Chapter Text
Rey Kenobi-Kryze was born to unloving parents. Both saw a daughter as a handicap. A son would be needed to continue the current line of rulers in Mandalore. As soon as she was born and her parents were told that they had a beautiful baby girl, the prince and princess left her to the care of nurses and nannies and had very little to do with her. Had it not been for her loving grandparents, King Obi-Wan Kenobi and his wife Queen Satine Kryze, Rey may not have survived infancy.
On her third birthday, the unknowing, happy child was all but put up for sale by her power-hungry parents. In their opinion, the only thing a daughter was good for was brokering peace between kingdoms. They entertained royalty from all over. Their search was thorough. All they wanted was for their daughter to bring power and prestige to Mandalore. If they hurt her in the process, they showed no remorse.
Her grandfather King Obi-Wan, realizing that the council of elders in Mandalore would follow whatever his precious granddaughter’s parents arranged for her and knowing there was no way for him to reverse this process now that it had been started, began seeking someone himself to betroth her to. They were getting far too friendly with the Palpatines in Coruscant and the Plutts of Jakku. Neither choice boded well for Mandalore or Rey. Thankfully, he had been good friends with the king of a neighboring kingdom for many years, and he knew the council of elders would be foolish to accept Coruscant or Jakku over Alderaan. It had been the dearest wish of the monarchs of Alderaan and Mandalore for many years to unite their kingdoms one day. And, as luck would have it, King Bail had a grandson.
The crown prince of Alderaan Ben Solo was a young man of thirteen who was already developing a reputation for being a skilled negotiator and fighter. He was his parents’ and kingdom’s pride. The only thing about him that gave Obi-Wan reason to fret was his age. He was nearly ten years Rey’s senior. With that kind of age difference, the elders of both Alderaan and Mandalore may cause trouble early on. Having made note of his only concern, he nervously contacted the ruling family of Alderaan. Within a month, the betrothal was arranged. At the tender age of three, Rey was engaged to be married. What she was being forced into broke old Kenobi’s heart, but at least he knew that Prince Ben was a much better choice than the arrogant princes of Coruscant or Jakku.
Rey’s parents were, unfortunately, not as happy with the arrangement as Obi-Wan was. They had made a scene when the council sided with Obi-Wan’s choice. For the next three years, they made it their personal goal in life to make Rey into an unhappy, mindless princess. She was taught to follow orders without question, to dress like she was better than everyone, to behave like she was better than everyone. They were the ones who spitefully told her at five years old that she was engaged. Rey did not understand what that meant at the time, but she, from what they had told her, did understand that it meant that they were giving her away. Her only escape from her cruel parents came in the form of her grandparents and the many teachers that her grandparents hired to educate her.
In his frustration with his daughter-in-law and son’s increasingly arrogant behavior, Obi-Wan brought them before the council of elders and disinherited them, making Rey the one who was next in line for the throne – after she was married. They fought it for a time, but eventually they gave up and left. Their daughter was not even on the list of things they wanted to take with them. Regardless of how they treated her, she cried and pleaded with them to stay with her, but they abandoned her there with her nannies and tutors.
The year she turned eight was the year she learned exactly what her parents had done that her grandfather could not reverse. The laws of the land made it so that once it was done, there was no changing it.
“So I really am engaged?” Rey cried out in anger. She had marched into the library and demanded to see her grandparents. “And you really can’t do anything to stop this?”
Obi-Wan shared a pained look with his wife. At least he could comfort her with the fact that she was engaged to someone who was known for being a good man. “My dear, I cannot begin to tell you how awful I feel that you have been forced into this. But I can promise you this, Prince Ben is a wonderful young man. I have known his family a long time. This was the best option. If I had not brought them into this, your parents would have accepted the offer from the ruling family of some other kingdom. Trust me, their favorite options would have been dreadful choices.”
“So you were involved?” Rey’s anger was boiling over by now. Tears were coursing down her face.
“My child, I got involved to protect you. If I had not, you may already be married to whoever your parents’ choice was. The council of elders in some kingdoms can be very strange that way. Queen Leia of Alderaan will not allow you to be married so young. She will ensure that it waits until you are old enough.”
“But you know the traditions behind this. I am not allowed to meet him or communicate with him between now and the morning of the wedding. I won’t know anything about him until after the ceremony. This is unfair!” Mandalore had some very stringent rules that were placed on any princess. Rey knew most all of them at this point. When she learned of those that surrounded marriage, she swore she would never agree to an arranged marriage. That was how she learned that she was for sure already betrothed. Up until that point, she thought it was a cruel joke her parents had played on her.
Rey’s grandparents collected their heartbroken granddaughter and carried her to her room where they let her cry it out. All they could hope was that the elders would not push for traditions to be upheld. A fear which came to light on her twelfth birthday.
On the day she turned twelve, Rey woke scared. The elders had been hinting for the last year that she should be approaching womanhood and that it was time for her to marry. Her grandparents had sworn that Queen Leia would protect her from this. She felt sick to her stomach. When her grandfather returned home the following day, he came straight to her room with good news.
“I told you I made a good choice. You are safe.”
Rey let out a cry of relief. The elders were not going to force marriage on her right now. “How did you do it, Grandfather? Did Queen Leia help?”
He chuckled and smiled at her. “Actually, Leia and I did nothing but sit there. Prince Ben was the one who advocated for you. He called them all old pigs for forcing this on a child. He was adamant that it should not happen now.”
