"How…?" Ben looked perplexed.

"I have my sources." Jessi said evasively.

"But nobody knows that…" Rey was frowning mightily. "The official story…"

Jessi cut her off, "After four millenia of observing your species, I'm pretty good at knowing a lie when I hear one." Jessi shrugged her tiny shoulder then looked at Ben. "And you lie worse than most people, Ben Solo. Your eyes give you away instantly. So I dug a little deeper, which reminds me..." she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small datacube. "A gift, for you."

Ben caught the cube easily and asked, "What is it?"

"The security footage from Snoke's portion of the ship for the hour surrounding Rey's arrival and departure." She said. "I had one of my contacts liberate it from the wreckage during the confusion."

"I've wondered where that disappeared to. I always assumed Hux had stashed it away for future extortion." Ben frowned down at the crystal cube.

"He probably would have if my associate hadn't bern on duty in the monitoring center at the time it all occured." She said. "We were already actively communicating when the ship was destroyed."

"Did you make copies?" He asked though by his tone it was clear that he assumed she had.

"No." She said baldly. "When I saw what was on it I knew right away that you would be the one to fix the disaster that your grandfather created when he turned away from the light. I've only been holding onto it for safe keeping."

"Palpatine…" Ben began to protest.

"Tricked Anakin into becoming his apprentice because he could not dominate the galaxy by himself. He wasn't strong enough and he knew it. But Anakin… Anakin was far more powerful than any being before or since him, excluding you two. Anakin could have dominated the galaxy on his own, without resorting to super weapons and massive fleets... If he had chosen to." Jessi interjected, cutting Ben's protest off. "If Anakin had killed Palpatine, instead of joining him, the galaxy would be a far different place today and neither of you would exist."

"You knew Anakin Skywalker." Rey said with a touch of wonder in her voice.

"I did." Jessi confirmed. "Before his fall from grace... he was a good man. A very heroic figure... and a sight to behold!" She grinned in a way that made Rey smile.

"He was handsome?" She asked.

"Incredibly." Jessi winked. "Blond hair, blue eyes, jaw carved from marble, cheekbones that could cut glass… mmm."

Rey couldn't help smiling even more broadly at Ben's sudden discomfort.

"Anyway, I need a nap. It was nice meeting you both." Jessi said, her eyes snapping back into focus. "Best of luck with your endeavors."

The Solos made their way back to their own home, aboard the Rising Phoenix, before lunch - leaving the Kanata's to share their traditional windy season mother/daughter time in peace.

Once everyone was settled in and fed the Phoenix set off for Aaronia with all due haste, eager to see if Ko'da's people could be of any further assistance with the matter of Je'di's true history.

Ko'da welcomed them back after their long absence with real enthusiasm and graciousness then lead them back down to the data center below the temple.

"Indeed we do have texts pertaining to Qe'la." He assured them as the lift doors opened into the bright white room. "We did not see any link between Qe'la and your texts, so we did not assume one."

"Was Je'di never mentioned in connection with her in these texts?" Rey asked.

"It is possible that Je'di was mentioned, but since these texts are about Qe'la specifically, we did not assume them to be important to your research." Ko'da said apologetically.

Ben cut into the conversation to ask, "Are these texts about Qe'la from before or after she lost her ability to command the Force?"

Ko'da turned startled eyes to Ben. "We were previously unaware that Qe'la had ever had such an ability to lose."

"After, then." Rey said looking suddenly excited. "She may mention Je'di at some point."

"You seek additional information about Je'di?" Ko'da asked, mildly intrigued. "We have more texts penned by him. They did not seem Germain to the history of the Halcyon and Jedi, so we did not include them. We will make you a gift of them as well."

Rey frowned deeply and reread the paragraph for a third time. She swallowed hard and sat back against her pillow mountain, her enormously pregnant belly providing a handy arm rest as she contemplated what she had just repetedly read.

In the past three quarters of a year she and Ben had read a lot of shocking truths in the files provided to them by Maz's daughter and by Ko'da but nothing had prepared her for what she had just learned.

Her whirling thoughts were nearly chaotic enough to make her miss the very moment Ben's mind slipped into hers and fused them together as completely and harmoniously as if they were a single conciousness.

