The Chosen One: A Reylo Story

Chapter 19: Finding Balance

The Senate dome is abuzz with all manner of noise.

Rey can hear a gaggle of clicking sounds to her left. Low, beastly grunts just below. What can only be described as honking just above. If she wanted to, she could pick out every individual noise in this room.

So that's exactly what she starts to do.

Rey closes her eyes and reaches out with her Force senses. She stands tall, shoulders back, feet planted firmly on a hovering deck positioned in the dead center of the dome. It's the perfect spot for this.

Whispers to the right. Hushed. Worried. Smooth, gliding tongues next to them. Louder. Nonchalant. Emphatic remonstrating below them. Angry. Imperious.

She touches on the voices one by one, lightly, each fragments of conversation. She doesn't know most of the languages being spoken yet she understands the words nonetheless— in spirit and intent. So many individuals. So many stories. So many lives.

In a strange way, this helps settle her nerves, those butterflies in her stomach that just won't go away.

Of all the challenges Rey has faced in her young but battle-worn life, public speaking is perhaps the most terrifying. She's not cut out for this sort of thing. Not in the slightest. Politics. The art of persuasion.

But she's had to learn. And luckily, her teacher was one of the greatest diplomats this galaxy has ever seen.

At this, the memory starts to play in her mind again involuntarily. It was the night before Rey's first appearance before the Senate. She remembers sitting on the floor, anxiously rubbing her hands together, sharing her survival strategy with Leia. She told her that she intended to look up and around but at no one in particular during her speech, trying to blur out all of the faces. The plan was to think of the audience as just a nameless mass.

Leia had huffed. "Do that, and what's the point of speaking at all?" She'd challenged her. "When you speak, even to a large crowd, you're still speaking to someone. So, speak to them. Look at them. Pick out individuals and look them in the eye. Try to read them. Sense their response to your words. Make them feel heard."

Ever since that night, this is the philosophy Rey brings with her to the Senate floor. Make them feel heard. Teasing over these fragments of conversation prime her for what she's about to do. They remind her that she's speaking to individuals today. And she wants them to know that she's been listening.

There now. She's starting to relax. A little.

Rey will take whatever relief she can get. She has many reasons to be anxious besides her fear of public speaking.

Because today is not just another appearance before the Senate. No, today is the first day of the rest of her life. It's the culmination of her destiny. Their destiny.

Today is the day that the New Age really begins.

A rush of affirmation surges through her... affirmation mixed with excitement, trepidation, and a fluttering anxiety.

Ben has finally accepted it. Their destiny. Co-leaders, two halves of a whole. That's why she's here today. To share his plan. To show the Senate how they will work together to manage this New Age, to allow Force use to grow while also protecting the galaxy from its dangers.

Of course, the Senate has to approve this plan. That's the tricky part. If this isn't granted, Ben could spend the rest of his life rotting in prison.

His words echo ominously in her mind. "Whatever happens to the Knights, happens to me."

He was very clear on this point. Part of her admires him for his devotion to them. But another part is terrified about what could happen if things go wrong. What about Irenie and Soya? What about her? Rey starts to feel sick again.