"Well, I'll be," Finn murmured, gazing up at the island above them. Ach-To's sky was a clear, almost cloudless blue.
"Gorgeous," Kaydel added. She grinned up at the island's peak, resplendent in the morning sun. "And they say this was the site of the first Jedi Temple?"
"What's left of it." Rey breathed in deep, welcoming the sea air. Coastal air, she'd long decided, was her favourite way to banish the fatigue of a prolonged voyage. In addition, the Living Force suffused the island and that, for Rey, was invigorating in its own right. "Do you feel it, Finn? The energy here?"
"Absolutely." He drew a deep breath, closing his eyes. Upon release, he opened them again, the sunlight dancing in them. "So, what's the plan?"
Rey looked up to the ridge where the little village would sit. "I probably ought to go and have a chat with the Caretakers. With you, Threepio, if you're happy to play interpreter."
The protocol droid put a hand to his chest. "I would be entirely honoured. Lanai is a delightful language to speak and I have not been afforded the opportunity in decades."
"Well, that's good to hear." Rey turned to the others. "How about you explore a little, and we catch up back at the ship in an hour?"
"Yeah." Finn's eyes were bright. "I wanna drink this place in."
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
It had taken them rather longer to visit Ach-To than she'd expected, in the end.
Following the end of the First Order, the Galaxy was a messy, complicated thing. Rey's new Jedi Order still didn't have a fully-built, permanent temple yet – though hopefully that would've changed by the time they got back to Gatalena – and yet its Grandmaster was already being called upon to intervene in this dispute and that controversy.
Between that and the foundlings they'd taken in, some of whom she and Finn hoped to take on as apprentices before too long, Rey had been very pressed for time.
And of course there had been meeting Kaydel's parents and the search for Finn's, who they'd finally tracked down on a world formerly held by the First Order. Those had been truly joyous occasions, reuniting two families who'd believed themselves parted forever. Not to mention an oasis of relative calm amid their hectic existence.
But soon it had been time to get back to Gatalena, then to help Poe deal with a band of First Order holdouts turned marauders operating out of the wilderness space near Felucia. Rey had begun to fear it would never stop.
So it was a welcome change of pace to finally get back to Ach-To, and a chance to complete one small task which Rey had set herself.
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
It took a fairly long walk to make her way uphill, though that was largely down to the protocol droid hobbling along beside her.
"Am I going too fast, Threepio?"
"Oh, if it gets me clear of potential salt corrosion, then no amount of haste is too much."
Rey, knowing that C-3PO was quite proof against such corrosion, gave him a tolerant look and carried on.
There was a welcome party of sorts at the huts. The sight of the Millennium Falcon, it turned out, had sparked immediate consternation among the Caretakers. One of them met Rey at the edge of the village, flanked by her fellows, gabbling nervously and apparently fighting the urge to shoo her offworld.
Rey, via C-3PO, answered with a gentle apology for the messes she'd made during her previous visit, thanking the Caretakers for their tolerance on that occasion. And no, the exploding hut had actually been Luke. Yes, on her honour.
How much of that gentleness translated, given the squawking noises which emanated from Threepio, she could only guess.
Still, she pressed on, and added the promise that she and her friends would base themselves on or close to the Falcon. That seemed to do the trick, and she was given permission to bring her friends up to the temple complex for a look.
Which, she thought, might be a worthwhile thing to work into an apprentice's training. Perhaps a master could bring their tutee here for a while, and show them what the essence of the Force really was.
Bah. She was twenty-five. That could wait. Not least because her commlink had just beeped and told her that the others were getting started on lunch.
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
Finn and the others had found an excellent picnic spot some way to the west, not far above the reef where the Thala-Sirens gathered and the cliffs where Rey had watched Luke fishing. She and Threepio trekked along a narrow path to reach them. A cheery shout sounded from Ki'rii when she spotted the Jedi and the droid, and the group made space as they drew near.
Which was when Rey saw the colour of what they were drinking. Green milk.
"Finn, tell me you didn't-"
"Milk a Thala-Siren?" Finn's grin was that same shade of green and enough to make her rock back on her heels. "Why not?" Whereas Rey, having seen Luke Skywalker do just that, thought the very sight was all the reason anyone could ever need to not do it.
"It's good stuff," Kaydel added, also flashing green-tinged teeth at her.
Rey shook her head in despair. "I can't believe I love someone as appalling as you. As all you lot."
"Me neither." Kaydel patted the ground, gesturing Rey to sit. "And don't knock it 'til you try it."
