The volcanic island of Ilum was once one of the most holy sites for the Jedi. It was in the dormant volcano's empty lava tubes that innumerable Padawans found their Kyber crystals. After the Great Jedi Purge, the Empire descended on the island and ordered the Kyber mined out for various military uses. Much of the Kyber went towards constructing the main weapon for the Death Star, but vast amounts were never accounted for after the Empire's collapse, as though it had fallen off the edge of the world.

By the time of the Cold War between the New Republic and the First Order, Ilum would have been unrecognizable to those who knew then in their heyday. Hemorrhoidal fissures snaked across the snowy landscape as a testament to the Empire's mining, enormous rusting bucket wheel excavators lay scattered where they had been abandoned, all native fauna had been driven to extinction, and the towering forests of ancient conifers had hardly started to recover after being clear cut decades prior.

This was also the land where the First Order had established their Starkiller base, an impressive fortress constructed in, on, and around the volcano. Deep inside the fortress, a shaft of light illuminated an otherwise darkened chamber. Kylo Ren and General Hux stood at the center of this spot of light, looking up at the enormous seated silver form of Supreme Leader Snoke in the great communication font before them.

Snoke's scarred and deformed visage loomed over his underlings with barely disguised anger. He spoke to them in an old, smokey voice. "The automaton will soon be delivered to the Resistance, leading them to the last Jedi. If Skywalker returns, the new Jedi will rise."

"Supreme Leader," began Hux, "I take full responsibility-"

Snoke bolted to his feet, his misshapen head blocking the shaft of light. "General!"

Hux shook and stared unblinking at the Supreme Leader.

"Our strategy must now change," Snoke growled.

"The weapon," said Hux. "It is ready. I believe the time has come to use it. We shall destroy the New Republic and prove that we are the supreme power in this world."

Kylo looked to Hux, though his feelings on the General's plan were concealed by his mask.

Hux continued. "Without their friends to protect them, the Resistance will be helpless before us and we will crush them before they ever reach Skywalker."

Snoke sat back down, seemingly pleased by Hux's bold plan. "Go... Oversee preparations..."

Hux bowed. "Yes, Supreme Leader." He looked to Ren with disdain before leaving the chamber.

"There has been an awakening," said Snoke to Kylo. "Have you felt it?"

"Yes."

"There's something more... It is no mere coincidence that the automaton we seek is aboard the Millennium Falcon, in the hands of your father, Han Solo. The Force has willed this to test you..."

"...He means nothing to me."

"Even as the master of the Knights of Ren, you have never faced such a challenge."

"By the grace of your training, I will not be seduced."

"We shall see." Snoke leaned forward and nodded. "We shall see." His silver form melted back into the giant pool.

--

The Millennium Falcon sailed through its Hyperion stream as the eldritch blues, greens, and purples surrounded it. Rey toiled in the engine room, trying desperately to fix the multitude of mechanical issues while the entire ship shuddered violently.

Han's voice came over the internal communication. "Water pressure's dropping."

Rey adjusted her grip on her wrench and tapped the crystal with her elbow. "Try switching the source..."

"...to the secondary tank," Rey and Han said in unison.

Han tapped the appropriate rune. "I got it."

Below deck, Finn continued his attempt to treat Chewbacca's injury, much to the Wookiee's vocal displeasure. One of the issues was Chewbacca's defiance to having the fur around the bullet hole clipped short.

"Chewie, come on," Finn pleaded, now struggling to wrap the wound. "Can someone help me with this giant hairy thing?"

Bibi-Eit rolled over, hoping to lend whatever assistance he could. Chewbacca roared loudly, scaring the micronaut away and leaving Finn's ear ringing.

"You hurt Chewie and you're going to deal with me," Han shouted down.

"Hurt him? He almost killed me six times!" Finn tried applying the bandages again.

Chewbacca grabbed him by the throat.

"Which is fine," Finn choked out.

Han swore at the readings on the pressure gauges. "If the boiler blows, there's going to be pieces of us scattered across three different continents!"

The rumbling suddenly stopped and the gauges normalized.

Han blinked and tapped the internal communication crystal. "What'd you do?"

Rey popped out of the deck hatch a moment later, smiling and holding what looked like a piece of the engine. "I bypassed the compressor."

Han blinked again. "Huh." He stood from his chair and walked towards the hatch.

Rey frowned as he passed her by, thinking that saving them all deserved more than just a "huh."

