The crowd parted for Kylo like the throng of a wave to a jutting rock.

He already knew. He knew. And there she was.

Wild eyed. Teeth bared. Pie in one hand, a roasted leg of a sheep in the other. Obscenely- even more obscenely than the sway of her bare hips and heave of her exposed breasts- she was using that sheep's leg like a club, waving it angrily from side to side to keep the villagers away.

They were surrounding her on all sides. The foolish bravado of a group who didn't have the first clue of how much danger they could be in.

Surely she wouldn't hurt them all, would she? Kylo didn't know for sure, but the way she howls and lashes out when one of the villagers gets to close sounds preternatural.

They're going to figure out what she is. They're going to figure it out, and then they're going to kill her.

"Step aside!" Kylo shouts, stepping into the circle of space encroached on all sides.

Rey growls again, her teeth pulling back from her lips as she sees him. Murmurs of shock buzz through the crowd of villagers. Now they're scared. Now they realize that their much maligned Knights are getting involved. That means trouble. That means this girl isn't just a joke of a threat.

"Guards!" somebody shouts. "For gods' sakes, someone get the guards!"

Kylo's patience wavers, but only for a flicker. His hand lashes out, sweeping through the air around him and pushing the crowd back with the strength of the Force.

He steps closer then and Rey cringes, sheep's leg raised high like a weapon and her whole body appearing to coil up and ready itself to strike. The tension in the air is palpable, thicker than molasses on the coldest days of winter. It's radiating off from every villager. They want to see this. They want to see what could bring the Knight Lord out of his lair and make such a spectacle.

They're afraid, but not enough. Rey is more than that.

Kylo can see it in her eyes. To an outsider she must seem nearly berserk. Out of her mind with rage. But Kylo's seen that look on her, and now isn't it.

Now she's afraid. Terrified even. Scared both of the crowd, because there are so so many of them. But now there's doubt in her eyes about him as well. The rising hysteria of her wondering at his next actions.

Kylo has to stop this and break her out of it before the crowd gets what they want and something very bad happens.

"Step back," he orders again, raising his voice louder.

This time the crowd retreats on their own volition, though not by very far. Incrementally more of a space to breathe opens up and Rey looks around, her body trembling from holding her ready pose for so long.

"That crazy bitch is off her head!"

Kylo's hand flies out, this time drawing the foul-mouthed young man who just spoken over to him. He holds him up by his throat and Rey cringes even more, her fear and confusion mirror the human faces around her.

"You will mind your words," he growls at the man. "This girl is not your concern. She is no one's."

"No one's except for ours. Apparently."

His Knights have come out to see the drama unfold for themselves. Ria was the one who spoke, but she's joined by both Aemon and now a very confused looking Taleisin who must have returned at the most inopportune of times. Kylo doesn't doubt that the twins are watching as well, hanging back from the center of the action like their roles within the Knights often require of them.

The man still in Kylo's grip starts to struggle, his feet kicking weakly and a slight blueish tint to his lips. Taleisin's palm lights rests on Kylo's shoulder and he relents, dropping the villagers to the floor to watch him scurry away back into the crowd.

Rey takes this moment of distraction to make her move. With a high pitched whine she turns away, dropping both of her food prizes as she runs. Kylo moves to stop her but she's too fast, always too fast, and she leaps first on then over a cart blocking an alleyway behind her.

"Stay here and control the crowd!"

Kylo shouts the order to his men before taking up the chase. He needs to catch her and keep her from safe. She's already gotten herself into so much trouble.

Another flick of the Force and he shoves the cart out of his way, running after her quickly retreating, still extremely naked form as she rounds a corner and disappears out of sight. Rey may be faster, but here on this ground Kylo has an advantage. He knows these streets and she's running blind.

He reaches out with the Force, knocking over a barrel to the right of her and she yelps and bolts to the left. The few villagers, mostly children, that aren't at the main celebration stick their heads out of windows and watch with wide eyes at the chase underway. Kylo takes his own detour then, cutting across through a long and narrow courtyard filled with drying herbs and hanging laundry. It hides his movements enough and he cuts ahead of the girl, intercepting her at the next crossroad of the long and narrow street she had been racing down.

She collides into his chest with an impact that makes him stagger. Her growl bellows, her limbs lashing out blindingly as she slaps and tries to wrestle free. Kylo holds her tight, wrapping his arms around her firmly.

"M'Lady! It's me. I'm here. Calm down."