Rey took the bottle, steeling herself and not quite getting herself there. She looked to Kaydel, who nodded encouragingly, closed her eyes and no, now she just pictured the udders. Better to look at Kaydel, she decided. And down the hatch…
"There, see?"
Rey nodded. "That was... well, I can see why Luke chose it over boiling seawater every day for a drink."
"You mean you liked it." Kaydel nudged her.
"I'm not saying I-"
"You liked it!" Kaydel prodded her in the ribs, hooting. "Confess, Rey!" Then, most diabolically, she started tickling her and Rey's self-control was rendered quite useless. "You liked it!"
"I confess!"
Rey flopped onto the grass, still laughing as Kaydel crawled over to kiss her.
"You're making us look like teenagers, Kaydes," she mumbled.
"Don't care."
"Good." Her lips darted up to Kaydel's. "Me neither."
The others were presumably averting or rolling their eyes, still talking among themselves. The only one who hadn't got the memo was Gial, who chose that moment to hop on Kaydel's back.
Rey chuckled at the Porg. "Didn't fancy settling down again, Gial?"
The little creature spread his wings and squawked, which Kaydel chose to translate as "He'd have to do his own fishing again. Hey Rey," she added in a whisper, "you still going through with your plan?"
"Yeah. It's a little risky and it could get a bit messy, but I'll need you to keep close to the Falcon all the same. Trust me?"
"Always, Rey."
"Good." Kaydel dislodged Gial and got off her. Rey sat up, brushing herself down. "You guys all hear that?"
"More or less," Finn said. "I was thinking I'd spend some time in the temple proper, maybe meditate a little. That way if your plan does run into trouble, I'm only a sprint away."
"Sounds good to me," Rey smiled. She looked out to sea. "You might also want to grab some waterproofs. Looks like those clouds are coming our way."
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
Nonetheless, Finn's enthusiasm to see the temple, combined with Chewbacca's desire to visit Luke's home again, had her making a detour. Besides, she wanted to pay her respects as well.
Admittedly she had seen her master since his death, and she did wonder if his spirit might put in an appearance. As it turned out, however…
"No show, huh?" murmured Finn.
"He might have stayed away for Chewie's sake," she answered quietly. It'd be more than a little uncomfortable to be interacting with two people, but not the one you'd been friends with for decades.
The Caretakers had been busy, turning the place into a tastefully restrained shrine to the old Jedi. Inside, candles burned softly, and there were symbols daubed on the walls. A few other trinkets sat here of there, small rock carvings whose meaning she couldn't decipher.
The three of them knelt, and for a while they remained there, all lost in thought.
"I wish you'd have a chance to know him, Finn," Rey said at last. "Wish we'd been able to bring you with us so he could teach you too."
"Don't be too hard on yourself." Finn patted her shoulder. "You've been a damn good teacher. Luke's legacy will be safe with us. Though true, I'd have like to meet him properly as well."
Rey had an addition in her bag; a painting she'd had made a few months ago, with help from some keen artists among the Resistance command officers. It depicted her vision of Luke's last moments, her master watching the dawn rise over Ach-To. She hung it on the wall, bowing her head as she stepped away.
She turned to Chewbacca. "Do you think he'd approve?"
Chewie thought Luke would rather like it.
Rey sensed that they were on the verge of an awkward pause, and said "I'll leave you both to think, shall I?"
Finn got the hint. "I'll find somewhere quiet for myself. Somewhere sheltered, you think?"
Rey nodded in the direction of the sea and the looming clouds. "I think it'd be sensible."
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
She was proven right about the weather. The clouds came to lie darkly over the island that afternoon, as Rey headed up to the peak. She passed the place where the ancient tree had stood. It had burned to ashes, she'd seen that in her dreams, but now new growth covered the ground. That made her hopeful.
Further up she went, climbing the stone steps and enjoying the view it afforded her. So much water, stretching to every corner of the horizon. She passed under a rock arch, entering the cave at the top of the peak and following it to the outcrop where she'd had her first lesson. The same one from which Luke Skywalker had delivered the Resistance from obliteration on Crait, and on which he had given up his life to do so.
It was a place of willing, noble sacrifice, far from the dark cave which lay at the island's base. That seemed appropriate enough to Rey.
She got up onto the rock, crossing her legs. Then she took out the Kyber crystal she had kept from Kylo Ren's saber.
Somehow, despite the now thick cloud cover it still glinted ominously, the light catching on the jagged fissure which ran through it. The damage inflicted when the crystal rebelled against Ben Solo's efforts to corrupt it. This was what had made his lightsaber so unstable.
