A/N: I know anyone barely reads it, let alone reviews/leaves any comments but I love and I am proud of this chapter.
Chapter 5 – Kashyyyk
Drumming fingers against her thigh and chewing on her bottom lip, Rey contemplated the transparent box she had been given by Lor San Tekka. It was placed on the table in front of her, looking very ordinarily but apparently containing information very valuable for the people who were sensitive to the Force. According to that old man from Coruscant, she was one of these 'gifted ones'.
Yet, they were half-through on their way to Kashyyyk and she still hadn't even touched the holodisc stored inside the box. Partially, she was afraid what she might learn about herself and what sort of duties she would have as this 'Force-sensitive person'. Partially, she was still in denial and refused to acknowledge the pull somewhere deep inside her that grew stronger day.
The reason why she was sitting there, pondering her options for an umpteenth time, was the recurring dream she had already had more than once. Every single time she closed her eyes, she saw the same images – the island, the temple, the cave – all over again. Some of the details varied as if the dream was afraid that it would turn too mundane, but the most important features remained exactly the same.
Since she had tried all possible ways to banish that dream in the limited space of the Millennium Falcon, she seemed to have no other option but to study the materials given to her. Perhaps they contained a salvation that would tell her what any of those images meant, be it a book of dreams or whatever else the dubious fortune-tellers on the streets of Jakku used in exchange for money of desperate people.
Maybe knowing something about the island from her dream, the structures built on it or the mosaic inside one of these structures could satisfy the increasing curiosity that was hungrily gnawing at her. The most burning question out of them all – who the man, the shadowy figure she kept seeing on the other side of her reflection inside the underwater cave, was – was probably unanswerable, but beggars couldn't be choosers.
With a resigned sigh, she carefully opened the lid of the box as if she was afraid that it was made out of molten lava and picked up the holodisc. Aside the insignia of the Church of the Force etched in its surface, the disc didn't differ from the ones she had used to borrow from the library back during her time on the university, so she didn't need any special training to know how to use it.
Besides, Millennium Falcon was equipped well enough for such an occasion so to insert it inside a holodisc player to browse through whatever she wanted was a piece of cake. Still, she skipped the detailed history of the Force users throughout the eons because her interest lay elsewhere than in the description of the various – quite borderline – religious groups worshipping the Force.
Half of the message hidden in the written text was beyond her comprehension, anyway. Words like 'Zeffo' or 'Mist-weavers' sounded cool but she had heard or seen them for the very first time. And she had no time, nor patience to study the history of ancient races and orders in detail and find out who all the people and alien species were, where they came from or why they were so important.
On the other hand, she always paused and carefully studied any of the pictures attached to the texts with the intent to find something at least remotely similar from her dreams. She also read a very thorough description of the Force, its light side and its dark side, including the basic information about the Jedi and Sith Orders. It was something familiar, something she could grasp and relate it to the relatively recent history of the Galaxy.
She couldn't say that she had become wiser or that she had learned something shocking and entirely new to her. Jedi were still painted as the good guys while Sith were still painted as the bad guys. In the end, what mattered was the perspective of the narrator of the history and the fact that even the best of the best were too obtuse to take a lesson from the stupid mistakes they made.
Since she was in no position to moralize, she rather kept her opinions about certain things to herself. There was hardly anyone around to hear her out and discuss it with her, anyway, and C3PO and R2D2 were droids with a determined programming. But at least she was able to sort out her thoughts and understand a little bit more what it meant to be sensitive to the Force and be able to harness it.
Apparently, she was granted a plenty of supernatural powers. Still, she doubted that she would ever be able to master them since all the texts seemed to mention that it was just something the Force-sensitive people could do if they wanted, but nowhere had it stated how.
Like… how to start using telekinesis? Was she supposed to raise her hands and mumble some spell? Or imagine that the object she wanted to force to move with the power of her mind started to levitate until it truly did?
And how to mentally manipulate others? Did the trick lie in the tone of the voice that was commanding and confident enough? Or could she just order people around with her mind only?
What about the ability to sedate or induce sleep, preferably a dreamless one, thank you, and if it wasn't possible, at least the forgettable one? How to manage to do that? Could she apply it on herself or only on others?
And how did all the clairvoyant stuff from the power to see future to the alleged ability to foresee an attack of the opponent before it really came work? Was it what her vision in the tomb and her recurring dream were?
The list of the 'superpowers' was in no way exclusive or complete because the powers granted by the Force were much more complex. She simply took the first thought that crossed her mind and mulled it over for long minutes without actually testing whether she was capable of something like that as the notion itself was enough for her to feel… terrified. And badass. But mostly terrified.
