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“Rey,” Finn murmured, glancing furtively at the pilot who was wandering around their quarters, tossing items haphazardly into a duffel. “Rey, what do people do for Life Day? People like us, I mean.”
Rey grimaced. “People without families?” she asked.
Finn nodded.
Rey shrugged. “We didn’t celebrate it on Jakku. I remember something with my parents, maybe, before, but…”
“At least we’ll have each other,” Finn said.
Rey gave him a smile and squeezed his hand. “That we will. What do you want to do then?”
Finn shrugged.
“What are you conspiring about?” Poe interrupted.
Rey reddened and Finn glanced away. Poe’s brow furrowed, then he smiled cockily. “Fine, don’t tell me. Anyway, I booked us a shuttle home for two days from now; it’ll be cutting it a bit close but we should be able to get there if we go by way of the Begamor system, and I’ve flown that route before. Home’s in the jungle, so pack stuff that’s cool but covers. There’s several species of thorns that can be nasty, but they won’t slice through durafiber.” He drummed his fingers on the table. “What else? Dad’s taking care of all the food, so we don’t have to bring anything, and I sent him a list of your favorites. You don’t have to worry about bringing gifts, either.” He frowned thoughtfully. “I think that’s it. Did either of you need anything?”
Rey was the first to recover her mild shock and just smiled and shook her head.
Finn coughed after a moment. “Nope, sounds good,” he said, his voice a little high to be natural.
Poe beamed at them. “Great! Let me know if you need any help packing.” He strolled away, whistling softly.
Rey’s eyes met Finn’s.
“Well I guess that’s that,” Finn said.
Rey’s mouth twitched. “I’m certainly not arguing with him this time.”
Kes Dameron hugged them both warmly when he greeted them at the door of the durocrete ranch, and even had a gentle pat for BB-8, seemingly unbothered that they stood between him and his son, who had put himself at the rear of their group. Finn stood awkwardly to the side as he waited for Kes and Poe to greet each other properly, while Rey bent to fuss over the droid.
“Come in,” Kes said as he drew back from Poe. “I’ve got iced koyo ready…” He waved them into the house.
Rey and Finn shared an uncertain glance. Poe sighed, his lips twitching, and he reached a hand out to each of them to tug them inside, BB-8 trundling at their heels.
The inside of the dwelling was spacious, gentle curves and soft lighting giving it a very different feel from the military-style bases they were used to. The entryway opened up to a kitchen on one side and a lounge on the other, and Poe steered them down the few steps to the lounge and nudged them onto soft lumps that were clustered on the floor.
Curious, Rey reached out her senses to the lump underneath her. “They’re alive?” she asked in surprise, jumping up from the organism.
Poe smiled as he sank onto his own. “They’re salinishrooms,” he said. “They’re very robust; you won’t hurt them. They’re a local fungus, and they’ll feed off of sweat and dead skin, clothing scraps, too, sometimes, so it’s actually a symbiotic relationship to use them for seating.”
Rey’s shoulders relaxed and she eased herself back down onto the mushroom. Finn, on the other hand, looked thoroughly more unsettled than he had a few moments ago.
Kes came over and pressed a cold glass into each of their hands. The liquid inside was a pale orange, cool and sweet with hints of citrus and mint, and Rey was surprised to find that she was actually quite thirsty. The trek from the landing area to Poe’s house hadn’t been very far, but getting through the undergrowth had been tricky in parts.
“The tree-lighting’s tonight,” Kes said as he settled onto his own salinishroom. “Everyone will be glad to have you back, Poe. And to meet you two,” he added, smiling at them.
“Is there anything we should be doing?” Finn asked.
Kes smiled at him. “Just enjoy yourselves. The tree-lighting ceremony’s tradition, but old Hato and his crew will have it well in hand. Though he can probably find a place for you, Poe, if you wanted one,” he added.
Poe’s eyes lit up, but a moment later his gaze flicked to Finn and then Rey and he relaxed. “I shouldn’t mess with their current team. And it’s been years since I watched from the ground, it’ll be good to see it that way again.”
Kes’s mouth twitched as though he didn’t quite believe Poe’s explanation, but he didn’t argue, and turned his attention back to the others. “Apart from the ceremony itself, it’s mostly just a big party. There’ll be food, music, dancing, sometimes some games. Don’t drink too much Life Punch, and don’t let anyone challenge you to a piloting match if you’ve had too much Life Punch.” His eyes flicked wryly to Poe at the last bit.
