A/N: Oof, it's been...a hot minute since I updated this. So sorry. I hope some of you are still reading. If so, let me know and leave a review :)
Poe looked up as Rey approached, Ben at her side. "Are you two ready to head out?" he asked.
"Just about," Rey said.
"Good luck out there," Poe replied, offering his hand.
Rey grasped his arm and pulled him into a hug. "Do try and keep yourself out of trouble," she said.
Poe chuckled as he squeezed her. "Me? Trouble?"
Rey stepped away from him, and Poe looked to Ben. After a moment, he stuck his hand out. Taken aback, Ben accepted it and gave it a firm shake. "Looks like the future of our galaxy is up to you two and some long-dead Jedi ghosts," Poe said.
"We'll keep you updated on our progress," Rey said. "With luck, we won't be long."
"You just let me know if they have any brilliant ideas for how to set up a galactic government," he replied. "I'm fresh out."
Rey smirked. "Certainly, General," she said with a mocking salute. Then, as she and Ben turned to go, she added over her shoulder, "I'll tell Leia you said hello."
"Just don't tell her how bad we've messed things up," he called after them. It wasn't audible in his voice, but if one had looked closely at General Poe Dameron, they would have noticed the tears in his eyes, tears that he quickly swallowed back. His heart ached to go after them, to speak to Leia himself, to beg her to tell him what to do. How had she done it? The weight of a galaxy was heavy indeed, and she had borne it for almost forty years.
He had often pictured what the galaxy might look like once it was free of the First Order's tyranny, but she had always been a part of that picture, leading the galaxy into a new dawn of peace and hope. Now it was up to him, a smuggler turned Resistance fighter, and Finn, an ex-stormtrooper. He sighed and rubbed his forehead. The odds were against them. But then again, hadn't they always been?
: :
"How about that clearing up there?" Rey shouted back to Ben over the whine of their speeders.
"Looks good to me," he shouted back, and they both braked, bringing their speeders to a smooth stop at the edge of the trees. Rey hopped off, almost knee-deep in leafy undergrowth, and set out into the middle of the clearing. It certainly wasn't spacious, but it would do. Ben dismounted and unstrapped their tent from the back of his speeder. As he approached Rey, she turned her face up to the sun and closed her eyes, a soft smile on her face.
"It's so peaceful out here," she said.
Ben looked up and around them, eyes scanning the treetops. He tried to open himself up to the peace Rey had felt, but he only encountered a knot of anxiety in the pit of his stomach. "Yeah," he replied noncommittally after a moment, then continued on to a patch of dirt that looked large enough for their tent.
Rey opened her eyes and looked over at him, a crease appearing between her brows. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied, his back to her as he bent over to dump everything out of the tent bag.
She could sense his unease, but let it go for the moment, making her way over to him to help him set up the tent. He unfolded the tarp and flung it out over the ground as Rey sorted through the rest of the bag's contents.
"I thought you said this would be easy," Rey said, narrowing her eyes accusatorially at him over the tent as she unrolled it.
"It will be," he said, coming over to her. "Look, you just lay the tent down on top of the tarp, tie it down with the stakes, stick the poles in, and then you're done." He picked up one end of the tent, and they set it down on the tarp.
"Maybe I'm just used to living on a junkyard of a planet," she said, "but making my own shelter usually isn't this complicated."
He handed her a couple of stakes, and they set to burying them firmly in the ground. "Have you ever set up a tent before?" he asked.
"No, I lived in a scrapped AT-AT on Jakku," she said. "Also, it didn't rain on my planet, so it wasn't a problem to sleep out under the stars." She upended the bag of poles, sending them clattering to the forest floor. "What are these supposed to be?"
He chuckled and walked over to her, crouching to pick up the poles. "These fit together, end to end, to make two long poles that cross over the tent, like this," he said, pointing out the sleeves for the poles on the tent.
"Where did you learn to put up a tent?" Rey asked. "I can't imagine you did this often in the First Order."
"When I trained with my uncle," he replied as they each took a set of poles to fit together. "We'd take treks out into the wilderness. All of us Padawans slept under the stars, but Luke always brought a tent. He used to say he was getting too old to sleep outside like that."
"What was he like when he was younger?" Rey asked, bracing her pole against the ground and threading it through the sleeve on the tent. "Before he got all mean and crotchety?"
Ben paused before answering, focused on threading his own pole through. "I'm not sure I can really answer that question, honestly." He braced the pole against the ground and lifted the tent into a dome shape. "I always saw him through the lens of Snoke's lies. I don't think I ever got to know the real him."
Rey nodded thoughtfully. "Well, I suppose that wasn't so bad," she said, admiring their work on the tent. "Though I think I still might prefer my old AT-AT," she continued, poking her head inside. "There's hardly any room to breathe in here."
"We can sleep outside when the weather's good, if you want," Ben replied, heading back to the speeders to grab their bedrolls. He tossed hers over, and she caught it deftly.
