Chapter 6

Back in her room Rey had showered and packed her bags. She dressed warmly with boots, pants, a long-sleeved shirt and a heavy vest over top. All grey tones, it was becoming her favorite color to wear. Her favorite color of anything was anything green, she wasn't even sure if she knew other colors growing up on Jakku. After visiting Maz's castle, green became her new favorite color. She grabbed her Jedi texts to store on the falcon in case they needed to run they wouldn't have time to grab her things. Looking around her small space she knew she would miss having a stable place to stay, but she needed to complete this. The broken pieces had been stored in her bag, but she was considering making her own. She hadn't asked Leia but she figured when she returned, they could sit down and Leia could teach her a few things about making her own lightsaber hilt.

She exited her room and made her way to the falcon, storing the books in a hidden spot, she continued on to find Poe.

He was with the rest of the pilots getting their ships ready in the event they needed to leave that day. "Poe. Are we leaving?" He walked over to her, "Looks like Ben sent a transmission to Leia that Hugs had some troopers follow him yesterday and he got them to back off by doing some mind tricky thing. By the way, do you mind trick us? It seems awfully easy."

Rey laughed, "No."

"Alright, anyway, we are just making sure everything's a go in case they need to take off. I'm going to do the supply run now and drop you off at Jedha, then come back here. If you're ok going with on the supply run first?"

"Yeah, I can help. It'll take less time and if anyone gives you trouble you can just flash your Jedi card." She smiled. "But don't overdo it, I don't have a lightsaber yet."

He hit her arm, "That's more like it! Use that card! Let's get Finn, Chewy's already in the Falcon getting it ready."

"Let me go grab some ration packs and I should be ready. Meet you at the Falcon." Rey walked toward the compound to get the rations from the kitchen, along her way she met up with Rose. Rose passed her a bag, "Leia had this made up for you. She said it should be enough for you for a week… Though knowing you're rationing skills you could make this last probably two." Rey thanked her, told her to be safe and headed back to the falcon.

Finn saw Rey enter the ship and looked at her, "Rey, I've looked up Jedha, and you'll need warmer clothing that that." She sighed, "I know, but this is what I've got."

"It's a good thing, I found my old coat, I haven't been on a freezing planet since Hoth, and I don't intend to go back." Rey turned around to see Leia at the bottom of the ramp. "Please take this, it'll keep you warmer on your search." Rey grabbed the coat out of Leia's arms and accepted a hug. "Thank you."

"Chewy, there are extra blankest and water canteens in the back. Make sure she takes those with her." Chewy bowed his head and ruffled a reply. "May the force be with you."

"Thank you, Master Skywalker." Leia smiled and walked away from the ship as they prepared to depart.

After getting all settled in and leaving the atmosphere, Finn came into the cockpit with a bag of snacks, crunching loudly in the back. Poe and Chewy turned around and stared at him. He left the room to find Rey. Rey never judged his eating habits. He found her at the Dejarik table, he tried to ask if she wanted to play a round but all it came out as was a jumble of words due to his full mouth. Swallowing he tried again, "Want to play?" She closed her Jedi text and set it aside, "I've been practicing against Chewy, so you might lose Rey. No hard feelings."

They smiled at one another, "Very sure of yourself. What if I have also been watching how Chewy plays?"

Finn's smile widens and he shrugs, "May the best one win!" They shook hands and lit up the table, opting for a new match. After a few matches, they were evenly matched, Finn won, then Rey won and so on until Finn took the lead and won three games straight. "Now I think you're cheating!"

Rey laughed, the room dipped in sound and the bond opened up to Kylo Ren yelling orders at someone, he noticed the bond open but he couldn't stop his tirade or others would question him. He was in the middle of yelling at the storm troopers for disobeying his orders and the generals that listened to Hux. He hadn't found Hux yet to yell at him and throw him into a wall, but he would. He ordered everyone out of the room. Rey kept playing against Finn as though nothing had changed, how could she really react to that without worrying Finn?

"I wish the bond hadn't opened at that moment. You… are you playing Dejarik?" Ben took off his mask and looked down at the board. "No, don't move there, move your other pawn, yeah that one." Rey smiled.

