Service Announcement! Now that the break is over chapters will be posted much less often (1 to 2 weeks). On the plus side, they will get longer and will possibly start introducing some adult content, earning it that M rating.
Thanks to everyone who has been following this story!
Private Quarters, Dreadnot.
He felt calm. The plaguing anxiety had receded somewhat making rational thought more manageable and controlled.
Why not accept both? It was such an obvious solution, Kylo was hard pressed to understand how he'd lived a better part of his life conflicted and torn, believing himself weak for being drawn to first the dark side of the Force then the light. By embracing both aspects of the Force into his being and, awash in the reassurance of his long sought-out mentor, Ben felt as though a festering wound was being achingly rinsed out and soothed.
And the guilt… The guilt surrounding his father, the guilt horribly mixed up in his failings with the light and Luke's betrayal… that was still there. But the dread and confusion were less potent now. Somehow, the previously pain inducing memories were taking on different colors, all his major conflicts stemming from the same fundamental denial.
Light and dark sides of life, of the Force, were fundamentally necessary contrasts. Parts of the whole… Kylo was beginning to recognize that now as he floated in the gently rocking cradle of the infinite universe.
He'd essentially dropped into the flow of the Force mind and soul, dark and light, allowing himself to feel both, find solace in both. And understand that both were fundamental, interacting halves present in all life forms.
Here and now, Kylo was deciding what things were true for himself. There was no going back, dwelling on the past resulted in wasted energy, passion and drive should be directed towards progress and there was still much he wanted to accomplish. He also knew with budding certainty that he wanted Rey to be a part of it.
But first he would have to deal with Hux and the unquestionable uproar that was awaiting him.
It was virtually impossible to measure the passing of time while afloat in the Force, Kylo assumed he had already been to long away but it had been worth it.
Solidifying his new and blissfully obtainable composure, Kylo Ren brought his consciousness back to his physical body, which had been floating unassisted in his private quarters for an undeterminable amount of time.
A grimace crossed his face when he beheld the havoc his mental breakdown had wreaked on a huge chunk of the leeward section, uncrossing his legs and lowering them to the ground, Kylo observed the veritable army currently working just outside the bubble of energy he'd been incased in. He was standing in a small crater of protected metal while all around was chaos, only promptly erected shields sealing the room from space.
"Welcome back, Sir. I trust there is an explanation for the crippling damage inflicted on our flagship?" Hux stepped forward almost immediately.
"Yes actually there is. Your latest proposal is denied." Kylo didn't try to protect the other mans delicate pride or explain himself. "However, I want you to compile a list of candidates to fill the position I recently vacated, as hand to the Supreme Leader." He brushed past a spluttering Hux to approach CC-781. "Gather a few new sheets of hull armor, some welding equipment and a spare window and bring everything back here. Take as many men as you need."
As Kylo had sensed the man had more intelligence than Hux, saluting briskly with a "Yes Sir!" CC-781 began collecting the necessary men.
"Sir, I apologize, but I simply don't understand!" There was a singular hint of desperation in Hux's tone, no doubt spawned by the many occasions physical violence had followed its voice.
But for once Kylo wasn't angry, "It's a restructuring, General, and I expect you to be as helpful as possible." Eyeing the shorter man unwaveringly, purposefully keeping his plans vague, Kylo waited. It didn't' take long for the red-head to huff and glance away, acquiescing "Of course, Sir."
Lolo Spring, Baskarn
After enjoying an impromptu race to the western side of the village, the four young, panting Resistance members were suddenly surrounded by several Yrashu children rambunctiously jumping, wrestling and shrieking in their own language.
"POE!" Several shouted, along with very quick chattering that none of the humans could follow despite the fact that all had been making an effort to pick up a few words in the native language.
"No wonder you get along so well" Rey commented without thinking, a grin tugging at her lips as Poe glanced over smirking.
"We do," he said sticking his nose in the air with false offense.
One of the tiny females tugged at Poe's hand, saying in a clear high voice "Path!" in the common tongue. He grinned at his friends and allowed her to lead him, saying, "This way, there's an actually path to the spring so even those of us not particularly attuned to the Force can walk through the jungle in relative safety."
"Ahh right, right… sounds easy." Finn said unsteadily, violently shaking his torso and face as if preparing for a fight, face deadly serious. Rey and Rose glanced at each other and quickly away, making a pitiable effort to stifle their laughter. "Don't worry," Rey assured him grinning. "I'll stay alert for anything moving near us."
"So is that stuff, like, easy for you now?" Finn asked as the four proceeded single file into the forest after the tumbling children, Poe in the lead followed by Rey, Finn then Rose. "We haven't really talked about any of the Force stuff since you got back."
