Ben felt the ice flowing through her viens just as if it were happening to him. He felt the pause in her thoughts, and the dread that was starting to build in her stomach. He had heard the pilot's comment that she had been with him. It was a logical conclusion given the Force and who would most want to contact her, but Ben had been right in his earlier thoughts of not leaving their room. He hadn't been ready, and apparently, neither had she. He kept looking over from where he was to see if the pilot would leave. When he saw the pilot finally walk away he waited until he could no longer see his back and walked over briskly to Rey. He cupped Rey's face and saw as her world crumbled in her mind. After a few minutes she moved her glassy eyes over to him as she came to a realization.

"He hates you," he heard her say brokenly, "Finn hates you."

"He can hate me all he wants Rey. What matters is his relationship with you," Ben said. Internally it was difficult for him to be one hundred percent sincere with that statement. He was a selfish creature, even more so when it came to his mate. Rey had awoken something equally beautiful and terrifying within him. To say that he loved this woman was not enough. He had come back from the dead for her. He had helped kill who would had been her grandfather. She could see him, through him, knew everything about him and still she graced him with her companionship and love. For that he would and could tolerate anything. Including sharing her.

"But don't you see? That's the problem!" she hissed removing his hands from her face. "You are it for me Ben. The whole universe would have to be at stake for me to give you up."

Ben took a second to let that sink in and bask in the afterglow; she would choose him. Always. It will always be him and it wasn't even a question for her. So if Finn could not look past who Rey chose as her lover, she would lose him. Ben could feel this terrified her. Finn was literally the first friend she made as she left Jakku. He was her rock as she figured herself out with the Force. Then she met Ben and lost him. And he had been her rock afterward too. She owed so much to him. So did Ben.

"Then we will take it one step at a time. You know him better than I do. I'll follow your lead. For now let's do what the pilot suggested and let him sleep off his hangover," he said taking her back in his arms. "Besides, didn't you say you wanted to spar?"

Rey wiped the tears away from her eyes as she laughed softly. "Yes I do."

Rey led him through the crowd and headed in the direction of the forest to the side of the small city. Ben followed, but he was lost in his thoughts. What Poe Dameron had said is not far off from what his grandfather had warned him about. "Let me clarify one thing before your thoughts stray away. Kylo Ren is dead, but his actions the things he did are factual, historical. Because you are here with me does not mean that those you affected by your doings as Kylo Ren have forgotten you." He thought back to when he had first washed up in the room he had materialized in. His scars were on his body to serve as proof of his past actions. And now Poe Dameron's words confirmed it. "There is no 'I'm sorry' good enough to permit him to walk around and enjoy life while there are others that cannot at his hand." Ben had a sinking feeling that Rey's friends would first let her go, cut her out of their life before ever accpeting him. Rey had said that he was it for her. That she would always choose him, but was he ok with that? Could Ben live out the rest of his second chance with the woman he loved knowing that he had caused her some pain? Would the guilt that would surely grow from that ever be big enough to rip through their bond, their love?

These were questions that they would either have to talk about, or find the answers out the hard way.

Rose flit around her home making some lunch. Poe had already commed her to tell her he was on his way. Last night had been scary. Finn had walked back in a daze from going to find Rey. All he had said was 'she's gone.' After the shock had worn off he had then clarified that he had felt an energy. Rey had told Rose that both she and Finn thought Finn might be Force-sensitive. Finn said that he had felt when Rey had died on Exogol. Perhaps it was because he was attuned to her signature? Rose shook her head. She did not really understand those things, but she knew that Finn had been worried. Poe decided to stay behind to help dismiss the people from the party home, and also to look after Finn.
Rose wondered what they got up to.

Her musings were cut short at the sound of the door swishing open. She sent a beaming smile over to her husband. She walked over and gave him a peck on the cheek and a big hug. "How is he?" she asked softly.

Poe sighed as he let her go. He looked tired, but concerned. "He's drunk. Or at least he was last night."

"What did he say about Rey? Does he have a hunch where she might have gone?" Rose saw Poe's face pinch at the question.

"Yeah he does," Poe said sitting down at their table. "He thinks she was with Kylo Ren last night. That Ren is saying good-bye or something like that."

