One Year Later

Rey had her feet up on the console of the Falcon, some new wave Beltran music Finn had sent her was playing through the ship. He was very into music now that he had time to figure out his hobbies outside of being a soldier. She had taken off in the Falcon without Chewie for awhile. It had been a year to the day that the Star Destroyer had crashed on Teranai 5, destroying the algea farms and the main source of income for the majority of the inhabitants. The Teranians had either left to become refugees or stayed to try and make something of their red planet without the Dennon wine trade.

In-fighting had left the First Order powerless and disenfranchised a majority of the galaxy under their rule so a few months ago, the Resistance had driven the remaining ships to the outer rim and was beginning to restablish democracy in the galaxy.

Rey felt uniquely alone in her grief for Maia and Ben. She had tried to talk to Poe about it, but either he wans't around or he just brushed her off. She supposed he was dealing in his own way. But she would feel better if she had someone who understood.

When they arrived back at the base, Leia had cried and held her and they had talked. But that had been the end of it, Leia had moved on, she was the face of the Republic Reborn and she had to keep mvoing forward. They held a funeral for Maia, named a ship after her despite Poe's protests about both, and everyone moved foward. Rose, Finn and Tel were all busy with their respective jobs but it warmed Rey's heart to see them at dinner sometimes, absorbed in each other and not worrying about the outside world.

She had been having dreams lately, of a small house on a plain with tall green grass. She knew her dreams meant something now, and she spent hours meditating on it but nothing ever came to her. She had talked to Leia about it, but Leia didn't know much about the Force so she wasn't much help. The Jedi books she had stolen weren't much help either. It took a lot of deciphering to even get a kernel of wisdom from them.

It all came together in the most mundane of ways. She was eating breakfast, Jessika Pava, a friend of Poe's had taken it upon herself in the last year to be Rey's friend too. Rey liked Jessika, she was bright and funny. That morning, Jessika was talking about taking a break from her job.

"I either want to go home and see my family, but that also kind of feels like work. Or I could take an actual vacation." Jessika showed her a list of planets, "All of these places are really cheap in the off season and as long as I get to get away, I don't care how nice it is."

The two girls looked through a few of them. Rey mentioned that she had never been on vacation before and Jessika gasped, "Well I guess that means you are going with me. This will be fun. Lets go somewhere urban, we can tear up the town."

"What town are we tearing up this time?" Finn sat down next to her and nudged her shoulder. Rose and Tel joined them and Tel teased Rose and Finn about their destroying towns hobby. Rose laughed with him and tucked into her breakfast.

"Where's Poe?" Jessika asked, taking her hand off the screen they had been looking at, leaving it completely in Rey's hands.

Finn shook his head, "Where else, fixing his baby up. I talked to him but he seems pretty invested."

Rey was curious about urban cities, but she clicked one that said it was a mountainous planet. People there did all kinds of dangerous ice and rock related sports, that could be fun. She looked at another, this one was the opposite, it boasted relaxation and breath taking views and spicy food. She swiped through pictures, there were just so many planets out there. She put down the screen and talked with her friends.

As they finished up the meal, Rose and Finn said goodbye, they were leaving for a few weeks with Leia. "Oh I'm going too." Jessika said, "I'm your escort! This will be fun." She pointed at the screen, "Pick out a few places while I'm gone, I will see when I can set aside some time."

Rey went through her normal training routine. She was thinking about finding some kids strong in the Force and training them like she hadn't been. She wasn't a Jedi, she could come up with something new for them to be, that's what Maia would have wanted.

After training, she thought about working on the Falcon but she did that most days, so instead she picked up the screen again. She continued looking through these planets she had never been. She hadn't travelled nearly as much as she had wanted to in the last year. Maybe this would be a new start for her.

But then, there it was, the house on the plain, the one that haunted her dreams. It was advertised for a small planet, it's biggest draw was a a plant that produced glowing flowers that floated down the many rivers that covered the planet. She looked up where the planet was and it wasn't too far out, a short ride and she would finally figure out what her dream meant.

She went to find Finn, but then remembered he was off world with Leia, Rose and Jessika. She wasn't close enough with Tel to ask him to come with her. She spotted a newly painted orange and black x-wing and heard the quiet sounds of BB-8 and Poe having a discussion.

"Poe?"

He looked up from what he was doing and smiled softly at her, "Hey Rey, what's up?"

"I need your help." She sat down across from him and told him about her dreams and how she had dreamed the coordinates. "I don't want to go alone, would you come with me?"

Poe looked surprised but nodded, "Give me an hour."

He met her back at the Falcon, out of his flight suit and into his normal clothes. She noticed he had fixed his hair differently, more like he used to a year ago. He seemed nervous, but pleasant, more pleasant than he had been in the last year.

They sat in the cockpit quietly as the Falcon hurtled towards their destination, a small sparsely populated mid rim planet, a vacation planet for most of the standard year but relatively empty at this time of year.

"Poe, I know you don't want to talk about her, but I just want you to know, I'm here for you, I understand."

Poe looked like he wanted to say something to her, but he changed his mind and turned back to face space as the dropped out of hyperdrive.

They landed in a field, the green grass from her dream was brown and crackled under their feet. There was a slight chill in the air and Rey could see the faint trace of her breath in the air. In the distance was a small house, the same one from her dream and the travel brochure. There was a line of squat trees behind the house cutting through the golden brown field.

"To the house?" Poe asked.

Rey nodded and pushed some of the grass out of her way to start a path. But before they could take more than a few steps, a figure rose up out of the grass, swathed in a brown shawl, with golden hair that gleamed in the dim light. They were a fair distance away, but Rey knew it was her.

Poe seemed to know too. He stiffened a little and took a few hesitant steps past Rey. Maia ran forward, cutting through the grass and throwing her arms around him.

Rey smiled, she had seen this before, when she had first seen them at the Resistance Base after Starkiller. Poe didn't seem to care that she had faked her death, he just held her. Maia was talking but her words were muffled as she pressed her face into his neck and cried.

She was going to wait her turn to hug Maia, but she realized that might take awhile.

But, if Maia was alive, that could mean. . .

Rey was drawn to the trees behind the house. The grass was shorter here and the trees were lining a large creek, not big enough to jump across but easily swimmable. Floating in the water was a single, small, many petaled flower. It glowed brightly as it was brought out of the water by a hulking figure in brown.

Ben Solo looked very different than how he had looked on the ship. He still had one arm, his sleeve tied up near his shoulder. His hair was longer and pulled back, revealing his eyes, no longer dark with anger. "I see you got our message."

"Why- how?"

"Same as you, escape pod. I've let it all go, Rey. I think Maia has too, it just took some time." He held out the flower to her. "It's the last one of the season."

She reached for his hand.