She struggles again, kicking and stomping and nearly head-butting him until his words finally seem to sink in. When she still she looks up at him, her eyes wide and frantic and rimmed red with tears.

"M'Lady..."

Kylo unwraps one of his arms from her to dry her cheek with his palm. She makes a short, croaking whimper and flinches, burying her face against his hand just like she had in the bath several days before. She trembling now, her whole body shaking and he wraps his grip tighter, letting her snuggle herself against his chest.

A few impulses leak from her mind. Flashes back of the crowd as seen from her eyes. So many strangers. Angry. Fearful. They were everywhere. Too many and then she was surrounded and they were all shouting and pushing.

Kylo sighs, giving in and placing a soft kiss against her temple.

"M'Lady… you stole their food, you took off your clothes, and apparently you bit someone. Or multiple someones. You certainly do have a way of making an unforgettable first impression."

Her tremors start to subside then, the sound of his voice seeming to soothe her. Kylo tries to step back and she clings so he keeps his arm where it. With his other hand he smooths her hair. It's a tangled mess stuck to her sweaty forehead and neck, but if he could find a brush he could fix it for her quickly.

"That creature has no soul."

Kylo closes his eyes, sucking in a breath and mentally bracing himself for the confrontation to come. Taleisin's clam tone was belied by the hardness of his words.

"She's not a creature." Kylo pulls himself away just enough so he can turn and face his Knights.

Rey grabs onto the front of his vest with both hands, holding herself to him tightly as she glares at them. All of the Knights wear expressions of either confusion or suspicion, and none of them except Gareth seem the slightest bit amused.

"Leader-" Taleisin begins.

Kylo cuts him off with a sharp glare. The girl holds onto him tighter, her little fists balling up the fabric of his tunic under his armored vest.

"She's not a creature," Kylo repeats.

He can only imagine how ridiculous this scene must look to his Knights. Their Leader here, comforting a stranger whose mind is unreadable. She's naked and clinging to him and Kylo knows he's going to have to give an explanation but he has none to offer.

"Alright," Ria says. "What is she then?"

Kylo swallows. He can feel Rey start to tense up again. She must be able to sense his rising emotions as this new crop of strangers pushes closer.

"I don't know," he says honestly. "I don't- I've been trying to find answers, but there are none. She's unique."

Another silence falls. It's Aemon that speaks next, and he moves to join Ria and Taleisin in front of the twins.

"Why doesn't' she have a soul? She looks like she's living and breathing, but there's no trace of her mind in the Force."

Because they don't know her. Because they haven't taught themselves how to not look for a soul but rather for the absence of one.

Kylo feels Ria push at the edges of his mind and he pushes right back, shoving her out of his headspace with decisive force. All the other Knight catch onto the silent action, Taleisin's eyes widening just as Aemon's brows pull together. Even Rey looks up at him clearly having sensed something had happened.

"Leader," Taleisin says, dropping his voice a shade lower, "this… being. This is what you've been keeping from us?"

Rey squirms then. Kylo can tell she's getting nervous again, not liking having yet another group of strangers encroach on her.

"Yes."

Ria pushes past Taleisin to stand right in front of Kylo. She ignores Rey completely, instead glaring in open annoyance at their leader. Her boldness comes unsurprising to Kylo, Ria was always the most outspoken and direct of any of his Knights.

"Why?" she asks. "We do not keep secrets from each other. We've all sworn to that. So why keep this one?"

Lurking in the shadows of her question is a very unpleasant truth, one that Kylo has been reluctant to admit to even himself. He wanted to keep Rey hidden until he knew what she was and knew how to help her. Keep her hidden so his Knights couldn't find her and hurt her. Keep her all to himself, perhaps.

"She's different," is his only answer.

It clearly wasn't what his men were expecting. Saying nothing might have been better, but Kylo swallows back the anger starting to rise inside him.

He starts to pull back, trying to draw Rey behind him to keep her calm but his difficult girl holds her ground. She faces the gathered Knights head on, her upper lip curling back into a snarl of warning as Ria takes another step forward.

"Why is clinging to you?" she asks. "She's afraid of us, but not of you. You that she should be the most afraid of."

"And why is she naked?"

The last question comes from Gareth. He and his twin move closer as well, their eyes roving in tandem across the naked girl still cleaving herself to their leader's chest.

Kylo grimaces and immediately unfasten his cape. He drapes it over Rey's shoulder and she growls at him. With an annoyed huff she flicks the cloak behind her, leaving only the tops of her shoulders covered and everything else fully exposed. Again in unison the twins give a lopsided smile, though other three Knights seem far more perturbed about this whole strange encounter.