The other stuff like fast reflexes, augmented physical vitality, strength, mobility and resilience that allowed the user to crush objects with nothing but their bare hands, jump across great distances, levitate in the air or survive injuries that would cripple or kill any other non-Force-sensitive being was both comprehensive enough and completely unbelievable at the same time.
However, not even instruction holovids focused on meditation, mental training and combat answered her questions or quenched her thirst for knowledge about her dream, causing her an incredible migraine instead. Everything about using the Force looked easy, effortless and natural, but it still left her with a queasy feeling in her stomach she couldn't shake off.
Why did she have the feeling that she needed to surrender some integral part of herself to learn at least a fraction of what she had just read and seen? Why did she feel that in order to be so dominant, yet humble, so nimble, yet watchful and so self-assured, yet respectful, she had to tear up her skin to the bone and allow something outlandish to conquer her?
In the end, she settled for the meditation techniques as they were the easiest ones out of all the instruction holovids. The pounding inside her head needed to go away if she was to function like a normal human being. Since massaging her temples didn't work, the meditation was her last resort. All she sought was a brief moment of piece and if she could achieve it through the method of Force-sensitive people, so be it.
"Meditation is about more than just forging deeper connection to the Force... It is about gaining a deeper understanding of ourselves. It is a means of obtaining greater control over our thoughts and emotions. Peace. Serenity. Harmony. We must master ourselves before we can hope to master the Force."
With a scornful snort, she scoffed at the otherwise pleasant voice of the experienced Jedi narrating the instruction holovid. Not even a second ago, she had been told that she should focus on the predominant emotion in her mind, be honest with herself about the feeling she experienced in relation to that emotion and their effect, and then, she was supposed to let the emotion go to become an empty vessel so the Force could fill with peace and serenity.
Not only had she loathed the phrase 'to become an empty vessel' as it sounded too brainwashing, she also considered these two instructions as contradictory. How could one obtain greater control over their thoughts and emotions when they were asked to let them go? Letting go meant to come to terms with something in her opinion, not seizing control to be able to contain the most immediate and innate thing an animate being could do.
But she did what was asked of her. She began to focus on the feelings the Force invoked in her – both elation and disgust - and was honest with herself about it, acknowledging the effect it had on her. Then, she attempted to cleanse her negative thoughts and let go of the uncomfortable so she could replace it with something likeable, seeking acceptance and peace.
Before she knew it, her body started to move on its own volition as she sank down to the padded seating inside the spaceship, falling into a deliciously dreamless sleep.
-Atonement-
If Coruscant had lived up to its reputation, then the lush nature covering Kashyyyk exceeded it. Never in her wildest dreams would she imagine that such deep jungles, beautiful forests, towering mountains, breathtaking coral reefs, mossy swamps and blue oceans could encompass a single planet. Everything was coloured in all possible shades of green, brown and blue, and her eyes couldn't get enough.
However, the scars that were etched during the years of the Imperial plunder were still visible because the Imperial machinery was littered all over the surface. But as she noticed during her flight towards the capital called Rwookrrorro, most of the buildings the Empire had left behind were smartly repurposed to serve as homes, warehouse, public facilities and smaller spaceports.
The same went for the quite easily accessible spaceport where Rey landed because the architecture looked like nothing the Wookiees would ever construct, but like everything the Empire would force upon them. Hidden on the canopy of a group of giant wroshyr trees, the natives habitually used them as a place to build their communities, cities and towns, expanding outsides the trunks and branches on interconnected platforms.
"An YT-1300 Corellian freighter." A humanoid woman dressed in a pilot gear noted down in the datapad in her hands once Rey ran down the boarding ramp, nodding at her wookiee co-worker to scan the microchip of the incoming visitor so they could record her identity, as well. "We haven't seen one of these in here for ages."
Rey opened her mouth to say something, trying to form some words inside her head, but her train of thoughts was interrupted by the inquiry of the woman standing in front of her. "Welcome to Kashyyk, Rey of Jakku. How many of you are here?" She asked, her finger hovering over the screen in anticipation.
"It's just me and two droids." Rey reported truthfully, her eyes studying the tall, strapping wookiee who had scanned her chip. His fur was blacker than brown and his eyes and posture showed that he might be stand-offish. But then he sent her something she could swear was a smile.
"And what's the purpose of your visit?" The woman waved her hand in front of Rey's face to get her attention. The vast experience she had gathered over the years told her that whoever Rey of Jakku was, she had seen a real-life wookiee for the first time in her life.