Rose's eyes widened in horror. "Why would he think that? Ren was a monster! I am sure he didn't become a Force...apparition or what not."

"He has concrete information to reach such a conclusion. And honestly, Rose...we don't know what happened down there. On Exogol," Poe said rubbing his chin with his hand.

"As far as what?"

"We know the basics: Rey met with Ren and they fought. Palpatine died. But whenever we asked Rey what happened, she wouldn't answer. Did she kill Ren as well? How is that she is alive when Finn says he felt her die? What was Ren doing there anyway? Hadn't he fought with Rey back on Ach-Toh and lost?" he questioned fiercely. "These are all questions I have had in my head since she came back. And I have no answer to any of them, but something in my gut tells me its pivitol to what happened last night."

Rose furrowed her brows as she processed this. Its true that they had never really discussed with Rey what had happened on Exogol. Their friend had just told them that she fought Palpatine, Ren had died, and that both bodies were destroyed in the explosion afterwards. What reasons would Rey have to lie about that? Rose stopped her thoughts as she saw her husband wipe his face with his hands. He then gave her a pointed look.

"Oh stars. There's more isn't there?"

Poe nodded heavily. "Yes...I ran into Rey on the way from Maz's."

Poe let that sentence hang in the air so his wife could catch up. "What the...how?! Why didn't you bring her here? Where did she go?!" his wife nearly screeched. Poe wanted to laugh a little. She was a small thing so hearing her get worked up and seeing her face all red was cute.

"I asked her where she had went, if it was the Force that had taken her. She confirmed it was," Poe said, "But she also confirmed what Finn thought: She had been with Ren."

Rose's mouth opened and closed a couple of times until she finally formed a coherent sentence. "What in the world would Rey and that murderer have to talk about?"

"Ding, ding, ding. That, my love, is the credit winning question," Poe said sitting back in his seat. "And the one asking it will be Finn."

Rose put a hand to her mouth. She and her husband shared a look that was overwhelmed with worry for both of their friends, because once the answer to that question was spoken, nothing would ever be the same.

Rey had led them to a nice clearing in the forest. She seemed to know her way here quite well because she had been talking to him and looking around without really paying attention to where she was going. She had been so wrapped up in telling him about what she did to train in the Force for this past year that she hadn't noticed Ben's thoughts from earlier.

"...and those stones over there, I placed them there little by little with the Force. I was surprised that using the Force does not magically make things lighter. Its like using another arm to lift; you still feel the heaviness of the object. You and Master Luke made it look so simple," Rey mused as she finally came to a stop.

"This is it! I cleared the area myself. Finn, Poe, and Rose helped in clearing the area of brush. What do you think?" she said stretching her arms out in show. "Its nothing fancy, but this is one area that is mine."

Ben smiled as he took in the area. Simple, like his little scavenger. "It'll do nicely. Better to be surrounded by living things anyway. It fine tunes us to the Force," he said walking up to her. "What did you want to start with? It seemed like maybe you had something specific you wanted to work on?"

Rey bit her lip and nodded. "After you were...gone and I wasn't buried in a cloud of depression, I would think about our fight with Palpatine. Even before that when you faced your knights. Our bond was seamless. I passed the lightsaber to you as easily as my heart is beating. There seemed to be no conscious effort to it. Then we were in font of Palpatine and we were of one mind. Our dyad was no longer two that was one, but merely one. Does that make sense?"

Ben nodded. "Yeah. I felt the saber in my hand like it had been there all along. Like I was the one that picked it up. I fought against the knights and you against Palpatine, while still keeping our respective focus. But when we were both in front of him, it was instinctual or more than that. We were both thinking the same thing at the same time. Truly one mind," Ben said thinking, but then furrowed his brows. "What part were you curious about?"

"How we got there," Rey said excitedly. "How did we get to the point where our minds were one? Was it merely opening up the bond? Or maybe it was not about being open. Maybe its about realizing that it is like another part of our body. We just have to learn how to flex it together."

"Alright that sounds logical. How do you want to start this?"

"You're asking me? You've been using the Force longer than I have. If anyone is a master here, its you," Rey said with a smirk.

