It's nearly dark when Kylo returns to the campsite. His energy still so turbulent, Rey can almost feel it preceding him, like a spark lighting a trail beneath her skin.

Except that's just her imagination. Her connection to the Force is still severed. She knows this to be true - she's been sitting outside the shelter, meditating in an effort to feel its thrum again, for hours.

Still, she anticipates Kylo's arrival well before he comes into view. And it's probably the careless crashing of undergrowth that gives him away.

"I thought you weren't coming back." She says coolly. Eyes still closed as she senses him standing above her. Looming, her brain offers.

"You thought, or you hoped?" there's a raw edge to Kylo's voice. As if he's spent a lot of time yelling.

"Which answer do you think you deserve?" It's not fair for her to say this. She knows it as soon as the words spill from her mouth. But she clenches her jaw together to press back an apology.

"I returned for my cloak," he says stiffly, "and because I thought you might want this."

She cracks open an eye to that, and notices he's holding a bundle of something in his arms. A part of her would like to be too proud to accept whatever he has to offer. But hunger is a motivating thing, and already her stomach gurgles at the thought of something - anything - to eat. "Go on then."

She looks at Kylo fully then, noticing the dried blood upon his knuckles, the deep dark hollows that have returned beneath his eyes, and how impossibly pale his face is against the mottled bruising. If he looked exhausted earlier, he is utterly haggard now.

"Oh, just sit down," she sighs. And then, when he refuses to budge, "please?"

That catches him.

"It's not much," he adjusts his long limbs so that he sits cross-legged, "but they're safe to eat."

He unfolds a broad, glossy smooth leaf to reveal three large egg-shaped objects packaged within. Their tough-looking surface a muted orange, and covered in short fat spikes.

"I recognised them from childhood," he adds, seeing her questioning face. "State dinners. That kind of thing."

Rey reaches out to poke at one. "What kind of creatures are these?"

"They're not creatures, they're fruit. Meiloorun fruit." Kylo's poker-face is almost immaculate. But for the twitch that catches the corners of his lips.

"Of course," she nods, brow furrowing at the suspicion that he might be laughing at her, "that makes more sense."

The twitch evolves into a smile. Rey stares, confounded by the dimples that curve around his mouth. Transforming him.

And then he's glancing away, sculpting his face back into the habitual mask he continues to hide behind. It's just as well, Rey thinks, curling her fingers into her palms as she reminds herself of who he is; of who he wants to be remembered as.

It's just as well.

"So how do we eat them?"

Blinking, Kylo returns his gaze to Rey. "We?"

"Well, you hardly expect me to eat them all myself, do you?"

He hesitates. It would be so easy to sit here and share meilooruns with the would-be Jedi. Amicable even. He can already anticipate the way her face will light when she takes her first bite of the sweet, pulpy fruit. The sheer pleasure that will spark within her eyes; warming him.

And that's precisely the problem.

"Do what you wish with them," he says finally. And the anger that flares to taint his words is aimed at his own self. "I'm just here to retrieve my cloak."

"So that's it? You're leaving?" Rey leaps to her feet and follows him as he steps into the shelter. "What about your promise then?"

"What promise?" He swings around, only to pull up sharp as he almost collides into her.

"We're supposed to be working together. The enemy of my enemy and all that?"

As he turns towards his cloak, Rey moves to intercept; snatching it up and clutching it to her chest with one hand while laying the other on his arm. "We're supposed to team up until we can find a ship to get us off this damn planet - you can't deny me the opportunity to fight to the death over which of us gets to pilot it!"

"Is that the way it's supposed to go down?" Her grin is almost his undoing. And there's his stupid mouth again, trying to pull itself into a smile. He clamps down. Reminds himself that she'll be calling him Ben again soon if he doesn't watch himself.

"I assume so? Though we're likely to kill each other in a fight to the death, so I'd settle for a round of Rock, Flimsi, Scissors?"

In the half-dark, he can see the way her teeth glitter as she grins at him. Kylo sighs. This will never do. "I need to be alone."

And he makes good on the threat this time. Turning on his heel and, stalking back towards the tangled darkness of the forest.

"What about your cloak?" Rey demands, following him until she feels the squish of a melon beneath her boots.

There's a weighted pause. She can almost imagine Kylo cursing himself.

"Keep it."