Swapping her gaze between the woman and her furry co-worker who was scrutinizing the spaceship standing behind her back, Rey shifted on her feet. "Business. I am looking for someone who lives here." She replied absent-mindedly, ready to block the entrance if the wookiee decided to go inside because she didn't want him to find all the Force-related stuff. "You might actually know him. His name is Chewbacca."
The woman and the wookiee exchanged a 'not-another-one' look. "Listen, ma'am—" The female pilot began to say, leaning the datapad against her side leisurely, promptly interrupted by her black-brownish co-worker who let out a surprised roar.
"Is this the Millennium Falcon?" The woman pointed her finger on the spaceship after all the roars and growls ceased, furrowing her eyebrows suspiciously when she received a confirming nod from the young lawyer. "Where did you get it?"
Sighing wearily, Rey proceeded to explain who she was and why was the legendary ship in her temporary possession, including why she was visiting Kashyyyk to find Chewbacca and talk to him. She rather refrained from explaining any details, revealing just enough to prove her point and sound believable because even though she wasn't lying, other people could think so and she could get into trouble.
"I see." The woman looked over at her wookiee friend and a silent understanding passed between them. "Look, I don't do this very often but I'm going to be lenient with you and I'll show you where you can find him. Do you have a map?"
Rey pulled out her own datapad from the satchel she had always had with her, subconsciously brushing her fingers against the lightsaber hilt hidden inside. She couldn't quite explain why she had grabbed the steely thing and stuffed it inside before she had disembarked the vessel, but she had done so nevertheless. Something had told her that she should take it with her.
Handing the datapad over to the wookiee, he immediately zoomed in to a specific area that wasn't too far away from the capital. "It's at least half a day from here." The woman informed Rey, indicating the displayed village far up in the trees.
Rey accepted the device back and began to study the possible flight paths. "By spaceship?" She asked for assurance because the distance didn't seem to be that great to require over twelve hours of flying. The terrain was perhaps a bit tricky but the autopilot installed in the Falcon should be able to take care of that.
Both the woman and the wookiee regretfully shook their heads. "On foot." She corrected her, pointing out several routes Rey could take, hoping that her physique was good enough to make it as the trek was quite acrobatic at times.
"Why do I feel that he made himself inaccessible on purpose?" Rey whined to herself while she studied the terrain and the obstacles she would surely come across in order to pick the best gear she could and not to forget anything.
"He did, actually." The woman seconded the drawled roar her wookiee friend let out with an apologetic smile. "When Chewbacca moved back to Kashyyyk several years ago, he lived here in the capital. But that also drew the masses of people who wanted to meet him and tell him how he and what he has achieved means to them."
She waited for a moment until her furry friend finished his remarks in Shyriiwook before she continued. "He appreciated it, he truly did. But he also wanted peace for himself and his family. So, he rather moved to a well-hidden village that is practically unreachable by spaceship and agreed to show up once or twice a year in the capital to meet with these people." She translated the roars and growls for Rey to understand.
"I mean, if you know where exactly to fly, then you can get there by spaceship. But if you don't…" She shrugged her shoulders tellingly, letting the young woman know that everyone on the planet deeply respected Chewbacca and there was no way she could hire someone to fly her over there. "Navigation systems are useless, as well, because there are no radars. The best way how to get there is on foot."
In peace with her fate, she thanked both for their helpfulness and kindness, and returned back to the ship to discuss the following steps with the droids. Unfortunately, finding Chewbacca on foot meant to leave these two behind and go there on her own because their restricted mobility would only stall her. And she uncompromisingly dismissed the idea of giving up.
However, R2D2 and C3PO were supposed to be her bargaining chip that should have ensured that Chewbacca would be willing to talk her, not to mention that the golden droid was essential when it came to communication. He was able to perfectly translate the difficult language from which Rey knew only a couple of words – and let's be honest, not of the formal kind.
Their plan needed to be reworked and since it was already afternoon by the time they had found a portable holoprojector aboard the Falcon that would enable Rey to communicate with both droids across such a distance, the decision that she would set off on her journey the first thing in the morning was easy. In the meantime, she went to the capital to purchase some additional gear, food and water to survive the half a day trek.
One downside to that was that her boss managed to reach her since he had received a report about her location after her ID chip had been scanned and didn't waver over venting his anger in relation to the unbelievingly long delay of the deal conclusion. She had to suffer through an endless flood of threats and insults, only to be wished good luck with a promise that he would back her in front of Snoke as long as it was needed.
