as she marches to the ship and climbs inside. The craft is fully fueled with a very capable hyperdrive. If she doesn't get crushed by the Maw's black hole, she ought to be able to make it back to regular space fairly quickly.
Rey fires up the engines. She doesn't wait for them to warm up. She heads straight for the airlock. Recalling how Han Solo once jumped to lightspeed from within a hangar bay, Rey decides on the same risky maneuver. It's the only way to be certain that the Final Order can't fire on her immediately. Already, the crew must know that something is amiss. For as far as Rey can tell, no ships enter and exit Darth Sidious' flagship in the Maw. That makes her fighter's unannounced, unauthorized departure extremely obvious.
If she can make it out of the Maw, then she can transmit a message with the information about the cloning facility whereabouts. Perhaps the Republic can destroy their enemy's manpower before the Final Order fleet is completed. So as Rey blindly programs a hyperspace jump to nowhere in particular in the Kessel system, she simultaneously dictates a message for Finn on Coruscant. The message is set to constantly send over and over again. With her ship attempting to make contact automatically, the message ought to get through at the first possible moment, giving the Republic the maximum head start to take action.
Committed as she is to her course of action, Rey's hand nevertheless hovers a second over the controls to activate lightspeed. What she's about to attempt goes against all her survival instincts. Sure, she's been selfless before at Exogol and at Crait, each time choosing bad odds and her cause rather than self-preservation. Perhaps her pregnancy ought to stop her this time around, but it doesn't. Better for her children to die unborn, she reasons, than to be reared as slaves to the Sith. So, what causes her hesitation? It's the fear that she is already too late and Ben and Plagueis are on their way. Rey worries they will cross paths unaware in the Maw. Ben will show up to rescue her and fall prey to Darth Sidious anyway. That's never how she imagined the final showdown with Sheev Palpatine would occur. In her mind, it was always her and Ben together at the end . . . dying together, if need be.
But that risk can't be helped. And it's just one of many risks she faces. Yet if there is one small chance left to thwart Darth Sidious, she will take it. Rey inhales a deep breath to summon her courage. May the Force be with me. She whispers the prayer in her mind. Force protect me. Then, she depresses the button and the craft she's in lurches forward at terrific velocity. Her stolen TIE Silencer breaks the speed of light and Rey is thrown back roughly in her seat harness.
And then . . . she knows no more. Rey has the brief sensation of falling, making her stomach feel like it's in her throat. And then . . . there is nothingness. All is black. All is quiet.
Well, that's it. She must be dead. This is the experience she had before on Exogol but can't remember because Ben revived her soon afterwards. This time, there's no one to revive her, so she experiences the nothingness of her demise.
It's not bad, really. In fact, Rey decides that being dead feels a bit anticlimactic. Shouldn't being instantly smashed into her constituent atoms at least hurt a bit? She was crushed by a black hole, after all. It's a rather dramatic way to go. But she died as she lived—taking risks for herself and for others, even if those risks morphed a bit as her understanding of the Force shifted and her relationship to Ben deepened.
Will she meet old Jedi of yore soon? Maybe Leia? Or Luke? Perhaps some old Sith as well? Just what does it mean to 'return to the Force?' Rey always assumed it was something other than this empty nothingness. This is kind of underwhelming. If this lasts forever, death will get boring.
From far away, Rey now hears a woman's voice trill. It sounds like, 'wake up, sleepyhead,' but that seems wrong. Still, everything about being dead seems wrong so far, so why should the surprises stop coming?
There it is again. "Wake up, sleepy head."
Does she have eyes? Is she incarnate in a body still? Rey attempts to open her eyes and fails.
"Wake up, Rey." The voice sounds again. Is it going to tell her to come to the Light? Is she being beckoned into Force heaven by an angel? Because that could be good.
"Freya, I insist you wake up. I am getting very cross with your stalling. I know you're not dead, so stop pretending."
Freya . . . Only one person calls her Freya. One person with a female voice and a giggle that grates.
"Do wake up." Yes, it's definitely pouty Lady Abeloth.