"Sir," Balen says, "if this naked young thing is your girlfriend, you can just tell us. Doesn't she talk? Where are her clothes?"

Gareth snorts at his brother's question, but both Taleisin and Ria exchange a look with each other. Pettily they're talking in each other's heads while keeping Kylo out.

"She seems feral," the female Knight says. "If she's dangerous we need to-"

Ria had been reaching out to touch the girl's arm. Possibly draw her away from Kylo where she was hunching over guardingly in front of him. A mistake indeed. Rey immediately pounces. She leaps through the air, butting Ria hard in her shoulder and knocking the Knight backwards into Taleisin.

The inevitable conflict boils over immediately. Ria strikes right back, slapping Rey hard across her cheek with the back of her gloved hand. Rey growls, diving low to attack her legs, but Ria throws her back with a much stronger push of the Force than necessary. Rey dives again and Kylo lunges at her, grabbing inadvertently lewdly as he wrestles her to the ground. Ria draws out her blade, but Taleisin stops her, stepping himself into the center of the fight.

"You said she wasn't a creature," Ria hisses, backing down, "and yet she just attacked me like an animal!"

It was true, but Rey's attack on Ria hadn't been entirely unfounded. Kylo could hear her heart pounding through her back and against his chest, the renewed fear at being surrounded rolling off her in nauseating waves of stressful energy.

"Sir."

Taleisn kneels, catching Rey's flailing wrists as she tries to claw backwards at him. She whines, struggling harder to escape.

"Give her some space," Kylo orders.

She needs to calm down. Kylo seen her panicking before, but this time she seems more on the edge than ever.

With nowhere else to go Rey curls up on herself, a somewhat pained sounding growl of warning emitting from her tightly bared lips. Kylo reaches out to squeeze her shoulder and she lashes out, her elbow colliding with his cheek and only missing breaking his nose by Kylo's quick instincts.

"Kid back there was right," someone, probably Gareth, mutters. "This girl's off her fucking head."

Kylo pays him no attention. For a flicker of a moment he thinks he can see something like pain in her eyes as she looks at him. Not physical, though probably that as well from Ria's forceful slap. Betrayal. Rey feels betrayed by him.

"Sir," Taleisin repeats.

He draws a still furious Ria back and Kylo stands as well. He can taste blood inside his mouth from where he must have bitten his cheek when she hit him. Rey stays there crouched, trembling, and the clicks of emotions he can catch are bouncing erratically between rage and pure fear.

His Knights don't immediately comply, though. Kylo can sense how Ria is still angry, and Taleisin's thoughts spills over with concern that somehow this strange 'creature' as he calls her is influencing Kylo's mind.

The moment Kylo steps back from her, Rey bolts.

Kylo should have expected that. She shoves hard at Kylo and this time he lets her push him aside. She races down the street away from them, Kylo's cloak fluttering behind her like a dark cloud. Aemon moves to follow her but Kylo calls him back with an unspoken order.

"Perhaps we should let her be," Taleisin says. "She seems agitated. Shall I assume you know where she's going?"

There's an accusation in his words that comes through clearly even without him saying it. The difference between him and Ria. Ria was direct with all things, but their youngest Knight had his own way of cutting down to the truth.

"She might hurt someone."

It's Aemon who says it, and Ria grunts in agreement. The tall woman now seems somewhat embarrassed. If Rey had the mind of a normal being there would have been no chance she could have gotten a blow in like she had done.

Kylo swallows, trying to bury deep the memory of the shocked and hurt look Rey had given him just moments before. He straightens, standing tall. Should he tell them? Dare he not?

"I found her a few days ago on the beach," he begins. "At the shore near my tower where so much of the mermaid activity has been. She was trapped in a net. I had thought she was dead because I couldn't feel her soul. I think she may have something to do with these mermaids being harvested."

Aemon scoffs, crossing his arms. His frown is matched by deeper scowls on the other's faces.

"Why in the gods didn't you tell us?"

"Because I was rather sure it would end with coming to blows between both of you."

Gareth snorts. Next to him his brother looks back, staring in the direction Rey disappeared to.

"She doesn't speak then?" Balen asks. "Your naked sweetie? You've just been all holed up with her over there and not been talking?"

Kylo's headache returns in full force. Behind them the music from the celebration starts to play again, the villagers resuming their festivities after the interruption.

"I don't need your insinuations, Brother. Neither your nor Taleisin's judgmental looks."

