AWAKEN

65

THE RETURN was such a blur. Returning from the cabin to the palace just blurred with getting on their ship and heading back to Ajan Kloss. It blurred with getting checked at medical as is usual after every mission. It blurred with Rey talking to Poe and Finn about taking the Falcon and Ben to Tatooine to take care of some unfinished business.

Everything just blurred.

It was two weeks after the victory of the Resistance against the Final Order. It's been two weeks since Palpatine threatened their whole world. Its been two weeks since Leia took her last breath.

Amara was hiding again and Poe noticed it.

Something upset her at the cabin when they captured Jetu, and she won't discuss it with him, despite her promise to finally talk to him about what has been going on with her.

Poe felt like he was loosing her.

As Poe was sitting in his quarters with Finn, the two were reading mission reports. Well, Finn was reading mission reports, Poe on the other hand was loosing his focus. And Finn noticed. Finn lifts his gaze from his datapad and looked to Poe. Poe was sitting on his cot while looking at the same datapad he had been staring at for the past hour or so they've been in Poe's quarters. Finn on the other hand was sitting at Poe's desk.

"Okay, buddy." Finn says, "Lay it on me, what's up?"

Poe lifts his gaze, "What?"

"Something is bothering you," Finn says, "And it's not just because I can sense something wrong from you, you've just seemed different since Naboo."

Poe sighs and lowers the datapad beside him, "I'm sorry, pal."

Finn leans forward in his seat, "What's going on, Poe?" Finn asks.

Poe ran his hand through his curly hair, "I'm worried about Amara." He says, "Something is wrong with her and I feel like- no, I know she's pulling away."

Poe shakes his head.

"I just- I just don't know why." Poe clenched his jaw, "I don't understand whatever she is dealing with, not like you could or Rey or even Ben."

Finn frowns.

"I just wish that I could understand," Poe says, "I wish I could take whatever burden she's baring away from her."

Finn reached out and clasped onto Poe's shoulder. A familiar touch the two men were so accustomed to in the time they've known each other.

"I don't know much about the Force, because Rey promised to begin training when she returned back from Tatooine." Finn gives a small smile, "But I do know that she hasn't been the same since Naboo. Something is burning inside that I cannot explain."

Poe silently nods.

"But just because she may be withdrawing herself from you it doesn't mean you have to allow her to be isolated." Finn says, "When Rey wanted to find Exegol alone, what did we do?"

"We went with her." Poe answered.

Finn nods, "Exactly, because we're a family." He says, "And you need to go with her. Wherever that may be, physically or mentally to be there for her. Til death do you part."

Poe gives him a look, "We aren't even engaged."

Finn had a grin on his face, "Not yet."

{RISE OF SKYWALKER}

SHE DIDN'T want to be around anyone until she got a grip on herself. She was feeling strange since Naboo, hell even while on Naboo. Amara sat alone in the the thick jungle of Ajan Kloss, she wasn't lost. She knew exactly where she was, how far away the base was, and how long it'll take to walk back.