-Atonement-
The next day, dressed in appropriate clothes and boots and equipped with a backpack full of other necessities, Rey set out for her way towards the village where Chewbacca lived. The beginning of her voyage that was supposed to last around thirteen hours was actually quite comfortable since she walked through the civilized world and so her steps were soft, her pace energetic and a smile graced her face.
Once she descended the tree, she found a wooden stick that served both as her walking stick and her third hand that drew aside the branches and various plants, and tested the depth of the surface in front of her to be sure she could safely cross it. And it was needed because the problems started to occur once she began to elbow her way through the impassable jungle.
She could cope with all the mud and moss everywhere around her, with fording through rivers and ponds, jumping over fallen trees and half-collapsed dwellings in deserted settlements, crawling through the remainders of Imperial constructions and technology but when she found herself on the edge of a ravine with no way forward, she was at a loss for solution.
The map insisted that she should go forward but neither did it show her some sort of a bridge or a safe way down the hill to cross the ravine. She could try to walk around it, yes, but it was quite a detour that would prolong her already time-consuming trek. Hopelessly, she looked around in order to find anything helpful but the only thing she noticed was a liana hanging in the branches above her head.
Examining the extremely long green vine, she realized that it was firmly attached to the branch that reached over the half of the ravine so if she swung on it, she could actually jump across safely. As crazy as it sounded, it was probably the only solution to the problem in front of her, unless she wished to give up and return back to the capital without talking to Chewbacca.
However, the liana was out of her reach, albeit definitely not out of reach of an ordinary wookiee who was naturally much taller than her. Grunting, she jumped up in the air several times in order to catch the vine and lower it down but only managed to brush her stick against it. Then she tried to knock it off the branch by throwing rocks at it but it barely moved a single inch.
Letting out a frustrated groan, she cursed loudly in the silence of the jungle interwoven with the sounds wind, running water and chirping of some birds, and waved her hand to further express her obvious disappointment by a very telling gesture. The mechanics of the hand wave would forever remain a mystery but for some reason, the liana suddenly unwrapped itself from the tree branch and landed in her open palm, ready to be used.
Scared by both the unexpected feel of having some object in her hand and the strange tingling sensation spreading from her core across her whole body, she let go of the liana immediately. Studying her hand for a while to see if it somehow changed, she eventually grasped the vine again, testing its sturdiness and elasticity to see if it was able to bear her weight which it logically did – average mass of wookiees was at least twice as bigger than hers, after all.
"This is insane." She whispered to herself after she walked back with the liana in hand to give herself enough space for the running, and before she actually took the run-up in order to hang on the vine and jump across the ravine.
To her surprise, the jump was as smooth as it could get. The liana promptly sagged under her weight but instead of lowering her down, its elasticity brought her back up. Since her run-up was quite efficient, she needed but one swing to direct the jump on the other side of the ravine, landing perhaps on a muddy path but it didn't seem that she had any choice in that, anyway.
With a sigh of relief, she checked the map and continued on her way, her body itching peculiarly as if something alive crawled beneath her skin. But it wasn't unpleasant; she didn't feel the urge to tear her skin apart to see what it was, quite the contrary. It just made her feel energized, good and in spite of her better judgement over her abysmal singing skills, she even began to hum a song.
But the jungle wasn't entirely done with her, testing her power, forcing her to use it. When she found herself in front of yet another ravine that was possible to cross only with a help of the liana hanging above her head, she didn't even think before waving her hand in a similar manner just like before, hoping that the vine would just land in her hand. But as it seemed, it wasn't as easy as it looked like.
"You want me to admit it, don't you?" She asked no one in particular after several unsuccessful attempts when even the highest level of frustration wasn't enough. "You want me believe it. Fine, have it your way."
She took a deep breath and sent a murderous look towards the vine. "I used the Force. Whatever that means, I apparently am this Force-sensitive weirdo although I have no idea how is that even possible." She conceded with puffed up cheeks.
Instead of feeling defeated, though, she felt invigorated as if that something deep inside her waited for this recognition. Allowing it to guide her, she closed her eyes and began to concentrate on the task in front of her, extending her hands towards the liana. "Now, can I please have the stupid vine?" She requested, this time talking to the inner side of herself.
When the liana landed in her hand open palm, she didn't even flinch. Her fingers simply wrapped around it, her hands tugging at it a few times to test its stability and as if she was a natural-born acrobat, she took the run-up and swung across the ravine. Way too late she realized that the gap between the two edges of the ravine was much wider than she had anticipated.