Bibi-Eit chirped inquisitively when Han entered the passenger cabin.

"Move, ball," Han growled, making a beeline for his Wookiee friend.

Chewbacca moaned and clutched his bandaged arm.

Han shook his head. "Ah, don't say that. You did great. Just rest." He walked over to the seated Finn and patted him on the shoulder. "Good job, kid. Thanks."

"You're welcome." Finn propped his elbows on the Dejarik table in front of him.

Han scratched at his stubble. "So, fugitives, huh?"

Rey entered the cabin and put the compressor onto an oil stained desk. "The First Order wants the map. Finn is with the Resistance." She shrugged. "I'm just a scavenger."

Han eyed Bibi-Eit, then sighed. "Well, let's see what you got."

Bibi-Eit looked to Rey and blipped.

Rey nodded. "Go ahead."

A small compartment on his chassis opened, revealing a little suede pouch. Rey knelt down and removed the pouch before upturning it over her hand. A gorgeous lens of carved flawless sapphire tumbled out, about as wide as her thumb was long. She turned it over in her hand for a second, instinctively wondering how many portions such a trinket was worth.

Rey noticed that the lens was roughly the size of Bibi-Eit's eye and placed the lens over it. The micronaut leaned back and lit his mage lamp.

The ceiling of the passenger cabin lit up in a brilliant circle of blue light. Hundreds of lighter disconnected squiggly lines covered the image.

Han frowned. "This isn't a complete map. It's just a piece." He sighed and sat on the opposite side of the semicircular bench as Finn. "Ever since Luke disappeared, people have been looking for him."

Rey stared up at the incomplete map, struggling to make sense of it. "Why did he leave?"

"...He was training a new generation of Jedi. One boy, a student, turned against him and destroyed it all."

As Rey listened, a chill went down her spine and her pulse inexplicably quickened. Vague memories of a long-forgotten dream returned, too murky to understand.

"Luke felt responsible," Han continued. "He just walked away from everything."

Finn thought he saw what looked like partial runes near the center of the map, but if they were, there wasn't enough of the symbols to read. "Do you know what happened to him?"

Han blew out his cheeks. "A lot of rumors. Stories. People that knew him best think he went looking for the first Jedi temple."

Rey's face lit up. "The Jedi were real?"

"I used to wonder about that myself. Thought it was a bunch of mumbo-jumbo. A magical power holding together good and evil... the Dark Side and the Light..." Han chuckled. "Crazy thing is, it's true... The Force, the Jedi, all of it... It's all true."

Rey bore an expression of innocent wonder as this revelation sank in. Finn had a more subdued look. He knew about the Force from seeing it in use by Kylo Ren. It terrified him that there were once more people that could use this awesome power.

Han heard the brass navigation box chime on the edge of his hearing. "That's my cue." He turned and started back towards the deck hatch.

Chewbacca stood and growled.

"No," said Han. "You rest."

Chewbacca grumbled and sat back down.

Han gestured for Rey to follow. She pulled the sapphire lens away from Bibi-Eit's eye and placed it first back in its pouch, then the small compartment. Rey hurried after Han to the top deck.

"You want my help? You're getting it." Han took his seat on the bridge. "Going to visit an old friend. She'll get your automaton home. This is our stop."

The Millennium Falcon emerged from its gate off the coast of Takodana. This verdant land, though an important stopover for trade, remained as little more than a frontier land owing to its difficult terrain and dense forest. These aspects also made Takodana the perfect hideout for pirates, smugglers, and other travellers of a dubious nature.

Rey could hardly believe her eyes as Han sailed the Falcon up a wide river. "...I didn't know there was this much green in the whole world..."

Han looked to the enraptured young woman with a sense of loss and nostalgia. Luke had had much the same reaction upon seeing Yavin. That was a lifetime ago, though.

The river snaked lazily through the forest for some distance before opening out into an expansive lake, glittering in the morning light. On the far side of the lake sat an enormous ancient castle festooned with flags and banners of all colors and designs blowing in the wind. Han sailed past the castle and to the mouth of one of the lake's tributaries before dropping anchor.

While Han went below deck, Rey stood at the bridge's railing and took in the sights and sounds. Birds flocked above, circling over a swarm of blackeels churning the water's surface around the half-sunken wreck of an Imperial light cruiser. A cool wind caressed the tendrils of hair that had escaped her buns, tickling her cheeks. Water lapped gently at the shoreline, splashing against the smooth rocks that dotted it. Rey closed her eyes and sighed.