Rey again attempts to open her eyes. This time, she succeeds. Rey discovers that she's lying down somewhere hot and Lady Abeloth—appearing as her true self with bare bones jaw showing—looms over her curiously.
Rey recoils. "Ugh!" She instinctively throws up her hands and rolls away.
Lady Abeloth doesn't take offense. She's pleased, in fact. "Oh, good. I thought I was going to have to revive you after that stunt you pulled. You do know what a black hole is, don't you?"
"Obviously."
The goddess clicks her tongue at the sarcasm. "Really, I'm surprised that a survivor like you would go for suicide."
"That wasn't suicide."
"Then what was it? I wanted you to remain on the command ship, but I guess you're here now."
Rey glances around at the unfamiliar scenery. This isn't the sumptuous forest setting she remembers or the wide expanse of prairie it bordered. The ground beneath her is hot rock and behind Lady Abeloth is a hissing river of red. It looks like molten rock. Rey squints at the unexpected sight of lava. "Is this Mortis?" It looks like some old-fashioned version of Hell.
"Yes, it's Mortis. Mortis is all things, silly girl. Pretty things, ugly things, scary things, peaceful things. Hot places, cool places, rain, sun . . . But enough about that. Tell me, what were you thinking?" the goddess fumes. "You knew I wasn't going to let you flee, right? I have worked too hard for too long to let you slip through my fingers." Lady Abeloth frowns and glares. "I might not even have noticed and you would already be dead, had you not called to me first."
"Called to you . . .?" Rey echoes blankly.
"You prayed to the Force. I listen. I always listen. I just don't always respond. In fact," the goddess juts out one hip and pushes out her lower lip in a posture of petulance, "some of my greatest mercies are unanswered prayers. No one sees it that way at the time, however. It's so annoying."
"You're not the Force!"
The goddess cocks her head and levels Rey an 'oh, please' look. "We've been over this before."
"You're not the Force!"
"Oh?" The goddess raises an eyebrow. She points at Rey and challenges, "Then explain how Darth Sidious knew to collect pregnant you from Coruscant before you or anyone else knew you were with child?"
Oh. Rey has never considered that issue. "Uh . . . Lucky guess?"
"He knew because I knew! Because in most ways that matter, I am the Force! The advent of two new Skywalkers naturally caught my notice. Such a disturbance in the Force that caused," she chuckles. "But a whisper in the right ear and a vision or two set things in motion. I knew Darth Sidious couldn't resist intervening. The man is very predictable."
"You told him? You set me up?" Rey growls. She should have guessed.
Her goddess mother nods, adding, "I am far less dictatorial than people think. These days, I honor free will to a fault. It's why I have been frustrated again and again by others' failings. But this time, I decided to use free will to my advantage. I am hopeful that when everyone has the right motivation and the freedom to act, they can achieve my ends without even being aware of them."
Rey fumes as she climbs to her feet. "I won't let you use me as bait!"
"Too late." Lady Abeloth leans forward to confide conspiratorially, "They're already on their way." She claps her hands with girlish excitement. "I can hardly wait! Can you?"
Rey's heart sinks in the face of this enthusiasm. It is as she fears. Ben will soon be as entrapped as she is.
"Oh, stop looking so sad," Lady Abeloth chides. "This is all as I have planned. But I won't let you ruin it by running away again, so here you must stay."
Now, it's Rey's turn to frown. Lady Abeloth is her newest captor, it seems. Is that an upgrade from Darth Sidious? Rey doubts it. This goddess claims to be some sort of Force fairy godmother, but Rey doesn't trust her and never will. She snaps back, "Darth Sidious probably thinks I'm dead," just to thwart her so-called mother a bit.
The goddess shrugs off the concern. "That problem is easily remedied. I will show you to him in a vision . . . or maybe not," she reconsiders, looking thoughtful. "I'll have to think about that one."
"So my ship is lost," Rey surmises, thinking of her message to Finn that was lost along with it.
"Oh, no! Your ship jumped to lightspeed. It will exit the Maw several days from now," the goddess reveals with a small smile tugging at the good side of her face.
"You're giving it safe passage . . . " Rey is surprised.
"Only you're here. The ship you stole will continue just as you planned."
