Rey's recovery was remarkably fast, and within a day or two, she was begging Kylo to let her return to her training to she could hunt down the manticore that had injured her. Though he was swayed by her pretty attempts at persuasion, Kylo was reluctant to grant her wish, worrying that she would re-injure herself if allowed to jump back into training without healing properly. On the other hand, she was bored and restless, and he genuinely felt sorry for her not being able to be up and active the way she had been before the whole ordeal. Deciding he could afford to compromise a bit, Kylo waited until she had gone to bed - she went to bed quite early, considering the minimal change in light - and been asleep several hours before getting up and dressing himself, donning the cloak that he usually wore to venture deep into the forest. He roused Rey from the dead of slumber, shaking her roughly "Rey, wake up, we have work to do." She groaned sluggishly and rolled to look up at him "What the fuck, Ren? What time is it?" He smirked inwardly, both at her use of his surname (which she had started to do to let him know she was cross with him) and at her picking up his habit of swearing, a trait that she had at first been averse to.
He tossed her clothes at her "I'll be waiting outside, hurry up." "You mean you're not going to watch me get naked?" She called after him cheekily, expecting him to come striding back in and pounce on her. Instead, all she got was a reply that sounded like it came from way over by his armory "Don't dawdle, we've no time for silliness." Scowling at the rejection, Rey yanked on her breeches, grumbling fiercely as she did so "No time for silliness? You have plenty of time for 'silliness' when I'm squirming around underneath you. You didn't think it was 'silliness' the other day when you spotted me brushing my hair in just my shift and then dragged me over to the bed and fucked me senseless bent over that horrid old chest. My nipples were chafed for a damned week"
She was soon dressed and expressed her displeasure by stomping out to the yard, demanding to know by the gods where they were going, and why it had to be at that foul hour. Ignoring Rey's outrage, Kylo threw her a sack with and told her simply "We might be gone for a while, here, take this." looking through the bag, she found some bread, meat and cheese inside, about enough for a day. "It's the middle of the night, why are we packing for a trip?" she asked, still greatly annoyed by his refusal to explain where they were going and why. "You do remember that day is barely any different from nighttime, right?" she asked as he disappeared into the armory "Why can't we just go back to bed and then go once we've slept a while longer?" he soon emerged with their weapons and tossed her her staff "Don't worry, this isn't another hunt," he said in response to the frown that grew over her face "we just have to be prepared for every possible threat. As far as the difference between day and night in here, you are right, it isn't much in terms of the amount of light. The significant difference lies in the celestial bodies; I have a hypothesis or two about the nature of your abilities, and I want to test out their limits a bit."
At the mention of exploring her powers, Rey's mood shifted immediately "How does the moon have any effect on my power?" she asked, now very interested in his reasoning. Kylo was busy buckling the sling that held his staff, but he called over his shoulder to answer her "I think I may know what kind of creature your mother was; I've had suspicions about it for a while, but your last encounter with your power has strengthened those suspicions, and I want to put them to the test." he brushed past her as he started off on the trail leading out of the yard and through his wards. Rey stood there for a moment, thinking about what he had told her, before whirling around and dashing after him "Hey! You never said you had an idea of what the other half of my parentage might be, what are your ideas?" he didn't even look back as he continued on his way "I'll tell you all about them once I've collected more evidence; it will be far easier to explain afterward than to try and lay out all the possibilities first."
They trekked on for what felt like days to Rey, she marveled at his ability to make his way through the dense forest so confidently, when she had lost track of where they were almost immediately after losing sight of the cave. The path was narrow, and for a time, she trotted along behind Kylo, having to jog for several paces every now and then to match his long stride; their path cleared after a while, however, and she was happy to be able to travel at his side. Working up a bit of courage - because she still sometimes felt hesitant in initiating affection outside of the bedroom - she shyly reached out and slipped her small hand into his large gloved one. Kylo promptly pulled his hand from her grasp, making her heart sink and angry tears spring to her eyes as she dropped her head and fell back a few paces, kicking at rocks and plants along the path. "What the hell?" she thought to herself, her hurt feelings summoning a hard lump to her throat "What's wrong with him?" She kept her eyes cast down, not wanting him to read her feelings on her face, and focusing on the backs of his feet to keep from wandering off in the wrong direction.
The combination of Kylo's long strides and Rey's slowing pace, quickly created a distance between them, and she lost sight of his feet for a while; stubbornly not wanting to look up, she continued to keep her eyes down until she realized that he had stopped and was waiting for her. As soon as she was within arm's length, he reached out with his bare and grabbed hers firmly, intertwining their fingers and mumbling something about how much of a pain it was to unbuckle his wrist straps. Still keeping her head down, this time to hide her smile, Rey flush all the way to the tips of her ears, her heart wanting to leap out of her chest as she picked up her own pace, any unhappiness she had previously felt, completely forgotten. She was so happy, in fact, that she didn't even notice when Kylo had started talking again; she was only vaguely aware of his voice as she half-skipped along, lost in her own happy musings. It took him calling her name several times, and finally jostling her hand, for her to look up, completely unaware of what he'd been telling her "What?" she asked obliviously. He smiled, rolling his eyes at her inattentiveness "We're here."
