We open in on the last scene from The Force Awakens, The Falcon lands on Ahch-To, Rey makes her way up the stairs, to Luke. Luke turns and stares at her, she holds out Anakin's lightsaber to him.
Luke looked at the girl before him with a hint of caution and sadness. He slowly walked up to her and looked down at the saber. Realizing which saber it was, he slowly grasped it with his robot hand, and carefully studied it over. "Where did you find this?" He asked. Rey recalled how she came into contact with the weapon. "We were at Takodana… in Maz's castle. We… actually I was with some of your friends, Han Solo and Chewbacca." She stuttered out. Luke raised an eyebrow at her. She continued on. "Anyways, we were inside the castle when… it… I think it called to me? I touched it and… I, uh… saw things." She had lowered her voice. Luke gripped the saber tightly. "Did you now?" he wondered aloud. Rey shifted a bit. "I… Maz tried explaining it to me, but I didn't want to hear her out." She summarized. Luke suspected she was twisting the truth on that last bit of information but kept silent. Rey on the other hand, had never felt more uncomfortable in her life. Luke regarded her for a moment, then looked back to the saber. "The last time I held this was..." he trailed off. He looked up to Rey again. "This didn't happen to come with a severed hand, did it?" He asked. Rey looked shocked. "W-what?!" she stuttered out. Luke cracked a smile. "Never mind, bad joke. Thank you for giving this back to me, miss...?" Rey straightened the staff on her back. "Rey" Luke's face flashed that look of caution and sorrow again for a moment. "Thank you, Rey."
Suddenly a roar emanated from behind Rey. Before she could turn her head to see what it was, a blur of brown fur rushed past her. Luke's face slowly lit up, and he began to howl with laughter as he was mauled by the wall of fur. "Chewie!" Chewbacca briefly let him go and grunted a response. Not far behind him is R2, beeping with excitement. Luke's face lit up even more. "R2!" The droid raced over to him, resulting in his dome getting patted furiously. Rey shifted uncomfortably. She felt like a third wheel. "Long time no see you guys! How've you been? How's the rest of the gang?" Luke asked. Chewie and R2 stopped suddenly, remembering what happened with Han. Luke's mood also took a dive. "Oh... right." After the silence went on for some time, Luke spoke up. "… why doesn't everyone come on in?" he solemnly invited. They all went inside his hut.
Inside Luke's hut were a few pieces of furniture, a table, basic kitchen utilities, and an assortment of artifacts and holocrons. Luke gestured towards Chewie and Rey. "Have a seat, I'll get you two something to eat." He said. Chewie and Rey sat down on stone stools. "This is an old favorite of mine." he said. He gave Rey a glass of blue milk, he gave Chewie some cooked meat, while Luke made himself some soup. Rey took a sip of the drink; it wasn't too bad. Chewie dug into his own meal. Luke sat down with a sigh. "I imagine you two have many questions." Luke said. Chewie stopped eating to roar in outrage. Luke's shoulders sank. "I know, and I am sorry about Han… but I had important matters that I needed to attend to." He stated softly. Chewie argued with another roar, louder this time. Luke was unfazed. "Leaving wasn't easy for me either, I wouldn't have done it if it wasn't this important." He sternly said. He then softened his tone and added: "You know that Chewie." Chewie grunted a response. There was a brief period of silence before Rey spoke up. "Why did you leave?" she asked.
Luke took a bite of his soup. "It would be easier if I started at the beginning. After the death of The Emperor, his right-hand man, Darth Vader, and the destruction of the second Death Star, everything calmed down. The galaxy seemed like it would know peace for the first time in decades. Until… this Snoke creature came from seemingly nowhere. He gathered what remained of The Empire and formed The First Order. Leia and I tried to garner support from The New Republic, but we were met with indecision and inaction. Leia was never one for bureaucrats, so she decided to form The Resistance against The First Order. Together, we fought The First Order, The Knights of Ren, and Snoke, for years. And after all of those battles, all of those victories and defeats, I came to a realization: We were not strong enough to defeat Snoke. So, I began to search for the first ever Jedi Temple, in the hopes that I might find an answer to Snoke's power. Before my departure, I left behind a fragmented map, so that if anybody needed to locate me, or needed my help, they would know where to find me." He finished.
He then gestured to all three of them. R2 whistled. It takes a moment for Rey to process all of that information. Chewie grunted out a response. Luke nodded. "I figured as much. But I can't leave just yet." He stated. Chewie barked in annoyance. Rey was confused. "Why not?" She asked. Luke took another bite of his soup. "Investigating the temple has certainly been fruitful- "he motioned around his hut. "- but it still holds many secrets. I believe I am close to finding the answers that I seek." He said as he glanced back at Rey. Chewie grunted a question. Luke stood up from his seat. "I'm close, I know I am. I can't give you an exact time, but it should be a few days at the very least. Which will give us plenty of time to catch up!" He explained. Chewie grunted in acceptance, R2 beeped affirmatively as well. Rey needed to get out of there, she felt like an intruder. "I'll go inform the General then." She excused. Luke watched her leave as he put his arm around Chewie, while R2 wheeled up to him. "So… tell me about her." He asked.