The day she gave her enemy's body to the pyre, she had salvaged the crystal and resolved to mend it. Not least because to retrieve a Kyber crystal tended to be an arduous business, and within a few years she and Finn would likely have their own apprentices. Those apprentices would need lightsabers of their own, and if nothing else, having a spare crystal couldn't hurt.
But there was something about the idea of carrying out the deed which mattered a great deal to Rey. Ben Solo hadn't dragged himself out of the pit he had dug. He had fallen repentant, seeing the futility in all he had done, but unredeemed; the Dark Side had doomed him nonetheless.
For Rey, that left the feeling of a task left only half-done. She still remembered the look in his eyes, the regret and sorrow. Perhaps he hadn't deserved a happy ending to his story, but she couldn't stand for the sole legacy of Ben Solo to be grief.
Which, as much as anything else, had turned her mind to the notion of healing his crystal. On some level, she felt that to do so, to turn something which had been a symbol of evil back to good, might go a little way towards salving the deep regret.
Setting the crystal on the rock produced a tremor in the Force, almost as if the very stone recoiled at the touch of the tainted Kyber. The sunlight dimmed further.
Rey closed her eyes and reached out, addressing the island around her, or perhaps the Force itself. I mean no harm. I bring corruption here, but I do so to chase it out and renew what it has tainted. Then she focused, and her mind brushed against the crystal and the jagged crack which marred its blood-red surface.
Simultaneously, she felt the first raindrop on her skin. Then another. Then a third, fat one hitting her jerkin, and with that preamble the downpour began in earnest. She hardened her resolve, and delved through the crystal's surface and into the maze of its structure.
The rain beat stingingly against her skin, soaking her almost immediately, but she barely felt it. All her attention was taken up by the corrupted Kyber. Everything about it felt wrong. Extending her consciousness into it was akin to plunging her hand into boiling acid.
Pain and anger came spiralling up out of the crystal, seeking to attack the intruder and corrupt her as well. It came on in waves, heavy as the rain, hard enough to make her physically recoil. The Dark Side was ever thus; offence as defence, seeking to crush anything it came up against.
But Rey met it with a wall of cold steel, and the waves broke on her defences as if on rock. She was the rock; the island's resilience was hers, its vibrant life was reflected in her. Then she marshalled her strength and pushed in, delving downward into the Kyber, into its intricacies.
She had readied herself for what would come next; she'd learned about it from the old Jedi texts. The crystal would use the sins committed with it as a defence of sorts, dredging up pain and anguish to hurl at the invader. But still it was like pushing forward into a furnace, even with the rain falling on her.
She saw worlds burn, bodies maimed and robbed of life with the crackling blade. They came in a torrent of images and sensations, the cost of Kylo Ren's fury and ravening ambition. She saw cities burned, fortresses laid low. People slain, so many. Stormtroopers, Resistance fighters, civilians, bandits and scores more whom she couldn't categorise.
And there was pain. It became a blizzard, all rushing sounds and flickers or images. Stars' end, so much pain. Some of it hers; somewhere in the maelstrom she heard her own screams, Finn's, Poe's, Kaydel's. And finally… Jedi. Not even full-grown Jedi, but mere Padawans. The other occupants of Luke's temple, all those years ago, the students Ben Solo had struck down on that awful night.
But she leaned into the storm. She knew the pain which, for all the vices which driven Kylo Ren, had been opened a young boy to Snoke's whispers. She knew the terrible mistake Luke Skywalker made which, however fleeting, had done such damage.
And she had ended it, ended it all on Gorothad. These sins are paid for. Ben Solo is dead. Let that be the end. Let the last of Kylo Ren be driven out.
The Living Force was powerful here, and Rey called upon it to drive out the infection, sending it coursing through the structure of the crystal. Scour out the taint. Heal this crystal of the hurt done to it and let it no longer be an instrument of evil. Render it worthy of a Jedi Knight again.
And quite suddenly, it was done. The last resistance gave out, and the stinging pain in Rey's head receded. She flopped forward onto the stone, just catching herself and breathing heavily as she shakily pushed herself upright again. Above her, the clouds had rained themselves out, becoming little more than pale wisps that the sunbeams pierced through.
There was only peace.
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
In a stone hut, Finn smiled up at the ceiling, basking in the sudden silence and the calm in the Force which came with it. A little bit of evil had been expunged from the Galaxy, he thought. Rey had done it.
He reached for his lightsaber, resting on the stone floor, and hooked it onto his belt before he stood. Then he stepped through the door, finding the air already warm from the sun. Not for the first time he mused that the Force was especially tangible on this world, and wondered just how closely it was tied to the weather here.