The prowess granted by the power she possessed, however, assisted her in the right moment. Once she let go of the liana and jumped, praying to whatever entity the wookiees worshipped to be able to at least grasp the edge of the cliff and climb up, some invisible force lifted her up in the air and she touched safely down on the ground, breathing heavily in relief.
While challenging at certain moments, the rest of the trek towards the gigantic wroshyr tree housing the village where Chewbacca lived was quite calm and enjoyable. She stopped a few times for little breaks so she could rest, eat and properly drink something, always choosing a spot where she could admire the lively nature all around her, not allowing herself to wonder what the hell she was even doing there.
The moment she reached the base of the desired tree, she knew that swinging over ravines was just a piece of cake in comparison what awaited her. The village that had once been situated at the base lay in ruins, so to actually use the remains of the constructions and buildings in order to get further up and find what other settlements were hidden around the tree trunk was questionable at best.
Moreover, she found out that the trunk of the tree was partially hollow inside. If she were to reach the nearest platform attached to the massive branch far over her head, she had to climb up with a help of the liana through the trunk and hope that the way up from over there was far better and less dangerous – which was a wishful thinking considering that she was about to ascend a giant tree without a proper gear.
But since she had no other option, she decided to trust the liana as it hadn't betrayed her earlier, and began to climb up. However, it took her a while to find the best way how to do so while using the wall of the trunk and the holes in it as a support in order to avoid complete exhaustion – both of herself and the sturdy vine because it kept rub against something up there and she was afraid it might break.
The dreaded snap didn't come but what took her by surprise was a sudden appearance of falling sprouts and parts of bark that kept loosening from the trunk, showering her head and dusting her eyes. Spluttering and annoyed, one of her hands let go of the liana to instinctively shield herself against the mess, her irritated eyes widening when she noticed that it started hitting some invisible barrier, completely missing her.
Whether it was an intentional or a secondary product of her Force accidental abilities, she had no idea but she couldn't deny that it had everything to do with it. Postponing the inevitable analysis, she gritted her teeth and decisively carried on in climbing up with the help of the liana, panting heavily once she finally reached the platform and crawled over its edge, immediately falling on her back to take a moment of the well-deserved rest.
"Can't believe I'm doing this for a man I've never met." She said to herself while shaking her head, bursting out into a laughter right afterwards. Some of the tension inside her chest needed to be freed so it was either to start laughing or to start crying. She instinctively chose the former.
When she calmed down, she pulled herself back up and for a while, she just stood in awe when she realized how high she actually was and what a beautiful outlook she had right in front of her eyes. Alright, maybe she had never met Ben Solo and at this point, she might even start doubting that she ever might meet him. But the adventure she had set on was definitely worth it.
This kind of mindset kept strengthening with each step she took on the staircase towards the canopy of the wroshyr tree. The nature of this planet was second to none, so lively and yet safe – at least as far as she could tell since no animal had tried to eat her, no insects had bothered her and the flora had only helped her to get where she needed to go. A true paradise of the Galaxy.
The village she eventually reached did nothing but to confirm her thoughts. The branch she climbed up as the last stretched into the distance, broadened by the platforms that were littered above her head in the canopy of the tree. There were dwellings and other sorts of huts built on them, providing the wookiees with roof over their heads, storage place, social and sports activities, as well as business.
A wooden bridge connected the sturdy tree with a piece of an actual land which was perhaps a bit small plateau but large enough to provide the inhabitants of the village with fertile soil. The agricultural self-sufficiency was further ensured by fresh water coming from a stream that turned into a series of waterfalls as the water cascaded down on the ground.
The settlement itself was very lively. Wookiees of all ages, shapes and forms stood in the middle of it all, chatting with each other and going about their business. Children kept running around, playing some sort of a game much to the chagrin of their parents who kept admonishing them for their noisiness and wildness, proud of their offspring, nevertheless.
Nobody seemed to notice her or pay her any attention, and she wondered where she should go to ask for help without being able to speak their language. But the problem solved itself on its own when – all of a sudden, out of thin air – a male wookiee appeared in front of her, a bowcaster at the ready, pointing it at her as if she was an unwelcomed intruder who should turn back right away and get out.
She instantly knew that the purr he let out was threatening, so she obediently raised her hands to show that she was unarmed and meant no harm. Since his height substantially exceeded her own, no thoughts of overpowering him or fighting him even crossed her mind. Instead, she took a good look at him to judge his character because her tongue was the only thing that could help her to get away with her trespassing unscathed.
Brown-furred and blue-eyed, the wookiee instantly looked familiar. Maybe it was the bandolier hanging across his torso or the suspicious expression on his face, she didn't know. But one of thing was clear. The man before her either was Chewbacca himself or other men in the village tried their best to look like him. Either way, it was a good starting point she could use to get what she needed.
