Once they were back inside the small living quarters, Rey went into the washroom in her chosen bedroom, wanting to wash the dried tears from her red, puffy face. She attempted to smooth down her frazzled, hair, but it was to no use. She sighed, staring glumly back at her unkempt reflection.

As she went back out into the living room area, she sensed Ben in the kitchen. She sat down on the long couch in front of the now-lit fireplace, enjoying its warmth. She took in a long, deep breath, relaxed now that she knew Ben had not betrayed her.

She turned, resting her arms on the back of the couch as she watched Ben pulling out instant food packs from a storage cabinet.

"Those?" Rey asked, incredulous. "That's what I ate for over fifteen years of my life. Isn't there anything else?" She placed her hands at her throat, pretending to gag.

Ben looked over at her, his eyes shifting back down to the food packs as he chuckled softly to himself at her imitation. "It's all we have, until we gather other food." He emptied the powdered food into bowls, placing them into a micro oven.

"What food is even on this planet? It's all covered in snow."

"There are snowfruit here. And game."

The oven beeped, and Ben pulled out the bowls of the bread-like substance, carrying them over to the living area. He handed one to Rey and sat in a chair next to the couch.

Rey continually glanced over at Ben as they ate. It still felt strange to her to see him do such basic things, like eating and sleeping. It was difficult for her to grasp that he really was just a human like herself, with all of the same needs.

As she picked at her food, Ben stood up, having finished his quickly. As he headed into the kitchen, Rey froze as she heard a faint, feral shriek from outside, similar to the one that had sounded in the woods the day before. She flipped around on the couch and looked back at Ben with wide eyes.

He looked across from her, his face blank. "They can't get us in here," he said calmly.

Rey got up from the couch and crept over the small window on the wall to the left. It was still early in the morning, too dim for Rey to see very far through the surrounding line of trees. "Are you sure?" She called, her eyes scanning the perimeter of the encampment.

"Yes," Ben said from directly behind her. Rey gasped, nearly jumping out of her skin. She flipping around to face Ben.

"Don't do that!" She exclaimed, swatting at him. He backed up a few steps, chuckling. Rey gathered her breath and tried to compose herself as she glared at him. "You know, you're a real nerf herder," she snapped, shaking her head.

Ben's expression grew serious, staring at her blankly. He appeared to be taken aback.

Rey tilted her head, confused. "What?"

He shook his head, shifting his eyes. "Nothing, Scavenger," he muttered, turning away towards his bedroom.

Shrugging off Ben's apparent shift in mood, Rey relaxed on the couch in front of the fire for a few hours. She watched through the small window on the wall as the light of the rising sun gradually illuminated the sparkling snow outside.

Ben eventually came out of his room, pulling on his cloak and gloves as he made his way towards the couch. He stood over her as she lay outstretched, blinking up at him. "You ready?" He asked.

"For what?"

"For training," he said impassively. He stepped back as Rey hopped up from the couch, suddenly excited.

"Really?" She asked brightly.

"Not if you're going to just stand here," he said, lowering his brows.

Rey moved around him and quickly gathered her cloak and scarf from her room, pulling them on as fast as she could. She pulled on their boots and met Ben at the front door, and they headed back out into the white, sunlit world.

Ben began heading into the woods, Rey following near at his side. He led them through the trees for a while until they came to a wide clearing, where Ben stopped and turned around.

Ben lowered his scarf, rubbing his face as he surveyed the tall trees around them. He then took his lightsaber from his side, igniting it. He looked across at Rey expectantly. Rey ignited her own, watching him closely.

He stepped towards her, holding his lightsaber at an angle from her. "Strike here," he said. Rey clashed her lightsaber against his, sending blue and red sparks hissing into the air. "Again," Ben declared, and Rey repeated her movement.

Ben tilted his head, seemingly deep in speculation. "Hit here again, then on my other side," he said. Rey hit his saber, and just after she did so he flipped his lightsaber into his other hand. She made contact with it at his other side, and then dropped her lightsaber to rest at her side, looking at Ben with interest.

He tilted his head again, squinting at her lightsaber. "I wonder if…" he trailed, then backed up, turning the opposite way. He stalked over to a thin tree trunk, slashing it in half with his saber.

