As the water enveloped her, Rey was shocked at the effect it had on her skin; in every place it had touched her, the water left a luminous sheen, mimicking the glow of the moon itself. Lifting her arms from the water, Rey inspected her hands, turning them this way and that, studying the way they glistened in the moonlight. "Kylo, are you seeing this?" She called out, "It's like the water is leaving some kind of shimmer on my skin, look!"

His voice was quiet in it's reply, making Rey turn to look at him "Or maybe it is simply revealing what was already there." he said.

Looking into his eyes, Rey saw a mixture of awe and fascination on his face, though as she turned away, she could have sworn she saw an underlying look of triumph lurking behind his smile. Ignoring that feeling, Rey turned back around and resumed wading deeper into the pool. In addition to the strange visual effects of the water, Rey was also surprised by it's temperature. She had expected it to be icy cold, given the coolness of the forest and the time of night. However, as soon as she dipped her toe into its depths, she sensed something strange about the way it felt.

The water was far from cool, in fact it felt more to Rey, like a bath that had been drawn and forgotten for several hours, losing the majority of its heat, but not quite cold either. What was more, the water felt hot and cold at once; it was a feeling almost completely unfamiliar to Rey, until she remembered a certain tea her mother used to make her when Rey had a sore stomach. "What was the name she called it?" Rey thought to herself, skimming her memories for the right words. "Oh that's right. It was wintergreen." She remembered how the herb had tasted warm while at the same time, very cold, and that, when she was little, she thought it was magic.

Kylo had said that she should swim to the rock that sat in the middle of the pool, but Rey's instincts had other ideas. She couldn't explain why, but something told her that she should explore the bottom of the pool first; there was something there that she needed, or maybe it was something that needed her? She couldn't tell, but the feeling was insistent. Deciding to trust her intuition, Rey took a deep breath and dove beneath the sparkling water.

From the first time that her toes had touched water as a babe, Rey had been an excellent swimmer. Her mother had marveled at the way her tiny daughter took to the water the first time she had taken Rey to the river. Nara often joked that perhaps one of Rey's parents had been a river otter. Rey had laughed it off, but some part of her did wonder if her affinity for the water had come from one or both of the parents she never got the chance to know.

As her eyes adjusted to her new surroundings, Rey was immediately aware of two very odd things about the pool: the first being that, now that she was beneath the waters surface, she could see that the rock in the center of the body of water was not an island as first suspected, but was floating freely and unmoving in its place. The second was that the small lake was vastly deeper than it appeared to be from above ground. Long arms of emerald-green water vines stretched up from its sandy bottom, swaying gently around her as she swam, continuing her descent into the depths.

As she went, Rey found it quite curious that the rays of light filtering down through the water and aquatic flora, never seemed to dim; looking around, she discovered that even though some of the moon's rays were brighter than others, they maintained the same level of saturation all the way down to the deepest part of the tiny lake.

Drawing closer to the lake floor, Rey noticed a soft glow emanating from a clump of water grasses that lay on the its floor, directly below the floating rock. As she hovered above it, it occurred to her that she hadn't needed to come up for air the entire time she'd been under the water. She had no concept of how long she'd been swimming, but even as she thought about it at that moment, she felt no need to take a breath. "I wonder how long I've been down here," she thought "if it's been too long, Kylo will worry." Rey glanced upward over her shoulder toward the bank of the pool, but could not make out anything from such a great distance.

Not wanting her lover to become unnecessarily concerned for her safety, Rey almost turned back to convene with him before going any further in her exploration, but as she thought about making for the surface, a voice inside of her held her back "No." it said "Keep going, you need to do this. Now and on your own." Finding the feeling insistent, Rey kicked out with her feet and dove down to investigate whatever was causing the faint lavender glow.

Reaching her destination, Rey put out her hand and parted the grass carefully, doing her best to be as gentle as possible, not knowing what she would find. Nestled there in the center was a small, slightly oval stone; it glowed in the water, emanating a soft pale bluish glow, the source of the light that had drawn Rey to its hiding place to begin with.

As she took the stone in her hand, Rey felt as if she heard the faint echo of a voice flitting through her mind. She couldn't make out words, but the feeling she experienced was unmistakable: she had to swim upwards; the stone knew where it needed to be, and it would guide her there. As she made her ascent, swimming with the stone held out in front of her like a beacon, Rey took notice of the fact that she seemed to be swimming considerably faster than she had on the way down; the more time went by, the more she was sure that she was steadily increasing in speed, although she made almost no movement on her own. It was like the stone wanted to be brought to the surface even more than she did.

Rey surfaced right next to the floating rock, bursting from the water, eyes darting around immediately in search of Kylo. He was crouched at the very edge of the pool, stripped down to his breeches and appeared to be preparing to dive into the water after her.

