When I realized I was crying, I raised my hand to cover my mouth. I turned away to collect myself for a moment, watching the suns set behind the skyline of a desert town. I looked back at the pair, and my small son turned away from his father and looked up at me, eyes wide with concern.

"It's alright, baby," I said, cupping his small cheek. "Mama's happy."

His father's hand rested on my shoulder, an instant comfort.

After a restless nap during our trip through hyperspace, I found myself entering decontamination back on Supremacy. It was only us and the crew of the command shuttle, making the large room quite empty. I followed Kylo to a private suite labeled "Command."

The room had three spacious decon cubicles, awash in the purple glow of ultraviolet lights. Kylo took the middle cubicle, closing the curtain before he removed any gear. I took the cubicle on the right. After removing my helmet, I realized just how quiet the room was. I heard the rustle of his clothing as he undressed. I shed my armor piece-by-piece, carefully placing each one into the plastoid bin at my feet.

A droid beeped outside the cubicle, extending its pincers under the curtain to retrieve my bin. I muttered my thanks under my breath. Naked, I walked into the shower area and winced when the cold spray hit my skin. Five minutes later, I was clean but stubbornly waiting for him to leave first. The confrontation looming in the room felt like a black hole.

His shower shut off.

"I know you're upset," came a hesitant voice.

I sealed my lips. "Upset" didn't even come close.

"How did the Resistance find us, Kylo?"

He didn't respond. When I heard him exit the shower area to dry off, I followed.

"How?" I yelled.

After a moment, he said, "You already know."

"No! I don't!" I gestured wildly. "Read my mind!"

"Lucia," he scolded.

I glared at the barrier separating us as though I could see him. "I refuse to believe that you brought the Resistance down on our heads."

A worried noise came from the cleaning droid outside his stall. His boots clunked to the floor one at a time, and then he stepped into them. When they came over to my stall, I gasped and covered my body with a measly towel. Then, the bin containing my clean armor slid under the door, pushed by his foot. His voice sounded very close.

"You forget that I respect your privacy now," he murmured. "Both mental and physical."

I fought the urge to say "thank you."

"Come to my quarters later."

I crossed my arms stubbornly. "Maybe I will."

When I stood in front of his quarters an hour later, my fingernails were still blue from my cold shower, nearly matching my blue-gray outfit. I glanced at Hux's door nervously as I waved my hand to activate the door signal. Surprisingly, the bioreader opened to me.

Only the dim lights of the night cycle illuminated the room. Kylo sat on the carpet in the sitting room, his legs crossed and his eyes closed. An odd polyhedron sat on the ground in front of him, emitting a faint blue light.

"This is a holocron," he said. "It's more difficult to read than I thought."

When he held his hand above it, the device opened. The kyber crystal floated out, and he took it in his hand. My eyes became fixed on it as he set it on a table nearby. It was so distracting that I forgot to speak.

"Did she frighten you?"

My eyes snapped to him. He had moved to the couch without me even noticing. I sank down into the armchair behind me.

"Yes, but...mostly I was just angry. The way she slaughtered those Troopers..."

His gaze was steady on me. In the dim light, his eyes appeared black. "She was trained by Luke."

I frowned.

"At first I thought Rey was my sister, separated at birth for some reason. Our connection through the Force is that strong—like my mother and uncle. But now I know the truth."

"You...see her?"

He nodded. "Sometimes I don't see her for weeks. Sometimes every day."

Jealousy spread through me like a virus. I looked away and perched my chin on my fist. He shifted in my peripheral vision.

"The Force gave me a vision of her past, Lucia. She is the bastard granddaughter of Sheev Palpatine."

I looked at him. "Emperor Palpatine?"

He nodded, and his voice became filled with conviction. "Our destinies are inexorably linked. It is her destiny to turn to the Dark Side. She'll turn and she'll become my apprentice."

"The Rule of Two," I murmured.

He gave me a surprised look. "'One to embody power, the other to crave it,'" he quoted. "Lords of the Sith."

I felt myself flush.

"I hate the Sith almost as much as I hate the Jedi," he mused with a dry laugh. "The Force isn't constrained by numbers and codes. It's only constrained by our physical limitations."

I hummed, not really knowing what to believe.

"If I can get her to turn, I can end this pull to the Light once and for all."

My eyes inevitably went back to the kyber crystal. It seemed to reach out and grab my attention against my will.

"What does the Force feel like?" I asked.

"It's different for everyone," he said, eager to share. "I feel a connection to everything around me. It gets stronger or weaker depending on my emotions."

I clutched my chest, remembering the feeling I had on Malastare. When he raised his hand and pulled the crystal through the air, I gasped in surprise. It hovered in front of me until I gingerly took it. The strange lightness immediately returned to my chest.

When I looked up, Kylo was staring at me like I had burst into flames.

He was pulling me down to the carpet before I knew it and forcing me to mirror his posture. I crossed my legs, equally annoyed and confused. He even told me to close my—

"Why?" I asked, cracking an eye open.

His eyes were already shut. "Even the youngest Padawan can learn this one."

"'Padawan'?"

"Force user," he corrected.

I immediately started standing to my feet. His hand appeared on my knee.

"Lucia..."

His eyes were pleading. I reluctantly settled back down.

"The most basic form of Force Sense is sensing your own connection to the Force," he taught. "Just...breathe."

Copying him, I held my hands over my lap with my palms facing up. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath in, and let it out slowly. As I breathed, I turned my thoughts inward, reaching deep inside myself to find...nothing. I cracked an eye open to see the peaceful expression on Kylo's face. My face felt anything but peaceful.

"I don't feel anything."

"Don't think about a feeling," he said. "Just be aware of what's around you. The ship. The stars. Me." He cracked one eye open, and I quickly squeezed mine shut. "And breathe."

Taking a sharp inhale, I forced myself to turn my attention outwards. I pictured the Supremacy gliding across the stars, the inertia of its thrusters propelling it along through the darkness. I pictured the darkness, absent of light, absent of everything. I pictured the vastness of space, displaced only by nebulae and planets and stars. I pictured the stars, burning hot and bright and bringing warmth and light to distant planets. It all felt connected in a mosaic somehow.

The thought of it put a feeling of lightness in my chest. My lips twitched into a smile.

"Good," Kylo murmured.

I pictured him in my mind. I saw him sitting in front of me, suspended against a black background. I sensed the way his nostrils flared in concentration and the stray lock of hair covering his eye. I sensed the energy that seemed to swirl around him like a cool mist. I sensed his hand reaching out towards me...

Just his fingertips touched my chest. Suddenly, the lightness filled to bursting.

"Do you feel that?"

"Yes," I gasped.

He withdrew his hand, and the sensation returned to a tolerable level. When I opened my eyes, the room seemed completely different. Kylo's expression was pure awe.

"What was that?"

A smile played on his lips. "You used the Force to sense my presence."

I shook my head. "It's impossible," I murmured.

He reached out and took my hands. I couldn't help but smile at the delicate way he handled me. His voice became soft and reverent.

"You're too old to learn the ways, but...you are Force-sensitive."