Come to think of it, he'd be happy to stay another few days here. He felt closer to the Force here than anywhere else he'd been, and it didn't hurt that the fish was good too.
Maybe something to ask Rey, when they sparred later. For now, Finn went to find his friend.
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
Rey let out a slow breath, opening her eyes and blinking in the now bright sunlight, and eyed the crystal on the rock before her. It was whole, and it was purest white, pulsating with vibrant energy. Something of his presence seemed to linger in it, almost as if…
For a moment, she thought that it was just the crystal. Then she turned and saw him, sat in the shadow of the cave, by one of the mirror pools.
"Hello, Ben."
He still wore his armour, hacked to ruin just it had been the day he died. The scar still crossed his face, but his expression was softer, the old fury gone from his eyes. The bigger change, however, was that Ben Solo was a mere spirit, glowing blue-grey in the shadow of the cave.
They there sat in contemplative silence, a little way apart, regarding one another.
"Rey." Ben raised an eyebrow. "I thought you'd be pricklier."
"Last time we met, I put my saber through your heart. I rather thought that settled the vendetta."
He snorted. "A less generous soul would say it just made us even, so you have my thanks."
She studied his translucent features for a moment, frowning. "I've only ever heard of the Jedi enduring as spirits. You wouldn't have been made to linger like this without good reason."
"Indeed not."
"So…"
"Penitence." He gave a small smile and looked out towards the sea. "When the darkness lifted, I found I'd come to an audience with some old Jedi Masters. My grandfather among them."
"How did that pan out?"
He ran a translucent hand through his hair. "It's quite a thing for your grandfather's first words to you to be 'you were a selfish fool', and to have to agree with him."
Rey winced. "And you mentioned penitence?"
"Seeing as I repented in the end, they thought I might be able to earn something better than mere oblivion. So they've appointed, or perhaps sentenced me, to be a cautioning voice to young learners in the future. I'm to seek out those who find themselves tempted by the dark, and provide an example to do better. To redeem myself by stopping others from taking the same path. One look at me," he tapped his chest with his knuckles, right next to the hole Rey had put through it. "Ought to put them off quite nicely."
"Here's hoping." Rey slipped off the rock, coming to her feet. "I've already got my hands full keeping our scamps in line, and I haven't even started training them properly."
He came to his feet. "You'll get used to it. I'm sure of that. Before you know it, you'll have a cohort of knights with their own apprentices."
"And grey hair. I'm happy to keep my mind on the present right now. Although… any pointers on where to look?"
The sun had broken through fully, and steam was already curling up from the rocks as Rey and Ben crossed the cave floor towards the steps.
"Well, there is one girl on Numidian Prime, a Togrutan kid. Hmm," he abruptly added, as he trod in a puddle without creating a single ripple. "That's going to take getting used to. Anyway, the girl. She's got some troubles, so it's probably best you catch her sooner rather than later." He smiled a little. "But I'll see what I can do until then."
"Thanks – and thanks for the heads-up. Let me know when you find others, if you can."
"I'll do my best." Ben halted at the top of the steps, looking down at the slopes below. Mist shrouded them now, suffused with sunlight. "This is where I leave you. I might be up to that conversation with Finn eventually, but I think it'll be wise to leave it a while."
"That's probably for the best. Plus, considering that I'm been grappling with a Dark Side artefact, it might not give the best idea for me to come down with the ghost of Kylo Ren next to me."
"True enough, and I wouldn't want to upstage your plans." For the first time, she saw something like mischief in his eyes. "I assume you haven't told Kaydel about the ring yet?"
Rey's hand went to the pouch on her belt, feeling the band of platinum and the sapphire enclosed in it. "Not just yet. I'm saving it for sunset."
"Nice." He smiled. "And Rey, I know I can't apologise enough for what I did to her, but… I wish you both luck. You two deserve to be happy together."
Rey smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Ben." Then, on instinct, she raised her hand and stepped closer. "And the best of luck to you too."
He took it, and they shook. Then he faded out of view, and Rey returned to the crystal in her hand, running her eyes over its pearly white surface as it glinted in the sun.
She wondered what it signified. The good in Ben Solo, which had led him to his final act of repentance? Or perhaps it was Ach-To itself, and what it had come to represent. A primordial place where endings and beginnings ran together and became the same, a font of renewal… a place of balance.
Time would tell, Rey decided. But she saw hope in it, the promise of something new. And like her old Master, she would greet it like the sunrise, looking to the horizon.
But for now, she reached for the little pouch and felt the ring inside it, smiling and bouncing on the balls of her feet. And then she was running down the mountain, boots slapping on the wet rock, back to the Falcon.