Happy May the Fourth, everyone!

Ridiculously happy I got this chapter done in time to post today! It's one quite a few people have been waiting for!

Enjoy!


They end up avoiding Luke.

It takes some doing, and the assistance of Han, Chewie, and all the Force ghosts who seem intent on continually popping up wherever she goes, but they manage, her and Ben.

On occasion, she does feel a tad sorry to be keeping Ben from Luke like she is, but all she has to do is remember the overwhelming panic that swept over Ben the instant he laid eyes on his uncle and her resolve remains firm. She might've made her peace with Luke, but Ben hasn't. And this isn't the Luke she made peace with.

So they avoid him until the Resistance arrives.

Rey relishes the time she has with Ben in the inbetween.

Never before has she had someone to fall asleep and wake up next to. At least, not someone who doesn't trigger long since ingrained survival instincts. With Ben she doesn't jerk awake at the slightest movement. With Ben she actually sleeps, and in turn so does he.

And stars, the training.

She has a good fifty years of experience behind her, but she knows that doesn't mean she's learned everything she can. And surprisingly, Ben turns out to be a very capable teacher. She does wonder if the way she can almost instinctively pick up on what he's showing her is partially because of their dyad bond. Regardless of whether or not it is, she learns what she can from him and in turn begins to teach him what she learned in her years of wandering.

She made sure to make Ben use his grandfather's lightsaber whenever they train on forms. It seems happiest in his hands for all that it works well for her. She'd recovered it from where Luke'd thrown it to after putting the man to sleep and resisting the urge to scream. Leia's saber rests easily in her hand for all that she wishes for the saber she made. At some point, she wants them both to make lightsabers specifically for them, but until they have the time and resources to do that, the ones they have will do.

They also discuss Finn, because he felt her die on Exogol. A bond was formed between them, and Rey intends to honor that bond this time. She won't leave him floundering. To say nothing of the fact that she doesn't want Luke teaching Finn his bad habits, so either she or Ben will have to teach him, and she's not sure if Finn will be willing to learn from Ben anytime soon. It's a problem they'll have to address once they're all together again, and most likely after their story is told.

When the Resistance does arrive, night is starting to fall on Crait.

After a rapid, hushed discussion before they went their separate ways, Poe, Finn and her had chosen Crait as their meeting point again both because of available fuel levels, and they at least have an idea of what to do if the First Order manages to catch them again mid evacuation and pursues. Luck must've been on their side, because there's far more people arriving than there were last time.

It's also a good thing they apparently haven't lost their flagship. There's no way Rey'd be able to fit all these people on the Falcon again. Despite never having been on said flagship before, it's still an impressive sight hanging up in Crait's sky as shuttles start bringing people planetside.

"Rey!" Finn comes tearing across the salted terrain the instant the transport he's on lets him off, slowing down just enough that they don't go toppling over when he slams into her. His giddiness at seeing her has the both of them dissolving into giggles while whirling around in circles. When they somewhat manage to calm back down, they separate just far enough to grin fondly at each other. Of course, Finn just has to go and ruin the mood by asking, "So, did you find him?"

Rey immediately scowls. "Yes, we found him."

Finn blinks at her. "You don't exactly sound happy about that."

Rey huffs out an irritated breath. "I'd been hoping that he'd react differently this time when I handed him his father's lightsaber. He didn't."

"So she put him to sleep," Ben drawls from where he's still standing. "It was a good half day before he woke back up."

Finn looks back at him, then at Rey again in disbelief. "You put him to sleep?"

She lifts her chin defiantly, wondering how often she's going to have to defend her actions. "He wouldn't have left the island or the planet willingly, and I wasn't going to leave him there." She sighs, letting the tension of the Luke situation go for the moment. It's not Finn's fault he irks her so much, and she doesn't want to take her frustration about him out on her first friend. "The evacuation went okay?"

Finn shoots her a knowing look, but lets it go. "Yeah, no Dreadnought sighting at all. We'll be sticking around here for a few days to gather what resources we can, then heading on to the next base. General Organa has personnel rotating between who's going to be planetside and who stays up on the Raddus to speed things up."

Rey nods in understanding. "Base hopping until we get to Ajan Kloss?"

"Don't know." Finn shrugs a shoulder. "We're not in charge anymore, as I've continually reminded Poe." He lets out a sigh of his own. "Do you honestly have any idea what happened to us, Rey? Because I don't think the Generals are going to wait until we've picked a base to make our new headquarters."

