Rey never considered if ghosts paced back and forth with worry, but Ben proved this was possible.
"It doesn't make sense," Ben said. "As a spirit I can travel anywhere in the universe to see anything I wish, save for a blindness to shifting areas of a Star Destroyer Vader's on. What's more, how come there are pockets of these same empty fragments on Aquilaris?"
"Perhaps it's somehow obscured by the dark side of the Force," Rey suggested.
Ben shook his head. "I don't believe this is the case since I don't sense any darkness. It almost feels as though whatever is hidden is being protected by a natural, neutrally balanced Force," Ben sat down. "I've heard the First Order speak of another clone, but I have yet to find anyone who fits that nature. Either I have not encountered the clone when I've looked into the First Order's whereabouts, or that is one of the things being hidden,"
Rey wanted to take Ben's hand reassuringly in hers, but all she could do was sit down next to him. "You've done a lot for us," she said. "After all, you were the one who informed me of Vader's return. Without that knowledge I doubt any of us in the Resistance would have found out until it was too late,"
"It's the least I could do,"
Rey placed her hand on his, her flesh intertwining with the blue outline. "You deserve to be at rest, not fighting wars of the living,"
Ben looked down where his ethereal skin contrasted with her physical hand. "No," he replied, "Not yet. Not until I know Vader is gone and cannot harm you or anyone in this galaxy," A look of sadness then crossed over Ben. "A part of me knows I am being selfish in that I keep visiting you instead of letting our paths divert, but…at the same time, the other part of me doesn't want our visits to end,"
Rey felt the same. She resented the notion that that they needed to go forward on their own paths-hers in life, his in death-without being tied to each other. But for now, as the galaxy felt like it was starting to crumble around them all over again, she drew comfort in that he was still by her side.