Neon lights of the casino nearly blinded Finn as he stepped in, Poe following closely behind. He and Poe had crash-landed on Hapes the day before and had escaped the pod before anyone could find out they were in there with Princess Leia's final message. Poe had claimed they'd be able to get food, and information as to where they were in the casino, so there they had gone.
Finn felt as if everything were suddenly clear, and he sensed his way forward. He followed the feeling to a young woman in a gray-green jumpsuit with goggles on her forehead and dark hair in a bun at the nape of her neck. Something about her called out to Finn. He drew closer, not sure what he was seeing.
"Hello, boys," she said. "Fancy a drink?"
"Sure," Finn said, glancing at Poe.
The young woman signaled a waiter. "What do you want? I'll take a Cosmic Canterbury on the rocks."
Poe rattled off a drink, and Finn just repeated.
"Coming right up," said the waiter, a very handsome man in his mid-thirties. Finn remembered what Poe had said before they ventured into the city.
"Hapes is generally a planet filled with pretty people. To be ugly is a fate worse than death for the Hapans."
This woman was very pretty, Finn had to admit, but she wasn't the same sort of pretty that the Hapans he'd seen were. The Hapans were exotic and otherworldly. This woman looked a bit more average, like a woman who might have been in the stormtrooper program with him.
"Name's Raine," she said. "Savara Raine. You two have any?"
"Cassian Antilles," Poe answered immediately, and he gently nudged Finn.
"Han," he said, and Poe nodded. "Han Artorias."
"What can I do for you?" she asked.
"Wondering the quickest route to the Geneva Palace," Poe said.
"Ah, the peace Convention," Raine said. "I'm headed there myself."
"We have a droid with us," Poe said. "A BB unit-"
"Take him too," Raine said with a shrug. "I don't care. I'm leaving in the morning. Come find me then."
Rhe waiter returned with the drink.
"Now, as for payment." She considered. She then pulled a long metal cylinder out of one of her many pockets.
"Do you boys know what this is?" she asked, her round face gleeful.
"A lightsaber," Finn whispered.
"I could tell the moment you walked in that you were like me," she whispered. "The Force is practically screaming around you."
"You're a Jedi?" Finn asked.
"I used to be," she said, and the smile faded. "Tell me what you know about the Jedi and the one they call Kylo Ren. Then, tomorrow morning, I will take you to the Geneva Palace."
"Agreed."
Rey approached Kylo, not sure what to say to this enemy who had saved her life.
"You said you know who my parents are?" she asked. "How?"
"I'd met your parents," he said. "Luke taught your mother in the ways of the Force."
"My mother was a Jedi?" Rey asked.
"She was the leader of the mission to steal the first Death Star plans," Kylo said.
Rey's jaw dropped. "My mother was Jyn Erso?"
Kylo nodded.
"Luke Skywalker, I thought he was a myth. . . But she's a legend," Rey said. She looked back to Kylo. "What else can you tell me?"
"The Supreme Leader wants you to come into the Knights of Ren," he admitted. "He knows you are strong in the Force."
"And this is some plot to take me to him?" Rey asked, her hand reaching for the Skywalker lightsaber on her belt.
"No, I never wanted to take you to him," Kylo said.
"Why?" Rey asked.
There was a long pause. "I don't know."
Tahiri Veila liked Master Luke. He was always friendly and had treated her well as a child. He was her second surrogate father, in a way. She and Master Luke had worked on preparing the ships for the journey to Hapes. It would only be a week at most-but they needed to leave at the break of dawn or they would be too late to witness the peace treaty and influence it in any way.
They also filled the ships' cupboards with rations for the journey and sent a quick transmission to Tenel Ka, alerting them of their imminent arrival.
"It might not get through," Luke admitted. "Transmission has always been a bit spotty."
"I'm sure Tenel Ka will like that," Tahiri snorted.
The two sat for a minute on the launch pad. Tahiri hadn't seen Tenel Ka in person for the past six years. They'd managed a cryptic correspondence, but it never said too much. She'd seen pictures, too, of the Chume'da of Hapes. In the holos, she no longer wore the lizard-skin armor and shorts of her youth or the Dathomiri braids. Now she braided her hair around elaborate headdresses and donned gowns with confusing straps and a side cape that concealed her amputated arm.
Tahiri knew she'd changed a lot in six years, and she was curious as to how Tenel Ka had changed with her.
She was going to say something about how it was a nice night as she watched the sun set on the ocean world with Master Luke, but she realized she didn't have to say a thing as they exchanged a glance.
Tahiri just smiled and looked back to the ocean. Never had she tired of seeing water after her years on Tatooine.
Only a few more days, and maybe we can get started on fixing everything, she thought.