Published June 8, 2022

"Announcement"

Something was dawning on me, something so strange and terrible that I had never even dreamed of it before. "You love him," I said, and I could hear the accusation in my voice.

Shahrazad looked away; the shadows cast a veil over her eyes. When she turned back, her gaze was level. "I'm not ashamed of loving him," she said. "There's nothing wrong with loving someone. It's hating – that's what's wrong."

~ Susan Fletcher, Shadow Spinner

Rey's friends' reactions were about what she had expected, for better or worse.

Most of them were unsurprised, accepting the news with grace and even joy. Chewbacca gave a victory cry, spun Rey around in a hug, and complained about what had taken them so long. Rose was excited and immediately offered her help with preparations. Finn had mixed emotions, but he acted cheerful for Rey's sake. C-3PO was delighted, and immediately volunteered his services, since etiquette and protocol were of utmost importance at weddings. Maz agreed to officiate the ceremony and, for the right price, cater the reception; later she also privately gave Rey some choice words of advice.

All of these interactions increased Rey's own excitement, and also gave her a growing sense of peace about the matter. She gave Ben a report of each conversation, and he shared her relief and hope.

Poe was the last close friend she told, after she had gained the support of her other closest friends. He was the one she needed to approach to discuss her retirement from the Resistance and her new living arrangements. From him, the news would spread to other Resistance members and allies—and he would likely set the tone for their responses.

Rey requested a private meeting with Poe, which was easily granted. She tried not to feel nervous about it, but before going in, she decided to untie the aurodium chain from her wrist, and instead held the dice in her hand, hidden from Poe's sight.

When they sat down together, she tried to ease into the news. "I want to retire."

As she had expected, Poe was bewildered, dismayed, and concerned. "Why? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. I just feel like it's time to move on," Rey said simply.

Poe studied her as though trying to assemble a puzzle whose pieces, from his point of view, could not possibly fit. He could only think of one significant event that could have prompted such a decision, though almost a year had passed since it took place. "Is it because of what happened in the mine?"

"No—not really. But that did make me think about what I'm doing with my life … and about what's really important."

"What could be more important than this?" Poe asked rhetorically.

"Well, something happened—or, I guess I should say, something is going to happen."

That raised some alarm in him. "What? Are you in trouble?"

"No, no! It's actually great news." Rey hesitated. "I'm just not sure how you'll react."

Poe leaned back in his chair, looking at her with impatience. "Can you speak more plainly?"

So she told him: "I got engaged."

Poe's eyes bulged, and his chair slammed back into its upright position. "What? Seriously? To who?"

She locked eyes with him. "Ben." Off of his confused look she clarified, "Solo."

His expression hardened. "Not funny, Rey."

"No, it's not."

They stared at each other, and he realized she was earnest. "You—you're serious?"

"Yes. Ben and I want to get married."

Poe shook his head, slowly at first, then more vigorously. "No. No, no, no, no, no. You can't be—does he have you under some mind control trick?"

"That's not funny," Rey said without thinking.

"No, it's not," he shot back.

In the corner, BB-8 made a sound that might have conveyed either confusion or a droid's version of laughter.

Poe pushed out his chair, stood, and started pacing across the room, running his hands through his hair. "Why would you—oh, hell, Rey—are you pregnant? Is that it?"

"No!" Rey flushed, more with anger than embarrassment. "We agreed not to risk that until we were ready. That's actually one reason why we want to get married."

"You want to—with him?"

Rey's answer was short, but her eyes burned with resolution. "Yes. I do."

Poe was flabbergasted, and then indignant to the point of anger. Rey had seen him upset before, and even felt his anger directed at her on some occasions; but this time it was different. His pain and consternation stemmed from long-held resentment for Ben, but also, on some level, from care and concern for her.

"When did this happen? When did you decide this?" he demanded.

"It's not a sudden decision. We've been thinking about this for a long time."

"How long?"

"Over a year now."

"A year?!" Poe cried.

Rey folded her arms. "Well, my close brush with death was kind of a wake-up call. That was when we finally opened up about how we felt. We had to talk through some things before we finally agreed to get married, and I wanted to wait until after Finn and Rose were settled."

Poe looked almost hurt. "You've been planning this—that long?"

"Is it really such a surprise? You know he and I are connected, and have been through a lot together—"

"Just because the Force decided to make you some kind of mystical power couple doesn't mean you have to marry him!"

