Rey slept well enough through the night, but when she had rested all she could, she found that her entire body was wretchedly sore from her ordeal the day before. Trying to roll out of bed had resulted in her collapsing on the floor in pain, causing Kylo, dressed in just his breeches and sleeves, to come running when he heard her pained cry, scooping her up in his arms and placing her back on the bed with a gentle scolding "You're going to have to stay in bed for a few days at least, if not a week; you have a serious injury, and you need to realize that and act accordingly." Rey groaned "But I don't want to sleep anymore, I'm not tired, and I don't want to lay around alone all day." He smiled and smoothed her hair out of her face "How is your pain right now?" his comforting smile poorly masking the concern in his voice "It was fine until I decided to get up, and now I can barely move." she said as tears began welling up in her eyes.
Kylo dabbed at her eyes with his sleeve, paused a moment to ponder something, and then turned to her, his face grave "I can give you something for the pain; it won't erase it completely, but it will take the edge off and make you forget how badly it hurts. Is that something you want to do?" Rey nodded eagerly, though she was unsure of why he was so serious about it "Yes, please! I'll take whatever you have to offer." Kylo nodded and got up, leaving the cave. It was only then, as she watched him walk away, that she noticed deep purple bruises spanning his ribs and running down his spine. A strange unexplainable feeling flowed up from Rey's heart and caught in her throat; she had no idea that he'd been injured, and from what she saw, it looked incredibly painful. Clasping a hand over her mouth, she squeezed her eyes shut, fighting off the tears that threatened to spill over as she thought about how selfish she had been, not even thinking to ask if he was alright.
Kylo was gone for a few minutes before coming back with a handful of green pods which he deposited on his work table, and then went about collecting various tools for his purpose. Rey watched curiously as he took each of the pods and made deep scores in it with a nail-like tool; he then let the milky white substance that seeped from the wounds drip onto a mound of dried tea leaves, using his magic to apply heat and dry the mixture out entirely. Pouring the leaves into tea bags, he placed them into two clay cups and poured steaming hot water over them, letting them steep for a bit, and bringing them over to the bed where Rey sat, propped up with several large pillows.
Holding the cup out to her, but drawing back out of her reach when she went to take it, Kylo looked her in the eye and said solemnly "This is only to help with your pain, it's not to be taken for fun, and by no means should it be taken often. Do you understand?" Rey nodded, and, as he handed her the cup, reached out and grabbed both it and his hand between the two of her own, bringing it to her lips and kissing his fingers, murmuring "Kylo, you never told me you were hurt and I feel horrible for not asking if you were injured; please, tell me what happened." He reddened slightly at the intensity of her concern, passing a hand through his hair after he had set his own cup down "it's really nothing. I've neglected all of my forms other than the snake for so long, my body tends to forget them, and then it's that much harder to do it when I have to. I haven't become the wolf in a very long time, and it punished me for that disrespect." He added the last part with a rueful laugh before picking his cup up again and motioning for Rey to drink hers; "Normally, I wouldn't share this with you, but I'm feeling rather sore myself today."
Sniffing the tea concoction, Rey smelled the earthiness of the of it, along with a sweet muskiness that she didn't recognize, and, taking a sip, she wrinkled up her nose at its bitterness. Kylo laughed at her reaction and then downed his dose in one gulp "Even if you like the taste, it gets old really fast, best to just take the whole thing in one go." he advised. She sighed resignedly, and pinched her nose before tipping the contents of the cup into her mouth and swallowing it down. The bitterness lasted only a few moments, and she soon felt no trace of it left on her tongue, only the herbal flavor of the tea remained. Kylo climbed up on the bed beside her and piled together another few pillows for himself to recline on, and encircled Rey's shoulders with his arm, pulling her in close as he let his head fall back.
"So...What now?" Rey asked, not yet feeling any effects of the tea "Shhhhh" he lifted a finger to his lips "You'll feel it soon enough, just relax." She huffed impatiently, but laid her head on his shoulder and took a deep, slow breath, trying to relax. As her heart rate slowed, her thoughts went back to the night before; she knew that Kylo wanted to know what she had experienced, but she didn't know how he would react to what she had seen when she touched him. The man in her vision had made her feel so afraid; all she felt from him was rage and an unquenchable thirst for power. She wondered if what she saw was a foreshadowing of who he was to become, or if it was a very real part of him lurking deep down inside at that very moment. Rey took another deep breath, noting the strangeness in having to remind herself for some reason; what if she told him and he didn't believe her? Maybe he would brush it off as nothing more than the wine.
Her thoughts floated to another extreme: what if he took her vision too seriously? She remembered their conversation about his love for battle, how his eyes had grown wide and glowed more brightly than usual when he spoke of it. Rey worried that telling him about her experience would make him want to return to that world. Another deep breath. "No," she thought "I shouldn't assume his actions, that's unfair. He deserves for me not to have any expectations, that's the least I can do." She cringed a little; had she already made her assumptions by not telling him immediately? "No" she thought again "I wasn't ready to talk about it then, and I'd have probably done a bad job at the time anyway."
