Chapter Text
Rey stands in the desolate landscape; there was nothing for miles in all directions.
Where am I?
She looks to the left. Not too far from her overturned AT-AT. Then to the right, there is a place she does not recognize off in the distance. A sprawling cityscape with tall buildings sits at the forefront of her vision. It’s nothing she has ever seen before.
Where?
Her voice echoes in her head, confused.
Rey’s vision returns to the center and she sees a man standing with his back turned towards her. He’s tall and dressed in a long black robe made of velvet. She just knows it’s made out of velvet.
Idiot. Who wears that in this heat?
The man begins to move; he’s walking away. Rey knows how this will go. She wouldn’t be surprised to find a richly dressed core-worlder dead in the dunes on a scavenging run. She sees the man beginning to sway. Just wrong footing, she tells herself. Then he stumbles a little more dangerously, like two days on one ration dangerous.
Go on, she can imagine her master’s voice saying. In the firm but slightly amused tone, he used when she hesitated in helping her sparring partner up after she thoroughly whooped them.
Just as she moves to take a step forward the man falls to his knees. Rey breaks into a run only to fall flat on her face after her first step. The air is knocked out of her lungs leaving her reeling for a moment. Kriff. Looking to her foot she sees it trapped in sand. The irritating grain coiling around her ankle and up to her calf. Panic sets in. The sand and heat were entirely too abrasive, ironically so was she.
Clawing her hands into the sand, desperately searching for a handhold, a rock, anything. Rey turns her focus back to the velvet-clad man. He wasn’t alone anymore. A dark figure appeared in front of the kneeling man. It’s arm outstretched and level with his head.
All goes silent. Whatever desert wind that blew no longer made a sound. It felt like the world slowed and a message passed through this moment in space and time. A low gravelly voice reverberates off the dunes.
That does not belong to you.
The dark figure stiffens. The sandy ground beneath her starts to tremble. Rey can only watch as the figure retracts its arm. Turning what she can only now assume is a blaster to its head. A gasp escapes her throat as the shot went off and a cacophony of voices fills her ears. A rush of emotion accompanying the shrill chorus.
A feeling.
Fear.
A name.
Ben.
Rey jolts awake at the sound of her canteen falling to the ground. Startled from sleep she tries to ground herself and move her legs, only to find them tangled in the thin sheet she slept under. The thin linen coiled around her leg similarly to the sand. That explains it. A dream. One of many. She often dreams of her old home on Jakku. A childish notion of going to see if they ever came back for her. She doesn’t want to think of the answer. But this new location is a surprise. Sometimes she dreamt only of the desert or the forests surrounding the temple. She’s never seen durasteel buildings before. The man is also a cause for concern. She’s used to being alone in her dreams.
Her musing ends when she hears the murmur of voices coming in from her window. The sun streaming in telling her everything she needed to know.
“Shit!”
Rey scrambles out of her cot throwing on her robes as quickly as she is able. The humid air of Yavin IV making her uncomfortably warm under her new robes. Already late, her hair is a lost cause. She combs half of it, tying it back and leaving the rest to hang loose. Her first official day as a knight and she’s late and a mess.
In an attempt to not draw more attention to herself at the gathering of her fellow knights she lingers in the shadows. It would not be all that unusual, her hiding out in the back out of sight. Though, it seems, Master Luke had other ideas.
“Thank you for joining us, Knight Rey,” Luke announces loudly.
The group of remaining knights shifted to look at her. Rey’s mouth flattened into a line and exhaled an annoyed sigh. Luke enjoyed picking on her since she was young. He said it built character or something along those lines. Rey knows it’s just his way to make her feel noticed. A part of something. Bowing her head awkwardly she makes her way towards Finn. The only other person she feels close enough to.
“Busy night?” He jokes, nudging her with his elbow.
Rey just grunts in response.
“Well, good morning to you too,” he whispers.
“If we may begin?” Luke looked at his youngest knights pointedly.
The pair, mainly Finn, hush up as Luke doles out the assignments. History lessons for the newest of the younglings, meditation for others, and beginners combat for the oldest. Luke’s personal comm device interrupts him. His face, which normally held a serene kindness, turns strangely neutral.
“Rey-- combat. Finn-- history,” He dashes out to answer his comm.
“Joy of joys,” Rey mutters.
“What? You're the best teacher they could possibly get. Better than Aris over there.”