Some of the other Knight orders from the old Country demanded celibacy of their members. Kylo and his men had no such restriction, though their disapproving silence was starting to grate on his nerves.

"If any of you have anything to say to me, do it now. I find that I'm no longer in the mood for tonight's celebrations."

He can sense their unease. Taleisin is itching to berate him, Ria wants to lecture him, and Aemon and the twins are equal parts confused and eager to go back to the village square and put this strange incident behind them for the evening. For Kylo's part, he's mostly certain that Rey will flee back to the watchtower. Mostly, but not entirely.

"What should we tell the villagers? They are expecting to see you there."

It's Taleisin that asks it, and the twins take this as their cue to leave. They turn, heading back to the marketplace and letting the other more senior Knights handle the details.

"Tell them I was summoned by the Force and must meditate."

Taleisin raises an eyebrow.

"That's not how the Force works."

"They don't know that. When the other Knights arrive tonight, tell them to make ready. Starting tomorrow we will divide up our ranks and prepare to sail out. Until then, enjoy your evening and leave me be. We can discuss everything that's happened later on when our head's have cooled."

Kylo was hardly an optimist. Very little of the meeting between the Knights and Rey had gone well. However, her noisy departure had brought one with it one silver lining: Kylo could now return home early. He wouldn't have to spend any longer at the celebration surrounded by villagers that never trusted him and now his own men who seem more inclined to morally condemn their leader than put their faith in his judgment.

Kylo went back to his watchtower on horseback.

It meant he should have beaten Rey to the return, but by now no part of him was surprised to find the front door open and dirty, wet footprints leading inside.

"Rey?" he calls out, though he hardly expects an answer.

Would she be angry at him? She had left angry, but she had also left hurt. Kylo couldn't shake that look in her eyes as he'd held her down. The one that had all but screamed how could you?! back at him even though she had been the first instigator in the fight.

"Was it because of Ria? Because she was the closest, or do you simply not like her?"

He asks it aloud and heard by no one. Where in the hells was that girl now? She had beaten him here, but it couldn't have been by long.

Kylo begins to climb up the stairs to her room before a soft, muffled sound comes from his pantry. She's in there and she's crying. Crying over him, no doubt. His shoulders slump when he finds the door locked.

"We're back to this then, are we? I had hoped we had moved past this stage."

He had thought trust had been built, but it would seem he had badly damaged whatever progress had been made between them.

"Rey."

Saying her name had worked last time. Now, however, all it brings him is a loud and particularly wet sounding sniff. An image of Rey blowing her snotty nose on his cape flutters into his mind. She's projecting that to him. Wants him to know that's what she's doing.

"Gods. So I guess that answers the question of if you're still angry with me?"

Why is he talking to a door? A locked door in his own damned home? He's the Master of the Knight's of Ren, for karking hells.

"Rey, you're my guest."

That's all the warning he gives before he focuses the Force on the lock and flips it open from the inside. He strides in, ready to assert his rights to his own property and perhaps lecture some basic manners into his ungrateful girl.

Until something wet and highly sticky flies into his face.

Kylo freezes mid-step, his mind struggling to process that he literally just got a facefull of apple preserves thrown onto him.

"Perhaps my men were right."

He scrapes his palm over his face, throwing the remnants to the floor and glaring at the girl. His expression softens, though, when he sees her.

She's curled up in the corner, her favorite jam jar clutched to her chest. She's naked, his cloak is wadded up at her feet, and she's in as much of a mess as it is. Puffy, tear-reddened eyes scowl up at him. She's covered in dirt and fresh scratches.

Oh. That's how she made it here faster. She tore her way right through the briars and nettles that fence the hillside instead of sticking to the winding road back.

"M'Lady, you're a mess."

In more ways than one. Kylo moves to kneel next to her and she cringes back, her hand dipping into the jam jar and scooping up another fistful of ammunition.

Absurdly though, when Kylo takes a step back, tears start rolling down her cheeks again. She sobs indignantly, wiping her hand off on his cloak.

"Childish."

It's hard to stay angry when she's crying, however. Kylo reaches his hand out to her, silently prompting her to meet him half way and take it.

Rey makes a noise, something sad and guttural. She curls up even tighter, resting her shaking head on the edge of the jar on her lap.

A skim over her distracted mind gives Kylo the truth.

"Because Ria's a woman and she got close to me? That's why you attacked her? That's why you're so upset now?"

