Published February 7, 2021 as part of the previous chapter. Re-posted as a separate chapter on July 1, 2021.
"Sunrise"
Oh some Scholar! Oh some Sailor!
Oh some Wise Men from the skies!
Please to tell a little Pilgrim
Where the place called "Morning" lies!
~ Emily Dickinson
Early in the morning of the following day, Ben awoke and sensed Rey's presence in the kitchen area, awake and fairly alert. She seemed calm, even happy. Ben immediately changed into some clothes and left his room.
In the living area, Luke was sleeping on the couch again. The lights in the kitchen were on low. Rey was sitting at the table, nursing a cup of caf, her hair loose around her shoulders. Over the pajamas she had borrowed from Leia she wore a beaded dressing gown from Padme Amidala's wardrobe.
Her features brightened when she saw Ben coming, and she stood to meet him in an embrace. For a minute they just held each other without speaking, relishing their closeness, their safety, their humanity.
"Good morning," Rey murmured into his ear.
He laughed a little at the mundane greeting. "Good morning." He drew back but kept his arms around her. "How are you?"
"Better than I've been in a long time," she said honestly.
"You got enough rest?"
"Yes. I'm sorry to keep you waiting, but I haven't slept that well in a long time."
"Don't be sorry. You needed it. But I am glad to see you awake now."
She nodded toward the window. "I wanted to see the sunrise."
Ben understood. "Mind if I join you?"
"Not at all—I thought of asking you, but I thought you'd want to sleep."
"Not when you're finally up."
At the door, Rey shrugged the dressing gown off and hung it up. She had a sleeveless shirt and loose trousers on, but her arms were free of her usual cloth wraps, and she wore nothing on her feet.
"You'll be cold before the sun comes up," Ben warned.
She smiled, looking positively coquettish. "Then you'll have to keep me warm."
He obligingly put his arm around her and pulled her to his side before they stepped out.
The apartment complex included a small amount of land with grass and flower beds. The buildings that made up the skyline blocked any potential view of the horizon, and the sky was spotted with clouds. But even before the sun came into view, the colors of the sky and clouds changed, gradually turning to pale pastel shades. Then, finally, the sun itself rose high enough to cast its rays onto Republic City.
Rey knelt in the grass with her arms stretched out at her sides, her eyes closed, her face turned up toward the sky. She was blissful, almost intoxicated as she felt the sunlight wash over her. She breathed deeply, then spoke, her eyes still closed. "I'll never take this for granted again."
Ben sat near her and watched, admiring how beautiful she looked in the light of the new day. Presently she did not strike him as a queen, or a wild animal, or an ordinary girl; she almost looked like some nature spirit. She looked and felt more peaceful than he had ever known her to be.
He reached out slowly and touched her arm, running his fingers over her sun-kissed skin. He had never felt this kind of warmth from touching her. "Do you mind?" he asked.
"No. Please." She lay down on her back in the grass, and he scooched over to lie on his side next to her.
He hummed with pleasure, feeling her soft skin, watching the sun illuminate her face. "My beautiful human," he murmured.
She opened her eyes at that, taking in his features. "I still can't believe you became a porg for me."
"You were willing to do the same for me." Ben frowned. "I didn't get to try flying. That seems like a wasted opportunity."
"Ha! That would have been fun to watch. Flying with wings is not like piloting a ship."
After a beat of silence, Ben asked, "Do you think you'll ever miss it—being a porg?"
Rey shrugged ambivalently. "Flying was sort of fun … but I'd rather fly ships—with a certain copilot."
"I think you mean captain."
She raised her brow at him. "Is that what you are? Captain Solo?"
"Hm, well, most people call my dad that … I'll have to think of something else."
"Jedi Master Solo?"
"Maybe," he said noncommittally.
After another pause she asked, "Will you miss me being a porg?"
"Hm … I might miss being able to hold you in my two hands."
"I prefer when you use your arms."
"Well, I wouldn't trade feathers for this." He touched her face, his fingertips tracing her cheek and her lips. Rey closed her eyes, her lips parting slightly, and Ben took that as his landing clearance. He leaned over her and kissed her, gently but deeply, free of the desperation and anguish, relief and reassurance that had tinged their kisses during the previous night. Somehow, all of those shared emotions and experiences had transformed their love into something more than attraction or affection, intensifying it, maturing it, rooting it deep within their hearts. There was so much they felt that could only be expressed this way.
The moment was broken rather unceremoniously when someone in a ground-floor apartment opened a window and shouted at them: "Get a room!"
Ben's cheeks burned, more with anger than with embarrassment. Rey laughed. "We're not on the lake anymore," she pointed out. "And the night is over."
"Would you like to go back there?"