Han opened a dusty footlocker whose lock someone had unsuccessfully tried to pick. Everything inside was just as he had left it, save for the dead spider sitting atop his old journal. He heard Finn walk up behind him while he shook the spider off the book.

"Hey, Solo, I'm not sure what we're walking into here."

Han slowly turned to look at Finn. "Did you just call me Solo?"

"Sorry. Han. Mister Solo. You should know I'm a big deal in the Resistance, which puts a real target on my back. Are there any conspirators here? Like First Order sympathizers?"

Han pulled out a pistol he had been looking for and tucked it inside his jacket. "Listen, Big Deal, you got another problem. Women always figure out the truth." He lifted a carbine from the footlocker and placed it in Finn's hands. "Always."

Han went topside to find that Rey had lowered the gangplank and was standing on the shoreline with Bibi-Eit next to her. He walked up to her and pulled the pistol out from his jacket. "You might need this."

Rey jumped slightly, not having heard Han approach and looked at the gun he offered. It was a shiny silver, likely plated in something, with a seven shot cylinder and a utilitarian lock. She looked to Han skeptically. "I think I can handle myself."

"I know you do. That's why I'm giving it to you. Take it."

Rey took the revolver and turned it over in her hands. She had found plenty of firearms in her scavenging, but it was Niima Outpost's rule that all guns found had to be traded in.

Rey aimed the pistol out at the water clumsily. Han cocked an eyebrow. "You know how to use one of those?"

"Yeah, you pull the trigger.

Han chuckled and lowered her arm. "Little bit more to it than that. You got a lot to learn." While she looked at the gun in her hand, Han gave her a fatherly smile. "You got a name?"

"Rey."

"Rey," Han repeated. Han looked out at the lake and chewed his lip in thought. "I've been thinking about bringing on some more crew, Rey. A second mate. Someone to help out. Someone who can keep up with Chewie and me, who appreciates the Falcon."

Rey cocked her head. "Are you offering me a job?"

"I wouldn't be nice to you. Doesn't pay much."

Rey grinned. "You're offering me a job."

"I'm... I'm thinking about it."

Rey's smile slowly faded.

"Well?"

Rey shook her head. "If you were, I'd be flattered. But I have to get home."

Han scoffed. "Where, Jakku?"

"I've already been away too long."

Chewbacca and Finn came down the gangplank, interrupting the conversation.

Han cleared his throat. "Chewie, check out the ship as best you can." He turned back to Rey and lowered her arm further so the gun pointed at the ground. "That's too bad. Chewie kind of likes you."

Rey gave a polite but sad smile.

Han led Rey, Finn, and Bibi-Eit up the shoreline towards the castle. Takodana Castle was a mighty stone fortress built on a small peninsula on the lakefront that was once a Jedi stronghold during the Old Republic, with catacombs full of the bodies of Jedi slain during the Sith Wars. For reasons unknown, after the fall of the Old Republic, the Jedi abandoned the castle and built a temple on the opposite side of the lake that was subsequently destroyed seven hundred years later.

"Solo," began Finn, "why are we here again?"

"To get your automaton on a clean ship."

Rey was confused by this. "Clean?"

"You think it was luck that Chewie and I found the Falcon? If we can find it on our scryers, the First Order's not far behind. Wanna get Bibi-Eit to the Resistance base? Maz Kanata's our best shot."

The Castle's courtyard held even more flags and banners than the lakeside ramparts, with colors enough to shame even the most vibrant rainbow. Signs around the front door read "no fighting" in as many written languages as would fit. Lording over it all was a bronze statue of someone with their hands raised invitingly.

Doubt still sat heavy on Finn's mind. "We can trust this Maz Kanata, right?"

Han chuckled. "Relax, kid. She's run this watering hole for a thousand years. Maz is a bit of an... acquired taste, so let me do the talking. And whatever you do, don't stare."

"At what?" Rey and Finn asked together.

"...Any of it." Aromatic smoke and mellow music poured out of the doors as Han pushed them open.

The interior was far from anything Rey or Finn could have expected. More species than either of them had ever seen sat around a huge hall either at tables or in the circle of pillows surrounding the central fire pit. People drank, ate, gambled, and smoked under the dim orange lanterns hanging from the dark wood rafters. Either end of the hall held a semicircular drinks bar with patrons seated at nearly every stool.

The bespectacled bartender at the far end of the hall turned as soon as Han stepped in. "Han Solo!"

