Ben crested the top of the hill, sweat soaking his shirt. He shifted his pack and turned to look the way he had come. The forest stretched out below him like a carpet, and far below, he could see the meadow where they had spent the night, the silver ribbon of the stream winding through it. He watched as the Falcon´s thrusters powered up and lifted it off the ground. Within seconds, Rey was gone. There was no going back now. He turned his back to the meadow and continued on, pushing himself higher and higher. As the trees and underbrush thinned, a chill breeze brushed his skin, cooling his sweat. He didn't know where he was going or what he was looking for, just that he hadn't found it yet.

His heart ached to reach out to her, to talk to her again. But it was too dangerous, he couldn't know where she was. Kylo couldn't know. He would reach out to her once he knew Kylo couldn't hurt her anymore. She didn't understand yet, but she would.

He nearly missed it, he was so lost in his thoughts. But the Force tugged him back to reality, and he looked around. There was a large outcropping of rock just ahead and to his right, covered in vines and moss and earth. He set his pack against a tree and stepped towards the rock. He tugged at the vines, dragging the clinging tendrils apart. Underneath, there was cold, empty space. A cave. He stuck his head inside, then powered up his saber to provide some light. The cave was larger than he expected, tall enough that he could stand straight, and deep enough that the light from his lightsaber didn't reach the back wall. He ducked back out and retrieved his pack, then wrestled with the vines until he could get his entire body into the cave.

He raised his lightsaber to examine the cave. It was dry, the floor and walls uneven, but smooth. The dirt was gritty under his boots as he took a few steps forward. He held his saber up to the walls to look at them more closely, and found faded streaks of color, like paint nearly worn away. His lightsaber didn't give off enough light to examine them closely, so he reached into his pack for a torch. He switched it on, and the cave was suddenly bathed in yellow light. The back of the cavern still faded into darkness, but he was able to see the paint better. He held the light close to the wall and squinted, trying to make out what had once been there.

He made out the figure of a person with a yellow line just in front of them. They stood in front of some kind of building, between it and an indistinct horde of creatures. Near the front of the horde, he could see a vertical red line. There seemed to be some kind of script underneath the painting, but he couldn't read it. He stared at the painting, totally mystified, until it hit him. Sith and Jedi. The lines were lightsabers, the building some kind of sanctuary, maybe even a Jedi Temple. That would make the Jedi a Sentinel, or some precursor to them. His lips parted in amazement as he examined it. It must have been thousands and thousands of years old. Long ago, there must have been a Jedi presence here.

He continued along the wall, towards the back of the cave, looking for more signs of art. There were some smudges of paint, but water had dripped down the cave walls, destroying most of it. All he could make out was the remnants of an "X," a yellow line crossing a red. That must be the Sentinel and the Sith fighting. Then he found something more distinct. The Sith, all in black, standing over the Sentinel, his saber at the kneeling Sentinel's throat. Next to that, they stood face to face, and Ben thought for a moment that he was moving backwards in the story. Then he saw the next one. They were shaking hands, their sabers at their sides. And the Sith's saber was white. He stared at it for a long moment, wondering if somehow the pigment of the red had been rubbed away. But as far as he could tell, it had originally been painted as white. The next and last painting showed the two of them in a setting much like the first, both standing before the temple and defending it from a horde of creatures.

He stepped back from the wall, his mind reeling, wondering who the paintings were of, if it was a true story, who had painted it, and most of all, how the Sith and the Sentinel had become allies. Why didn't the Sith just kill the Jedi? What changed his mind? How had he come back to the light? And how had the Jedi come to trust him?

He turned to the opposite wall of the cave, hoping for more to their story. That side was dominated by a single image. It showed the Sith and the Jedi, still in the traditional black and brown, but with the yellow and white sabers. They stood back to back, their sabers angled outwards, but the artist had drawn a blue circle around them and some kind of sinuous tether stretching between the two of them. He brushed his fingers against the blue paint, and a vision flashed before him.