She thought about it. "Maybe to visit. It'll always be special to me, because it's where we spent so much time together."
"Our first meeting. Our first kiss. Our best dance. Our final confrontation with the forces of darkness."
"You make it sound like a story."
Just then, someone called their names. "Ben? Rey?" They turned and saw Luke standing in the doorway, frowning at them. "What are you two—"
"Just enjoying the sunrise," Ben said nonchalantly. Rey covered her mouth, trying unsuccessfully to hide her giggle.
Luke did not argue, but he shook his head and beckoned them in. "Come on inside. We need to talk as a family." He did not wait for them, instead retracing his steps back to Leia's apartment.
Ben stood and helped Rey to her feet, stealing one more kiss as she rose to her full height. They held hands as they went back inside.
When they entered Leia's apartment, the lights were off, but they could sense Ben's family gathered inside. Then, suddenly, the lights came on, revealing Han, Leia, Luke, Chewbacca, C-3PO, R2-D2, and BB-8 standing around the kitchen table, which was laden with breakfast food, a large frosted cake, and a pile of wrapped parcels.
"Surprise!" Leia said brightly.
"What is this?" Ben said blankly.
"Well, your official birthday party was supposed to culminate in making toasts and cutting a cake, but since that didn't happen, we thought this would make up for it."
Ben turned to Rey and demanded, "Were you in on this?"
"Not intentionally," she said, innocent but amused. "I did want to watch the sunrise."
"This is—nice, but my birthday's over, and I honestly don't want anything." Ben held up Rey's hand. "I have everything I could want."
It's also a victory celebration, Chewbacca said.
"We haven't really had a chance for one until now," Han explained.
Ben had to admit that that was a fair reason to celebrate.
"Besides," Luke said casually, "some of these are for Rey."
"Me?" Rey said in disbelief.
Leia finally came over and pulled them to the table. "Sit down, eat, and now that you're all here, tell me everything." No one dared to argue with her.
It was only now, with everyone rested and fed, awake and accounted for, that they finally pieced together the whole story. Rey began with the events that led to her meeting BB-8, Maz, Snoke, and Ben. Luke shared about his research and his visits to Takodana and Jakku. He tried to omit the details of their encounter with Unkar Plutt, but Rey wanted to share them, painful though the remembrance was.
"He said that my parents … sold me." Rey looked at her hands resting on the table as she said the worst.
"Oh, Rey." Leia grasped her hand. Chewbacca said something indignant that did not have a direct translation.
Ben was aghast. He knew what it was like to feel neglected or left behind, but selling one's own child into slavery was something else entirely. And how could anyone do such a thing to Rey, of all people? "Why would they—how could they do that?"
Rey shrugged. "They needed the money. Maybe they were on spice or something …"
"Even if they were, Rey, it's not right that that happened to you," Leia said adamantly.
You deserve better, Chewbacca agreed.
Ben suddenly understood why his betrayal had hit Rey so hard, and what her comparison of him to her parents truly meant. She had already been grappling with feelings of rejection. No wonder she had been fooled, and fallen apart, and then lashed out at him when he came to her.
He enveloped her in his arms, and she leaned into him. She did not cry—perhaps all her tears had been shed by now—but she let him comfort her.
Han was frustrated for a different reason. "Growing up, on Corellia, I knew a lot of kids whose folks had done that kind of thing. I thought the New Republic was supposed to have stopped that." He shot Leia a look that was not exactly accusatory, but reproachful.
She nodded, unhappy but also resolved. "I'm afraid the Senate may not see the abolition of slavery as a priority, rare as it is now; but I can at least bring it back onto the floor." She hesitated. "Rey, I'll understand if you don't want to, but would you be comfortable providing testimony about your upbringing?"
"I … I suppose I could. But that wasn't all that happened on Jakku."
Ben returned to his own chair, and Rey told them about the Knights of Ren, and Unkar Plutt's murder, and her return to Takodana. She only hesitated when she came to the part about being captured.
A horrible thought occurred to Ben—not an entirely new one, but one that had been pushed aside during the chaos of the previous night. Now, it resurfaced like ice in his heart, and he could barely frame the question. "Rey … I hate to have to ask this, but … did Snoke, or any of the knights … hurt you?"
"Yes," she admitted.
"Did he—" He looked helplessly to his mother, who understood.
Leia leaned over and asked Rey quietly, "Did they touch you wrong?"
Understanding filled Rey's features. "Oh—no. Not like … that. Snoke touched my face, my shoulders and my back, but that was all. Though I did wonder if … more crossed his mind. He actually hurt me when I refused to join him—he hit me, then he used that lightning from his hands."
Ben had not known it was possible to simultaneously feel both pain and relief the way he did now. He was glad Rey's suffering had not been worse, but it had still been significant, which both angered and worried him.
