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Finn held on to his irritation until the deal had been struck. The long fingers of the gaunt, pale Pau’an representative danced over the pad, which emitted a satisfying beep after a few seconds.
“So we are agreed,” the tall Pau’an said in barely accented Basic as he returned the pad to Finn. His red-rimmed eyes looked tired, but satisfied, and the smile he flashed looked less terrifying than it should have with the fangs that bracketed his mouth. “We will begin transporting the medicines and water purifiers to Ajan Kloss immediately, and you will allow us to harvest as much of the Soran palms as we are able in order to complete our research.”
“Take as many as you want.” Finn swept a hand in the air. “We can’t eat the fruit and the bark irritates Human skin. And Wookie skin, come to think of it.” He recalled Chewie growling in discomfort after accidentally brushing up against the bark of the squat, yellow-fringed trees. “So you’re welcome to them.”
“Our scientists believe the sap of the Soran palm may hold the key to a cure for a persistent and disfiguring skin ailment among our young,” said the representative. “We had been purchasing Soran palms at inflated prices from a merchant on the Sarkan homeworld, but we much prefer doing business with you.” There was a pause. “And we much revered General Organa and grieve with you over her loss.”
Finn swallowed a sudden lump in his throat, and nodded. The negotiations had drawn to a close. He murmured a final thank you and address of farewell in Utapese, which the representative returned with solemn grace.
“Do you need transport to your ship?” The representative was looking in the direction where the Falcon lay waiting.
Finn considered the distance, and sighed.
“No thank you. I feel like walking.”
The representative said nothing, but bowed his head in acknowledgment and called out to a droid to summon a land speeder that would take him back to his offices.
Finn watched the man go and then with another sigh, began his walk to the Falcon, the irritation giving way to a stronger emotion. He hoped he’d be able to walk it out by the time he got back to the ship.
And Rey.
BB-8 greeted him with a series of excited interrogative beeps upon Finn’s appearance on the gangplank. Finn was a little tired and a bit sweaty, but the walk to the ship had cleared his head a little and he smiled at the little droid.
“Yeah, it went well. These are nice people. I don’t even think they look that scary. Just different, is all.”
BB-8 chirped another question and Finn shook his head.
“No, we won’t have to wait very long. They’re going to send things right away. They may be at Ajan Kloss before we are.”
He swung into the galley and grabbed a ration bar and ate it dry. He could hear noises coming from the area of the cockpit. He knew Rey had to know he’d returned and that he was taking his time in going to her. He wasn’t sure how to feel about that, but as he munched his meal, he felt the tiredness starting to settle in. He just wanted to get back to Ajan Kloss, back to the little cabin that he’d claimed as his, and back to ... whatever one could call this quiet period in the cleanup after Exegol.
Finn sighed, brushed his hands on his pants, and went into the cockpit. Rey was there, looking over a printed stellar cartography chart, though he had a feeling just by the way her fingers were curled around the pages that she wasn’t really reading it.
“Hey,” he said softly, to her back.
Rey raised her head and swung round in the chair.
“Hey.” She scratched the side of her face in a nervous gesture. “You’re back quicker than I thought you’d be.”
“Didn’t take long. They were more than willing to work with us.” Finn paused. “Dr. Kalonia should be pleased with what we got, and we’ll be able to increase the supply of drinkable water, too. And all it cost us are some trees that make us itch and that have people running to the freshers if they eat the fruit.”
“Finn, that’s wonderful.” Rey’s voice was warm. “You’re a natural negotiator.”
He looked at her. “Yeah, well, glad you seemed to change your mind about that in the past few hours.”
The light in Rey’s eyes went out and she glanced away.
“Finn, I’m sorry about that.” She looked at him quickly, but looked away again. “I shouldn’t have tried to take over the negotiations. You had them in hand. I just thought ... I guess I was just surprised ...”
Finn felt the anger welling up again and he tamped it down. This was Rey, after all. His friend. Someone for whom he could admit in his private hours he felt even more than friendship. But they had to have this out. This had to be discussed.
“What? That I speak a language other than Basic?”
He glared at her, remembering how, when they’d approached the Pau’an representative and Finn had used a standard greeting of welcome in Utapese, Rey had blurted, “How did you know that? How do you understand what he’s saying?!”
