Reena and I sat quietly as I tried to take in what I could. I had always thought myself a Tusken, but they had killed my mother. I had hoped that one day I could find my blood family, but I couldn't keep from thinking that if there was a chance that I had had any siblings, I would probably be their grandchildren's age. Even though I am covered in sweat, I shiver at the thought and try to shove it to the back of my mind. I can't think like that. I have to hope I can find someone– my father, a sibling… anyone.

I look at the strange markings on the letter in my hand. "What language did she speak?" I ask, looking up at Reena.

"I don't know what it was called," she sighs. "Huttese was the only one we both understood, but it was not her first language."

"She spoke the language from Mos Eisely didn't she?" I had heard Reena complain about needing to learn a new language many times when I was younger.

"Yes," she says after a moment's thought, "I think so."

"Can you teach me?" I ask, eager to take a step towards understanding Mother's letter.

"I suppose I could," Reena replies giving me a smile.

I remember her lessons to me in Huttese and know she will probably not alter her lesson style. I am not disappointed. She gives me my first phrase, and it takes me three tries to get it right:

"Who are you?"

Reena smiles at me and quietly claps her hands in approval. "You may become one of them yet," she tells me, then laughs at the face I make at the thought of being anywhere near or like the people from Mos Eisely.

"Your mother was not a Tusken, child," she reminds me quietly.

I nod, knowing that one day I may have to return to those who should have been my people.

"Next line, Rey," she says, snapping me out of my moping state.

I know what the next line will mean even before she tells me. She gives me my second phrase. This time it takes me five tries before I can say it right:

"My name is Rey."

The words sound strange to me, but somehow they feel right. They don't hurt my throat the way Tuskan does, and I don't end up spitting on everything like I do when I speak Huttese. I smile and say it again even louder, imagining introducing myself to my father.

Suddenly, all thoughts of my family are pushed away by a sense of dread. Something bad is going to happen. I can feel it. Both gaffi stick are behind Reena and I know we have to duck. I don't know how I did it, but in an instant I feel I have shoved Reena to the ground and have managed to get both gaffi stick into our hands.

Everything seems to have gone into slow motion. Two shots fly in through the canvas, pass through the area where our heads had been not one moment before, and then exit through the canvas on the opposite sides they entered. I hear two bodies fall just outside the canvas where the shots left. I jump to my feet as the Tusken raiders brake into the tent. I knock the rifle out of the first Tusken's hand and hit the second in the head with the butt of my gaffi stick. The first seems stunned, and the second is knocked out. Reena is up now. We are surrounded and don't have much room. It is difficult to keep back-to-back, and as a result our defense is shaky to say the least. I don't know how long the fight has lasted, but we seem to be holding our own.

I don't see it, and I barely hear her cry, but I know Reena is suddenly in pain. I whip around to see her on the ground, her legs twisted at odd angles.

For one moment, everything stops. I can't move. Reena and I simply stare at each other, not wanting to say goodbye, yet knowing it's the end. I have always known what Reena was feeling but now her thoughts are completely bare to me. But thoughts and emotions are jumbled at first and I can't separate them now.

Shmi – the first word I can sense through her fear. I don't know what it means.

She is afraid, but for me, not herself.

Rey, my child.

I'm here. I feel my heart as it is crushed in the loneliness that I know is coming.

I love you.

I …

Time snaps, and so does something inside me. I close my eyes and look away as a Tusken kills the only woman who had loved me the way my mother would have. I don't know how, but the ends of my gaffi stick erupt with lightening and I turn and strike him down, killing him. As of yet, none of my hits were fatal, but now I don't hold myself back. They will kill me too if I don't. Two more die at the end of my weapon before the others have the sense to leave.

I am alone, staring out the opening in the tent, tears flowing down my face to my chin before falling to my clothes or the ground.

I kneel by Reena, closing her eyes and pulling the gaffi stick from her chest. I bend closer and kiss her forehead.

"…love you too, Mother" I finish my earlier thought in a whisper. Despite her insistence that she was not my mother, I am sure Mother would not have minded if I gave Reena that name in thanks for all she did for me. If anyone deserved that title from me, it was Reena.

I stand, picking up one of the porridge canteens, my head-wrap and goggles, and my gaffi stick. I pause for a moment before leaving. Before I can change my mind I go back to Reena's body and take the leather cord and crystal she always wore around her neck. I kiss her one last time and run out of the tent. I stop outside just long enough to light the tent on fire. I don't have time to bury her properly, but I won't have them touching her.

As I run from the camp, not even trying to hold back my tears, I realize that as long as I am in this desert, everyone I love will be taken from me.

I can never love anyone ever again.

Author's Note: I'm not going to say it's completed yet, but I don't know when I will be publishing another chapter. These first 3 were the main ones I wanted to publish before The Force Awakens is officially released on the 18th. I think I will either end it with Chapter 4 being the letter, or continue Rey's story, including her meetings with Finn (who I personally hope is Lando's son) and Han and Leia Solo. How a meeting with Luke will go will probably depend on who is under Kylo Ren's mask. As a side note, I have heard a theory that Jar Jar is the one under the mask. I find that highly unlikely, but it sure is a fun and slightly unnerving theory to think about.