Rey's voice was distant. "But the worst part was … he tried to convince me that no one cared about me. I almost believed it, after everything I'd learned. Then he left me by myself to wait for the sunrise." She hugged herself and seemed to shrink as she remembered her close brush with despair. "I'd never felt so alone."
"You're not alone," Ben said fiercely. She met his eyes, looking lost but hopeful, as though she was willing to believe him even if it was hard for her to do so. He wanted to tell her that she had a family, that he and his family would be hers.
But before he offered that, he needed to tell her who else that family included.
"I need to tell you something now," he said, after they had recounted the events of the party. "On our way, my dad and uncle told me some things … things that explained what Snoke was really doing. It wasn't you he was after, Rey—or at least not you alone. He wanted me, because …" He hesitated, unsure if he could bring himself to speak the words, and fearful of how she would react. But if he expected her to trust him, he in turn had to trust her. "My grandfather, Anakin Skywalker, spent about half of his life as someone else. He was Darth Vader."
Rey stared, her mouth slightly ajar. She inhaled as the pieces came together in her mind. The darkness she had glimpsed in him made sense now. "Oh, Ben …" She looked at him with something he had not expected: compassion. "I thought there might be something, but I had no idea … you just learned this last night?"
Ben nodded and braced himself. "If that … if that changes how you feel about us—or about me—I'll understand."
"What? Of course it doesn't," she said, almost indignant at the idea. "You can't help who you're related to any more than I can."
"But last night—I almost gave in to the darkness. Multiple times."
She touched his shoulder. "Ben, I know you. We've been in each other's minds, remember? I see the goodness in you, the way the light pulls you. That's what I love about you."
"But all my power—it runs in the family. I'll understand if you don't want to get into this."
Rey stuck out her chin. "I've been mixed up in this since before I met you. Meeting you has been the best thing that came out of being cursed."
He had to smile. "I guess I can't argue with that."
They took turns narrating the next part of the story. Ben tried to summarize his meeting with Snoke, his council with the porgs, and his conversation with Rey, but she interrupted to state the fact that they had physically fought when he found her.
"You don't have to tell about that," Ben said.
"Yes, I do," Rey said grimly. "I don't want any secrets between any of us." She turned to Leia and Han, bowing her head in contrition. "I attacked Ben. I wounded him. And then Snoke spoke to me, over a distance, saying I should take revenge, hinting that it would somehow undo the curse, and—I thought about it. I thought about killing him. Ben actually put down his weapon and said he would let me."
"Did he?" Han leaned back in his chair, looking pointedly at Luke. The Jedi master did not move or speak; he was either too stunned or too afraid to say or do anything.
"Well," Han said finally, "I don't know whether I'm more upset that you considered it or impressed that you admitted it."
"Please don't hold it against her," Ben pleaded. "Snoke was manipulating us, she wasn't herself—"
"You don't need to convince us," Leia said, holding up her hand to stop him. "We understand. We'll speak no more of it."
"Ben?" Luke sought his nephew's eyes. "You know I try not to give too much praise—"
"Of course," Ben said coolly, "you can't be seen as playing favorites."
"Well—to Hoth's core with that. I don't think any teacher has ever been so proud of a student as I am of you."
Ben's eyes widened. Ever since he had begun training as a Jedi, he had craved his uncle's approval. That was what had driven him to excel in so many areas, beyond his innate strength in the Force. He had never thought that he would earn his master's blessing this way.
Luke justified his statement by taking up the narrative, coming to the part about Ben's idea to transfer the curse, and his radical decision to take it upon himself.
"Snoke didn't understand the power of self-sacrifice," Luke explained. "The only kind of sacrifice he could understand is the kind that inflicts pain—killing a loved one, destroying something valuable. You were both willing to sacrifice your own priorities for the good of the galaxy. And then you, Ben, were willing to give up everything you've wanted—control, respect, importance—for Rey's sake."
Rey nudged him with her elbow. "You just had to steal the glory from me, you … selfless son of a smuggler."
The ridiculousness of that epithet made them all laugh.
"Did you know that taking her place would break the curse?" Leia asked the three men.
"I didn't," Ben said.
"I suspected it," Luke posited, "but I thought that, for it to work, I couldn't let you know."
"You let us go through all that when there was hope!" Rey accused.
You let us think Ben was gone! Chewbacca agreed.
"No one is ever really gone," Luke said, sounding sage and mysterious.
"You are all jerks!" Rey raged, laughing.
"I can't argue with you there," Leia said, sipping her caf.
