Chapter Text
“Ben? Are you still with us?”
The image doubled in the eyes of sleepy padawan. There was a gentle, soothing voice on the background, it echoed off Ben's mind almost inaudibly. What was that voice trying to explain to him and to the rest of the class? Ben Solo didn't know. All of a sudden his eyelids felt unbearably heavy, and transparisteel surface of his desk appeared to be suspiciously soft. The figure of his master no longer seemed so clear. Now it was more of a white silhouette... and this silhouette turned out to be standing exactly in front of him.
“Ben?”
The voice became sterner. Ben blinked a few times and tried to drive the drowsy haze away from his eyes. Mysterious light silhouette started to take a familiar shape.
“BEN!”
“Ah?” The dark-haired padawan had finally returned to reality. The class was filled with unkind chuckles.
When did he manage to doze off? And, more importantly, what did his uncle want from him?
“I'm sorry. What did you say?” The chuckles intensified. Ben's ears had turned bright red.
Luke tried to hide the dissatisfaction in his voice. “I asked you, who was the Supreme Chancellor at the beginning of the Naboo Crisis?”
“Finis Valorum,” Ben snapped immediately. History had always been one of his strong sides.
The face expression of his teacher — and concurrently uncle — had slightly softened. Luke nodded approvingly and continued the lecture, not wanting to focus on the incident. For this, Ben was grateful to him. But the laughter, albeit now considerably calmed down, hadn't stopped.
What a loser!
Elroy Sankard's face broke into a nasty smile.
Of course. This one would never miss a chance to make fun of you. Especially if you are Ben Solo.
Ben could feel that scornful gaze with his back. But, for the first time since he could remember, there was no strength left for anger. He hadn't been sleeping for almost three days. Ever since Ben arrived at the Jedi Academy a month ago, his nightmares had intensified. All he could think about now was that creepy voice which had been haunting him in his dreams and driving him crazy every night. Elroy and his friends were the least of the problems.
Ben's eyelids stuck together. He needed to meditate. Urgently. And it doesn't matter he would miss the dinner. It doesn't matter Elroy and his gang would have a new reason to belittle him. The main thing was that he must survive this lesson, get out of this doshin' class and—
“Ignore them,” the voice came from another side of the desk, “they'll make some noise and forget.”
“You say this every time. They'll make some noise and forget. Yeah. Until I screw up again.”
Ben's deskmate rolled her eyes and smiled wearily.
Liana was the only person Ben rightfully considered his friend. At times it seemed like the heart of this small twi'lek was actually made of gold. The only problem was that, unlike him, she was an important part of the class — she had her own group of friends, her own place at the dining table in the cafeteria. Surely Ben could exchange a few words with her during their theoretical lessons, like history or basics of the Force, but Kwath knows that was not enough.
After a long pause, Liana shrugged. “All the same, your lightsaber fight skills are way better than theirs.”
This remark made Ben genuinely smile. For the first time in a week? Maybe in two weeks? He could not remember. “Well, it's nice to know I'm not that worthless.”
***
“Back into Morpheus' arms, big ears Ben?”
A small glade covered with pinkish-emerald fragrant grass was filled with Sankard's and his devoted company mocking laughter. And, judging by the fact they had returned back from dinner, Ben had been sitting here in vain attempts of finding the inner peace for at least half an hour.
“It's called meditation!”
Of course, Ben was aware that one should not pay attention to such stuff since the reaction would only provoke those bantha heads — his uncle told him all about it — but he just couldn't help himself. Anger and resentment were those emotions he had long ago forgotten how to restrain. When you sleep three hours a day (if you're lucky, of course) and wake up from another nightmare, covered in cold sweat, your nervous system won't thank you.
Fortunately, Elroy was clearly not in the mood to continue his mocking today, so after releasing another caustic comment about the size of Ben's ears the brown-haired boy and his three friends headed toward the exit from the garden, never stopping to scoff.
Probably were just passing by. Ben threw a light-gray hood of his padawan robe over his head. Only a lazy person hadn't yet mocked this detail of his appearance. Against the background of his prominent ears, even his disproportionately long limbs didn't seem to be such a strange feature. But what could he possibly do? It wasn't his fault that by good fortune he got the recessive gene of his great-grandfather.
“I like your ears!”
Ben gasped in surprise. A little girl stretched out on the grass behind him.
When did she manage to appear?
“R-really?”
“Yeah.” She continued to look at him, her head thrown back. The smile on her face didn't seem derisive at all.