It was ludicrous on all levels. Why should Rey care? She was acting as if she was jealous. She couldn't be jealous, they weren't even the same species and he and Ria could hardly-

They weren't-

She thought that-

Bit by bit a notion dawns on him. Rey's behavior over the last two days had been odd, even by her already near-lunacy standards.

"Rey."

He bends down, sitting on his heels in front of her. She swats his extending hand away without looking up.

"Rey, Ria is my Brother. Or my 'Sister', if you prefer. You can't simply attack every woman that comes near me, feral creature from the deep that you may be."

He says the last part mostly in jest, but that was what Taleisin had called her. Kylo can't blame his youngest Brother for that, he had thought the same thing at first as well. But it was a hurtful and altogether inaccurate title.

"I'm sorry," he says, pulling back. "I won't say it again and I will tolerate no one else either. Now I'm going to bring back some hot water and let's get you cleaned up and to off to bed. You've had a very trying day."

He knows better than to try and take the jam jar from her, but she starts crying softly again when he turns to leave. So many of their problems would be solved if he could only get her to understand him.

The stove in the main room was reduced to embers, and Kylo throws another log on before dipping a finger into the bucket on top. Slightly better than lukewarm, but it will have to do.

When he returns to Rey she's pulled herself together slightly. She's scooping out the remainders of the jam and halfheartedly licking it off her fingers. Inwardly Kylo groans at the uncouth sight, but he'll have to save basic table manners to a later time once she's learned to put her clothes on and keep them on.

Kylo starts cleaning her off then, starting with washing all the sticky remnants from around her mouth. Truly the girl eats like a bantha. He gives his own face a swipe with the washcloth from where she'd jammed him, then he begins to work on the dirt and muck from the rest of her body.

"I think those briars may have gotten the best of you, M'Lady. Though perhaps if you'd been wearing proper clothes this myriad of scratches might never have happened."

He pushes the images of her second dress into her mind. Where she left it or why she took it off to begin with will probably never be known, but perhaps next time she might be more careful. That's all he can ask of her.

Rey watches him silently, her sobs having subsided accept for the occasional hiccup. When she's satisfactorily clean Kylo draws back, but her hand snatches his wrist. She pulls, drawing him closer until he's leaning over her.

The look she gives him now is uninterpretable.

For a moment they both stare at each other, Rey half glaring up at him through her still wet lashes and half something else. Determination, perhaps?

Kylo frowns, his confusion only deepening. The jam jar is pushed aside and Rey wraps both hands around his neck, pulling herself into him.

"A hug? Oh, alright. If that's what you'd like."

Her going to him for emotional comfort is ridiculous. What strange bedfellows they truly make. Still, though, Kylo tries. He holds her firmly to him, sitting down now to rock her back and forth slightly since that feels like the natural thing to do.

Rey whimpers against his chest. Kylo shushes her, letting her snuggle herself in closer and bury her face to her neck.

"Are you trembling, M'lady? You are. Why?"

He lets go of his claps on her shoulders to sweep her hair out of her face and tuck it behind her ear. She looks up at him, her lips pressing together tightly. He lightly strokes her head, petting her, and finally a ghost of a smile dawns across her mouth.

"Feel better now?" he asks.

She doesn't answer because she never does. Instead her face dips down again, and she shifts to place a hand on his chest. Kylo raises an eyebrow, completely at a loss, as she unbuttons the first than second buttons of his shirt.

He stills her hand with his own, an odd feeling of unease filling him.

"M'lady-"

She buries her face against his neck. His breath catches as he feels the warm, wet swath of her tongue lap against the flesh just above his collarbone and at the bend of his shoulder.

It's only when her teeth sink down hard does he realize how incredibly stupid he's been this whole time.

author's note:

; )

comment replies:

.Feathers- thanks for sticking with this story! Kylo's Knights turning on him? Well, it may happen, it may not. Right now they're justifiably upset with their leader for hiding his magical roommate from them, but Kylo has good reasons for it. Sorta good reasons. The girl's a handful, that's for sure. More of a badass Kylo? I'll try! At this story's heart it's a lighter hearted semi comedie, but I'll keep your feedback in mind. Thanks for commenting!

Guest- Yep, Rey was bound to make herself known at some point. Poor Kylo, though, he really didn't see that one coming. Thanks for commenting and I'm so glad you're enjoying this story!

Coesa Rudo- I try to strike the right balance between plot and fun, and I think this last chapter had a good blend. Kylo was rather clueless during the last scene until all the pieces snapped together and he just KNEW what had happened, lol.

Thanks so much for commenting!