Through the bond Ben could hear a muffled Finn getting cocky about his moves. So, Ben started giving hints, she was a decent player but after all the times he had watched his dad and uncle Chewy play he knew a few sure strategies. He never saw anyone beat Chewy, he didn't think it was possible; he was super old and had been playing for so long.

"If you do this, you should corner him in a couple moves…" Ben placed his finger above the pieces that needed to move. "I forgot how much fun this game was."

Forgetting herself Rey answered out loud, "Do you want the next round?" Finn looked around him, realizing who she may be talking to he yelled out, "You're cheating! Ben you can't give her hints! That's not fair guys!"

Rey laughed and moved her hand in the air to touch Ben's arm so he would be visible. "Ben, looks like I lost. You think you can beat Finn?"

Ben looked at Finn, "I was just giving hints, but if you want, I can match you."

Finn huffed and reset the game, Rey scooted toward the middle of the couch as Ben moved in, now that Finn saw him, she removed her hand from his arm. She instantly missed the connection, but forcing herself not to show it she focused on stealing Finns' snacks and taking a drink of her water.

"Hey! Rey, those were my snacks." She smiled and continued eating out of the bag.

Poe and Chewy were talking away while flying through space. Chewy was really good company because he knew so much there was never a dull conversation. In the middle of talking about their dream ships they heard Finn scream and yell NO! They bolted from their seats and ran to the back. Rounding the corner, they saw Finn with his head on the table yelling about something not being fair and Rey laughing. Ben Solo somehow got on their ship? When? Poe and Chewy looked at one another and sighed.

"Finn buddy, don't scream like that if you don't want me to come running thinking the first order came to attack you." Poe crossed his arms and looked disappointed until he realized what had happened. "Did you play Ben? Finn tell me you didn't play against Ben. Literally he is Ben Solo, Han Solo's child, who would have studied with Chewy. You really didn't think this through, did you?" He cracked a smile as Finn was whining even more about cheating and not being fair.

Chewy threw his input into a gruttle Wookie moan. Ben smiled, "Sure." Poe cracked a smile, should we put bets on this?"

"This is a bet I can get behind, my moneys on Chewy." Ben shot Rey a look. He thought at that same moment, 'We're a dyad and you choose Chewy.'

'Yes, have you seen his record? I've never seen him lose!' Rey thought back. Everyone re adjusted until Ben suddenly shot his eyes in Rey's direction, 'Did you just answer my thought?'

Rey froze what she was doing, she was half out of the couch and looked up at Ben, 'yes…. How is that possible?' 'I'm not sure… I don't know if I like this.'

Ben focused on putting up a barrier, '…Can you hear this?'

"Come on Ben! Chewy's waiting." Finn was pouting, hoping Chewy would win. The only person betting on him was Poe. "Yeah, yeah." He made a move and glanced at Rey, raising an eye brow she shook her head. He nodded.

He sent her a thought, 'I can show you how to put up a wall so I can't read your thoughts.'

'Thank you.'

Everyone else around them was oblivious to the encounter between Ben and Rey. The game was pretty evenly matched, Chewy accused Ben of cheating. Finn agreed and looked between Rey and Ben, "I think it's a team effort." Chewy swiveled to Rey. She threw up her hands, "I would never Chewy."

In the end Chewy won, Ben knew he would; but he had almost had him for a moment. He smiled at Chewy before he vanished. "Damn, I thought he had you!" Poe shook his head.

Rey and Finn had gone to the cockpit to check on the time left to reach their destination. They had to get their supplies, they had about an hour left. Rey settled into the copilot chair as Chewy came back.

After loading the last of the supplies into the falcon Poe shook a man's hand. "Thank you so much for helping, the General will be very happy to see the supplies."

"Be careful, and give my love to the general."

"You bet." Poe ascended the ramp, when he reached the top, he hit the button to close the ramp. Making sure everything was snuggly tucked away and wouldn't shift.

A few hours later they arrived at Jedha, Rey walked to the back to grab her bags. She had condensed down as much as she could for this but blankets took up more room than she would have liked. It was unfortunate she couldn't just sleep in her own ship on this mission. Coming back to the from of the Falcon she hugged Chewy. "I'll send the beacon when I'm ready. If there's trouble don't worry, I'll wait a day and if no one comes I'll get a ship and come find you."