“I won that flying match, if you recall,” Poe said airily.
“Yes, and Dania put a hole in the grain silo trying to follow you,” Kes countered.
Finn snorted. Rey was eyeing Poe with a calculating gleam.
Kes sighed and stood up. “Keep these two out of trouble, eh?” he told Finn, clapping the younger man on the shoulder.
Finn grinned. “I always try.”
“Not very good at it though,” Rey remarked.
“But it’s the thought that counts,” Poe added with a wink in Finn’s direction.
Kes chuckled and wandered out of the lounge. “Poe can get you settled upstairs,” he called over his shoulder.
It wasn’t until he was gone that it occurred to Poe he wasn’t sure how many rooms his father might have prepped for their arrival. Tentatively, he polished off his juice and got to his feet, holding out his hands to collect Rey and Finn’s glasses and deposit them in the kitchen sink. Holding his breath slightly, he led them upstairs.
He led them into his old room first, figuring he could pass it off as an anecdote. His old hammock had been replaced by a rather larger one, and two other hammocks hung angled towards it, so their heads could all sit close together if they wanted. Poe smiled fondly at the set up, then stepped inside to let the others in. “This is my room,” he told them. “There’s room for you both in here if you want, but we also have guest rooms--”
Finn snorted and pushed past him to examine the nearest hammock.
“We share a room at base,” Rey reminded him.
“Hammocks can take some getting used to,” Poe defended weakly.
“Can’t be worse than trying to sleep while you’re piloting,” Finn said.
“Can’t be worse than trying to sleep while he snores,” Rey added.
Poe threw up his hands. “That’s why I offered you options!”
“Yes, and that’s why we’re ignoring them,” Rey said, swinging herself up into the large hammock. We’re used to you.”
“You brought us home, you're stuck with us,” Finn added, climbing up beside her.
Poe shook his head, but he was grinning at the sight of them tentatively spreading their weight, testing out how their movements affected the hammock. With an impish look, he grabbed the side and swung himself onto it lengthwise. It tipped to not quite vertical, and Rey tumbled up against his chest as Finn slid into Poe’s calves, but he was braced to catch them both. Poe shifted his weight to swing the hammock in the other direction and used the momentum to herd them all into the center so it would stabilize horizontally again.
“Doesn’t even need an engine to be a reckless pilot,” Finn sighed as he flopped onto his stomach and wriggled so his head was closer to theirs.
“No complaints,” Rey said as she nestled her head against Poe’s shoulder and stretched out one hand to run it through Finn’s hair.
“How long until the festival?” Finn asked through a yawn.
“We’ve got a couple of hours till sunset,” Poe said, glancing out the window. “And Dad’ll come fetch us if we’re not downstairs.”
“Naptime then,” Rey sighed happily, and her breathing evened out almost immediately as she slid into her pre-sleep meditation. Finn murmured an agreement, and Poe closed his eyes with a contented sigh. He was home, and somehow the people he loved most had decided his home was theirs too.
Rey woke the other two just before sunset, in the uncanny way she had of being able to wake up almost on cue. Finn grumbled good-naturedly, but Poe was fully awake almost at once, excitement filling him as he led the others downstairs and out towards the village common.
There was already music floating through the village, though it wasn’t as lively as Poe knew it would become later. The ibaqema, a wind instrument cut from a large koyo, carried easily through the trees, and its tune was one Poe recognized as a traditional Wookie ballad. A rich array of scents filled the air from the fire pits and camping ovens scattered around the common. Poe could see Finn eying several of the dishes with keen interest, but Rey’s eyes were fixed in front of them, and Poe wasn’t surprised.
He’d been surprised, actually, that she hadn’t demanded to inspect the Force-sensitive uneti tree as soon as they’d landed. There was a large bustle around its base, as Hato and his crew were setting up all of the preparations for the tree-lighting, but the majestic tree felt like a beacon of calm in the boisterous crowd, even to Poe. They made their way over, Poe gently nudging Rey around people she refused to focus on, and Rey knelt next to a large root to run her hands over it.