He gestures to a purple Nautolan that was once Rey’s old sparring partner. Ever since Rey bested Aris, the two had an everlasting feud.
“Leave her be,” Rey says with a small smile. “At least I don’t have to figure out how to keep kids awake during those excruciating Holocron lectures.”
“Hey! Finn exclaims. “I have revolutionized these lessons!”
He throws an arm around her shoulders, which causes Rey to involuntarily stiffen just for a moment. Rey hopes he doesn’t notice and to Finn’s credit, he pretends not to as he walks with her towards the training grounds. Rey will always be thankful for that.
“I have developed a method for maximum memory retention,” he says while gesturing as if it were there.
A tight smile grows on Rey’s face. “I have utter faith in your abilities, my friend.”
Finn laughs. As they approach the training grounds at the base of the Pyramid the pair separate and bid each other farewell-- letting the day’s tasks commence.
The name Ben kept ringing in her ears. While Rey is often a vivid dreamer, this one is something else. Her dreams are quiet. Just her thoughts. Things she tucked away. The specter is the only other companion in her subconscious and she’s sure it is something she wants to come back.
No, don’t think of that.
“Ow!”
Rey’s focus comes back lightning-quick, seeing a young Twi’lek boy flying ten feet back. She can hear Aris praising the other youngling’s form as she walks over to lend him a hand up. The kid got knocked back pretty hard because the mud was caked on to his thin robes and there is a small trail where his legs sat. Rey reaches out a hand and the child eagerly accepts.
“You good?” She asks.
“I think so.” The boy says, his voice small. He is a waifish thing, thin and bony arms. Like her some time ago.
“Hold your ground next time. Anchor your feet into the earth,” She demonstrates the stance. “Anchor your feet into the earth, use the Force to hold you in place.”
The boy nods, mimicking her stance. Rey turns her focus on the young human youngling. A smug little smile on his face.
“Today is about forms only-- why would you think it’s alright to launch another student?” she demands.
The boy’s smile vanished, obviously not knowing how to respond after receiving praise from Aris.
“He saw an opportunity and took it. In order to be a competent warrior-”
“You don’t need your opponent flying through the air on their first day of basic combat,” Rey all but shouts.
“I mean, you did.” Aris crosses her arms and releases a frustrated sigh. “And if you were actually on time you would’ve heard that we were to gauge the younglings abilities. Force! Would it kill you to pay attention for once?”
Rey flashes a dazzling smile. “Why Aris, as you so kindly reminded me, I was late. So, how could I possibly pay attention?” She flutters her eyes for effect.
“Switch off,” Aris huffs. “I can’t possibly imagine why Master Luke let you go through the trials.”
Rey almost voices the same question when she hears someone cough behind them. The sparring boys stand at attention.
“That’s not for you to decide Aris.” Master Luke’s voice sends a twinge down her spine.
Great. Late. Out of it. And caught fighting. Kriffing great.
“Master…” Aris splutters, embarrassed.
Luke ignores her and makes his way to the younglings.
“While today was about getting a feel for your abilities, it was mainly about understanding basic forms,” he says crouching and gesturing to the boys to get closer. “There was no need to show such force on someone that is still learning.”
“Sorry, Master.” The boy hangs his head in shame.
“I’m not the one to be sorry to.” Luke stands to his full height.
The human turns to the Twi’lek. “I’m sorry. Are you ok?”
“Yeah,” the Twi’lek boy’s face lights up. “Want to try again?”
The human boy smiles and nods enthusiastically and the pair returns to their positions.
“Good! Aris, could you watch them please? Rey. Walk with me.”
Rey side-eyes Aris. Aris is attempting to hide her annoyance, but the scowl on her full lips gets the better of her. Rey rolls her eyes and jogs to catch up to Luke.
“Care to explain what's going on with you today?” Luke asks as he observes the forest round the Praxeum.
“You know Aris gets set off easy,” Rey grumbles.
“If I could get her to let go of that petty feud from your padawan days I would, but that is an obstacle for her to overcome. Just as it is yours to stop egging her on,” He says stepping in front of her to ensure their eyes meet.
Rey hangs her head, breaking the contact to look anywhere else.
“I’ll be honest Rey, it’s not a good look. Luke sighs. “Your tardiness, the absent-mindedness. Today was your first day to show yourself as a leader.”
“I know I know. It is unbecoming of a knight,” Rey bites out.
Luke’s eyes soften. “There’s always tomorrow.”