"What are you doing?" Rey asked, puzzled. She watched as he silently hacked at the fallen trunk, breaking a thin branch off of it. He held the branch up to his lightsaber, seemingly to compare the width.

He walked back over to her, extending his free hand. "Let me see your lightsaber," he said. Rey looked between him and her saber, hesitant. She reluctantly handed it to him, and he unengaged it.

He held the long stick to the bottom end of Rey's lightsaber's hilt. He then pulled his scarf from his neck, kneeling down as he tore a strand of fabric from it, dropping the rest to the ground. Rey watched closely as he wrapped the thick fabric around the lightsaber hilt and the stick. He rose up as he ignited the lightsaber, surveying his work. Rey observed that he'd tied the stick onto the bottom end of the saber's hilt, roughly the same length of the plasma on the other side.

Ben held it out to her, raising his eyebrows. "Try this," he said, and Rey took it from him, staring down at it in confusion.

"What...why did you do that?" She asked, scrunching her face.

"Trust me," he said, the breeze blowing his dark hair across his forehead. He reignited his own lightsaber, holding it to his side again, parallel to the ground. "Now hit my lightsaber, then my arm on my the other side with the wooden end."

Rey blinked at him in confusion, but she did as he instructed. She clashed the plasma side of her lightsaber against his saber, then tilted the plasma side down as she hit the stick against ben's outstretched arm to her right.

"Again," Ben instructed, and Rey repeated the movement. It felt less awkward this time. "Again, faster," he said, and this time, Rey's movements felt more fluid, natural. Ben studied her, placing a hand on his chin momentarily, his lightsaber dangling casually in his other hand. "Have you ever fought with any sort of long weapon, perhaps a staff of some sort?" He asked.

Rey's eyebrows raised in realization. "Yes, I have. Back on Jakku, I had a long metal staff I used for protection," she said.

"I see," he said, nodding. "That makes sense. Your fighting style reflects it. I've noticed that you tilt your lightsaber in your hands often, as if you're used to a weapon with two ends. Actually, your fighting style is reminiscent of Form VII."

Rey remembered Luke having told her about the different ancient forms of lightsaber combat. "Okay, so…?" Rey trailed, gesturing her hands out.

Ben raised an eyebrow. "I think you're meant to use a double-bladed lightsaber."

….

Ben spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon training Rey with her new makeshift lightsaber, avoiding hitting the stick-side of her saber with his own lightsaber to avoid slicing through it. Rey's movements became increasingly more fluid, more powerful as she dueled against Ben in short bursts, learning new techniques from him.

By midday Rey and Ben had removed their cloaks, sweating from their physical activity. Rey began to grow tired and hungry, kicking herself for not having eaten the instant bread earlier that morning.

"That's good for now," Ben said eventually, switching off his lightsaber.

As they headed back towards the house, Rey remembered the calls of the animals she'd heard before, and she kept a watchful eye on their surroundings.

"If you're looking for those creatures, you'd better keep your eyes to the trees," Ben said, looking down at her from his side.

"The trees? They climb?" Rey asked concernedly, her eyes searching the treetops above them.

Ben snickered to himself, amused by her fear. "Don't worry, you'd hear them coming. They're noisy."

Rey looked up at him distrustfully, and he only smiled back at her. "Well, I hope you know how to fight them, if they show up," she said.

"I do. And soon you will, too," he said, elbowing her. She looked up at him in shock.

"I'm not fighting any creatures, thank you," she said, frowning.

Ben laughed. "We'll see. When they do come, you'll have no choice," he said. "They can be some of the best teachers in lightsaber combat."

Not liking what she was hearing, Rey folded her arms, remaining silent the rest of the way back to the encampment.

When they returned to the house, Rey prepared a bowl of instant bread as Ben restarted the fireplace. After he did so, he stood near the fire, staring into it. He hadn't removed his cloak or gloves.

As Rey ate, she watched him silently. He seemed to have returned to his usual silent, stoic self. Yet, she sensed something was off about him, just as she had towards the end of their journey to the snowy planet.

When Rey had finished eating, putting her bowl into the automatic dishwasher, she watched Ben as he straightened his sleeves down over his gloves, seeming to snap out of his train of thought.