With a grimace, Rey retreats a few steps so she can stand by Ben again. "I don't know, Finn. Nothing I found in my travels mentioned something of this magnitude, and none of the masters who visit have any idea either."

"Great," Finn grumbles. "So kriffing helpful. So what exactly are we going to tell them, then?"

Rey glances up at Ben, whose face is pinched but resigned at the situation. They'd discussed it when it became apparent that no one had the answers they wanted and needed. No matter how painful it might be, it needs to be done. "The truth," she finally says. "There's nothing else we can really do. Master Skywalker, Master Kenobi, Master Tano and Master Jinn said they'd provide input when necessary, but the story's really ours to tell."

Finn scrubs a hand wearily over his face. "We figured it would probably lead to this," he mumbles, casting his eyes skywards. "Poe wants Karé Kun to join our storytelling session along with General Organa, General Solo, Chewie, and Master Luke."

Rey cocks her head to the side, dredging up the familiar sounding name from the depths of her memories. "Is she one of his squad members?"

"Yeah."

"Did he give a reason?" Because she knows Poe, and he wouldn't ask for just anyone to be allowed to hear their telling of what happened.

"She's one of the ones who served under him when he still flew for the Republic," Finn explains. "She'll push for an answer of any kind because, as Poe rightfully pointed out, the work they do requires explicit trust. He's going to act so different, and we can't really change that. He already warned her that the explanations will be unbelievable." A rueful grin spreads across his lips. "She said to let her determine what she believes or not."

From what Rey remembers, that very much sounds like the woman. "Ben?" While she herself has no issue with Karé being there, Ben has far more to lose should she not believe anything. So if he vetoes the idea, she'll back him up to fullest extent no matter Poe and Finn's protests.

Her dyad partner threads their fingers together, squeezing gently. "She can come," he murmurs. "Dameron makes a good point."

"You're sure?"

He squeezes her hand again. "I'm sure."

She gives him a small smile, knowing how much he's risking by agreeing. "Then should we try and give our explanation tonight?"

Finn nods his agreement. "Don't see why not. Can't see the situation getting any better the longer we delay."

Ben snorts out a chuckle. "True enough."


"Poe?" The instant she can corner her other friend for a moment, Rey does. They've set in motion all they can to be ready for the meeting tonight, but there's one thing Rey wants to do before then. And Poe is the only one she can think of to ask for the help she needs to be able to do it.

"Rey?"

She worries her lower lip between her teeth, anxious for all that she knows he'll help. "I need some help with something," she says softly.

He glances beyond her, probably wondering at Ben's absence. They have been pretty much attached at the hip since they found each other, so it's a legitimate concern. He doesn't mention it, though. "Sure. What do you need?"

"Hair ties and pins."

Poe stares at her in obvious befuddlement. "Hair ties and pins?"

She actually bites her lower lip as she dips her head to show he'd heard correctly. And she does understand his confusion. She never was much for caring about her appearance before, but these are extenuating circumstances and she wants all the confidence she can give herself. "Yes."

He blinks repeatedly, rolling her request around in his mind. "Right. Come with me." He turns on his heel and marches out of the room. Rey falls in behind him, trusting him to not lead her astray. They exit the base and head over to where some X-Wings are parked waiting for their turn in the sky. "Hey Jess, Karé! Either of you got a second?"

Two heads pop up at Poe's shout, one blonde and the other black.

The black-haired woman grins widely. "For you, Commander, I've got more than just a measly second."

The blonde rolls her eyes, but nods in agreement. "Is this pertaining to the meeting later?" she asks, looking directly at Rey. This must be Karé Kun, then. Rey likes the looks of her. She has a steadiness that won't be so easily rattled. It's comforting to know that Poe has always had someone like this at his back, even before he found Finn, because they all know how much of a daredevil Poe can be.

"Not sure." Poe jerks a thumb towards her. "Rey here needs some hair ties and pins, so I thought to defer to your female expertise instead of trying myself and botching it up."

Now both women focus on her. Karé raises an eyebrow. "That so?"

Jessika Pava's grin becomes rather knowing for all that she and Rey don't know each other at all. "Trying to impress a certain someone?"

Rey can feel her cheeks heating up at the insinuation, but it's not actually why she wants to do this. "Confidence, actually," she corrects.