Pushing those thoughts aside for a moment, Rey rubbed a hand over her eyes, at the same time noticing that Kylo's arm felt heavier than normal; craning her neck to look up at him, she saw that he seemed to be dozing off, his breath coming more shallowly than normal. It was then that she noticed a feeling had come over her that was just like how it felt to have a warm, heavy blanket thrown on her; she felt so blissful that she hardly even noticed the pain that had almost crippled her not long before "Oh, that's right" she thought, feeling the realization dawning on her slowly "The tea. This must be the effects of whatever was in that drink he gave me." Even her eyelids had grown heavy by that time, and she realized that the longer she went without moving, the stronger the effects became; all she wanted to do was sink as deep into the pillows as she could, and sleep forever.
"Hey, you awake?" Rey asked, poking Kylo in the ribs; he groaned a little and pulled her in tighter, going to rest his chin on her head, and jabbing himself on one of her horns in the process "Ow," he rubbed the spot and leaned his head down again, though taking greater care to avoid her horns. "I definitely am now, how are you feeling?" She was now sliding her hand up and down her own thigh, stopping momentarily to consider his question before resuming the motion "Fuzzy. I want to touch everything, but I also want to lay still and never move again. Why do I have to keep reminding myself to take deep breaths?" He let out a soft "Hmph" that she took as a laugh "It's what the tea does; makes you feel all warm and dull. It's nice, but you wouldn't enjoy feeling like this every day." He answered, reaching up to tug gently on one of her hair buns.
Rey had stopped the motions on her leg and moved to drawing circles on his chest with her finger "I feel itchy. But not in a bad way, and not all over; mostly my cheeks and nose and the back of my neck. I didn't know you could feel itchy in a pleasant way…" she trailed off a bit, concentrating on the movements of her finger "I really just want to rub my face on your chest." This time he did laugh, shaking his head at her "Well...you're more than welcome to, if you so desire." he teased. Without hesitating, she pressed her face into his sternum and nuzzled in, enjoying the feel of his soft skin against her face "You're so soft and smooth" she said, her voice muffled against him and slightly breathless from the medicine. She wiggled around until she was laying on top of him, her face buried in his stomach, where she was still brushing her cheeks against his skin. Putting her head to the side, she surprised Kylo by blowing a raspberry on his abdomen, eliciting a flinch from him at first, but as she continued to do so, he settled in and merely laughed at her silliness, batting at her buns as she tried to get a reaction out of him.
After multiple raspberries and having to stop because she soon found herself significantly out of breath, Rey raised her head and glared accusingly at Kylo "Aren't you ticklish?" she demanded, frustrated by not being able to make him squirm under her touch. He simply shrugged in response "No, I can't remember ever being ticklish...though it might also be the tea; I don't think I would really be able to react to much in the state I'm in."
Rey smoothed her hand back and forth over his skin, wishing she could feel him all over her own body "I should tell you something" she finally spoke, looking up at him from where her chin rested on his stomach. "What is it?" he asked, brushing a finger down the bridge of her nose. Her gaze wandered as she resumed playing her fingers in weird patterns, this time on the palm of his hand; "Rey. What?" he asked again, flicking his finger against her earlobe this time. "Hm?" she lazily roused herself out of her daydream "What?" he tugged at her ear "You said you wanted tell me something." She squinted up her eyes, trying to arrange her thoughts so that she could form a coherent verbal interpretation "Um, yeah. I do, just let me figure out what it was." Kylo reached down and took her face in both his hands, tipping it up so she faced him "Was it something important you wanted to tell me? Or can it wait until you are feeling more like yourself?" Rey shook her head a little "It's important. About last night." She took a deep breath, finding it hard to construct a meaningful chain of thought, inhibited as she was "Didn't want to say anything before. Wasn't ready. I'm ready now."
Kylo listened intently as Rey told him about everything she'd experienced the night before, his eyes lighting up as she described the feeling of slipping out of her body and the memories she saw when she touched her own cheek; he was fascinated by the new developments in her abilities, and wanted to help her explore them further as soon as she was feeling better. He grew serious when she got to the part where she touched him, a frown growing across his face as he listened to her recount the vision she had of this other version of him and the way it had made her feel. When she was done, he remained quiet for a while, considering everything she'd told him.
Feeling the effects of Kylo's medicine growing stronger, Rey let her head fall to the side again, relishing the feeling of his skin on her cheek, and wanting to remain in that state of half-wakefulness for the entirety of the foreseeable future. Kylo let her drift off, making the decision to not pursue the topic of her second vision at that point in time; there was no rush to discuss such unpleasant ideas right then and there. They had plenty of time to focus on the training and exploration of Rey's power; he could explain his past to her another day, a day far in the future, he told himself, absently running a hand over her hair, the only information about him that Rey needed to know right then was whatever pertained to helping her learn and grow in strength. There would be a time and place for her to know all, but that day was not soon, and he wouldn't change that as long as he was able.
Looking down at Rey as she dozed on his stomach, Kylo was a little overcome; she never pressed him to tell her about himself and his past, even when he had revealed the presence of great violence there and his love for it. She had been troubled by it, but trusted that he wasn't going to hurt her, and left it at that. This luminous little soul, possessing such great light and strength of character, had placed herself in his care, trusting him completely; even when her first instinct was to hide that vision from him, she had told him everything, not doubting his own character in the least. It tore at his heart to keep her from truly knowing him, but he knew it was necessary, at least for now.