As if through the haze of a lucid dream, Rey felt herself being borne along; someone was carrying her in their arms like one would an infant, and she could feel her arms and legs swaying with the pace of the person bearing her along. She mustered all the strength she could and raised her head, a feeling of frightening despair washing over her as she saw that her captor was the same man she had just met in the woods. She tried all she could to scream and kick to get away, but all she could manage was some feeble struggling and a weak moan. The man didn't seem to notice, as he appeared to be muttering to himself; she could barely make out the words, but what she did hear made no sense to her "A fucking satyrkind. Out here of all places. By the gods, what the fuck am I going to do with her?" He seemed to be in a state of annoyed disbelief, and at a loss of what to make of the young girl in his arms. Rey craned her neck to look up at him as subtly as possible; he looked less frightening from that angle, but his yellow eyes were still just as unnerving. Rey also noticed a wound on his forehead that had not been there before she had blacked out "How did he get that? Did I do that to him?" she wondered to herself. She wracked her brain trying to remember what had happened to make her lose consciousness, but she had already massively depleted her strength, and the additional strain proved to be too much; she slipped back into the darkness.
It was the crackling sounds of a fire that woke Rey out of her slumber sometime later; looking around, she discovered that she was laying on a low bench carved out of a fallen log. Across from where she lay was the fire that had drawn her out of her stupor; the fire was set in a semicircular above-ground pit carved into the side of a giant slab of rock, and sitting above the fire, supported by the edges of the fire pit, was a huge cauldron that looked like it could hold three of her quite comfortably.
The cauldron reminded Rey of the words the man spoke to her just before she had been knocked unconscious "I should just devour you right here and now" Fear gripped her "Is he actually planning on EATING me?" She asked herself incredulously. Hearing someone approaching from behind her, Rey dropped her head and closed her eyes, pretending to still be asleep. "I see you aren't dead" The man's voice spoke as she felt his robes brush against the hand that hung off the end of the bench. Rey opened her eyes and saw that his back was turned to her as he tended the fire; he had removed his outer robes, but it hadn't diminished his size in the least, even crouched over the fire, he was imposing. Rey slowly pulled herself into a seated position, and, seeing that he seemed to be preoccupied with his work on the fire, she scrambled to her feet, intending to make her escape while he was otherwise occupied. "I'm sorry, but you're not going anywhere." He called out over his shoulder. Rey had only made it a handful of steps before her knees buckled underneath her, and she fell to the ground, exhausted.
The man clicked his tongue in a scolding manner "I told you you weren't going anywhere," He repeated himself "Your little demonstration has depleted your energy completely, you wouldn't be able to make it to that tree over there" He waved his hand at a fir barely ten paces away "Do you even know where you are? I doubt you've set foot in these woods before today." He had made his way over to her and, tucking his hands under Rey's arms, hauled her up and set her back on the log bench. "Just stay there, and don't waste energy you don't have." He disappeared into what Rey now saw was a cave tucked into the side of a hill, coming back moments later with a robe tucked under one arm, and a small parcel in the other hand, both of which he laid on the rock next to the cauldron. He motioned toward the cauldron as if to say "Go ahead." but Rey merely sat there staring at him, not comprehending what he wanted her to do. He waved again, "Well, get in" he said in exasperation. She remained staring at him, finally getting up the courage to ask what exactly he wanted her to do "Are you going to eat me?" she asked with fearful disgust. Her disgust was mirrored on his face "Eat you? You think I'm going to make you into stew? Ugh, no. You're filthy, there's no way I'm letting you stay here looking and smelling like that." She hesitated, unconvinced "But I don't want to stay here, you kidnapped me!" He rolled his eyes in exasperation "You blasted me with your amateur attempt at magic, and knocked yourself out cold in the process. If I hadn't brought you back here, you would have been wolf food by now."
"I didn't do anything!" she cried "If you hadn't come at me like you wanted to make me your meal then none of this would have happened!" He waved his hand as if to dismiss her outrage "I wasn't going to actually eat you, though you do smell like you'd taste delicious; you're an outsider here, I wanted to scare you so you'd leave. I'd probably have just sapped some of your spirit energy, you are a strange creature after all, and dropped you off where you entered the wood."
Rey sat there, agape, not knowing where to start on what he'd just said to her; the part where he'd mentioned devouring her twice now, made her feel uncomfortable and strangely hot, so she decided to ignore it, focusing instead on what he had said about her strangeness. "Back in the woods, that flash of light, that's never happened before, what was it?" He studied her curiously "It makes sense that you don't know, considering how sloppy and impulsive your technique was. Though I am surprised that at your age, this kind of thing never happened to you before." Rey shrugged "The fauns who raised me never spoke of magic, they never seemed to consider that I might be different from them aside from my unusually small horns, and feet, and tail," The man smirked slightly "Those are enough reasons to consider you different. Though it makes sense that you were raised by fauns; they reject all things that are foreign or strange to them; I'm surprised they kept you." Rey ignored his last statement "When you were carrying me back, I heard you say something about a satyrkind? What is that?"