He saw the two of them, facing each other with their lightsabers crossed, red and yellow, just like the destroyed painting he had seen. Their hoods were up, one black, the other brown. They sprung into action, their blades whirling faster than his eyes could follow. As they moved, their hoods fell back, revealing the faces of two women. They stepped back from one another for a moment, allowing him to study their faces. They looked so similar they could have been sisters, both with curly, dark hair and almond-shaped eyes.

"Ashe, you must stop this madness. Look at what you've done already. Please, come back. Come home." The Jedi spoke, her voice ragged and weary. She looked beaten and exhausted, nearly hopeless.

"It's too late for me, Chiara. Mother and Father will never take me back now. Just give it up." Her voice was hard and jagged, and her expression and stance matched it. "I've chosen my path, it's time for you to accept that."

"I've seen a vision," Chiara replied. "I've seen that you will turn, you will fight at my side, at our parents' side." So they were sisters.

Ashe spat on the ground. "I'll never fight alongside you again."

Then they lunged at each other again, and their figures vanished in a whirlwind.

For a split second, Ben could sense the dirt beneath his knees, the shock of hitting the stone floor reverberating through his body, and then he was swept away again.

Ashe and Chiara stood side by side on the edge of a cliff, surveying the view below. It was pure carnage, mangled bodies soaked in blood tossed haphazardly throughout a meadow. With a shock, he recognized it. It was the very meadow he and Rey had stayed in the night before. The stream, rather than running bright and clear, ran red with the blood of the carcasses. Scavengers were already gathering to feed on the carnage.

"What have I done?" Ashe's voice was faint, her words barely audible. "I killed them all. They were innocent, they didn't deserve to die. But I slaughtered them."

Chiara was silent. It was only the truth.

"You did this, you forced my hand." Ashe turned on her sister, sudden venom in her words. She ignited her saber and held it to Chiara's throat. "Kneel."

Obediently, Chiara knelt. "If you strike me down, I will be with you always." Ben inhaled sharply as those very words echoed through his mind in his uncle's voice.

"Then so be it," Ashe spat. She raised her saber to deliver the killing blow. Chiara shut her eyes, preparing to become one with the Force. But the stroke never fell. She opened her eyes to see Ashe staring at her with tears in her eyes. Her red saber fell to her side, and the blade retracted into the hilt.

Chiara stood hesitantly, eyeing her sister with confusion.

Ashe turned away. "Go," she said, her voice hoarse.

"I don't understand," Chiara replied.

"I said go!" Ashe lashed out, scowling at Chiara.

Chiara turned to go, but then stopped. "No," she said, turning back. "Not without you." She walked to her sister. "I sense the conflict within you, let go of your hate. Come with me, and I will help you. It's not too late for you, Ashe."

"How would you know that?"

"Because I know you better than anyone else. We have been bound together from the moment we left our mother's womb. We share a connection that no one else shares. We understand each other in ways no one else can." Seeing her sister begin to sway, she pressed on. "I see into your heart and mind, just as you see into mine. You long to return, to redeem yourself. Give into that. Turn away from this dark path."

"I don't think I can."

"I will be with you every step of the way." Chiara took her sister's hand and squeezed it tightly. They stood like that for a moment, and then Ashe let out a sob and buried her face in her sister's chest. Then the vision vanished into smoke once more. Ben felt his cheek rubbing against the dirt for a moment before he was swept away again.

The sisters stood side-by-side again, overlooking the same cliff, but this time, Ashe's saber was brilliantly white. He could sense that the dark energy had been purged from it, leaving it pure. He sensed the harmony of the sisters, their unbreakable bond. And though they had lived long before him, the bond felt incredibly familiar.

Then they were gone, and he was left lying on the ground, staring at their painting on the cave wall, all the breath knocked out of him. His hands trembled, and his skin felt ice cold. Slowly, he got to his knees, his eyes fixed on the mural depicting them surrounded by the blue circle. And he understood what it meant. They were a Dyad, too. The shock echoed through him. He could hardly believe it was possible. But he had seen it, he had felt it. They were like him and Rey. He had so many questions to ask, and no guarantee that they would answer, but he had to try. If not for his sake, for Rey's.

But first, he needed to find the temple they had defended together. More than likely, it was in ruins, but he sensed that was where he would find the strongest connection to them.