Chapter Text
“Rey” A voice seeps in at the edge of where sleep becomes consciousness. It's faint, but definite. Quiet, but sure. “Rey” It calls again, only a hair louder.
She stirs, frowning at the sound of it. Her body doesn’t want to listen.
“Rey,” It echoes in her ears, but it sounds more like a memory. “Wake up.”
Something is touching her neck, just behind her ear. It makes her shiver and she shoos the touch away. She’s ticklish there. Goosebumps rise on her arms and the voice speaks again. “Time to get up, Rey.”
His voice is loud and clear, but still only a gentle whisper, like he’s not actually trying to wake her. Too late. In the darkness of the small hut, resting on a dingy old cot with nothing but a worn blanket to cover her shoulders, Rey opens her eyes to find another pair staring back at her. They are warm with adoration. Ben grins and rubs his thumb softly along the skin behind her ear.
“Good morning.” He says.
“It’s not even morning yet.” She grumbles.
“You asked me to wake you before the first sun rises.” Something in his voice sounds smug. “I’ve already let you sleep in longer than that.”
He’s right. The first sun, the smaller of the two, is peaking over the horizon, giving the world a warmish glow that hasn’t quite reached the other end of the desert. Rey sucks in a sharp breath and yawns. It’s too early.
“Wake me when the second sun--”
“Nope,” He shakes his head. “Time to get up. Let's go.”
“Ben--
“Rey,” He counters. “You wanted to be up early enough to meditate before you went to the market today. I recall getting specific orders to wake you up, no matter what, before the second sun rises.”
Maybe it was his strict jedi training with Luke, maybe it was from working in the First Order for so long, or maybe it was because he no longer needed to sleep, but Ben was unfortunately a morning person. It was a stark contrast to Rey, a chronic night owl. Back on Jakku, the late hours of the evening had always been her favorite time to scavenge; when the sun was lower, the air was cooler, and the stars came out.
It’s been weeks, perhaps months, since the Final Order had been defeated, and Ben had followed Rey to Tatooine. There, she had made herself at home in Luke’s old hut, his home before he was the legendary Luke Skywalker; back when he was just a desert rat, as Rey had once been.
She fell into a rhythm, and having Ben around helped. She spent most of her time restoring the house, and made her money by fixing up old droids or speeders. When she needed a break, she would train with Ben, though there was little left to train for. Sometimes they would spar, sometimes they would just sit together in awareness of the force. Despite how little she possessed, there was always something to be done, always something to keep her busy.
“Just five more minutes.”
He kisses her forehead. “Come on, you can make yourself some caf and it will be finished by the time you’re done with your meditation.”
It’s no use. He’s not a pushover, and he never will be. He is his parents’ son, through and through. If there ever was a man in this galaxy destined to be stubborn, it was to be Han and Leia’s child.
“Fine.” Rey grumbles and rolls out of bed. She folds her sad excuse for a blanket up at the foot of the bed and starts a brew of caf. As she waits, she steps outside. The air is perfect, but soon it will be hot and dry, like she remembers on Jakku. It’s a bittersweet reminder of how far she has come.
After leaving her home planet and seeing just how much green there was in the galaxy, Rey had made plans to someday settle down some place like Takonda, someplace teeming with life. Life has its own way of deciding things. She needed a place to bury Luke and Leia’s sabers, and Luke showed her the way back to his old home. It didn’t feel right to Rey that a home should be left abandoned, so she decided to stay.
“Ready?” Ben’s voice breaks through her train of thoughts. He appears next to her, his figure growing faint as the second sun begins to rise.
“Ready.” She says.
“Lets begin.”