Karé nods in understanding. "We've got this, Commander." She makes a shooing motion. "Leave this to the professionals."

Poe looks to her for confirmation that she's okay with that before bowing out. "See you in an hour, Rey, Karé."

Rey briefly watches him go, because for all that she's okay with being alone with Jessika and Karé, they're still his friends and not hers, and a small part of her wants him to stay to be a buffer. Then she shakes herself and turns her attention to the two women she's standing with. Jessika has clammered back up into her X-Wing.

"She has more hair things than I do," Karé explains, running a hand through her short cropped hair, "but I'm more than willing to help if you need any and can tell me what to do."

Rey reaches up a hand to touch her hair, bound in her usual three buns. "I got rather good at wrangling my hair on my own, as it would be a liability otherwise scavenging back on Jakku. It would've been more practical for me to cut it, but in the one good memory I have of my mother she had long hair." She lets her hand fall back down by her side as a sad, bitter smile spreads across her lips. "So I clung to my long hair to be closer to her."

"You lost her when you were young?" Karé askes softly, no judgement in her tone or her face, and for that Rey is grateful.

Her intake of breath is shaky, the emotions being dredged up being ones she'd thought she'd have more time till having to confront again. "I never saw my father or mother again after they left me on Jakku over ten years ago."

"What?" Jessika yelps, all but tumbling out of her X-Wing.

Karé's eyes widen minutely. "Leave it, Pava," she barks.

"But Karé—!"

Karé whirls around to point a finger at her fellow pilot. "No, Pava. I'll answer any questions you have later."

Jessika looks like she's going to protest some more, but then understanding dawns across her face. "Kriffing hell, I'm so sorry!" She thrusts out her hands, palms facing upwards and with the hair ties and pins she needs cradled in them. "Here, take as many as you need."

Again, Rey worries her lip between her teeth. "I don't exactly know how many I'm going to need." It's been a while since she's done this, and her hair isn't anywhere near as healthy now as it was then.

"The only other thing I have to do today is the meeting you're also going to be in," Karé says almost soothingly. "We can stay here or go inside the base to get your hair done, whatever you want."

"You're okay with staying out here?" she checks. This is supposed to both be a confidence boost for herself and a surprise of sorts for Ben. She has a better chance of making sure he doesn't see her before she's done if she stays out here, but she'll make do inside the base if necessary.

Karé gives her an amused smile. "I wouldn't have offered if I wasn't." Jessika nods in almost frantic agreement.

Rey exhales slowly before reaching up to pull her hair free of the usual style she wears. Her hair tumbles down past her shoulders, a feeling she's not used to in the slightest. She wraps her three hair ties around her wrist before starting on what it is she wants to do, lips pursed in concentration. Her fingers don't fumble for all that they've never styled her hair like she's attempting to in this time before.

Jessika hands her ties and pins as she requests them, otherwise she just sits and waits beside Karé whose eyebrows are climbing higher and higher the clearer it becomes what exactly Rey's doing. Given that the woman's served under Leia Organa's command for a good number of years, Rey isn't surprised.

Still, Rey twists her hair into the proper braids without comment.

She wraps a crown of victory around her head, because they were victorious in the end and they will be victorious again.

She weaves the status of princess in amongst the victory, because Leia gave her leave to do so for all that her and Ben made no promises to each other the first time round.

She fixes the mark of being part of House Organa on top of it all, because she is a princess only through her claim to Ben. She might've taken the name of Skywalker in the end, but she is Ben's first and foremost, and this is one of many ways she plans on making that particular fact abundantly clear.

When she's finished, Karé lets out a low, impressed whistle. "Claiming quite a lot there, aren't you?"

Rey shoots her a searching look. "You know the meaning of Alderaan braids, then?"

Karé gives a seemingly careless shrug of her shoulders. "They're important to my General, so I read up a bit about them. Sometimes they make it a bit easier to figure out what kind of mood she's in."

Jessika frowns. "They do look familiar."

"Probably because they are," Rey says, rising to her feet. She lets her eyes flutter shut and reaches out to Ben. Where are you?

Waiting with Poe and Finn, he immediately replies. Do you need me to come to you?

No, I'll come to you. She blinks her eyes back open and looks at Karé who's watching her warily. "I'm going to meet with Poe. Do you want to come with me?"

Karé blinks. "You know where the Commander is?"

"No, I know where Ben is," Rey corrects her. "Poe just happens to be with him."

