To Be or Not To Be

Dinner

Dinner was served to the entire castle when the clock struck six. Since the new royal adviser had just arrived, King Han and Queen Leia prepared a feast for the entire castle, including the new arrivals. Even Leia's brother, Luke, was in attendance.

The group sat around a long rectangular table beneath a large chandelier. Since the seating was assigned, and Rey coincidentally sat next to Kylo. She shivered with fear when she realized that she would have to sit just inches away from him when just hours earlier he had thrown a sword at her.

Kylo was slightly embarrassed of his previous actions. He glanced at Rey through the corner of his eye, seeing her frightened look. He knew that her fear was probably towards him, and he clenched his fist underneath the table.

The tension was high in the room. Everyone was completely silent while the food was served. Leia and Han glanced at their quiet son and noticed that he looked upset. As the food was being served, Rey was awed by the extravagance of the cuisine on the table before her. She did not know the name of most of the courses, but she was excited to try all of the food available. 

As she was about to eat this interesting green blob with her hands, she heard, "You don't eat that with your hands. You use a fork". 

Rey looked up from her meal, and saw Kylo staring back at her. He wasn't being rude; his tone was instead kind and helpful. 

"Okay," she replied as she picked up a fork.

"No, not that fork!" Kylo exclaimed. "That fork is for the main course. These are just the appetizers." Kylo picked up the correct fork and handed it to her.

"Now it will taste a lot better, and your hands won't get sticky" Kylo said softly, a hint of a smile on his face. Surprisingly, Rey found herself smiling back at him. The previous events that had occurred in the throne room seemed less terrifying now that she saw this different side of Kylo.

Rey suddenly realized that the whole table was quiet and staring at the two of them. Leia's mouth was actually open in shock. "It must be pretty surprising that Kylo isn't screaming his head off or moping to himself" she thought to herself.

Kylo himself was shocked as well. Normally at dinner he never said anything, except when he wanted to argue with his parents. He noticed that Rey seemed less frightened of him now. He now had a second chance.

Leia finally  cleared her throat. "Obi-Wan, you are so lucky to have such lovely children. You raised them so well."

Rey heard Kylo mutter to himself, "Yeah, compared to them I am even a bigger disappointment."

Rey wondered why Kylo was so hard on himself. After all, he was a prince. Even in his current emo and anger-issue state, he had a lot more class than her commoner self.

Obi-Wan replied, "Well, my children are so unique, so special, so smart, brave, and kind. They are so much like their mother, which is odd...."

Poe perked up from his daydream. "What do you mean odd?"

Obi-Wan sat up straight in his chair, "Oh I didn't mean to say that... Well, you would find out eventually.... Rey, Poe, you are not my biological children. You come from the same impoverished orphanage in Jakku. You are not related to one another, at least I don't think you are related to one another. If my wife and I hadn't taken you into our home, you would have both become scavengers."

Rey processed this news for what seemed like an eternity. She had spent all of her life believing that she was less than everyone else, and now she had less of a social standing than she had once presumed! She was a scavenger. Her real parents never cared about her-they just left her in a Jakku orphanage to rot. 

Without asking to be excused, Rey bolted out of the door with tears streaming down her face.

Kylo and the rest of the party still sat around the table in an awkward silence.

"Well, I always wondered why I didn't have the same accent as you guys," said Poe, trying to lighten up the mood.