Catching sight of Rey, he jumped to his feet, "Rey! Are you alright? You were down there for so long, I was worried you were hurt." His wild eyes and the almost imperceptible tremble in his lower lip told her that she had been gone much longer than she realized, and he was near frantic in his concern.

She nodded "I'm fine. It only felt like a few minutes, I'm sorry I worried you." she reassured him "But look what I found at the bottom directly underneath this rock." Opening her palm, Rey held up the stone she had retrieved from the pool floor "What do you think it is?"

Kylo squinted at the stone in her hand, his brow furrowed in concern and curiosity "I can't tell from here, Rey. Come out and let me take a look."

Rey shook her head "I can't yet. There's still something I have to do." and with that, she hauled herself out of the water and onto the rock she'd been clinging to.

Kylo watched with concern as she settled herself on the rock; sitting cross-legged with her back straight, she closed her eyes, holding the glowing stone clutched to her chest and reaching out with her mind for instructions on what to do next.

As she waited for some kind of response, she began to hear a soft, rhythmic hum echoing in her mind. It took her a few minutes before realizing it's origin: the stone she held pressed above her heart, it was singing.

While Rey contemplated all the reasons for a singing stone, the reply came gradually, growing in the back of her mind, out of the corner of her eye, stealing up her spine, like something that had always been there but remained silent and unseen. Taking a deep breath, Rey turned her full focus on pinning down that fleeting sensation, and it unfolded before her like a blooming flower; a quiet voice from deep inside her whispered into her thoughts "What is it you seek, little sister?" Though no words were spoken, Rey felt the message strongly, and she answered in kind; not with words, but her yearning for knowledge: who she was, where she came from, and whether she was all alone in the world.

The response broke her heart: "All that is left of us is clutched to your heart, dear one. We returned home to the night sky long ago. You are alone."

A hard lump sprang into Rey's throat, tears welling behind her eyes "But WHY?" She thought angrily "Why was I abandoned, left all alone as a baby? Why did no one care for me, love me enough to stay?" She received no answer this time, merely the soft hum of the gem clenched in her hand. "What am I supposed to do now?" She thought, despair flooding her heart "I had so many hopes pinned on finding some kind of kin somewhere, and now that's...nothing. I have nothing." Feeling completely overwhelmed by her revelations, and a deep, all-encompassing sense of loss, Rey collapsed on the rock, curling into a fetal position, her body wracked with the dry heaves that tore from her chest.

As the heaving turned to sobs, Rey felt two strong arms circling around her and pulling her from her perch, a perch that had rapidly begun to sink into the depths below. Kylo pulled her shaking form to his chest and swam for shore, hauling Rey from the water and clutching her to him.

"Rey, what happened?" he asked, the worry apparent in his voice. "Are you alright? What did you learn? What do you need?"

Unable to form coherent speech, Rey merely held on to him tightly, her cries muffled in the skin of his shoulder. She only managed to gasp out a few words in between her gasps "I want my mother! Kylo, I need my mother!"

Without a word, Kylo dressed Rey as quickly as he could, then wrapped her in his cloak and slung her onto his back. Shoving his breeches to the ground, he dropped to his hands and knees, every muscle contracting as he transformed into the huge black wolf. In an instant, they were off, flying through the forest at incredible speeds, the wind whipping at Rey's clothes, Kylo's paws making almost no noise as they pounded against the loamy earth.

After what felt like no time at all to Rey, Kylo's pace began to slow from a full sprint to a lope; lifting her head, Rey could see that they had reached the edge of the forest.

Coming to a halt just inside the forest boundary, Kylo remained still for a few minutes before turning to Rey "We still have a few hours of complete darkness left. That should be enough." and made off toward the direction of her village.

When they reached the tiny village, Kylo let Rey slide gently to the ground not far from her mother's hut before nuzzling her face with his snout and wandering off into a nearby meadow, laying down where he could keep an eye on her.

Suppressing her tears, Rey crept to the hut's entrance, her voice trembling as she called out a whispered "Mama? Mama, are you there?"

The flap covering the entrance of the tent was drawn back and Nara's wide eyed face was illuminated in the moonlight "Rey? Are my eyes deceiving me? Is that really you, my littlest one?" she whispered hoarsely.

"It's me, mama." she answered, finally dissolving into tears.

Nara caught her daughter in her arms and held her as tightly as she could until the girl's sobs faded into long, deep breaths, punctuated by the occasional sniffle. Stroking a hand over Rey's wet, matted hair, she murmured quietly in her ear "What's happened, my love? What's hurt you so deeply? Please tell me."

Rey managed to choke out the story of what she had found out from her adventure at the asteria's lake; how she was the last of her kind and had been abandoned as a baby, of no particular consequence to anyone.