At once, the music and all conversations cut off. Every eye immediately went to the the man standing in the doorway.

Han sighed. "Oh, boy..." He raised his hand and waved. "Hey, Maz."

The diminutive Maz Kanata hopped over her counter and swiftly crossed the hall. "Where's my boyfriend?"

Rey immediately recognized the woman in front of them as being the same person as the bronze statue outside.

Han rolled his eyes. "Chewie's working on the Falcon."

Maz smiled. "I like that Wookiee. I assume you need something. Desperately. Let's get to it." She beckoned her newest guests to follow.

An old scrapper automaton eyed Bibi-Eit carefully then tapped the comm crystal on its chest. "(Alert the Resistance! Their missing automaton is here!)"

A well dressed woman had also spotted Bibi-Eit and excused herself from lounging with her paramour to sneak over to an alcove. She touched her own comm crystal with a long nailed finger. "(Inform the First Order, I've found their automaton.)"

--

The moment he received word that the automaton had been located, Kylo Ren left Ilum aboard the Finalizer. The night had brought him worse sleep than he usually had, and his recurring dream was even more vivid. Images of the desert and the lonely girl returned even while awake now, agitating him.

For the voyage to Takodana, Ren exiled himself to his cabin to collect his thoughts. He knelt in front of his Dark shrine and bowed his head.

"Forgive me... I feel it again... The pull to the Light... Supreme Leader senses it... Show me again... Show me the power of the Darkness, and I will let nothing stand in our way... Show me, Grandfather, and I will finish what you started..."

Kylo Ren put his hand out and placed it atop the charred and disfigured helmet of Darth Vader. As ever, the deep voice of his grandfather spoke inside his mind.

--

Maz took a seat at a table and tented her fingers. "What kind of map?"

Rey looked to the old woman with a glint of excitement in her eye. "One that leads to Luke Skywalker."

Maz chuckled and looked to Han. "You are right back in the mess."

Han sighed. "Maz, I need you to get this automaton to Leia."

"Hmm..." Maz shook her head. "No. You've been running away from this fight for too long." She looked deeply into his eyes. "Han. Go home."

Han took a swig from the glass of water in front of him. "Leia doesn't want to see me."

"Please," said Finn, "we came here for your help."

Rey swallowed the bite of apple she had been chewing. "What fight?"

"The only fight," Maz replied, smiling. "Against the Dark Side. Through the ages, I've seen evil take many forms. The Sith, the Empire, and now, the First Order. Their shadow is spreading across the world." She spread her arm for effect. "We must face them. Fight them. All of us."

Anxiety welled inside of Finn as Maz spoke. He barely resisted the urge to slap the table. "There is no fight against the First Order. Not one we can win."

Rey frowned at him, confused and somewhat disappointed.

"Look around," Finn said. "There's no chance we haven't been recognized already. I bet you the First Order is on their way right-"

Maz flicked through several adjustment lenses on her spectacles as she stared closely at Finn.

Finn glanced to Han nervously. "What's this?" He looked back to Maz. "What are you doing?"

Maz pushed the bowl of fruit at the table's center aside, shifting plates and knocking a tin cup onto Bibi-Eit in the process. She climbed up onto the table and started to crawl towards the increasingly alarmed Finn.

"Solo, what is she doing?"

"I don't know, but it ain't good."

"If you live long enough," Maz said slowly, "you see the same eyes in different people. I'm looking at the eyes of a man who wants to run."

Finn scowled and leaned forward. "You don't know a thing about me. Where I'm from. What I've seen. You don't know the First Order like I do. They'll slaughter us. We all need to run."

"Hmm." Maz crawled backwards and retook her seat. She pointed to a corner of the hall. "You see those two? They'll trade work for transportation to the Outer Rim. There, you can disappear."

Finn gently nodded as he thought it over.

Rey's disappointment grew. "Finn?"

He turned to look at her. "Come with me."

"What about Bibi-Eit? We're not done yet. We have to get him back to your base!"

Bibi-Eit chirped anxiously.

Finn sighed. "I can't." He stood and unslung Han's carbine to return it.

Han shook his head. "Keep it, kid."

Finn slung the carbine back over his shoulder and walked over to the table Maz had indicated.

Rey was mortified and nearly at the edge of tears. She had thought that Finn was someone to aspire to emulate, someone who had the courage to stand up for what was right, someone who she could finally look up to. Why would he just give up so easily and run away? She stood and stormed after him.