"Chewbacca?" She asked the wookiee who barely blinked an eye at the mention of the famous name. "If you allow me to reach for something into my backpack, there is someone who would like to talk to you."
Carefully, she slid the backpack down her shoulders and put it in front of herself on the ground. Still with her hands raised, she knelt down while the wookiee watched her every movement, dared to open the backpack and began to rummage through the contents to find the portable holoprojector. When she found it, she pulled it out and held it in her hands to prove that it was not a weapon but a communication device.
Pushing the corresponding buttons, she looked up at the wookiee and lifted the holoprojector closer to him since she was twice as smaller right now. "Threepio, do you copy?" She asked when the hologram of the golden droid and his blue-silver friend stabilized.
"Loud and clear, Miss Rey." C3PO responded, awkwardly showing a raised thumb.
Rey turned the holoprojector around to direct its sensor towards the wookiee who stared at it as if he had seen it for the first time in his life. "Long time no see, Chewbacca." C3PO greeted him as warmly as a droid could, waving his hand at him.
Chewbacca looked back and forth several times between the hologram and the kneeling woman, and then he finally responded with a friendly growl. "It's nice to see you, too." The golden droid returned the pleasantries with R2D2 beeping just as enthusiastically next to him. "I deeply apologize that we could not visit you in person but the terrain on Kashyyyk does not sit well with our mechanisms."
Albeit lowering his bowcaster, the wookiee didn't seem to have the intention to allow Rey stand up, let alone roam freely around his village. He purred something in response and growled questioningly, vigilantly nodding his head towards her. "Her name is Rey and she is a lawyer who, for the time being, is assigned to deal with an inheritance matter regarding Ms Leia. You can trust her." C3PO explained, slightly faltering when it came to pronouncing the name of his late owner. He knew how much Chewbacca loved her.
Even though he lived in a deep, almost impassable jungle, the news of Leia Organa's death had certainly reached the wookiee hero. While he didn't look surprised by the information, it seemed to have finally struck him that the loss of a dear friend was real. The one who had come to visit him in company of his droid friends wasn't Leia but a complete stranger who was charged to settle the inheritance.
"She has a very important question to ask you." The golden droid continued eventually, his programming assessing that he had given enough time to Chewbacca to absorb the information. "Is there some more private place where you two could discuss the issue with my assistance?"
With a measured nod, Chewbacca put away the bowcaster and offered his hand to Rey instead. She accepted it and stood up, holding the still broadcasting holoprojector in her other hand. Throwing the backpack over her shoulder, she trotted after the wookiee who began to stride through the village, leading her to one of the dwellings that stood further away from the others.
The interior of the hut was perhaps very plain but it felt very cosy, nevertheless. According to the furnishing, she assumed it was a meeting hall or a mess hall of some sorts as there were tables and chairs everywhere. Chewbacca sat down behind one of them, roaring something loudly that caused the curious onlookers vacate the place and leave them completely alone.
Then he purred something in Rey's direction and pointed his furry finger towards her canteen. "He asks if you want something to drink." C3PO quipped in with the translation, satisfied with the new angle of the holographic transmission since the portable holoprojector was now placed on the table between Rey and Chewbacca.
"Just water, thank you." She handed over the container and smiled at him when he gave it back to her after refilling it with fresh water.
"Ask away." The golden droid interpreted the growl Chewbacca let out after he poured himself a wooden cup of something that resembled mead but didn't look like mead at all.
In order to procrastinate with the holodisc given to her by Lor San Tekka, Rey had already rehearsed a speech in which she briefly characterized herself, her job and her mission, so that went smoothly. Fortunately, Chewbacca was familiar with the mentioned people, things and events because he had been in regular contact with Leia despite the galactic distance between them, so he barely interrupted her to ask for elaboration.
But whenever she uttered Ben's name or referred to him as 'son', 'heir' or 'the-man-she-desperately-needed-to-find-in-order-to-conclude-the-deal', the wookiee's grip on his mug tightened and his eyes interrupted the contact he was otherwise keeping pretty well. She couldn't tell whether his reactions were supposed to indicate anger, shame or regret, but something obviously didn't sit well with him.
Thus, she wasn't even surprised or disappointed when he shook his head regretfully after she finished telling him about her visit of Coruscant that had led her to Kashyyyk, and asked him whether he had any notion where the son of Leia Organa might have been. Instead, she fought the urge to place her hands on his to comfort him because it seemed that the tough wookiee was close to tears.