Ben sputtered. "This a very rare and underdeveloped area of the Force. There is perhaps one precedent for this, and they didn't feel like sharing. Or they never explored it," Ben huffed.

"Well the basics should be the same right?"

"I guess," Ben sighed. He placed one hand on his hip and another he ran through his head. "Alright. Well with any mental exercises we start with meditation."

Rey made a face and Ben paused. "What?" he asked.

"That's so boring," Rey said with a light whine.

Ben laughed heartily. "Undoubtedly you're right, but it is the foundation of either side," he said sobering up. "Let's sit and see if we can focus."

Rey went to sit on the one of the stones she had pointed out earlier. Ben went to the left of her and also got comfortable. Rey sat with her legs uncrossed and arms back with her weight leaning on them. Ben quirked a brow in mirth. "Mighty casual there love. We're supposed to be professionals."

Rey snorted. "Nowhere does it say that I have to sit uncomfortably to get in tune with the Force."

Ben chuckled but he did cross his legs and assume a lotus position. Rey quirked her own brow in question.

"You may not have trained with Luke for years, but I did. And this was one thing that man managed to drill into me. Now focus," Ben said closing his eyes and putting his head in a neutral position. Rey smiled lightly, but also closed her eyes. She began to regulate her breathing and focused on the hands that were on the stone. Like with her time with Luke,
she felt the Force in all through her hands on the stone. This was her base. This was where she started. With it all she felt Ben. As soon as she had closed her eyes his Force signature was there along with everything else. It was like breathing and heartbeat. His signature was attuned to her with no effort. However, as she focused on him solely, she did notice something. She could feel him almost corporeally through the Force. Like he was something she could touch and would find solid. So she did. With her own signature she wound closer to him and imagined picking his signature up like a rope on the floor.

She heard him gasp next to her, but did not let go. She fought to maintain her grasp on his signature as she opened her eyes. She looked over at Ben and found that he was also looking right back at her. There was a light sheen of sweat on his upper lip, and his breathing was slow, but purposeful. Then she couldn't distinguish herself from him; Ben's brea thing was hers, his eye movements were hers, his heartbeats were in sync with her own. Rey lifted her hand, and like a reflection in a mirror, Ben lifted the same hand. She felt her mouth drop and saw that his did too. They lowered their hands back down. Rey fought hard to see if she could pull herself away slightly. She saw felt the rope that she was holding and gave it a tug. She saw Ben clench his jaw and felt a tug on his end too. Finally the effort of being in this state took its toll and they both let go. Grunts were heard as they collapsed from the relief.

"That...was amazing," Ben said with a smile.

"It was definitely new," Rey said with a chuckle. "Just one problem."

"We need to be able to think individually?" Ben supplied.

Rey nodded as she let herself lay back on the cool stone. "During our fight with Palpatine we moved sinuously, but we maintained our respective thoughts. We did that with no training and no prior attempts. Why can't we do it now?"

Ben shook his head. "Must be like any part of the body with adrenaline: fight or flight. Its the only explanation I can think of that makes sense."

Rey also nodded to that. Because it did make sense, at least that was the only logical answer they had. Making a conscious effort obviously taxes one energy, so they needed to reach that same state where they were more than symbiotic. Rey had a thought and laughed. Ben lifted a brow and looked over at her with a lazy smile.

"What's so funny?"

"I was just thinking," Rey started as she tried to get over her giggles, "if we should start writing our own books on this."

Ben furrowed his brows and cocked his head. Rey glanced over at him sensing that she needed to provide context. But he should know...right?

"Books? You know? Like the tomes that Master Luke had on Ahch-To?" Rey supplied with 'you know' tone.

Ben's eyes grew wide when he finally understood. "You mean the Jedi texts? He still had them? Where are they now?" he asked with excitement in his tone.

Rey looked away and her mouth twitched. "He said that Master Yoda destroyed them. That the Jedi religion needed to end," she said forlornly.

Ben though was still looking at her unbelievingly. "Luke was of the mind to...end the Jedi?"