"So my message could still get through . . . " Rey hopes aloud.
Lady Abeloth giggles coyly and winks. "Free will, Freya."
Unsure how to understand that remark, Rey staunchly declares, "I won't be your prisoner for long."
The goddess is irked by her choice of words. "You're not a prisoner. This is a homecoming. You're family."
But as always, Rey resents hearing the manipulative goddess assert their tie. She glares as she rejects her. "My name is Rey, and you are nothing to me! Get that through your head!"
Lady Abeloth sighs. Her whole body seems to deflate a bit with the effort. "Freya, Freya, Freya," she complains in her singsong lilt. "I watched you do this with Kylo Ren . . . pushing him away . . . rejecting his truth . . . You never learn, do you? Always such a fighter." Suddenly, Lady Abeloth is acting like Rey is the unreasonable, petulant party who must be handled gently and indulged at times. She fixes Rey with a stern, hurt look that conveys all of her eons of worldly experience. It makes her appear wise for the first time.
"Maybe that was a bit harsh . . . " Rey awkwardly backtracks as she considers that maybe this over-powered, over-tall femme fatale is, in fact, who she says she is.
The goddess drops her habitual teasing and preening. Now, she speaks with serious calm. "Daughter, you have a hard, cold streak where I am concerned. I realize that is your coping mechanism, but I do not deserve your derision. I have only ever sought to help you."
Oh, come on. "You abandoned me!" Rey accuses, going right to the crux of her hostility.
"I died before I could come back for you. Your abandonment was unintentional."
Rey sees it differently. "Jakku was your fault! If you are the Force, why didn't you help me?" The words come out in a wail. For in truth, Rey is less angry than she is sad about her past. She is self-aware enough now to know that important parts of her psyche will always be stunted by her scavenger years. Ben is right—she's not normal and never will be. That's partly the Force, but it's also Jakku. Jakku still hurts.
"I did all I could."
"If you are the Force, then you are all-powerful!" Rey maintains her posture of blame. Maybe it's not wise to point fingers at her divine creator, but she's doing it anyway.
"My mortal form has no extraordinary power. When I live among mortals, I am an ordinary woman. I have told you that already."
"And you couldn't help me after you died?" Rey challenges.
Lady Abeloth offers lamely, "I wanted to help you."
"Why didn't you help me?!"
"Alas, I am forbidden to interfere too much in mortals' lives."
That reply comes out in a small, quiet voice much like a sheepish admission, but bitter Rey still doubts it. She hisses, "That sounds like a convenient excuse."
"It's not," Lady Abeloth contends. "Freya, meddling with mortals was my crime that set all of this conflict into motion. Long ago, I overstepped my role as a One and inserted myself too directly in the lives of average people. For that mistake, I was shunned by my family. They disowned me cruelly," she finishes softly.
Lady Abeloth tosses her head and smooths her long mane in a gesture that suddenly seems more nervous than confident. Her words are defensive, even sheepish as she attempts to shrug off what clearly is her own difficult past. "Well, now you know." The goddess lifts her chin with silent indignation that verges on belligerence. "I didn't drink from some mythical font of power or bathe in a pool of knowledge. None of the stories the Sith spread about my sins are true. I did something far more understandable—I helped a friend in need. I let my compassion lead me too far. Mercy has its limits even for a One."
She eyes Rey coolly as she reveals, "There is no all-powerful Force that controls everything . . . no mystical energy field that determines destiny. Does that disappoint you? It shouldn't. History is the choices men and women make combined with the will of the Force. Life is interdependent—it is both my spark of creation and individual beings living their lives on their own terms. People's actions work in tandem with my efforts, don't you see? Nothing is truly predestined, Freya, even for a Skywalker like yourself. The Force makes things possible, but individuals have to follow through. That's why my Anakin was capable of balancing the Force, but alas he failed."