"He gave up the search after Han died." C3PO interpreted the anguished growl Chewbacca squeaked out, using the mead-like beverage to clear his throat. "He didn't have any more strength to resume where they left off and retrace all the clues again."
It was perhaps a tiny straw but Rey had to try it. "Again? Does that mean the clues brought you closer to him? May they be of any help to me?" She asked him, hope lacing her voice.
Maybe whatever Han and Chewbacca had discovered shortly before the late husband of Leia Organa tragically died – at least, she assumed so based on what the wookiee had said because if not, why would there be any thought of resuming where they left off – was old news. But it was still three-year old news which was much better than eight-year and five-year old news which she had at her disposal at the moment.
Chewbacca regarded her for a very long minute as if to asses her worthiness and then he sighed deeply in a way C3PO didn't need to translate. It evidently meant 'Fuck it. There's nothing to lose, anyway.'
"We found him on that day Han died. We found him." The golden droid dutifully interpreted, albeit it sounded that he had to force the words out of his mouth. Once again, he seemed to be more human than any other human Rey had ever met.
"What happened?" She asked the wookiee with unfeigned sympathy. There was no need to ask whether Leia had any idea about it because she clearly didn't know and it seemed that for a very good reason.
"It went wrong as pure accidents usually do." Chewbacca replied with a sad growl, adjusting the bandolier across his chest to employ his hands. "There was no chance to prepare, no way to tread carefully. We were in the middle of pursuing a clue when we suddenly found ourselves face to face with him."
Rey could imagine what exactly could have ensued during such a chance meeting. Emotions of surprise and joy had instantly turned into fear and panic on both sides, albeit for different reasons. The shock had paralyzed them all for a one brief moment. Then, after the shock had wore off, a trigger in a form of a mere gesture or a mere syllable had made it all inevitably fall apart.
"Han only managed to utter his name when it dawned on him that we finally found his son. But Ben recovered fast, turned around and ran away." Chewbacca confirmed her guesses, downing the rest of his mead-like beverage in the wooden cup.
Staring inside as if his long-forgotten memories were on the empty bottom, he fell silent for a long minute. "Even though we lost him in the crowd, we chased after him." He howled slowly, sorrowfully. "That was how we encountered the goons who bore a grudge against Han for so long. It all happened way too fast. Before I could—"
"—I think I get it, Threepio. Thank you." Rey interrupted the droid's translation and ceased to resist the urge to express her compassion, covering the furry ones with her own hands in comfort.
The wookiee looked up at her, his eyes full of genuine gratitude. "Grrgaaggaa." He purred thankfully and even C3PO remained silent because he could see that the lawyer understood what the guttural sound meant.
"No, I thank you, Chewbacca." She protested with a mild smile on her face. Something about this moment between them felt warm and intimate, so she dared to call him by his name and add a bit of affection to it. He didn't seem to mind.
Sobering up, he growled something that was potentially funny to lighten up the strained atmosphere, but C3PO wasn't having any of it. "When you find him, tell him that he's an... profanities are not part of my programming, Miss Rey." He complained much to the amusement of R2D2 whose binary was currently untranslatable, too.
"That's okay, Threepio." Rey cracked a smile and took a swig from her canteen. "I am actually familiar with a couple of words in Shyriiwook so I know what he said."
Putting the canteen back inside her backpack, she tentatively stood up from the chair. "I won't keep you any longer. I should hit the trail and go back before the sun sets." She reasoned logically because she had but a few hours to reach one of the settlements she had passed by earlier, where she could spend the night and continue back to the capital the next morning.
But Chewbacca gently grabbed her wrist, halting her steps at once. He growled something, gesturing wildly, until he hopelessly turned to the holoprojector and asked C3PO to interpret his message. "He's offering you a lift, Miss." The golden droid announced, visibly happy to know that his temporary master would return back soon.
"What kind of lift?" Rey questioned curiously, even though she had no intention to turn the offer down. The jungle trek was nice and all but she had her limits – Force or no Force – and the vision of getting back to the capital much faster than on foot was pleasing to say the least.
Before she could recuperate from the swiftness of the flight preparation, she found herself stuffed inside an old Republic Gunship – a repurposed LAAT which stood for Low Altitude Assault Transport – with a group of other wookiees who either needed to run some errands in the capital or who wished to see the legendary Millennium Falcon once they discovered that it was stationed in the spaceport.
Chewbacca was extremely popular and highly respected amongst his clansmen and they were just as intensively curious about his past. Even if she had intended to refuse his request to visit the spaceship he had used to command with his piloting skills, she couldn't have denied him the joy of being able to show off before his people, his family and his friends.
