Ben's perspective
The jolt of the Falcon dropping out of hyperspace woke him. He pushed off the blanket and sat up on the edge of the bed, taking a moment to get his bearings. He hadn't meant to fall asleep, but apparently he'd needed the rest. He didn't even remember covering up. He pressed his fingers into his eyelids, then raked a hand through his hair.
Once he felt a little more human, he put his boots back on and stepped out of the room. The ship was quiet as he made his way back to the cabin, the hum of the engines the only discernible sound in the silence of space. He wondered if perhaps the others had retired, too.
But when he stepped around the corner into the cabin, he spied Rey at the dejarik table. Her slim fingers played with an empty mug as she stared off into space. Muffled sounds came from the direction of the cockpit; presumably the rest of them had gone to see how much longer it would be before they arrived at their destination.
She looked up at his entrance. "There's caf," she said quietly.
He poured himself a cup and sat across from her. "Are we there yet?" His voice was still low and gravelly with sleep.
She snorted a laugh at the question, and he smiled in appreciation. "Nearly there," she replied.
The Falcon gave an alarming shudder, then evened out again.
"Just passing through the atmosphere," Rey surmised.
"I'm waiting for the day this bucket of bolts drops out of the sky from sheer malfunction overload," Ben groused, casting a wary eye around the cabin walls.
Rey laughed. "Could you please wait until we safely land before you start wishing ill on her?"
He smirked behind his mug and took a long drink.
The rest of the descent was smooth, and soon the Falcon was touching down on terra firma, with only the slightest rattling jolt upon impact. The engines whined as the ship's systems shut off and the power began to wind down.
Luke stepped out of the cockpit, closely followed by Finn, Han, and Chewbacca. "There's an ancient village just up the mountain where the Jedi of old used to stay on their pilgrimages here," Luke explained over his shoulder. "It isn't far."
"Can't we just stay here for the night?" Finn pleaded, his voice pitched a bit higher than normal.
"No," Luke, Han, and Ben said simultaneously.
"We need to conserve all the fuel we can," Han said, shooting a frosty glare at Luke. "No idea where we might be going next."
"And the First Order will probably be searching for the Falcon's signature," Ben added. "It'll be harder to track her if she's powered down."
"Right-o!" Finn exclaimed with false brightness. "Ancient village, here we come!"
They grabbed their bags and followed Luke down the ramp. As he stepped down, Ben took in their surroundings. While he'd heard of Ahch-To in the vision, he'd never been to the world in person. He realized they were on a mountainous island in the middle of a vast ocean. The cliffs on either side of their landing site fell away into jagged rocks and disappeared into the churning sea below. There wasn't another land mass visible as far as the eye could see.
A set of stone steps jutted out of the green hillside before them, climbing up and out of sight. Luke headed for the steps.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Finn shouted after him. "We gotta go all the way up there? I thought you said it wasn't far!"
"It isn't, relatively speaking," Luke called drily over his shoulder. The wind whipped away his words. "Let's go. We're losing light."
And indeed they were. The single sun was sinking low on the horizon, turning the wispy clouds above them all shades of orange and pink, while a purplish haze gathered at the farthest reaches of the sky. The brightest of the evening stars were beginning to twinkle in the growing darkness.
Ben hung back to bring up the rear as the others followed Luke to the village. Every once in a while, he saw a small, feathered creature peek around the rocks at them as they passed by. Whenever he would meet the creature's eye, it would trill in alarm and disappear with a flutter of ineffective wings.
Ahead of him, Rey was starting to shiver as the sun went down and the temperature dropped further. She was still in her desert garb, having never switched over to garments with sleeves or cloaks like the rest of them. Ben wondered if perhaps she didn't own anything warmer. She had crossed her arms over her chest and tucked her head against the wind as she climbed the stairs above him.
"Rey, wait," he called up to her. She paused and turned to him, a question in her eyes.
He dropped his bag and unclasped his cloak, tugging the material off his shoulders, and handed the garment up to her. "Here."
Her eyes fell on the cloak, then darted back up to him.
"What?" He shook the cloak at her. "Put it on. You're freezing."
"What about you?"
"I'll be fine," he assured her.
She took the cloak from him and wrapped it around her shoulders. The garment swamped her—he was a good head and shoulders taller than her, after all—but she stopped shivering almost immediately. She burrowed deeply into the thick wool, hiking it up in her arms so she wouldn't trip over it, and reached to pick up her bag again.
He could see that it was going to be cumbersome. Before she could grab the bag, he had already slung the strap over his shoulder, next to his own bag.
"I can carry it," she insisted, cheeks pink.
"Just let me help, would you?"
She scowled up at him a moment longer, then acquiesced with a grudging nod.
Just as the sun sank below the horizon, they arrived in the village. As it turned out, the pilgrimage site was little more than a collection of dome-shaped stone huts scattered around a common area. It appeared deserted.
"The caretakers will be by in the morning," Luke said. "I'm sure they won't mind that we're here, but even so, let's be respectful during our stay."
"Caretakers?" Finn mouthed.
"You three, to a hut," Luke decided, pointing to Finn, Rey, and Ben. He glanced back at Han and Chewie. "We'll stay in this one."