Rey nodded, but sat up and furrowed her brows. "Of course it was like pulling teeth to get him to teach me anything. The one I have to give greater credit to for my training is your mother. She ran me through the same obstacle course and training she remembered from Master Luke, which was the basics. The rest I had to learn on my own or through you. Why do you seem so suprised? If anything I thought that you would be the first one to know."

Ben stared off as he processed this information. Master Yoda, Luke's teacher, had been the one to destroy the Jedi tomes. But...?

"Did Luke think to end the Jedi before Master Yoda destroyed the tomes?" Ben asked finally looking back at Rey.

She nodded. "Like I said, getting him to teach me anything was like getting a bantha to move. He no longer wanted students. He did not want to teach anyone else. I later learned, through you and our bond, what had happened to his previous students. I thought that was why he wanted to end the Jedi. Because of the pain."

"He didn't want to be indirectly responsible for creating or leading a youngling to 'the dark side,'" Ben supplemented in reflection. "I don't blame him."

"I am sure there is some of that in his decision, but I don't think that's all of it."

Ben scoffed. "What more can there be? That alone is enough reason."

"When he taught me, he gave me 3 simple lessons. The first is the one I remember the most. With everything good, there is also bad. Life has death. Light has dark. Everything in balance. I can't say this is for sure his reason, but I think he wanted to narrow it down. In the Force there is Jedi and Sith, but what about in a person?" Rey postulated. Ben cocked his head to the side in contemplation as Rey spoke. "The Force in order to be better balanced, must be fine tuned. No better way to fine tune that in one person. No 'lightsider'. No 'darksider', but something more. Perhaps a practitioner of both? Someone who can use both and still just be."

Rey stared off into the trees and did not notice Ben look at her in awe. "You're amazing," he said interrupting her thoughts.

Rey blushed and chuckled. "You always think I'm amazing. What brought it on this time?"

Ben cupped Rey's hand as he looked at her with admiration. "You are the first to be 'fine tuned.' How many times have you touched the darkside and still been able to come back as if you just hadn't? The seduction of the darkside preys on those weak of mind and heart. The lightside feeds on the fear of what lies in the darkside, so everything must be altruistic. You are neither weak of mind or heart. And not everything you do is altruistic, but you are...pure. Don't you see? You're the one teaching me this time. Helping me keep my balance between all of my dark and the growing light."

Rey was speechless at his words. That the was the best and biggest compliment she had received up until now. Ben sensed her brain trying to process his words, so instead he took advantage of the brain glitch and brought his lips to hers. Rey felt the heat of his lips and closed her eyes. Instinctively her hands went to his face, and then wrapped her arms around his neck bringing him closer. This she could do. This required no conscious thought for it was all natural. Only the sounds of the leaves rustling in the trees could be heard aside from their lip smacks and pants. Ben's hands had moved slowly to push her tunic off her shoulder. Rey's hands had started to go under the shirt Ben had on and up the skin of his back.

"Have you ever...taken anyone out in the open?" Rey asked Ben breathlessly. Ben grunted negatively as he began to kiss down her jaw and towards her neck. He did not want to be bothered with questions right now. Rey whimpered as he sucked along her clavicle. Feeling his attention elsewhere, she did not continue to talk but bombarded his mind with images of what she wanted. Ben stilled a moment as the pictures assaulted his mind. Rey being thrusted into roughly on the same rock they are sitting on; Ben bending her over it and holding her hands from behind as he rutted into her; Rey's back feeling the roughness of the bark of the trees as her hands were pinned above her and Ben licked and sucked between her legs.

He pulled back from her neck and looked at her with dark eyes. "I believe what you meant to ask was if I had ever fucked anyone in the open, because what you just showed me...was me fucking you in this forest."

Rey bit her lip and blushed. "Its not something I can voice."

Ben ran a finger under her chin. "You're either shy or prudish."

"Or modest. You're the first man I have ever had, doesn't mean I didn't fantasize," she pouted innocently. Ben groaned at the thought of what her fantasies could be.

"I forget how young you are," Ben said huskily, "The innocence that comes with young age."

"I'm twenty-one!" Rey said indignantly.

"Yes, young enough to be innocent in some ways of thinking, but also young enough to corrupt," he growled as he reached for her again.

Later Ben would joke that it was one fantasy down, who knew how many more to go.