"Darth Sidious wants to clone and control. He wishes to usurp my role and to extend it-directing people as pawns like some overlord. That Dark overreach is the antithesis of balance!" Lady Abeloth hotly asserts. "It is not the way of the Force! The Force lets go. It revels in freedom, even if that freedom doesn't always yield harmony. People are as free to fail, Freya, as they are to succeed. They are as free to fight as they are to love. And that is as it should be. For without free will, there is no responsibility and no achievement. I was called the 'Bringer of Chaos' and that's unfair!" she rants. "Because life run rampant is chaos, and that's the point! The Force wants life to succeed in all its messy glory . . . When I overstepped my limits to interfere, I transgressed. I see that now. It hurt me and it hurt everyone in the end . . ."
After an awkward pause when Rey fails to react, the goddess continues. "My mistake and my family's reaction caused a deep rift with lingering consequences. As time wore on, it tore my family apart. The Son wanted me back, but the Daughter and my husband, the Father, felt I was justly punished. They held firm on principle and denied me forgiveness. It was my boy—the original Son of Darkness—who raged for me to be taken back and granted a second chance. Freya, it was a conflict that endured, flaring again and again. In the end, the Ones became unbalanced as a result of their continuing acrimony over my situation."
Lady Abeloth sighs long and hard as she concludes, "I caused it all. Freya, I ruined everything! For once my family could not keep the balance among ourselves, we could not keep the balance of the Force. The galaxy has persisted unbalanced ever since. It careens from Light to Dark, and then back again in a cycle of extremes. But I can't fix it by myself," she whines, "for that will compound my mistake."
"Oh." Rey doesn't know how to react to the goddess' rueful mea culpa that pours out with a shower of blue sparks of Force for emphasis. Lady Abeloth's strange tentacle-like fingers are wafting fast, she sees. Is that a sign of distress?
"I failed in my duty, but my family failed me. In the end, we failed everyone," the goddess says in a voice heavy with regret.
She's blinking fast, Rey notices. She seems sincere. But still, her tale makes no sense to Rey's ears. "But you're the Force! You can't fail!"
"I am a guardian of the Force, but I am fallible. I make mistakes."
"Oh." Could this strange, quasi-alien goddess be all too human? Rey can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing. She never imagined that this is how the Force works.
Lady Abeloth looks convincingly miserable as she relates, "I am sorry for all that you have endured. I would have helped you if I could. I have only wanted the best for you, Daughter. Please forgive me. I wish to make amends."
Rey doesn't know what to say. She sidesteps the question. "So, you were imprisoned here in the Maw for overstepping your role . . . "
The upset goddess nods. "Mortis is my home, but it was not always in the Maw. Here, it is hidden away. My family wished to severely limit my contact with mortals after my misstep. Putting me in a black hole was a neat and effective solution."
"I see. So . . . do you want out?" Rey wants to know.
"I want balance. When balance exists, Mortis is anywhere I wish it to be. But without balance, Mortis is sequestered here, as am I." The goddess looks down and grumbles, "These days, Mortis, like the Force, is out of sight and out of mind. People think it a quaint hokey religion that has no bearing on modern life. Things have been out of balance for so long that no one alive remembers how it ought to be."
"Darth Sidious will never free you," Rey realizes with a stroke of insight.
"That is correct. He seeks power, not balance. He is incapable of liberating Mortis. All Sith are."
"He thinks that together he and I can free you."
"He is wrong. Dragging you along to represent the Light Side isn't enough. Balance does not occur from equivalent opposing forces. It takes understanding and a willingness to compromise from both sides of the Force. It takes compromise and tolerance and forbearance . . . all the virtues my family failed to show me . . ."
"That's what was missing with Ben and me on Exogol . . . " Rey thinks out loud.
"Yes. You were close, Freya, so close," the goddess encourages. "I was so proud of you both."
"And now you want Ben and Plagueis here—"
"To bring back balance to the Force at long last."
"Then why are you helping Darth Sidious? Why give him a fleet?" Rey demands. She cannot square Lady Abeloth's words with her actions, and that makes Rey very suspicious she is being misled.
"The threat of Sheev Palpatine's return to power brings everyone here. Don't you see? It is provoking balance. Remember," the goddess reminds Rey, "I cannot directly interfere. I can't summon everyone here to do my bidding. In any event, balance has to arise naturally from free will or it will never be sustained."
"You summoned me!" Rey huffs.
"I saved you. That's different."