He stood their studying her for a moment before he spoke, a glint in his eye that Rey wasn't sure she liked, but couldn't put her finger on why it bothered her. After a while, he seemed to shake himself out of his reverie; clapping his hands together he declared "Well! That's enough discussion. You should get cleaned up, I brought you some soap and something to wear until we can get your things cleaned." As much as she hated to admit it, a hot bath sounded glorious to her aching muscles, and she decided that if she was going to die, she might as well get clean and comfortable first.
Rey struggled to her feet, every muscle in her body screaming in protest, and hobbled over to the stone slab that the cauldron was mounted on. As she shrugged off her leather jerkin and started unlacing the back of her breeches, she glanced back at the man, and was immediately alarmed that he hadn't made any effort to look away or go inside. "Um, excuse me?" She called out "Do you mind?" He cocked his head to the side questioningly "Do I mind what?" She stared at him, slightly appalled "Going inside or at least turning around, perhaps? I don't want you looking at me like this." The fauns Rey had been raised with gave no care for modesty, this much was true, but for some reason, Rey balked at the idea of this man seeing her in such a vulnerable state.
"By all means," he answered holding his hands out, palms upward, in a placating gesture "I don't wish to make you uncomfortable; and if you can truly get yourself into the bath on your own, in your state, without cracking your head open, I will happily oblige you." Rey wanted to shoot back with some snide remark, but, much to her own disgust, she saw his point; she had reached her physical limit, and blown past it by a furlong. Crawling up onto the stone slab, and from there, getting herself into the cauldron would be quite a feat in her condition, and should anything go wrong, could end in disaster.
The man spoke again, interrupting her thoughts, this time his tone was softened slightly "If it makes you feel any better, I'll help you onto the slab, and look away while you get undressed, and then help you into the bath; but that's all the coddling you'll get from me." His last words were uttered like a warning, as if to make up for the seeming weakness of the offered compromise.
Rey accepted the offer with a curt nod, and hobbled over to where he stood beside the huge slab of rock. Expecting her host to simply take her hand and help her step up onto the platform, Rey was taken by surprise and let out a sharp squeak when he tucked his hands under her arms and lifted her like a child as if she weighed nothing, and set her abruptly on the step above him. He then joined her and fixed her with a stern stare as if to let her know that he wouldn't tolerate any nonsense from her. Rey stood there facing him, awkwardly twisting one leg around the other, knowing that she must undress, but her shyness refusing to allow her.
"So, u-um, would you please tell me your name?" She asked hesitantly, unable to meet his gaze "I don't know that I can undress and bathe in front of a man when I don't even know his name." She heard him sigh wearily "Will you be more cooperative if I do?" He asked, a mild undertone of irritation in his voice. Rey nodded willingly; by this time, she'd had a chance to assess her situation, and although she didn't relish spending time with this man (at best, he was rude and aggressive; at worst, he was downright frightening as she had already experienced, not to mention that strange hunger lurking behind his eyes when he looked at her for any prolonged amount of time), but it was clear that he knew or at least had an idea of what she was. If she had any chance of truly knowing herself and whatever mysterious abilities she had, he was her best bet, and she wasn't about to let that chance get away. "Kylo Ren" he finally uttered "You can call me Kylo or Ren, whichever you prefer, now would you please get in the bath?"
Rey managed a half smile "I'm Rey" she replied "Now, you said you would turn around while I got undressed, please do that." Kylo prolonged his pointed stare for another long moment before obliging her, and turned his back. Rey quickly unlaced her breeches and shivered out of them before pulling her shift over her head, the chilly night air raising goose bumps as it whispered over her skin. Crossing her arms over her breasts, she turned her back to him "Okay, I'm ready" she called out, realizing that it may have been pointless and rather silly to make him turn around when he had to look at her anyway when helping her into the water.
She heard the swish of his robe as he turned toward her; peeking over her shoulder, she saw that he had removed his gloves and sleeves, leaving his hands and arms bare. She couldn't help but admire his muscular arms, and took special notice of how his muscles rippled under his skin. Realizing where her observations were taking her, Rey blushed deeply and averted her eyes, hugging herself tighter and wishing she could pitch herself into an ice cold pond to suppress whatever it was she was feeling. While all these thoughts were racing through her head, Rey had become distracted and almost leapt out of her skin when she felt a hand laid between shoulders; her breath caught in her chest at the feeling of skin on skin contact, she'd never had a man touch her like that before. Kylo moved his hand from the center of her back and slipped it under her arm, while he reached down with the other arm, and tucked it behind her knees, lifting her into a cradling position and depositing her into the huge bath.
The feeling of the almost-scalding water enveloping her body was so soothing and painfully glorious, that Rey let out a sob of joy, and let herself sink beneath the surface. Upon coming back up for air, Kylo handed her a bar of soap and a cloth to wash herself with. Feeling better than she had in what felt like years, Rey happily went to work scrubbing her skin from her feet up, while Kylo watched her with a modicum of interest, that same hungry look still present, albeit almost entirely suppressed, while trailing the tips of his fingers through the water. At that point Rey didn't care if he openly leered at her; all was forgiven in that moment as the water washed over her aching body.