He looked back across the room at her. "I'm going to gather some more food," he announced, turning to leave.

"Wait," Rey said, stepping forward, and Ben stopped, looking back at her. "I'll come too."

"No," Ben said, his brows lowering. "You should just rest."

Rey's shoulders dropped as Ben turned away, heading out through the front door. Rey trudged over to the couch, flopping onto it. She felt disheartened that Ben hadn't wanted her to join him. Staring up at the ceiling, Rey shut her eyes, her heart quickening as she reflecting on the morning, how she had started the day so traumatized and progressed into sheer happiness in working on her lightsaber combat skills once again.

Rey thought about how Ben had been able to help her realize her true, natural fighting style, amazed at his ingenuity. Rey's mind wandered further, reflecting on his smooth, agile movements, the way his black hair waved in the wind. She thought of his large, dark eyes, eyes that did not to her seem malicious or violent, but warm, fiercely intelligent. Thinking about him, Rey felt giddy, light, as if she could float up from the very couch.

At late evening, after the sun had just set, Ben had still not returned. Rey began to worry, but she attempted to calm her fears, remembering how Ben said that he'd trained on the planet before. She relaxed as she trusted his capability in getting back to the house safely.

Sore and exhausted, Rey stretched on the couch, then headed to her room to sleep.

….

When Rey came out into the kitchen the next morning she found a pile of bright red fruit on the counter, and she eagerly took one. Her arms were incredibly sore, and she stretched them between taking bites of the sweet fruit.

She heard footsteps and sensed Ben's presence as he entered near the kitchen in just a T-shirt and his pants, barefoot and messy-haired. He blinked at her slowly, rubbing his tired eyes.

"When did you get back? I tried waiting up for you," Rey said.

"Sometime during the night," he said cryptically. He gestured out his hand, using the Force to pull Rey's bitten fruit from her grasp and into his palm.

"Hey!" She exclaimed. Ben smiled sleepily, taking a bite of the fruit as he looked at her defiantly. "You bantha-headed Jawa," she muttered teasingly, cracking a smile.

"Scavenger," Ben said between bites of the fruit, moving into the living room.

….

That day, Ben led her again to the forest clearing, continuing with teaching her how to use her makeshift double lightsaber. Towards the afternoon, Ray sat down in the snow, exhausted and sore.

"Do you think I could ever actually make one?" Rey asked, rolling the hilt of her lightsaber in the snow before her.

Ben looked down across at her, puzzled. "Make what?"

"A double-bladed lightsaber," she said. "Could I ever make one?"

Ben considered for a few moments. "Yes, you could. But you would have to go and harvest the Kyber crystal yourself."

"Is that what you did?" Rey probed, nodding towards the hilt of his lightsaber in his grasp.

"Yes," Ben said. "Although...the crystal in my lightsaber is cracked, I didn't put it together properly. But you could."

Rey cracked a teasing smile, shielding her eyes against the sun as she peered up at him. "Yeah, your lightsaber seems pretty...uh...unstable."

"It is," Ben said, observing the hilt of his lightsaber as he rotated it in his hands. He ignited it before him, looking at the light of its crackling red plasma. "So it's especially dangerous," he said, raising an eyebrow at Rey as his face turned darkly mischievous. Suddenly, he lurched towards her, and Rey jumped to her feet.

She hadn't had the chance to grab her own lightsaber, and she ran away from Ben, laughing freely as he chased behind her through the snow.

….

Rey and Ben didn't return to the house until sunset, until both of them were thoroughly hungry and exhausted.

As soon as they got back to the dwelling, they both ate, Ben finishing his food first as usual.

As Rey sat on the couch, leisurely finishing her bread and piece of fruit, Ben sat on the carpet before her, facing the fire.

Rey reflected on the course of the day. She realized that she hadn't felt this content in a very long time. She felt that she now had meaning, purpose. She was astonished at how fast she was learning from Ben.

Rey was also surprised at how patient he was being in training her; she'd half expected him to be irritable and more closed off. But he seemed to enjoy working with her.

As Rey finished eating, she focused on the back of Ben's unmoving head as he stared ahead into the fire, seemingly lost in thought. Again, he seemed sullen, despondent, and Rey wondered what was riding on his conscience. She watched as his shoulders seemed to lift and drop in a small sigh.