Hato started towards them, concerned, but he stopped when he made eye contact with Poe. “Is she the one…?” he mouthed.
Poe nodded.
Hato smiled, then waved to his crew to let her be.
“She’ll be here awhile, I think,” Poe murmured to Finn. “Come on, I’ll show you around.”
Finn followed Poe back to the central part of the festival. “You’ve gotta try the dropdough,” Poe said, leading him over to a vendor. Poe peered curiously into the food cart. There were small blobs of some kind of dough sitting on the counter, and a sizzling vat that looked like hot oil. As he watched, the vendor pulled a mesh box out of the oil and dumped a handful of the fried balls into each of a few small dishes, then sprinkled some sort of dusty white mixture on top.
“Poe,” the vendor, a portly man with wispy gray hair, greeted him warmly. “We weren’t sure you’d make it back this year. Dropdough on the house,” he said, sliding one of the dishes across the counter.
“And miss these puppies, Garro? Never,” Poe said, “But I can’t let you lose good business like that.” He slid a few credit chips across the counter.
Garro tutted. “If you leave those here, they’re going to your father when he drops by,” he said. “You’re doing more than your share of work without much thanks, if even half of what I’ve heard is accurate.”
Poe sighed and reluctantly took the chips back. “We’re hoping it’ll be over soon,” he said.
Garro nodded solemnly, but he mustered a grin as he turned to Finn. “And who’s this?” he asked.
Poe beamed. “This is Finn,” he said. “He’s one of my partners in the fight.”
“Then your dropdough is on the house, too,” Garro said, sliding another dish across the counter.
“I don’t--” Finn began.
Poe elbowed him. “Take it. I’m not giving up any of mine, and Garro’s not going to let me buy you your own.”
“I have credits,” Finn protested, but he reached for the dish all the same.
“Off with you,” Garro said, shooing them.
Poe thanked him and led them off towards where the musicians were starting to gather a crowd.
They found a good place to sit on the grass and eat while they watched the music, and Rey caught up with them a few minutes later. “Try this,” Finn said, shoving the dish under her nose. It’d been taking all of his willpower to not eat them all as quickly as he could.
Rey took one warily and popped it into her mouth. Her eyes bulged. “That’s amazing,” she said. “What are these?”
“Dropdough,” said Poe. “It’s Garro’s specialty. I’ve seen similar things in other places, but they’re never as good.”
“That sounds like a challenge,” Finn murmured.
Poe’s eyes lit up. “I will happily test every iteration of dropdough you can manage.”
“We’d need a fry vat,” Finn mused. There was a small kitchen he often used at base, but nothing that fancy.
“I’ll build one,” Rey said. “As soon as we get home, I am figuring out how to build one, and then you are figuring out how to make these.” She grabbed another piece from Finn’s dish and sighed contentedly as she nestled in between them.
The crowd was steadily growing, and suddenly the music shifted. “A reel,” Poe said, straightening. Around them, the crowd was starting to shift too, spreading out into a pair of long lines.
“What do we do?” Finn asked.
“Dance!” Poe grinned. “It’s nothing complicated, and no one will care if you’re a little behind.”
“It looks like everyone’s pairing up,” Rey said uncertainly.
Poe nodded. “You’ll end up dancing with a lot of people, but you’ll stay close to one. You two go, and try to get in the middle so you can watch for a bit.”
“But what about you?” Finn asked.
Poe grinned cockily. “I’m the hometown hero, I think I can find a dance partner.” He winked and slipped away into the crowd.
Rey and Finn exchanged a look and shrugged. Rey smiled tentatively and held out her hand, and when Finn took it, led him into the lines.
The dance was fast, but the main part of it was simple. The couple at one end had a more complicated part, weaving down the line in a way Finn was doing his best to memorize and grateful that Poe had advised them to start near the middle. Poe had indeed found himself a partner, a young man that Finn recognized as one of the pilots that had been with Hato’s crew near the Great Tree. As his body relaxed into the automatic motions of the dance, he watched Poe and his partner reach the end and pivot into the weave.