The temperature has plummeted with the sinking of the sun. Rey doesn't press the matter. Instead, she returns to the shelter and wraps herself in the heavy fabric. But it's a long time before she warms up. And even longer until she sleeps. She reminds herself that she's used to people walking away from her. Used to waiting for those who have no wish to return. She should expect no different from Kylo Ren, of all people.

It doesn't make sleep come any easier.

The fruit remains forgotten on the ground. The damaged one, an invitation for bugs to swarm. By morning, all that remains are their husks.

Of course, he returns. If not for her, then because of his own rumbling stomach. He doesn't tread quietly, with an apologetic air. He stalks. His expression a carefully schooled mask as they meet each other over the hollowed remains of the Meiloorun fruit.

"You didn't think to save me any?"

"Why would I?" Rey splutters, "You were happy to leave me with the lot, last night."

"I didn't think you'd eat all of them."

"I -" Indignant, she closes the distance between them - for the sake of jabbing a finger at his chest to drive home her next point. "If you must know, I didn't eat them."

"Then who did?"

Frustrated, Rey throws out her hands to indicate the surrounding forest. "One of your momong friends? You evidently know rainforests better than I!"

The fight goes out of Kylo then. He opens and closes his mouth wordlessly before finally delivering a small, "oh."

There's something almost comical in the sheepish way he drops his shoulders. Rey struggles to keep her expression angry. "Perhaps you might like to apologise?" she prompts, hands on hips.

Kylo's eyes dart to meet her own; his expression softening as the fight drains out of him. For a moment she thinks he will.

"Let's go." Sidestepping her, he ducks into the shelter and returns a minute later with his cloak fixed once more across his shoulders.

"Oi! You said I could have it!"

"I didn't mean forever."

He leads her to the base of one of the forest's many great twisting trees and stands to one side, arms folded as he waits for her to observe what he has already discovered amidst its broad sweeping canopy.

Sighing between her teeth, Rey studies the corded vines that wrap around the tree's great trunk, their runners tangling over branches and reaching well beyond her line of sight.

"The vine has a symbiotic relationship to the tree," she states, smothering the uncomfortable feeling that this is some kind of lesson. "Is this supposed to be a metaphor for our current alliance?"

"That one of us is a parasite whose only chance of surviving this forest will be to eventually choke the life from the other?" he cocks his head to one side. "I don't know, what do you think?"

"Did you really bring me all this way just to…" Rey closes her eyes and reaches within herself for a calming breath. She's so damn hungry and exhausted and -

"No. That's not why I brought you here at all." Kylo's voice is closer now. Rey opens her eyes to find him standing right before her. Dark eyes giving away nothing.

"Then why?"

"Meilooruns." He points upwards, face deadpan. "They grow on these vines. See?"

Rey drags her eyes from his own and returns her attention to the tree. Now that she knows what she's looking for, the hint of orange high amidst the foliage is obvious. "Oh."

"I picked those that I could reach yesterday."

"Well," she says shortly, "you'd best start climbing then."

"Why? You're the lighter, more nimble one. Remember?"

"Of course," she says drolly, "that's why I'm here."

Thrusting her makeshift staff into his hands, she turns to the tree and begins to climb.

Rey doesn't like to feel indebted to Kylo Ren. It doesn't sit well with her that he's been the one so far to find the shelter and the food. She certainly doesn't like the fact that it was he who carried her from wherever he found her in the first place.

But with the sweet contentment of a full belly to placate her and the sticky joy of meiloorun juice running off her chin, she could almost put aside her reservations and thank him - were it not for the fact that he disappeared off into the forest again as soon as she sank her teeth into the fruit.

So she holds her tongue and turns her attention to weaving a handful of vines into a shoulder harness for her driftwood staff, and when Kylo returns, he buries the discarded fruit husks to cover their trail.

"There's something I've been meaning to ask."

"Uh-huh." There's an edge of wariness to Kylo's tone.

"How exactly did you find me?" Rey picks her way across a fallen log and jumps down in front of him, determined to be the one to lead the way for once.

"Footprints." Kylo stops suddenly to avoid colliding into her.

"You found me by footprints?"

"No. There's footprints." He points to an impression cast in the loamy soil. "See?"

The contoured lines of a boot heel are partial but definite. Crouching, Rey presses a fingertip to the indentation. "It's half-dry."

"A fresh track?" Kylo squats opposite her, expression solemn as he studies the ground.

She stares at him until he lifts his gaze. "I've lived my entire life upon a planet of ever-shifting sand," she says finally, "do I look like I can answer that?"