"It's… developing." Rey answered carefully. "Being around the Yrashu has broadened my understanding immensely. They're just so… intuitive with the Force and how it flows. It's almost like… they wade through it in their mind just as easily as we walk on the ground." She paused, uncertain if she was making any sense.
"Do you think General Leia had that in mind when she decided on Baskarn?" Rose asked speculatively.
"I wouldn't be surprised," Poe said from the front. "The General never does anything without a reason." He spoke with utter assurance and faith, and Rey found her opinion of him increasing by a few parsecs.
The idea wasn't far fetched, General Leia was exceedingly clever, and Rey only wondered why Leia wouldn't tell her. She'd thought they had been developing a relationship over the last few weeks, even thinking of her as a kind of motherly figure…
But that was her problem. "You see your parents everywhere, it's you're greatest weakness…"
Rey grit her teeth as Ben's blunt voice sounded through her head, again.
It seem everyone got lost in thought, for a while there was only the soft sounds of foot falls, the whoosh of leaves overhead and the scurrying of small creatures amongst the foliage.
They walked in companionable silence for some time before Poe spoke up, "What was it like training with Luke Skywalker?" In his voice Rey recognized the same reverent tone most people, previously including herself, talked about Luke in.
She hesitated.
"Yeah Rey! That's still so wild, what happened on that island?" Finn's enthusiasm broke a smile from her.
"It was very different than I expected." She started cautiously, wanting to be honest while staying respectful to Luke's memory. But her audience was very engaging and receptive and pretty soon, she was describing everything, from the crashing ocean waves to Luke's low regard of the Jedi and his desire for the Force to be shared and experienced by all.
They were all listening with rapt attention so Rey continued. "He said that the Force was a part of, and belonged to, everyone and everything and that to think of it as the sole domain of the Jedi was pure vanity. Being here on Baskarn has really enforced that for me." Rey mused aloud while the others seemed to contemplate this news with differing levels of disbelief.
"But Luke didn't really want the Jedi to end completely right? I mean—you have all those old Jedi manuscripts…" Rose trailed off hopefully.
"Actually, he didn't give those to me," Rey admitted with a frown. "Before I left, I had of vision of the tree they were housed in burning… so I took them." That news sunk in with the weight of a small freighter descending into the Jakku sand sea.
"So what does that mean for you? Are you… not a Jedi then?" Poe asked carefully, glancing back, talking gently as one would when approaching an ill person.
Rey wrinkled her nose, a slight grimace, answering with firm affirmation, "I don't think it matters. I have the Force and I'm going to use it help in whatever way I can. Everything else is just… semantics?" She glanced back at Finn for confirmation on the word they'd learned together from General Leia.
He looked up from delicately picking his way to give her a thumbs-up and an encouraging grin.
"You really don't care?" Rose asked tentatively then rushed to elaborate once she saw Rey's puzzled expression. "I mean, you don't care if there are no more Jedi?"
"What if we start something new? I mean… everyone, myself included, idolizes the Jedi. Luke even tried to bring them back. But what if we do something different this time. Maybe… let people decide for themselves how they want to use the Force…" Rey trailed off, not really sure where she was going with this idea. She had no clue were that thought had come from... but now that she said it out loud she felt a calming certainty settle into her stomach at the rightness of it.
"Why keep the Jedi texts then?" Finn asked as he gingerly stepped over a small, grounded razor leaf.
"There's still so much I don't know… I want to learn from them. But I don't have to agree with everything they did and said to appreciate the knowledge they amassed." Rey tried to explain and justify her conclusion. She'd known from the moment she took those books they would represent a knowledge she'd coveted for a long time as well as some contradictions to her own experiences and way of thinking. It was something she'd have to work through slowly, which doctrines she could believe in and what ideas she could make her own decisions about.
"Well, whatever you decide, we're right here with you Rey," Poe said pausing to turn and look at her with the sincere solemnity of blood brothers going off to war. Rey was truly touched. Then he slapped her shoulder, shattering the moment, and a huge grin overtook his face. "But first, BATHS!"
They'd come to the spring already! That can't have been two hours, Rey thought distantly as the small Yrashu children shrieked and began playfully shoving each other in. And Rose and Poe started chatting excitedly about different hygiene practices as they began stripping off their clothes.
A moment of mutual and sheer shock passed between Rey and Finn as they glanced at each other and back at their bizarrely behaving friends. "Uhhh…?" Finn didn't have to articulate further as his face spoke to his and Rey's utter bemusement when Poe and Rose glanced up.
"What?" Poe asked quickly as Rey's eyes immediately found interest in the canopy above.