Nara listened intently, occasionally smoothing a hand over Rey's face as she recounted her story. When she finished, Nara kissed her forehead and drew it down to rest against her chest "That is an incredible tale indeed my dear, but I fail to see how you came to the conclusion that no one loved or cared for you."

Rey lifted her head and stared at her adoptive mother in disbelief "I was left all alone as an infant, mama. How could anyone who loved me or cared for me do that?"

Her mother smiled and laughed softly "Yes, but who did they leave you with? A human bandit who would have sold you as a pet? No, they brought you to this village; to me, who has raised a host of willful daughters, and dearly loved each one. Whoever left you as a child took great care to see that you would be well taken care of and loved. Surely you can see that?"

Rey couldn't help but see her point; her life could have been vastly harder than it was. Though she often complained of having such a boring life, it had been a safe and joyful one, she had to admit.

"It also seems that you have found friends." Nara's voice broke through Rey's thoughts "I've never seen such a magnificent animal." she continued, nodding at Kylo where he remained sitting in the meadow nearby "Care to introduce me?"

Blushing deeply, Rey drew a sleeve across her damp face, and nodded, intertwining her fingers with Nara's, and leading her to where Kylo was, making him rise to his feet as they drew near.

"Mama, this is Kylo Ren. He's a warlock and he's been teaching me how to use my abilities. I don't know what I'd do without him."

Nara stepped towards Kylo "A warlock, you say? So he's a human, though it seems he is hiding that fact right now." she said the last part with a low laugh as she looked him over. Then, reaching out and clasping both sides of his wolfy face, she looked deeply into his glowing eyes "Kylo Ren, is it? I see." her expression was unreadable, though the way she emphasized his surname triggered Rey's attention. Nara continued, "What do you see in my daughter, shapeshifter? Why should I have peace of mind at her being in your care?"

Kylo glanced over at Rey and made a little nudging motion with his nose. Her brow furrowed in confusion for a split second before she remembered that she was still wearing his cloak. Taking it from her own shoulders, she threw it around his.

Kylo closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, feeling the pain of transformation coming on. The next minute he was standing before them, tall and wrapped in black. Opening his eyes, he immediately knelt down on one knee before Rey's mother.

"Rey is exceptional in every way." he said. "She is kind, generous, fearless, and fiercely passionate. I am deeply honored and privileged that she is allowing me to teach her, and," he took a deep breath here "and, I love her very much."

Rey's mouth dropped open at his words, here eyes flashing from Kylo, to her mother, and back to Kylo again, completely at a loss for words.

Nara made no immediate answer, preferring to look him over and contemplate his words. Glancing at Rey's flabbergasted expression, she allowed herself the smallest of smiles "Well, Kylo Ren. I do hope that you are prepared to protect my daughter with every power you possess. I expect nothing less than absolute devotion to her and her learning, is that clear?"

Kylo was nodding solemnly when Rey burst out "Mama! Why aren't you upset? I've just told you that I'm a strange hybrid creature who possesses not entirely as yet known powers. Why do you not seemed concerned at all?"

Nara smiled "Do you want me to be angry that you are spreading your wings and learning about yourself? I am overjoyed, my dear. I have always known you were different, and wanted nothing else than to see you happy and excited about your life. I see that your time with this human has done exactly that. So, far be it from me to discourage it. Though…" she trailed off, a cloud passing over her normally bright features "Though you two should never let your guard down. I don't know that your plan for the future is, but be aware that many creatures would disapprove of the closeness you two share. You must protect yourselves and each other, no matter what."

Rey retained the confused look on her face while Kylo placed a hand over his heart "I do understand, and you are right; many beings, human and not alike, would be very opposed to our relationship. But I promise you that we will be as careful as possible, and I will teach Rey to be as strong as she can, and protect her with my life if I have to."

Rey's mother gave a small smile in response to Kylo's words "Very well, Kylo Ren, I will entrust you with the light of my life. Now," she turned to look over her shoulder "the dawn is fast approaching, and neither of you will be welcome in this place when the village awakens. You should go."

Flinging her arms around her mother, Rey choked out her goodbyes, promising to visit again and professing her love profusely.

Nara hugged her daughter closely and gazed over Rey's shoulder at Kylo, her expression unreadable.

When they were done saying their goodbyes, Kylo dropped to his hands and knees again, once more taking on the shape of his wolf.

Rey took his cloak from his shoulders and wrapped herself in it before hauling herself up onto his back and, with a last lingering look at her mother, they were gone.

When they at last reached their cave, Kylo and Rey were near exhausted; not bothering to change their clothes, Kylo merely washed his hands and feet while Rey cast off all unnecessary garments, and they collapsed into bed.

Rey was just beginning to drift into a deep slumber when a sudden realization snapped her awake. Sitting bolt upright in bed, she half shrieked "Kylo! The stone I found at the bottom of the pool, it's gone!"