He’d seen Poe move before, in a fight or in training, but watching him dance like this was riveting. Fights always carried too much fear during and too much gratitude that they were still alive after to truly appreciate the movement for what it was, and training always carried the weight of knowing what they were training for. And as much as Finn knew Poe could still enjoy the rush of a good fight, it was nothing compared to the joy he was radiating now. He darted in and out of the lines, spinning each person he passed before coming back to his partner and then darting on to the next. Finn was so entranced that his mind didn’t quite keep track of how close Poe was getting, and what that meant for him, and so he staggered slightly as Poe swept him up and twirled him. Finn blushed, his shoulders bumping into Poe’s as he struggled to regain his balance. Poe laughed, still radiating that same joy, and then he squeezed Finn’s hand tightly and was gone, continuing his weave down the line. Finn glanced across to see that Rey’s eyes were tracking Poe, too, a look of wonder Finn guessed was similar to his own on her face.
Before they knew it, they were at the end of the line, and Finn’s world became a blur as he raced through the moves, ducking and twirling down the line. Somewhere in the mix Poe had swapped sides, so it was Rey who scooped him up while Finn spun Poe’s partner. At last they were through, and with a final spin with each other Finn and Rey fell back into the lines, panting slightly but alight with the thrill as they watched the next pair start down.
When at last the music wound down, the sun had fully set. Lights floated through the festivities, a mix of small glowbugs, larger glowdroids, and a rainbow of colors of glowrods that people were either carrying or wearing. Finn drew Rey into a hug as they caught their breath from the dance and peered around over her shoulder, wondering what would be happening next. The crowd seemed to be spreading out but not moving in any particular direction, and he’d lost sight of Poe in the darkness.
“He’s by the tree,” Rey said, as though she’d read his thoughts, which, knowing her, maybe she had.
Finn turned towards the great tree and saw that the x-wings that had been clustered around it earlier were starting up, a couple of them already hovering a few feet off the ground. “Do you know what they’re going to do?” he asked.
“No,” Rey said. “I asked, but they wouldn’t tell me. And the tree didn’t know how to explain it.”
The night had gotten chilly, and now that they were no longer dancing, Finn found himself shivering slightly. Rey pressed closer to him, twining her fingers through his. “I feel bad he’s missing out on being part of that,” Finn admitted, nodding towards the ships. “He must miss being part of the team.”
“And miss getting to watch you guys see the lighting for the first time? Never.”
Finn jumped. Rey and Poe both laughed, and Rey squeezed the hand she was still holding. “Had your fill of flirting with the flyboys?” she asked Poe.
“I don’t know, they won’t stay up there forever,” Poe said casually. “Jealous?”
Rey stuck her tongue out at him.
Finn sighed and shook his head at them both.
“Anyway I bring gifts,” Poe said, passing them each a glowrod. Finn’s was a crisp white, Rey’s a pale yellow, and the one Poe kept for himself was a soft pink. “Come on, you’ll want to be comfortable,” he said, tugging them over to a patch of grass to sit.
The x-wings were all in the air now, and a slow, lilting music had started up. The fighters pulled together in a tight formation and then broke apart, each spiraling out across the branches of the tree, facing it. They began to fire, and Rey gasped.
“They’re cool beams,” Poe hastened to assure her. “They won’t hurt it. Look.” Twinkling lights were appearing amidst the leaves in the wake of the ships’ lasers.
“How?” Finn breathed.
“The tree’s decked with nova crystals,” Poe murmured.
Rey let out a soft “oh” of understanding.
“The lasers are charging them,” Finn realized.
They watched the breathtaking display in silence. Once the x-wings had finished lighting up the tree, they turned on each other, and Finn watched, transfixed, as crystals along the hulls also began to sparkle with inner light. The music reached a crescendo as the fighters gathered for one final burst and scatter, and then the music stopped and all of their cockpit lights went out. Finn was hard pressed to tell the crystal-studded ships from the sky, and the whole moon seemed still and quiet, despite the dull roaring of engines and the sounds from the jungle he could still hear. Rey was trembling slightly against him, awash with the emotion she could feel from the crowd, Finn guessed, and Poe sighed contentedly.
A cluster of stars seemed to descend at the base of the tree, and Finn heard the rustle of landing gear on dirt. Music began to play again, softly at first and then rising, and then people began to sing.
It wasn't a song Finn knew, but he found himself humming along to the repetitive tune as he listened to the choir and to Poe's voice, deep and strong at his side. Halfway through the second verse, Rey began to sing, too, and on the next, he felt a brush in his mind that he realized were words, a half beat before they were sung, and he added his own voice to the choir.