Communication had always been something far away from Ben. But communication with children... something beyond his world outlook. Since the moment he arrived at the academy he preferred to ignore all the younglings. Something particularly unsociable awakened within him and hovered over his head with a dark cloud every time a younger student approached him. And now, when one of those tiny creatures was nearby and, additionally, complimented him, Ben was seriously confused.
The girl obviously didn't share his feeling of anxiety.
“I'm Rey,” she held her little hand out to Ben enthusiastically, still lying on the grass and looking up at him.
There was such a powerful stream of Light coming from the girl that Ben simply couldn't ignore her. Rey's signature in the Force was colossal. How did he manage to miss her approach?
He squeezed her tiny hand warily. “I'm Ben.”
“I know. You're master Luke's nephew.”
Oh, right. Of course, she knows.
There was awkward silence. Ben continued to sincerely hope that the girl would soon lose interest in him and leave, and he would finally be able to sigh with relief. Although this youngling seemed much more benevolent and, to Ben's sudden surprise, much younger than those he had seen before, the feeling of discomfort and some inexplicable awkwardness at the sight of the child didn't leave him.
When Rey finally got up from the ground and began to shake the sticky grass off her tunic, Ben was ready to exhale in relief. But her next question caught him off guard.
“Can I meditate with you?”
Older padawan's eyes had visibly widened. Ben was never good at concealing emotions but right in that moment he didn't even try to hide his utter amazement.
“Meditate? With me?” He arched his brow.
The girl shook her head positively forcing her three bizarre chestnut buns to bounce amusingly. What a weird hairstyle.
“You know how to?”
“No.” The tiny thing smiled radiantly, revealing her front teeth — two of them were missing.
Her childishly illogical train of thought made Ben chuckle. Still, his plans didn't include extracurricular activities with youngling, so he made an attempt to hush the topic up.
“Meditation takes time. Aren't you afraid your friends will start looking for you?”
“No, they won't.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. I...” her chubby cheeks twitched slightly, “I have no friends.”
“Oh. And what about your roommates?”
The smile began to slowly evaporate from Rey's face. She bit her lower lip guiltily. It was only now that Ben realized he had apparently touched a vulnerable topic.
“They almost don't talk to me, they think I'm too little.” In a moment, that vigorous, smiling girl started to fade. The corners of Rey's mouth dropped, her eyes began to gradually fill with unnatural luster. Ben wished the ground would've opened under him (for the second time this day). The sight of glistening hazel eyes made his heart sink. He ruined everything again. Nothing new here, though.
However, what would he lose? He had already skipped the dinner. The classes were over for today. His training session with Luke would start only in a couple of hours, in the late afternoon. So...
What was the girl's name again?
“Rey?” The little one turned her gaze to the older padawan, there was a spark of hope in her shiny eyes. “Well then, if you have time...”
Ben patted the grass beside him.
He didn't have to repeat twice. The next second this little rocket was sitting in the indicated place, mirroring the posture of her newly acquired mentor.
“Do you have classes yet?”
“Well,” she bit her lower lip again. It seems like this gesture could now be considered her little bad habit. “I attend older students' classes... but so far I'm just a listener. Master Luke says that next year he will put me in the Junior group and I'll be studying with everyone else.”
So, he was right. Rey was indeed younger than the kids he had seen here before.
“Then how old are you?”
“I'm five.” Sitting in the lotus position little fidget was rocking back and forth. It was obviously hard for her to sit still.
“Didn't your parents send you here a little earlier than necessary? I thought un— master Luke only accepts students from the age of seven.”
“Master Luke brought me here himself,” she frowned, as if trying to recall something very important. “But my parents will visit me soon!”
She continued to babble something about her parents. However, Ben wasn't listening anymore. Rey's previous words echoed in his mind.
“Wa— Wait a minute! Master Luke brought you here himself? And your parents let you go? With a stranger? Just like that?”
“No, not with a stranger. Master Luke introduced himself.” Rey obviously didn't understand the absurdity of the situation. Besides, she was clearly unsatisfied with the fact that Ben interrupted her storytelling. So this time he decided not to push.
It's better to change the subject.
“Okay, meditation is clearly not your thing.” Rey's rocking made Ben feel dizzy. He put his hand on girl's back to steady her. “How about edible/inedible?”
Her eyes lit up with a genuine excitement and, before he could blink, Rey rushed to the temple to bring the ball.
If it was due to his half an hour attempt of finding the inner peace, or due to the communication with that Light girl — Ben had no idea. But he had never ever felt greater inflow of energy.