The urgency of Rey's voice had brought Kylo around violently, and he too sat upright, though his eyes were bleary and he didn't seem to catch on to her words right away.

Meanwhile, Rey had scrambled out of bed and was yanking the bedding apart, looking for her strange gemstone "Help me look!" she cried "I'm such an idiot! I can't believe I lost it."

Once he roused himself enough to realize what Rey was trying to tell him, Kylo watched her for a moment before calling her attention to him "Rey. Rey, look at me, where did you last have it.?"

She stood up, throwing her hands in the air and still staring around wildly "I had it since you dragged me out of the water. I can't remember ever letting go of it. I was so upset, and then I saw my mother, and that's all I could think about until we got here."

Nodding while he listened to her, he caught hold of her wrists, something having just caught his eye, and held her still "Rey wait, let me see something." he said, pulling her over to him.

Rey resisted at first, not wanting to abandon her search, but he insisted, and she allowed him to inspect her hands.

Holding up the hand that had held the stone, Kylo focused his vision, his eyes glowing even more brightly than usually as he stared at her palm. "I think I found it, Rey," he finally spoke.

"Found it? What do you mean?" she demanded "That's impossible."

Grasping her forearm with one of his hands hand, Kylo lifted the other and let his magic flow from it in a sort of transparent cloud that swirled around Rey's hand.

Rey gasped; in response to Kylo's magic, an oval of bright, bluish-lavender light had begun to glow at the center of her palm and, radiating away from that light, a delicate, vine-like pattern of the same hued light. "Kylo, what is that?" she asked as soon as she caught her breath "What does it mean?"

"It means," he answered as he withdrew his magic, causing the marks on Rey's hand to fade and disappear "that my initial assumption that this was a focus crystal, like the one in my staff, was wrong. Rather, it seems that you are now in possession of the soul stone of several generations of asteriae."

Holding up her hand and turning it every which way, looking for any trace of the markings that had now vanished, Rey turned to Kylo in earnest "I don't understand. What is a soul stone?"

He had sat back down on the bed and leaned back on the pillows with a tired sigh, wincing as he relaxed, "No doubt the consequence of shifting so many times in such a short span of time" Rey thought with a small spasm of guilt. "A soul stone is the coalescence of thoughts, hopes and memories of one or more individuals. They are incredibly rare, and cannot be purposely created. My guess is that the pool we visited belonged to many asteriae over the centuries, and collected some essence of each nymph who called it home, gradually creating the stone you found at the bottom of said pond."

"But why is it in my hand now?" Rey asked with a frown "And is it dangerous?"

Kylo pondered her question for a few moments before answering "No, I don't believe it is dangerous to you. I think what happened, was the soul stone sensed your asteriae powers, and reacted, wanting to merge with that familiar energy." He had closed his eyes as he spoke, and was now reaching out for Rey to come lay her head on his chest "Come now, we can talk more about this once we've slept for a decade or so."

Rey laughed, realizing just then how incredibly tired she was. Crawling over to Kylo, she snuggled into his side and slung her arm over his torso "Fine. But we have a lot to talk about when we wake up."

"Do we?" he asked, lifting an eyebrow without opening his eyes "And what, pray tell, would be all this that we need to discuss?"

"Well first of all, you need to tell me more about the nature of soul stones, and how it will affect me, and if I can use it to my advantage or not. Also," she continued, drawing shapes on his stomach with her finger "I think it's about time you tell me how you know so much about me, and my heritage and abilities; because don't think I haven't noticed how quickly you come up with an answer for every one of my questions."

Here Kylo groaned "Mm you do have a lot of questions; as far as how I know so much about you, I hardly thi-"

"And lastly," Rey cut him off "We talk about how you blindsided me by telling my mother that you love me. Because what the hell was that? You have never said you love me before."

Kylo's eyes had popped open, and he seemed to be at a loss for words. Once he had collected himself, he cleared his throat nervously and hugged Rey more tightly to his side "Right. I supposed I might have been overzealous in that regard. However," he continued "Nothing I said was a lie. I like your mother instantly, and I feel that she is a very trustworthy person. Now," he laid his hand over Reys eyes, as they had been growing wider and wider as he spoke and he didn't want to allow her a rebuttal at that point "we both need our rest. I will not discuss this with you further, so goodnight."

It was about an hour later, and Kylo had long since drifted off, his even breathing and light snoring telling Rey that he was fast asleep. But Rey hadn't yet succumbed to slumber; she was still in the thralls of having just heard her lover profess his love for her, and she was too elated to sleep.

"He really stood there and told my mother that he loves me." she couldn't help but replay the even over and over in her head, making her wriggle with joy each time she did so.

When she finally did drift off, it was with a smile on her face.