Really? Rey is not convinced. But why does she keep asking Lady Abeloth about her intentions? What she says doesn't matter. She's clearly not trustworthy, even if what she says sounds very intriguing. "You should have let me go and given me safe passage out of the Maw!"
"What would that achieve?"
"I could help take out Darth Sidious' clones."
"He will only make more. The real task is to take out Darth Sidious."
"Yes, that's the point! Why can't you do it, if you're so powerful?" Rey demands.
"You're not listening, Freya. My aim is balance." Lady Abeloth waves an impatient hand as she brushes off the risk of the Sith. "Sidious is nothing. Pay him no heed."
"He is hard to ignore," Rey grinds out.
"He won't be hard to ignore here on Mortis," Lady Abeloth harrumphs. "Now, let's get you out of that Sith princess getup. That feels all wrong for you."
It's an abrupt segue from religion to a superficial matter. But it's a point on which Lady Abeloth and Rey can agree, at least. Rey tugs at her heavy, concealing cloak, yanking it off and tossing it down. The effort reveals the stiff, long sleeved formal gown she wears beneath. It's uncomfortable and hot, especially now that she's standing in the middle of a volcano or whatever this place is.
Lady Abeloth unceremoniously dumps Rey's discarded cloak in the lava river. Then she points one of her strange wafting tentacle fingers at Rey. "White, I think. White and silver."
Rey looks down to find herself magically wearing a shimmering caped gown in the specified colors. It's demurely cut, but not something Rey would ever choose for herself.
"Much better," Lady Abeloth beams. "Now, you look like the Daughter."
"Does it have to be a dress?" Rey grumbles.
"Yes. Get over it. You're a pretty girl, and you need to show Kylo Ren what he came for. Go ahead and keep that trio of hair knots, but here," the goddess points her fingers again, "let's add some jewelry."
Rey finds herself staring blankly at twinkling rings on her fingers. She reaches up and touches a dangling earring that brushes at her neck. "This is unnecessary," she mutters, feel flustered by this impromptu makeover.
Lady Abeloth disagrees. "It's you, only better. Out with the scavenger, in with the defender of the Light. Now then," the goddess puzzles, "what should I wear and who should I be? I need to look good too."
"Why does any of this matter?" Rey complains again.
"First impressions count. I have never met the new Son of Darkness. I don't want to disappoint him. How's this?" The goddess morphs into a grey-pink skinned humanoid with an elongated neck and prominent forehead. She's beautiful for her species, of course, and giantly tall. Lady Abeloth must be in her thoughts because she explains, "I feel best when I'm my usual size. I hate to be little. Once I was a jawa and it felt so odd. I wasn't made to look up at people. Now, which dress?" She presents a rainbow of sexy options to silent Rey. "Well?"
"That's a lot of leg . . ." The last dress is slit from toe to hip, and that's a long way when the woman wearing the dress is seven feet tall.
"Am I trying too hard? I can't help it, I'm excited. And I do so love that I'm a woman."
Yes, Rey can see that. The Force is a woman and she's a girly girl, for certain. But in this case, she is a girly girl Muun. Watching the goddess present more wardrobe options, Rey decides, "This has nothing to do with Kylo Ren, does it?"
"Of course, it does. What's his favorite color?"
Does Ben have a favorite color? Rey has no idea. They never talk about stuff like that. They're too busy saving the galaxy and making peace. "Black . . . I guess . . ."
"Blue. I think blue," Lady Abeloth settles on an icy blue gown that falls in softly draping folds like her usual presentation. It's very goddess-like, which is fitting. For no matter who Lady Abeloth pretends to be, glimpses of her true temptress self peek through.
Giving the scantily clad, curvaceous goddess a knowing look, Rey announces dryly, "I'm sure Darth Plagueis will love it."
"Do you think?"
"I do."
"Good. That Muun is . . . is . . ."
"Is what?" Rey asks warily.
The goddess smiles at nothing in particular as she muses, "You should have seen him back in the day . . . the half cape thrown haphazardly askew over his shoulders . . . a chiseled profile that belonged on an old-style coin from Muunilinst . . . "
"His face sure doesn't look like that now," Rey quips.