"You two have never been swimming before?" Rose voice was initially giggly before morphing completely with realization. "Oh my stars, you two have never been swimming before." She said in an almost self-berating way.
"She grew up in a dessert and I was a conscripted solider. When would we have been swimming?" Stance indignant, hands on hips, feisty sarcasm radiated off Finn. But there was no real bite to his words, which was made obvious when he answered Poe's spreading grin with his own.
"Alright, I can see we have some explaining to do." Poe pacified, characteristic easy leadership back in action as he gestured towards the green furred children playing in the alluring blue water. "The water here is heated by thermal pockets and undulations in the surrounding stone makes shallow pools, so you won't actually have to swim, it will be more like floating. But if you want to learn here would be a decent place to start." He finished shrugging with hands on hips.
"Okay, good, yes, valuable information but that doesn't explain why you both are naked!" Finn gestured wildly at the two of them again. To be fair, both had their private areas sufficiently covered but Rey wondered why not leave all the clothes on and get them clean in the water along with their bodies.
Rose and Poe shared an uncertain glance, "I don't know, we just don't want to get our clothes wet I guess? People always go swimming like this." Rose finished helplessly, throwing the question at Poe for further explanation but Rey jumped in.
"Why not leave the clothes on and clean them at the same time?" She asked curiously.
"Because we're just here to have a causal bath and relax not do our laundry and if we wash them now we'll have to walk back in sopping wet clothes." Poe explained as if that were obviously the protocol.
"But…" Rey glanced at Finn, intensely skeptical about abandoning such a lavish resource without taking full advantage it. "Couldn't we just wash them first and let them dry out on the rocks here?" She suggested pointing.
Poe just shrugged dubiously, "If that's what you want. I'm getting in the water." With that he shambled over to one of the pools to the delight of the children.
Sharing a final, conceding look, Rey and Finn also began removing their outer layers and approached the side of the steaming pool Poe and Rose were easing their way into. Rey brought her outer layers with her, an idea forming in her mind about using the Force to help get them both clean and dry.
Scanning the area, Rey was put at ease by the calm, bubbling blue water incased in an impressive rock outcropping, all overshadowed by gently swaying coniferous trees as she began scrubbing her outer clothes against the rough rock in the warm water.
"You never take a break, do you?" Poe's discerning voice broke through her reverie. And Rey glanced over at the other three who were lounging, fully submerged in the spring. But she didn't have to come up with a clever response because Rose spoke up on her behalf. "You all are like that!" She exclaimed in what Rey was learning was a characteristic honesty. "The moment we landed on Baskarn you all scattered and got to work, there's nothing wrong with that."
Rey smiled gently in thanks as Poe attempted to defend himself.
"Look I'm just saying it's good to take a break sometimes," He demonstrated this be reclining back further in the water, immersing himself up to the neck, making a ridiculously gratified face in the process.
Rey couldn't help it—she started laughing. They all did, and as the sound of their merriment echoed with that of the children nearby, Rey finally relaxed and slid into the water, marveling at the feel of it.
"There we go." Poe said sitting up happily observing Rey's transition.
"I've only been in the water once…" She admitted, whirling the water around with her arms. "I swallowed soooo much sea water." More laughter. Rey grinned at successfully achieving a joking manner.
Resting back and watching the tree's sway, the four Resistance fighters settled in to a relaxing afternoon.
A questioning tug in the Force caused Rey to stiffen abruptly, her eyes flew open, heart rate picking up. It was Ben, she was sure. But somehow, he was actively stimulating the bridge that connected them, asking her permission to materialize, giving her the choice to refuse. Theoretically she'd known this could be possible but had never thought he'd try to seek her out or that he would develop this kind of control so quickly. Rey hesitated. The fact that he was "asking" first, an uncharacteristically genially action, compelled her to assent his request.
"I'll be back." Rey said briskly before jumping out of the water, grabbing her still damp over-shirt and moving off towards the path to the village.
She didn't look back to see her friend's confused and troubled expressions.
Employing the idea that had taken shape earlier, Rey summoned the remaining water from her outer garment. Of course, that still left her under clothes and body soaking wet but she was in a hurry. Throwing her uppermost layer on she quickly put distance between herself and the spring, strangely anxious that he might think her unreceptive to his call.
Finally, when she'd run at least a kilometer, Rey stopped, took a deep breath and lowered the barriers that kept her mind separate from the bridge.
AN: Ah! Finally a real chapter. I know we didn't get to see Rey and Kylo interact this time but that will take up a majority of the next chapter. Stay tuned! And let me know what you think of the longer, more descriptive content.