They stood on the edge of a clearing. In it's center lay a large pool, fed by a stream that flowed over a low waterfall of rocks. The trees that grew around the border of the clearing reached up to the sky, creating an almost perfectly circular hole in the canopy above, allowing bright beams of moon and star light to shine down onto the pool, bathing it in an opalescent glow. Rey hadn't seen the sky or any of the heavenly bodies in so long that she stood like a statue for a few moments, transfixed by the beauty she beheld; feeling more at home than she had ever felt in her life. The feeling was so strong that she didn't even notice the tears streaming down her face until Kylo gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. Feeling suddenly self-conscious, Rey scrubbed at her eyes with a sleeve, confused that such a simple think had affected her so strongly, and guilty that she hadn't immediately thought of her mother when her heart yearned for home.
"What is it, Rey? What do you feel?" His voice was soft and low, full of caring concern and she could see it on his face when she lifted hers to look at him, smiling brightly through her tears "I'm so happy and also sad at the same time; happy because I feel like I've discovered something deeply important to my identity - though I don't really know what that means yet - and sad, because I wish my mother could see me and understand who I am." Kylo waved his hand, gesturing toward the moon and stars above them "I know that this is a lot to take in, and it's hard, but in a way, the moon is your mother, and the stars your sisters."
Seeing the confused look on her face, he continued to explain; "I strongly believe, and have for a while, that your mother was one of the Asteriae - celestial nymphs who draw their power from the moon and surrounding stars. They say the moon birthed them all, and they often live near pools like this one that have soaked up the moonlight for hundred, of not thousands of years. Now, look here." He motioned her over to join him as he crouched down by the water's edge "Look at your eyes. You remember when I asked if you were having any troubles with your vision? That's why." Rey leaned over and stared at her reflection in the mirror smooth surface, putting a hand to her mouth when she say it: her eyes were glowing. Not like Kylo's did, with their unnerving green iridescence; her eyes were lit with a soft bluish lavender hue, identical to that of the moonlight around them. "What is that?" She asked in soft wonderment, "I've never seen it before." He rose to his feet again "It's been growing for a while, you've noticed changes, yes?" she nodded "Well, yes, but I never thought that my eyes were actually changing, just getting used to the lack of sunlight." "You've been changing since the day you knocked me down in the forest," he said with a smile "Little by little you've been growing."
He pulled his hand out of Rey's and smoothed it over her hair "It's very rare that Asteriae reproduce at all, much less with a creature as irreverent as a satyr. Your parents must have had quite an interesting story indeed." "'Have had'" Rey repeated his words "Do you think my parents, both of them, are dead, Kylo?" he looked down at her, eyes roaming her face, searching for the right words to reassure her "Truth be told, I don't know. Someone knew enough about fauns to know that you would be safe and embraced by them. I don't know the nature of how the asteriae raise their young, but satyrs don't have a history of being dependable parents. Perhaps the more we learn about you and your abilities, the more we'll have to go on."
His words were kind, and she nodded, sniffling a little and wiping a sleeve over her eyes "You're right, of course." it took her a moment, but she composed herself and squared her shoulders "Alright then! What did you want to teach me here?" Kylo turned back toward the pool and pointed toward a rock that sat near the center of it "This pool has sat here for centuries, soaking up the light of the moon and stars; I believe that an asteria once called this place home, and she was the one who created it. My theory is that if you set yourself on that rock and reach out with your power, you can commune with the echo of the nymph and ask her to grant you a bond with her pool, taking both it's power and her memories; then perhaps you will have a better understanding of what you possess than what I could ever teach you."
"Well that sounds easy enough," Rey said with a little laugh and began stripping off her clothes, an action that drew sideways glances from Kylo as she dropped each piece of clothing to the ground "Are you sure that's...necessary?" he remarked, swallowing and clenching his jaw a few times. "My power is based in my sexuality and sensuality, right?" she answered with a teasing lilt to her voice "It makes sense that I go in with my body bare and nothing to come between me and whatever I find there." He merely nodded in response, folding his arms over his chest and stared at the ground between his feet, a pensive frown on his face. Rey paused at the edge of the water, her foot poised to step into it "Are you worried for me, Kylo?" He ran an anxious hand through his hair "Of course I am. There's no guarantee that you won't be rejected, and if you are, it'll be my fault." She raised a hand and laid it against his face in a caressing motion "You're guiding me to my own destiny. Any action I take is of my own free will." With that, she took one of his hands in her own and kissed each of his knuckles before turning and striding into the limpid water.
*I'm sorry for the lack of editing! I'm super busy these days and just wanted to get it posted.
Thanks for reading!