Poe and Finn shared an uneasy look, "Hopefully it doesn't come to that."
"I agree, and worst case you can just call up Ben and ask for a ship, he's got more than enough." Rey rolled her eyes, "I suppose you want me to ask for a really fast new one, one from this year's models?"

Poe shot forward, "Oh! Absolutely! Think he could get us a custom made one?" Rey hugged each of them and descended the ramp. Pulling up her hood she was hit with a cold wind. Maybe this wasn't a good idea, she thought about turning around. She waived and was off. They waited until she was out of site before they raised the ramp. Chewy stayed in the atmosphere for another 15 minutes before Poe thought she was probably not causing trouble down below. They were incorrect.

Rey walked from the falcon toward the town, on the side she saw speeders for sale. She had enough to buy a cheap one. She argued over the cost for a little bit, once they settled upon a good price, she grabbed the key and headed over to her speeder. Not nearly as good as the one she had fixed up on Jakku, but maybe that was more sentimental value. As she was loading up her things someone came up behind her and tried to rob her. Grabbing her staff from her back she swung around and hit them upside the head, knocking them to the ground. Swinging low she knocked them on their back. She felt something hit her leg and dropped down to favor her other leg, she swung to the left and followed through hitting that person across their back sending them tumbling into their friends. Looking down at her leg she noticed her pants were wet. Leaning down she noticed that they had cut her thigh. Sighing she unzipped her jacked to rip part of her long-sleeved shirt. She ripped the bottom along her belly into a thin strip to tie around her thigh. Once tied she placed her staff among her things on the speeder and climbed up. She took off in the direction of the mountains, letting the force and her senses guide her. She might have to make camp for the night. The sun was already setting and who knew what laid in wait for her out here at night.

She settled in for the night behind a rock formation she came across. She parked the speeder with just enough of an angle to protect her from rapid fire as well as the wind. She pulled a tarp out of her bag and roped it up around the back end of the bike and onto the rocky formation to create a small form of shelter for her. As she was thinking about it, she considers that maybe, just maybe she should have paid for a night at a hotel.

She hunkered down pulling her hood back up and wrapping a blanket around herself. Yeah, Rey would go so far as to consider going back the few hours into that damn town. She sighed, she just needed a nap and she would be fine once she got out of this kirffing wind. She dozed off after a little while only to awaken as she felt someone messing with her leg. Pulling her leg back she gasped as she saw Ben retying her makeshift bandage. "Really Rey, if you wanted my attention, you could have just asked." Ben smirked at her, "Also, could you pick a warmer planet to go get your crystal?"

Rey noted that he had given her a secondary blanket around her shoulders. "Well, Luke said this one. And it's not a planet, it's a moon." She smiled at him, "Thank you for fixing my bandage, can you believe someone tried to steal from me?" She raised an eye brown as he chuckled.

"I wouldn't dream of it." He covered her leg back up with the blanket and settled in rather close to her on the ground. After a few minutes of silence Rey lifted her blankets up for him to sneak underneath. No point for him to get sick sitting in the cold. "Sorry the bond connected us, I'm not sure what time it is where you are, but it's the middle of the night here…. And freezing." She added as an afterthought. "I hate the cold. It makes me miss Jakku."

Ben chuckled, "I can't imagine a reason to miss Jakku." He wrapped an arm around Rey and pulled her in closer, "This is a terrible spot, why didn't you get a room in a town?"

He glanced down at her, and as she looked up at him, he was surprised to see her regret. He wouldn't tease, he just pulled her closer. "I haven't really been to a cold planet before. Y-your mom was nice enough to lend me her jacket." He thought her jacket looked familiar, but he had only seen it in pictures.

"That's ok, no one really likes cold planets, nor hot ones. How long till dawn?"

"I'm not sure, I guess I must have fallen asleep and so maybe a few hours more." Ben pulled her into his lap. "Ben… what?"

He cut her off by putting his hand on her face and tilting her chin upward. His gaze softened and he leaned in. Rey closed her eyes and tilted her chin up higher. They met and both released the tension they had been holding. Her hands came up to either side of his face and she let one side into his hair. Suddenly very curious how he kept it so soft. They sat there for what seemed like forever as they kissed and explored the relaxed nature of their relationship where it was just Ben and Rey. At some point in their exploration Ben had maneuvered her into his lap. When they came up for air, Rey realized the compromised position she was in. She scuttled off his lap and moved to the side, noting that the sky was a lighter color anyway. She stood up and started folding the blankets and putting them on the side of her speeder. When she turned around, Ben had folded up the tarp and was putting it next to her blankets. "You should be off, hopefully you'll find a cave before midday."