The song finished on a long note, and the music picked up again, faster this time. People started to dance again, though it was less organized, and the food and artisan vendors re-opened. Finn lost track of how many people he’d danced with and how many new foods he’d tried, but by the time the festivities wound down, he was exhausted. The three of them made their way slowly back to Poe’s homestead, and Finn was asleep almost as soon as he hit the hammock.
“Gifts!” Kes said when they made it downstairs the next morning. He produced a small stack of cloth bundles and set one in front of each of them.
Rey and Finn shared an uncertain look. “We didn't…” Rey began.
Kes waved her off. “You've helped my son get home safely another year, that's enough.”
“And I told you didn't have to worry about it,” Poe chided.
“Anyway, open them,” Kes said.
Finn unfolded the wrappings around his to reveal a datapad. Curious, he switched it on. “Recipes,” he said, eyes brightening. He tapped on the first entry, which was labeled Rootbread. “Are they your family’s?”
Kes nodded. “Shara recorded these into a database, years ago,” he said. “Poe’s mentioned that you like to cook when you have the chance, so I thought you might like a copy.”
“No,” Poe said, horror dawning on his face, “Dad, tell me those aren’t the…”
“Play the holos,” Kes said gleefully.
“Or you know, dont,” Poe said, his voice rapidly climbing in pitch.
Finn's gaze flicked between the two of them and then he tapped the screen.
A hologram of a somewhat younger Kes emerged, his hands submerged in a bowl that he was kneading into a dough. As they watched, he pinched off two small balls and sampled one, holding the other out and down.
A tiny Poe entered around Kes's feet and took the ball, which was almost the size of his fist. The toddler stared at it for a moment, squeezing it experimentally, and then pulled back and hurled it at the ceiling. Kes was too slow to stop him, and he stood blinking up at it, a resigned look on his face while Poe giggled and began trying to climb up the counter to get at the bowl.
“Awwwww!” Rey exclaimed.
“Huh. He’s always been a picky eater then,” Finn said, grinning over at the present-day Poe who now had his head buried in his hands.
“Cheer up,” Kes said, reaching over to pat his son on the shoulder. “Now you can have a taste of home even when you’re out on the front lines. It’s really a gift for you, too, you know.”
“You could have given him the recipes without the holos,” Poe said into his hands.
“Ah, but that wouldn’t have been as much fun,” Kes said.
Poe groaned.
“Well, he shouldn’t object to your gift, at least,” Kes told Rey, “as it was his idea.”
Rey picked up the bundle curiously, and then froze, her eyes wide with awe. “Is this…?”
“Open it,” Poe urged.
Rey carefully unwrapped the bundle to reveal a potted sapling. She ran her fingers gently along its trunk and closed her eyes as she held it.
“It’ll need a permanent home eventually,” Kes told her, “but it’ll be fine in pots for a few years, though you’ll have to repot it as it grows. I’m sure it will let you know when the time comes, though.”
It was a clipping from the uneti tree, Finn realized. Rey was holding a Force-sensitive tree of her very own.
“It’s…” Rey was staring between the tree and the Damerons, tears streaming down her face. “It’s…”
“It belongs with you,” Poe said gently. “It belongs wherever the new order of Jedi settles, and until then, it belongs with you.”
Rey nodded, unable to speak, and curled her arms protectively around the sapling.
“We got you something together,” Finn told Poe, when it didn’t look like Rey was ready to speak yet.
There was a long indignant whistle, and Finn smiled sheepishly. “Yes, we meant you, too,” he said, as BB-8 trundled up to them. “BB-8 did most of the work, actually.” The little droid twittered proudly, and then offered a small holoprojector to Poe.
Poe took it and, with some trepidation after the earlier holos, switched it on. A hologram of a clearing, surrounded by trees and filled with people and carts and lights, appeared on the ground in front of them. Poe’s breath caught as he realized what it was. “Is this last night?” he asked.
Finn smiled and nodded. “We edited the best parts together this morning,” he said. “We know you don’t make it home as much as you’d like, so we thought you might like a reminder--”
“I love it,” Poe interrupted, looking between them both. “It’s…” He cleared his throat. “I’m, um, I’m going to go put it upstairs.”