"Safety in numbers?" Finn whispered to Rey.
"Or fewer huts to clean," she muttered back.
Ben rolled his eyes. "Come on," he grumbled, heading for the nearest hut.
The caretakers had left a woodpile in the central fire pit, ready to be lit. Additional firewood had been stacked along the wall. Ben knelt by the wood to start a fire, and soon, the hut was alight with warmly crackling flames.
Rey sat to his right, his cloak still draped around her shoulders as she held her hands out toward the fire. Finn dropped his pack on the other side of the pit and settled next to it.
Ben pulled his bag over and dug out a few pre-packaged rations. He'd figured something like this would happen, so he'd filched a few protein packs and stashed them just in case they were needed. He was glad he had. He handed one to Rey and tossed another to Finn, then took a third for himself.
"D'you think if I called Rose on the comm, it would be safe?" Rey asked after a while.
Ben nodded. "It should be. Rose built the comms to run on a private channel. It shouldn't send a strong signal."
She fished her comm out of her bag and toggled the switch on. "Rose?" she spoke tentatively into the pickup. "Rose, do you copy?"
After a moment of suspended silence, broken only by the popping fire, Rose's garbled voice came through. "Rey! It's good to hear from you. Are you all right? Have you heard from the others?"
Rey smiled with relief. "Finn and Ben are here with me, as are Han, Luke, and Chewie. We're all right. Are you and Leia okay? Have you heard from Poe?"
At the mention of the pilot's name on her lips, the food in Ben's mouth turned to ash. He forced himself to swallow, then put the rest of the food pack down.
"Yes, he's here," Rose replied. "We're all fine. We're hunkered down in an abandoned Rebel base on the planet Crait. We're currently trying to get the radio systems up and running so Leia can try to contact her old allies. We took heavy losses leaving D'Qar. Where did you guys go? We were afraid you'd been shot down!"
Rey glanced at Ben. He shook his head.
"Ah, I can't exactly say where we are," she responded, correctly interpreting his gesture. "But we're safe."
"Good. So what's the plan, as far as the mission goes?"
Ben held out his hand, and Rey gave him the comm. "Ask Poe how he plans to get us on Starkiller," he said, a little more sharply than he'd intended. "Once we know that, we can start figuring out the rest of the approach."
"Will do." There was a pause. "Um, do you mind if I talk to Finn for a minute?"
Ben raised a brow at Finn and gently lobbed the comm to him. The ex-trooper caught it deftly, then stepped outside to talk to his girlfriend.
Ben smirked after him, but the gesture was half-hearted. He couldn't begrudge the guy for finding happiness, especially in a time like this. Finn was one of the lucky ones.
No longer hungry, Ben put the uneaten half of his ration back in his bag, then stretched out on his back with the fire to his side. He pillowed his head on his folded arms and sighed.
"They're cute together," Rey murmured, her voice coming from somewhere above him.
He tilted his head up to find her. She had laid down too, still ensconced snugly in his cloak, with her head cushioned on her pack a few inches away from his own.
He grunted noncommittally.
"I mean, what are the chances they would find each other?" she continued softly. "He, an ex-Stormtrooper with the First Order. She, an engineer with the Resistance. And yet, here they are. It's… sweet."
Ben looked up at her bemusedly. "I never would've pegged you, of all people, as a romantic."
"Me, of all people?" she cried indignantly.
He shrugged.
He could see her expression turn thoughtful as she considered. "I guess I never really thought about it much, growing up on Jakku. I heard things, and I certainly saw things, but… no one there interested me. I was too busy surviving to waste much thought on the idea. But now?" She sighed. "I think it'd be kind of nice to have someone, and not go through life alone. You know?"
Was she trying to torture him? Ben shifted on the stone floor, trying to find a more comfortable position, and finally tugged his bag over to use as a pillow like her. He folded his hands across his stomach and stared up at the domed ceiling. "Yeah," he agreed quietly. "It'd be nice."
"Do you not have someone?" she asked.
He huffed a humorless laugh. "No."
"Really?"
"Don't sound so surprised."
"But I am surprised."
"Well… don't be." Even if it weren't for the restrictions of the Jedi, he was well aware of his reputation among the members of the Resistance, and especially the female members. He knew what they thought about his introspective, unfriendly demeanor. He knew what they thought about his unusual looks. Why would any of them be attracted to him, when there were specimens like Poe strutting around?
Besides, there had only ever been one 'someone' for him.
He heard her rustle around, as if she was changing positions, and then she fell quiet again. But after a while, the silence became oppressive. He lifted his chin to look at her.
She was glaring at him.
"What?" he snapped.
"Stop," she replied with more strength than he'd expected. The muscles in her jaw ticked, and her eyes glittered with real anger.
He wondered for a moment what he'd done, but then she continued. "Stop being so hard on yourself. Any girl would be lucky to have you. So just… stop."
The breath stilled in his lungs, and he slowly rolled onto his side so he could see her better.
What did she mean by that?
But just as he was about to respond, Finn came back in. Totally unaware of the conversation he'd interrupted, he handed the comm back to Rey and settled down on the other side of the fire.
Ben turned his back to the flames, facing away from the others and curling in on himself. Sleep would be a long time coming.