—Part 2—Chapter 7: Padawan—

They walked for a while without speaking, with Ben leading the way. Once they were into the forest and out of sight of the hangar, he finally spoke. "So, lovers' quarrel?"

"Don't be stupid, he's just worried about me. He's afraid of you."

"He came to see me a couple days ago. We didn't speak, just looked at each other through the glass." He paused, and glanced over his shoulder back at Rey. "It wasn't fear that I saw in his mind."

"Oh really? What did you see, then? Does he have a crush on you?" said Rey, sarcastically.

"I saw jealousy," he said, ignoring the juvenile comment.

"Jealousy, really? Jealous of you? You think he wishes he could be shot and stabbed so he can sit alone in a hospital bed for a few days? He could use a vacation, he's been terribly busy lately."

"Yes, I'm sure he's very important," he remarked facetiously, but he wasn't playing her game. "He's jealous that you chose to leave the base with me. He doesn't like you being alone with me."

"He's upset about that because he's afraid you're going to hurt me. He's not attracted to me, if that's what you're insinuating," protested Rey.

Ben stopped in his tracks, and turned around to fix her with an incredulous stare. "Don't be thick, Rey. Why wouldn't he be? You're… you have a number of good qualities, and he's an arrogant, possessive, single man. Of course he would be attracted to you."

Rey blushed, averting her eyes. "You're possessive and arrogant," she grumbled softly, but loud enough for him to hear.

"That's how I understand him so well." With that, Ben turned abruptly on his heel and was off again, tromping moodily through the woods. Rey was startled by his sudden departure, and she had to walk quickly not to fall too far behind.

They marched in silence for a little while as she considered his words. She felt like she had lost the upper hand of this conversation somehow, and was desperate to turn it around. Out of nowhere, she rekindled the thread. "He just hates you for what you did to him. Do you remember that? He thinks you don't remember what you did to him."

"Of course I remember him. He's the best pilot in the Resistance, how could I forget?"

"Well, you really hurt him. You went into his mind and violently took something he didn't want you to take. I remember the day we met, when you said to me, 'You know I can take whatever I want'. Well, no, you can't. Or at any rate, just because you can, doesn't mean that you should."

"You seem to forget we were at war," said Ben. "The First Order and the Resistance are still at war, and as awful as you might think it is that the First Order tortures people to get what they want, if the Resistance had a First Order officer hostage and they wanted to extract information, I'm sure they would do the same thing."

She was shaking. "No. They wouldn't. That's the difference between the Resistance and the First Order. We even respect our prisoners. Did we just 'take' what we wanted from you?"

"You couldn't if you tried."

"Maybe not, but we didn't try, did we?"

Somewhat abruptly, Ben stopped walking. Rey stopped as well, startled by the sudden halt. She watched him cautiously. After a moment, he turned his head around just far enough for her to see his eyelashes as he stared off into the grass, looking pensive. "I will try to remember that," he said at last.

They resumed walking, without speaking. They had been going uphill, over fallen trees, around bushes, and eventually they reached something of a clearing where they could look out and down over the landscape.

"It's not far now," said Ben.

"How do you know where we're going?"

"This is what I spent the last two days figuring out. I reached out with the Force to create a mental map of the area. You should try it."

Rey cocked an eyebrow, impressed. "How do you do it?" she asked curiously.

"Every living thing has a Force signature. If you open yourself up to it, you can feel it. Different things emit different signatures. How did you know it was my mother who died?" he asked.

"I just… knew. I felt her," she said, struggling to describe something she had never really thought about before.

"But you knew it was her because you'd grown accustomed to her specific signature, and because you loved her, you felt it strongly, without giving it conscious thought. Other living things emit those same signatures, but you have to be more intentional about receiving them. In time, you'll learn to tell one signature apart from the others, just like how you can pick out someone's voice from a crowd of people all talking over one another."

"Fascinating," Rey commented. "So, just open my mind? Be intentional? I'd like to try."

"Be my guest," he said.

Rey closed her eyes, and tried to look out with her mind. She could indeed feel the Force flowing through all the living things around her. She could feel Ben, and know where he was in relation to everything else. However, all the other living things just felt the same, like she and Ben were standing in a sea of white noise.

"I can't tell anything apart," she said, opening her eyes. "I feel it, but it all feels the same; it all kind of runs together."

"Let me help you." He set his backpack down and approached her. She took a reflexive step away from him, but stopped and let him get closer. He raised a hand to her forehead, pressing firmly, and placed his other hand on her shoulder to keep her in place. "Close your eyes again," he said gently.