"Of course I don't have to," Rey retorted. "We're doing this because we want to."

"Is that even legal? He's a criminal—"

"I checked our bylaws and the Republic's laws," Rey interrupted. "There's no legal reason why we can't be married; and technically he's off the grid, so there's no law against me living with him."

"So you want to join him. In exile. Away from everyone you know and everything you've helped to build."

"I guess you could say … I want to build something new. And I want to do it with him." She worried one of the dice between her thumb and forefinger. "My life ended on Exegol. He restored my life and agreed to spend the rest of his life in exile. Now we're going to have a life together."

Poe seemed at a loss to understand this. "Why? Why would you do this? Why him?"

Rey held up her fingers and ticked off three reasons. "We love each other; we want each other; and we're good for each other." Seeing his incredulous look, she went on, "I know you must find it hard to believe, but he wasn't always bad; and even when he did bad things, there was still light in him; and he's gotten better. If he'd asked me five or six years ago, I wouldn't have said yes; but I think he's ready. He's grown these past few years—you would know that if you took the time to get to know him. It's been years since we stopped being enemies. We moved on in other parts of our lives, and we waited to see if this … this connection, these feelings, would go away. And they haven't. There's no longer any substantial reason for us to not act on them."

"Really? I think I can name some moral reasons."

"What?"

Poe started to hold up his own fingers as he argued. "One, I can't trust him after what he did to his own family. Even if he genuinely loves you, that doesn't guarantee he won't hurt you, accidentally or otherwise. Two, if you had kids, who knows how they'd turn out?"

"Not you too," Rey groaned.

"Three: letting him have a family, and letting them live with him, would undermine the whole point of his exile."

Rey stood up from her chair to be closer to Poe's height. "So you want him to be alone for the rest of his life."

"If you think his lot is hard now, Rey, it's a lot lighter than it would've been if he stood a real trial. We showed clemency out of respect for Leia and gratitude for his help in the end. The whole point of him going into exile was to keep him isolated, for everyone's safety and his punishment. But we let you visit and bring gifts and whatnot because you're a war hero. I've tried to be tolerant about you and him—yeah, I know you've been visiting, and I turned a blind eye—but I can't condone the two of you doing this."

"Why not?" Rey broke in. "We already consider each other family; this will just make it official."

Poe continued as if she had not interrupted. "But this—letting him get married and have kids—"

"How will preventing him from having those things help him learn anything he hasn't already learned by now? He might even learn more—"

"He destroyed the family he had, and slaughtered countless others. He deserves his loneliness."

"He deserves to live with his guilt," Rey conceded. "But … couldn't part of his sentence be making people happy? He makes me happy. And raising a family could be his way of helping rebuild after destroying so much."

Poe continued to stare at her as though she were crazy. He shook his head. "I don't believe this. You're such—"

"A what?" Rey challenged, daring him to continue.

"—an amazing woman, Rey." The compliment so surprised her that she could only stare as he went on, "You have so many paths open to you. Why would you throw yourself away for him?"

"I'm not throwing myself away," she said hotly. "I'm giving myself away."

"Is that supposed to be better? Giving yourself to him?"

"I'm not just doing this for him. I'm doing this for me, too. It's what I want. And it might be what he and I need."

He shook his head again. "I can't believe you would do this. I can't believe you would—"

"What?"

His voice was soft and bleak. "Debase yourself."

That was when Rey's patience broke. She had not lost her temper with Poe for a long time, and she had not lost control of her powers in years. At this moment, she had enough self-restraint to keep herself from tapping into the Force, but not enough to think better of punching Poe's face.

He staggered back, then turned slowly to look at her again, wary now. For all the times he had seen Rey upset, sometimes even with him, he had never seen her so furious as she was now. He breathed heavily, meeting her gaze and nodding slightly, as though she had just confirmed a suspicion.

"I am not some angel of light for you to put on a pedestal," Rey seethed. "And he is not some demon for you to scapegoat. We all have darkness in us, as well as light. Love means accepting both, encouraging the good and helping to fight the bad. I thought you'd understand that. Instead, you insult me, and the man I love, and his mother." At the mention of Leia, Poe's eyes widened as though he had been struck again. Rey shook her head in disappointment. "I expected more of you, Poe. I thought we were better friends than this."