Maz watched her go then turned back to Han, her curiosity piqued. "Who's the girl?"

The two rough looking mercenaries eyed at Finn with intrigue. "Can I help you?"

Finn took a seat at their table. "I heard you were looking for some labor."

Rey stormed over to Finn's table. "What are you doing?!"

Finn's heart sank. "Don't leave without me," he told his prospective employers.

Rey led Finn away. "You can't go. I won't let you."

Finn let out a deep breath. "I'm not who you think I am."

"Finn, what are you talking about?"

"I'm not Resistance. I'm not a hero."

Rey's brow furrowed.

"...I'm a stormtrooper. Like all of them, I was taken from a family I'll never know. Raised to do one thing. But in my first battle, I made a choice. I wasn't going to kill for them. So I ran. Right into you. You looked at me the way no one ever had."

A tear rolled down Rey's cheek, but she continued to listen.

"I was ashamed of what I was... But I'm done with the First Order. I'm never going back." Finn took Rey's hand. "Rey, come with me."

"Don't go."

Finn released her hand. "Take care of yourself. Please." He turned and followed the two mercenaries out the front door.

Rey sniffed, disappointed in both Finn for his cowardice and herself for her naïveté. Watching him go brought back the pain of watching her parents leave. She closed her eyes, trying to push back her tears.

Rising above the drone of the overlapping voices in the hall, Rey heard a little girl crying. "No... No!"

Rey's eyes opened and she looked around. There were no children in the hall, let alone crying ones. What's more was the voice sounded familiar. She felt a tugging at the very center of her being, drawing her towards the back of the hall.

Finn glanced back one more time before the door closed behind him only to see Rey walking away.

Rey followed the feeling with a mix of curiosity and trepidation. She had had a tug like this before, but never so strongly. It led her to a dark staircase that curved downwards. She paused, not wanting to trespass.

A heavy, moist hand landed on Rey's shoulder. Startled, she turned and found the owner to be none other than Unkar Plutt.

"Hello, Rey," Plutt growled.

Rey tried to slap his hand away, but his other one grabbed her wrist.

"I'm going to make you pay for what you've done."

Rey's eyes burned. "I suggest, kindly, that you let go of me." Her voice carried a chill, but one that Unkar did not let bother him.

"And I suggest, less kindly, that you come with me."

Rey wrenched her hand from Unkar's sweaty grip and pulled her pistol on him. Plutt pulled the gun from Rey's hand and held it as though he was going to hit her with the grip.

"You have no idea how much trouble you're in!"

A large furry hand pulled Unkar's arm away from its threatening position. Plutt balked at seeing the hand belonged to a Wookiee. "Hey," he said nervously. "I'm not afraid of you!"

Rey gingerly took her gun back while Chewbacca growled.

Unkar noticed Chewbacca's injured arm and suddenly smiled. "Half a Wookiee isn't much!" He jabbed his fat finger into the spot where Chewbacca had bled through his bandage.

Chewbacca roared in pain and grabbed Unkar's arm. He twisted and pulled, ripping the arm off with a sickening crunch. The arm landed on a gambling table, drawing the annoyance of the gamblers who just tossed the arm aside.

Unkar Plutt wailed in pain and clutched his bleeding socket. Chewbacca feigned grabbing for Plutt again and the Crolute screamed and fell backwards before crawling away, blubbering incoherently.

Rey was shocked by this display, but had to admit that there was hardly a more deserving person.

Rey gasped as she heard the voice again. She turned back towards the stairs. "No," sobbed the little girl. "Come back!"

The voice sounded as though it was coming from the bottom, but Rey knew that shouldn't be possible. That voice was her own.

Bibi-Eit rolled up beside her and looked up. Rey hardly noticed him and descended the first step while her heart pounded. She took the remainder of the staircase one step at a time, all while the tugging urged her forward.

The moment she stepped off the staircase and onto the irregularly cut stones of the poorly lit vaulted hallway, she heard her younger self cry out again.

Bibi-Eit clunked down the steps behind her, wondering what she was doing, but not wanting to leave her alone.

Rey walked slowly down the hallway past the many offshoots. Whatever she was being drawn towards was near the end of the hallway. A warm breeze wafted from one of the offshoots and Rey felt herself being tugged towards where it had come from.

She followed it to a room filled with trinkets from around the world so caked in dust and cobwebs that most were unidentifiable. Sitting amongst all this was a nondescript wooden chest. Whatever was in the chest was what was drawing Rey.