The goddess doesn't seem to hear. She's lost in memories. "He just oozed leadership. That man would march in a room with long strides and start issuing orders to his entourage that trailed behind. He commanded markets back then, not armies. He chased money for power, not violence. It was so unexpected." Lady Abeloth still seems perplexed by it. "Whoever heard of a Dark Lord who gave sworn testimony on monetary policy quarterly before the Republic Senate? Darth Plagueis was such an oddball Sith that I knew he had the potential to become something truly special."
Her reminiscing continues. "I wasn't rooting for him, mind you. But part of me loved his fresh approach. Plagueis was the first Sith since Bane to be so open and notorious. He was a public figure and so was his Apprentice. How daring it was for them to exist right under the nose of the clueless Jedi," she gushes. "The man didn't seek to conquer the Republic—he even refused the Star Forge when I offered it. Said he didn't need it because he plotted to collapse his enemy and to discredit their ideas. That's the sort of free thinking that made Darth Plagueis the Wise the iconoclast I thought I needed. He was a man accustomed to questioning the conventional wisdom. And he was handsome, so handsome with all that juicy Dark charisma."
Just who was seducing who back before the Clone Wars, Rey wonders. "You and Plagueis . . . you were uh . . . " Rey can't decide how to end her sentence.
Lady Abeloth smiles at nothing again as she recalls, "We were everything and more. I remember hard muscles under those capes. Muuns can tend to be slim for my taste, but not Snoke. He looked as physically powerful as he was Force powerful. He looked like a hero."
"Uh . . . This is weird because I guess you are my parents and all . . . I never thought of either of you two like that," squirming Rey mumbles. For like children everywhere, she does not want to contemplate her parents' sex life. And more to the point, when Plagueis told her she was a child of the Force Rey never contemplated that meant she was the result of an actual romance. She had just assumed she was conjured in some mystical joint spell.
Lady Abeloth must be in her thoughts again because she giggles. "It's like I told you . . . I have a soft spot for mortals."
Male mortals evidently, Rey concludes.
"It's my downfall," Mother Abeloth sighs happily, sounding perfectly content with her weakness. "I like men . . . mortal men . . . a little too much. I go for the tragic anti-heroes, for the bad boy types who are doomed from the start by their own hubris. They deserve my scorn but I always seem to end up giving them pity. What can I say?" The goddess is 'sorry, not sorry.' "I can be too empathetic at times. I'm a softie."
Rey doubts that. This goddess commands the Star Forge weapons factory. "Don't tell me any more. I don't want to know."
"You already know the rest," Lady Abeloth chuckles low in her throat. "First Anakin came along and then you. I couldn't quit that Muun. He was persistent and persuasive, even if he always left me hanging."
"Aren't you angry with him?" Rey probes. Because watching Lady Abeloth now, she really isn't sure.
"Oh, yes. I am very angry. Snoke has much to answer for."
"So that dress is payback?"
"Maybe a little. He needs to grovel. Not that it will get him anywhere, mind you."
"He wants balance . . . or at least he says he does," Rey offers in his defense. Ben believes Plagueis. And so does she, sort of.
Lady Abeloth sniffs, "That Muun devil has said a lot of things through the years. When he gets here, he has some explaining to do." Her words are mild, but her feelings are intense. For yet again, blue sparks of Force emit from the goddess' form. It's a telltale sign, Rey has decided. "Long have I waited for this reckoning." Lady Abeloth's tone is grim. Rey is suddenly reminded of the old adage about Hell having no fury like a spurned woman.
Rey gulps. "This is the end, isn't?" For a while now, she has suspected that she comes into the story of the Force at the end long after others' actions created problems she can't solve . . . and now it's too late to change things and she's along for the ride, whether she likes it or not. In all likelihood, Ben and Plagueis will get here and this duplicitous goddess will play them and Darth Sidious off one another. Sidious will get discarded by the treacherous, fickle Lady Abeloth and the goddess will get her revenge on the Muun. What will happen to her and Ben? Rey doesn't know. "This is the end . . . "
"Nonsense, Daughter," Lady Abeloth corrects her. "This is only the beginning."