She was glad he hadn't said anything about what had just transpired. "Thank you." She made sure nothing was left behind on the ground and turned to Ben, a little unsure how to say goodbye at this point. Did they hug? Was he expecting a kiss? Just what did those kisses mean?

He answered all of her questions in one movement, he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close. "Thank you for spending the evening with me. I'll make sure to dream of you tonight." He looked equally shocked at his own words. She was sure her face was bright red. Ben tipped her face up and leaned in for a slow kiss. Rey expected the kiss, what she didn't expect was for Ben to tip her back so her arms shot around him holding him tight as he dipped her. She could feel him smiling through the kiss.

She swatted his arm, "Ben."
"Rey, I won't drop you." The look on his face and the firmness of his arm assured her he would not.

"I need to head to the cave."

"Good luck."
With a lean forward he touched his lips to her forehead and he disappeared.

She sighed as she climbed up on the speeder. She started it and flew across the desert like planet. After a few hours she had turned left toward a big rock formation. As she neared it the force led her to the backside where she hid her bike and grabbing her bags, she began to climb. She climbed for over an hour up, up, up. Once at the next ledge she found a cave that was not seeable from the ground.

She entered the cave. The cave was cold as she entered it, it had only been a few minutes but she was glad she had heeded Ben's words and brought a jacket to the planet. With any luck this would be warmer in a few hours than out in the wind. Luckily, she had grabbed the smaller bag with blanket inside. It looked like she would need it. She set her stuff down and started to place her hand on the wall, she could see all the little crystals shimmering, but which one was hers? Maybe if she was lucky the force would connect her with Ben so she could ask what it felt like?

She went deeper into the cave. She felt this was the spot. After a few minutes of walking she set her bags down. She stood in the middle of this cavernous room and began to meditate. Every few hours she would stop and drink some water or eat some dehydrated food. What felt like minutes must have been days for at the end of a few sleep cycles she had felt one particular crystal calling out to her, it was so high that she had to meditate to reach up to the ceiling to pluck it from the rock. As she floated down, she couldn't wipe the smile off her face. She turned the crystal this way and that way, just to get better glimpse of each shimmer. It held this beautiful white shimmer; she knew once inside a hilt it would pick but she was excited to see what she would be gifted. She could sense light and dark with the crystal, balance. It would help and become her sense of balance. She had thought to make a staff or a double blade, she felt off balance with a lightsaber, but making her own she felt she could hone her skills with her staff better with the crystal.

She packed up her belongings, not wanting to leave anything behind to disgrace this sacred place. She pocketed the crystal in a secret pocket in her vest. She ventured a guess she didn't smell the best; it was a long journey back to town. And tonight, she would get a hotel and she longed for that shower.

Starting her journey back she had to climb down, she found a slightly easier path that was well out of her way, but it proved easier, and she had the time to kill. It had only been a few days, right? Once on the ground she walked around the area to find her speeder. Just where she left it, she climbed on and started it up. She turned back and headed toward where she knew town should be. It was mid-day, and even in the cold harsh land she wasn't prepared for how bright it would be. Snow, cold, the bitter wind. Why did people live here?

After a few hours where she had to button the hood to stay up around her face Rey finally saw the flicker of town. It was beginning to get dark, she figured she had enough time to sell the speeder back to pay for a hotel for the night.

She wandered the streets until she found a reasonably priced hotel room, for what they charged her for the speeder they were stingy to take it back. She barely had enough for a couple hot meals and two nights stay. That was more than she was expecting, Poe should be back the next day. She had hit the signal when she made it into the town. She expected them around noon the following day.

She found a small bar and made her way to the back with her back against the wall she felt more comfortable surveying the room. In her haste she neglected to look to her side. A man had slid over and put his hand on her thigh. She grabbed his arm and flipped him over her table onto the floor. The man laughed as he hit the floor, his companion chuckled next to him. Adjusting to the dark light Rey caught a glimpse of Lando on the floor. "Lando!"

Thank you so much for reading!