She knelt in front of it and slowly opened the unlocked latch. The lid lifted with a creak, revealing folded motheaten robes, a necklace of wolves' teeth, and some sort of silver sword hilt. Rey tentatively reached for the hilt, feeling that this was what she was looking for.

Her fingers brushed the metal and she yelped at a sudden hiss from all around her. Her vision went dark and she stood, panicked.

Her vision returned, but she was no longer in the dusty room. Instead, she was in a dark hallway with seemingly no end. Rey turned to find that the hallway stretched endlessly the other way as well, but there seemed to be a child huddled in the middle, sniffling softly. She couldn't see who it was and she took a step towards them. Rey heard her own voice cry again, but it was not from the child before her.

She saw the child raise their head and gasped. It was the dark haired boy that had been her childhood imaginary friend. Rey started to run towards him but the hallway crumbled around her and out from under her feet. She fell and landed on her front.

When she looked up, she was met by the glow of some kind of large building burning in the night. A man in a grey hooded robe knelt next to a white and blue nautical automaton while both watched the structure burn.

Rey blinked and suddenly the building, the man, and the automaton were gone. She was now face down in the mud while rain poured down around her. A scream came from her right and she looked up to see a man suddenly run through the chest by some kind of glowing red blade.

Rey scrambled to her feet as the blade withdrew and the man collapsed. The one holding the glowing sword was clad in black lamellar armor and a full face helmet. Around them were six knights in black plate armor, each armed with a different weapon. The one with the red sword looked at Rey and started walking towards her.

She turned to run and was suddenly back in Niima Outpost on a bright day. In front of her was Unkar Plutt dragging a young girl with three hair buns by the arm.

Rey recognized the girl as herself and heard the same pleas and sobs that had drawn her to the stairs in the first place. She remembered this moment vividly and turned to look at the sea behind her. Her heart broke upon seeing the ship that had taken her parents away from her sailing towards the sun. The sun flashed a blood red then everything went dark again.

A robed man with a friendly but sad bearded face appeared and called Rey's name. She wasn't sure why, but he was familiar to her. The man then vanished as quickly as he had come.

Rey fell again, but landed in something soft, white, and cold. She leapt to her feet and found herself in the middle of a forest at night.

She ran, wanting desperately to be released from whatever nightmare had hold of her. The person in the lamellar armor walked out from behind a tree in front of her. Rey stumbled in an attempt to run the other way and fell onto her back.

When she opened her eyes again, she was back in the hallway outside the dusty room. The voice of the old man whispered to her again. "These are your first steps..."

Rey sat in shock, trying to wrap her head around what she had seen and heard. She wasn't sure if she wanted to scream, but before she could make a decision, she heard footsteps approaching.

She turned and saw Maz slowly walking towards her with her hands clasped behind her back. Rey's mouth struggled to form words as she pointed at the room she had been in. "...What was that?!" Rey blushed and jumped to her feet. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have gone in there."

Maz looked up at Rey. "That Lightblade was Luke's, and his father's before him. It now calls to you."

"I... I have to get back to Jakku."

Maz nodded and removed her spectacles. "Han told me." She held out her hand.

Rey knelt and placed her hand in Maz's. The wizened woman placed her other hand over Rey's. "Dear child. I see your eyes. You already know the truth. Whomever you're waiting for in Jakku... They're not coming back."

A tear fell from Rey's eye, followed by another. She did know. She had known since her parents had left on that ship that they were never coming back. But it was her hope against hope that kept her going all these years.

"But," said Maz, "there's someone who still could."

Rey sniffled and wiped her eyes. "Luke," she croaked.

"The belonging you seek is not behind you. It is ahead. I am no Jedi, but I know the Force. It moves through and surrounds every living thing." Maz smiled. "Close your eyes. Feel it. The Light... It's always been there. It will guide you."

Rey was overwhelmed. She feared closing her eyes in case whatever happened before happened again. Tear trails cut their way through the sand dust and smudged grease on her cheeks leftover from the day before.

Maz opened her eyes. "The hilt. Take it."

Rey stood suddenly and pulled her hand away from Maz. "I'm never touching that thing again! I don't want any part of this!"

Maz stammered as Rey walked briskly away with Bibi-Eit rolling after her. Rey burst out the castle's front door, not knowing where to go but wanting to be as far from the accursed Lightblade as she could get. She ran into the forest, wiping a tear from her eye.