"Great," she replied, unrolling her bedroll and laying it down on the grassy undergrowth next to the tent. The corner of Ben's mouth lifted, and he followed suit. "Now that we're all set up, I think we have some things to discuss before we reach out to the Jedi." Ben seated himself on the ground, leaning against a log. Rey joined him, perching cross-legged on top of the log. "How about you go first?" she said. "Tell me about the other Dyad you found on Dantooine."
He nodded, his gaze far away as he gathered his thoughts. "Their names were Ashe and Chiara," he began with a heavy sigh, the visions he had seen burning in his mind's eye. "They lived thousands of years ago, if not more. They were sisters trained in the way of the Force, but Ashe turned to the Dark Side." Rey's eyes searched his face intently as she processed his words. "It was their connection as a Dyad that brought her back to the light." He looked over at Rey, his gaze heavy with meaning, with fear, and with hope. "Ashe's spirit visited me on Dantooine," he continued. "And she said her sister would visit you when the time came."
"What did Ashe tell you?" Rey asked, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees.
He looked back out at the forest, his brow furrowing. "She told me that I will never be free of the darkness. But she also said that one day I would look back on my life and feel pride. She told me that she sees the same thing in me you do," he said, his eyes flicking back towards Rey.
Rey nodded thoughtfully. "They might just be the key to finding balance in the Jedi," she said, her eyes intense. "Yoda came to me on Tatooine, and he said we needed to create a better Jedi Order than the one before. He said that we will fail, many times, but that we will succeed eventually."
"Let me guess, he told you that failure is the greatest teacher," Ben said wryly, shifting to face Rey, his elbow resting on the log.
Rey cocked her head, smirking. "Yes, he did."
"My uncle used to use that line on me all the time."
"That's funny, because Master Yoda told me Luke hardly learned anything at all from him."
Ben chuckled. "Somehow that doesn't surprise me." Then he sobered, his eyes fastened on Rey's. "We have to be better than they were, Rey," he said. "We can't let this happen again."
"I know," she said, the weight of her duty settling on her slight shoulders, heavier than a blanket of sand after a sandstorm.
"We'll do it together, Rey," Ben said, resting a hand on her knee as he sensed her unease. "I'm not going anywhere. Not this time."
She took a deep breath to calm herself, taking her hand in his and drawing reassurance from his solid presence next to her. Nodding firmly, she squeezed his fingers. "I know," she replied, her lips twitching into a small smile.
He pushed himself up onto the log to sit next to her and put his arms around her, pulling her close. Letting her legs fall to one side, she buried herself in his embrace, slipping her arms around him and squeezing him in return. They sat like that for a long moment, drawing strength from each other and from what they shared.
Two that are one, indeed, Rey thought. Then an idea struck her, and she straightened, pulling away from Ben as her mind raced. "Like the Sith and the Jedi," she murmured, her eyes flicking back and forth.
"Two sides of the same credit," Ben said, leaping to the same connections she was.
Rey nodded, her bright gaze fixed on him. "Exactly," she said. "It's obvious that the Sith take things too far, but-"
"What if the same is true of the Jedi?" Ben's eyes widened, and they stared at each other in stunned silence for a moment.
"Well, now we have a place to begin," Rey said, her face alight with hope.
Ben nodded. "We need to land somewhere between the celibate, emotionless holy warriors and the raging, power-hungry monsters. Sounds easy enough."
She raised her eyebrows at him and pursed her lips. "You could start by at least trying to have an optimistic outlook."
He chuckled, his eyes softening. "No promises."
Back at the base, Finn stuffed a pouch of ration bars into the saddlebag on his speeder. "Well, I think that's everything," he said, putting his hands on his hips as he racked his brain for anything he might have forgotten.
"If you forget anything, it's not like we're that far away, Finn," Poe said wryly. "Maybe I'll keep something of yours here so you have to come back before too long."
Finn shook his head, smiling. "You know, Rey's right about you," he said. "You're impossible."
Poe laughed. "I try my best." Then they both grew serious as they looked at one another, searching each other's eyes for something neither of them could quite name. "Take care of yourself out there, okay?" he said, clapping Finn on the shoulder.
Finn nodded. "Will do." After a moment, he pulled Poe into a tight hug, rubbing his back. They pulled apart a split second before either of them were quite ready, and Finn slung his leg over the speeder, getting himself settled in before looking up at Poe. "I expect you to have all the galaxy's problems solved by the time I get back," he said, then gunned the engine and sped off.
Poe watched him go, his throat suddenly tight with emotion. He swallowed, then cleared his throat, shaking his head impatiently. He knew Finn could take care of himself. He just wished they could do this together, like they'd done almost everything else since they'd met. As Finn vanished into the trees, Poe felt a strange emptiness, like part of him was missing. He shook the feeling off and squared his shoulders. Finn had his mission, and he had his.