Placing her bowl onto the ground, Rey stood from the couch, slowly moving to Ben's side. He glanced up at her, the light of the fire glinting in his eyes. He returned his gaze to the hearth before him as Rey sat down next to him. She opened her mouth, hesitating to speak as she turned her face slightly towards his.

"Is something...wrong?" Rey asked, studying his profile, the soft curls of his hair.

"Nothing is wrong," Ben said, and Rey picked up on his subtly defensive tone.

"There's something troubling you...I can feel it," Rey said softly, looking at over at him with concern. She leaned slightly toward him. "You can tell me, you know."

Ben lowered his gaze, ducking his head slightly as he shifted his jaw. He sighed shakily. "My mother. Leia," he began, pausing. "She's grown ill. I can sense it," he said, his face twitching.

Rey's chest tightened, sensing the pain hidden in his voice, the sorrow growing in her own heart. "Oh, Leia...I'm so sorry, Ben," she breathed. She gingerly placed her palm on the sleeve of his large upper arm, sliding it down tenderly. He seemed to lean slightly away from her gesture, and she removed her hand.

"Don't," he murmured, but his voice was soft. He furrowing his brows and turned his face away from her.

Something ignited inside of Rey as she sensed that his seeming aversion did not reflect the truth.

She felt compelled to lean slowly towards him, placing her palm on the ground at her side between them. Ben turned his head slightly, his dark eyes looking at her askance. His expression read that he was conflicted, and his dark eyes stirred. His face seemed to grow softer as he slowly turned his face towards hers, his gaze unfaltering.

As they leaned towards each other, Rey's heart fluttered, her mouth opening slightly as his gaze flickered from her eyes to her mouth and back again. Rey took in a quick breath as she softly closed her eyes, instinctively leaning towards his face.

Rey gently pressed her lips to his, hearing him take in a small breath as she did so. Rey felt a shock, a sparking magnetism as their lips met. Ben's mouth parted slightly, and Rey felt his hand slide to the side of her cheek, gently cupping her face.

She gently pressed her mouth further into his, and she heard him breath in through his nose, her cheeks hot.

Rey slowly, gently slid her lips from his, his fingers still resting upon her cheek as she leaned her face slightly back, dazedly opening her eyes up at Ben's. He opened his eyes halfway, and their gaze held for a full moment. Ben slowly slid his hand from her jaw, and Rey blinked, shifting her gaze away.

Rey felt flushed, and she leaned back further, letting out a quick breath. She looked back at Ben, whose eyes focused hazily on hers. His mouth was still partly open, his eyebrows slightly raised.

Rey broke her gaze from his again, and from the corner of her eye she saw him turn and face the fire. He tok in a deep, shaky breath. Rey's thoughts began to race as she came to, unsure of how to react to what she'd just done. She self-consciously tucked her hair behind her ears, staring at the ground before her. "I—I'm sorry, I don't know…" she stuttered, her heart pounding in her chest. She rubbed together her now clammy hands.

Ben looked back to her, running a hand through his hair. "No, I…" he began, but Rey spoke before he could continue his thought.

"I'm just really, really, exhausted," she said quickly, and she rose. Ben looked up at her in surprise. "I'm going to sleep, goodnight," Rey said, turning to leave the room.

"Goodnight,' Ben responded, but his tone sounded more like a question.

It's the moment we've all been waiting for, with bated breath. Looks like the two are pretty startled at what just went down. I wonder how the rest of Rey's training will go? As always, thanks for reading my dear Padawans, you all warm my cold heart just as Rey warms Ben's. On a side note, I know a lot of you were anxiously waiting for Reylo to officially happen here (as was I), but I really wanted to time it right and flesh out a full, complete story, not just some simple smut (although I know we all appreciate that now and then too!). I personally find romantic/love scenes to be much more enjoyable and fulfilling when there is sufficient backstory and buildup to it, and that's what I set out to do here. I love that concept of Reylo so much that I wanted to do it true justice; I wanted to make it truly plausible, how Rey could actually fall for a villainous character like Ben/Kylo (hence why Ben saved and took care of Rey, Han killed himself, etc.).