Rey had thought she knew what cold was. She had shivered her way through countless dessert nights, wrapped in whatever thin material she could find, as hungry for the warmth of the morning sun as for her next meal. But that was before Ilum.

Rey pulled her cloak closer around her and shivered. She wanted to pace, to run, maybe- anything but stand here and wait-

"Rey," A soft voice interrupted her impatient shifting.

The girl's head came around sharply, "Yes, general?"

"Calm your thoughts," Leia advised gently. On her other side, Poe leaned back just a little and gave Rey a wink where the general couldn't see.

The girl glanced away. Taking a lungful of the stinging air, she held the breath for a count of five and let it out slowly, feeling the force in the expanse of her lungs, in the exchange of gases, in the thin air of this planet, in the icy ground under her feet. There was a strange resonance here, a hollow echo, as though something vast and vital had been carved from the heart of this place. When Rey had first seen Ilum from space, she had gasped aloud. A chunk the size of a continent has been torn from the planet, so that you saw at once two irreconcilable halves; one whole- barren and white. The other black and jagged- an open wound, laid bare to the universe.

Put there, Poe had explained to her, by the empire and it's greed.

Beside her, Leia stiffened, drawing herself up a little straighter.

He was coming. Rey could feel it.

The black ship settled onto the field of ice without a sound as they watched, equally silent.

The hatch doors opened and he strode down the gangplank. Trailing behind him came a small figure in a black and silver helmet that completely obscured the face and a red-haired man dressed in the uniform similar to the old First Order but dyed in various shades of gray. Kylo Ren himself wore his customary black cape but his clothes were all in dark gray.

At fifteen feet out, he stopped, his attendants standing just behind him on either side.

"General Organa," He nodded gravely.

From the corner of her eye, Rey could see Leia stare across the barren snow at her son. Eventually, she answered, "Emperor".

The air seemed too thin to breathe. Rey gulped down a clumsy breath. She couldn't pull her eyes from Be- Kylo Ren. He seemed determined not to look back at her though. The Force was a thick singing presence between them. How could anyone hear anything over it? Rey felt herself sway forward, pulled off center yet again. One step- that's all it would take. One step toward him and she would break- The girl just barely heard Leia ask if they wanted to step inside out of the cold and he nodded again.

Moving to the side, Rey let Leia and Poe lead their . . . guests into the crude shelter of the ruins. As he passed within arms reach of her, Rey glanced down at her boots- suddenly reluctant to meet his eyes. His black cloak brushed against her shin.

Inside, it was just a short walk down the corridor to a room sizable enough for their party. Ilum had been abandoned for hundreds of years but the impeccable construction of Republic era building was evident here. Even the table and chairs were still intact. The heaters they had set up around the room made the chamber bearable.

Across the expanse of table, Rey studied the two lackeys. The smaller one in the helmet seemed to bend the force around itself, creating eddies and currents as they moved. Female? Male? Specie? Rey had no idea but a force wielder most certainly. The big red head looked like a bureaucrat.

Leia gestured toward the chairs and he shook his head briefly, "I don't intend for this meeting to last that long."

"What do you intend for this meeting?" Leia asked.

"A cease fire." He answered.

Rey's head came around sharply and she stared at him, eyes wide.

The General frowned, "How? What do you propose?"

"A temporary truce to prove to you that my . . . work will be for the benefit of the galaxy," Ren answered, his eyes never leaving his mother's, "Six months. If at the end of six months you still want to destroy my empire," he smiled thinly, "you are welcome to try."

"I don't know that I would call the massacre on Excarga an example of noble work."

His voice was cool when he answered, "Killing those who do evil is not necessarily evil. Isn't that what you practice in the Resistance?"

Poe burst out, "We don't massacre innocents-"

"There were no innocents on Excarga."

Poe took a step forward and opened his mouth but Leia held up one hand. He closed his mouth with a snap.

"Debates about the nature of evil aside," Leia said, "how will your work improve the galaxy?"

"I will break every chain in this galaxy- no more slaves. No more slave holders. Only citizens of the Gray Empire."

Rey shivered.

"Our forces are small, now. Our friends are few. How can we expect to monitor this great work of yours?" The general asked.

"I'll give you an agent in my own government. Able to go anywhere, ask any question- a kind of watchdog." He looked at Rey finally, his eyes hot and sharp like a lightsaber, "Rey would be a perfect choice."

"Why?" Snarled Poe.

"Because I would die before I harmed her."