"I'm sorry," he deadpans, "I thought your newfound Jedi skills had made you the instant Master in All Things. Clearly, I was wrong."

Rey opens her mouth, not sure what to say but sure she must say something. Kylo stops her with one finger in the air, nostrils flaring slightly, "it's fresh."

Eyes widening, her voice pitches with surprise, "you can tell that just from sniffing?"

Before he can answer, she leans in to smell the imprint; only to recoil from the brackish stink.

"No… I can tell from the wood fire nearby," he says slowly, "Can't you smell it?"

Mortified, Rey gapes, her cheeks burning as understanding sinks in. Kylo kriffing Ren is laughing at her. Flustered, she moves to walk on. "Good. Great. Looks like we'll be getting off this planet sooner than I hoped."

"Wait," he catches her arm, pulling her in as his expression turns serious. "You have no idea what you could be rushing into."

"I know that," she hisses, wrenching her arm away, "I'm going to find a tree to climb. For recon. Are you coming or what?"

.

For a moment Kylo watches the girl charge ahead of him. She moves swiftly but carefully, taking care not to tread on dry sticks or barge through foliage now that she's aware someone else is nearby. She adapts quickly, he observes. It's probably that which enabled her to raise herself on her dusty rock of a planet - though how she managed to maintain her ridiculous optimism for all those years is beyond him.

His thoughts are interrupted as she turns back, arms raised in a gesture that reiterates her last words. Nodding, he moves to follow. Grateful for the interruption. Soft thoughts breed a soft heart, and he can afford neither.

"You'll need to give me a boost," Rey admits unhappily as he approaches. The tree she's selected is a broad twisting thing, with wide sprawling limbs that run horizontally to the ground for several meters before gently twisting up into the canopy. The lowest bough, however, is fractionally beyond her reach, and the trunk lacks any kind of notch or gnarl for climbing.

"Cup your hands and give me a leg up, will you?" she repeats, a slight frown wrinkled her brow as she raises a foot expectantly.

Kylo glances to her muck covered boot. "I take it you haven't learnt how to use the Force for this?"

"Use the Force to jump?" her brow creases further. "Is that possible?"

Sighing, Kylo motions her to face the tree. "Reach out."

He watches, perplexed, as she closes her eyes; face settling into meditative concentration. Slowly she stretches her arms towards the lower branch, fingertips just shy of contact. She draws a deep breath through her nose, releasing it slowly and evenly through her mouth.

"Now what?"

The question is a breathless whisper. She's waiting, he realises, for the Force to do something.

Grinning, he steps in; hands settling upon Rey's hips before he lifts her to the tree. Startled, her reaction is clumsy and flailing, but finally, she gains enough traction to pull herself onto the bough, cheeks burning as she glares down at him.

Grabbing the branch with ease, Kylo hoists himself up beside her. "What have I done to offend you this time?"

The glare only deepens as frustration and embarrassment move like thunder across her face, "I thought you were going to teach me to jump. You know, with the Force."

He shrugs, bemused and slightly satisfied with her disappointment. "Why? I'm not your teacher, remember?"

Shifting to a crouch, he makes his way along the bough, leaving her to catch up. Or not.

As Kylo moves ahead on the lower limb, Rey scans the branches above, her mind's eye following a twist of potential pathways as she plots her course through the canopy. Satisfied with her projections, she composes herself for a leap to the nearest branch, hesitating for a moment to try to reach into the Force… Only for her effort to once again dissipate into nothing. Undeterred, she draws upon her former skill set - that of a nimble-footed Jakku scavenger - to make the jump and work her way through the treetops.

She can't wait to wipe the smirk from Kylo's face when she drops ahead of him.

The fact that every time he looks back, the girl still isn't in sight, is mildly annoying. That he keeps looking back to check, even more so. Biting back the irritation, Kylo continues along the long tapering branch as it reaches up into the trees, and leaps to the next one when it finally ends.

Is it possible he imagined the wood smoke? Perhaps. But he didn't imagine the footprint. Hidden by the dense foliage of the treetops, he monitors the forest floor, hoping for signs of the campfire or, better yet, the damn trandoshans who dumped them here.

Where the hell has Rey gone? Kylo throws another glance over his shoulder and clenches his fists at the frustration of her absence. It's not that he cares if she gets herself into trouble, he assures himself, it's that he cares if she gets him in trouble. Getting the hell off this planet won't be so easy if the Jedi winds up falling in the enemy's lap.

