Chapter Two
The lightsaber weighed more than she thought it would. As Leia turned it over a few times, she imagined her father's hands around it, and Luke's. She thought it had been lost forever. Luke had told her as much, before he made one of his own. To have it back was extraordinary. But still, she had no use for it. It might have been Ben's at one point, but that was no longer possible.
Luke had offered to train her in the ways of the Force. She certainly was strong in the Force. She could sense things quite well, but was frustrated with the tedium of Jedi training. She felt like a foot soldier when Luke had trained her, very shortly after Endor. She knew her place was in politics. She knew Luke was the real Jedi.
Which brought her to Rey. Rey clearly was gifted. She knew so little of the girl though, and wanted to assess her for herself. So, there she stood, in the war room, waiting for Rey to arrive.
When she did, she stood there with an anxious expression. Leia set the lightsaber down on a table, and approached Rey, hugging her again.
"I hear that Finn has woken up. How's he doing?"
"Yes, he has," Rey said, self-conscious now that she felt the cold concrete under her bare feet. "He seems to be comfortable, thanks to Doctor Kalonia."
"Good, good…" Leia's eyes fixed on Rey's bare feet, and she smiled to herself. It felt good to smile, despite the weight of her sadness over Han. "We'll have to get you outfitted. Seems someone's run off with your shoes."
Rey tucked her toes under briefly, hoping to hide them somehow. "I ran when I heard Finn was awake…"
Leia nodded. "Rey," Leia put her hands gently on Rey's arm bandages, feeling her slight frame. "I wanted to thank you. For everything you did."
"Everything I…"
"I know," Leia added. "I saw it. Not exactly like a picture, but I know."
Rey cast her eyes to the floor, recalling how Kylo Ren had murdered Han; how she had charged Kylo in the forest, scarring his face. She clenched her jaw as she recalled the revelation that Kylo Ren was Han and Leia's son. It made her sick to think about.
"I'm sorry I couldn't do more. I should have been there, on that platform." Rey shook her head vehemently.
"I'm afraid you couldn't have. My son… Kylo Ren is too far into the dark side. I thought that Han could bring him back."
Silence between them.
"Rey…" Leia furrowed her brow. "Have you given any thought to what you'll do now?"
Rey's mouth gaped. She shook her head. "No. I can't go back to Jakku though."
Leia nodded. "What would you say if I offered you a place here? In the Resistance?"
"What would you have me do?"
"What else do you think, Rey?" Leia picked the lightsaber up from the table, and looked at it briefly before holding it out to Rey.
Rey swallowed. "Luke."
"Yes," Leia said. "We need to reach him. I don't want to bring the whole fleet down on him. And I don't think I can bring myself to face him just yet, after what my son did…"
"And they need you here," Rey added, knowing where the general's mind was going. She took the lightsaber without protest.
"Yes. The First Order is wounded, but they will be regrouping and will attack again soon."
"I can fight," Rey added, impulsively. "I can do more for the Resistance."
"I certainly do hope you'll help us while the map schematics are being plotted into our navigational systems. Ahch-To is so far out beyond the Outer Rim, it's almost like unchartered territory. We want you prepared for the journey."
Rey nodded. "Anything I can do until it's ready, I will happily do."
"And we thank you for that. But we can't have you in a combat position. Understandably. But as you're a first-rate pilot and mechanic, I don't see why you can't lend a hand on supply runs, and assist on repairs."
"Of course."
"Commander Dameron will give you your orders until your flight plans are plotted."
"Thank you, General Organa." Rey held the lighsaber to her stomach, protectively.
"Now," Leia added. "Let's get you into something else, shall we? At least some shoes."
General Organa had taken wonderful care of cleaning Rey up. She smiled as she directed the girl to the showers, thinking of Luke when she'd met him, fresh off Tatooine, the sun and sand still on his skin. Being who she was, Leia was able to have a few pieces of clothing altered quickly for Rey's slight frame. Much like the clothing she'd come in, Rey had picked out a grey tweed vest, pants that fastened below the knee, and grey arm braces.
With years of grime gone from her skin, and her hair in fresh knots, Rey felt an enormous weight lifted off her. She still felt out of place on D'Qar. But, she told herself that since she was leaving soon anyway, she needn't worry about how the rest of the Resistance felt about her.
In the early evening, after Rey had checked in on Finn and brought him a late lunch, Rey sought out Poe Dameron to receive her orders. As she walked down the line of X-wings, looking for Poe, Rey's stomach knotted. Poe had been friendly with her the night before, but for some reason, she was nervous that he would reject her as a troop. Still, she walked down the line, and knew she had found the right ship when she saw BB-8 rolling around the tail end of an X-wing.
BB-8 beeped in acknowledgement of her arrival, asking her what she was doing there, and rolled to her heels to greet her. "I had to check up on you, didn't I?"
Poe heard BB-8 talking with Rey, but kept working. He was on a ladder, tinkering under a panel of his own X-wing. Rey respected him, and all the other Resistance fighters for their personal care of their ships. It was a bond between pilot and ship that Rey understood, could identify with. If you treat your ship poorly and let her fall into disrepair, she'll let you down, and it's no one's fault but your own.
Rey called out to Poe. "Commander Dameron," she said, getting his attention. Poe stuck his head out from behind the panel, his brown eyes resting on her, and smiled.
"'Commander Dameron'," Poe repeated with a smirk, wiping his hands with a rag slung over his shoulder. "I take it you've seen the General then." He stepped down from his ladder in one jump, landing on sure feet.
"Yes. She said you'd have orders for me." Rey gripped at the strap of her bag.
"Well, first let's get this Commander stuff out of the way—it's Poe," Poe said with a sigh, his hands on his hips. He looked at the ordered chaos around him. Everyone had their place and their role. He looked sympathetically at the girl who was waiting for hers. "I'm making a supply run tonight. I could use a first mate. We're taking that cargo ship on a run to Naboo."
"Naboo? What's on Naboo?"
Poe flashed another toothy smile. "Cargo, of course." He said it as if it were an obvious, satisfactory answer. "We're leaving right now, as a matter of fact. Ready?"
Ready to jump into action, Rey nodded, placing a hand on her pack to double check that the lightsaber was there. "Let's go."
Jogging behind Poe and BB-8, Rey scanned the tarmac for which ship they could possibly be taking. When she saw the old XS stock light freighter beside the Millenium Falcon, she had to laugh. It looked just about as beat up as the Falcon, but not as sophisticated or streamlined. And considering what an eyesore the Falcon was, it was saying something.
"Bet you never thought you'd be doing such glamorous work right off the bat, did you?" Poe asked, walking up the ramp of the freighter.
"I'm in a constant state of shock these days," Rey stated.
As soon as both of them were onboard, each of them knew exactly what to do. Poe watched for a moment as Rey began flipping switches and pushing buttons, knowing exactly how the freighter needed to be primed. "You know your stuff, kid."
Rey shrugged, strapping herself into her chair next to Poe. "Ready when you are, captain."