Karé blinks again. "Is that a Force thing?"

Rey gives her a rueful smile for all that she won't try and explain the uniqueness of her bond with Ben right now. As nice as Karé and Jessika seem, they have no way of truly understanding the depth of her dyad bond because neither of them are Force users. "I suppose you could say that. You coming with?"

Karé's gaze slides back over to Jessika. "Let Wexley know I'm off the clock, will you?"

"Can do." Jessika flashes Rey a small but true smile. "It was nice meeting you, Rey."

Rey dips her head down in a nod. "You too." Then she turns and starts back towards the base. Karé falls into step beside her, though neither of them strike up a conversation as they walk.

Whispers follow in their wake, as Rey imagined they would. Still, she keeps her head high and her pace sure because she earned these braids no matter what anyone else thinks. She earned them through sweat and blood and tears and unimaginable loss, and she's not about to let anyone take away one of the few comforts she ever allowed herself.

The room her friends are waiting in is tucked away in the back of the caverns. Crates have been dragged in for more seating, and surprisingly Leia, Han, Luke, and Chewie are already there. Luke is sitting ramrod straight and Force presence rolling uneasily, Chewie beside him almost like a guard of sorts. Leia and Han are side by side, thighs pressed together as they watch Finn, Poe, and Ben on the other side of the room. Rey's mercifully glad she managed to escape the reunion between brother and sister, as she's already born witness to one such shouting match and had no desire to do so again.

Poe and Finn are bracketing Ben, sentinels keeping a wary eye on the ones who've thus far proved capable of breaking her dyad partner. Rey feels a rush of relief at their steady comradery for all that she knows the three of them are still learning each other.

Ben is slumped in his seat in a futile attempt to disappear. He feels almost as uneasy as Luke for all that his face is carefully blank. His head snaps up when she walks in through the doorway. A grin starts to spread across his lips, but then he actually sees her.

The crate he's sitting on scraps loudly against the floor as he abruptly bolts to his feet.

They stare at each other while Karé slips in past her and hurries over to Poe. No one else makes a noise, even with the heavy air of anticipation pressing down on them all.

Ben's throat bobs as he swallows thickly, a flush of red spreading across his cheeks.

Then he's marching determinedly across the room until he's right in front of her. Like always, having the entirety of his Force presence focused solely on her is a heady and dizzying feeling. His hands come up to cradle her face, and heat blooms underneath where he touches her.

"Ben," she breathes, just like she did that day on Exogol.

Only this time he's the one who closes the distance between them.

She sighs happily when his lips settle over hers, eyes fluttering shut as he kisses her with a determined softness that makes her feel cherished and wanted and loved. His thumbs stroke her cheeks, tipping her head further back so he can kiss her even easier. One of her hands slides up his neck to tangle her fingers in his hair while the other grips his shirt right over his thundering heart.

It's better than she remembers.

They're not broken and battered.

She's not going to lose him the instant the moment's over with.

There's an achingly familiar hunger in his eyes as he finally draws back, a hunger that almost completely eclipses raw and painful hope and awe. The sight hurts her more than she cares to admit. With a tenderness she hadn't known she possessed until now, she reaches up to brush Ben's hair aside to better see his face. "You're not alone," she whispers.

His breath catches harshly in the back of his throat as he blinks against the wetness building in the corner of his eyes. "Neither are you," he returns hoarsely, and it's everything she's ever wanted to hear.

The vast gulf that had separated them the last time they'd said those words to each other is gone. They can stay with each other now.

The clearing of a throat makes both of them jerk for all that they don't move apart from each other. "Right, sorry," and Poe does sound apologetic, "but we have a rather limited amount of time to explain things."

Rey huffs out an irritated sigh at the interruption, but she knows he's right. Doesn't mean she has to like it, though. Ben looks just as annoyed, but he leads her back to where he'd been sitting before. He rights the crate and folds himself back onto it. She settles herself right beside him, hand in his.

"Karé, I hate to ask this, but could you go sit by General Organa?" Poe continues, voice soft but firm. His fellow pilot raises an eyebrow at the request, but she obediently moves to sit beside Han and Leia without protesting. Poe clears his throat again, glancing at each person before settling his gaze on her. "Right, so Rey, do you want to start or should I?"

Ben gives her hand a comforting squeeze and Rey makes her spine straighten because she is not afraid. "I'll start. I'm where it all started to deviate." She takes a deep breath and begins.