His voice was flat as he answered, "So did I."

There was another silence as they realized just how fragile their friendship had been, and what was likely to happen to it now.

Rey sighed. "Look, I don't need your permission … and you don't have to come to the wedding if you're so opposed to it. I just wanted you to hear the news from me. Now I'm going to tell the other officers, so we can start planning my relocation." With that she turned and started toward the door.

Poe started to protest again. "You can't just walk away—"

She rounded on him, and almost snarled her last words: "I can, and I will."

Her open defiance stopped Poe from trying to follow her.

Ben sensed a strange peak in Rey's emotions. As far as he could tell, she felt angry, guilty, and morose, but also strangely satisfied. The Force connected them just a few minutes later, presumably after she left whatever company she had been in.

"Rey?"

She tried to muster a smile before facing him. "Hi, Ben."

He cocked his head, observing her curiously. "What's going on with you?"

Rey bowed her head, hiding her expression. "Don't laugh."

"I won't," Ben assured her.

She heaved a sigh, then confessed: "I just punched Poe."

True to his word, Ben did not laugh, but his eyes widened, and the corners of his lips turned up. "Really? I wish I'd been there to see it."

Rey chuckled, able to see some humor, though she was still downcast.

"What did he do to make you so aggressive?" Ben asked, sitting down to hear the story.

Rey also took a seat on her bed. "I told him I'm leaving, and why. He didn't take it well." She rested her chin in her hand, becoming pensive. "I think … we both realized we don't know each other as well as we thought. I expected him to be more mature; he expected me to be … more loyal, I guess. We both feel let down. And now we have to hash out all these details about me retiring and moving."

"You know you don't owe them anything," Ben reminded her. "They're the ones who owe you, after everything you've done for them."

"I know, but it's a little more complicated on a personal level. Poe and I aren't close, but I've always considered him a friend. And I hoped he'd be at least a little happy for me, and happy for your mother's sake. But I think … I think his love of Leia might only reinforce his grudge against you. He looked up to her a lot."

Ben tilted his head, his brow wrinkled in thought. "Didn't he lose his mother as a kid?"

Rey was startled, but nodded. "Yes, he's mentioned that."

"I think I remember attending her funeral. Our families knew each other—they all fought in the Rebellion together."

Rey gaped. "You mean you and Poe met as kids?"

"Only the one time. He's a few years older than me. I didn't think of it before, but maybe … maybe that's connected with how he felt toward my mother."

"Hm. That would make sense—she scolded him a lot."

They exchanged grins.

Suddenly R2-D2 beeped, calling for Ben's attention. "I've got a message incoming," Ben told Rey.

"Better take it," Rey said, in a way that made Ben suspect she knew who it was. Sure enough, the face that appeared in hologram was Poe Dameron's, looking angrier than Ben had ever seen the man.

"General Dameron," he greeted him coolly.

"Ren, I don't know what kind of Force mind control trick you've pulled—"

Ben held up his hand and interrupted. "I'll stop you right there. First, I don't answer to that name anymore. Second, I'd never do that to Rey—"

"Are you kidding? You tortured her, like you did me."

He bristled at that, but then he shrugged. "Not quite like you. You said I should rethink my technique. I took your suggestion."

"Oh, so instead of metaphorically seducing her to the Dark Side, you literally seduced her," Poe concluded.

"That wasn't quite my plan."

"So what was your plan?"

"I made it up as I went along! Anyway, that's beside my points. Third: Jedi tricks only work on the weak-minded, so you're insulting Rey's intelligence if you think that's what's going on."

Poe looked at him with open suspicion. "Are you doing this out of spite?"

Ben snorted. If the stakes were not so high and personal, he might have laughed at the irony. "Of course not. You're not worth the effort."

"Not for me, for the Resistance. Is this your way of getting revenge on us, however you can? Spiriting away our best hope for a brighter future?"

"I'm not trying to keep Rey from the rest of the galaxy."

"Uh, by definition, you kind of are."

Ben folded his arms. "She can decide for herself where to live, and who to live with. Don't be mad just because it's here with me."

Poe glared at him. "If you really cared about her, you'd let her go."

"I tried, but the Force won't let us stay out of touch."

"Couldn't you close yourself off from it, like Skywalker did?"