The flight itself was very comfortable and enjoyable. Once they realized she posed no threat to them, all wookiees were enormously friendly towards her and especially children. Onboard, she befriended a wookiee teenage boy who tried to teach her some sort of a hand game since they could hardly communicate in the same language, with other children giving her advices she didn't understand.
It mattered little because their laughter was the greatest reward to her ears.
Moreover, one of the wookiee women helped her to wash most of the dirt off herself and undid her messed up three-bun hairdo to comb and braid her hair, decorating the finished braids with wooden beads. Rey barely kept her hair down, preferring more practical buns, but the result of the woman's effort – who, as she later learned, was Chewbacca's wife Mallatobuck – was so beautiful that she decided to keep it.
Refreshed and happy, she rather stood at the back when they arrived to the spaceport and her new wookiee friends began to examine the famous spaceship surrounded by legends while Chewbacca rapturously reunited with the droids. However, both were so overwhelmed by such an unexpected – and unannounced, as C3PO didn't omit to point out – onslaught of the furry local that they rather joined Rey instead.
"I'm not going to lie, I was worried about you." The female spaceport custodian approached her with a friendly wink, obviously relieved that Rey stood in front of her safe and sound, and in Chewbacca's company. "But wow, you really found him."
Rey uncrossed her arms and straightened her back. "I can't say it was easy but yeah, I made it. Thank you, again." She expressed her gratitude because without her willingness to disclose Chewbacca's whereabouts, she would have had to leave this beautiful planet without meeting him and that would have been a real shame.
"You know," the woman smacked her lips when she saw a couple of wookiee children waving wildly at Rey from the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon, "when you're bored with all that lawyer life, Kashyyyk seems to be the place that might be perfect for a person like you."
To her, there were only two kinds of people in the Galaxy – those who liked Kashyyyk and kept regularly returning, and those who fell in love with the green planet and decided to stay. The lawyer seemed to be the latter, judging from the way she had handled the local fauna and flora, and had become close with its inhabitants. Kashyyyk was already in her heart, the custodian could tell as much.
"You flatter me." Rey appreciated her offer, internally wondering whether she was about to get a similar proposal on each planet she would visit since practically the same had happened on Coruscant. "I definitely hope to come here again in the future and not just because wookiees are awesome."
With that, the two women parted their ways – the female custodian went back to her business while Rey patiently waited for the wookiees to finish their excursion, sharing her jungle experienced with the two droids by her side.
-Atonement-
She could see the first stars appearing on the darkened sky when the next-to-last of her new friends bid her goodbye and retreated back to the gunship that would take them back to their village. However, she didn't even mind that it had taken so long. Kashyyyk was just as beautiful and magical during the night as it was during the day, but in a completely different way.
Sitting on the ground with the rest of the wookiees around a campfire which was one of the many all around her, eating some sandwiches made out of mouth-watering ingredients and observing the animals such as flame beetles appearing out of the Shadowlands – part the planet that was covered in a dark forest with no natural sunlight – was an experience she would fondly remember until her dying day.
Alas, the time for the goodbye eventually came and when she received a bear hug from Chewbacca, she was close to tears. She had barely gotten any answers on her questions during her time here and she was hardly closer to finding Ben Solo than before her arrival, but she had never felt so at ease and content among a relatively group of total strangers.
It honestly hurt to leave.
"When you find him," Chewbacca growled softly when he pulled away from the tiny body of his new female friend, forsaking all profanities to show that he was serious, "give him this."
Grabbing Rey's hand, he placed something inside her palm and squeezed it as if he was blessing the object with good luck. When she looked at what it was, she instantly recognized the symbol of the Solo family she had seen engraved on the tomb back on Chandrila – a pair of dice, two gold six-sided cubes connected by a golden chain, used in some variant of sabacc game she had once tried to learn.
"Han won the Millennium Falcon from Lando Calrissian thanks to these dice. He considered them to be his lucky charm." C3PO translated the series of clarifying groans since Rey looked nothing short of bewildered. "Ben used to play with them as a kid."
Holding the family heirloom in her hand, Rey felt a new wave of determination surging through her, instantly energizing her. "I will." She balled her hand into a fist and placed it over her heart to make the pledge as solemn as she could. "And if I don't find him, I will make sure that these will return to you."
Chewbacca shook his head with a smile, nodding towards the dice. "Keep them. Han would agree." He concluded the debate with a pat on her shoulder and turned on his heel to go back home.
The End of Chapter 5