She dreamt of a hill, it was always a hill. But this wasn't her hill, this one was made of sand and metal. Heat prickled at her skin as a sun beat down on her. She was certain she had never been here before.

Quiet, familiar beeps made her turn around, but the light that was behind her blinded her. She held a hand over her eyes until they adjusted. She could see the outline of a BB unit following a figure made of pure light through the hills and valleys of sand.

The figure stopped for a moment and the droid beeped a question.

"It's nothing." A girl's voice said. "I thought I saw something."

Her voice radiated throughout the force, soft and strong. It was her, the melody that had been missing. She was growing louder and louder with each day, Maia could almost feel her awakening on the horizon.

The Queen was coming.

Poe woke up suddenly. The last thing he remembered was stumbling out of the transport he had managed to steal on Jakku and onto the tarmac of the D'Qar base. They must have brought him to the med bay.

"Hey Flybird, you're awake." Maia quickly removed her hand from his.

He blinked away the gunk in his eyes. She was sitting by his bed, radiant as always. His heart lept, there had been one moment of doubt on Jakku where he wondered if he would make it back. But now that he saw her, he couldn't believe that he had ever doubted himself, "What are you doing?"

"Waiting for you to wake up, nothing unusal. Go ahead and go back to sleep."

He sat up and felt his wound, it seemed to be completely gone, "Did you miss me?"

"I'm glad you're back. The Resistance wouldn't like losing their ace pilot." She smiled ruefully, "And I wouldn't like losing my friend."

He wanted to tell her, that his memories of her had been so bright and strong that they had overpowered his memories of flying. Although, they had also lead to him revealing BB-8's location to the enemy.

She held his gaze for that moment, then her face softened, "Did he hurt you?"

"Who? Kylo Ren? Nah, he was a big softie under that completely terrifying mask."

Maia let out a half-sigh half laugh and touched her head to his hand, "If he's a big softie then you can call me an Ewok."

"You are pretty cuddly, BB-8 says so all the time."

"Where is BB-8?"

He told her what had happened since she had last seen him. He glossed over the interrogations, particularly the parts that had involved her.

"You just left him on a desert planet by himself!" She exclaimed, "He could get buried!"

"He's a smart droid, he will stay safe until we can get to him."

An alarm went off, fighter pilots were being called to Takodana, BB-8 had been found. "I have to go." Poe sat up.

She sighed, "And I will wait here, a good little girl, waiting for her man to come home from the war as the snow falls outside reflecting the coldness in my soul."

Poe paused, "Is there more to that?"

"No, go be a hero Poe Dameron, ace pilot." She kissed his forehead.

Maia was in the back of the crowd in the command center as they talked about the Starkiller Base. Her eyes were red, that explained why Poe hadn't seen her since he had returned from Takodana. She had always been sensitive; she had probably heard what happened to the Hosnian system and had been crying over the lost lives.

She was silent as they talked, but she seemed to at least be listening, her focus entirely on the holograms of the battle plan. As soon as they were dismissed, she slipped out of the room. He thought about following her and making sure she was okay. But he had to get to his X-Wing and be a hero.

Finn set down the box Chewie had handed him and started shoving the explosives in his bag.

"You're looking for the girl."

Finn turned and saw a small golden haired woman looking at him. "Do you know where Rey is?"

"Her highness is awake and safe in a tower, but he is near, he will burn you."

Who the hell is this? Finn supposed he shouldn't be surprised about the people associated with the Resistance now that he had met Maz Kanata. "What are you talking about?"

"Kid we gotta go." Han pulled up when he saw the girl. "Maia, what are you doing here?"

"Waiting in the snow." She said like it was the most obvious thing in the galaxy.

Finn looked around for snow and Han chuckled. "Either you've gotten saner or I've gone crazy but you make more sense to me now."

"Take me with you."

"No, we can't babysit you Maia."

"I can protect you from. . ." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "Kylo Ren."

Han had an expression like he had just swallowed the worst knock-off Corellian whiskey. Finn thought he was going to send this woman away, but he sighed and rubbed his neck, "Alright, get in quickly before Leia sees."

"Adventure!" Maia raised her arms above her head in triumph and boarded the Falcon.

"Finn!" Poe yelled, "Was that Maia?" He stopped next to his new friend. He had just caught sight of her celebrating and boarding the old ship.

"Apparently she's coming with us?"

"No, no she's not."

Poe started walking up the ramp but Maia stood in his way with her hands on her hips, "I'm tired of waiting for everyone to come back and tell me stories of their adventures, I'm going to have a story this time and it's going to be better than anything you have ever told me."

"I just don't want you to get hurt or. . ." His voice choked, he couldn't even say it.

She cupped his face with her hands, "Oh my sweet forever-flying bird, you cannot land now nor worry about us water dwelling merpeople. Go lay your eggs and keep flying."

"I'm a forever-flying bird?"

"Don't ruin it." She patted his cheek, "And don't tell Leia where I am."

He hesitated, biting his lip, he still didn't like any of this but there was no stopping her when she got that look in her eye, "You sure you can do this?"

"This is the most sure I have been in a long time." Her admission was soft, only for him.

He didn't know what made him trust her, but he did. He hugged her tightly, "Don't do anything stupid, don't get seperated from the group." He loosened his grip and looked down at her, "Keep Finn safe for me."

"Can do." She beamed.

Poe let go and walked back down the ramp. "Keep her safe for me." He patted Finn on the shoulder as he passed.

"Does she make sense to you?"

"Not at all." Poe responded and jogged back to his X-Wing.