Chapter 3: Grandmaster

Zorii's silver cruiser swooped low into the atmosphere of Ahch-To, circling wide to bank around towards the landing platform at the base of a mountainous island, standing tall and proud and alone in the middle of a churning sea. Touching down, Poe bounded down the gangplank, breathless and excited.

"Rey! REY!" he hollered. "Oh, where is that girl...? REY!" He started taking the stone steps to the top of the first Jedi temple, three at a time, Zorii laughing behind him as she raced to catch him. Finn brought up the rear.

Bursting onto the top of the staircase, Poe drew up short when he found a gaggle of younglings sparring with training lightsabers, which powered down as the children studied him curiously. Approaching the oldest - who looked to be no more than 10 - Poe knelt at her side so he was at eye-level.

"Hello," he said quietly. "Can you tell me where your Master is?"

The little girl pointed. "Grandmaster Skywalker is meditating, over on Shaved Rock Ridge." Her finger was directing him just beyond the edge of the ring of huts.

"Thanks," Poe grinned wide. The little girl turned fuchsia, observing curiously as Poe ambled away, Zorii and Finn at his heels.

Rounding the corner, the trio came to the edge of a cliff, gawking in amazement at the pile of boulders hovering effortlessly several feet above the ground. Floating in their midst, cross-legged, sat Jedi Grandmaster Rey Skywalker. Her eyes were softly closed, her chestnut hair pulled up into three signature buns out of her face. Her lips were softly moving, the group of visitors barely able to make out the words drawn forth in a whisper:

"Be with me... be with me... be with me..."

Before any of them could call out to her, Rey's brown eyes snapped open, and the boulders unceremoniously crashed to the ground around them. She, however, floated aimlessly down to the earth, landing on her feet as she spun around and pelted towards the group. Jostling to the front, Finn beamed ecstatically as, with a happy cry, Rey threw her arms around him.

"Finny! Oh, Finn!" Her smile was positively radiant.

"Hey, Rey," Finn rumbled.

Poe sauntered up, and tousled her hair as Rey drew out of the embrace. Smirking, she hugged him too. "Mr. President."

"None of that now, kid. Poe will do fine."

"As you say, Mr. President." Stepping out of the hug, Rey blinked at the third figure. "Oh, excuse me," she nodded curtly.

"Rey, you remember Zorii?" Poe smiled, stealing an arm around the beautiful bounty hunter.

Rey's head bobbed again. "We've met." Scanning her eyes to see a group of her younglings creeping around the ridge from the stone huts, she smiled warmly, her voice easing into the tenderness of a mother. "Children, this is President Poe Dameron and Commandant Finn Stormbreaker... and Ms. Zorii Bliss. Welcome them."

"Welcome, President Dameron!" the younglings chorused.

"And... friends!" the little blonde-haired girl from earlier piped up. Evidently, 'Commandant' was too difficult to pronounce.

Rey grinned at her students with pride. "Mr. President, meet the mighty Wolf Clan."

Poe bowed his torso in respect. Shouldering her trusty staff, Rey turned back to her friends. "So: what brings you on such a lovely visit?"

"I'm getting married!" Poe blurted out, too excited to keep it inside any longer. Bringing Zorii forward, the bounty hunter shyly showed off her engagement ring.

Something strange and unreadable passed over Rey's face just then. But still, she smiled - albeit strained - and voiced, "Congratulations. Many happy returns. When's the wedding?"

"We don't have a date yet, but it will be at the Galactic Chapel on Coruscant. You're invited, of course."

"I wouldn't miss it," Rey's smile was easier this time.

"Rey..." Zorii piped up quietly. "I mean, Master Jedi... I was hoping... that you and I could talk? There's something important I want to discuss with you."

Rey's smile melted into a thin line. "Of course," she agreed politely. "We can talk in my hut." Leading the way, Rey guided Zorii through the throng of younglings, who parted a path for them. "And back to Soresu with the lot of you. I'll be sending Temiri around to check your progress!" Rey ordered her students, even as they groaned.