He didn't need to think any words or ask any questions, not when they were connected like this. Out of habit, he did so anyway, 'I'm almost there, sweetheart.'

And so did she, 'Hurry, please.'

The loud hiss of the opening door announced his arrival a heartbeat later.

He rushed over to kneel next to her and took her hand. "Your thoughts are too chaotic, I can't get a grip on any of them for long enough to register what it's about." He rubbed her icy hand between both of his much larger and much much warmer ones.

Rey blinked owlishly as she turned her head to look at her husband. "It was all a lie."

Ben's brows shot up as his eyes opened wide while she directed her thoughts into a coherent assemblage that implanted thousands of years of history into Ben's mind in a blink. His mouth dropped open and he reeled as his head swam and the color drained from his already pale face.

"Snoke…" Ben croaked the name through lips suddenly parched.

"Je'di…" Rey gasped at the same time.

They looked at each other wearing identically thunderstruck expressions.

"No wonder he wanted me," Ben mused, "enough to overlook you."

Rey looked at him in horror.

Ben shook his head slightly and hissed, "Potential of my bloodline."

Rey closed her mouth with an audible snap. "How is that even possible?"

"Which part?" Ben asked with a sardonic almost grin.

Her forehead became a mass of wrinkles. "Start with Je'di being Snoke's grandfather and go through until you get to the part where he is also Anakin Skywalker's grandfather."

"Je'di fathered a female child with Maz's grandmother. Maz's mother. She then mated with a male of her own species, a male child was born that cross-species fathered Shmi Skywalker."

"So… Je'di is your… great-great-great grandfather?" She asked, unsure of how many greats actually belonged in that relationship.

"And Maz is his granddaughter… my great-great grandfather's sister."

"So, she's your great-great aunt?"

"It would seem so." He shrugged.

"And where does Snoke come in?"

"He was Shmi's half-brother... so technically he was Je'di's great grandson." He said slowly as his mind unraveled the mystery.

"So, the Force only prevents females in Qe'la's line from commanding it." Rey mused.

Ben frowned. "My mother had almost no concious command of the Force… but the Force around her was incredibly strong."

"I felt that about her." Rey nodded absently. "I often wondered why she never learned from Luke."

Ben slid her a sideways glance. "She tried." He said. "But she quit when she was pregnant with me. She said she could barely lift a pebble after half a year of training, so she decided to be a great mother instead of a great jedi."

Rey had never asked him about Leia, a part of her didn't want to know, but she finally asked the question she'd been ignoring all these years. "Was she? A great mother?"

Ben considered for a moment before answering, "She was a great politician. A great leader. A great fighter. She was formidible. And busy." He said diplomatically then took a deep breath. "But at home, when it was just me and her…" a grin tugged at his lips. "She was the greatest mom a kid could ask for." He rubbed a hand over the mound that housed their yet-to-be-born twin sons. "Present company excluded."

She laid her hand over his on her stomach. "Thank you."

A few moments passed in silence before Rey said, "Should we just keep it to ourselves?"

Ben frowned. "What?"

"The fact that your family is responsible for a thousand generations worth of turmoil in the galaxy… all because of a broken heart."

"There was a bit more to it than that." He said dryly.

"Yeah, but that was the base cause, the reason that both the Jedi and Sith closed themselves off from love."

He pondered that a moment.

"Well, if a broken heart is what caused the rift between the light and dark… if that's what caused the rise of the Jedi and Sith religions… then I think it's safe to assume that rift has been healed for good." He said thoughtfully.

"What makes you think that?"

"When you chose to keep me rather than kill me you *unbroke* my heart." He stroked her cheek gently.

"That feeling of having our souls fused together…" he trailed off.

"It was the healing of the rift in the Force." She finished for him.

"It is time for the Jedi and Sith to both die." He said solemnly. "Time for the Halcyon to rise."

Rey rubbed a hand over her swollen belly. "Starting here and now." She agreed as her unborn sons wriggled against her hand enthusiastically. "With us and ours... if your family caused all this, then our family will end it."

"We already have." He said, gathering her into his arms and kissing all thoughts of everything but himself from her mind.

THE END.