"I offered to try that, but she said no. You may find this hard to believe, but she wants me in her life."

"Why? What can you possibly offer her? And don't say love; she's loved by hundreds of people."

Ben's gaze was even, his words simple and sure. "We understand each other in a way no one else does."

Poe's stormy expression indicated that he did not believe this, or—perhaps worse—did not want to believe it. "You don't deserve her."

It took all of Ben's self-control not to shout, or cause any objects to fly across the room. "You think I don't know that? You think I haven't agonized over it? I know I'm not worthy of her. I could never be, no matter how much I try—and I am trying. That's why I distanced myself—as much as the Force would let us," he qualified. Deep down, he felt smug at the thought that the Force willed for them to maintain a connection. "But she wants to move here, so we're going to do it properly. Avoid creating a scandal."

"Are you joking?" Poe exclaimed. "You're already creating a scandal!"

"By entering a marital agreement, with legal documentation and witnesses, and not keeping it secret? I know something about scandal, and they usually involve a secret that brings disgrace."

"You marrying her would be a disgrace."

Ben looked at him, his eyes narrowed, not with anger, but with suspicion. "Are you jealous?"

Poe stared, and then scoffed. "Of Rey? No—not in any way you'd care about. I happen to be in a healthy, happy, mutually beneficial relationship."

"Good for you. That's one thing we have in common."

"But Rey is my friend, and our best fighter, so I do have a problem with you taking her away from the Resistance."

"Did you expect her to stay the rest of her life?"

"Right now the galaxy needs her."

"That's what everyone said five years ago."

"It's as true now as it was then."

"How can you expect so much of her? Doesn't she deserve a chance to be happy, after everything she's been through?"

"We all want that," Poe insisted. "But not all of us are that lucky."

"So? Just because some can't doesn't mean others shouldn't."

Poe almost laughed at that. "Spoken like a war profiteer."

"Well, my dad was a gambler."

"And what would your mom say?"

The question made Ben pause, wondering how much Poe knew. "Didn't Rey tell you? My mom already spoke with her."

Poe blinked. "Come again?"

"My mother, my uncle, my grandfather—they've all appeared to me, or to her, at different times."

"What?"

"They've all expressed their support. My mother gave Rey her blessing, and encouraged her to settle down."

Poe seemed to deflate upon hearing this news. For a moment he turned away from the holoprojector. When he returned to Ben's sight, he looked mystified, almost crestfallen. "Why would she go to you?"

"You mean, why would she talk to me instead of you?" Ben shrugged. "Probably because you're not Force-sensitive. Or maybe I needed it more. In her last years, you spent more time with her than I got to."

"You're the reason she's dead!" Poe shouted.

For some inexplicable reason, despite his awareness of this truth, hearing it articulated hit Ben like a blaster bolt in his gut. After a breath he said, "Yes, I am. I've never denied it, and I never will."

Poe nodded. "Good. Then we're on the same page there."

Ben held on to R2-D2's sides for support. "I don't expect your forgiveness—I can hardly forgive myself. And I'm acutely aware that I don't deserve Rey's friendship, let alone her love. But if she wants those things from me, I'm not going to withhold them."

"And you'd let her throw away everything else she has—her friends, her career, her future—just to be with you?"

Those words could have been plucked out of Ben's own mind. But he refused to give any more ground than he had to. "If you feel like she's abandoning you, just consider how I've felt every time she's left me behind here. You, at least, will have the comfort of knowing she'll be where she wants to be."

"We'll see about that." On that obstinate, ominous note, Poe ended the transmission.

Ben was left wondering if that last comment was a veiled threat, or just a bluff.

Author's Notes:

I want to apologize to all the Poe fans in my readership, especially one who has consistently left positive reviews for this story despite their preference for Damerey over Reylo. I'm sorry if this chapter was hard to read! Things had to come to a head at some point. Rest assured, this is not the end of Poe's role in the story or in Rey and Ben's lives; they just have a lot of growing to do.

For the second time, the events of this story happen to correlate very strongly with the concurrent updates to Kasiopea's comic! I want to again state for the record that I have been planning this chapter's events long before the comic's latest development, though I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Finally, you are cordially invited to attend the marriage ceremony of Ben Amidala Skywalker Organa Solo and Jedi Master Rey of Jakku. A date has not been set but is estimated to take place this summer!