A great well of gratitude sprang up in Rey for her intended. Her grandfather surely was right. Prince Ben was proving himself to be a good man. From that day on, she listened for any news coming from Alderaan about the prince. Everything she heard made her a little more comfortable with what she would one day be forced into. In fact, it was safe to say that as time slipped on, she slowly developed a deep and genuine fondness for this man she had never met.
She soon learned, however, that the council of elders would stop at nothing. Every year on her birthday, they would pick the same fight citing the need for security for both kingdoms and an heir to the throne. She would go to bed each night for the whole week afraid that she would be told she was getting married when she awoke the next day. But every year, her grandfather would come in her room and tell her the same thing.
“I spoke with your betrothed. Prince Ben is on your side. He won’t let the council force this on you. Too much has been forced on you already.” One year her grandfather had even stated that Prince Ben was trying to have some of the more ridiculous laws overturned. Among those laws were the ones that required them to not meet until the wedding day. He apparently wished to meet her before then.
As the years passed, she grew more confident in her grandfather’s choice for her. Prince Ben was the best thing that had happened to her so far, outside her loving grandparents.
On the year of her sixteenth birthday, her fears took on a new form. The council convened as usual to attempt to force her marriage to Prince Ben. This year, however, he came to only one meeting. The council had decided to not allow him to speak and had made it clear that he was not to even be admitted to the meeting chamber at all the rest of the week. They were going to force the marriage that year. As usual, Obi-Wan had spoken to him the night before the council convened about Rey’s fears and age. The day after he was barred from the council meeting, the prince was nowhere to be found. They searched for him for months with no word on his location. Rey cried herself to sleep when the news came in. Her mysterious protector had vanished into thin air. Just like her parents, he had left her. What would happen to her without him around to hold the council at bay?
She was allowed until her eighteenth birthday to “grieve” her loss. That day, the elders met again to announce what they were going to do about the engagement. Obi-Wan came to her room looking tired.
“They mean to still have you marry into the royal family of Alderaan. If Prince Ben does not return by your twentieth birthday, you will be married the next day to his adopted brother Poe Dameron.”
Rey cried fresh tears that night over her lost fiancé. Unlike Prince Ben, she had met Poe face-to-face, and she could care less for him. Sure, he could be a good friend. He was handsome and, unfortunately, behaved like he knew it. He was fiercely loyal and very kind, but he was also very arrogant and hotheaded. She had heard that many times Queen Leia had given him orders, and he had simply done things his way. It always cost Alderaan. She did not wish to be with him because that would put her and her own people in Mandalore at risk.
That night, in a desperate move to avoid having anyone control her life, she decided to leave. She quickly gathered a few maid dresses and some food and water. She slunk down the stone hallways of the castle to the armory to retrieve anything she could use to defend herself. All she found was a quarterstaff and a small dagger. The last thing she had to do was the hardest. She wrote a short note to her grandparents explaining that she was fine but that she could not go through with what her parents had forced her into when she was just a toddler. After she slid it under their door, she collected her borrowed things and sneaked out of the castle.
For the next several months, Rey traveled the length of her kingdom and eventually found herself in Chandrilla, a province of Alderaan. Once there, word began reaching her of a band of vigilante knights who had been attempting to be the law and order in the outer reaches of Alderaan for the last three years. They called themselves the Knights of Ren. Their leader Kylo Ren was known for being a dangerous man and a skilled fighter. No one had gone up against him or his knights and won. This unsettled Rey. She now knew she was out in the wild with a group of men on the loose, and no one knew if they meant harm or not. From that day on, she began selecting her rest spots more carefully. She made sure that they were well concealed.
It had been nearly a year since Rey left home. She was tired. The odd jobs she had been working had left her sore in ways that she could not have imagined while living in the castle under the care of her lady’s maids and the protection of her guards. Most recently, she had been working as a scullery maid in a local tavern. It was her least favorite job. The hours were long and the patrons were demeaning. She had decided after only a few weeks there that she had had her fill. She thanked the owner and went on her way with her payment.
That first night back on the road, she once again found herself looking for a well concealed place to make camp for the night. She found a large, dead tree that was hollowed out at the base. It was plenty big enough for her to crawl under and sleep. Deciding it was the best option, she got down on all fours and slid under the roots. Her pack became her pillow and her cloak was her blanket. She drifted to sleep after only a few moments of tossing and turning.
The next morning, she woke to the feeling of someone poking her shoulder. It took her eyes a moment to adjust, but, when they did, she found herself looking into the eye slits of a knight’s helmet. Behind him were five others either standing on the ground or in the branches of nearby trees. They were not well dressed. Rather, they looked like men who saw a lot of action. Their armor was obviously not for show.
A gentle rustling of the leaves brought Rey’s attention to a seventh knight who had just dropped out of a tree. He was very tall and broad. Just like the others, he was wearing armor from head to toe. Everything on him that was not metal was black leather. Unlike the others who were carrying spears, bows, maces, and axes, he had a sword strapped to his side. The ruby in the pommel was dazzling in the sunlight.
It didn’t take her long to piece everything together. Exactly what she had feared for the last few months of being in Alderaan had happened. As much as she tried to avoid them, she now found herself in the presence of the Knights of Ren. She began to shake in fear as the man with the sword treaded her direction. If these were the Knights, that meant that this man was their leader. This was Kylo Ren.