To her credit, she’d blushed red hot with embarrassment when Finn and the representative had turned to stare at her, and after murmuring a greeting herself, stood quiet as a Clawmouse, deciding to head back to the Falcon when it seemed that her presence would be superfluous. Finn hadn’t asked her to leave and he hadn’t really wanted her to, but she could barely look at him after her outburst and he thought it might be just as well.
Rey was silent. Finn grimaced and continued.
“Or that I know something about Pau’an customs? That just like you’re not the only person in the Resistance who has the Force, you’re not the only person in the Resistance that has some knowledge of alien cultures?”
Rey looked at him then. “I do know that I’m not the only person who has knowledge of alien cultures, I just didn’t think ...”
She trailed off and Finn shook his head, understanding now.
“Oh I get it. You just didn’t think a former stormtrooper would be one of those people.”
Rey didn’t respond, but her eyes said it all. Finn sighed and sat down in the co-pilot’s seat. All he wanted, now, was to get home. Ajan Kloss was home for the time being, though he was starting to think that maybe he needed to make plans about that, too.
“Let’s get back,” he said dully, looking out at the bright atmosphere of Utupau. “We got what we came for.”
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Rey nod and begin the steps for their departure. Finn gave a last fond look at the Utupaun landscape, seeing the edges of the noted Sinkhole Crassnah in the distance as they gained altitude.
It wasn’t until they’d cleared the planet and had jumped to hyperspeed that Rey spoke again.
“Finn.” Her voice was soft. “I’m sorry.”
Finn let out a long sigh. “Yeah.”
“I am. Really.” Rey paused. “We met more than a year ago. We’ve had so many adventures together since then. But ... I guess I don’t really know you, do I? Not like a good friend should.”
Finn said nothing, but he sensed she had more to say and felt he should let her get it out before jumping in again.
“I’d like to know you.” Her voice was shy. “I know I’ve asked a lot of you: to understand why I pushed you away so much this past year, to understand what happened with Pal- ... with my ... my grandfather and me on Exegol. I keep asking for your understanding and hoping that you’ll give it to me. You’ve never asked me for mine, and I realize you should never have had to."
He glanced downward. There was nothing to say, really. She was right, and some part of him felt no small amount of satisfaction that finally, she was getting it.
'Will you give me that chance?" asked Rey. "To really know you? All of you?”
Finn turned his head slowly to look at her. He couldn’t read into her inflection, but something about the way she said those last words made his insides vibrate pleasantly. Her eyes were liquid and luminous in the light of the starlines and he could read the patient hopefulness in her face.
“I’d like that,” he said. “I’d like that a lot.”
Rey smiled and reached for his hand. “Maybe we can start with how many languages you know?”
Finn hesitated for a moment. “Um ... seventeen.”
Rey reeled back in her chair. Behind them, BB-8 gave a long, appreciative whistle.
“Seventeen?!”
“Cadets were given an aptitude test at around 5 or 6 standard years,” said Finn. “I scored high on languages. Even though the First Order was not about peaceful methods of conquest, they felt it was good to have troopers able to speak the languages of as many species as possible so we’d be able to eavesdrop on plans and discover whether a population pledged to the First Order was planning an uprising. Languages have always been easy for me. I was supposed to learn Binary, too, but just never got around to it until I met BB-8.”
Finn smiled over his shoulder at a proud chirruping sound from the small droid.
“Yeah, for sure. You’ve been a great teacher, buddy.”
“Seventeen ... wow.” Rey blinked many times. “I ... I feel like a complete kriffhead now.”
“It’s all right. You can make it up to me by letting me press this button.” His hand hovered over a golden button near the main nav. “I’ve been dying to do it for ages. It just ... calls to me. Maybe it's the Force drawing me to it?”
Rey sat straight up and reached out a hand to stop him. “Finn, no! Don't touch -”
He sat back in his chair and laughed until he thought he’d choke.
“Oh Maker, the look on your face! Rey, I know that button ejects the power core. Of course I’d never press it ... unless we had a dual-line rupture or something.”
Rey was eyeing him with a mixture of amusement and annoyance.
“You’re going to be teasing me the entire way home, aren’t you?”
His face was the picture of innocence. “You said you wanted to get to know all of me.”
Finn’s eyes twinkled, and he felt happier than he had in days. He really wanted to talk to Rey about serious things in their quest to truly know each other, but he figured that the sooner she came to know the mischievous side of him, the better.
the end