Rey's ears felt hot, but she did as he commanded.

"I'm going to try to guide your thoughts. Relax," he said.

Rey's mind opened up, and the same white noise returned. Gradually, the noise took shape, and she could feel the Force flowing from the individual trees and bushes. She could even feel the leaves on the branches. She had felt this before, with Luke, but never with such a sense of… control.

Feel that? He spoke directly into her mind. Remember this feeling, and try to call it back up when you're doing this on your own. Now, we're going to go further out.

The "visible" area around her got wider, and she could see the grass at the bottom of the hill they were standing on. She could feel the indentations in the ground where rocks must have been. She could feel the moss growing on those rocks, revealing their shape, their size. She could follow the depression in the ground in the distance, and know it was filled with water by the undulation of the surface-dwelling life within it. She could see a cottage…

There, do you see it? That's where we're going.

Without warning, he removed his hands from her body and took a step back.

Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked at him. "That was incredible," she said. She could feel the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end.

"Practice," he replied. "Let's continue on." He lifted his backpack from the grass, shrugged it into place, and resumed walking.

Rey's legs didn't immediately respond when she tried to walk; it was like she was rooted to the ground. She still felt flushed, and she couldn't catch her breath. With tremendous effort, she pulled one leg up from the ground and moved it in front of her, followed by the other. Her corporeal form felt alien to her, and she stumbled in her efforts to catch up to him.

"Are you coming?" he called back to her. She couldn't answer other than to grunt. "You're hopeless," he said, as she got within a few unsteady paces of him. "For your sake, I hope you can recover more quickly the next time. Come on."

After a few more steps, her walking became more natural, and her physiological symptoms dissipated. Embarrassed at having become so loopy, she didn't initiate any conversation as they continued on. Eventually, they were within sight of the cottage, and she felt a sense of relief.

As they got closer, Ben's pace slackened, and Rey was given space to step ahead of him to inspect the structure. Rey could see that the house was constructed of stacked stones reinforced by well-weathered planks and poles. The roof was wooden, and the door was only about as high as she was tall. The door itself was a piece of tattered cloth, too disintegrated to keep anything out. When she got close enough, she peered through the doorway and into the space beyond. The house had a dirt floor and consisted of a single room. There was a counter along the back wall that might at one time have been used for cooking. A stone basin was recessed into the counter—a small fire pit, but no grill or other support for pots and pans appeared to have survived the passage of time. In the corner to her right was a table in reasonable condition, two chairs, and a storage trunk with broken lid hinges. To her left, a dilapidated frame that had once been a small bed, and a large piece of furniture that resembled either a pantry or a wardrobe.

Ben stepped up behind her, bending down to get his head under the top of the doorframe to look inside. "This should do," he said.

Rey took a step into the house, putting some space between them, then turned and looked back at Ben.

"Let's hope mine has a taller doorframe," he said, looking up.

"Yours? Where are you staying?" she asked.

"There's another cabin not too far from here. Why don't you unpack your bag and get settled, then come find me at my place. Then I'll teach you how to feed yourself," he added dismissively.

She was too preoccupied to be bothered by his attempt at snark. "How will I know where to find you?" she asked.

"Same way. Practice. Come outside and try it."

"Okay." She stepped toward the door, and he backed up out of her way so she could get outside. Once there, she took a breath and closed her eyes, stretching out with her mind. She could see Ben and her house, but beyond that she struggled to make much out. She could feel the lake and trees, but placing them in context was difficult. She found her attention continually being drawn to Ben—the gravity of his signature pulling her in like a neutron star, until there was only him.

"I—I can't find it," she whispered. "I can feel… so much. But I can't seem to put it together."

"You're making good progress. Don't get discouraged."

"I'm so close…" her face crinkled with frustration.

He looked at her a moment, then tentatively stepped nearer. As before, he placed one hand on her shoulder and the other on her forehead. He had taken his gloves off, and this time she noticed his hand was sweaty, but soft. She closed her eyes. He entered her mind, and she followed where he led her. An expanding radius of images emerged. She saw the lake she remembered from the first time, and beyond it to the right, was another cottage.

"That's it. Think you can get yourself there?" he asked.

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Yes, I can find it."

"Okay then. See you in a little while." He grabbed the straps of his backpack, then turned and walked off in the direction of his house. Rey watched him go, a light shiver passing through her. She stepped into her new home and set about the arduous task of preparing it to live in.