They smiled and waved him off, letting him take the time he needed.
“Thank you for having us,” Rey told Kes as Poe left. “I know family's a priority on Life Day, but we appreciate you letting us intrude.”
Kes looked at them both for a long moment. “You are family,” he said quietly. “Poe's not said much about what exactly you all are to each other, but he talks about you often and with enough love that it's clear that you are, and I've seen it myself these past few days. You're his family, and that means you're mine. You'll always be welcome here, and any of them,” he gestured towards the village, “will say the same. It's I who should be thanking you, really, for taking such good care of my son.”
Finn shrugged awkwardly. “He takes care of himself pretty well,” he said.
Kes smiled but shook his head. “He hasn't always. He's more…careful now than he used to be. He'd still die for the cause if it comes to that, but he's not eager for the opportunity, the way I sometimes worried he was. He knows how much you care about him and he takes less risks because of it. He's always been a fighter, and selfishly I've been worried by what looks like the end of the war…I've been worried he might get lost without the war to guide him, drive him, but you two… I know now he won't be lost, not for long, not with you two to anchor him.”
“I haven’t shown you the best part of this room,” Poe said, later that night. He pressed a switch on the wall, and with a soft whirring the ceiling withdrew, durasteel panels sliding smoothly away so that only a layer of transparisteel remained.
Finn looked up at the starfield above them, clear and crisp with not a cloud in sight. He felt Rey shift beside him, and turned to see that her eyes were focused not up but out, having found the highest branches of the uneti tree gently swaying in the night’s breeze.
Poe wrapped his arms around both of their shoulders.
“So this is why you sneak out to the roof so often at base,” Finn teased. “You grew up spoiled.”
“Mmm, and what’s your excuse then?” Poe said, slipping between them to pull himself into the hammock.
“He just likes being spoiled by you,” Rey said, nudging Finn affectionately before climbing up.
“And you don’t?” Finn shot back. He tried to pull himself up and staggered as its balance shifted, but each of them grabbed an arm and hauled him up until he was deposited snugly between them.
“Is this where you’ll come back to, after the war?” Finn asked after they’d lain in silence for a while.
“It’s weird to think about after the war, sometimes,” Poe said. “But maybe. I’ll probably still be a pilot, at least for a while, but yeah, maybe this would be base again. If…well, I’m not picky. I’d still want to come back here for holiday and to see Dad and everyone, but there are other places I could see myself.”
Rey hummed thoughtfully.
“What about you two?” Poe asked. “What will you do when the fighting’s done?”
“I want to teach,” Rey said immediately. “I have to teach. I know finding other Jedi will take time, but I want to teach non-Jedi, too. There’s so much knowledge to be passed on; we can’t just expect the occasional Jedi to guard all of it. It’s got to be shared.”
“Will you go to Ossus then?” Poe asked.
Rey shook her head. “No. I want a fresh start. It’s easier to do things differently, do things better, without the shadows of our mistakes looming over us, even if their memories guide us still.”
Poe nodded. “You’ve got the whole galaxy to pick from, then.”
Rey nodded, then nudged Finn. “What about you?” she asked. “What do you want to do after the war?”
Finn let out a long, slow breath. “I don’t know,” he said. “I was raised to be a soldier. I’m not sure how to do anything else.”
“You cook,” Poe pointed out.
Finn nodded. “Yeah, but I can do that anywhere. And I can do odd jobs, too; I’m sure I’ll be able to find something.”
“What do you want to do?” Rey asked.
Finn closed his eyes. “I just want to stay with you,” he murmured.
“You’re not going to lose us, buddy,” Poe said. “No matter what you want to do.”
“Sometimes I feel bad for not having big dreams like you guys do, but maybe…maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe that means I can just follow you into yours.”
“Of course you can,” Rey said.
“I can cook and manage things and help out with whatever,” Finn said hurriedly. “I’ll earn my keep, I just…”
“You’re ours,” Rey said. “Wherever I make my home, it will always be home to either of you if you want it, and I…I---”
“I want that too,” Poe said. “Anything else I want to do, I want to have you by my side, or it’s not a priority. Both of you.”
Finn found both of their hands to squeeze, blinking back tears. “We’ll stay together?” he whispered. “Whatever happens?”
“Always,” they chorused.