That mentality will get you killed on Jakku.
“You can tell me what’s going on in there,” he says gesturing to his temple. “It’s okay to be nervous about your new position.
“Like you're so open about your issues,” Rey shoots back.
Luke just stares, unbothered by her hard demeanor. He’s had years to get used to it.
“A dream. One that felt so real I think I levitated objects. I never felt something like it. Or heard voices like that.”
Luke cocks his head at that. “Heard? Heard who?”
“I don’t know, but it made the ground shake. R’iia it felt so real. And…” She trails off.
“And?” Luke prods.
“Ben,” she whispers. “There was a name. Ben .”
Luke’s face drains of color.
Sparing no detail, Rey recounts the entirety of her dream.
“You know why I don’t share my problems?” Luke asks rhetorically.
Rey just looks at him expectantly.
“They always involve family,” He continues.
Rey’s face hardens ever so slightly.
Ah. Family.
Her thoughts are venomous.
“I need to go make some calls, kid,” Luke says, turning to make his way back to the temple. “I will speak to you later, return to your duties.”
Rey nods and watches her master leave. Finally, alone, she leans up against a tree.
What did it all mean?
Not inclined to spend the remainder of her day with Aris, she sets off to go find Finn.
As Finn replaces the last of the Holocrons in Praxeum's library, he sits down to take a look through his notes. Master Skywalker tasked him with the creation of history lessons for the young padawans. Today’s lessons went well. His students responded well to his new memory aids and only one fell asleep. They can’t all be winners, but most of them did well and he released them early for a scavenger hunt around the temple. He hoped he was doing well. For his students. For himself. As he learned and taught the story of the great past of the Jedi he longed to remember his own.
“Hey, you!” Rey pops her head in through the stone doorway.
Thankful for her presence, Finn smiles. Focus on now. Rey steps in, settling on the table in the center of the room.
“Hey. You finished early today,” he says, placing a datapad into his satchel.
“More of a personal choice, really,” Rey says with a crooked smile. “Luke caught me having a bit of a row with my Nautolan friend.”
“Oh, really ?” Finn feigns shock.
“She started it.”
“I’m sure she did, but you just had to finish it,” he chuckles.
“As any good Jedi should,” Rey says, sticking her nose in the air.
Rey changes the subject, and Finn dives into a recap of his history lessons.
“Told you so, those old masters--while incredibly wise--are also kriffing dull.”
But it was only one!” He insists. “That’s gotta count for something?”
Rey smiles. They fall into a comfortable silence for a moment. Then Rey sobers.
“Luke told me off today.”
“Today was the start of something new. That’s kind of important to show up for,” Finn responds.
“I know! It’s just, change is. . .” she stops herself. “I am used to having only myself to be responsible for. Now, I have the next generation of Jedi to help. It’s a lot.”
Finn sighs. He understands. That fear of failure; he’s felt it, before just no memory of when.
“I feel like there’s more to this. What brought this on?” he asks.
“Last night I had a dream.”
Finn nods. “Okay, nothing out of the ordinary there.”
“No, it was strange,” Rey says, without losing an ounce of her seriousness. “The voices I heard. The emotions. I was stuck watching a man almost get killed. It was like I was watching it happen in real-time.”
Finn shudders. His dreams are never that vivid. They always seem to have a filter on top of them, blurring the shapes.
“Did you tell Luke?” he asks.
“Yes,” she replies.
“What did he say?” Finn crosses his arms. Getting Rey to tell a whole story is like pulling teeth.
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?” Finn echoes.
She nods and pushes herself off the table. “Guess part of being a Jedi knight is figuring out my own mystic bullshit.”
Finn snorts.
“I don’t believe he just listened and walked away,” Finn says, throwing his satchel over his shoulder.
“Obviously not, he said the reasons that he doesn’t talk about his problems is because they involve family and would speak to me later.”
Finn scrunches up his face. “Okay, weird. Maybe you can catch him at supper.”
Rey opens her mouth to reply only to be muted by the low drone of a horn signaling mealtime. Her stomach lets out a growl mimicking the horn.
“Didn’t realize we’ve been chatting for so long,” Rey grimaces. “I hope Aris didn’t scar my younglings.”
Finn lets out a laugh. “Let’s go and find out.”
The pair quickly make their way to the mess hall. Rey hopes she can catch Luke at dinner. This time she’s not letting him leave with unanswered questions.