"Not that I care if she gets herself killed." He reaffirms aloud, pulling himself higher into the tree.

The scent of wood smoke wafts on the breeze again, shifting his attention. It's more tangible now. Closer. He runs the length of the wide convoluted branch and leaps to the next. Inches his way around the trunk and follows the next limb.

There are voices now. Low and deep. Their words are indistinguishable. Regardless of whether they're his captors, it's a moot point. They'll have access to a damn ship, at least.

And if the girl has gotten herself lost along the way, it's her problem. Not his. His only priority is getting back to the First Order before Hux initiates a coup. He'll find a way to signal his mother on Rey's behalf later.

With any luck, they'll think she's been liaising with the enemy and cast her out.

Rey has found the owners of the footprints.

The forest bears their low urgent voices to her, causing her to adjust her course and continue through the higher reaches of the great ancient trees, grateful for the meandering network of pathways their gently sweeping branches provide.

As the final tendrils of wood smoke lift across the breeze, she finds a vantage point in the mid-canopy and peers beyond thick glossy leaves that are as wide as dinner plates, to learn what manner of people they share the forest with. She can only hope Kylo acts with as much reservation.

In a small scrap of clearing below, a man and woman carry out an argument in muted tones, their angry hand gestures speaking louder than words as they stand over a motionless figure. Both beings are humanoid, but not precisely human. Rey inches further along her bough, trying for a better view.

"Then you're as much a fool as the rest were!" The words snap through the air in a burst of frustration. The woman is all translucent skin and sharp angles, and she spins on her heel like a whip; ghosting in a flash of pale movement towards the treeline.

The man turns to the motionless one so that their features are obscured from Rey's view. He speaks in soft murmurs and, curiosity stoked, she shuffles further along the narrowing bough, daring exposure as it dips slightly with her weight.

"Nah ch'pae csei s non!" The cry cuts through the forest like a ricochet. Barely daring to breathe, Rey cranes her neck down to seek the owner of this fresh voice — and meets a pair of eyes like two fire rubies staring up through the foliage. Startled, Rey almost unbalances. Her staff drops from its sling and lands with a thud beside the — child, Rey realises in stunned surprise. For a moment she studies the small aquiline face — as blue as twilight — as the two stare at each other, unmoving. And then the young girl turns to her companions; a string of indecipherable words flying from her tongue in rapid-fire until the man rushes to her side to follow her pointing finger.

Rey has a moment to note the curious pattern of geometric tattoos upon the man's deeply weathered face before his scrutiny falls upon her. The twist of his mouth transforms him from curious to fierce, and he stretches a hand towards her in a gesture that is at once disturbingly familiar.

Expecting to be suspended into the air or frozen into place, Rey braces herself, trying desperately to summon the Force once again — to block an attack she knows will be coming. There's nothing to reach into. Nothing. Instead, to her horror, the bough cracks and strains beneath her fingertips, as if reading itself to snap. Scrambling into a semi-crouch, she steadies herself and prepares to leap to another branch.

Too late.

The tree seems to groan as it gives a sudden jerk and, losing her balance, Rey tumbles to the ground. Where she lands at their feet.

CANON REFERENCES:

Chiss language (this is sourced from a SW translator so probably not actually canon.):

"Ch'at nuz vacosetahn are sah csah" = "the newcomers are here"
"Nah ch'pae csei s non" = "we go now"

Chiss - "The Chiss were a tall, blue-skinned Near-Human civilization from the planet Csilla in the Unknown Regions" An interesting thing to note in particular is that Force-sensitive girls have the ability to foresee the future and are used to navigate their ships. These girls are known as 'skywalkers'. Oddly enough. (Eh, I'm not sure if that last detail is going to have any importance to this story at all, but thought it would be interesting to note.)

Lizard, Toad, Snake - is a game in the SW universe similar to Paper, Scissors, Rock. I thought this might be too confusing (when Rey made her "Paper, Scissors, Flimsi" remark), and just decided to go with a chance game we Earthlings are familiar with - with a small adjustment.
Flimsiplast - aka 'flimsi', is the SW version of paper.
Meiloorun fruit - a spikey orange-skinned melon that made its first appearance in an episode of Star Wars Rebels. It was also seen in TFA, amidst a fruit platter in Maz's castle. The meiloorun fruit is pretty much a kiwiano (Horned Melon).