Drawing back the Happebore skin flap at the entrance to her hut, Rey stood aside to usher Zorii in. The two women settled naturally into a pair of stone chairs across from each other, a meager wooden table separating them.

For a moment, there was awkward silence, neither Jedi nor bounty hunter able to look at each other.

"Look, Zorii..."

"I'm sorry," Zorii blurted out.

Rey blinked. "Huh?"

"I know we didn't have the best start on Kijimi. I tried to sic my crew on you, and that was wrong of me. I was still angry with Poe at the time and I took a bit of that out on you. I should have known better than to cross a Jedi. Times were hard then, and to me, a bounty was a bounty. I should have valued you more, considering we were on the same side, against the First Order."

When Zorii paused to take a breath, Rey dipped her head in acknowledgement. "I believe you. And... I forgive you."

Zorii raised her eyes to the Jedi's. "It means more than you know, to hear you say that," she admitted quietly. "So: can we leave the past in the past?"

Rey nodded. "We can."

"Great. Because... I would really like you to be my Maid of Honor."

Rey blinked in astonishment. For a moment, the Jedi Grandmaster seemed to be lost for words. "I... must have been your last choice, then," she mumbled self-deprecatingly.

"More like you were my only choice," Zorii admitted. "I've... never really had any friends who were girls."

"Neither did I, until I met Rose Tico." The now-Final Republic's Secretary of Energy was a lovely gal.

Zorii nodded absently. "Plus, Poe's probably asking Finn right now to be his Best Man. I know you and the Commandant are close, so you would complement each other well."

Rey's cheeks blossomed pink at this, but she grinned sentimentally. "That we would. I'd be honored to be in your wedding party."

Zorii looked thrilled. "I didn't think you would accept it," she confessed. "Because... well, thinking back to encountering you and Poe on Kijimi... I was jealous. I thought you were fucking each other."

At this, Rey's knee banged on the underside of the table and she nearly choked. "Poe and I never... did that. We've only ever been friends. We bicker more than we get along, truth be told, and besides, at the time, I was... in love with someone else."

Zorii quirked an eyebrow at the use of the past tense. "I thought attachment was forbidden for a Jedi."

"Not anymore, but..."

"So who was he?"

At this, Rey turned a telling shade of red, blushing furiously. "You wouldn't understand..."

"I'm bounty hunting scum engaged to be married to the President of the Republic. If anyone knows about unconventional couplings, it's yours truly. Try me. What was his name?"

Strangely, Rey's eyes flitted into her lap as she mumbled, "Ben Solo." She finally lifted her gaze, taking a deep breath. "But you would have known him as Kylo Ren."

Zorii's eyes went wide. "Shut up! What happened?"

Rey gulped, her irises brimming with unshed tears. "We were a Dyad in the Force. Shared a Force Bond. He turned back to the Light and died saving my life. I won't bore you with the details..."

"You were romantically involved in a forbidden love with the Supreme Leader, separated on opposite sides of a war, and you won't give me details?" Zorii clapped a dramatic hand over her heart as if wounded. Then her lips upturned conspiratorially. "It may surprise you, given my background, but I'm a hopeless romantic. And girl talk is good for the soul."

Rey allowed herself a soft, small smile. "You're not upset?"

"Not at you," Zorii clarified. "I mean, your boyfriend technically mind-tortured my fiancé, so don't think I'm gonna forgive him for that."

"I'm not asking you to," Rey told her quietly. "Nor would I expect it."

"Mhmm," Zorii acknowledged. A pause, and then: "Did he ever give you a good fuck?"

Rey involuntarily squeaked and shook her head. "N... no," she stammered.

"Did you ever kiss him?"

A single tear leaked from Rey's eye. "Yes," she whispered. "Once." She stared at Zorii, vulnerable. "Please don't say anything to Finn or Poe," the Jedi pleaded. "I haven't worked out how to tell them, if ever. I don't know if they would understand..."

"You mean Finn and Poe wouldn't have approved," Zorii guessed. It was a statement, not a question.

Rey nodded tightly. "I've needed the last five years or so to grieve, and..."

Zorii took Rey's hand. "My lips are sealed."

Rey smiled weakly, gratefully. "Thank you."