The mood turned somber again when they came to the part about the Force ghosts, and Ben's transformation, and the lovers' near-drowning experience. Leia was silent throughout this part, processing her biological father's words and actions. Her feelings toward him were complicated at best. But she was happy Ben had seen his namesake, Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi, however briefly.
"So, how did you actually defeat Snoke?" Ben asked. Aside from wanting to be certain that he was no longer a threat, he was genuinely curious about how they had managed to defeat such a powerful Force user.
"And what happened to our lightsabers?" Rey asked.
"I summoned them," Luke said, "and when Snoke tried to use lightning against us, I sent it back to him. Then Obi-Wan and my father struck him—they seemed to have the same power, despite being dead—and then he sort of—disintegrated. I'm not sure exactly how or why it happened that way."
"But you're sure he's gone?" Ben pressed.
"Yes. Besides seeing it, I sensed it."
So what happens now? Chewbacca asked. The humans exchanged thoughtful, uncertain glances.
"I've been thinking over what Anakin said to me," Han said slowly. "I think … maybe it's time to hand the company over to someone else. Focus on my family. Of course, that also depends on what you all plan to do."
"I'm afraid I'll have to put off my retirement a while longer," Leia said regretfully. "We need to learn more about the First Order and find a way to stop it before it's too late."
"Well, maybe I could help with that," Han offered.
"I believe Rey and Ben still have a decision to make," Luke said. "Though if you still need time to think things over, I can give you a few more days."
Rey and Ben exchanged glances. So much had happened in such a short amount of time. They had almost lost any opportunity to live full human lives. Now that opportunity had been restored, and with it, the freedom to decide what path to take.
"I think Leia has something to say first," Han said, nodding to his wife.
Leia nodded back. When she spoke, her tone was gentle but also full of conviction. "Rey, we were talking, and we unanimously agreed that, irrespective of your relationship with Ben, you always have a place with us. If you ever need a job or somewhere to stay, you're welcome with us."
Rey was almost speechless. "I … I don't know what to say. I don't think I deserve—I mean, I've caused you so much trouble as it is …"
Ben was about to argue, to tell her that it wasn't about what any of them deserved, and if it were, she deserved everything they could give her; but Luke cut in. "Let me ask you something. Why did you help BB-8?"
"Because he needed help," Rey answered simply.
"And why did you try to rescue Maz?"
"Because she's my friend."
"Do you understand where I'm going with this?"
"… I'm not sure."
"Rey, when other people want to help you, either because it's the right thing or because they care about you, you need to accept that with grace. That was what allowed Ben to regain his human form. He made the sacrifice, but you had to accept it."
"We may not be the most functional family in the galaxy," Leia acknowledged. "But we would love for you to be part of it."
Rey seemed close to tears. "Thank you," she murmured. "Thank you all." She stood and went around the table, giving each of the adults a hug and a kiss.
Ben willed his voice not to shake as he spoke up. "Rey." She turned to him, and he stood up to face her, drawing something from his pocket. "I can take you anywhere you want to go. But now that the curse is broken, there's nothing to stop us from being together. And after all this … even if we're not in imminent danger, I don't want us to be apart again. I want to show you all the places you haven't seen yet. So, I'm officially asking …" He held the dice out and asked, "Will you be my co-pilot?"
Rey covered her mouth with her hand, blinking back tears and choking back laughter. Then she lowered her hand to her heart and whispered, smiling radiantly, "Yes."
"Hold on a minute," Leia interrupted. Ben and Rey turned to her in surprise. She leveled a look at Ben. "You can't go off gallivanting around the galaxy with someone you're in love with and not married to."
"Why not?"
"Because I've done exactly that, and I know you're unlikely to come back with the same number of people that left. You'll either kill each other, or end up parents."
Ben did not want to think about what made her so sure of that. The way Han hid his face behind his cup of caf told him enough.
Luke spoke up. "I meant what I said on Jakku, Rey. There's a place for you at the temple, if you want it. I propose that you give it a chance, at least to see what it's like. Take the time to meet the other Jedi and train with us. Then, a year from now, we can reconvene to decide what's next."
That sounds fair, Chewbacca said.
Rey nodded slowly. "I think I like the sound of that. As long as you're there too," she said to Ben.
"Of course. As long as you want me, I'll go wherever you go."
"In that case, Rey, you might like to have this." Luke took a package from the pile of gifts and passed it to her.
Rey carefully untied the string and unwrapped the paper. Inside was a folded set of white and brown clothes. She recognized the style from Luke, Ben, and Tai's attire. "Is this—"
"Traditional Jedi robes," Luke confirmed. "They're not required, but they are encouraged."
"Thank you … Master." She hugged the clean white tunic against her chest. "This is really an honor."
He inclined his head toward her. "You're welcome with us."
Ben knew he spoke for everyone present when he said, "You always will be."